Busy Day

Saturday was a good day, if quite busy. As I look back on it, it reminds me of my mother's letters that she writes to the family most weeks. I often read those and wonder, "How does she do it all?" Not that I'm expecting that kind of reaction from a description of my own activities on Saturday, but that I look back on it and think, "Wow! we did a lot that day.

Saturdays, in general are the days that Angel and I get to sleep in. As we normally get up a 5:45 "sleep in" is entirely relative. Kanga and Tigger are generally up at about 7:00 (sometimes 6:30), so that's when we generally have to roll out of bed. Usually to referee some tiff between the two. Interestingly enough despite Angel's absolute abhorrence for the morning that's when we tend to be the most productive. We rolled out of bed to the usual Saturday morning clatter and did a load of laundry and cleaned the kitchen before heading over to the church for our ward's Christmas Breakfast at 9:00. We sat with friends and enjoyed some good, simple food, talking and enjoying ourselves. The Primary kids (ages 3 to 11) had a brief program where they formed a nativity scene (just posed) as one of our neighbors read from Luke 2. Then they sang a few songs, with the adults joining in on a couple of verses. The really crazy thing was that all of the kids sat completely still the whole time! Everyone commented about it and Kanga received a could of particular complements. Probably because she's been known to tear around the building like a mad woman. She was very pleased that she got to wear an angel costume and likes the attention she gets from being so still.

After breakfast we stopped off at the library to return books, got gas in the car and dropped off some items at the Deseret Industries before meeting Bub and driving up to Logan to help Muscles and Darpa move into their new home. We got there after they had already loaded most of the truck, but we were able to help them unload and start getting settled. Their ward turned out in force to help and we actually got the truck unloaded pretty quick. Kanga and Tigger had fun with one of the neighbor kids. My nephews and eldest niece were with their other grandparents. It was good to see M and Jate there as well as my parents, an uncle, and half dozen cousins. An added plus was that my grandfather showed up to drop off stuff for lunch for everyone that was helping. This meant that we had a second meal that day that we didn't have to fix. The moving went well, with the exception that their fridge didn't fit. When we finally left they were discussing how to tackle the problem - but in the meantime the fridge will be in the garage. Muscles really likes their fridge, and I can't blame here. It's really nice.

We drove back home, worn out but feeling pretty good. Upon arriving I called some friends of ours that had invited us over for games that night. After a brief discussion it was decided that we would have dinner with them and then let the kids play with toys while we played games. They're a great family that has kids about the same age as ours - if opposite genders from ours (i.e. they have an oldest boy, followed by two girls.) With that decided Angel crashed for a nap while the kids played, and I spend some time on the computer. With a little over an hour and a half to dinner time I started making cookies to take over to dinner. At that point Bub called and asked if he could come use our kitchen mill to grind cornmeal and flour. He arrived and we were able to put two pounds of popcorn and wheat through the mill and he ended leaving with a gallon sized ice cream bucket of meal and flour as we were slipping out the door to dinner.

Dinner, the third meal we didn't have to prepare that day, was fun with the kids and with Jeff and Emily. We've known them for just over a year now and have often talked about getting together for games and have just never made it work. We had pizza and veggies and spend dinner chatting and getting to know each other even more. Afterwards while the kids played in the basement the we adults played Ticket to Ride (European edition). It was a lot of fun and by the time we got home it was well past the kid's bedtime. Angel and I threw in one more load of laundry and she fell asleep as I drove tanks through the Afghan desert on the computer. It was a long day, and a busy one, but a very good day as well.