Look who's taller!

By about a half-inch, Sabrina is now taller than her mother! Ryan is holding the level on our heads and Roderic is taking the picture.

More Changes

Church callings come and go at no set interval, yet it still can catch you off guard when you're released. For instance, at the beginning of August, I had an appointment with the Bishop where he released me from being the Ward Choir Director. I was relieved as it is coming up to the time where I'd be planning the Christmas program, which would have been my fourth. The Bishop told me that they didn't have a new calling for me then, but would keep me in mind when others came up. I reminded him that I was also serving as Visiting Teaching Coordinator, so there was no need to hurry and give me another calling. Two weeks later, I was called in for another appointment with the Bishop, this time with Ryan. Now I was feeling a little nervous, because usually when your spouse is invited to the appointment, that means you're going to get a high profile calling. I was wrong. I was called as a Gospel Doctrine Sunday School Teacher (for the 14 year olds). The reason Ryan came along was to be released as Scout Master, a calling he's had since March 2009 (and he was Assistant Scout Master from October 2005-March 2009; and Webelos leader for about a year before that). The new calling he received is Nursery Worker. As a result, Leo got to start attending Nursery one month early. I've taught the Sunday School class twice now, and I am going to enjoy that class. The students are well behaved and share experiences/give answers when appropriate.

Hyrum waited patiently impatiently for Joy School to start. It was especially hard when Roderic and Sabrina started school a whole week and a half earlier than him! He is so glad to see his friends again and even got to meet a new one (Zach)! There are 5 Joyschoolers this year, so I'll teach every 5 weeks.

This is the view of our house from Highway 21 on September 1. Yesterday, even more demolition occurred. (And some patching of holes in the ceiling where a stray board fell and a circular saw slid off the roof.) The pounding is even louder now, because the work is over our living area.

Last Day of Summer and First Day of School

On Tuesday, we celebrated "Building Day." Together, we (Roderic, Hyrum and I) worked on separating the Lego sets and then building them. (Sabrina was at her final exam for Pre-algebra at the start, and didn't participate when she returned.)

Roderic's patience ran out quicker than mine, so he went to play with the sets, break them a part and rebuild. Roderic really likes Legos. He currently says he wants to work for Lego when he grows up so he can continue to play with them.

Can you believe our builder is so cheap that he expects me to help? Well, he isn't. I just thought it would be a fun diversion from Lego building. And it was. Sabrina took the photo, trying to have John out of the shot to make it look like I was doing all the work. There were 2 other guys lifting it at the same time. I felt like I was a part of the barn raising scene in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" but without the fighting, or the singing.

We have some exterior walls! The plan is to get this section covered with a roof before tearing of the rest of the existing roof for our addition.
John took this shot and emailed it to Ryan with the caption: Malauna demonstrating proper nailing technique on the addition

Those nail guns have quite a powerful kickback. I put in 2 nails.

School started on Wednesday this year. With Sabrina going to Junior High this year, we're going to have to change our routine for morning family prayers. ie. We'll have one family prayer at 6:15am with Sabrina and parents and have another one at 8:15am with the boys and parents.

Sabrina only had to go to Les Bois on the first day of school, since it was early release. Treasure Valley Math and Science Center (TVMSC) does not operate on days when the junior high school has early release. Since she had no class at Les Bois until 4th period, she got to sit in her "homeroom" class for the first 3 periods of the day, listening to the teacher give her "Welcome to my class rules and routines" lecture. Then she got to listen to that same teacher in 5th and 6th periods when she actually had her. She said it was quite boring. In the future, when she doesn't have TVMSC, she's going to stay home until 4th period starts.

Both Roderic and Sabrina woke up happy and excited for the first day of school. I got to ride bikes with both of them. I was the only parent out on a bike with Sabrina, but there were a lot with Roderic. I hope the bike-riding weather keeps up through the end of October!

There Let the Way Appear...

Steps Unto Heaven

The staircase framing is complete! I told Roderic off hand that our builder was putting in a stairway to heaven. He told me, "We don't really want one of those because we don't want Heavenly Father to confound our language like happened in the Book of Mormon (Ether 1:33)." I'm glad to know that he is listening when we read the scriptures as a family, to apply them to his life experiences.

We're going to have amazing views of sunsets from our new upstairs.

Praying with Hyrum

Hyrum was asked to give a blessing on the food at lunch today. First off, he said:

Bless that we can always buy delicious little pickles.

Which is a good thing since he REALLY likes to eat pickles. And somewhere in the middle he said:

Bless the construction workers to be careful while they destroy our roof.

Construction has begun. Part of the roof was cut out yesterday to install a beam to support the new roof. When building is complete in 6 months, we'll have stairs, 3 additional bedrooms, a family room and a half bath.

And today there is a little rain. It has been a dry summer up until now... They got a tarp over the hole before the rain started.

They're Married!

Introducing Jesse and Keturah Moller:


It was a beautiful day at the Sacramento Temple. Cool breezes. Wonderful family. Beautiful.

California Here I Come

It isn't every month that I get to spend 2 weekends in a row with my parents and siblings. This is an extraordinary month. First, July 11-13, I got to spend a day and a bit with some of them in Nauvoo, IL (no group pictures were taken, silly us!). Where we attended the Nauvoo Temple and watched the Nauvoo Pageant together.


Next, July 21-25, I drove (Ryan was at Scout Camp) to California with my kids to be at my sister's wedding, except the wedding didn't take place as planned, so we went to their open house, ate delicious wedding cake and the next day attended church at the Oakland 9th Ward.



And to finish off the month, July 29-30, I get to return to California to witness my sister be sealed in the Sacramento California Temple. This time, I'm flying by myself. Our whole family would have driven, but the children all declined. Can you believe it?