Two bubblies too bubbly

Tonight we had a stake presidency/high council party at the Barrows home. It was wonderful weather all day - just on the verge of getting warm. About 80+ degrees. Below is a little fountain that burbled quietly as people walked in. Just watch it and relax. Unless you live in Idaho or Utah, and then you want to watch it and dream peacefully.

The main course was roasted pork. Yumm! There was also this amazing fruit salad with strawberries, apples, a little pineapple and whatnot. Covering the whole thing was a kind of brown sugar & chopped nuts topping. Wow. Of course there was the obligatory chocolate cake and whipped cream desserts. I always try to eat enough of those so that the people who made them won't fell badly.
; )

My assignment (as it often is) was to make root beer. You see the fruits of my labor in the video below. A good time, and plenty of root beer, was had by all.

Taking a 4X4 out for a drive, if you know what I mean.

David is home for a short visit between school and work. It's really fun to have him here. He surprised us by showing up Sunday night (after I had hit the hay) instead of Monday night. That worked out great because the first order of business this evening was to go to In-N-Out, and it was only natural to start our Family Home Evening that way.

Davey & I had 4X4's and Mom had her usual regular hamburger & fries. We all had milk shakes to wash it down. Below is a visual log of the experience. (Why is it that mine is the only one that looks bigger than the burger?)

The week that was

This was a pretty full week. On Monday afternoon I attended a retirement ceremony for an Air Force Sergeant who was wounded in Iraq (he was actually deployed while serving on our high council). It was quite a moving experience. Then I rushed over to the stake center to release a returning missionary before Family Home Evening.

Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I met with bishops for interviews. Always good, but always lengthy.

Thursday was cram-packed with moving equipment and setting up for my students' Spring Concert. I had about 170 students in three bands (4th-5th graders, 5th-6th graders and 7th-8th graders) from two schools. They all did very well, but the Jr. High group was amazing. Among other things they played a fugue by Bach, a really hot swing tune featuring saxes (I played along with them on that one) and music from the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie (Dead Man's Chest). Wow!

Friday night Uncle Richie and I took off to Zion's Camp and cooked weenies over a fire. We stayed up too late talking and slept very comfortably (at least I did) in the beautiful night air at 2000 ft. with no one disturbing us. Did I mention that we ate extremely well? You guessed that already? Bratwursts, fire-roasted corn on the cob, tangelos (a cross between an orange and a tangerine I think), sour cream crumb cake and chocolate bars. The next morning we started all over again with hot cocoa and the rest of the sour cream cake. Yumm!

It was good to get away - because when I got home I had to tackle what you can read about below. . .

I'm the gardener here...

Mom and I finally got tired of the bushes in front of the house trying to block the path of everyone who wants to get by, so we got out our cutting implements and started hacking away. We had to use hand pruners, long -handled clippers, the electric hedge trimmer, and even my Saws-all to get the job done. It was either us or them.

Several hours and a trailer load of cuttings later we finally came out victorious. I know that a couple of the bushes look pretty bad right now, but we're at the beginning of the growing season so they will recover just fine. And they'll be in much better complience with our desires. This is the view from the front.

The front walk-way.


The side by Chris' bedroom.

Hey Gladys, you gotta listen to these people! It's General Conference

When Gladys Knight was out here a year ago she talked about how her mother (who was not a member of the Church) used to call her twice a year to tell her to listen to "these people." She told Gladys that they were good people with great things to say.

Gladys eventually did listen, gained a testimony and joined the Church. We would all do well to follow Gladys' mother's advice. So here's my encouragement to "listen to these people", the prophets and apostles. Not just today and tomorrow, but download the mp3's or videos and listen to them over and over again like you would your favorite songs. They will likely become favorites too.

Below is the introduction to the General YW broadcast last week. Well done as always - and a nice way to get things going.