Here are finally a few pictures from crazy October.
I signed the girls up to participate in the musical "7 Brides for 7 Brothers." They had 3 very small parts singing a "cell phone lament" at the beginning, being a student in a period-appropriate Oregon classroom, and a townsperson. The "cell phone lament" was a funny little ditty that was supposed to warn you of the perils of leaving your cell phone on during a performance at the theatre. The classroom gave little one-liner reports about Oregon and sang the Oregon state song. For the townsperson part, they just stood there. Overall, the girls didn't like the practices, but liked the performances. Now Arianna is saying she'd like to do another production of some nature. We'll see.
Aunt Boots died. The assisted living center called us around 5:30 on Sunday, October 21. We were sad, but really happy for her. She was never interested in living there. Bennett had to force the issue when she was simple not capable of living on her own. He felt really bad, but didn't know what else to do. She just couldn't take care of herself anymore. She lived there for about 2 years, going from bad to worse. I actually think she was fairly happy there. She had some good people helping her and I think they genuinely liked her. What more can you ask for, really? Since she had no children, and most of her siblings have gone on before her, the funeral was rather small. But it was nice, all the same. The sweetest part was when Bennett's mom and cousin put the finishing touches on her before they closed the casket. They were the two that knew her and loved her best. We'll miss her... but then, we've missed her for a while. She just wasn't the same those last couple of years.
Mink Creek is a very small town. I wish I knew the stats. Everyone knows everyone. Gosh, everyone's related to everyone, twice over! Arianna, Samantha, and Esther felt so independent to be able to walk from the cemetery, back to the church for the luncheon, all by themselves. They don't get to walk alone much here in San Diego.
Okay, here are some lousy photos of the wildfires. We were evacuated a few hours after we found out Boots had died. We were in the middle of planning our sudden trip to Utah when a friend mentioned something about the fires. I had no idea. I got on the computer and was stunned, literally, to find out they were so close. We got the call to leave at 1:00 a.m.
It was bad this time. It is so very humbling to think about how close the fires got to us. We really thought we might lose our house. It burned all around our development, but not one house was lost. We feel very watched over, protected, and grateful. I don't know why Heavenly Father chose to help us in this way, this time, when others lost their homes, but I really do feel he gave us a pass this time. We are very sobered as we remember that night and the following week. Thank you, Father.
I haven't organized the pantry since right after we moved in. It was in need. Esther helped me scrub and clean it. Then I put like items together and labels on the shelves. I guess if I want everyone to put things where they belong, I better make sure they know where it goes. It looks beautiful. :)
We're getting ready to get new carpet. We desperately need it. This carpet is spent. In preparation for this, we decided we should paint the baseboards right. We've had 3 painters in our house and only one did a decent job... and he was the crustiest guy to work with ever. So, we did it ourselves. We cut the carpet away about 8", then pulled up the tack strips, then sanded, filled, sanded again, filled again, primed, sanded again, and painted. It was a BIG job (done almost entirely by Bennett), but they now look beautiful too.
Please move here! (PLEASE!) :-D
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