Another week has gone by! Today was fast Sunday. I got up early for bishopric meeting and then had to miss sacrament meeting because I needed to go to the airport to pick up Mom, who was flying back from attending Kyle's wedding in Houston. It was a whirlwind 48-hour trip for her, but she had a fun time and was able to reconnect with K'Lynne and the Wagners, as well as spend some time Gpa and Gma Hugh. She'll fill you in on the details.
I got back in time for 1/2 of Sunday school and the rest of the third hour. We reorganized the beehive and laurel class presidencies. Paige was called as the secretary for the laurels. I was able to set her apart. She is such a neat gal. I am so grateful for the blessing of having such wonderful children. We had our fast Sunday PPI's with each one, and mom & I enjoyed spending a little "2-on-1" time.
This evening we went over to Bishop Kingsford for the traditional bishopric break-the-fast dinner. Amber made brownies for dessert and did a great job. Over the past couple of weeks, she has made banana bread multiple times (whenever our bananas go bad before we can eat them :-). She also made pancakes the other morning. She is becoming quite the chef!
We got home around 7 and spent a while out on the back patio enjoying the pleasant evening. I even got on the trampoline to "jump a bus" with Kent and Lindsay for a bit. The tramp works muscles a bit differently than my running, so it didn't take too long for me to call it good on jumping for the evening. Ha ha. We also planned out/calendared a number of hikes over the next few months to help Kent and me prepare for our Mt. Whitney trip. Should be fun!
Other news of the weekend: I got up early on Friday to get mom to the airport by 5:30 and then headed into work. I arrived at the office by 6 am and had a couple of hours with no interruptions to focus on a few things at work, which was good.
Friday night, Kent and Lindsay and I went on a bike ride over to Grandma Garners. When we arrived, her garage door was open, so we walked in and called her name. No one answered and when we stepped into the kitchen, we saw a man and a woman standing over by her front door, working on the door handle. That took me a bit by surprise. I realized that they were the painters (Gma had her house painted last week). I asked where Gma was and they said she had gone to a ward party. I took them at their word, and the kids and I mounted up for a return trip home. Before we left, I sent Gma a text to tell her we had stopped by. When I got home, Gma had not replied and I became a bit worried about her. So, I called her cell and got v/m, which made me a little more nervous. I had just about decided to get in the car and drive over there, when I called her home phone and finally got ahold of her. She had indeed been at a ward party and had left her cell phone at home. So, it was all on the up and up with the painters, but it gave me a bit of scare for a while there.
That evening, the kids and I watched Tin Tin (I had not seen it before). I enjoyed it!
On Saturday, I got up early to get in a 10 mi. run before I had to attend a BSA training. It was a nice morning for a run, and I spent a mile or so of it, criss-crossing thorugh/around the Riparian. While running along the west side of the preserve, I looked across one of the marshes, with the Superstitions framed on the opposite side, and the sun just rising above the ridgeline. It was a beautiful view, and I wish I had had a camera to capture the moment. As it was, I tried to savor the image, while still maintaining an 8 min/mi. pace :-). The Riparian is really a neat little gem to have so close by...
The scout training lasted most of the morning and I missed Lindsay's soccer game. Paige took the ACT, and Amber went babysitting for the Sawyers. Poor Kent was the only one with no firm agenda for the day.
In the afternoon, I went to a baptism for Madison (did you know her)? She is a YW who has wanted to join the church for a long time, but her parents would not let her. She turned 18 on Friday and scheduled her baptism for the very next day. She is friends with Brianna T., and number of the other youth in our ward (Riley H., Chase E., Brooke A., etc. were all there). Bro. Wilkinson was also at the baptism (he is a counselor in the Gilbert Mission presidency). His hair was just beginning to grow back from his chemo treatment. I went up and shook his hand, and, pointing to my own head, told him that he didn't really need to get cancer in order to have a cool haircut like mine! He laughed .... He actually looked quite good, which is encouraging.
The baptism was very nice and I looked at it through somewhat of a different lens, in light of your service. I watched the sister missionaries there, who were pretty much beaming throughout. I shook their hands afterwards and told them that I was sure they would be writing a neat letter home to their families this pday!
After getting home from the baptism, I took Kent shopping for some new tennis shoes as well as to look for some hiking shoes for him, as we prepare for our summer trip to Mt. Whitney. We didn't find any hiking shoes, but did find some tennis shoes. Mom had taken him shopping to Sports Authority the week before and they had found a pair that he liked as far as comfort but didn't want because of the color (florescent yellow). Well, I took him to JCPenney's and he found a pair that he really liked, so we bought them. Then we went back to Sports Authority to look at hiking shoes. I had him show me the yellow shoes he had tried on the week before, and it turns out that they were the exact kind we bought at JCP, just a more "acceptable" color. And we got them for $8 cheaper! I guess he was destined to get these shoes!
We didn't find any good hiking shoes for Kent--not much of a selection. I think we will need to try REI. Anyway, on the way home, we dropped by Home Depot and I bought an ax and hatchet with $ I still had from Gma from last Father's Day. Then we stopped by Fry's for some brownies and stuff we would need for Sunday dinner. After a final stop at Little Cesar's for pizza, we stumbled back home. Two and a half hours of shopping was a lot more shopping that Kent or I are used to :-).
I dropped off the pizza and then headed over to Gma's, where all of the Garner family adults were gathering to celebrate Gma and Gpa's 51st wedding anniversary. We had a platter of mini-chimis from Nando's and everybody brought some side dishes to share. It was a nice dinner. Gma told us about her wedding and "honeymoon." They were originally planning to marry in the Salt Lake Temple, but it was being renovated and ended up not opening in time, so that's why they ended up getting married at the Logan temple instead. Gma was in school at the University of Utah (where she had transferred from Utah State to finish up here degree), and Gpa was teaching seminary at Granite high school, so they didn't end up having much of a honeymoon to kick off their marriage. (Sounds about like your mom's and my honeymoon ;-). Gma also told us that before they were married, Gpa paid for the last semester of mom's tuition at UofU. I guess that's one way to make sure she was committed to him. Haha.
Gma also told us that their first day home after the wedding, she took Gpa's brand new car (a Volkswagen) and dropped Gpa off at Granite HS, and then headed over to her classes at the university. But, she forgot to turn off the lights and the battery was dead when she went to go home. Some guys talked her into rolling the car down the hill and starting it by popping the clutch. Gma was pretty nervous that she had messed up his new car and might screw it up further (or crash it, with the rolling start), but it ended up working (she got it started) and was able to make it home. :-) Whew! Crisis averted!
After dinner and stories, we played "Actionary" with the Pictionary cards. It was hilarious, as you can imagine. Diane was the pro! One of the words she had was "gangplank." She got us to guess "plank" fairly easily, but was having trouble with the "gang" part, so she started jumping around, throwing some "gang signs," which ultimately allowed us to guess the word, but mostly just made us laugh. Good times. Also, Richard got a bit frustrated with his team (not really, but mostly in a joking way) when they could not guess his impression of "polar bear." The closest they got was the "Abominable Snowman." Richard was pretty animated and thought his impression was rather obvious, so we had a fun time kidding him about it. Thankfully, he has pretty thick skin.
Gma was a good sport and played along as well, even though she had been "traumatized" by this game when we played it years ago. She had been given the word "tidal wave" and all we could guess was "beached whale"! She hasn't ever quite been able to live that one down. But again, she's always been a good sport (and actually did a great job)!
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| The Garner Crew at Grandma Garner's |
Like the aging folks we are, everyone was tired and ready to go home by about 9:30, so we wrapped up for the night.
Saturday night was also prom. Paige invited a few other friends over who did not have dates to the dance for a girls hang-out. Rachel ended up coming and they ate some pizza and watched movies. Paige was cool with skipping prom and, in her usual laid-back style, just took it in stride. I love that about her personality.
In other news: On Tuesday night, Lindsay and I went to Barnes & Noble so I could pick up a book on Yosemite and start reading up on it for my trip this summer with Kent. I've had a good time reading about the hikes and the area in general. There's no way we'll be able to enjoy it all during our short visit, but I'll consider our visit this July as a "scouting trip" for a future visit as a family some time.
Sis. Wrigley was released today as the Stake YW president ... after six years! That's quite a tenure for such a calling. Sis. C. Speth was called as the new YW president.
All in all, life is good. We look forward with anticipation for your emails and hang on every word (I usually end up reading your email 3 or 4 times at various points over the week). Looking forward to seeing a few pictures. We are very proud of you! We pray for your health, safety, and success daily. Hope your Spanish is coming along and that you and Sis. Rios are building up a good teaching pool in your new area. Keep a good attitude even in your trials/challenges. You'll find that the more challenging the trial, generally the fonder the memories when you look back on it later in life. There is not much worth having in life that does not require hard work and perseverance.
Te amo! Have a great week!
Love,
Dad
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