10/31/16 Halloween By The Numbers

    One of the fun Entz Elementary traditions is the costume parade for the younger grades. 

     This year Sarah and TJ are the right age to participate. Sarah dressed as a black jaguar and TJ is Chris Kratt from the Wild Kratts TV show. All the kids reprised their same costumes from the other night. 

      Another treat today was a present that came for Peter. Grammie and Grandpa Mangum sent numbers to complement the letters Gram and Papa Connelly sent. 

     Sarah had fun helping Peter practice his numbers. 

     Peter got right into playing with the numbers. 

      The older kids have also been getting a kick out of Peter's letters. Here the older kids made a big 2x3x6 rectangular prism from letters. We also played a game were we gave each team half the letters and counted who could make the most words in ten minutes. The boys are girls had a tied score. 

     The other package that came today had two shower handles for Gram. Papa and Becca B came by to pick them up. Hopefully, they fill the need and work

As expected. 

      This evening the ward had hot dogs for dinner in the Bishop's front yard. Then the kids went trick or treating while I handed out candy. I definitely prefer the cute and creative costumes over the creepy ones. In the end the kids seemed to have a good time and we still managed to read scriptures and get to bed on time. 

10/30/16 Primary Program

      Today the Primary aged children sang song and shared messages about the Savior and the scriptures during Sacrament Meeting. Rebecca, Sarah, TJ and Joseph all had speaking parts that they memorized. They all spoke clearly into the microphone so that people in the audience could understand. We are so proud of them. Heidi sat on the stand and assisted with the microphones and with encouraging the kids to stay reverent. David and Peter and I sat in the congregation. David kindly escorted Peter to the drinking fountain as needed so that I could stay and watch. We had the added treat that Gram, Papa and Becca B were able to come as well. 

      During the rest of church there was quite a bit to do. Bishop Christensen asked me to help play back several videos as part of the third hour lesson. There were a few glitches to work through but I think the message came through. We need to continue to work together as a ward to make everyone feel loved and welcome. 

        This afternoon Jim Nelson and Greg Turley, our home teachers, came by for a visit. We appreciate the spirit they bring into our home. 

10/29/16 Backpacker David

     Yesterday David left on his first ever backpacking camp out. His pack weighed in at over 25 pounds. That's heavy for a boy who weighs in at 80. They hiked 2 miles in and 2 miles out. David was happy upon his return so it seems he had a success. He reported that the hiking was tough but he seemed to have the satisfaction that only comes from doing hard things. 

      This morning the rest of the family helped clean up the church. Heidi and I worked together on the bathrooms while the kids helped empty trash cans and clean chalk boards. There was a good turn out of helpers so the cleaning went fast this week. 

      Rebecca and Sarah had piano lessons this morning. Their teacher Mary has been busy with school and extracurricular activities so we've had to be flexible in order to fit the lessons in. The girls are practicing Christmas songs. So fun. 

10/28/16 Letters From Gram and Papa

     Today we had a nice visit with Gram, Papa and Becca B. While we were there they gave Peter his birthday present. It is a set of giant alphabet puzzle pieces. 

     Joseph was excited to help Peter put words together. Both boys are at an age where this is a wonderfully useful gift. I wish I had a recording of the delighted squeals Peter and Joseph were making. Even after we got home and Peter went down for a nap Joseph kept playing. We spelled words like "mat", "bat" and "hat". We are grateful to Gram and Papa for the useful gift. 

      This afternoon David went on his first ever backpacking campout. We tried to help him pack light while still having what he needed. 

      Also this afternoon was the last Primary Program practice. Rebecca, Sarah and TJ are ready. Joseph may need a little more practice. He and Peter spent the practice time doing laps around the building. I don't know if they got tired out but I sure did. 

10/27/16 Happy Birthday Peter

  Today Peter turned 2. Rebecca likes to ask Heidi what time each of them was born. She figures they're not officially the new age until that time. Peter has already grown and learned so much. Thankfully he has passed through that stage he was in where he cried a lot for no apparent reason. His temperament is much happier now. He and Joseph are good buddies. Peter can recognize the numbers 0-9 and is learning his letters. He's also learning his colors and shapes. He's got triangle and circle down. He told me at dinner tonight that his chicken nugget was a circle (which was pretty close). 

      Today Heidi and Joseph and Peter and I went to Humanitarian. Heidi made blankets and helped me unclog a toilet. I worked on the tech plan for future broadcasts. 

      This evening Rebecca noticed Peter's eyes closing while he ate dinner. She put him on her shoulder and pretty quickly he was out. She has a natural mothering instinct. 

       Tonight Heidi had Unit Commissioner meeting. Those nights used to be hard for me since Peter would cry most of the time. Tonight he woke up, got a drink, then when he still seemed fussy I took him for a walk. A couple of times up and down the street and he was out. 

10/26/16 Trunk or Treat Gram and Papa's Ward

      This evening Gram and Papa invited us to join them for their ward's Halloween Trunk or treat party. We brought the kids in costume plus candy to hand out. They also had hotdogs and cotton candy. The kids all had fun. We had to leave a few minutes early to take David to join the youth for a service project. They took donations of clothes, games and toiletries to deliver them to a charity that serves boys who are waiting to enter foster care. 

10/25/16 "I can do it myself"

     Heidi made some delicious Alfredo pasta for dinner tonight. Peter kept dropping noodles in his lap so I tried to help him. He would have none of that. He did get some of it into his month as well as his face and lap. 

       He has been learning new words like crazy lately. He now recognizes most numbers from 0 to 9 and calls them out as we drive by. At the Taylor's last night he picked up a sticklike toy and said to me "Dad see magic". He seems to think the stick looks like a magic wand. It was super adorable. 

10/24/16 Pumpkin Carving at the Taylor's

     This evening Sharon invited us to

the annual Taylor family pumpkin carving event. Matt had to work and she wanted a little extra help with the carving so she could keep an eye on Alex while Lucy made her jackolantern. Sarah helped Lucy with her pumpkin.

     Rebecca helped clean out our winter squash. We decided to try something new this Halloween. 

     Our friends helped us get some produce from a farmer's market. Among the included items were two large winter squash. Heidi turned ours into an awesome Frankenstein. TJ was there to lend a hand as well. 

       Sister Taylor also put together the fixings to make home made ice cream. This is the kind that you need to roll around in a tin can for half an hour. Sarah helped me roll one of the two cans for a long time. The reward was a sweet treat. 

      The other kids spent the time running around the Taylor's large yard with around a dozen Taylor grand kids. 

      It was a fun event. We are grateful that Sharon invited us. 

  

10/23/16 Taking the Sacrament

       Last night at bedtime Joseph had a fever of 101. At dinner time he wasn't hungry and just wanted to lay still with a blanket. Neither of those attitudes are typical of Joseph. This morning his fever was down to 99.7 and he seemed to be feeling better. Still, to be safe, we felt he shouldn't go to church. This meant that one of the grown ups would also have to stay. Heidi was asked to help again with the Primary Program practice and she needed to visit the Groves Primary Program as part of her Stake calling. In order to keep me from missing taking the Sacrament again (since I stayed home last week with Rebecca) I biked to church with Joseph and Peter in the bike trailer. I took the Sacrament in the lobby while Heidi watched to boys outside. She actually got to take the Sacrament too. David was in charge of passing to the foyer this time and he made sure to get us both. After that I biked the two boys home. 

     The day passed slowly. I enjoyed my time tending to Joseph and Peter.

     Later on Sarah and Rebecca helped Heidi make home made pizza. It was fantastic, the sort of meal you have to stop yourself or you'll eat too much. 

     We watched a video on the church website about the Studio C cast. They are all members of the church. The show had a good balance of spiritual and silly items. The goal seemed to be to show kids that they can be righteous and still have a good time. 

      Heidi and I were surprised to look at the clock and still have time before bed. We decided to fill out our early mail in ballots and stick them in the mail. It feels good to have that done. Now we just have to wait til November 8th to see how it turns out. 

10/22/16 Debelmar Family Forever

      This morning was a very special occasion. The Debelmar Family was sealed in the Temple. I was privileged to be able to attend the endowment session as well as the sealings. There were many many people from the ward present. In the past year the Debelmars have made many new friends. Pierre has been my home teaching companion. He is wonderful to do visits with. Briz (pronounced breeze) broke down a little and cried when three of their kids came in to be sealed to them. There were many tears of joy shed in that room. What a special event. I'm so glad I got to be there. 

     At the same time as the sealing Heidi was helping at Stake Baptisms. She also enlisted Rebecca and Sarah to make some crafty quiet activities for the sunbeams to during the Primary Program practice. She is a service oriented lady. I'm pleased to see her passing the trait to the next generation. 

10/21/16 Free Sample and Trunk or Treat

     This morning Heidi, David, Joseph, Peter and I had a nice visit with Gram and Papa and Becca B. We got Becca's set up to watch DVDs in her room. On the way home we made a quick stop at Costco. While there David and I got separated a short distance from Heidi and the little boys. David and I stopped to try a free sample. The sweet white haired gal running the samples did not believe that I was old enough to be David's dad. She was about to give me the speech about how kids need a parent to give permission to try the samples. Luckily Heidi came back by in time to verify my story. She thought it was pretty funny. I had a chuckle as well but I'll admit I didn't like the thought that someone might not believe that one of my kids was really mine. I love all my kids. Anyhow, I think David looks like my boy. 

     This evening Heritage sponsored a trunk or treat event. The kids dressed in a Wild Kratt's theme. It's a PBS kids cartoon show about two brothers who have special suits that let them have animal super powers. David and TJ are Martin and Chris, the brothers. Rebecca is Aviva, the girl inventor on the show. Sarah and Joseph represent animals they find on the show. Sarah is a jaguar and Joseph is a Komodo Dragon. Peter was going to be a panda but he was not interested in wearing the warm costume today. He went as a Kratt Kid, one of the kids on the show who wear normal clothes. Maybe it'll be cool enough by Halloween for him to wear the panda outfit. 

10/20/16 Service

      This morning I met with Delight Clark and helped her learn ways she can use a Excel to better track her business. 

       After that Heidi picked me up and we went over to Humanitarian. Heidi made blankets with the sisters. Peter needed a little more attention so for a while I helped in the nursery. They have great big puzzle squares with letters and numbers in them. Joseph and Peter loved filling up 30 square feet with these puzzle pieces. Peter has most of his numbers through 10 down. He thinks that B's and 3's and 8's are all 8's but we're working on that. Joseph has been getting better and is helping teach his brother. 

       After helping in nursery I worked on research for the Stake tech plan. I'm struggling to find my bearings on how to balance cost with the ability to broadcast a reliable stream of video. Basic is probably best but right now even basic web streams crash regularly. Other tech, like satellite is reliable but way too expensive. Microwave might be in the middle but is uncommon enough that it's hard to find pricing and other useful information about it. What I need to do is find some people who know about this stuff and ask them. Perhaps some of my engineer friends back in Utah. 

      This afternoon we found out the hard way that our registration expired. That was an expensive lesson. After a $40 fine, $187ish for registration and $16 for the emissions check Heidi still has to go downtown and pay $180 for the ticket. The good news, I guess, is that by showing that we're registered the ticket won't be $600. We needed to have put registration on our annual to do list. We relied on the reminder letter that appears to have gone to our old address. As I said, it's an expensive lesson but it's on the list now for next year so we'll be reminded. 

10/19/16 Missionaries Over for Dinner

    Today was a typical busy Wednesday. Sarah and Rebecca had Activity Days at 3 and 4 respectively. David was scheduled to have mutual. Sadly his back was hurting today. We're not sure why it hurts but it bothered him enough that we kept him home from Mutual. 

     This morning we got a fun little visit from my Dad and Becca B. We accompanied them to a costume shop where they borrowed a hula girl outfit for Becca to wear to a Halloween party. 

     At some point this afternoon we noticed that the elders didn't have a dinner appointment for tonight. We try to have them over once a month. After some thought we invited them over for tonight. This meant a quick trip to the grocery store for me and Heidi. Those are always like mini dates for us. Heidi also had a short meeting with one of our clients about their inventory. 

       Elder Davis and a Elder Ojker (pronounced Oaker) came over at 5. We ate the meal we call favorite chicken and rice. The Elders shared a video about why it is so great to be members of the Church. They bring a great spirit into our home. 

10/18/16 Temple and Teacher Conferences

     This morning I had a special treat. After dropping David and the carpool kids off at Heritage Dad and I got to visit the Temple together. It is a quiet spiritual place. During the session I reflected on how Heavenly Father always plans His creations first and always has people return and report afterwards. 

     This week at Entz it is time for Parent/Teacher conferences. Rebecca, Sarah and TJ waited patiently while Heidi met with their teachers. All three are doing exceptionally in school with a few small ways to improve. Mostly we're working with the teachers to find ways to keep the kids challenged. This is a blessing to be sure. 

10/17/16 Election FHE

      This evening for FHE we talked about the upcoming presidential election. We talked about how important it is to learn about the candidates and to get out and vote. We found an article that had a table comparing the various candidates. After reading the information to the kids we had a secret ballot vote to let the kids practice voting. We had 1 vote for Clinton, 2 votes for Johnson and 4 votes for McMullin, no votes for Trump. It was fun to see the kids thinking about what it takes to be a good president. 

10/16/16 Primary Program Practice

       Last night Rebecca felt so ill that she threw up. She was feeling better this morning but we decided to keep her home to be on the safe side. Heidi had been asked to help with the Primary Program Practice so I stayed. Heidi reports that the benches worked well. They want to use multiple mics so that the little kids can stay in their places. For some reason the sound system was acting up. I'm not sure why so we'll have to check it out. 

      While I stayed home I did some research for my calling. This afternoon tech team had a postmortem about the stake conference broadcast. We definitely learned some lessons. Trying to plan for the future has been challenging. I don't have a clear intuition about what the appropriate production value for a stake conference should be. Simple is more affordable and less likely to breakdown due to fewer components. On the other hand the bar has already been set pretty high in this stake and that might be hard to change. I'll keep praying about it. Heavenly Father knows what He wants. I just need to be ready to learn it. 

10/15/16 Storks

     This morning we had a fun outing with Gram, Papa and Becca B to see a movie called "Storks". It's not likely to win any awards for its intellectual depth but it held Peter's attention. That's with him missing his nap too. So it had plenty of goofy laughs. The kids especially enjoyed the wolf pack that could change into any shape that they wanted. 

     This evening Sarah and Rebecca finally had a chance to run their lemonade stand. Sarah has been asking to do it for weeks. They only had three customers but still had a good time. They may try again sometime right after school. That way there will be more foot traffic. 

      David and Anthony went this afternoon to help Brother Valentine work on a house that he wants to sell. Heidi stayed and supervised. She couldn't resist the chance to use a caulking gun. 

10/14/16 A Visit With Gram and Papa

     Since today is still part of Fall Break all the kids got to come to our weekly visit to Gram, Papa and Becca B. The kids could be counted on to make sure Gram's scooter is in good working order. We took a trip to the main building to fill up tires with air. 

    Another project was to refurbish Gram and Papa's scale. Heidi's mechanical skills came in handy here. She noticed that one of the hooks was twisted. It seems to be working better now. 

     Joseph asked me to take his picture. I think it helps him to feel loved to have his picture taken. 

10/13/16 Vacation from Vacation

     Today was a day for catching up on things that got missed while we were on vacation. 

      The Phelps family kindly took Sarah Mei with them to the visitor's center of the Mesa Temple. Her friend LJ (short for Laura Jo) and her brother Orsen are in the picture with her. 

     LJ came over to our house to play. Later on Rebecca had a friend over. David entertained them by flying his remote controlled helicopter. 

      Heidi and I worked to dig out at work. Heidi also finished assembling the benches for the primary program. They are plenty sturdy. Getting them level has been a bit of a challenge. One is rock solid. The others are close but teeter a little. Our neighbor Anthony, who works at a hardware store, gave us a hand. He had better tools and I think he got us closer. Still, we finally had to declare them "good enough". They won't easily tip over even if they aren't perfectly flat. Later in the evening we took the unfinished benches to the church. The Primary Presidency wanted to see how they would fit with the seating chart they made. They will work just great. 

10/12/16 Kohl's 3 A Trip to the Rim

     This morning started with a walk by the stream that ran next to our cabin. 

     Lauren kept Peter and Alex from falling in. 

     Next we visited the Mogollon (pronounced mogyon) Rim. 

     Rebecca used her tablet to snap a picture. 

    TJ found a cozy spot between two rocks. 

     Matt took us to a pretty lake with a walking trail around it. 

     Lincoln Phelps was kind enough to take a group shot of us. 

      Today was the day we came home. It was a good trip. I feel tired but I think everyone who came would do it again. We created some fun memories. 

10/11/16 Kohl's 2 Natural Bridge

     This morning the boys were ready to be out and about before the rest so Heidi and I took them for a short walk. 

      We went to a place called Natural Bridge. This was the view from up top. 

Down below we posed for a group shot. 

    It's a very pretty place. 

     The kids loved climbing on the rocks 

     Back at Kohl's we had a blast playing with this giant chess set. 

     Peter enjoyed swinging while holding a basketball. He calls it a heavy ball. 

10/10/16 Kohl's Ranch Day 1

     This week the kids are out of school for fall break. Heidi's brother Matt planned a Mesa Mangum reunion at Kohl's ranch. It's about 2 hours north of Mesa. We used some of Heidi's parent's time share points to pay for the stay at this cabin. 

     For family home evening we wrote letters to Grammie and Grandpa Mangum on their mission. We also decorated some cookies for dessert. 

10/9/16 Stake Conference

     Today was the big event. We webcast Stake Conference to 2 buildings plus the overflows at the Stake Center. We had reason to be grateful for a backup stream. The service provided by the church was not up to the task. Thankfully our backup provider, Ustream, worked well enough. Only one of the two buildings was using the church feed when it went down 20 minutes in. Jae estimates they missed about a minute while switching to the backup. The other site started with the Ustream and stayed up the whole time. The thought came to me that when I watched the General Conference feed it glitched a few times. If they can't get a glitch free stream with the best gear available we should feel pretty good about only one glitch. 

10/8/16 Rebecca and Sarah GTP

     Today we got some pictures from Mrs. McGee, Rebecca and Sarah's GTP teacher. Above Rebecca is collaborating on a project with her friend Brynlee. 

      Sarah's class built towers out of Popsicle sticks and clay. Then they tested the structures to see if they would hold weight. 

      From the pictures it looks like a redesign is required. 

      Today was our set up day for stake conference. It started at 7:30 am and ended at 10 PM. It went well, for the most part. I enjoyed the messages I was able to hear while in the midst of a broadcast. It felt good to give some service. We had a solid team effort that helped us overcome some tech challenges. 

10/7/16 Benched

     Heidi is having occasion to use her fine woodworking skills. She was tasked with finding a suitable way to fit 20 sunbeam aged primary kids on the stand for the Primary Program. The solution? Custom benches. Above you see five kids (who were not asked to test out the bench). As you can see it seats five with no trouble at all. She assembled 2 today with 2 more planned. It is fun to watch her work. She very much enjoys it. 

     This morning, when Peter came downstairs, he gave David a big hug. When Sarah drew near he pulled her in as well. These kids bring a sweet spirit into our home. 

        While I was able to get some work done today, I did so feeling a bit congested and like I might be coming down with something. There is no time for that so I've been taking vitamin C and a nasal decongestant. Hopefully, I'll have kicked this in time for Stake Conference tomorrow.