Ruth & Jared: Artists

Ruth and Jared both submitted artwork to be displayed in the children's wing of the new hospital that will be opening this fall not far from our home. We received notice this week that their work was accepted and will be part of their permanent display. We've been invited to an openhouse next week to view their work.




Writer's Conference

I attended a writer's conference on Thursday. I was able to hear from authors and publishers and I learned a lot about the art and business of writing. It was fun and educational. This last month I've submitted two different articles to the Children's Friend and I'm trying to work myself up to starting that novel I've been thinking about for the last year. The frightening thing about it is what a huge time commitment it would be with such a slim chance of success. But if I never try I'll never know.

Primary Program

Every year the children at our church put on a program for all the parents and members. Today was our program and as as the president of the primary this was a big deal for me. We have 150 children and we filled the first 6 rows of benches in the chapel as well as filling the stand. The children (ages 3-11) sang songs and had speaking parts; our theme was families. It turned out really good and I was so proud of all the kids. We ended on time (second year in a row) and I got a lot of complements afterward.

Links

Nothing much happened this week. Chuck was sick a couple of days. Chaz and Kaitlin went to the new Oquirrh Mountain temple. Kaitlin went to the temple again on Thursday with some friends because another of her friends had seen David Archuleta there the week before and the temple matron said that David A. had come in every week. No luck this week, but Kaitlin is hoping to go again soon.

Here are some links to some sites we like:

Kid's Games

Toontown: A MMORPGs (online multi-player real-time game) by the Disney folks, make your own toon and fight the cogs to save toontown. You can play the first level of tasks for free. Great game for younger kids on up. Totally safe chat environment. www.toontown.com

Wizards101: Another MMORPGs. An advanced sort of toontown for older kids. Make a wizard and learn spells to fight of evil bad creatures. Also free for the first level of tasks. A little more open with chat but still somewhat restricted. www.wizards101.com

Club Penguin: MMORPGs. This one is mostly free, but if you buy the subscription than you get extra clothes and stuff. Become a little penguin that runs around a world and does stuff. No real goal here that I've discovered, but the kids seem to like it. Also from the Disney folks. Safe chat. www.clubpenguin.com

Poptropica: I've not played this one but Ruth loves it. You don't interact with other live people like the other games here, but you make some sort of character and run around doing stuff and playing games. www.poptropica.com

Handipoints: MMORPGs. This game is almost exactly like Club Penguin, but with cats. What makes this cool is that parents make the account for their kids, and you set up chore charts in the game. When your kid does his chores then he marks it in the game, and once you approve it, then your kid gets coins to spend in the game to buy clothes and furniture for their cat. The game is free. They make their money by having your kid choose things from their store that you will buy them once they reach certain goals. Overall a very cool site for the younger kids. www.handipoints.com

Spelling City: Enter your kids spelling list and they have a bunch of games to choose from that use those words, like hangman and word searches. They also will give your child a spelling test. The program actually says the words while your child types them. It also reads your spelling words into sentences. It's very cool. This is free for individuals to use. They make their money by encouraging schools to buy accounts. www.spellingcity.com

Grown up Stuff:

Pandora Radio: With this free site you can type in any type of music imaginable and it will play that music for you. www.pandora.com

Pinching Your Pennies: A great site that sort local grocery store adds for the best deals. They also link to online coupons. Sign up for a weekly email for the grocery deals or a daily email of internet deals. www.pinchingyourpennies.com

The Fly Lady: The Fly Lady sends you a daily email that helps you get organized and keep your house clean without feeling overwhelmed. She talks a lot about 'baby steps' and doing one thing at a time. Lots of helpful tips and encouragement. Totally free and surprisingly empowering. www.flylady.net

Kaitlin's Sister on TV

Kaitlin's sister Megan was the subject of a new story on ABC4 this week. You can see Kaitlin in the background of a couple of shots.

Power of a Wish brings a horse to a girl with genetic disease - ABC 4.com

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Labor Day Boat Race

On Labor Day we took a trip to my folk's farm where we took part in a boat race on the canal that runs through their property.

Kaitlin's boat won the first race and my boat won the second race.











Ruth and Jared sat on the bridge while Ruth fished the boats out of the water. My boat (the red one pictured) had a little stowaway for most of the race; perhaps that little grasshopper had always wanted to be a sailor.







Peaches

Our little peach tree had lots of fruit this year, and so I spent several hours each day this week canning peaches. I also made three batches of peach butter, and a peach pie.

Happy Birthday Chuck

Yes, we are one year closer to AARP membership, thanks to Chuck's birthday.

One Lone Zucchini

This year I waged a winter/summer squash war of attrition against the squash bugs. I planted 20 squash plants. "I would win by sheer numbers!" I declared in my arrogance. I offered a bounty of 10 cents for every squash bug's head, and like Pickett's Charge I led my seedling into battle, confident that I would win by sheer numbers despite my disadvantage. Surely some would live! Surely.

And as the dust settled after summers long battle this plant was the sole survivor and this zucchini, the only fruit strong enough to live. Brave, brave zucchini. You were very tasty.

Kaitlin's Project

Kaitlin and I fixed and painted this dresser. We used our free paint from Glidden. I love free projects!

Oquirrh Temple
Cornerstone Ceremony

Last week Kaitlin and I went to the Cornerstone Ceremony of the Oquirrh Temple. There wasn't much room so we weren't able to see the actual Ceremony (we watched it on TV with the rest of you), but we were able to stand right at the temple doors where President Monson, President Uchtdorf, and Elder Oaks all came out. The choir was wonderful and it was a great experience to be there.

Our Laptop: RIP

While on vacation I killed our laptop. We bought a new one in the back to school sales. It always takes awhile to set up a new computer the way you want. I'm just glad laptops are so cheap now.


Ruth Airport Security Person of Interest!

When coming back from vacation, Ruth was stopped at airport security. They had found something suspicious in her back pack. So Ruth and I were escorted to a security station where a large security man emptied her back pack (he put on gloves and glasses and warned us to not reach out for anything on the table - or else!). He felt around in Ruth's bag and pulled out... a WATER BOTTLE!!!! Yes, Ruth had inadvertently tried to smuggle illegal inexpensive water into the airport. We had to forfeit the water, but were let go with a warning. A sample of the water was put in a mass spectrometer for testing.


Back to School

Kaitlin and Chaz both started back to school last week. They both have mixed reports about their new classes and teachers but overall seem happy to be back. Next week Ruth and Jared go off track, so I'm enjoying first 8 days of having all my children back to school.