6/8/16 Heidi Temple Trip

     Today was Heidi's turn to visit the temple. She was able to do an endowment session for the first time in quite a while. Now that Peter isn't nursing she can be away from him longer. It was a bit tricky coordinating rides for Music Forte but Heidi deftly sorted it out. 

       David did scouts this afternoon and later on the kids swam. Heather kindly watched our oldest four so that Heidi and I could pick up some fruit. We have some big fruit eaters in our home so it doesn't do to run low. 

       This evening Heidi sowed the last item needed to complete the kimono costumes. That being a sash. She let me help by cutting off the excess thread left by the surger. As far as I know that turned out ok. She is a woman of many talents and hard work. 

6/1/16 Temple Wednesday

     Heidi and I have been sticking to our goal of taking turns going to the temple on Wednesdays. Today was my turn. It's starting to feel more like a habit. Although I would not say that it is easy. The adversary still tries to stop us from going. I woke up in the night and took a while getting back to sleep. Heidi and Peter had a, sadly, typical rough night. Still, there is some strength to be found in simply saying "I'm going, no matter what". It does feel like the Adversary gives up he's tried a few things and sees we're serious. 

      We're still figuring out our new routine now that the kids are home. We got some school work done. We took the kids plus Bradley and Lincoln swimming. 

       One cool highlight for me was meeting Curtis. He's a friend of Scott Sessions, from LDS Employment. He's a CPA whose thinking about starting his own practice. This is not a light decision. Hopefully Heidi and I gave him something to think about. We've only got less than three year's worth of experience running Valiant Accounting. It's a roller coaster ride sometimes. Still, I much prefer it to being an employee. If I can help it I don't want to go back to that. 

5/25/16 World's Fair

     Today David's grade at Entz put on a World's Fair. Groups of kids created booths to display artifacts and information about different countries. David has been learning about Germany for weeks. It's nice that we have Aunty Megan living there right now to ask questions of. 

      This morning Heidi did initiatory at the Temple. It is a blessing to live so close to a temple and we are trying hard for one of us to make it once a week. 

     When Heidi got home I went with Papa and Becca B to pick up Big Foot. It felt like BigFoot was excited to get rolling again. It started without needing to be jumped. 

      In the evening Heidi and I graded papers as late as we could take it. 

4/13/16 A Successful Test

     This morning I went to the Temple. I felt like the place I was supposed to be. As I walked up I remembered that I was out of family names to take through. Just then a man coming out of the temple stopped me and asked if I would do a family name for him. It made me feel like Heavenly Father was watching over me and knew where I was. 

      While I was there Bob and someone from FM fixed the Internet at Des Moines.  Tonight we retested the webcast and we are good to go. 

     I also got to help Brian Jensen with wireless mics and a projector for the YW Camp Kickoff. That's always a big production and this year was no exception. They had a funny skit involving princesses explained why camp is so great. So fun for our stake young women. 

3/30/16 Temple Day

     This morning Heidi did the before school routine all by herself so I could make it to the temple. It is a wonderful place to be. 

      Afterwards I managed to sell two premium statement subscriptions and talk to a few others. The goal is to get to 7 then 10 then 20 subscribers. That many should allow us to continue developing the report. 

     This afternoon I was chauffeur. I took David to Honor Band and Lauren to Heritage Orientation. Later on I took Lauren to Dance. I'm glad I could help. 

12/29/15 Temple Night and a New Job

     Guess who found an orange marker. Heidi and I figure he'll either be an artist or a writer if his love of writing implements continues like this. 

     Well, it's official, I am now a math teacher. Let's add that to the list of things I didn't expect to do when I was a kid. I am excited though. It's going to be a new adventure. It really feels like a calling. 

     This evening I got to go to ward Temple night. It's nice knowing that my new boss makes time to be in the Temple. 

11/28/15 Lauren's Electric Light Parade

     Tonight the Roche family invited us to see Lauren dance in a light up parade. It was a little dark for photos but a few turned out. 

     Heather kindly got some glow sticks to make the kids easier to spot in the dark. Once the parade started Peter sat on my shoulders for most of the time. He wanted to roam free and get close to the floats. 

     

     TJ reported that the trains were his favorite. There were multiple trains tonight. Heidi got these two shots above. 

     Heidi also captured this fun Lego themed float. 

     By the end Joseph was pooped. We failed to talk him out of wearing shorts tonight. Heidi did convince him to wear the long socks. He didn't complain about being cold but he did let us put a jacket over him to keep him warmer. 

     In the morning we did Dino and Christmas themed pancakes with our pancake pen. The kids had to guess what I tried to draw. It was fun to hear their imaginatative guesses. Heidi went to the temple for initiatory. We all stopped by the church to see if they needed help cleaning. Turns out they had a good crew and were done before we got there. 

     Next up we took the kids to the store and let them choose gifts for each other for Christmas. Heidi, David, Joseph and Sarah chose gifts for Ganon, Rebecca, TJ and Peter and vice versa. We had a budget to work in. It was a challenge at times reminding the kids that we weren't there for them to pick gifts for themselves. It was good when they started catching on and really found things that the other kids would enjoy. 

    Another fun thing happened early this morning. TJ was up before the other kids so he and I did the Star Wars hour of code. It was a series of puzzles designed to teach kids some principles behind computer programming. I think TJ enjoyed the one on one time. 

11/18/15 I'm Proud to Be an American

     The second grade does a patriotic program for the parents every year. 

     Sarah got to have one of the speaking parts. She spoke very clearly and calmly. Heidi and I got to go and show support. It was fun to see several other members of our ward there as well. Earlier they did a tribute to our Nations veterans. It feels like we have a connection to many veterans. My Grandfather served. So did Heidi's Father and two of her brothers and a brother in law. One of her brothers, Christopher is still serving. Also Arnie Hammari is serving. That's not counting the many many wonderful saints we met living in Kailua. Heidi's Mom and Dad got to come today and show support as well.  We are surely grateful for the sacrifice that these brave souls make to protect our freedom. Freedom is not free. It comes at the cost of careful vigilance. We also must take care not to let sin become our master because we lose freedom there although we may live in a free country. 

     We also had the privilege of having the missionaries over for diner. That is one small service that is a blessing to give. After the missionaries left I was able to make a quick run to the temple to do initiatory. It was a good, busy day.