Hiking the mountain!

 Today we hiked a mountain to see a waterfall.  L was apparently not feeling well but he complains so often that it is hard to know when he is actually unwell.  Well, after lP and M carried him up the mountain, on the way down he had to poop, twice.  Yay.  Then at the bottom of the trail when lP was carrying him again he threw up, a lot.  Oh boy.  

We were out that way to attend a community event for P's school.    L and I stayed in the car and the other kids attended the event, sweaty and tired, but the had a great time.

There are so many times when the kids are complaining when we are doing something awesome.  I hope they grow out of that.  M and G are so strong and awesome.  P says they used to complain but I don't remember.  I'm good at not remembering the complaining.  But there are hard times in life and I want the children to be resilient as adults.  I love them.

first days of school!

 Everyone started school.  P started Wednesday and the kids started Thursday.  I dropped M off at a friends to get a ride to school.  It is close but she didn't want to ride her bike.  I rode bikes with the boys to school.  We didn't leave when we should have so they just barely got there late/on time.  When I got home lP asked me to ride her over as well.  Go Grandma Buffy! We hustled and got there just before they opened the doors aka let the kids go from the gym to classes.

Everyone got home safely and it was great.  L started eating when he got home and did not stop!  I haven't seen him eat that quantity of food ever.  He ate 5-6 dub dubs and similar amount of go-gurts and ice pops.  B seemed to do fine. 

Today we woke to a storm.  I went to walmart and bought ponchos for the boys but then realized the path would be too wet where we go off road.  So I got everyone loaded in the car and we did the drop off line.  I must say I am so impressed by the planners of these drop off lines.  When we got to the boys school I realized I forgot to give L his medicine and could not let him go unmediated.  So B jumped out and we circled back to get L's medicine.  M was so calm and encouraged me to try and get L dropped off before taking her to school.  We made it to drop off 1 minute before it closed.  Just 1 car behind us got through.  

I really appreciate how M is calm and not selfish.  We worry.  I WORRY!  But she is a lovely person and is most often thinking of how to help the whole.  She even thanked me for organizing to get everyone to school today.  So nice.

Also, we got a pew!  Pew Pew!  I've wanted a pew for years.  I love how sturdy and minimal space they take up relative to the seating capacity.  Our new house lacks public room sq/ft compared to our old house.  We brought 1 couch with us, and with the pew, we now have a lot more seating capacity.  Yay!

New state things I like

 This city is more arid than our old town.  There is tons of shopping nearby.  The church population is more dense where we live.  People are such polite drivers.  I am serious!  Once when a light was out on the highway, people treated a 4 lane highway as a 4 way stop.  It was miraculous!

There are waterfalls!  The creeks flow fast enough that I let the kids play in them.  There are rocks +/-

People keep their politics private.  It is wonderful.  There are zero political bumper stickers.  Even when having lengthy discussions with people, they don't bring up politics!  I really like it here.

Make new friends

 I was feeling the absence of all the good ladies I have known and who have known me, known my talents, my reliability.  Today was ward conference and the Stake Relief Society had a lesson about how to love and include people.  I had decided not to make any comments because I don't want to be that lady!  So I just sat silently dabbing my tears through the meeting.  Afterward I made plans with 3 different sisters to connect in 3 different things I do.  Band sister with little boys.  Sewing sister.  Music composition sister.  

There are so many awesome sisters here.  I just don't know them yet.   And they don't know me.

I need to find someone who wants to walk.  I like that sort of friend.  Mostly I like friends who can make a little time to chat.  I have been abundantly bless to have ladies like that in my life.

New job

 P has a job teaching 7th and 8th grade math.  He had interviewed at another few schools and he is happy with this school.  He will have about 80 students.  It's nice to see him so excited for this work.

We had some bbq to celebrate the new job when it was fairly certain.  Then we had brownies on his last day with his old job.  We like to celebrate.

5 then 4 then 3 now 4

 G is in the MTC now.  We got to video chat with him on Friday.  He was in home MTC for 10 days then he flew out on Wednesday.  M was in Utah and my siblings helped them meet up and she got to see him to the MTC.  

We moved with 5 children then M went away to camps.  Then G went on his mission.  Now we have M back.  She will go to more camps and in 2 years G will come home briefly before going to college.

It is a big change.

We had the Elders over for dinner and I asked what sorts of questions we should ask of G on our calls.  They gave us 3.  Who are you teaching?  What miracles have you seen?  Who should we pray for?  We have demanded a lot of our kids to support G being deaf.  They have endured hours of sign language.  G endured hours of piano and choir things.  I pray they will have testimonies of the beauty we have seen.  I am grateful for the opportunity we have had to make these sacrifices together.  I love this family.

Group me for everything

 Our ward here is great at communicating.  They have a group me for RS, YW, Activity Boys, Book Club, Choir, and more I haven't joined.  They send out weekly emails with the zoom information and announcements and someone sends and email summarizing the lessons and class participation.  The missionary calendar is uploaded to Sign-up Genius and unfilled spots are announced on the RS group-me.  I advocated for similar measures in our past community but people there preferred group texts.  Group texts often left us off and we didn't know what was going on.  Sometimes that bothered me a lot.  So I am glad to be in a place where efforts are made to keep everyone in the loop.  I know it is hard.

G leaves on his mission tomorrow.  It has been fun shopping for all the supplies with him.  It has been difficult to get him to pack and get organized.  He's always willing to load the dish washer.  He is a great young man and I'm glad he has the opportunity to go.  Today we did last minute shopping for toiletries and first aid items.  I told him to get a styptic pencil to stop bleeding.  He hadn't heard of one before, having a father that doesn't shave.  We had to persist and find one eventually in a store that said it didn't have one.  But now he has all the first aid and toiletry items that he actually uses.

This morning I woke up and composed a new setting for "I Believe in Christ".  It's nice.  It brings out the skillful text that rises and resolves in consistent places.  I previously thought the hymn was very boring.  I love that composition is a spiritual experience for me.  My new setting is ABABCC1AB ish.  I'm not super satisfied with the voicing, but it is a fun thing to work on.