We have been working on getting things ready for Cheryl Smith’s wedding. That is why were staining decks and landscaping and getting the house put together. She’ll be having her rehearsal dinner here at the house this Friday. We also are putting our study together so Chad and I can hang out still when I start up online classes through BYU or at least all the times he’s working on the computer for fun. So we got a new desk set up and a new filing cabinet. It looks great and we’re really happy with it. It makes me happy every time I walk in the room. We don’t have papers lying on the floor like before. I walk in there all the time now.

We got a laptop finally. Last Monday morning we showed up at the store when they opened and they sold us their display model. The sale had started the day before and they had already sold all 33 laptops they had in for the sale. It was a huge blessing to be able to get the laptop for use with school and stuff.

We were supposed to go on an overnight hike with the Young Women in my old stake as chaperones, but not enough girls signed up so we got to stay home and work on the house. We ended going to this children’s theatre and watched a short little detective spoof. We had thought we were going to Gulliver’s Travels but we showed up at the wrong theater. Oops! The play we saw had been written by one of the 13-year-olds in the troop. It was good, as far as it went. Elisa and I get bored easily though, so we didn’t stay for the whole program. 🙂

My parents are building a shed. Since this is my dad’s day off we are going to go help pound in nails and put up siding. Then we’ll have Mom’s meatloaf, as requested by my younger brother Daniel who is no longer a vegetarian. Isn’t life grand?

Well, let’s see, what have we been up to… we’ll start with yesterday since that is all I can remember at the moment. We went out to Black Diamond, an old mining town. That happens to also be where my Grandma Sophie lives. So, we had some really good BBQ at this restaurant and then Gramma and I took Chad to Old Town Black Diamond. Gramma has been taking my family there for ages. We saw their old jail and an old bakery and also a little museum that used to be part of the Pacific Coal Company. My Grandpa had donated his old flashlight collection, and Gramma wanted to show it to Chad. We saw some old coal cars and really old money and old tools. I couldn’t figure out how the flashlights fit into the history of Washington. 🙂 Basically, everything was old.

We are both having fun with our callings. Chad helped me draw a poster and cut it into puzzle pieces to hide under the kids’ chairs today. They put it together and we learned about the song “Search, Ponder and Pray” and that it is the same thing Moroni talked about in his promise in the Book of Mormon on how to get a testimony. It went really well. Chad seems to be really good with the Deacons. I told them that every time they asked a question that I couldn’t answer I would bring them candy. The idea is to get them to participate. I got asked when the church was organized, and who won the first Super Bowl, and who shot Abraham Lincoln. I owe a bunch of candy next week. It’s a small price to pay for getting them involved. (I could answer most of the questions, BTW.)

After all sorts of issues with purchasing a bed frame, they are refunding our money and leaving the incomplete bed parts with us. So we got some wood and screws to try and piece together what we have. If it works, we’ll have actually gotten two beds for $8.41. This means we got them for 99.5% off regular price. It is a great deal, you just have to go back and forth trying to purchase them and then try to get the right parts many, many number of times for four months.

I finished up some baby books for the babies. They turned out a little homely but they will be fun for Kindin and Sophia, I hope. They look really cool. There are little pockets everywhere for family pictures, and buttons and zippers and stuff.

I guess this week has been kind of uneventful. We spent most of our time looking for deals on laptops only to find they were not as good as advertised or they were out of stock and on backorder. I do not really remember what else happened but we sure are having fun.

Chad got a new calling! Finally. See how picked on I am? He’ll be working as the assistant advisor and scout master for the Deacons. There’s only two deacons right now so it is going to start off being a easy calling. He is going to do so great. I kept a special eye open today for the boys in primary who will soon be graduating and moving on to work with Chad. They are in for a treat.

We have been busy helping my parents tear down a shed. I stepped on a nail and had to get a tetanus shot this week. The missionaries came and helped a lot which everyone was really impressed with, especially my Dad. It is good to have them around and to feel the spirit they bring, even if it is in grubby clothes as they haul old lumber and work in the dirt.

We were all ready for a break after this week so we took a very long day trip up to Vancouver, Canada. My whole family came along. It turned out to be a bit longer than expected because Chad’s car got a flat tire while we were at a rest stop and we had to travel to the next city on our spare where we got our front two tires replaced. I didn’t remember Vancouver being so big or so beautiful. We had a lot of fun.