3/14/16 Makey Makey

      A highlight today was going to the library for an event called Makey Makey Monday. A Makey Makey is a device that allows you to turn household objects that conduct electricity into keys on the computer. For instance Sarah turned play dough into piano keys and played "Ode to Joy". 

Here are Rebecca and TJ having fun. 

     David actually got to spend the most time tinkering. When didn't get a photo of him but he enjoyed playing with little robots the could follow a line drawn on a piece of paper. Depending on the color and pattern it could do things like reverse direction or spin. The kids seemed to

All have fun at this event. 

     This evening for FHE we went to the Maughn's house to help them pick lemons and grapefruit from their trees. Heidi remembered helping last year and packed our 2 new head lamps. They were super useful. We could see the fruit and still have our hands free for picking. The kids had a blast giving service and the Maughn's even shared some of their fruit with us. 

3/13/16 Most of Us Make it to Church

     A couple of pics from our tire stop yesterday. Sarah and Peter up top. TJ and Joseph in the other. 

     This morning David had an upset stomach and we decided, out of an abundance of caution, that he should stay home today. Heidi stayed with him during sacrament since I had been asked to give the closing prayer. Then we traded places so Heidi could help with primary. It is nice that my tech assistant Mike Sagnimeni is up to speed. He was able to handle the tech needs so I could take care of my family today. 

     At home David and I managed to index a batch of names from Family Search. It felt good to be able to do some service even though we couldn't be at church. 

      This afternoon Heidi got set apart in her new calling as the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Primary Presidency. She also got approval to do Philmont training for Cub Scouts in New Mexico. She has been wishing to do this training ever since she did Woodbadge. I'm proud of her for her dedication to serve and to learn. She lifts me up with her example. 

3/12/16 Eyes to See

     Today Heavenly Father helped us out in multiple ways. One of them happened as we were getting ready to leave Walmart. The kids had to go potty. I took the boys and the two girls went on their own. This left Heidi standing in front of the eye glass department. They happened to be having a clearance sale. She felt impressed to take a look. Heidi's frames have been held together with gaffers tape and hope for the last year. We've wanted to buy her new frames but since the kind she has were discontinued she would also need new lenses. This would be expensive so Heidi has made due. Today in that bargain bin they had a set of frames that matched her lenses for 5 bucks. That is a true blessing from Heaven. Heavenly Father put us in the right place at the right time and gave Heidi eyes to see that deal and now she can literally see the world better. 

      After Walmart we had a nice visit with Gram and Papa and Becca B. Papa was looking better today. We're all glad to see that he is feeling better and pray he will be back to 100% soon. 

      After our visit we had another Heavenly help event. We needed to stop and get our tire looked at but we knew that if we did we'd cross into lunchtime and we'd have hungry children on our hands. If you've ever been somewhere when kids start to get "hangry" you know it's not a good idea. Heidi felt impressed to stop at our favorite place to buy fruit. It turns out today is their 50th anniversary of being in business. To celebrate they were giving each customer a free hot dog, small bag of chips and a water bottle. Heidi picked up some fruit and we all had lunch courtesy of the Superstition Market. I'm sure this is another example of Divine Guidance. 

      Another blessing, no doubt is that Gunnell's Tire was able to replace our bulging tire and it did not burst while we were out driving. Heidi and the kids have noticed the van riding rougher than usual. Since it was one of the rear tires I couldn't really feel the difference. It feels good to have that taken care of. 

3/11/16 A Visit With My Folks

      This morning Heidi, Joseph, Peter and I headed over to visit Gram, Papa and Becca B. We've missed a couple of visits because we or they were sick. Papa is still sick, hopefully not pneumonia. We helped wash a few dishes and picked up some groceries. We couldn't stay long because it was super early out day for the older kids. This is the start of Spring Break. We'll go back again tomorrow for another short visit. 

      I've been reading the Percy Jackson series. Mostly it's pretty silly but fun. Today, when I read In the book, Percy said something I thought was worth thinking about. He says, essentially, that a good thing about having a friend who freaks out more than you is that you can see that you have to pull yourself out of your own freak out to help them. Heidi does this for me all the time. She is always positive even when she has good reasons to be down hearted. She cheers me up. Today I tried this out. Instead of letting myself fret about the many things on our list I told myself that I needed to be strong for Heidi's sake. It felt like a lie because she always seems so cheerful but it did make it easier to move past the bumps in the day. 

     This evening Heidi and I watched the movie Interstellar. It's a fun movie about space travel but it is oddly missing God. They talked about being helped by powerful beings from another dimension but I don't remember one religious character in the movie. So odd. 

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. 

3/9/16 A few things done

    Today was a work day. Tax deadline is looming and we have some clients trying to get financials in ahead of the deadline. 

     This evening Heidi and I went to a meeting about David's class trip. It's coming up in about two weeks. He's been nervous but has started feeling more comfortable no that he knows he'll be with friends. 

3/8/16 B Minus Day at School

     Today was a pretty ok day at School. The kids were mostly good. I did have to stop the lesson during 2nd period because they wouldn't stop talking. I told them to take 5 minutes and think about whether they wanted a lesson or not. After that things got better. 

      One girl did give me a thank you note with a snickers bar signed by several of the nicest kids. It was nice to be thanked. My third period class had time to play David's video game. They were very impressed that an 11 year old wrote it. The kids weren't real excited at first but they warmed up as they learned how to play. I think it helps to learn seeing the math in a more real setting. 

     Tonight when I got home the living room was freshly vacuumed and the kitchen and several other rooms had been cleaned. Heidi reported that the kids helped happily. This was a happy way to be welcomed home. I felt very loved.