Our little bunny friend

In August we had a little adventure with a bunny rabbit. This is my friend - Wendy - yes, you've seen her before. She has a big heart for animals. When she saw a cute bunny hopping down the road (over by the creek) she felt like she needed to save it before it got killed by a fast moving car.

Since Wendy owns dogs she, of course, couldn't keep the darling bunny at her house. So over here it came. It was actually so adorable and would hop, hop, hop everywhere. I know absolutely nothing about owning bunnies so I did the best I could for it. Baby girl absolutely adored it. 

Thankfully, after having it for just a few days the "real" owners were driving past my house and noticed their bunny. Whew, I was never so thankful in my life to get rid of a pet. It was cute, but the poop was starting to cramp my "barefoot outside" style.  Sometimes baby girl will say "bunny, bunny, hop, hop, hop". I just have to tell her that the bunny went back to his real home. 

The agony of Math

Peter is behind in Math - he has been all year. I am hopeful that we will be able to catch up. Here are just a few of the many pictures I have of me "trying" to help him and him just being frustrated. 

Last night we did have a little better success. I found that if he works out the problem in his workbook at the same time I'm doing the same problem he is able to be more confident in doing the calculations. In fact, we had a blast last night and it was a bit of a race to see who could complete the problem first. I am thankful that I love this type of math! Hopefully, I'll always be able to be his math tutor. It might get to the point where I have to jump ahead on his online school account so I can learn the material before I have to help him. I can totally see myself doing it. I've always considered Algebra to be similar to a complicated dance. If you don't get the right steps, in the right order, you end up tripping up and looking dumb. Hopefully Peter and I can work well together to prevent that from happening. 

First Day of School

Back in May, we decided that they boys would attend public school this year. The primary reason is they won't listen to their teacher anymore (aka Mom). It has taken a bit of patience and persistence to prepare them for this transition, but on August 16th they were off regardless.

Peter is going to the local Junior High. It's crazy because everyday he has seven classes. The biggest adjustment for him, is waking up with enough time to do a shower and catch the bus at 7:10am. It's been hard on both him and Mom. There have been multiple days that he has missed the bus. He also ended up with a miserable cold (or was it the newest variant of Covid) and didn't end up going to school for 5 days. It has come back to bite him bad, because he is super behind on homework. Ah well, trial by fire. Brandon found this silly t-shirt on Amazon and bought it for Peter. Peter thinks it's pretty great. Peter is such a helper of people. Almost everyday he comes home to tell me what teacher he has helped during his free time. He would even like to be a Teachers Assistant next semester, if we can get his Math and English grade up. 

Luke is going to our local middle school. I was more worried about the adjustment for him, but he has handled it like a pro. He hardly ever has homework to do afterschool, and he really enjoys his band class. I am so glad that Bran convinced him to take it. It's been a spot of happy for him. His friend Landon, and Quin both meet at our house every morning to go on the bus together. It's fun to see them all talking and laughing and then walking to the bus stop together. We are lucky because the bus stop is super close to our house. 

The one thing I am most impressed with is Luke's ability to wear shoes. Since he is taking a P.E. class this term, he can't wear his crocs. It was a very sad day when he realized that, and we even tried to get away with it for a few days. However, after two weeks he is very used to his new shoes. He has also done an amazing job at getting himself to all his classes. I don't know how he remembers what rooms to go into, but He has handled it like a champ. He hasn't even had a single meltdown. 

Both boys are taking home lunches right now. Peter takes a pop tart and two packets of fruit snacks. Most days he doesn't even eat those. I am thinking he is going to lose weight from lack of food (he doesn't eat breakfast) and all the walking he does to get to his classes (they are all over the junior high). Luke enjoys the same two bags of fruit snacks, two granola bars, and small bag of goldfish, and three (never less, never more) baby carrots. He is a champ and will eat during lunch time. 

As for me, I am getting more and more used to having them gone. Having baby to take care of 3x a week helps. I also fill my time on Tuesdays with Temple gardening. Mondays are reserved for quiet time at home, or adventures with my new BFF. It is a very rewarding time in my life right now. I have so many blessings, one of which are these two amazing sons. I am grateful for the ways they are teaching me to be a better person.

Glenda

This is my dear friend Glenda. She lives just a few houses down from me. She is such a trooper. She lost her husband to cancer a few years ago and she recently gave up her drivers license. When Stake RS responsibilities don't take me away from our ward, I drive her to and from church. She and her husband also had two boys - and she was in her 30's before she was able to have them. One of her sons is married to my good friend Wendy. 

This is me and Wendy. We often go on walks together and talk about anything and everything. She always makes me laugh. She has had a very hard life (full of drugs and other awful things), but she considers now the best years of her life. She feels safe and has enough food. In those things, she and I can relate. Instead of telling me just goodbye she will say things like "I love your face". Bwahahaha. I love her face right back. 

Temple adventures

This summer has been the summer of spending lots of time in the gardens at the Provo City Center Temple. That place just makes me happy. I work hard, but all the hard work has been reapayed over and over again in the friendships I developed and the mental happiness I have been given. Here are some of the good times I've had there:

Elder Kennedy and I were weeding around the west oval. We were looking for a specific weed that's been a problem in the shrubbery there. We managed to find others things instead. This was my "score" of the day. It's a shoot from a nearby ornamental cherry tree. This somehow escaped the notice of everyone and managed to grow for four years. I had the pleasure of chopping it down. I think it was almost 6.5 feet tall. The area where they were growing looks so much better now. Justin took our picture and he isn't good at taking pictures, so this is the best I got. 

There are a lot of people that come to the north park area of the temple grounds. They often bring blankets and picnic lunches. It's a big time place for college kids who are "in love" to come and snuggle. Super gross! Anyway, I laughed when I found these socks in that area. I told Justin the college kids are starting to get really comfy and partially undressing. I think Tokie (Justin's boss) ran over the socks with the lawn mower (ride on) so that's why they are full of holes.

On that same day I found the "goods" seen below. It was a homeless persons stash of stuff. I didn't look super close, but I did notice a camp stove, propane, blanket, and trash bags. I think it's really sad and disrespectful that the homeless population use the temple grounds as their personal property. Justin says it's a continual problem. He has even seen them bathing in the water fountain! The temple has lots and lots of hidden cameras and that makes me feel better. Still, there are a few areas that are densely packed with shrubs and you could play an awesome game of hide and seek. Or, someone could hide a body back there and it wouldn't be found for weeks. The temple also has roving security guards. I see them at least once every time I'm volunteering there. I think they are slowly getting used to me being there. They look stern, but they are friendly when you stop to talk with them.  

Elder Kennedy and I are a team now. He used to just hang out in the shop with Justin, or just in the shop on his phone (I am learning service missionaries have A LOT of freedom). Not anymore, we go out together every week now. He is about halfway through his mission. On this particular day we were weeding the strawberry beds just south of the family circle plaza (everything has a name there). He managed to find a little strawberry. There are actually quite a few beds with ornamental strawberries. They are easy to maintain and look adorable with their pretty pink flowers and unique leaves. It's a major delight for find a strawberry because they are so tasty to eat. The temple also had Oregon grapes that are edible and daylilies that you can eat too. Elder Kennedy is forever trying to get me to eat both. I am actually a fan of the grapes, but haven't gathered up enough courage to try the daylilies even though Elder Kennedy says he will eat one with me. 

This was taken on the same day as the above. Justin asked us to work on the morning glory in the ground cover beds right up next to the temple. It was just a humbling experience to be so close. I love the many different colors of bricks. It makes me wonder how many are original, and how many are new. 

This is the view that we have of the temple from the "shop". Not too shabby. All the volunteers struggle to find the shop because it's pretty tucked away and nondescript. I have some really great memories of this area. I am so lucky to feel so at home at this temple. Over the past few weeks I have really started to feel a lot of pride and ownership of the gardens and shrubbery beds. I feel like I'm giving up a personal part of myself while I am there and getting so many amazing blessings in return. 

Peter's braces

June was the month that Peter got his braces on. He has done an amazing job at not complaining about them. I know that he has wanted them for quite a long time. I'm thankful that Brandon and I were finally able to make it happen for this (very tall) kid.

Watercolor class

I have been taking a watercolor class this month with two of my neighbors. They are so much better with this class. I have been enjoying the little bit that I have done so far. To be honest, I'm very low key with this class, and I am ok with it. Here are a few of the things I've painted so far.....

A miraculous blessing

I am now a temple volunteer gardener! Just typing that makes me want to pinch myself. It happened in the most normal way possible. Our ward was asked to provide 3 sisters to help one random Tuesday this month. I quickly signed up. After that day was over the head gardener could see how excited I was to be there and asked if I would be coming again. So, I've been going ever since. It's combining two of my greatest loves - gardening and the temple. This past week I must have "passed the newbie test" because I received an official gardening volunteer t-shirt. I don't think I deserve it, but I am beyond thrilled to have it.

On my first time I learned about the styrofoam they have beneath all the flower beds at the temple. I found that out because I found a lot of it in one of the beds and asked. The next week I found a miniature Daniel Tiger on the south west lawn. They are going to make him a mascot and attach him to the 4 wheeler mule they have. LOL. 

This past Tuesday I just found a whole lot of cigarette butts and a Mountain Dew bottle. I am very vigilant about picking up anything that shouldn't belong on the temple grounds while I am there. I am shocked at how many little pieces of plastic find their way in. It's weird. Anyway.....here are a few fun pictures I've taken over the past three weeks. 

Also, this past week the Linden trees were blooming and they smelled so, so good. I also got to do the thing I've always wanted to do at the gardens - deadhead the peony's and roses. Wahoo! I can't wait to see what I'll be doing next week. I'm really hoping I can work in the north east plaza (every garden bed has a name). I also went underneath the temple to the gardening office. SO COOL!!! They have a giant map of the temple grounds with all the flowers/bushes/trees and sprinklers marked. It's an organized persons dream. I totally felt like a VIP while I was there. I so don't deserve this blessing.

Great Grandma Ramona

Recently, I've been working on a lot of projects related to my maternal great-grandmother. I think I feel an deep connection to her because I knew her, and loved her deeply. She was a great lover of flowers and I think part of the reason I love flowers so much is because of her. A few months ago my great-aunt allowed me to borrow Great-Grandmas recipes. I used my scanner to scan them into my computer. I then uploaded them into FamilySearch so my entire extended family can appreciate and enjoy them. It was such an amazing project to work on. 

I have slowly been trying to making her recipes. It's been a lot of fun. Sometimes steps are skipped or the recipe name is missing. It's always a great adventure to try and figure out if I'm making the recipe correctly. This month I made one, of the many, bread recipes she had. It is such a yummy recipe! I've never known a bread recipe to include molasses, but my neighbor said it's a pretty common ingredient. I guess I'm just ignorant. Anyway, here is the recipe and the finished product. I only wish Great-Gma was here so she could tell me if I made it the right way.

Orderville

I've been working on some family history stuff the past couple of months. My great-aunt let me borrow a bunch of recipes from my Great-Gma Chamberlain. It has been a very sacred experience scanning all of them into the computer and uploading them into familysearch. Before getting the recipes I worked on digitizing audio tapes Great-Gma and Great-Gpa had recorded and also uploading them to familysearch. 

While I was doing these projects I heard some much about the town of Orderville. It's where Great-Gpa was born and raised and where he and Gma raised their kids. In my heart I just knew I needed to go down and visit. It's a 4 hour trip so I made a weekend out of it. Going to this city filled up my heart in a very intense way. It was also delightful to go to the cemetery and visit so many of my Chamberlain ancestors (there are 45 buried here). The funny thing is I also have ancestors here from the Heaton side of the family too. It is a very beautiful tiny town (about 500 people). Next time I would like to visit for even longer. I think Great-Gma must have been smiling and laughing at me while I was there. She was such a wonderful lady that loved genealogy work. 

They have this tiny grocery store there, so I picked up picnic food at ate in the back of my car. It was so much fun.