12/6/17 Root Canal and Winter Sing

Today Rebecca had her first root canal. She was very brave. It took 5 shots before the anesthesia started working. 

Heidi was there to hold her hand. Sadly, she will need to return for more work in a couple of weeks.

This evening Heidi took the Cub Scouts to see the lights at the Mesa Temple. She reported that they were well enough behaved.

After that Heidi went with TJ to see his Winter Sing. Sadly, with Rebecca needing to recover, we could not all go.

Here is TJ with the stage behind him. Heidi reports that he did great!

11/30/17 Google Sheets CPE Class

     This morning I took an online continuing professional education (CPE) course about Google's spreadsheet app. I learned that it has some cool features for collaborating. I love that you can go back in time to any past version of the spreadsheet. It also has a built-in translation feature and can track stocks. These are all features that my main tool does not do as well. Google Sheets won't replace Excel but I've learned that it has some handy uses.
     This evening Heidi went to her unit commissioner meeting. She is working on improving the way attendance is kept. The old system was complicated and many people either filled it out wrong or not at all. Heidi has some high tech ideas. Interestingly they involve using Google Forms. This is a software that can take in data (like attendance) and send it to Google Sheets. I thought that was a fun connection.

11/29/17 Success

After three unsuccessful attempts, Heidi was finally able to renew Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's handicap placard. She knows what it is to be persistent.

Peter was happy today.

TJ and Joseph got their homework done early so we went down to the park.

TJ and I had fun throwing the frisbee around. It was so neat to be able to spend a little time with these boys.

12/5/17 O Christmas Tree . . .

First a quick update on Rebecca. The medicine Dr. Rock prescribed is helping her with the pain and the swelling. The earliest the endodontist can see Rebecca is tomorrow so we'll have to wait before we learn more.

This morning we did the grocery shopping. I thought this juxtaposition of tools seemed odd. The broom made sense, for spills etc. The sledgehammer was less obvious. We had fun guessing at what it might be used for.

Peter, making a contribution.

This evening it was time for our annual tradition of buying a Christmas tree.

This is our first year having Gram and Papa join us in the hunt.

Together we selected a beautiful tree. This helpful worker prepared it for transport.

No trouble fitting into our spacious van.

Heidi and I helped screw it into the stand.

Gram had the assignment to make sure that we put it in straight.

Next, it was time to start decorating. Rebecca was a huge help.

TJ and Joseph were all about helping with this fun project.

David and Gram worked together to compose a special song, just for the occasion.

We even had energy left over to find a creative place to hang the stockings.

11/28/17 A Walk and Data Collection

This afternoon Peter was having a rough time. He was crying for no apparent reason so I took him outside for a walk. Heidi was out trying, for the second time today to renew Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's handicap placard for their car. I had a feeling that she might have trouble getting back in time for the girls so Peter and I started to walk that way.

Joseph did not want to be left out. I explained that it would be a long walk but he still wanted in. My phone clocks the walk at 1.4 miles. I ended up carrying him on my shoulders for part of the way. It was challenging but the three of us made it on time. We helped Rebecca and Sarah with Rebecca's science data collection.

In the end, the Motor Vehicle Department folks wouldn't give Heidi the pass. They said her paperwork was wrong so she'll have to try again tomorrow. Crazy how hard dealing with a bureaucracy can be. She was able to reach us in time so we didn't all have to walk home. 

11/27/17 Christmas Decorations

This morning Heidi started putting up the Christmas decorations. Joseph responded by putting up most of the advent calendar. We re-explained the part about doing it one day at a time. The kids even did the math and figured out who would get to put up the baby Jesus. It's Peter, in case you were wondering.

This evening for FHE we teamed up and hung the Christmas lights outside. Gram wasn't sure, at first how she could help. She ended up being a great help sorting through which strings of light were working and which were not. While Heidi and I hung the lights up she visited with the kids. Sadly, she even got a shock from one of the broken light strands. We threw that one away. Thank you to Gram for being such a huge help in this festive project.

12/4/17 Root Canal for Rebecca?

This morning Rebecca told us that her lip and her mouth above her gums hurt. Heidi took a picture and texted it to our friends the Rocks. Ron Rock is a dentist. He said that it could be an abscess but needed to do x-rays to be sure. We texted around 6 pm and they were about to go to FHE for the singles ward they serve in. They dropped everything and helped us out. What amazing friends! It turns out that when Rebecca was little (stroller age) she had that accident where she stood and tipped the stroller and landed on her face. At the time the dentist had said that her grown-up teeth might be affected. Turns out he was right. She has an infection and the root of one of her teeth hasn't developed properly. Next stop, endodontist.