Congratulations to Paige, a new member of the National Honor Society!
Author: Angela
I write so my family will always have letters from home.
Happy Halloween!
Clean
Occasionally we have the opportunity to clean the Draper Temple after hours. This means we go from 9 to 11:30 p.m. or on a Monday afternoon. We have a cleaning supervisor who sees that we are thorough and know what to do. We present our temple recommends to enter and we change into white cleaning clothing. The temple is meticulously cleaned often. In fact, it’s difficult to find any evidence of debris on our cleaning rags and dusters.
On my last trip to clean the temple I was given the task to vacuum the sealing rooms and two additional rooms in the hallway. I spent two hours beneath chandeliers and between mirrors with the afternoon sun coming through the stained glass windows. The air in the temple always feels tight and hushed and even the vacuum cleaner I was given was especially quiet. I suppose that the people who were cleaning bathrooms will receive additional blessings, but I felt pretty blessed that day to be able to spend so much time caring for these beautiful sealing rooms in the House of the Lord.
I envisioned the families who had gathered there to witness marriages. I thought about my own family and my hopes that my children will be married in temples someday. It was a good way to spend an afternoon. I looked into the mirrors. When I see myself in the mirrors at the temple I feel more beautiful than I do at home.
Arrow of Light
Timothy earned his Arrow of Light this month! Can that little Cub Scout shirt get any more decorated?
This is one of Timothy’s Webelos leaders. He has been really good.
From December to May we won’t have a Cub Scout. That will be a change. It also means that Richard will have a small reprieve in Pinewood Derby Car making.
Baby Quilts Finished
I finished the two baby quilts I was working on this month. They are for a newborn and his big brother (age 1) who live in my neighborhood.
They are so soft and fuzzy on the back. Life just gets better when you touch that minky fabric. And look! My friend machine quilted them in a sock monkey pattern to make us smile.
I love that they are similar but each has a unique personality. The brighter one with the yellow back is my favorite.
Mark’s First Piano Recital
The kids are posing with their piano teacher at the Fall Recital, which also happened to be Mark’s first piano recital. The younger children in the studio played Halloween pieces and dressed up in their costumes. Mark is Boba Fett from Star Wars. He played a spooky song called If You Dare! and he did a great job.
Daniel played Rondo Sonatina Op. 20 #1 by Frederic Kuhlau and The Entertainer by Scott Joplin. Daniel is very expressive and I don’t think I will ever get tired of hearing him play Joplin.
Timothy played A Neat Beat by Mier and he rocked the house. He is a wonderful pianist. Just… wow!
This is a picture of Paige and her teacher rehearsing the Shostakovich Concerto No. 2 Op. 102 for two pianos before the recital. Paige has two performances in the next few weeks for this piece. It’s beautiful.
Paige played Sonatina Op. 88 #3 Mvt. 1 by Frederik Kuhlau for the recital. She did a lovely job and she always has the grace to smile and give a confident bow after her performances. That’s hard to do.
Watching our four children perform at this recital was really something special.
Daniel, age 14
Daniel celebrated a birthday last week with Chinese food, cheesecake, and a new motorized scooter.
I’ll tell you a little bit about Daniel, age 14. He joins clubs and auditions for things. He’s a pianist in the jazz band, a member of the Senate, and this last month dabbled in debate.
This week he is in a roadshow where he wears a shark costume and plays the scary theme from Jaws on his cello.
He plays The Entertainer all of the time and his favorite dynamic is fortissimo.
He earned 10 merit badges this summer.
He has a good friend in Texas with whom he still Skypes almost daily after many years of separation.
He loves engineering and computers. He mows our lawn. We depend on his rope skills, strength, and ingenuity on family trips and projects.
He has a growing circle of spiritual, outgoing, and interesting friends.
He was so happy last night to see the new episodes of Studio C. He is also a big fan of The Piano Guys.
I look forward to the things that Daniel will do this next year. He’s definitely worth watching. My health problems during my pregnancy with Daniel meant that he went through a rough time along with me. I knew that we should name him Daniel because he miraculously came through the lion’s den before he was born and I knew he was a great spirit before I even met him.
Baby quilt update
I’m making two quilts from the fabric I bought last week. One is for a new baby at church. I am not sure who will get the other one. I’ve been arranging the squares on the floor. I’m not loving the way they look right now. I don’t like the brown. Maybe that will change.
A Wedding Day
It’s a good thing that there are so many photos of this bride (our niece) and groom circulating in the world because we didn’t make it home with a single photo of them.
Here is what the kids and Richard took pictures of on the wedding day in Manti.
Oh, look. There is a picture of the bride with her eyes half closed. It was a beautiful wedding in the Manti temple and there was lots of family and love.
Notation
At the beginning of January I began a project to keep my daily TO DO lists in a planner. I know that I am not original in doing this. However, I didn’t appreciate the patterns that I would see emerge from my lists or the story that they would tell.
Here are a few randomly picked dates from the past 9 months and what I listed along with a little commentary.
Saturday, January 5
Piano lessons 10:45-12:45
Piano lesson 2:00 (Timothy)
3:00 Paige and Dan
Pay piano teacher
Apparently the only thing I did on this day was drive kids to and from piano lessons over a span of 5 hours. Even if this was actually all I did, I think that it would be enough.
Saturday, March 23
SPARKS This was the day we drove from Elko to Sparks to visit my Stewart Grandparents.
Thursday, July 4
Paint trim (2 coats) in Daniel’s room
Integrity goal #5: Stand as a witness day 4
Family barbecue 1pm (Spring Lake)
Summertime brought a lot of painting and Young Women Personal Progress goals. The Stand as a Witness goal that I mentioned was to write about my experiences as a Mormon on the blog.
Tuesday, August 13
library
lego shopping with little boys
work on Knowledge #9
type out YW calendar
vacuum upstairs
garden assignment: 3 needed
Summer was winding down; I was trying to make the most of the last days with my little boys by shopping for their favorite toys with them. Knowledge #9 was a Young Women Personal Progress goal where I collected and compiled my favorite quotes from General Conference talks by topic. The garden assignment was for the Church garden which supplies the nearby Bishops’ Storehouse. The big boys and Richard took the assignment.
Thursday, September 5
Drive Richard 5:45 am
Drive Daniel 6:50 am
30 minutes Virtue project
Pick up Richard at work–sick day
YW presidency meeting
10% of Richard’s group laid off today (notation on the side of the to do list)
Costco trip
Bring doctor’s note to school for Mark’s absences
Piano lessons 5:30-7:30
continue paint work in craft room
This was a very stressful day on many levels. There were extra errands because of illness and there was worry about Richard’s job. The Virtue project is my current Personal Progress goal to read the Book of Mormon. Thank goodness most days are not this busy.
I love my life, but I don’t always see the beauty in the little pieces. Keeping my little planner has been a good exercise to help me see that I’m going somewhere in all of my circles of errands and small efforts.