Things are flyin' by

I cannot believe it is December. Where did the year go? I took 2 weeks from work (1 for vacation, 1 for a conference). Not really 2 weeks off but 2 weeks away from the office. My younger brother and his family came into town and we really enjoyed their visit for the first week. Then I attended a conference in Nashville from the US Dept of Education for the second week.

Rachel was a trooper being by herself with all the children for a full work week. Her bus driving schedule changed that same week and she survived it all. She is a very resilient person and I truly appreciate what she does.

Christmas lights are up and we just put up the tree. Paisley, Ayden and Kaleb took care of the interior and Zachary took care of the outside. Everything looks great and I did not have to do much but offer encouragement and suggestions. I wish everything worked this easy.

Got back to work and was hit from all side about this, that and the other thing. Welcome back to work Chris!! :-) A couple people are retiring from JCCC (not in my office), which could have a positive affect on the future. Will wait and see how these things unfold.

Now off to home to be with the 4 youngest at a school activity. Rachel will be at a church function. The teenagers can fend for themselves.

Conference time

I am in charge of the program for an 8 state conference that starts this weekend. I was a bit overwhelmed last week, with last minute changes and attending to minute details! A few things slipped through the cracks but for the most part, everything came together. We have a nice printed program. Many people volunteered to help out and I feel a huge weight off. Next week will be much different.

Many of the people in my office are volunteering to help with the conference in various ways, so emotions are very high currently. People are excited, no one has lost their temper yet (which I kind of expected).....nice surprise! The conference officially starts on Sunday night and ends on Wednesday. I will be checked out of everything else during that time.

I will report back once it is over....

Church

Church is always such a hard battle in our family. Everyone goes but it is hard to get everyone there on time. I am at church 2 hours earlier than most for leadership meetings, this places Rachel in the situation of getting everyone there herself. Well, because she is outnumbered 6 to 1, there may be some things she overlooks.

The funniest thing happened yesterday....Rachel is tired of waiting on people to get to church, she has to show up to get her class set up and ready. She likes to be there by 830am. This is later than school is for the children, so you would like there would be no problem....think again! Rachel does not like to take multiple cars to church, waste of gas and energy. She left the house and left the 3 oldest children at home on Sunday (Ayden, Paisley and Zachary). The assumption was that Zachary would bring the other two children. Ayden was so upset that he went down to the basement not realizing that Zachary and Paisley were still getting ready. They left to church without Ayden.

The first church meeting had started and my phone was vibrating. It did this a few times, voice messages were left. I could not figure out what was going on. Rachel had left the meeting to go out, I did not know what she was doing. I could not figure out who was calling me...I thought I had seen all of the children there. Once sacrament (communion) was blessed and passed I asked Zachary to call home and see what was the matter. I asumed Rachel had gone home with a sick child. I did not realize it was Ayden, until Zachary came in with Ayden...boy did he look mad!

I finally got the whole story after the meeting. Ayden got over it. On my way home from church I decided to listen to the messages Ayden left. I laughed the whole way home...."Dad, Mom LLLEFT me (pause, sob, hang up)." 2nd message..."Do not let MOM come and get me, DO NOT let MOM come and get me, (pause, sigh, hang up)." I laughed the whole way home. Ayden can be an emotional child and this was signature him today!

The day ended great. I still chuckle about this today!

Back at it....enjoy the silence.

Today was a good day. Did my 4th and 6th grade homework (Kaleb and Ayden), got to work on time, sat in meetings most of the day, ate healthier, played basketball and cleaned some of the house. Rachel is coming down with a cold. I do not like to see her sick, probably because it rarely happens. She does a lot around the house and it is hard to see her try and get things done is such a state.

Zachary hit a deer in his car tonight coming home from basketball. It is not too bad. We will probably make a trip to a car grave yard and find a panel to replace the one that is dinged.

We are pulling tons of tomatoes out of our garden. There are probably 30-40 sitting on our counter. I need to find some time to make some salsa and can it. We have been blanching and freezing the tomatoes but do not have too much more room in our freezers.

Isaac and Connor were outside tonight eating their pizza. They were singing and eating, it was fun to see them have some much fun eating. They were watching Zach mow the lawn next door. They were seeing how loud they could get.

I am having 80's flashbacks today. Weird. I am all the sudden thinking of songs that I used to listen to. Remembering friends and places, kind of cool.

I cannot believe how quite it is around the house. This rarely happens. It is kind of nice. Enjoy the silence..........

Chris