Silver Beaver or the Golden Muskrat

We don't have pictures yet, but on Monday evening at the Council Recognition evening, Gene was awarded the Silver Beaver. It's quite an achievement that he was nominated for. Pictures are coming... as soon as all of our friends send them. Gene's parents came down and spent the weekend so that they could be there when he received it.

As some of the events unfolded at the beginning of the evening, I thought of my grandpa, Fred Elmer Nelson, who received this award many years ago - apparently at the same time that Ezra Taft Benson received his Silver Beaver.

Soggy Sammich

So I finished the soggy Subway sammich left over from last evening. Tasty. Second breakfast. I didn't trust it to sit in my lunchbox without sogging entirely through its wrapping.

Hope I have time to remember to eat what's now left of lunch.

This post designed for those who think life in the corporate world is always exciting and scintillating. Some days it's a soggy sammich. Some days those are the good days .

A Visit to See Sarah & Caroline... and Christine

Yesterday, I had a great experience! I went and visited my two year old friend, Sarah Giles, and her mom, Christine, and her new little sister, Caroline. Sarah was in my nursery class just over a year ago until the Eagle Springs Ward was split...

Sarah recently was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma... and her tumor is located in the thalamus region of her brain making removal not really an option. Her wonderful parents have had to make major decisions about her treatment.... and I've thought about them quite a bit lately. Listening to General Conference really helped me and I'm sure that it helped the Giles family. Knowing about eternal families and the sealing ordinances of the temple give us hope, but loss of a loved one - no matter how strong our testimony of those great doctrines is - is difficult. So, that's where I think faith has to help us go forward, and remind us, that in the eternal perspective of things, Sarah will not be lost, she will always be with us - just not here on earth... and that's what's tough (luckily, right now, my own tears don't hit the screen like they would welt up on a piece of paper).

Sarah is now talking - something she wasn't doing a year ago and even despite the effects of steroids, she is still a very pleasant and loving little girl. We talked about Sammy the frog and nursery maracas and pancakes and I even found out who she wants to be for Halloween - Dora! She's definitely got the hair to be Dora. It was nice to see that after a few minutes she did remember me and I even got several laughs out of her. She told me I could come back and see her... so I will.

Little Caroline looks just like Brian (her dad) and sleeps peacefully. What a life she's had - since she was born just before Hurricane Ike hit.

I give kudos to Christine - she is patient (whether she thinks she is or not), she is loving (to let folks like me come and visit) and she is a great example to me. I'm glad she's my friend.

Late Arrival Thursdays

Yes, today is Thursday... which means it's "Late Arrival Day" (usually) for my high school kids. That means that after early morning seminary ends at 6:30am they can come home instead of go to school while their teachers have faculty meetings, etc. Then they catch the bus at 8:30am. Only problem is that I have my other littles at home still... so any sibling "he/she touched me" gets to happen. :)


This morning Karen is working on her hair for her Madrigals (top choir at the high school) pictures later in the day and trying to figure out just how she'll get this feathered hat to stay on her head. The Madrigals Choir dresses in 19th century costume and are generally the busiest in December singing carols and having fun. This year she has a different costume from the one she had last year - so we have to work all the querks out of it. If you ask me, it looks awfully warm to me! The photo posted here is one of last school year's AHS Madrigal Choir...

The Debris is Gone!

Yesterday afternoon a little bobcat and a big truck made their way down our street... and now our large pile of tree limbs and leaves that Hurricane Ike left us is gone.

Hard to believe that it was just 3 weeks ago that we were all finishing up preparations for Hurricane Ike, even when we didn't know exactly where he was going. Some homes still have some major work to do to recover, but looking down my street now, you'd probably never know that a hurricane came through a week ago. Yards are getting cleaned up and mowed - and other than an occasional propped fence - we're pretty much back to normal (whatever that is).