Dear Family,
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We are doing great. We have the annual 30th Ward Halloween chili dinner in our yard tomorrow night. It’s always a good time. Scott asked at dinner last Sunday why we don’t eat as families on blankets at that dinner. It didn’t take me long to realize that he, and his fellow priests, had been asked, once again, to bring tables and chairs from the church for the dinner! My friend said that there should be a merit badge for moving tables and chairs!
I got to sub in 1st grade today—the day of the Halloween party! Fun times. It actually wasn’t as fun as usual for me as there was a student teacher who did all the teaching. I got to grade papers. I did get to play BINGO with them at the party hour. That was fun.
The service project last week went well. We had about 250 kids/adults and we painted a wall, painted house numbers on curbs and cleaned 6 alleys full of all kind of junk! The kids seemed to have a good time. It was interesting after an hour of working how many asked if we were finished yet—when I told them we had only just begun and we planned on working for about 4 hours they thought I was crazy. But I give them my compliments because they all worked very hard until the job was done. Because of us, a neighborhood in Mesa looks better.
Tuesday Grandma got to spend the afternoon here while Mom and Dad were at the Visitor’s Center. It was great having her. She is doing great. Always so pleasant to visit with and I always learn about my extended family when I visit with her! She loves her family and keeps in touch with all of them so well.
That night was the last night of Teacher basketball in our stake. Grandma (and Grandpa and Grandma Andreasen and Grandpa Mel) got to go watch. They first had the Stake Extravaganza in which Jason was to participate in the three point shot competition. After a GREAT warm up and having the announcer even say, “if I were putting money on anybody, my money would be on that #18 (Jason)” Jason didn’t make any 3 point shots in his given minute. Such a bummer. After that our ward played for the stake championship. Jason and his friends played some great ball and they won—at the buzzer—by a point! But that was just the first game. Since the other team had not last any yet in the tournament, and it was a double elimination tournament, they had to immediately play another game. I’d say our team wanted it more and they played hard and won that game too! It has been years since our ward has won a basketball championship in the stake! We were happy. The grandparents seemed happy too!
Amy had a scare this week at the gas station. Somehow, the gas lever got into the lock position when it wasn’t supposed to be and sprayed gas all over her. It took some time for her to get someone’s attention to help her. She was pretty shaken up—and who wouldn’t be with gas on your clothes, hair and eyes! She was able to wash out her eyes pretty good, got some advice, like washing them out with milk, too, but she declined the free milk offered her. She went home, took multiple showers and got a priesthood blessing and before long the burning started to go away. She has taken her clothes to the cleaner and I hope her hair smells fresh tonight! We are happy she is okay. Those calls are never fun to get!
It looks like Amy will be coming home to stay in December! She got an internship in Arizona and will just need to take two additional classes online to graduate! Can you believe she will graduate in April!? How great is that? She is doing great despite the fact that they got snow in Provo this week!
Kory was unsuccessful in his hunt. Bummer. Kory and Taralynn seem to be doing well too. They haven’t gotten snow that I know of but the weather is starting to get cold. Taralynn is not looking forward to that! They go to Boise this week for the Boise State game! Fun memories to make!
I guess that is all I have for tonight. I am reading President Monson’s biography…and love it! I have always loved reading biographies, especially those of our living prophets. Now that we have a family memory of tubing down the Provo River, it was especially fun reading about his adventures on the Provo River growing up. He spent every summer there for two months, fishing, tubing, playing. President Monson is such a great example to me and I try to look for ways to help others and let the spirit guide me to how to make a difference to others everyday. How grateful I am for so many good examples in my life that teach me and help me. Thanks to all of you!
Love,
Lori
