technology and the temple

I come from a family where one side has a long history with the church.  The other side hits a dead end within 2 generations because of communist china.  New names are hard to find.   Today I got a tip of how to get 4 names in Family Search by looking for "Ordinances Ready". 

I think of the work that was done indexing the census and the computer programing that made this search algorithim possible.  What a blessing.  I'm grateful for this tool.  It really motivates me to do work for my ancestors.

shoes

5 years ago we went to Utah with plans to visit the Grand canyon on the way.  B was newly 1 year old and I wanted good shoes so I wouldn't slip down the canyon and drop him...

I'd never invested in good shoes for myself.  Hand me downs and whatever fit and cost less than $25 was my main source of footwear.  Occasionally I would go out with my sister M and get 1 pair of shoes that felt special.

I've arrived recently at a level of caring for my feet.  When I stopped eating sweets I rewarded myself with nice leather boots after 100 days free from sugar.  I started walking around the same time and got a good pair of walking shoes.  I threw away all my closed toe dress shoes and got salt waters.  My craisglist Tevas broke down and I got new ones instead of some knock off.  I currently own 6 pairs of shoes (plus galoshes OK!) and each is a pair that fits well and is kind to my feet.

Cleaning the Roof

Today we went to T park from 10-11.  A friend from sign language class happened to be there and we spent the time chatting while the kids played.  It got hot and they were happy to go home.  Summer fun.  Taking them out daily is a goal I try to keep up on.

The leaves and pollen were collecting on my beautiful metal roof.  I swept them off last year but it was kinda precarious and I was putting it off this year.  Today I reviewed my plan with P and he advised that I use a broom instead of a rake.  So after feeding the kids lunch I got the ladder and headed out to battle the debris.   I set the ladder up against the gutter and swept the leaves within 5 feet of the gutters.  Then I headed to the back of the house with the ladder to go up on the roof.  I found that if I kept my feet facing down the slope I could keep positive pressure and felt surprisingly nimble.  I worked my way down the roof pushing the leaves toward the edge.  Having previously cleaned the last 5 feet, I could just shove the upper leaves down and they would scuttle off the edge.  Yay!

I cleaned up and within half an hour it rained a torrent.  The screened porch has a tar roof that boils in the sun.  As I type the steam is rising off the roof and blowing past the gutter.

fitness

I joined my friend T's fitness group.  I'd met with them before but now I am more committed.  It felt great to push myself to just do all the exercises and not let discomfort stop me.  It helps that I have lost 25 lbs thanks to Q.  Everything is easier when you're not carrying 25 lbs.  But still, I was really in to the workout and it was a great exhaustion at the end.

Kayak adventure

My sister is visiting and we were able to do a kayak adventure today.  We put in at the south neighborhood dock with 2 adults and 4 kids.  Meanwhile my sister M drove the other 4 children to vail point and met us at the dock.  Then I switched places with M and 4 kids and they reversed the trip.  We had cookies and cheese sticks on the dock.  It was something we had wanted to do for a while and the 8 kids on hand made it work well.  P even let B jump off the boat and swim on the return trip!  The trip was a bit short, but long enough for a first time paddler which there were 3 of, so that was good.  It was enough to call it an adventure without the exhaustion and frustration of our usual sort of adventure.  Win!

 Little T was very concerned about falling out of the boat.  He was much more well behaved than L.

4th of July Parade

A few months ago I asked the neighborhood president if we could have a 4th of July parade.  She loved the idea and was super supportive in publicizing, bringing watermelon, and decorations.  Her grandkids came and it was a great event.  I'm so glad we got to have this.

My sister is visiting and we went to see fireworks and P's band play last night.  I've had all the 4th of July fun I could want and it has been nice.  We might go to the beach tonight if the weather is clear.  So nice!

Rock Spring!

We celebrated my birthday today by going to Rock Spring in Appopka.  I'd heard about this spring and how nice it was, but also how quickly they closed reaching capacity.

I am wearing contacts to practice mono vision before getting my eyes fixed this summer.  I brought a snorkel and mask and was so excited to try it out.  lP asked if she could use it and I said I was saving it for myself and G.  Me, because I never got to use one before and G because he's deaf and I want him to have as much visual fun as possible when he can't hear (with the water).  lP said I had used a snorkel before I got glasses when I was a kid.  I told her that I never had.  She said I must have had a very sad childhood.  M reminded us all that I didn't grow up in Florida.  True.  Snorkeling at Rock Spring was so fun!  It was scary at first but as I got used to trusting that I wasn't going to drown, I could relax and enjoy seeing, under water!

We left the house at 7 hoping it would be enough.  I woke at 6 and went out to buy some floats and I'm glad I did because the rentals were $7 a piece and the kids didn't even want to use their floats most of the time.  Boogie boards would have been ideal for them to float a little and then drag them along, lashed to their ankles when they wanted to be free.

We stayed 5 hours!  We never stay anywhere for 5 hours.  We floated the lower half 3 times, swam in the swimming area twice, and floated the whole length 1 time.  There are rocks at the head that are fascinating, but precarious.  Someone stole P's rented tube at the head of the springs and he was stuck navigating the rocks on foot.  It wasn't a good moment.  But he was mostly stressed trying to keep us together because he's loving like that.

We took a break in the middle to potty, warm up at the park and have a snack.  L was cold from the water so we were glad one of our floats had a seat to keep him out of the water.

We left around 2:30 and went to Golden Corral in Daytona to celebrate our Anniversary.  Breaking fast with an all you can eat buffet is interesting.  The kids were so well behaved.  It just gets more and more fun the raise this family.