9/20/16 Temple and Tree

      This morning, after dropping kids off at Heritage, it was my turn to go to the temple. I did initiatory for six people. Heidi's Dad gave me the names. 

     After I got back I helped Heidi trim her parent's palm tree. Our friend Michael lent us his pole saw. The tree keeps getting taller and each frond has saw blade like teeth that you have to be careful with or they'll cut you. We completed the job without injury. We must be getting better at handling the fronds. I've gotten minor scratches most of the time I've done this in the past. 

     This evening Heidi picked up Heather from the airport. The Roche kids are all back home. It was a good visit. Bradley surprised me again today. He got excited by his progress on a math website. He kept working long after he'd done what I required him to do. He also volunteered to help collect the laundry from the line. So nice to see this helpful, hardworking side of him. 

      Also this evening Heidi and I handed out some work flyers to our neighbors. We think of it as planting seeds. Hopefully some of them grow and we are able to serve more people. 

9/19/16 Last Night with the Cousins

       Today felt like a quiet Monday to me. The kids got off to school on time. Lauren forgot her lunch money so Heidi later took it to her. I went to a meeting. It really feels good to break up numbers into useful actionable information. I also did some work updating a client about the database we're building. It was a fairly productive work day. 

      This evening for FHE we invited some neighbors to the Taco Party the ward is throwing on Wednesday. It'll be fun if they come. We joke that it's for Heidi's birthday. 

       Tomorrow Heather will be back and the cousins will go home. This evening we all read scriptures together. Bradley has surprised me multiple times by offering to help completely unprompted. He helped me peel potatoes even though he is not a fan of eating them. It's been a good chance for me to get to know the three of them better. 

3/10/16 End of the Quarter

     Today was the last day of 3rd quarter for my math students. I gave them a quiz but let them fix any problems before turning it in. I felt less beat up today. The kids were pretty good. Some are starting to give the old "I'll never use this so why do I care" line. The truth is they may be right but then here I am. I never expected to be a math teacher when I was in high school. Maybe it was spring break talking. Teaching continues to be hard but well worth it. This is the half way point for me this semester. It's going by fast. 

      I created an assignment for them for spring break and asked them to come up with a good reason it should be extra credit. Most couldn't go beyond "please, it's my vacation". One boy however, finished his work and did a write up of reasons on the board. It made me smile and I liked his logic so it will be extra credit and I will give him extra for he effort. His name is Lance (short for Lancelot) Orton. Fun kid. 

       This evening we headed over to the church. Heidi was teaching Scoutbook to some leaders and the pinewood derby was going on. We didn't have a horse of our own in this race but The Roche's did. Bradley came in first place! Great job to him and his folks on the hard work. 

     Meanwhile the kids and I made an animation in the nursery. I may share it later on. We're planning on doing a media workshop sometime this summer and I wanted to practice. Fun fun.