Monday, February 11, 2008

Welcome to our Blog


We are going to try this and see how it works. Hopefully easier than trying to e-mail everyone and more fun for all of us too.
We are working hard to try and get Travis' mission papers turned in. We just need to get his picture taken on one of our cameras, then upload it to his papers. He wants to try to talk to his bishop on Thursday night (he goes to a singles ward) and then interviews with our bishop and the stake president and the papers should get turned in. I will try to upload the picture here so that you can see it. I got a fun suggestion from my missionary moms e-mail group so watch and see how it turns out.
I talked to Travis last night and we are thinking of having his Eagle Court of Honor on the same day that he goes though the temple. What do you think? Too much? We can rent the Senior Citizen Center and there is a TV and CD player and we could have Caleb and Erin babysit while we are at the temple and then do the Court of Honor at the Senior Center after we get back. I just don't want to wear him (or me) out too much.
Caleb is loving high school and his classes. He is taking chemistry and is "ruining the curve." He has the best score of anyone in the whole high school. He has a teacher that has helped him get excited about it.
He also is taking Spanish 3 and liking that too. He works at McDonalds and is good enough with his spanish now that he takes orders in spanish all the time. He helped a spanish speaking man one night when the man's order was wrong and the man was so impressed that he said he was going to call the corporate number and give Caleb a compliment. Caleb did not think anything more about it. Last Thursday night, a different man came in and one of the girls who is Mexican tried to take his order. He told her that he wanted Caleb to take his order. He waited for Caleb to finish the order that he was on and then told Caleb that he wanted him to take his order in spanish and just to do the best he could. Caleb got nervous then, but he took the order the best that he could. The man had his wife and two daughters order in Spanish also and Caleb said that he thought that they ordered everything on the menu and that they changed things several times to see how well he understood. The people on the grill must have known what was going on because at the end of the order they had not made anything and the manager came and "rang out" the order. The man then told Caleb that he was from McDonald's corporate and that he was checking Caleb's order taking skills in Spanish and told him that he did a perfect job. Caleb was relieved and happy but did not hear anything else. We don't know if it had anything to do with the other man that he helped, but he might be getting a raise. I was proud that he would even try to speak in another language.
Erin is working hard in school and having fun with her friends. Her Young Women's group put on a program called The Ten Virgins this last Thursday. It was a project for two of the girls that were doing their final project. They dressed up, sang songs and had narration. Erin was one of the narrators and sang some of the songs. It was very spiritual and fun for me to see our beautiful daughter perform so well. I got to help because they were wearing head scarves and not having much luck with them. I had some experience with keeping things on my head so I packed up my scarves and helped almost all of the girls get their scarves to stay on. It was fun to get to help them dress up. We made Erin's costume, but I forgot to take a picture so I will do that and then post it too. It went over so well that they are talking about doing the whole presentation for the stake. The leaders bought the girls each a lamp like in the parable of the Ten Virgins and they are doing things to earn oil for their own lamps. They got olive oil and once a month they get to add it to their lamps. They get drops for doing things like coming to church, saying prayers, having family home evening, etc. For Young Women in Excellence they will dress up again and go outside and light their lamps. It should be really neat.
Phil is still working as hard as ever. I don't know when he will ever quit. He reminds me of the energizer bunny he just keeps going and going and going. He is still the Young Men's Secretary and enjoys going to class with Caleb. He dispatches for 30 field techs which gets hairy sometimes but I think that he enjoys it most days. We got a Wii and he loves the target practice game. He will give up some of his sleep just to see if he can get a higher score. The kids love that he will take the time to play with them. We are down to one running vehicle and it still has problems so Phil is working hard to try to get them all working correctly again.
I am being the taxi driver of the one running taxi. I am glad that it is slow at work so that I can leave and take the boys to work or pick Erin up after school. I am tired of being in my car all the time!
I am teaching the 8 year olds in Primary. This is the class that I have taught most of my adult life and it is fun to see the kids get excited about being baptised. I have been making little charts this year so that they can help me sing the songs better. It sure makes a difference. I put the music on my ipod, bring my speakers and we sing and sing.
We get to learn "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" in Primary this year for the program. It is my favorite Primary song. The last time the children learned it I was the chorister in our Primary and we got to sing at the Mt. Timpanogos temple open house. Those children are all Travis' age or older but it reminds me of how much fun it was to sing and bring the spirit to the open house. Erin was two or three so it has been a very long time ago.
I have found out that I have sleep apnea and so we are trying a CPAP machine to see if I will rest better and quit waking up all night long. About the only thing I have to say is that it is miserable! I wake up feeling like a drowned rat most mornings and I look like a clown most of the day as the mask leaves red marks all around my nose and mouth. It needs to get better fast as I am not getting much sleep now with fighting the mask and air all night long. I have to keep reminding myself that it will help me not have a heart attack or stroke and hopefully lose weight so I keep trying.

2 comments:

Rita Peck said...

Thanks for the great update. Loved to hear how everyone is doing. I am so impressed with Caleb and the Spanish thing. Languages were never my forte. I love the Ten Virgins play and they did it at camp last year and I loved it. I am looking forward to pictures of her all dressed up. I am going to send the lamp idea on to our YW President cause I think it is great. We will be there for the eagle court of honor and his temple endowment whenever you choose to have them whether they are on different days or not. We are so excited for him. Sorry to hear about your sleep problems and wish you luck. I can't imagine how frustrating that would be. Hope to see pictures soon on your blog. Love to hear how you are all doing.

Clarence & la Rie Peck said...

Thanks Kim for the update. It is great to hear about Caleb and Erin and Travis had told me about his mission. We are really excited to have our first Grand Son on a Mission. Luv u all