Busy Days

It's been a crazy couple of days here. I went to work Friday morning then straight to Logan airport to pick Fred up from his business trip to Dallas. I'm so glad to have him back home! Once home, it was time for some housework (dishes to be washed, dinner to cook, etc.). After dinner, Jon called for a video chat using their new computer. We've been able to enjoy video chat with all of the other family members but Jon and Becca had an older computer without a camera. Well, that's a thing of the past now.

We spent quite a while doing the video chat, enjoying being able to see Jon, Becca and James. Evidently, James was very happy to see Grandpa and Nana - and when Dan stepped into James' view - wow! James got this huge grin on his face. You can tell he clearly loves his uncle Dan!

Fred went upstairs and since it was Friday night, he called Melissa. When I went up to bed they were still talking (I actually fell asleep before Fred even came back to bed!). He really enjoys his phone visits with her.

I figured that we were both so tired we would have a glorious nights sleep - not so - for some reason we were both awake at various times throughout the night. We couldn't even sleep in - Fred was out of bed at 5:30 and I was up shortly after 6:00. He and Dan left about 7:00 to help with a service project. I meanwhile worked on some Stake Relief Society paperwork, ate breakfast and read the newspaper.

Then it was off on a quick run to Wal-mart, hurry home, change into church clothes and head out to the Stake center for the youth Standards activity. We were there from 1:15 PM - 6:00 PM.

Standards day was fantastic. The youth and parents were separated and divided into small groups. We traveled around the building, visiting each "Standards" station. Then the parents met together to discuss our successes as parents in teaching and living the standards. After the youth had finished going to each station and working together to learn how to apply the standards in their life, they joined the parents for a closing meeting. Two of the youth spoke and our Stake President, President Arbon, also spoke. It was a wonderful afternoon. We had the opportunity to bring along a family that Fred home teaches and we had a great discussion in the car about how we can apply the For the Strength of Youth standards in our own lives.

On the way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. Yummy!

Finally we arrived home where Fred informs me that we need to be at the Gardner Ward for an 8:00 AM meeting prior to their conference - that means we need to leave the house at 7:00 and since he and I will both have meetings after the conference it will probably be another very long day!

I sure hope we can sleep better tonight!