General Conference Weekend

On Friday night, Ryan and I went to his mission reunion celebrating 20 years of missionaries in the Kiev Ukraine Mission (although I think they now spell it Kyiv Ukraine Mission - difference of Russian vs. Ukrainian). All of the former Mission Presidents and their wives were there and there was a fair number of returned missionaries, though just a handful of those who had served when Ryan was there.

He did get to reconnect with Isaacson (his MTC companion), Whipple (who was serving in the office when Ryan had to leave the country with Visa troubles - he gave a pretty good explanation on why Ryan had to go, but Isaacson didn't), Roylance (who went to the temple dedication with him last year), Lunt (also went to Ukraine last year) and Osipenko (Ukrainian now living in Utah). It was a great evening. I enjoyed talking with the wives of these former missionaries and listening to Ryan talk with them. There were a few cool decorations that I took pictures of as well.

I really like the nesting dolls with the latter-day prophets on them. And the quilt was charming.


We stayed with our friends the Harmon's overnight. When telling the kids who we'd be staying with, I told them, "If you're a 12-year old, they have a 12-year old girl. If you're 7 they have a 7-year old boy. If you're 4, they have a 4-year old boy. If you're 1, they have a 1 year-old girl." They were so excited! And they played very well together.


Sabrina and I got tickets to attend the Saturday afternoon session in the conference center. We arrived fairly early, and were able to sit on the front row of the balcony. Sabrina counted the number of seats set up for the General Authorities (136). When President Monson came in, we stood up with the rest of those in attendance and the room was silent. We knew there would be no new members of the Seventy called because there were no empty chairs. Elder Oaks, Elder Hales and Elder Cook were not in attendance.


We also had opportunity to see family while there. Ryan picked grapes at his parent's house (which have now been turned into 10 quarts of concord grape juice). He went to Priesthood Session [at 3 different church buildings due to freshly re-done basketball court at the first and technical difficulties at the second] with brother Daniel, and Ethan, while the kids and I played with Michelle and kids. They introduced us to Kid History on YouTube. Sunday morning we went to Heather's for breakfast and the morning session of conference. It was a delicious feast (food and conference talks). We stopped in on the newlyweds at Ryan's parents house, and on Shanda to see the painting she's been doing at her new house.


About an hour into our drive home (coincidentally an hour into the last session of conference), we could no longer pick up KSL on the radio, so we listened to the rest of it via Ryan's droid on the Mormon Channel. It was better than nothing, although we did miss out on the end of President Monson's talk.


We then stopped at Malad Gorge State Park. It was beautiful scenery. There were hundreds of dead lady bugs in the bathrooms. The playground had a small merry-go-round. There was quite a bit of water still flowing into the canyon.

I feel like I took some decent notes from the conference speakers. I still need to print pages 23-25 of the April 2011 Junior Primary Conference Packet from sugardoodle.net to put in our quiet book for the next six months of remembering what the Prophet and Apostles spoke about this time.

A Crane in our Front Yard

It is not every day that you wake up because your mom tells you there is a crane in your front yard. Roderic and Hyrum woke up and got out of bed quickly in order to see it work. The lumber yard brought out the shingles for our roof and we watched them use the crane to get them up 30 feet to our roof.

It was a little chilly outside, so they didn't stay out long - just long enough for a picture.


These guys were tight-rope walkers. The crane got up as high as the roof line, then they would bend over pick up a package of shingles from the swaying crane, turn and walk along the peak of the roof and set it down. That is not the job for me and my fear of heights! But it was really cool to watch.

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.