Monday, October 14, 2013

Family Home Evening and Other Little Things We Do



I just wanted to record a pretty normal evening for us. I am so happy. I want to show and share that it doesn't take anything too special to make me happy. I'm just so grateful for the little daily gifts that come along. I got home from school around 6:00 p.m. We discussed dinner options while folding laundry together. K cooked up some bacon and made a killer turkey/bacon/tomato/avocado/provolone sandwich on toasted bread. I skipped the bread and had all that good stuff on a spinach salad. We just chatted over dinner. After dinner we read part of the next Lorenzo Snow lesson. No big study techniques, just switching off paragraphs as we took turns reading aloud. A little discussion here and there. K did ask Siri about the various meanings of the word "speculation." That would make sense if you read Chapter 21. We proceeded to wash the dinner dishes together--K washed and I dried and put away. He helped put a few away at the end when he was finished washing. He said something like, "Still a team after all these years!" My heart sang a little! He went to the sofa to watch some football and I read my book for awhile.

Then I decided to make some cookies because we got "Boo-ed" LAST Monday (sorry, if it's you that Boo-ed us...we didn't get around to passing along the baton until tonight). K is always SO HAPPY when I make cookies. And that's about it for our evening together. We call it Family Home Evening on Mondays. Nothing special and Somethin' Special all at once!

Now for a little explanation of the photos. I made "Conference Casserole" for General Conference Breakfast. It's our tradition and it's a good thing it only happens twice a year because that recipe is a pure Farm Breakfast. It's just loaded with lots of fat and calories and animal products. Yes, I really did eat mine with spinach because I have to bulk up with veggies when it comes to rich food like this. I tried to photograph the crust which is made from hashbrowns (and butter).

The autumn scenery is from Clear Creek, an outdoor education camp located at 8,300 feet elevation. We had our overnight field trip last week and it was so much fun! It is a great joy to take students there and watch them grow. I love the all seeing "eyes" of the aspens! My teammate was properly initiated into all things Clear Creek--what a fabulous co-teacher she is! The parent chaperones were phenomenal. As in...I almost cried at how wonderful they were. We were blessed beyond measure with amazing chaperones.

Got back from Clear Creek just in time for Fall Break to begin! We headed to Cedar City to attend a performance of Peter and the Starcatcher at the Shakespeare Festival. Then we pushed west to Panaca, Nevada to visit K's extended family. On the way, we stopped at a Utah State Park called Old Irontown and met this lizard. Rabbitbrush is a chenopod and my personal nemesis this time of year. So many tissues... We kidnapped K's uncle Saturday morning for a little walk in Condor Canyon. Cave, cattails, and a refrigerator-sized boulder that let loose from the 500 foot ridgeline above. It was quite the spectacle as it came crashing down, breaking apart here and there. K got a photo of the dust clouds it created on its way down. I actually enjoyed the show this time because we were far enough from the its path to not worry. The three of us just stared, speechless. It was a great shared experience.

And there's another snapshot of our life and the little things we do.

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