Week in Review 11/6/16

We didn't know what else to do on Monday so we decided to draw names for Christmas and do a little Christmas shopping.  It was a good idea, but, although we had a good time, we really didn't find any great Christmas presents.  (Actually it was a good thing that we didn't because there was a mistake on the list and we had to re-draw names!)  We did have a great lunch at Noodles.

We made our way to the Halloween store and had a great time with all of the fun props, decor and costumes.  Some of the things that are available now are just CRAZY.  There was a whole display of zombie babies that was just plain CREEPY.

Ash and I bought some make-up so we could have fun with the Trick-or-Treaters.

We each did our own make-up, and I found that I am NOT very good at it!  Also, there is something seriously wrong with my eyes - no matter how hard I tried my fake eyelashes just wouldn't go on right.  Instead of having a nice even curve they looked like a rollercoaster.  It was pretty scary (ok it was pretty silly!)  and it was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

Jason did some fancy artwork on Shandra's face

Grandpa Bob bought Rae a new costume and she was so excited that she couldn't stop smiling.  She loves Batman (the costume was Batgirl, but she insisted that it was Batman).

Kalel always spends Halloween with his dad, but this year I guess his little brother got fussy and so his parents took him home and let Kalel go trick-or-treating with Shandra, Jason, and Raelynn.  (Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of him).  Shandra was SO excited to take both of the kids this year.  It was really nice and warm and there seemed to be more little creatures trick-or-treating this year than there has been in the past.  It was really fun for Kim to be home too!

The next day Shandra and I had a meeting with Kalel's math teacher.  The new way that they are teaching math right now is difficult for us old folks to understand so we went to try to learn it in order to better help Kalel with homework.  The teacher was great at explaining to us how they are doing the problems and also ways to help Kalel at home.  It was a nice visit, certainly worth taking the time.

That evening I attended a fantastic relief society meeting.  The local singing group, Musicality, sang and gave us great messages.  It was so wonderful that I could have listened several more hours!  I sat between Jodi and Pat Bott and they both echoed my thoughts.  Several members of the group told stories of their lives when they had struggled with something difficult and how they were dealing with it, or overcame the trial with the Lord's help.  I'm so glad that I was able to attend!

Thursday after class Sue and I drove to Salt Lake for a faculty lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.  It was SOOOO Good!  I swear that I ate a mountain of food and every bite was heaven!  Of course we had to get cheesecake for dessert.  My choice was White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut and it was absolutely incredible!  We all tasted each other's cheesecakes, there was Lemon Raspberry, Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Lemon Meringue, Dulce De Leche Caramel, Pumpkin, and plain old Strawberry.  I tried all of them and mine was definitely the very best!  And the most wonderful thing of all was that we didn't have to pay for it!  Our campus president rewarded us because we had such a great site visit for our accreditation.

Dennis, Me, Tanjia, Lisa, Carrie
Sue, Sally, Dustin

Friday after to work I drove to Cyn's house and we headed to Salt Lake to the Deseret Star theater.

Those actors are incredibly talented!  They have amazing voices as well as great comedic timing.  Several times during this show they poked fun at politics and the current presidential campaign. I'm still trying to decide if I liked that or not - I'm pretty tired of it all right now.  After the main show they always so some kind of a musical review.  This time it was a tribute to classic rock and roll  which was one of my very favorite parts of the show.  Cyn and I had a fantastic time and we ate way too much dessert!  After the show we drove back to her house where I stayed for the night allowing me an extra hour of sleep before heading to clinicals on Saturday.

Today is Fast Sunday and a Facebook request asked people all over the nation to fast and pray for the upcoming election.  I told Kalel about it and he volunteered to fast and pray with me.  He is such a wonderful kid!!  I love him so much!  The testimonies that were given today were all especially nice.  It has been quite an enjoyable day - even though it didn't start off that way!  I was awakened at 4:00 am by the Medical Guardian stating that they had had a fall alert for dad.  I rushed over there expecting to see an ambulance with lights flashing, but the street was dark.  I walked into the house and called out for dad and I heard a voice call from downstairs, "we are down here".  As I headed down the stairs I saw that dad was excitedly showing a policeman his rifle collection.  (I'm shaking my head as I am writing this!  Only my dad!).  The policeman told me that he had cancelled the ambulance and that he would let me take care of dad.  Fortunately dad was fine, and I'm very glad that we have the fall alert detector, but sometimes it is just embarrassing!

We presidential race is finally nearing an end.  It has been a grueling campaign with much fault-finding, mud-slinging, and arguments.  The republican candidate, Donald Trump and the democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton, both seem to care more about putting the other candidate down than presenting their own ideas.  Facebook is flooded with opinions.  Personally, regardless who wins I am ready for the whole thing to be over!

THIS WEEK I AM GRATEFUL FOR:

The knowledge that the world is in the Lord's hands.  All will be well (regardless of trials) because He is over all.