8/30/17 Harder Than I Thought

Can you see Peter in this picture? He was having fun. I felt a little like doing this by the end of the day.

Here is the paperclip that I started the game with. (See yesterday for more explanation of the rules).

Papa traded me for this stapler. He also warned me that this game sounded dumb and that I would likely get arrested playing it. So far not a confidence building experience.

Later I ran an errand for Heather. I figured that she would think that the game was fun. She wasn't home and Doug had not heard of the game either. He did not have time to play as he had to rush off to work. When I told Heidi how discouraging my first two attempts had been she said that she would trade with me after Cub Scouts.

At Cubs we taught the boys about safe handling of knives. Heidi wisely had the boys practice with fake knives made of card stock. To my surprise two of the boys did well with this. The third used his "knife" to poke the other boys and then run around. I told him that unless he did better next week he would not get to tough one of the real knives.

After Cubs Heidi told me that she didn't really want to trade for the stapler but that she wanted the kids to trade for it. David and Rebecca did not want the stapler either. Finally Heidi traded me a toy basketball hoop. This has been much more difficult than I expected. I went to bed early feeling discouraged.

8/29/17 Self Reliance Group for Business Owners

Peter has learned how to take pictures on his mom's phone. Usually he takes pictures of his feet and close ups of the sofa. This time he got a mostly in focus shot of Heidi so I thought I'd include it.

This evening I got to go to our first Self Reliance group meeting. There are seven of us in the business owners group. We'll be meeting every Tuesday for 12 weeks. The goal is to learn from each other, and from the manual principles that will help us to grow our businesses. I'm encouraged so far. we seem to be a fairly diverse group. One of our first challenges is to play the Paper Clip Game. I've heard of youth groups playing it before and having lots of fun. You start with something small, like a paper clip. Then you trade it for different, hopefully better things to see who can come back with the best thing. I've always thought that the game sounded fun. We'll see how it goes.

8/28/17 Fridge and Family Home Evening

     Today went by fairly quickly. I tried to have my usual client meeting by phone but they were unavailable. A repair guy came and looked at our fridge. Good news, he thinks we can fix it for cheaper than buying a new one. Parts are on the way.
     This afternoon I met with one of my employees who needs a raise. It will be tough but we are going to figure out how to make it work.
     This evening for Family Home Evening we got out our ukuleles and played some songs. We also worked in weekly family planning with the kids. The past few weeks we've been able to fit in Executive Family Council (Heidi and I) and Extended Family Council (add Gram and Papa). After that fitting in the Family Council has had to be postponed. I'm glad we did it. The week feels less chaotic when we have a plan in place and people know what it is.

8/27/17 The Von Connelly Family Sacrament Meeting

Today was a Sunday that Heidi and David and I have been preparing for for two weeks. The three of us gave talks in Sacrament meeting. Afterwards Drew Rogers, the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric, came up to us and said "thank you to the Von Connelly Family". We thought is was a pretty funny reference to the Sound of Music. Perhaps a bit ironic since we are not singers.

David wrote his own talk which included two jokes. Both were well received. Heidi told the story of how we got engaged. David's topic was "Honesty and Integrity". Heidi's assignment was to base her talk on "Let the Holy Spirit Guide" by Elder Ronald A. Rasband from April 2017 General Conference. My assignment was to refer to "Confide in God Unwaveringly" by Elder Ulisses Soares.

L-R Rebecca, Joseph, TJ and Sarah love building forts in the living room. Peter was involved in exploring and I'm sure that David is consulted on occasion. This evening David was more focused on building a scissor-lift type contraption with his LEGO Mindstorms kit. It's fun to see the kiddos being creating without any adult input.

8/26/17 Work and Play

I forgot to mention yesterday that David had a campout at the Phelp's house. As it turned out they set up a tent but David ended up sleeping in the house. I'm pretty sure that doesn't count for your camping merit badge. Gotta sleep in the tent, or out in the open. It was a nice try though. While David finished up his camp . . .uh activity Heidi took the girls to Goodwill looking for a replacement backpack for Sarah. The little boys and I cleaned up our living room downstairs. I found the above items in an old 72 hour kit. The silverware and matchbox went with me on many a camp out.

This afternoon we went out to San Tan to mow Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's Lawn. David stayed home with Gram and Becca B decided that she wanted to come along.

This palm tree that we planted seems to be doing great.

Papa and Becca B and I sported out BYU "Always Reppin" game day shirts. They must've worked because the Cougs won their game 20 to 6.

This evening we went out for a short swim. Heidi was chagrined to see grass from our weed eating in the pool. She and David worked together to clean it out.

Becca B, Sarah, Joseph and TJ are all in this shot. Rebecca Noelani is around with Peter.

After our swim Heidi and I got to go on a short date. The stake put on a dance for the grownups. There were about 5 cars in the parking lot when we arrived. We had fun dusting off what little we can remember from our BYU Dance 180 class. Basically we can do little more than remember the names plus the very basic Waltz and Cha-cha steps. If they do any more dances we'll need to watch some refresher you-tube videos.

8/25/17 Temple Baptisms, Spider-man and Pie

This morning David, Becca B, Gram, Papa, Heidi and I headed over to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead. Gram has been working hard on the family history. Special assistant credits go out to Papa and Heidi. I've even gotten to help out a little. It's pretty exciting when you find a relation in a Census record that isn't in the family tree yet. I think that the final count was 17 male names and 12 Female names. So 1 shy of 30 people receiving their first ordinances in the temple. It was pretty special.

After we got home Heidi and I had to get a little work done. Papa treating Heidi and Becca B and I to Spider-man Homecoming. I had heard that it was good but I wasn't expecting it to be so funny. There were a couple of swear words that I could have done without but over all I'd happily see it again.

This evening we finally were able to fit in the birthday pie that Papa got for us for my birthday. I love that it even comes with a quote from Miss Piggy.

8/24/17 Getting to Know TJ Plus Rebecca and Sarah Parent Night

This morning TJ's "getting to know you" poster was due. The morning was full of reprinting lost photos and labels and getting the glue on right. TJ is our boy who loves hugs and has a smile that goes from ear to ear. He is loving and kind and ready to cheer a parent or a sibling when they need a lift. We love our TJ.

This evening Mesa Academy held a parent night. The parents got to attend a 6 minute lesson in each of their children's classes. The good news for us is that David is old enough to babysit. Rebecca and Sarah ended up staying home as well. I went to each of Rebecca's classes (see photo above). Heidi attended Sarah's schedule. They each have a challenging schedule at this GT all the time school. We are proud of the hard work they are putting in getting used to the new program.

8/23/17 40th Birthday

Today didn't go down as the most epic of birthdays. I did get a call from my Sister Kelly. Her computer went out of it's way to make sure she didn't forget. The picture above is her alerts. She called and told me that it did the same thing in the morning. After two reminder blitzes she knew she had to call. It was nice to be remembered. Megan wished me happy birthday on Facebook. Papa got me a lemon meringue pie. That's my favorite. Heidi bought me set of the 4 Superman Movies from when I was a kid. The special effects are a bit dated but the story still held the kids really well. We watched Superman II (Some of us watched Superman I a few months ago from the library). I liked that it was a love story. Fighting the superbads was almost secondary to that. You don't see that much these days.

 I'll admit that I felt a little eeyore-ish. It's disappointing to think that I didn't really want to be cheered up for a while. Oh well, I feel better now. I'm still not particularly clear on my goals. I know that the kids need me. School has been crazy for them. One day at a time I guess. I drew up a time-line for the next 60 years. At least I am efforting a plan. Hopefully something comes of the effort.

8/22/17 J&M Assist Day plus Eclipse Photos

     Today we helped out Gram and Papa with a few of the items on their to-do list. Particularly we helped with some family history items and some Big Foot upkeep items.
      I had a fairly rough day otherwise. Only because I'm turning 40 tomorrow and don't feel any strong sense of direction. Many of the goals I had when I was younger haven't happened and some may never happen. On the bright side I have a wonderful, eternal family who provide my love and support. They are there to cheer me whenever I need them.

I didn't have these pictures when I wrote yesterday's post so here they are today. TJ and Joseph's school had no plans for them to watch the eclipse to Heidi pulled them out. We went all the way to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to get our protective eye wear and we wanted to use them. We were given 4 pairs. Sarah's class had a set donated to them so Heidi gave a pair to David and Rebecca and kept two at home.

Notice the crescent cutouts in the shade. They are the same shape as the eclipse. How cool!

TJ and Joseph had a great experience.

Even Gram came out to see this rare event.

8/21/17 Pool Lift Cover Reveal

One of the fun things about having small children is that occasionally small boxes appear to develop a life of their own. Joseph is the puppet master behind this box's newfound life.

This morning, when Gram and Papa came out for swim time, they discovered the pool cover that Heidi made.

They seemed to be impressed with the craftsmanship. Heidi does great work. 

Gram appears to be making headway with her exercises. She has been doing fairly well at being consistent with her routine.

8/20/17 Mesa East Stake Conference

      This morning Heidi dropped me off early at the Inter-Stake Center to help with the Mesa East Stake Conference. We got almost everything done setting up last night so it was pretty straight forward this morning. It gave me some time to learn more about how the switcher works and teach those who were interested a little about what the main TV crew positions are and what they do.
     On the home front Joseph threw up in the night, Rebecca has a crazy runny nose and Heidi isn't feeling well. The three of them stayed home from church with Peter. Heidi dropped David, Sarah and TJ at church. Gram and Papa kindly gave them a ride home.
     This evening we got a  visit from Matt and Sharon. They brought Lucy and Alex along. Sharon, Heidi, David, Rebecca, Lucy and I played Phase 10 together. Matt played as a consultant to David. We had fun.

8/19/17 Boulder Creek Youth Conference and Pool Lift Cover

Today I had the blessing of serving at the Inter-Stake Center. Today was the Boulder Creek Stake Youth Conference. It was also a prep day for the Mesa East Stake Conference. I got to spend about 12 hours serving today. I learned a lot about what works, and doesn't, and how to fix some of those issues.

The youth all got color coordinated shirts to help them know which group they belonged to.

While I was away the family kept busy. Rebecca has a big getting to know you project. She took this shot to show that we like to play the ukulele.

Heidi's big project of the day was to finish a cover for Gram's pool lift. It looks professionally done. Hopefully this will help the chair last many seasons.

8/18/17 Temple Trip with Papa

Since our last Stake Conference we have had a goal to attend the temple weekly. Today Papa and I had the chance to do an endowment session in the Mesa Temple. I did work for one of the people that Grammie Mangum found. Papa took one of the ancestors that he and Gram have found. It feels good to be able to serve.

8/17/17 Papa B-day and Joseph Art

Joseph didn't cry while waiting for the bus today. He was still nervous but Heidi reminded him that she would be visiting his class later in the day and that comforted him.

He showed Papa the picture he colored. Papa reported that Joseph said "Look at my blue birds! They were supposed to be chickens but I colored them blue."

Today is Papa's birthday. We celebrated by eating favorite chicken and rice together. Papa bought pie and shared it with us.

We had several takers for pumpkin and lemon meringue. Gram preferred the rhubarb pie.

8/16/17 A Couple of Errands

This afternoon, just before TJ and Joseph were scheduled to get home Heidi and I took Peter to run a couple of quick errands. First we stopped by the Distribution Center to pick up a pair of white pants. Next we stopped by Milanos to get music supplies for Rebecca. Peter was out by the second stop so he and I hung out together.

This evening David's new troop had a court of honor. Sister Postert brilliantly suggested that they re-award David the badges he earned at camp. This gave the other boys a chance to see that David had also been working hard this summer.

I almost forgot to share that we had the Cub Scouts over for Den Meeting. They practiced life saving in the pool. They still struggled with staying focused for longer than 30 seconds but it seemed better than last week. I told them about how I used what I learned when my niece jumped into water over her head and needed help. The memory of scout training helped me to remember to reach out and be careful not to get pulled under as well. The boys seemed to have fun and no one drowned. Hopefully a small part of the safety training will stick with them. You hope they'll never need it. 

8/15/17 30 Amp Plug and a Dental Visit

     This morning at 8 Wayne the electrician arrived. The goal was to install a 30 Amp plug for the motorhome. I got to help with pulling the wire Wayne ran out of the attic. We haven't had a chance to test it but it appears to be all done.
     The reason we didn't get to test it is that Mom had a dental appointment with   Dr. Whiting (if I remember correctly). Papa felt it would be helpful for Heidi and I to come along. One positive is that Heidi found out that Bishop Christiansen could be consulted about the extractions required. All is not well in toothland and that is tough to swallow. We continue to pray for mother.

8/14/17 Fridge Fix?

I can say that I am grateful for long arms. Our fridge has been parked at 60 degrees since we got back from our trip. We decided to try defrosting it to see if it helps. The plug is all the way in the corner and the fridge has no wheels. The good(ish) news is that hours later the fridge reached 45 degrees. Better but not great. The other good news is that the freezer is working great.

8/13/17 Farewell to Connellys and Tucson Temple Dedication

This morning Ben played for us on the piano.

The West Valley Connellys had to eat and get on the road in order to get home at a reasonable hour.

Aunt Cathy gave these two cute hats to Rebecca and Sarah.

Our driveway is big enough that Cathy was able to do a three point turn and leave driving forward. We've enjoyed the visit. We only wish it could've been longer.

Next up we had the special privilege of attending the Tucson Temple dedication broadcast at our Stake Center. This was the first  one that Sarah was old enough to attend. Heidi went back with me after the third session to help put away the projectors and things. She is such a big helper. 

8/12/17 West Valley Connelly Visit 2.0

Last night late we picked up the weary travelers from the Phoenix Airport.

Today we had a chance for brief visit 2.0. Ben had a fun time hanging out with Peter. Peter loves being out side. I wish I had a recording of his delighted laugh as Ben chose to spend time with him.

Due to the car trouble on the way down Michael and Abby felt they needed to head out earlier than the rest. Jon kindly agreed to be the rental car driver for them.

L-R David, Nate (Joseph, I'm fairly confident, on his shoulders) and Ben came out to say good bye.

Jon picked the key and we sang Aloha Oe. It was the best rendition of that song I've heard in many years. The West Valley Connellys really know how to sing. We'll miss these three.

Happily we did get to keep visiting with Cathy, Ben, Aaron and Nate for a little bit longer. We had a fun dinner with the new Sister Missionaries serving in our ward. Sister's Jepsen and Weber seemed to enjoy being part of the crowd of 17.

After dinner Ben gently persuaded Gram to come swimming with us. She and Papa did and it was quite a crew of us in the water. After a while the grandparents felt they had had there fill of swimming. The rest of us played water volleyball. This is quite challenging for those of us who are playing from the deep end.

Mixed in with all of this visiting had been copious amounts of ukulele playing, singing and looking at pictures. It has been a fun visit.

8/11/17 Temple Sealings and Lawn Care

This morning Heidi worked at getting the chemicals right in the pool. No swimming today. There has be a surprising, for me, learning curve around learning how to care for a pool.

Gram requested a picture of the pretty flowers outside the Mesa Temple.

This week Gram and Papa and Heidi and I did sealings at the Temple. We had 25 ordinance cards: 10 couples, 6 sons and 9 daughters (if I remember correctly). They had no trouble letting Gram sit in her wheel chair to be proxy for the mothers and wives. It was pretty special to be there with them doing family names. Gram has been doing some fantastic genealogy work.

This evening we drove out to San Tan to mow Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's yard. We went today because tomorrow is going to be nuts.

We used Matt's edger and the new line we bought. Rebecca Noelani thought it made for a nice improvement.

Along the way we listened to the end of book 2 in the 39 Clues series and started book 3.