At Least It's Never Dull

Tonight, as I was passing through the family room, I looked at the couch and realized I could not remember the last time I sat down on it. My own couch. I spent a lot of money on that couch. I hope I get to sit on it again soon. The way life is going around here though, it may be a while.

Yesterday was especially eventful. Duncan and I went to check out a service mission opportunity for him. It looks to be the perfect place for him. He was really excited, as was obvious by his answer to the question, "So Duncan, what do you think?" He responded, "It's okay." I quickly explained to the folks we were meeting with that coming from Duncan, an okay was considered high praise.  We have already submitted his application, and now it is just a matter of waiting for all the pieces to fall into place.

After that, we drove out to Roy to go shopping at Winco.  Ninety minutes and  $200.00 later, the back of the car was chock full of food, and after everything was packed in, we climbed in to go  home and rescue our poor dog, who had been locked up in her kennel since early morning. Only, the car would not start. It was completely dead. It has been threatening to not start for a while now, and I just kept putting off getting it fixed. I mean, we had a wedding to pay for. Who can afford car repairs?

The timing could not have been worse. I just kept wondering which of my wonderful neighbors I could burden to come haul our butts AND our groceries home. And then, I realized I was not that far from Mitch's house. So I texted him, and bless his handsome heart, he came right away and rescued us. Took us and all our groceries home, packed in tight in his tiny Yaris, and drove me to the auto repair place to drop off my key so they could tow it for me. He was my hero yesterday.

The car was not the end of our troubles though. A few nights ago, one of our brilliant offspring cranked the thermostat down to 60, which caused the air conditioner to freeze over which caused the  blower on the furnace to burn out. Calling a repair guy to come look at it also necessitated cleaning out the furnace room, also known as the litter box room. I shall not go into deep detail on that, since I am still suffering from the trauma of it all. And did I mention that it was 95 degrees yesterday? The perfect day to have your air conditioner break down.

So yeah, between the groceries, the car and the air conditioner, it was an expensive day at Hotel Metcalf. I hope the guests appreciate the nice cool air and the luxury transportation.

And after all that headache, the day was redeemed by the sight of this:

Yep, that is my Livvi, riding a bike at long last and after many tears and tantrums. We have been working on the bike riding for five long years, and finally, yesterday something just clicked. She found her balance, and she was off, riding around for over an hour. The best part was when she raved about how much fun it was. After hearing her cry and complain for five years about bikes being  scary and she couldn't do it, and it was too hard and she might fall off, to see her having fun on a bike was one of those ultimate mom moment payoffs.

And the bike riding then lead to this.

Audrey finally decided to get out and give that long board that she got for Christmas a try. And she didn't do half bad either. Now we just have to teach Olivia about brakes.

Day of Rest? Yeah, Right

What a wild Sunday. Anything but a day of rest is what we got today. Today we had Will's patriarchal blessing this morning, ( it was fantastic) then an interview with the bishop for Duncan about a mission,(again, fantastic)  then Will spoke in sacrament meeting,( what can I say? fantastic) and it was my turn to teach the Beehives,( I fed them candy, which they said was fantastic)  then after church we hurried home for dinner so that we could turn around and run back for another stake meeting where they realigned all the ward boundaries. It was Harmony Bluff for the win, as we were the only ward to only gain and not lose members. It;s the first time I have been in a ward where I actually would have cared if we had lost people, or if we had changed wards. So all is well in my personal Zion tonight.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for Will and Audrey. Will's last first day. Audrey's first day of high school. This week I am in payback mode for all of the time off I have had this summer, so I'm working extra hours. Olivia has a book report due at the end of the week, then she is off track for three weeks. I'm already tired just thinking about it all.

The good news is that we have survived another productive peach season. Off of our little tree, we canned 33 quarts of peaches, and several pints of jam. I say we canned, but what I really mean is I canned. As soon as the wedding ended, instead of lying about in my bed eating bon bons, as I had originally intended, I started slaving over a kitchen sink and a stove, peeling, washing, boiling, chopping, etc. etc. You can ask my wedding guests that were still here if you don't believe me. And I am happy to say that there remains not one peach on that tree. I feel so sufficient.

And More

Courtesy of  adorable Sarai...

Sushi Night and More Wedding

The last night Aaron was here we needed something thrilling to do. The best we could come up with was to go out for Sushi. It was the third time in my life I have eaten sushi, and probably my last.  

Duncan didn't try sushi, but he did order (and eat) something that was not a cheese burger. Progress!

Despite the suspicious look, it turns out Will is quite the sushi fan.

As are these two. These two, look at them. Two peas in a pod they are.

This is a random lovely picture I took of a sunflower that did not bloom in time to be part of the wedding bouquet.

And a cool stripy zinnia. There were plenty of zinnias in our wedding bouquets. Just not this one.

Aaaand more wedding.

And there is plenty more to come.