So THIS Happened Today

I know.  I am a bad person, taking photos in church.  But my little girl just gave her very first talk in church!  She has always said no before and I do not know what happened that led to her acceptance, and I don't want to ask and mess up any future possibilities.

She wanted nothing to do with the writing process.  I showed her how to go to lds.org to look up her topic.  We reviewed a few articles and she just wanted to pick one.  For her first talk, I figured this was as good as it got.  So I selected one that was appropriate and short.  I should have gone shorter.

She got up, spoke very softly and read her talk (for the very first time) from the podium, looking just like this picture the entire time.  It was a 4-5 minute talk and she did it.

She was disgusted that so many people who never seek her out to talk to her would suddenly seek her out to compliment her on her talk.  Such a funny girl.  But I am super proud of her!

Raking Leaves

 We have a glorious line of trees in the front and back.... or really on both sides of our house.  They are gorgeous in the spring and amazing in the fall.  However, they have a lot of leaves.  A LOT of leaves.  And those leaves fall off.  And if we don't remove them, we eventually get a nasty-gram from Housing.

This year, the missionaries volunteered to help!  For the small price of pizza and pie, 6 of them worked for just over an hour and bagged about 20 bags of leaves.  It was awesome!  The kids were sad to lose their playground, but Dan and I were thrilled to have all that work done so quickly!

You are right, half these kids are not mine.

And that wall behind them is about 5 1/2 feet tall. 

FYI, Callie is the lump of leaves on the left.

This kid hid in a pile of leaves and was there for a good 10 minutes while we chatted with the missionaries.  She nearly got squashed as we dove into the raking because we did not even know she was there! 

Such great helpers! 

Check it out!  Nearly done!

All ready for the trash guys. I love it!

A 28 Pound Turkey

I volunteered to cook a turkey for the Branch's Thanksgiving dinner.  I did NOT expect to be delivered a 28 pound Turkey on Wednesday that was STILL FROZEN!

This threw off my game.  I always use the bag.  I love the bag.  It is simple and impossible to screw up.  But a 28 pounder?!  AAACK!  That does not fit in the bag.  Heck, it doesn't fit in anything I own!

For the record, I whipped up my very first brine and put the turkey and brine in the cooler and let it sit all night.  The turkey was thawed by the next morning.  I squeezed the bird into the heavy-duty disposable tin that the commissary sells, despite it suggesting the weight limit of 20 pounds (hence the placing of it on top of my cookie sheet).

The problem.... The juices overflowed and covered the bottom of my oven with scorched drippings.  I dumped turkey juices all over the floor when removing it from the oven and every time I moved it.  Levi was happy to assist with clean up.

The positive... it was delicious and perfect!

Visiting the Japanese School

 Callie got to go on a field trip to visit a neighboring Japanese Elementary School a few weeks ago.  She kind of maybe enjoyed it.  One of their favorite ice breaker games is to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors", and I think she liked that.

She got to do to a different Japanese school this past week.  She was less enthusiastic about the second time.

I did not chaperone either field trip, but her darling teacher sent me pictures of my girl, and the cute Japanese students.

Elementary School Award Ceremony

 Delaney and Callie were recognized for doing well in school.  I went to the assembly where they received certificates.  They streamlined it nicely and this principal is significantly less verbose than the previous one, so that helped.  It wasn't a bad time.

Delaney on the stage.

Delaney and her fellow class-members of great achievement. And her awesome teacher there on the left.  We like her! 

Callie hates being the center of attention.  She walked fast, head down and didn't let me get any photos.  This was the best I got.  She's hiding in the back, next to her awesome teacher, who is probably holding Callie in place for this picture.

She just wanted to throw the certificate at me and run away. My friend held it for me so I could have this quality moment with Callie!