Dishwasher Saga

Since early January we have been having dishwasher issues. First I noticed water at its base. Jason pulled out the dishwasher to see where the leak was coming from. It was leaking out of the seal of the heating element. When I looked this up online it said that this is a known problem with this model but rather than issue a recall, the company is sending out repairman with replacement heating elements at no charge. Well that was a pain but at least it was free. The repair guy came a week later and we thought it was all resolved. 

Then a few weeks alter it kept throwing up an error message after washing for about an hour. It wouldn't drain. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. We checked all the things that the internet said to check. We even replaced the disposal (which actually broke the day after we checked it - it was SO corroded). Finally we called a repairman. He came over and found a problem with the drip tray underneath. He fixed that and said to contact him if it came back. He wouldn't change us until he was sure it worked properly. That night, it threw the error again. So when he could fit us in again a week later, he came and tried another thing. He left and soon the error code was back. This happened four times in total. He ended up replacing the mother board as well (and that meant we had to wait for the parts to come in). We also went on vacation for Spring Break so that was more time that we were without a dishwasher. This whole repair process took a few months. Finally, we just decided to get a new dishwasher.  The kids were tired of handwashing and I was tired of dishes not being clean and left out to dry. The repairman came over to retrieve the parts he had replaced and did not charge us anything but a diagnostic fee because he didn't solve the problem. The new dishwasher was delivered today. Finally we had clean dishes that went through a full cycle. Hallelujah!

Games, Trivia, Rocks and Candy

More dust storms have been coming. We have had at least one a week (often more) this month and I am tired of it. But it can make for some fun pictures. Paige wanted to go to the park and then a dust storm rolled in so she got this fun shot.

We got a few new games at the thrift store. One is Villainous which Brendan is completely obsessed with. Another is called King of Tokyo and everyone likes it. Jason rolled all six dice smashes one time and won the game by taking out all opponents. 

For the last YM/YW activity we had Trivia Night. It was a lot of fun. There were five teams and the one I thought would win did not. Some of the younger kiddos are pretty fierce in trivia. 

After taking Elder McDaniel to the library for service I took the two younger girls to the pet store for rat food. Rather than go home and come back out to the area directly after we decided to waste time by going to the nearby discount store. Paige found some chocolate rocks that she wanted to buy. They really did look like actual rocks and it was difficult to convince the brain that they weren't to eat them. She used this to her advantage and freaked out Eva when we got home by crunching down on what Eva thought was a real rock.

Some days the weather is nice and the flowers have started to bloom. I also have to start mowing again.

Paige got money for dog sitting and spent most of it buying her fundraiser candy so she didn't have to go talk to strangers. Haha.

In an effort to learn how to dress more professional (a need for senior year and beyond), I taught Eva how to straighten and style her hair. Next we may venture into the world of makeup but probably not very far in. I realized that due to her poor eyesight close up, she will likely never use much more than mascara and lipstick. But I love her straight, short hair. It's so cute. 

 

 

Seminary Class Pictures

We are in the last month of seminary and the teachers continue to have fun activities and learning experiences for the girls. They sent these pictures recently along with photos of some activities. I thought the girls might want to keep a record of their class so I decided to put them in the blog book. I wish the teachers were included in the pictures as they have made great impression on Eva and Darby. So, for the record, Darby's teachers are Sister Packer and Sister Stuart and Eva's teachers are Sister Kasallis and Sister Gaynier (who was recently released and is now the seminary director). 

Freshman class (Darby's)

The sophomore/junior class section that Eva is in (at least those who come regularly) 

He is Risen

I was asked to be Lisa Marshall's assistant for the Easter Event our stake was putting on. It was a big community event last year and I expected this year to be no different. I said that I would be her assistant because I am pretty good backup and a great organizer. My understanding was that she and I would share the responsibilities. Well, as the event got closer, she called me and told me that her son was leaving for his mission the day after the event and that she had a ton of family coming into town as a result. She asked if I would be willing to take on more responsibility. She would still decorate Jerusalem (our ward's area) but I would need to find the volunteers and be there for all sessions. I agreed that I could do that. I was able to work it into my schedule even though I knew it would be a a LOT of energy and time.

The Tuesday before we arrived at the church with our tents to decorate. The same people that decorated a booth did so this year too. It was much easier because we already knew what we were doing. Lisa had come the day before and set up the Jerusalem set so we worked around that and made the area look nice. It was fun to hang out with my friends decorating too. Sister Willis, the wife of the mission president, came to help a bit too and I got to talk with her.

The Triumphal Entry area was right next to Jerusalem and Resler Ward was doing that one. It looked amazing! They did a great job. One of the people working there spend all day before painting this mural to hang. Wow! 

We did have a little hiccup as we had borrowed a fake tree from a ward member whose husband just set it in the gym, they thought it was theirs and used it to decorate. I had to go in the next day and find it. Lisa asked me where the tree was and I told her I didn't know. She hadn't told me to look for Brother Esplin nor when he was dropping it off. But it wasn't a big deal. They were very cool about it and had enough time to get a replacement plant. 

I heard that we were having a friend of one of the committee members come and do a mini documentary for the Church about the event. So all week there was a guy with a camera filming and interviewing and, if I am being honest, in the way. They asked me to come early one of the days with an hour notice but I had to tell them that I could not. More notice would have made it possible but I had to set boundaries and remind them of what I already said I was capable of. I mean, I do have two other callings, a family and a missionary son. 

I arrived a little before the first session and made some minor changes. I added this to the door so people would be reminded not to slam it. The whole wall would shake if they did. I also got to work closely with the food prep guy, Brother Magallanes. He turned out to be one of my favorite people. 

This year the stake added two more sessions for the church to be open. These were afternoon session without tours so people with little kids could come and also our older senior patrons. Elder McDaniel came with me for those sessions as it was hard to get volunteers for that time frame since so many have kids they need to pick up from school. Those sessions were not well attended sadly. But it was nice to ramp up to the busy weeknights.

The youth were tour guides along with the missionaries. Also, the youth worked in the children's tent and as greeters and soldiers. I was in charge of the latter two along with my volunteers for the tents. The centurions were basically my helpers and they took out trash and replaced food on the trays and water in the well when it got low. 

The youth in the children's tent had to both help the kids and make sure they did not take nor treat the handmade wooden toys roughly. Lisa's dad made tops and dreidels for that tent. 

The stake changed their mind last minute (due to the film maker's ideas) and I had to find more lights for the tents (luckily Lisa had some but I needed to charge them every night at my house and then put them back up which was an inconvenience). The stake also decided after one night that those in Jerusalem needed more information about Passover so I quickly made information sheets about what each booth was giving out for the food. Then my volunteers could teach a little bit about the meaning of the passover food. For example, the person who was passing out the meat got to teach about Moses and the blood of the lamb on the doorposts, etc. Some of my volunteers were better at teaching than others but I appreciated all help. Jerusalem is the only area of the tour that needs multiple people to man it so it is a big job (perhaps the biggest DURING the event except for the director). Here are the finalized booths.

Somehow the Triumphal Entry room crept into being my job as well and I spent much of my time greeting people as they came in as well as helping the guy announcing the tours be coordinated with the actual mission tour guides as well as managing all the food distribution, volunteers and trash takeout. There was a definite communication breakdown but we muddled through. I managed and socialized and problem-solved and taught and organized so very much this week!

It was a lovely event but I did not get to take the tour at all. I couldn't leave the Jerusalem area for an hour to do so. My family came and they did get to tour. The service mission district came on Saturday afternoon to volunteer for a few hours. It was nice to meet all of Elder McDaniel's fellow missionaries. 

They said they preferred how some of the rooms were last year but that's feedback for our debriefing meeting. The food was better and the tours went smoother than last year apparently. Here are some pictures of the other rooms I gathered from other members.

There were a few problems due to too many people thinking they were in charge and having different ideas of how things would be done. One committee member even made their own announcements and sent them out rather than the ones the stake made. The thing is, they had the wrong information on them. Sigh. We also had one exuberant "helper" who actually made more work for us but bless them for trying to help.

Our stake director put out certain start and end times which were not followed by others. This happened two of the nights. That put me in a bind as I had my volunteers signed up for time slots so I just told them to go when it was time even if people were still coming through. There was also a disconnect with the announcing of the tours starting and when they actually started so a few of them ran over top of each other. Then the filming guy wanted behind the scenes and interviews and it was hard to fit those in and other people (especially little kids) wanted to see what was behind the walls and in the kitchen area as well. We also ran out of food since we were pacing it for an earlier closing time. But we made it all work and I am not sure anyone who hadn't been at the planning meetings would've known how we were struggling.

Clean up was better than last year but still rough since they told us we could start at a certain time and then decided last minute to extend it half an hour. Well, clean up volunteers showed up on time and we all had to wait around. The stake was supposed to tell us when to start but they never did so we just began takedown when we thought everyone was done with Jerusalem. We had bins for our stuff this time and they were labeled. We had so much help and it went really fast. I was grateful for all those who helped us out. By the time it was all over though, I just didn't want to make anymore decisions. Anyone who has ever been in charge of a big project knows what I mean. However, I found out later that the camels were misplaced and now we need to find them. Sigh.

I got home around 9:30pm. It was the first time I had sat down since before lunch. All in all I walked over 35 miles that week and that was just around the church. I took a picture of my watch when I got home that last night. Over 18, 000 steps. Eva had made brownies and so I put my feet up and ate some well deserved chocolate. 

I also thank my family for putting up with me and holding down the first all week as I have been at the church so much. They even came to volunteer one night and that was nice. Most of my youth volunteers were pretty amazing too. It is so nice to have great help. 

Later I sat down and made a list of supplies, reminders and tips for whoever does this next year. I also made a list of what went well and what could be improved upon. Hopefully that can help the stake to grow and improve if they want to keep doing this every year. I do like this event. I think it is amazing and so did many people who came to see. Jason's assistant came and he went through a tour with her. She loved it. The news stations came and interviewed our director and took pictures too. Maybe next year we can get even more visitors. This year was more visited than last year so we can just keep improving. But next year I won't be in charge of Jerusalem. ;)

General Conference

 This General Conference no one was sick (unlike last time). I was able to listen to and pay attention to many more talks. Our kids are getting older and no one really plays conference bingo anymore. I bought some treats for bingo pieces but one two or three rounds were played. But most of us took notes. 

Somehow someone always ends up on my when we are on the couch. This weekend I ended up with more than one child on me and so the rest of the family thought it was funny to pile on as well.

Darby fell asleep on me and I got a video of her snoring.

Eva has the best bedhead.

The prophet announced 15 new temples. Some were in places like Australia and Nigeria. One was in South Dakota which I later learned was the answer to pr[ayer for many members who have the longest drive to any temple in the United States. So I am happy for them.

Getting prepared seemed to be a theme this conference as the parcel of the ten virgins was referenced several times. President Nelson spoke about the Second Coming and the need to be prepared spiritually. Being so close to Easter, the atonement was also a big part of this conference. I am so grateful for living prophets.

Choir Evaluations

After many practices after school it was finally choir evaluations time. This is where they sing as a choir before judges and are given a score in preparation for UILs, which is the biggest choir competition of the year.  

Darby doesn't really like the songs they are singing this time but she has been practicing a lot at home. I can hear her singing in her bathroom (which has good acoustics apparently). The competition was at another school and they perform after lunch. She missed a few classes and was not that sad about it. ;)

The choir got a superior rating and she is pretty stoked about it. In sight reading they got a slightly lower score and the male section of the choir is weaker. The UIL Choir and Sight Reading Competition is next month. There will be a lot of practice again.