3/31/17 Business Lunch

This morning it was time to go and check on Big Foot. The good news is that she started right up. The other good news is that we found the service records Papa was looking for.
After our visit with Gram and Papa Heidi and I had a business lunch with Michael and Jessica Hallsted. We had a good visit. We talked family, shop and General Conference ideas to help kids.

This afternoon Heidi and Peter took a well earned nap.
I got to go out on a visit with the Elders to Sister Waynette.

Heidi snapped this cute shot of Rebecca and Peter. Rebecca said that Peter was her "shoulder angel". Nothing makes me happier as a parent than to see my children loving each other.

3/30/17 Farewell to the Cousins

This morning Jon and Cathy and family began the long drive back to Utah. We heard late this evening that, in spite of some heavy rain, they made it home safely.
While Heidi was at Humanitarian David and I worked on his Personal Management Merit Badge. He was on an odd schedule due to state testing going on this week.
In the afternoon I went in to the office. Michael and I had a good long conversation about some opportunities that we have at the moment.
This evening Heidi went to her Unit Commissioner meeting. The kids and I watched Ella Enchanted on DVD. It's a silly movie but it still managed to hold the kids attention pretty well. It felt like one more draft of he script and it could have be great instead of just ok.

3/29/17 A Few More Potatoes

This morning we were pleased to have Nate come and join us. He decided that he wanted to help us with Preschool for Joseph and Peter. Here he is helping them put together the giant alphabet puzzle.
Nate was a great help today. He went grocery shopping with us. He helped me peel potatoes for dinner. When we were done he even asked "what can I do next". There was a lot to do. We had 18 people over for dinner. Those included Gram, Papa, Becca B, Jon and Cathy and Ben, Aaron and Nate and two new missionaries. Their names are Elder Parsons and Elder Maughan. Heidi worked very hard preparing food for a very fun and special group. The Elders shared a message with us about the Savior and Easter before they left. Somehow, in the middle of all that, I managed to do a four credit hour live online webinar. After dinner everyone but the Elders went to Jon and Cathy's hotel to swim
in he pool. It was a crazy but productive and spiritual day.

3/28/17 Day 2 of the West Valley Connelly Visit

This morning Cathy and Ben joined Heidi to do an endowment session at the temple. Peter and Joseph and I did a couple of loads of laundry to get caught up.

After school today TJ hit a milestone on his math mission. He has now practiced all of the skills in the 3rd grade mission. He is in the 1st grade. He has 10 skills left to master to complete the mission outright. We are very proud of his hard work.

This afternoon a crew of us went to the temple to do Baptisms for the dead. We had Jon, Ben, Aaron and Nate from West Valley. David and Anthony Roche came along. Ben and I did the baptizing. Heidi was the proxy for the female Baptisms. Lauren wasn't feeling well so Heidi graciously stepped in to fill the gap. Ben reported that these were his first "wet baptisms". He explained that on his mission his companion baptized a couple of their investigators but he had not done one personally. He did 36 today. In all there were 25 women names and 24 men. It does feel more special when you are doing the work for your own ancestors.
Not present, but key to the event, were family historians Marilyn Connelly, Shirley Mangum and Cathy Connelly. Cathy kindly stayed home with the kids so that Heidi and I could both come.
This evening we ate dinner with the Connelly cousins. After dinner we walked down to the grassy field. The kids threw the Aerobee around. After dark we used David's telescope. With Jon's help we had our first success seeing stars through it.
We wrapped up the evening reading a chapter in the Book of Mormon together. It feels good that we've been able to do some quality activities together. I hope that we are making some forever memories.

3/27/17 Extended Family FHE

First of all let me recognize Sarah who has worked hard and been diligent and has finished the 4th Grade Math Mission while in the 3rd grade. We are super proud of her and her achievement.
This morning Heidi and I helped our friends the Lowis family load the moving truck. We are sad to see them go. In addition to Connie Lowis teaching TJ and Joseph at Preschool they have been friends. Heidi and I had Cameron in Bears with us. He is cheerful, kind and helpful kid. On multiple occasions Kerry Lowis called me to help give a blessing when his home teaching companion was unavailable. I'm am honored that he thought to call me. We will miss them a bunch.
This evening for FHE Papa Connelly suggested that we all get together. Heidi researched and found Skyline Park close to the RV park.

For the lesson we talked about questions we have that we'd like to have answered in General Conference this week. Below is our list:

General Conference Questions
How do we know whether or not we should move?

How do I Help my children do better in school?

What topic will Elder Bednar speak about?

Should I go back out on my mission?

My grandfather is married to 2 women who will he be with in eternity?

Why should we ask Heavenly Father our questions?

What do you do when a bully won't stop bullying you?

How do you help with adversities in your life?

Suggestions to help when family members are having struggles with living the gospel .

What can the Holy Ghost help with?

Joseph on the rocking toy.

TJ crossing the arch with loving help from Rebecca.

Peter wanted in on the action.

Sarah climbed to the top of the piece of equipment and then slid down.

Rebecca and David practice their team balancing skills.
We took more pictures on Papa's phone so we'll have to wait to add the cousin photos until he updates his blog. In the meantime let me add that it was a fun and spiritual time.
Once it got late enough Nate and Ben helped me with scorpion hunting. We found 3 and killed 2. Nate kept one slain one in a jar to show his friends back in Utah. He was excited to report that he killed one of the scorpions. They were both very brave.

3/26/17 Ringers

This morning a musical family of traveling singers arrived at our house. We played some songs together on the ukulele.

Here is Aaron grabbing a bite to eat.

Those who wanted to sing with the choir went to church early to make it to choir practice. Here is Jon greeting Gram Connelly. When we went in to choir Papa announced that we were the ringers from out of town. The choir sounded beautiful. It is such a great feeling to be part of creating such a special sound.
After church we all headed back to our house for dinner. Gram and Papa stayed and visited a while. Jon and Cathy and family stayed later. We learned our lesson and read scriptures early. That allowed us to send kids to bed when it got late and still be able to visit. It still feels like there is a lot to catch up on.

3/25/17 Test and Travelers

This morning at 7:30 I headed over to the Stake Center for another test of the broadcast equipment. It went smoothly and we worked out a few of the bugs from the last test.
While I did that Heidi helped with Stake Baptisms. We actually overlapped in a way. We used the meeting as an event to help us practice using the equipment.
During this time David was on the Herpetology field trip. When he got back we cleaned up to get ready for the Connelly cousins to arrive. We even had time to visit Goodwill for half price day. We let the kids use some savings to buy one small thing. We still need to work out the details of how to let the kids learn about money without letting them waste it.
This evening Heidi, Rebecca, Sarah and I went to the Women's session of General Conference. There were some great talks.
All during the day Jon, Cathy, Ben, Aaron and Nate were making the journey from Utah to Arizona. They dropped by a little before 9 pm. It was a fun visit even though it was a little late. They are all so easy to talk to. It was just like old times. I look forward to seeing them again tomorrow.

3/24/17 Like Hot Cakes

This morning Heidi, David, Joseph and Peter and I headed over to Gram and Papa Connelly's house. We worked on Becca B's bike seat and a few other things on the list. We felt like we made a dent in the list. There is always much to do.
This afternoon, after much asking, Sarah prevailed on us to have the lemonade stand again. All the kids except Peter helped out, either holding signs or making snow cones etc. in the end the kids brought in close to $40 in two hours. That has to be close to a record good day for us. We've had days where the kids brought in $2 and got pretty discouraged. Instead today they all got money in their savings for buying things that they choose.
A special treat happened this evening. Ryan and Carole Andelt went through the temple and received their endowments. Heidi helped by hemming Ryan's pants and making a packet bag for Carole's temple things. There had to be close to 90 members of our ward present. The Spirit was strong and everyone felt how special it was to be there at this time.

3/23/17 Doing Our Callings

This morning Heidi served at Humanitarian. While she designed baby blankets that will be donated to hospitals I worked on the microphone system. We have a particular wireless clip on mic that always gives us fits. It's either too loud or too soft. In the past when trying to fix the problem the things we've tried have either added noise to the sound or simply not fixed it. Today I happened to notice the mic has a 1/4" jack in addition to the xlr jack. I used that output and connected it to the crab box (converter box we usually use) and the sound came out great. There was no hum or feedback and it was loud enough. I have been trying to fix that bug for two years and nothing has worked until now. I am so grateful for the little inspiration to try again and to try something so simple.
This evening Heidi did a training for Scouting leaders at the Adobe building. Instead of hanging out at home we all came along and played in the nursery. We used the time to create animations using the LEGO Movie app. We animated dolls re-enacting the "I'm Crowded, Roll Over" song. We also did super powers with guest star Lauren as the super villain and David as the hero. Rebecca played the damsel in distress. We even animated cleaning up afterwards. The kids and I had a blast and we made some fun movies.

3/22/17 Conducting Ourselves Well

Today we had a couple of accomplishments. First Sarah finished practicing all the skills in the 4th Grade Math Mission. She is 96% of the way done.

Rebecca finished her last 1% of the 6th grade Mission. According to Khan Academy she is also 75% done with the Pre-Algebra Mission. Apparently there is some serious overlap in the two missions. She is well on her way in her prep for advanced math next school year.

This evening David conducted his first public meeting. He did a great job leading the court of honor. He reports feeling nervous but it didn't show. He was awarded the Cooking and Communications Merit Badges.
We are proud of all three for their hard work and accomplishments.

3/21/17 Many Blessings

This morning Heidi went to the Temple. I was blessed to be able to stay home and spend time with Peter and Joseph.

The boys had a blast playing with the large number puzzle pieces. It was great watching them count to ten. Joseph even showed that he knew that 1-0-0 makes 100.
In other math related news we got a letter in the mail today about Rebecca's MA10 score. She passed the test and has been recommended for 7th grade level math next year (instead of 6th which is the grade she will be in). She is very excited and we are very proud of her accomplishment.
Just as the sun was starting to go down we got a call from Papa Connelly about Becca B. She had ridden off on her bike and hadn't come back. They were worried and had begun asking for Security in the park and others to help find her. I left immediately to help. As I drove I prayed to know where to look. When I arrived at the park I felt that she would be at the flower garden and that I should go straight there. As I arrived at the flower garden I saw her talking to one of the searchers who was in a golf cart. He was trying to direct her back home. She purposefully went the wrong way twice on the way home but she got there. I think that she knew she had made a mistake and didn't want to face the music. I am so grateful that she was found so quickly.
This evening David went to a Communications Merit badge class. Heidi went as a loving support. To my surprise David came home with the badge completed. The counselor counted conducting his Sunday quorum meeting for the conduct a meeting requirement. When I got home David was worked into a knot that he still would have to conduct the Court of Honor tomorrow. I prayed to know what to say that might be comforting. Heidi and I assured him that even people like Bishop Christensen and his counselors get nervous and make mistakes while conducting. President Nielsen, our former Bishop and now Stake Presidency member, jokes that when you are on the stand an invisible laser scrambles your brain. This seemed to comfort him that even people he admired get nervous. I hope he knows that mistakes happen and won't be world ending. He seemed to relax and became ready for sleep.
I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who answers prayers. This day would not have gone as well without His help.

3/20/17 Programing Results

This evening Rebecca and Sarah were in charge of Family Home Evening. They had songs picked out, a lesson with supporting scriptures. They even had an activity/object lesson.

They took us to Mom and Dad's bathroom so that they could show us the contrast between darkerness and the light of the gospel.

In order to all fit some went in the closet. Here are David and Peter.

TJ made himself comfortable.

Joseph found a spot in the port-a-crib.

After FHE we went to the grocery store. The kids earned a treat from our programming game the other night. Each project ended up earning 5 votes. We decided to let each group pick a topping within a budget. That seemed to satisfy them well enough. I'm proud of them working hard and being creative.

3/19/17 We All Make it to Church

This morning everyone was well enough to go to church. It feels like it's been a few weeks since we've all been able to go together. Between meetings and illnesses and travel it feels good to finally all be together during Sacrament meeting.
Before church we had our first try at having an Excutive Council (Heidi and me) followed by a Family Council (adding all the kids). David noted that Peter and Joseph didn't quite have the attention span for it. Still, for a first run, I thought it went very well. We were able to talk about some available time slots and what we want to do with them. We even got it written down.
This afternoon we got to try out our first plan. Rebecca and Sarah worked on a FHE lesson. David worked on the Communications Merit Badge. I home taught the Porters with Pierre. Heidi made dinner and gave encouragement and support to the kids. After dinner we played a couple of board games. Heidi and I even gave away some of our games that won't fit well in the game closet. Rebecca, Sarah and Peter came along. We loaded the stuff in the wagon and stroller and walked to the Hallsted's house. We had a nice visit with Michael and Amy. I think they will have some fun with those games.

3/18/17 A Warm Spring Day

This morning while the older kids worked on their 4 For Fun I blew bubbles for Peter. He loved running around popping them. After I got winded I let him try blowing them. To my surprise he did quite well.

Mid morning Heidi, Rebecca, Sarah and I joined Gram, Papa and Becca B at the theater. We watched the new live action version of Beauty and the Beast. I think they managed to make a fun movie. It is clearly trying to look and sound like the original but they did add in some new songs. I am glad we went.

During the drive home the girls wanted to know if we could go swimming. It is 95 degrees as the high today. We broke down and took the kids. Above Heidi holds Peter. Rebecca is adjusting her goggles.

TJ has a great smile.

David on his improvised raft.

Joseph is getting better at propelling himself through the water.

Sarah made friends with a little girl her age and had fun playing with her.

This evening we played a little game. We made two teams and each team used an online programming tool for kids to make a computer game. Then we shared the games. Whichever game gets the most likes determines what flavor of ice cream we get for Family Home Evening. It was challenging but I think all the kids who participated had fun. I know I did.

3/17/17 St. Patrick Boxing Day

This morning we decided, in a spirit of optimism, that we should begin to organize our worldly possessions. The kids got excited about putting things into boxes.

Initially though some things got packed that we are not ready to put away. Here are Rebecca and David acting silly.

As usual Heidi worked hard. She organized our book shelf and put away some of the books that no one is reading.

Here is a cute shot Heidi got of buddies Joseph and Peter.

This evening we continued our organizing streak by going through our board games. Peter was excited about this. He got out this matching game and had fun counting all the circles. It was a productive day and the house is (mostly) cleaner for it.

3/16/17 Fixing Fans

Today, and yesterday, we finally had the perfect combination of time, parts and heat to enable us to fix two ceiling fans that have had minor glitches since it got too cold to want them on. The living room fan is high. Even at the top of our ladder I can just reach it. The last time we worked on it we realized that the threads that hold the knob that keep the glass bowl from slipping had become worn. After multiple attempts at finding the right replacement parts we happened to find a lady at the hardware store who knew just what to do. We adjusted the rod with the threads down so that good threads are now reachable by the knob. Problem solved.
In the kid's room the issue was trickier (to me). Heidi knew just what to do. One of the kids had pulled too hard on the metal string that adjusts the fan speed and it broke off. Heidi figured out what part we needed and found a YouTube video explaining how to hook up the four wires to it. I helped by holding things up and handing screws at the right time. David helped, by his own initiative, by putting the glass bells and light bulbs back up. The picture above was intended to show his handiwork.
Rebecca now officially has Strep and has started her antibiotics. On the plus side Sarah is now almost completely better. Hopefully Rebecca will recover quickly as well and we can prevent others from catching it as well.

3/15/17 Mission Accomplished

This morning we are once again indebted to the children for helping us finish weeding the yard. It was quite overrun when we started. Now, with the added measure of Heidi's spraying, it should be manageable for a while.

To celebrate we decided to check out this park near Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's place in San Tan.

David wasted no time finding creative ways to climb it.

Peter made his way to the top. I later joined him in coming back down via the slide.

Sarah took a turn on the swings.

TJ in a tunnel.

Sadly, Rebecca wasn't feeling well and Joseph required multiple potty trips so no pictures of them. Heidi thinks Rebecca may have gotten strep from Sarah. I'm afraid she may be right. We have an appointment to take her to the doctor in the morning.

This evening we celebrated Pi day a day late. We've had this pumpkin pie in the freezer since Christmas. Today seemed like just the sort of special occasion to eat it. It was just the right size for our family. I believe it was a gift from my parents. A big thank you to you Mom and Dad.

3/14/17 Pull a Weed, Pick a Plan

This morning Heidi helped the kids do 4 For Fun while I did a CPE class. After lunch we headed to Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's house. There were weeds that needed tending to. All the kids helped in their way. Above you see TJ picking weeds. David, Rebecca, Sarah and even Joseph also pulled a few. David also mowed the lawn. Rebecca pointed out that Peter helped "by not crying the whole time". It is true that he does get fussy sometimes. The fact that he self entertained so well for multiple hours allowed us to get a lot done. David started helping first and may have helped the longest. Rebecca started later but she was the only one who stuck it out with me until our goal of 5 pm. We filled a big can full and still have some weeds left for tomorrow. I guess that's job security. Heidi's clever plan is to put out the can tonight and fill it again tomorrow morning after the trash guys come.

This evening, after dinner, we got out our white boards and started working on a refined family calendar. We do an ok job of getting regular items on there. What we want to refine are the times we plan to do the things we often miss like daily personal scripture study for me and Heidi or putting in a load of laundry. We made good progress before Peter decided to get artistic and draw on the white board. Tomorrow morning we'll put the finishing touches on the plan.

3/13/17 A Smile and a Frown

This morning Heidi took Sarah to see the doctor about her sore throat. While they were gone I worked with the other kids on "4 for Fun". Rebecca has finished 95% of the 6th grade mission. As of today she has at least started all the skills that sixth graders are expected to know. She could be completely done by the end of the week. The other kids also worked on math, reading, music and chores. David was a big helper coaching Joseph on the Preschool mission. At first Joseph wasn't sure he wanted to do it. Then when he saw David would do it with him he got excited about it. I think Joseph liked the idea of being included with the big kids. Rebecca also taught Joseph some notes on the piano. It makes me smile to see the kids helping each other.

Heidi sent me this picture of Sarah at the Doctor's office. They confirmed Strep and prescribed antibiotics. Sarah is already starting to feel better.
This evening for FHE we decided to bake cookies and take them to our home and visiting teaching families. We've had a hard time getting our regular visits in and we're trying to repent. It was a good FHE. Some families were not home but we had good visits with several people.