O Christmas Tree

Saturday and today, With the help of Blythe and Brandt, I got all the Christmas decorations out and up, with the exception of the tree.  We ran out of time, and while I thought it would be great to decorate the tree for family home evening, it just didn't happen.  But today was the day for our tree, so I ran over to the tree lot before the kids got home from school.  I hoped to get it set up and the lights on so we'd have lots of time to put ornaments on and they wouldn't have to wait for me.  Thing is, Kent took the big car today so that he would get the snow tires put on, so I only had the Mini.  I figured a tree doesn't really weigh that much, Lance always ties it down for me, and I only have to drive about a mile, so taking the Mini was not going to be a problem.

I was right; it wasn't a problem at all.  I picked a tree quickly and Lance tied it down.  I thought the Mini looked so cute with the tree on top--it was a big tree on a little car, but Fiona was able to handle it.  I drove home thought a hitch.  Setting it up wasn't as easy, and I had to wait for the kids to get home and help, so lights weren't on and they did have to wait for me.  Oh well!  It will teach them patience.

Road Hazards

I had two errands to run this morning and called Mikayla to ask if she wanted to get out of the house and come with me.  She did, so I went over and picked her up.  I needed to go to the bishop's storehouse to check things out, and I needed to go to Costco.  We headed up University Avenue, and as we drove under 800 North in Orem, we heard an unusual clunk-ish noise.  Mikayla said, "What was that?!"  

"I think some snow or something dropped off the back tire," I replied.

"No," she said. "I think you hit something."

I didn't drive 20 more yards before it was apparent that I had hit something and I had a flat tire.  Unfortunately, this was the first day we've had any really significant snowfall, and boy, of boy, was it falling.  I pulled off the road into a parking lot and we got out to inspect the damage.  Not only did I hit something, I really hit something.  As is evident from the picture, whatever it was gouged a huge hole in the side of the tire.  It was flat to the rim.  

 

I called Kent to tell him what had happened and he asked if he should come and help us.  I told him I thought I could handle it, Mikayla and I retrieved the spare tire and tools from the back of the car, and I got to work changing it.  I couldn't figure out where to put the jack, but after consulting the owner's manual, we found where I should place the jack and I started lifting the car.  It wasn't going super well and I told Mikayla she should probably call Kent to come help us after all.  He was already on his way when she called.  He came to be my hero rescuer!  

Part-way through the change, with the car jacked up and Kent trying to get lug nuts on, Cora, who was climbing around freely in the car, climbed over the gear shift and knocked the car into neutral.  It rolled off the jack and sent it forward towards a concrete barrier, but stopped before doing any damage to car.  Luckily, Kent was also out of the way, so it did no damage to him either.  Brick was very keen on getting out of the car to see what we were doing, but it was so wet  and snowy, we didn't want him to come out.  Our conciliation was that he and Cora could just be in the car, not in their car seats, so they could watch out the window.  After this minor mishap, we strapped them back in.

We got the tire changed, Kent loaded it up to take it away, and Mikayla and I loaded up, too.  Unfortunately, we had lost too much time dealing with tire in the snow that we didn't have time to go to the bishop's storehouse.  We did go to Costco, however, and have a fun story to tell about our puncture.  

Blythe Takes a Picture--or Two

I hesitate to really call either of these pictures "portraits." Blythe's is a creepy selfie, the other taken by Blythe of Brandt, but he's got gum sticking out of his mouth.  They are strange and amusing children.

Thanksgiving Lists

We have so much to be thankful for.  Our blessings abound and I am continually amazed at all that God has blessed us with.  We gathered for dinner at our house with the Barruses this afternoon, with Lee, Cammie, and Aaron, David, Sharon, Josh, Jonathan, and Micah, the four of us, Richard Ledford, and Leland Stout.  We ate delicious food, had lively conversation, and all went away sated and happy.

At family home evening this week, we all wrote down things that we were thankful for, and I wanted to include those lists.  Kent asked us to come up with at least 20 things we were thankful for.  The spirit of the activity really gripped the children because both of them came up with way more than 20.  Here are the lists of all the things written down, though we know, of course, there are many more.

Blythe's list: (I love her spelling)

1. The plan of salvashin
2. a hows
3. a tv
4. cusens
5. woter
6. the fetum of amaraka (freedom of America)
7. matem lother king (Martin Luther King)
8. mom
9. dad
10. Brandt
11. me
12. gopel
13. Jeses
14. tolet
15. tolet paper
16. Lilly
17. emma
18. ellen
19. maggie
20. calen
21. sara
22. lite
23. ether (the guy in the Book of Mormon)
24. party of stone supe (soup)
25. merakels
26. clooks
27. fish plat
28. thaksgiving
29. valetins
30. betheday
31. fon (phone)
32. books
33. tepel (temple)
34. cherch
35. pukins (pumpkins)
36. feet
37. motins (we are free do to whatever we want to)
38. lodrey (laundry)
39. corea (Cora)
40. killa
41. heven

Brandt's list: (I love his spelling too!)

1. Star Wars
2. tron
3. food
4. water
5. toilets
6. trees
7. air
8. Jesus
9. holy gost
10. books
11. school
12. math
13. tv
14. friends
15. mom
16. dad
17. batman
18. superman
19. antman
20. Legos
21. light
22. electricity
23. sun 
24. bed
25. moon
26. home
27. church
28. cars
29. toots
30. clooks
31. blythe
32. temple
33. dogs
34. cats
35. sunday
36. monday
37. tuesday
38. wandas
39. tp
40. thursday
41. friday
42. bday
43. starday
44. schris

Kent's list:

1. Katherine
2. Brandt + Blythe 
3. Family members
4. Food
5. Home
6. Work
7. Books--scriptures
8. Hot water
9. Good neighbors + Friends
10. Cars that work + Scooter
11. Healthy body
12. Dentist to fix teeth
13. Fixing skills
14. Leaders of Church
15. Movies
16. School Teachers
17. Indoor Plumbing
18. Music
19. Time
20. Tools
21. Clocks

Katherine's list:

1. Kent
2. Brandt + Blythe
3. Extended Family--siblings, neices & nephews, parents
4. House
5. Gospel
6. Friends
7. Temple
8. Holy Ghost
9. Food
10. Kent's job
11. School
12. Slippers
13. Healthy Body
14. Opportunities to serve
15. Yard
16. Bike
17. Jesus
18. Ice Cream
19. Sharp Mind
20. Mountains
21. Art
22. Music
23. Books
24. Family activities

And while we're speaking of all this gratitude, Brandt had is picture taken in school in front of the "I AM THANKFUL FOR . . . " sign with his sign that read: "Star Wars and Batman and video games and books and freinds."  All great things to be thankful for.  Blythe's class was not posted, so I don't know what she was thankful for at school.  Turns out she didn't get to do this activity, so that's why there's no picture.

Stone Soup

Blythe's class has read the book Stone Soup and then been doing some fun activities related to the story.  She wrote her own version of the story, they watched a movie of the book, and today they had a class party and made stone soup themselves.  Blythe was so excited to bring something to contribute (I signed up for a chopped onion), and to have me come and help out in her classroom.  It's only two days before Thanksgiving, so it was also sort of a quasi Thanksgiving party.  They made the soup right after class started, so by the time parents arrived to help (about 10:30), the room smelled really good.  The soup was delicious and the kids all seemed to have a good time sharing and eating their creation.  They also got to share five things they were thankful for, and I was delighted to hear Blythe share that she was thankful for the gospel, "Because I'm a Mormon," she said.  Warmed my heart that she is grateful for the gospel, and pleased me even more that she wasn't ashamed to say she loved it.

Hey waiter! There's a stone in my soup!

Thanksgiving Pie Making

Thanksgiving pie making.  It's tradition in our family.  It happens almost every Wednesday before Thanksgiving, with Grandma Sue, Mikayla, and I gathering to crank out anywhere between six and nine pies, depending on how many people will be at dinner.  Always pumpkin, apple, and pecan.  Ava loves to be involved in this project, too, and this year, she was upset that their family was going to be gone for Thanksgiving and she was going to miss pie making.  They are leaving on Tuesday to go to Disneyland for the week and won't be here.

As Christopher and Tysen were going to be gone and miss Thanksgiving completely, we decided to have a DeMartini Thanksgiving tomorrow, Sunday.  And that also meant that Ava could be involved in pie making because we did it today instead.  We all gathered at Tysen's house because she has two ovens that work, a fun basement the kids can play in if they don't want to make pie, and a large island we can all work around.  With lots of small helpers we made six pies, two of each kind.  Ava and her friend Alison worked hard, helping make crust, slicing apples, and mixing filling.  It was fun work, nice to visit, and a treat to carry on a family tradition.

Fifth Grade Wax Museum

Tonight was the Fifth Grade Wax Museum.  Near the beginning of the year, each fifth grader selected a famous person they were interested in to do a report on.  Brandt, ever Star Wars obsessed, selected George Lucas as his famous person.  We did some research on George, found out about his life, Brandt wrote some interesting facts and events, why he's famous, and then at school, he worked on a poster all about George.  The other fifth graders did the same with their famous person.

Tonight, they all came dressed up and stood around as wax figures of their person.  Each student included a quote, all of which were very inspiring.  The kids were so good about staying in their positions, looking thoughtful/cute/famous, and had obviously worked hard on their projects and costumes.  Fortunately for us, Brandt's costume was super easy.  George Lucas hangs around in jeans and a jacket, and has a bit of scruffy beard, so we got some grey makeup to dab on his face to look like facial hair, and sprayed his hair grey.  Done!  It was fun to see Brandt and his classmates.  In fact, it made me tear up looking at them all and reading their inspiring quotes.

Funny Children

Most of these "Funny Children" posts are about Brandt and/or Blythe.  But today's "Funny Children" post features Brick.  We went to buy Mikayla a pair of shoes today.  We went to Runner's Corner which has a small track inside the store.  Brick and Cora and I literally ran around the store while Mikayla looked at and tried on shoes.  Then the children took things off the shelves and rearranged, played on the treadmill, hid in the clothing, and ran away from me.  At one point in our time there (nearly half an hour I would say), Brick was getting into something I didn't want him to play with, so I told him he couldn't.

Brick all but fell apart.  He didn't know what to make of that.  I never tell him no.  I am his Grantie Kate.  I dote.  I spoil.  I hug and kiss.  I feed and water (or juice).  But I never say no.  This is not entirely true, but practically.  So I told him no and he got sad.  Really, really sad.  Like so sad he lost all will to live and lay on the floor, unable to rouse himself to action.  When I asked what was wrong and why he was on the floor, he said, "I'm sad.  You told me no."

I tried really hard not to laugh out loud, because that would further hurt his feelings.  But I did take a picture, and he didn't like that either.  He lay there for some minutes.  I left him to chase after Cora.

 

Promptings

Five weeks ago, I was called as the Relief Society President.  I knew the call was coming.  I've known for months.  But though I've known, it has been overwhelming.  I have felt the weight of responsibility for the sisters in our ward, almost all of whom I know, but not all their challenges and concerns.  I'm finding out all sorts of things that I'd be happy not knowing, but that I want to be able to help with.  I've done several food orders (I did one the day after I was sustained), and yesterday we had our first funeral.  I've been praying to know who to contact in any given day, who needs a call or a visit, who I can touch.  That inspiration has felt sporadic, though I'm certain I'm probably receiving promptings I'm not recognizing.

Today, however, I got it right.

I had a busy morning with Mikayla and her kids.  We ran several errands, and then ended up at the grocery store.  I dropped her off just after noon and came home. The back of the car was full of groceries, but I noticed on my phone a couple of contacts that needed to be joined--I had a phone number and an email, but in separate entries which makes for a long contact list.  I thought, 'I should go through my contacts and combine these so that I don't have so many to scroll through.'  So I sat in the car and started at A.  I did A-C, then realized it was taking too much time and I should stop.

Just before I stopped, I came across the name of a young man we know, Christopher.  He is the son of one of Kent's business contacts, and he has stayed with us several times when he has needed to be in Provo and hasn't really had anywhere else to stay.  He's been an easy house guest, so we've been happy to have him here.  He's been delayed in going on a mission, though he's had a call for a while, and I hadn't heard how things were going.  So I shot him off a quick text asking how he was.  Then I hopped out of the car to move on with the day.  He replied shortly thereafter that things were good, it's looking like he'll be able to go just after the new year, and he was happy to have heard from me.

It was a simple exchange.  It felt relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

Then Kent called.  Christopher's dad had called him in tears.  Christopher lost his job today.  He was upset, concerned about what his mom and step-dad were going to stay, and feeling really badly about himself.  Ten minutes after he was fired, I texted him.  My simple, "How are you?" text.  His dad reported to Kent that my simple act of kindness, of showing interest, in being someone other than his parents who cared about him, turned his attitude around.  He was okay.  He was able to get up from the hole he felt he'd just fallen into and move forward.  Because of a thought--prompting--to edit my contact list so that Christopher's name came by, and another thought--prompting--to reach out, I made a difference.

How many times does that happen?  Probably way more than I ever realize.  I, we, all of us can lift each other and make a difference, even a small difference, in another's life, if we'll listen to and act upon promptings we receive.  It's marvelous!  I hope I can continue to listen and act.

Bean Museum

Brandt has a scout patch he began work on a month or so ago when he went with the Webelos to the Bean Museum.  It's a life science patch.  They had to see a live animal show which they did as a den, but they had to go back for a second visit and fill out a form with all sorts of questions and observations.  Brandt has been asking if we could go again, and I agreed we could go this afternoon.  We took Paul Moreland (he needed to work on his patch too!) and Ellen Mason, because an outing is always funner with a friend.

We wandered all over the museum.  A museum worker came by us pulling the fur cart, a cart full of samples of all sorts of fur and skin.  We had to guess which animal the fur belonged to based on texture and color.  We all liked the touching part!  Brandt and Paul were able to finish up the worksheet, and came away from our visit with patch in hand.  We did a bit of howling, then stopped for ice cream at the creamery on the way home, because really, what museum visit is complete without a treat afterwards?  Or howling?

A Plump and Perky Turkey

It's third grade time for Blythe, it's November and Thanksgiving approaches, both of which mean it's plump and perky turkey time!  Yesterday Mrs. Miller read Blythe's class A Plump and Perky Turkey and then invited the children to make their own PPTs to bring to school and display in the library.  Being the artistic and creative person that she is, Blythe came home and launched right into PPT making with great gusto.  She did it all by herself, with no help or input from either me or Kent.  The end result it rather darling.  Here is Blythe with her plump and perky turkey.

Found

I found these two pictures on the camera.  Blythe constructed a little something out of small tiles, and then had Brandt take her picture.  I don't know anything more about these.

Town Hall Concert

A guy named Steve James has been at school over the past couple of weeks teaching the children songs about building character, being nice, and treating each other fairly.  He does assemblies and then has the children perform his songs to wild acclaim by no one but their parents.  Tonight was the concert the children performed in, and we dutifully went to listen.  Blythe in particular has been singing her song for days, a song called "I'll be Nice," with strange Ghanaian words.  She's been saying, "Bomo papa jimmy, say mo no nee hee," which, of course, means nothing to the rest of us.  Translated it means "I'll do the right thing."  But tonight we got to hear how it sounded with the rest of the song.  Brandt sang a song called "Children of Many Colors" that sounded like a Native American something.  It was a silly concert, but the children both sang very well and we are always happy to support their academic programs.  

Blythe with fellow squirrel Anna on the left and Hailey on the right.

Louisa is standing next to Brandt.