Giving Machines

As has been stated before the Given Machines have come to El Paso and we are so excited. Each stake in the area was assigned a few days to volunteer at the machines. We signed up to go today and our shift was right after church. We told the kids to dress warmly and prepped them about what to expect. Sadly, it was the coldest day of the year yet, quite windy and also a midday on a weekend so we did not have very many people come by. I am betting that the shifts when Winterfest is happening (since it is right across the street from the plaza) see a lot of donations. But we had the opportunity to talk to a few people and to smile and say hello to many others. It was nice to be a part of such a fabulous event. I will be interested to see how many El Pasoans donate this year and also if it will be coming back next year. 

Setting Up Christmas

Because we had Thanksgiving a day early so Uncle Fred could join us, we also set up Christmas a day earlier than we normally do. We put on some Christmas songs and headed to the garage for the bins. The kids are older so they are more helpful. And they were so excited to decorate. In fact, Darby set up all the stairway garland by herself. She also helped me with the wreath and porch decorations.

Paige helped me with the nativity and Eva and Elder McDaniel got out other Christmas displays and put up stockings. Paige set up one for the rats too. 

After getting down all the boxes from the garage and assembling the tree, Jason took a turkey break and then a small nap while we set up the house. 

Then we gathered together and put up the special yearly ornaments one by one. After that we set the kids to work on finishing the tree. Isn't it lovely?

Jason was also in charge of the lights outside. He tried something new this year and I love it. 

And here is a picture of the Christmas living room on the first night. It is magical. 

 

Uncle Fred Visit

I don't have many pictures from the Uncle Fred visit because we just had so much fun that I didn't always pull out the camera. Fred came on Monday morning and they came back from picking him up at the airport just as Elder McDaniel and I came back from the mission office. Uncle Fred had said that there were a few things he wanted to do on his visit - Thanksgiving, D&D and trivia. 

That first night we took him to this steakhouse we discovered due to Ed's recommendation. Jason was so excited to take him. It is in a sketchy part of town and is not very pretty but has the absolute best steak we have ever tried. Fred's eyes bugged out as he saw the size of it and after taking a bite he agreed it was amazing. He also loved that he could get Mexican Coke in a bottle. 

We introduced Fred to Blue Bell ice cream and we must've gone through at least six gallons in the time he was here (just three days). He came with us to Winterfest, played countless board games, ran errands with Jason, helped with the turkey for Thanksgiving, just sat and talked with all of us A LOT. He also gave haircuts to most of the family.

On Wednesday morning he joined the kids for D&D. Elder McDaniel fleshed out an existing NPC (Bellyn Hamwood, a halfling cleric obsessed with finding the big bad guy and that makes him make poor decisions) and had filled in Fred all about his backstory. From the sounds of it, they had fun. I should have one of the kids tell you about it.

(This is Elder McDaniel. D&D with Uncle Fred was lots of fun, even though he didn't really manage to do anything helpful. His character was a lot lower in level than the sisters, partly for simplicity and partly because I'd said he was lower level previously, but I hadn't realized how dangerous the monsters the sisters were fighting would be to a level 5 player. Uncle Fred's character almost died twice. But, miraculously, he survived!)

We had a trivia game as well. Jason won, followed by Fred. We also spent Thanksgiving night playing song trivia, which I am pleased to say I did quite well on. That was maybe my favorite part of the visit as we all sat around and tried to beat Quiz Channel's Finish the Lyric game. 

Jason, as the new EQ President, was asked to help someone move so he and Fred went to help as well. Fred also had homework to do during his visit (he is taking a Pathways course). It's a math class so Elder M was able to help him a little. It was quite adorable.

Fred had to leave super early on the actual Thanksgiving Day so all the kids said their goodbyes on Wednesday night. We all love Uncle Fred and can't wait for him to visit again!

Thanksgiving (a Little Early)

We had Thanksgiving Day a day early so Uncle Fred could be with us. He had to head back home early on the real Thanksgiving Day. I only got one picture and that was from Jason as he smoked the turkey. We spent the day watching movies, playing board games, cooking and hanging out with Fred. I made the usual but tried a new rolls recipe (which I ended up not liking as much). The turkey was super good but the favorite seemed to be the sweet potato casserole. We stuffed ourselves and then played some more games while we digested. We taught Uncle Fred how to play Happy Salmon and I think he liked it. It's been really fun having him here. 

Winterfest

We thought it would be fun to take Uncle Fred downtown for the Winterfest lights on one of the nights he was with us. 

We started out by sending he and Jason into Cafe Central for some cream of chile soup and bread which we ate near the plaza. While we waited for them the girls and I took some pictures, happy to show off our new haircuts from Uncle Fred.

 Then we sat on benches and ate the "dinner" before heading into San Jacinto Plaza. The lights were lovely as always.

We stopped by the Giving Machine. It is the first year that El Paso has gotten them and we are SO excited. Jason bought a beehive and a pig. Each kid picked one thing to donate. Elder M chose to donate to food at El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank since he works there. I wanted to donate to Days for Girls who give menstrual kits to young women in third world countries. It was an awesome experience and left us feeling so good.

We walked all around the plaza seeing the lights and decorations. 

Paige and Jason stopped to pose for this photo which is very similar to a few years ago. ;)

We also stopped at a food stand and got street corn and other treats. On the way home Uncle Fred wanted to go to a grocery store and buy more Blue Bell ice cream. We may have created an addict. ;)

Parade of Choirs 2025

It is Parade of Choirs time again. Ever choir in the district performs during one of the three nights. Franklin High School feeder schools were assigned Tuesday night. Jason and I went to see Darby sing. Elder McDaniel would have loved to have gone but he had a meeting he couldn't miss. 

We sat through over two hours of choir performances from elementary, middle and high school choirs. Some noteworthy performances were the adorable elementary choirs complete with actions while they sang and El Paso High who performed Bohemian Rhapsody with drums and an electric guitar. It was epic and got a standing ovation.

The FHS varsity choir sang last. They sang a Spanish song called Besame Mucho and also a seven minute song from the musical La La Land. I thought they sounded great and in particular they have a strong male section which not all choirs have. You can see real smiles in the first picture because someone's sweet grandma shouted in a thick Spanish accent for her grandson, "Victor? Where are you? I can't see you!"

Darby was, as she always is, exhausted after the performance and had already taken her hair down by the time I reached her. She was also complaining of  knee pain from standing so much. We were able lot take her home instead of her riding the bus back to school. We took her to get treats before heading home. 

Early November

We have had a busy month so far. 

The FHS Choir is gearing up for Parade of Choirs so Darby has been having after school rehearsals. She also has had a few projects and tests and is working on finishing her most difficult sewing project yet in fashion. She also took the PSAT at the beginning of the month and just got her scores back. She is in the 97th percentile and is pretty happy about that. 

Eva is almost done with all her college and scholarship applications. Calculus class is proving to be challenging but she is doing well. She wasn't able to get a ride to the last High Q tournament so she was sad about that. She still loves CDL and working with the preschoolers. 

Paige has had her ups and downs in math class. She had a scene to do in theatre and worked really hard to memorize her lines. She got a great grade and enjoyed doing it. She is also really good at Spanish and is working on her National History Day project. 

Elder McDaniel has found a new person to visit at the rest home. She is a member of our ward but never gets to come to church due to transportation and health issues. He still likes working at the food bank and is doing a wonderful job as district leader. He gets along with the new senior missionaries that arrived to take the Era's place. He also has started a new Pathways class where he works in a group with several other adults from all over the world. He is coming to see that working in a group with serious motivated people is nothing like working with high school students, which was his only group work reference in the past and had soured him on the idea. He really likes his teammates. 

Jason is super close to getting his brown belt. A friend of mine sent this to me. Her husband is grappling with Jason. Apparently their five year old daughter said, "It look like they are in love". Hahaha.

Darby's seminary class had a Friendsgiving activity two weekends ago. 

Eva's class had a fun get together at Sister Call's house this past weekend.

 Before Jason and I went to go pick her up I said, "I bet Eva is either talking to Sister Call or sitting and reading one of her cookbooks". This is what we saw as we walked up. I was right!

I have been able to almost win over our most skittish rat, Pepper, but Biscuit is the one who loves attention the most. 

In my exercise class the instructor, Annie, brought her young son as normal. He must have been super bored so he decided to climb all over mom while she was teaching. it was so funny I had to get a picture. 

I had the opportunity to teach about family history this past week. The student used play doh to create a portrait of one of their ancestors. It went well though I wish we had more time to do it. I also taught a lesson on eternal marriage that may have been my best one yet. 

Aunt Danica texted Jason and I asking if we could make some cards or write some letters to Sister McDaniel. Danica will send her a care package for Christmas and her birthday. The girls each drew her a cute picture. Jason, Elder M and I wrote her some letters.

Jason and I went to Savers as part of a date and he found this horrible but awesome Christmas sweater. 

We also found a game called Splendor there. It got great reviews on Amazon and was only five dollars so I brought it home. We have played it daily ever since.

On a more serious note, Congress wouldn't agree on a budget and so the government had been shut down for over 40 days. That meant no paychecks for anyone who was on a government salary. It had been causing chaos for airports, the military, national parks and many more agencies. Finally they were able to come together enough to re-open the government on Nov13th  and push the dividing issues down to January where hopefully they can be resolved and the government can stay open. This is the longest government shutdown in history.