Drawing To A Close

Two days of class left and then finals.  I am trying to figure out my finals schedule and it appears I will only have two test finals and one presentation final.  I guess I still have a final due this week for one of my classes so technically 3 test finals and one presentation final.  The last class is my computer class and I don't see a final listed for that one which doesn't hurt my feelings.  Tonight I had my last SPED 3030 class.  It is nice to have this drawing to a close though I still need to get signed up for next semester and I need to get my math placement test done.  Still lots to do but the end of the tunnel is very much visible.  It will be really nice to be done with this semester. It has been a lot of work. 

Single Sister

We were going through some names this morning in ward council of members who should receive a Christmas basket from the ward. My name was on the list and I let it be known that I didn't need to be on the list.  Sister Thorley  said that I did need to be on the list, I qualify because I am single and Morgan kindly pointed out that I am old.  Anyway we moved on.  Then it came around to assigning who should deliver the baskets and after going through several names it came back to mine. The Bishop asked who I would like to deliver mine so I said that if I am getting a basket I would like all of the auxiliaries and the bishopric to visit my home. Thinking I was really funny I then heard Sister Thorley offer to send a single sister to drop off the gift basket and I could let her know which one.  It was quite funny and I said "Sister Thorley, I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that".  Anyway, after the meeting I thanked her for thinking of me and we had a good laugh. She said she knew several women she could set me up with and I joked that she must be in communication with my mother. I sure appreciate the brothers and sisters I get to associate with in my ward. I am grateful for their love and concern for me and my family. It is a wonderful thing to be a member of the church, to have a ward family and friends to serve with and associate with and love.

Hard to believe

I went on another date tonight.  I know it is hard to believe.  It was actually with Missy again.  That is like 4 dates with her in the last 3 months.  That is pretty significant for me.  I don't date very often and the fact that I have been on 4 dates with the same gal in three months is pretty much a dating milestone for me. I enjoy spending time with her. I am sure to have another date with her sometime in the next couple of weeks but that might blow my mind, 5 dates with the same person inside of 4 months... easy tiger! Don't get too excited people.  I have yet to even hold her hand.  I mean come on, that would be way too much.  I don't hold hands with women, well at least I haven't for the last 5 years anyway.  Just the fact that I have gone on multiple dates should be reason enough to celebrate.

Snow Day

Woke up to snow falling.  It was definitely a white Friday in Cedar City.  I went to the shop to try and fix up a couple of steps at the back door.  I was going to paint it with a restoring paint but found I didn't have a roller or a pan.  I needed to clean it first anyway so that is what I did.  My days of being Mr. De-greaser returned and I scrubbed hard on the steps.  They cleaned up pretty well and that turned into a big floor cleaning project because I had to spray down the steps.  It was quite the watery mess. Anyhow, didn't get the steps painted with the restoring paint but they are ready for it.  I will go over in the morning and knock that out.  So I headed home afterwards and invited Jim and Clayton over for lunch - the ladies all went down to St. George.  We had Philly's.  They were quite delicious.  Following lunch I took the boys to the hill at Cal Ranch for some sledding fun.  They had a great time and even enjoyed trying to surf down the hill with a couple of successful runs. I had broken down and finally bought myself some snow boots.  They were quite warm and that made my standing and watching a bit more comfortable. Sometimes you just need to enjoy a snow day.  

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving, what a day.  Much to be thankful for of course and much to celebrate on this fine day.  I am so very grateful for my family, for my sweet children that are such a joy in my life.  I am a TurkeyBowl football fanatic.  It is one of my favorite things to do on Thanksgiving though my body hasn't been such a fan of it for the last few years.  Well more than just a few.  I have learned to take things down a notch so as not to get injured too badly.  The body has a way of letting me know I'm getting older.  I had great set ups at least three times to make an interception, should have made them but each time the ball was just out of reach.  I could not longer jump high enough to make those grabs or ever deflections.  It was quite sad.  I could read the plays and I could get in position to make the play but then I couldn't get my fat butt up in the air to make the grab.  So the hops are gone but I can still move fast enough to be competitive and I can even throw a pass on a dime a time or two.  It was a lot of fun to be out playing and to make it even funner Natty, Jack and Andy all came out and played as well.  Jack scored a touchdown (granted he ran the ball to the wrong end zone but I knew better than to take that moment of glory away from him), Andy boy scored a touchdown on a ferocious run where he didn't stop until he was at the base of the hill, 40 yards or so to the back of the end zone.  Natty made a few incredible grabs out there and was a big part of moving the ball.  It was a lot of fun to have them out there participating with me in something I love to do.  My body doesn't love how it feels right now but we will survive.  Grateful for my children and for my family, they are wonderful people.  

Helpers

We set out to clean the house today.  Usually this boils down to kids not being the most helpful and me doing the brunt of the work.  Today was different. I had Jack vacuuming and quite excited to do it. I had Andy straightening up multiple rooms and even cleaning his bedroom.  I had Natalie tackle the bathroom and her room as well.  It was wonderful.  There was still plenty for me to do and there were a few hours invested in the project but it sure was a big help to have the kids helping out.  Very grateful for their contributions. 

Leaves

I raked leaves on Saturday into a few piles in the back yard but did not have a chance to bag them up.  I purchased the bags for the job but couldn't get to it until today.  The weather has been good and then right when I was getting ready to do the job the wind started blowing.  That made for more raking.  There is nothing quite as effective as raking leaves in the middle of a wind storm.  Oh well, managed to get them raked and bagged though I don't recommend waiting on wind storms before bagging leaves.  That plays some tricks on you. 

We'll Take Luck

Sometimes I am just thrilled to have a little luck on my side.  I guess we make our own luck right?  Anyway, I had a test today, I didn't feel fantastic about it but gave it my best effort.  I thought it would turn out poorly, it didn't.  I got 19 out of 22.  I'll take it, gladly.  Some of the questions seemed a bit tricky in nature but I thought about them, applied logic and chose the best possible answer according to that logic.  It turned out well.  So I say we'll take luck, and even if we have to make our own luck we'll still take it. 

Right

In my calling as the Sunday school president I have to make sure we are properly staffed for teachers.  We were okay for teachers but felt like we wanted to add one more to our Gospel Doctrine class.  We had 5 at one point and dropped down to two.  This was not bad as both instructors were happy to teach more than once a month.  I know when I taught Gospel Doctrine I wanted to teach every week. It was one of my favorite callings in the church.  Anyhow, we called a third instructor, Sister Aullman who had taught the youth for many years.  She was released from that a few months ago. I asked her to help sub the youth class in October as we lost teachers and had a new Sunday school teacher that would take the class but was on another assignment for the month.  At that point I had the feeling that we should call her to be a Gospel Doctrine teacher.  The Bishopric agreed and she was called.  Today she taught her first lesson and it was fantastic. In the youth curriculum there is a different teaching style that incorporates media and a lot of discussion. Sister Aullman has an excellent background in doing this and we felt it needed to be part of the adult Sunday school.  Today she modeled it perfectly for the other instructors and added a dimension to the class that was fantastic. The Spirit was strong in that room today and it felt good, really good.  I am grateful to the Lord and the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  I am glad I listened and that the presidency listened and the Bishopric did as well. Our desires are to do what is right.  I knew today that we had done that when we acted on those promptings. It was a humbling experience for me today.  I hope that I can keep myself attuned to the Spirit and that I can act on promptings received.  There are times when those promptings in the past have fallen on deaf ears and I hope I can minimize that in the future, that I can be quick to act when impressions come.  

Champs

The Southern Utah University Thunderbird football team became the Big Sky Conference Champions today.  The game was played right here in Cedar City and it was spectacular.  I got the call to help out on the Chain Crew in place of Dave.  Griffin is sick so Dani asked Dave to help out with the fam which opened up the spot for me.  What a game.  It truly was one of the best games I have had the pleasure of watching, live, on the field with the players behind me expressing choice words.  This was a close game, a great battle, a hard fought victory for the Thunderbirds and it capped off a fantastic season in the Big Sky Conference.  Congratulations!

Date Night

I went on a date tonight thus qualifying the evening as a date night.  It was a skosh on the late side but it was good.  I went out with my friend Missy and we had to start out with burgers at the Brick House.  We had talked about them a couple of months ago and were going to get them once before but it didn't work out so we had to work them in tonight.  She almost went with her favorite Pulled Pork but decided to go with my recommendation of the 50/50 Jalapeno Popper Burger.  It is my absolute favorite.  I went with the Aloha Burger which is quite delicious as well. It is a very saucy and wet burger but it has great flavor.  Missy liked the burger, no complaints and no regrets for straying from the Pulled Pork and diving into this burger.  It is my favorite burger.  We went to see the latest Bond movie, Spectre.  I thought it was great.  She said she enjoyed it as well. She hasn't seen the other Daniel Craig Bond movies so I may have to convince her to do a Bond marathon, with me of course.  It was nice to go out and have a fun evening.  

Getting Closer

The end of the semester is approaching and I am really looking forward to being done with some of the classes I am taking. I have been trying to finish up on a few assignments in other classes including the computer class that has taken up a ton of my time. Yesterday I was rejoicing as I thought I was done but then I found there are still 3 more assignments out there.  Make me want to vomit. Some of what we are doing now seems like things they added in just to make the class stretch out for the entire semester.  It can be a bit irritating but what can I do?  I have to take it just like I had to take the library media class and the university 1010 class.  The good new is that I am done with these three classes.  Sweet.  Now I just need to get into math and continue on in the education program.  I guess I need to look and see what other generals I have left but I think math will do it after this semester.  So, probably looking at two semesters of math, or so I hope, and then a lot of upper division education classes.  Sweet. 

Math

I've got to get into math.  I have to.  It is my nemesis and I put it off as much as possible but I have to hammer it out.  There was a review today for 990 that was open to all students.  It is designed to help you pass the placement test and get into 1010.  I have already done 1010 but that was nearly 18 years ago now.  I need to qualify for it now.  It might be the best place for me to start.  Some of the things on the review tonight I was good with, other things, not so much.  Dang math, so many rules, so many tricks, it starts to get confusing.  The class continues for another 2 hours tomorrow evening.  I will be there for that as well. My goal is to get at least into 1010.  I've got to get through it and the time is now. 

Knock Out!

I am trying to knock out more of my classes right now.  I have finished everything except the final in one of my classes and I should be able to take that in the next couple days - it is currently locked.  I have a few more projects in another class and I will try to get through them in the next day or so, probably more the "or so" as I think there are 4 or 5 time consuming assignments left.  With these out of the way the last few items from my other 3 classes will be easier to manage, still a lot but easier to manage.  I am quite ready to be done with this semester though the load doesn't allow me to be done.  I still have to press forward.  Oh, and just for good measure I got to spend a couple of hours doing homework with the boys tonight. It is all good and one day it too will pass.  Sometimes in my attempt to knock things out I simply pass out.  A 25 minute power nap is a little taste of heaven some days.  I had to stop Andy in the middle of his homework tonight so I could take a power nap.  I was gone.  25 minutes later I returned and we knocked it out.  

White November

Woke up with snow on the ground this morning. It really wasn't a surprise as the forecast showed snow hitting the area today.  That it did.  My walk to school was snow free but between my classes this morning it had started snowing and it continued to snow for most of the day.  It isn't super heavy accumulation but it is something and that is good for the area.  We like to celebrate our snow storm victories here in the desert.  We'll see how the next 10 days go to see if we will be playing football on the grass Thanksgiving morning or if we'll be out in the snow.  The grass has my vote. 

Why?

Why?  What a fabulous question is this three letter word why.  I think it is an important question and one that we should be asking frequently.  One of the things I like to do when preparing a lesson for church is to ask why the Lord wants us to look at this particular lesson today?  Then we can follow up with another great question - what does the Lord want me to learn from this lesson?  There is no reason to end there, we might as well ask ourselves how. How can I implement these principles in my own life today?  And so the next thing is when.  When will I begin?  Then it is appropriate to come back to what.  What have I learned?  Is that a recipe for successful learning?  Is is a recipe for successful teaching?  I don't know much but I do know that when I focus on the why of the lesson and the what does the Lord want me to learn, I learn a lot more than if I simply look at the historical points of the lesson.  There is a reason it is there, what is it and why do I need to know it today?  That is something that gives me a lot of help when preparing a lesson and when pondering the subject matter.  It gives me strength as I listen to a lesson and begin pondering the same questions about what is being presented.  Just some thoughts this evening on why and a few of his companion questions. 

Breaking Point

Some days are hard and by that I don't mean the day itself but the circumstances of the day can be hard.  I am tired and I am struggling with the load I am carrying right now and I was at a breaking point several hours ago.  The hard part about everything is that I have no time off, ever.  Life is constantly on the move and if I take an hour or two to relax and watch a show or something I end up having to make up for that time later.  Maybe that is why it is 2 AM and I am writing this entry.  I have a big paper due on Monday and I wanted to get it knocked out today.  My last few weeks of the semester are stacked and so I have to try and get a head where I can so I can stay on track.  It is nice to have the paper done but I didn't want to do it today and so maybe that is why I was struggling. I'm tired.  Single dad-hood is not easy and I'm struggling right now.  I'm just rambling tonight.  Don't know if I am saying anything of importance.  Let me just say that there was a moment when I wanted to find a place a to hide, maybe assume the fetal position for a while and let it out.  I didn't want to do anything else and I was a bit depressed when it hit me to just get up and get the kids dinner.  I did and my perspective changed and my attitude improved and I was able to press forward.  Action, positive action in the right direction helps. 

Chili Cook Off Winner!

The Cedar 8th Ward Elders Quorum had an activity tonight that we hosted at the Brick House.  We have done this activity for the last few years, back from the days that I was in the presidency with Ben Fawson.  This goes back to the original cafe location.  Anyway, it is a good time. I am usually tied up in all the other parts of the meal that I don't enter a chili but today I had to make chili for the restaurant anyway so I took a bit of that and added a few modifications and entered it.  Well, I won.  It is a pretty fantastic chili to begin with and I added some rib eye steak that I cubed up and grilled with some sauteed onion and bell pepper in habanero sauce that was brought in as a sample.  It really gave it a nice flavor and a little more kick than our Brick House chili.  So anyway as the first place winner I was set to win the $25 gift certificate for the Brick House. I don't need that so I told them to give it to the next person in line.  Gary and Renee took home the prize and it was well deserved.  Gary put together a delicious jalapeno popper chili.  I thought it was fantastic.  Morgan Ellsworth probably had my favorite chili that was made with a very tender chuck roast, quite delicious.  Kaden and Stephanie Leko brought another one of my favorites, a white bean chicken chili and it did not disappoint.  They gave me a cup full of leftovers.  It's here, in my fridge, waiting for me to consume it.  I'm excited about that.  There were a couple of others, all good. I decided to give out a free sandwich card to all who entered a chili.  It was a fun activity and I quite enjoyed being with good people this evening.  I did get awarded the first place certificate and a wooden spoon and it appears I left both at the restaurant. Well, I'm sure it will still be there in the morning. 

Five Kay

After taking a test, working on a research document, dealing with a crappy printer, and preparing for another test I finally had to take a break from the studying and do something for my own personal enjoyment.  I put a show on the kindle and worked out.  I did some dips, leg lifts, and pull ups and then jumped on the elliptical to finish off the workout.  I don't know what happened but I decided to push myself beyond the 2 miles that I have been doing and pulled out 3.2 miles which is a bit further than a 5K.  I was ready to be done at 1.5 but determined that I needed to stay on.  It had been a few months, maybe even a year or so since my last elliptical 5K.  It was a great run though I might need a few months to recover...  In other news, never mind, I've got to get to bed. 

Pressing Forward

I listen to conference talks on my walk to and from school.  I love it.  This is a great time to listen to the words of the prophets and other church leaders and it strengthens my resolve to press forward.  Today I listened to President Russel M. Nelsons talk from the last conference titled A Plea to My Sisters.  In this talk he shares the of operating on a little girl that was gravely ill from congenital heart disease.  She died.  He later operated on another daughter from that family also born with a malformed heart.  This child also died.  President Nelson talks about this heartbreaking loss undoing him.  He talks about going home, throwing himself on the floor and crying all night.  He was done and determined to never perform another heart operation.  He talks about his sweet wife being by his side all night and then asking if he was done crying.  She then told him to get up and go back to work that he needed to learn more.  She told him if he quit others would have to painfully learn what he already knew.  He went back to work and later performed an operation on President Spencer W. Kimball that saved his life.  This is a wonderful story and sheds light on the fact that each of us, no matter who we are, where we serve or what we do, each of us goes through times of heartache and disappointment, times of trial and of sadness when we may not want to carry on. In our times of need the Lord does not leave us comfortless and he expects us to press forward. As we exercise faith in him and press forward we will find strength to carry the load.  In another conference address Elder Bednar taught us that is is the load that helps us to learn, to grow, to move forward.  Well, life can certainly be a challenge and there are days when we may not want to keep going but we need to.  We need to press forward with a steadfastness in Christ and with a love of God and of all men. 

Am I ready for Snow?

I usually love the first snow of the year.  It is beautiful, peaceful, calming and white.  I love getting out the snow shovel and clearing the walks and clearing some neighbors walks.  I've really started to enjoy jumping in the old ford snow plow and clearing the lot at the Brick House.  Today we has some snow, not too bad that there were lots to clear or walks to shovel.  This was just a nice little storm that dropped a couple inches.  I am quite grateful for that because I am feeling overloaded and overwhelmed with classes at the moment.  I'm just hoping I can keep it all together during the last few weeks of school.  There is a lot to do and I don't know that I am ready for snow just yet. Of course if it does snow to a point where shoveling is needed I will most likely love it because it will get me away from the books for a bit in order to do something I love. 

Hymns from Conference

For the last few weeks we have been watching conference talks during Family Home Evening.  Before we put on a talk we watch footage of choir numbers from conference.  It is all available on the Mormon Channel.  I really have enjoyed it and the kids actually asked tonight if we were going to watch some singing as we went down for FHE.  That made me happy as it means they also like the hymns. We listened to two tonight, Consider the Lilies and How Firm a Foundation.  I love the message in Consider the Lilies as it is reference to Mathew 6.  There are several verses that tie into this but here are a few that I really like.

28 Andy why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

It continues and it is beautiful scripture that speaks to me a message that the Lord knows who I am, he knows what I need and he sends assistance.  That comes in many different ways but it comes.  That is a humbling thing and brings me to my knees in gratitude for a Heavenly Father who loves me and is aware of who I am.  He does not leave us comfortless.  Anyway I really like these scriptures and really like this hymn. 

How Firm a Foundation also is a powerful hymn that just touches my Spirit.  The message in the last verse is powerful and I might not be able to sing it because I get a little choked up as I ponder on the words. 

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never,
I'll never, no never, no never forsake.  

I don't know that I completely understand what that means but to me my thoughts turn to the Savior on whom I depend.  The Savior whose atonement makes possible my ability to be clean and to return to live with my Father in Heaven. How could I desert him?  Life is hard, it is full of challenges and there is a constant battle with the adversary for my soul but I will not forsake the Savior.  It is just one of those messages that fills my heart and I don't want to do wrong, I want to be strong and true to the faith.

I do love the hymns of the church and I enjoy watching these magnificent messages from conference.   

Meeting

I had a Sunday School Presidency meeting at my home this morning and have to say that I thoroughly enjoy these brethren that I serve with. Jake Whetman, Gary Scholes and Will Bagnal are good men and desire to do what is right.  We had a good conversation about scripture, about handbook, about current events in the church and about things happening in our Sunday school.  We discussed teachings of prophets relative to being an effective teacher.  I enjoyed the conversation and the things that I learned there.  We are preparing for a teacher training class during the first two weeks of December.  It should be a lot of fun as we look at and discuss some of the things taught by Elder Bednar on effective gospel teaching. We also discussed the need to help the members become more engaged learners. Everything needs to work together meaning the teachers need to better facilitate discussions and the members need to come prepared for the lesson and ready to share.  I said engaged learners, I think Elder Bednar refers to it as active learners.  Anyway, these are exciting times and there is much good that can be done. We did have a new Gospel Doctrine teacher called today, Sister Aullman. She shared her testimony during fast and testimony meeting and I felt really good about her call, that we listened to promptings from the Spirit in submitting her name.  I am excited to see how she does.  We have others that are going to be called as instructors in youth classes and I am excited for their calls.  It is fun to be a part of the Sunday school and the teaching of the gospel in our ward.  I hope that our presidency is doing a good job.  I think that we are and hope we can be successful in raising the bar in gospel learning.  I love the Savior and I want to be a valiant servant.  Again, very grateful for the presidency and for the things I learned from these good men in our meeting this morning. 

Beat

I am pretty beat tonight after a day of walking the sidelines of three different football games.  It was a great day and I got to watch some really good high school football right down on the field with no obstructions.  You really can't get a better seat for football than being right there on the field holding the down box or marking the first down line.  I love it and look forward to doing it.  5 games in a 30 or 31 hour time period is a lot and my body is tired.  It was a lot of fun though and I will happily do it again.  Come to find out we even get paid for it. I did it without expecting any pay.  I was just happy to be there and to see the games but if I can make money off of it, well, isn't that just the cherry on top.  Very cool. 

Last night I think I wrote about different coaching styles and how the one that was positive was so much more impressive.  By positive I am referring to the team that didn't use foul language and was always quick to help their opponents back to their feet.  Anyhow, I had a fine day and I am totally beat.  Must sleep!

Playoff Football

I was asked to help out on the sidelines for some high school playoff games this weekend.  There were three games today and three games tomorrow.  That is a lot of football.  I didn't make the first game today because I had a test that was happening at the same time and I needed to do well on the test.  I managed to get a 90% on it which is great.  I was surprised that I did that well and gladly take it.  Anyhow, in the first game the teams were Rich and Diamond Academy.  I was on the Diamond Academy sidelines and have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with the coaching staff and the discipline of the team.  One of the things that tends to happen on the sidelines is a lot of swearing.  Players, coaches, whoever, it seems to come from all angles.  This team did not swear.  The coaches did not swear.  They were passionate about the game and they were definitely in to it but they did not use foul language. I was impressed.  I also noticed that on every play these players helped up their opponents.  There wasn't a lot of show boating or self aggrandizement going on. They just went out, played hard and played smart football. They won decisively.  It appeared to me that at least three of the coaches were brothers and part way through the game their father joined them on the sideline.  I really liked what I saw there today.

The latter game was Juab and Juan Diego.  I was on the Juan Diego side of the field.  They are apparently a Catholic school.  Let's just say they didn't have the same discipline as Diamond Academy and I heard some very colorful language from the top down.  They were a good team, they played a great game and they look very strong.  For the guy on the sideline that moves the first down marker, I much prefer the discipline of the Diamond Academy team.  It didn't make them any weaker as a team, they won their game convincingly.  I don't, it was refreshing is all I can say.  We'll see how things go tomorrow.  

Sweater Weather

The weather has turned colder this week.  Monday wasn't bad but there was some nasty wind all day.  I don't think Tuesday was very eventful but yesterday we had snow going and the temps were lower.  It most certainly was weather worthy of a sweater.  It is just that time of year when sweaters are needed. One could put on more to protect from the cold and there will be weather that warrants such action. I don't think we are there quite yet.  For me the sweater is great, well a hoodie to be specific.  It is comfortable, it has a hood,  and they tend to go really well with my shorts.  Oh the sweater, the perfect solution in colder weather. 

Another Fall

This must be the week for falling down stairs.  Fortunately this time it was not Andy or Jack or Natty. That's right, I stepped up and took the fall this evening.  It was at the Brick House and it was two steps at the back door.  It was wet outside because of snow falling, well more like a rain/snow mix at that point.  Anyhow, I stepped out for a second and then upon returning inside my foot hit the middle step and didn't stop moving.  It shot straight out and I was airborne.  There was nothing I could do, I was going down fast.  I bashed my back hard on the ground and kicked a co2 tank but somehow managed to not crack my head on the stairs behind me. I'm not sure how I didn't bash my head, seems like it should have happened and with as fast as I went down it could have been a painful blow.  Didn't happen.  I was in a bit of a heap on the floor though.  Lots of pain in my body.  Dave gave me a hand up and I walked it off.  I'm feeling some slight pain in my back and did rip up my left arm a bit but nothing else too bad at this point.  I am feeling lucky.  Hopefully I don't have major pain setting in tonight whilst I sleep.  Hopefully we have met our fall quota for the next while.  It just isn't fun. Very grateful that damage is minimal.  

The Burn

Last semester there was a point when I was ready for the semester to be over.  I was beginning to feel some burn out.  That probably happened when I had a bout a month left.  Right now I am feeling similar feelings though not as bad.  I suppose the burn out feelings may intensify over the next week or so.  There really is no option but to press forward and do the very best that I can do.  There will be several more moments like these when I am feeling burned out so I suppose I will just need to be prepared for it and figure out my way through it.  Such is life. Sometimes we just hit a wall and are ready for it to be done or we are in the middle of a trial and there seems to be no way out.  There comes a desire to quit and have it go away. That is the point where we need to be the strongest and not give up. These things are but for a moment and they too will pass.  

Broken Arm

Andy's little tumble down the stairs yesterday resulted in a fractured wrist.  He is certainly a trooper and did well yesterday.  I thought it might just be a sprain but this morning I could see him avoiding the use of the arm and saw some slight swelling in the wrist and so I kept him home from school and set up an appointment with the doctor.  We got him checked out then went over and got x-rays at the hospital and then back to the doctors office.  Both the bones were fractured.  He is in a soft cast or splint now and will get a permanent cast on Thursday.  He was pretty excited about his first broken bone but who wouldn't be?  Okay there are probably many who would prefer not to break a bone. Regardless, it is done and he is going to be fine.  Probably mid December before he will be out of a cast so that could make for some interesting school work.  Maybe he will have to train the left hand to write.  It couldn't be much worse than the right hand.  Andy doesn't have the nicest penmanship.  Well, good times.  I am grateful it wasn't any worse than it was and I am grateful I didn't make him wait 12 days before going to the doctor.  

Falling down stairs

The morning was progressing beautifully.  It is daylight savings time so this morning the kids got to sleep in a bit before we had to get ready to go to baby Henry's blessing.  Tara, my niece, came over and was hanging out so she could get a ride to the baby blessing.  She didn't get the memo about the time change and was at the house a little over an hour before the time we had to go.  No problem.  I got the boys up and helped them get ready.  Jack was good to go and went downstairs to talk to Tara.  Andy got ready and wanted to get downstairs to see Tara.  Suddenly from my room I heard a tumbling down the stairs.  Somehow Andy missed the first step and went down, head over heels.  It sounded terrible.  Tara said it certainly didn't look good.  Andy was complaining of pain in his wrist but everything appears to be fine.  He was ghostly pail, thought he was going to puke but managed to get past that.  He ended up not going to the baby blessing or stake conference.  For the baby blessing he looked terrible, just pail as could be.  I told him to just lay down and relax.  He looked much better when we got home to check on him before going over stake conference.  He still played up his injury a bit so I let him stay home. He appears to be fine unless he knows I'm looking at the wrist.  He can intensify the "pain" when he see's me watching.  I don't know.  We will do our best with this situation and hope it is just a sprain.  Hopefully he won't resist going to school.