Welcome to Primary

Out with the old and in with the new.  After spending about 2.5 years as the Young Women's Secretary, I have been released, and called to serve as a primary worker.  I have been assigned the 9 and 10 year old class.  It is a great class with about 8 kids who have lots of energy, and are excited to learn.  This year, we are studying the Book of Mormon.

I had forgotten how much of a foundation primary lays in teaching the gospel.  I have to remember that many of these kids are learning the stories for the first time, and beginning to understand the concepts.  The kids in my class are so smart, and ask as lot of questions out of curiosity (many that I can't even answer).  I am really enjoying the class, and Dusty gets to come with me to help with the kids.

General Conference

This weekend, we had the great opportunity to watch General Conference.  It is always great to hear the prophet and the apostles speak to us.  We watched the Saturday sessions, and Sunday Morning online, and then ventured over to Maple Valley to watch the Sunday afternoon session with the Sants.  Mom was also there with David, and Grandma and Grandpa also came over for a visit.  It was great to visit with them and share in the conference experience. 

Vegetable Harvest

Although, our garden didn't do as well as we hoped, we did get a few things.  We have three surviving carrots, and we got about 3 squash.  We picked two of the squash earlier and they were pretty tasty.  We decided to harvest the carrots and the remaining squash which grew to be gigantic.  The ground must have been too hard, because our carrots looked a little deformed.

Mariners Lose Again

It seems like we find a way to attend at least one Mariner's game a year. I was getting a bit nervous as the season was approaching the close of regular season and we new there would be no post season.  I was already accepting that I might go a season without attending a game.  Then I got an email from work offering tickets.  I responded quickly (if it is not immediate, there is no chance) and I won the tickets.  We were sitting just behind the dugout on the first base side about 14 rows back.  It was fun, and we also got to enjoy a bit of Ivar's fish and chips.  Where else can you get fish at baseball game?  They played the Angels, and lost.  Big surprise! But we had a great time. 

Cole gets coached by a Seahawk

This year, Cole was old enough to play youth football, and we were able to go to a game and support him.  When we got there, we found out that one of the volunteer coaches on the team is Bobby Engram.  His son plays on the team, and I think he scored most if not all the touchdowns.  Dusty claims that it is no big deal to see Mariners or Seahawk players on the east side of Seattle, but to me it is still a novelty.  

It was great to see someone that famous, just being a dad and a coach.  He was so good with the kids, and I am not sure Cole even realized what an opportunity he has to mingle with a Seahawk.  Here are some pictures from the game.

The congratulatory huddle after the game (Bobby Engram is the one in the gray sweats.  His some in #39)

Cole resting on the bench

The final scoreboard, it looks like they won.

After the game, we went over to Mandee & Nathan's for a BBQ.  It was great to see Felicia and Jake, and Annell and Andrew, as well as the rest of the family.

Seminary Begins Again

A new school year has begun, and so has Seminary. Dusty as decided to teach again for another year, and he has chosen to not have partner. This means that he has to teach everyday. This year is the New Testament, and he is already loving it. He is still teaching Freshman and Sophomores, and is glad that he has retained some student from last year, misses those that are now juniors, and is excited to get to know the new freshman.

Seminary is now a calling by the stake president rather than an appointment, and he was comforted to be actually set apart. This year will be more demanding on time, but I think he will enjoy it more as he will be able to connect better with the students.

Visit to North Carolina

We were able to take a bit of time off work and visit North Carolina from August 23 through September 1. We flew into Raleigh on the air miles I have accumulated through 4 years traveling for Deloitte, and rented a car and drove to Beulaville, NC where Becky and Marcus live. We did a lot of southern relaxing, getting to know my newest nephew Garrett, and visiting with family. Melissa and Sam were there with Owen when we got there, and Mom, Dad, and David arrived a few days after us.

Becky was a great cook, and took great care of us.  She was the perfect host.  Thanks Becky, We love you.

Melissa holding Garrett.  I think we may have spoiled him by holding him so much.

Owen was so funny.  Between waking us up in the morning to play cars in our bed (we slept on the futon in the front room), asking if he could push the button for the garage door, and talking about riding in the "Big Truck Car" (Becky's Forerunner).  He loved being outside in the yard, and playing in the flower beds.  This is what we saw one morning.

Playing in the dirt.

Can I come in?

I am getting tired of standing in front of the door!

While we were there, we were able to go the Beach (I didn't realize how warm it could be) and swam and played in the waves for hours. Garrett sunbathed, and Owen played in the sand mostly burying and unburying his truck with mounds of sand.

We also got to visit the Marine Core Air Station where Becky and Marcus work.  I spend so much time at Boeing with my job, it is neat to see their products in use.  Owen was very excited to touch the helicopters at the memorial.

We got to do a little shopping at the PX, and purchased some luggage to help get all our stuff home (it was very close on the way). Owen was very willing to help carry our new luggage.

We went out to eat at Mike's Farm which is a southern style restaurant which serves fried chicken, ham, potatoes, corn, beans, mac & cheese and more. It was delicious, and a very cool place.

Owen just as excited to eat as the rest of us

Front porch rockers, does it get any better?

The whole family -Mom was taking the picture

We also got to drive up to Morehead City and visit Atlantic Beach. Owen built sand mounds, and Garrett slept in the sun, while Grandma watched the little boys, the rest of us played in the water and had a great time.

While in Morehead City, Dusty and I chartered a boat to put Scuba School to use and dive some sunken ships. There are ships all over the North Carolina coast, and we only got to dive a couple. Dusty went on a boat earlier in the day to do two additional dives that were more advanced than what I could do. This was my first dive since certification, and I was a little nervous. I had to do a giant stride off the side of boat, and the drop was a LOT further than what we practiced in the pool. I survived the jump, but the first thing I saw when I turned around in the water was a HUGE barracuda with razor sharp teeth. I was terrified, but found the line on the boat, found Dusty and made by decent as quickly as possible to get out of the barracuda range. We swam around with all the fish, and looked a the sunken ship. It was very cool. When we were done with the dive, we made our accent, and at our 3 minute safety stop

 there were 6-8 barracuda waiting for me to stare at me for 3 whole minutes. I was terrified, but made it out alive to write about it. Enjoy the pictures we took with our underwater camera.

On the way back to the airport, we were fortunate enough to find the Raleigh temple. It was closed when we were there, but we got to walk around for a bit and enjoy the beauty of the building and the atmosphere.

Overall, it was a great vacation, and one that was well overdue. We loved visiting with family and getting to know Marcus better and meeting baby Garrett.