Hikes with the 3 peas

 I've been doing noom for a few months now.  I started right before school started and it was still easy to get a few miles of walking in before the kids needed me.  Now with driving the teens to seminary and school, I don't have time to get the walking in.  Last week I took the 3 peas each on a walk to get my steps in and lP and I saw a space shuttle launch as we were finishing up.  She ran from the corner to home to get G so he could watch the launch he had been obsessing over on the computer.  

The next time I went for a night time walk B said he'd help me with that and we walked 2 miles.  I started taking the boys out with me and we even wore reflective vests as it got darker.  We've gone walking in the day a few times and it's too hot still.  But we're getting more adventurous with choosing to walk.  

On Monday the 3 peas and I walked 2 miles and sang "Swinging Along", "I love to go a wandering." and other songs as we walked.  It was beautiful.

Today we parked at the downtown library and went to the library, playground, walked a mile to visit a fairy garden, and other playground, then walked back to the library.  They were such troopers.  We brought snacks and water and wore our shade hats.

We're planning to go to the circus next week then at the end of the month we'll go to the corn maze and actually do the maze.  I didn't enjoy the corn maze experience as a college student and never thought I would take kids through the maze.  But they've been so good at hiking the last 2 years, I'm looking forward to it!

Putting their shoulder to the bumper

 This weekend we traveled to visit Grandma L.  S and C are visiting B and K's family in Macedonia.  Grandma L's car wasn't working and we planned to jump start it.  We backed it out of the garage to get the batteries close enough.  After a long time charging, we realized that the starter was broken.  We worked to push it back up the driveway and called the kids to come push as well.  They loved that.

P and G are helping with hurricane clean up in Louisiana, staying with C and A.  I'm very grateful that they could go and it was lovely to video chat with C and A.  I'm grateful for my family.

I spoke in church about the song of the righteous.  P was going to speak as well but instead asked my friend JC to speak.  She and I have served together and helped each other through so many times.  She is awesome.  We both sang periodically in our talks.  It was really neat to share the meeting with her.

It was my turn to teach ASL Sunday School this week so I was trying to prepare both a talk and a Sunday School lesson this week.  So of course I also set these words to music because that was a great idea. 

With P out of town, I stayed up too late and didn't eat great.  That combination is actually great for my creativity.  I love musical revelation.  Preparing a talk and a lesson also had me in a very sensitive zone so it was the perfect time to write some music. 

kayak break and crisis clean up volunteering

 We went to a little beach on the side of the road and paddled around in the kayaks on Saturday.  Monday we hope to do the same.  It was south of the inlet and there were not crowds.  We did have to hike the kayaks to the water about 50 feet in sand, but it was so nice to just put in without dealing with crowds, oysters, parking, etc...  The little boys had worn swim clothes and they loved playing in the water.

I'm coordinating our ward's efforts to take calls for the crisis clean up for hurricane Ida.  This call center takes the details from residents and then provides those details to teams of volunteers who are able to clear debris, do muck out, tarping, and cut up fallen trees.  Margot and Geoff went last year to help in the panhandle.