Occupied, bustling, full of activity----definitions of BUSY!

Yeah - that has been me these past few days.  We had our CO this past week and that is always a busy week - especially for the pioneers!  Our regular CO was called away to teach a school so a young couple who fill in as substitutes served us and we were delighted to have them. Page has been such a big help this week in so many ways - and no complaining at all (unless you count not wanting to wake up real early)! :) We had a full day of service on Monday, stayed home to clean the living room, kitchen, hallway and bathroom - Yep - I am finally getting the hang of this - how to entertain without killing yourself.  Got up early Wednesday and cut up all the veggies for the roasted vegetables, prepared greens for fresh garden salad, cut up fruit for dessert, set the table, got me and Page dressed, (Dwight sliced the roasted chicken and put it on the serving platter) and put my favorite Greek yogurt in a bowl to go with the fruit.  I had invited Keith to join us so he picked them up from the KH  and drove up as I was taking the fresh sauteed salmon out of the pan.  Keith picked up some sweet tea on his way over, filled the glasses with ice and made sure everyone had beverages.  I made everyone an individual salad (they way they wanted it) and thankfully, I had picked the "perfect" dressing - one of their favorites! I decided to serve everything family style - all the food setting on the table - so everyone could help themselves.  They seemed to like everything (took seconds) and I wrapped up all the leftovers for them to take with them.  I knew things were good when Dave mentioned that he couldn't believe they were through eating and there was time to sit in the living room to relax for a bit. Keith took them back to the hall and Page and I met them there a few minutes later for an afternoon of service.

So here we are on Thursday with Kerri and Rie - I love both of these young women in their pretty summery white skirts.  These pictures show how there is beauty all around us - no matter how much people neglect cleaning up around their homes, you can look away a few feet and wow - there are beautiful young bamboo trees and some lovely horses.  Even the dog turned out to be sweet and friendly.  We felt so bad for leaving him outside like that since we didn't see any water anywhere nearby.  The temperatures this past week (including today) have been in upper, upper 90's all the way to mid 100's with heat index included.  I am filling the gas tank almost twice a week because of having to leave the air conditioning running so we can take turns and stay cool.  We are being careful to not get too overheated so we can fully accomplish the invitation work.

Page enjoyed working with Jon and family Friday morning (got picture of that beautiful tree and of the lake - we drove down to the marina to see if it was busy and use the rest room but we didn't see anyone on the water) and on Friday afternoon, Rose joined us for the afternoon. I mentioned in front of Kerri that we were going to the Butterfly House at the Museum (Thank You Jami) and she said she would love to go. She and Page really hit it off so we all met back at the KH at 3pm but by the time we got to the museum, we only had about an hour to do anything so we went on to the Butterfly House. I have tons of pictures (including some incredibly ugly bugs) to share with Page1, Leah and Kurt. What kind of bird is that with the red head?  They were so cute.  I also forgot to go upstairs at the Butterfly House as recommended by Jami so will definitely do that next time. We drove Kerri home and it turned out she lives right around the corner from my sister so Rose, Page and I "dropped" in for just a few minutes. They were getting ready to leave for dinner with friends but I watched her put together her 2 minute fudge that I'll have to say isn't bad at all...Not sure that is a good thing to know.

Yesterday was very, very busy! Cam asked me if Page could work with her and her family in service Saturday morning at which time I told her I was taking Page and two other friends swimming and would love for her to join us. So we all met back at the KH at noon at which time I picked up Abs and JoJo, rushed to Wendy's to pick up some lunch for me and the girls and rushed home to eat. BigD kept the girls for me to rush back the to KH for the pioneer meeting with the CO. When I asked Abs how he did as a baby-sitter, she said - "fine, he slept". LOL I rushed in and put on my suit and a shirt, grabbed towels and the girls, picked up Cam and off we went to the pool! Woo Hoo! Thanks J and R. The pool was large and the deepest part was only 5 feet so it was great. The water was so warm it was like being in a bathtub but it still felt great. I took tons of pictures of the girls holding hands while jumping in the pool with my phone and NONE of them saved - NONE of them! We rinsed off in a shower (no curtain so I'm sure the girls are scarred for life) and changed clothes in a little unlit, un-air-conditioned bathroom and headed for the MALL! Of course the girls were STARVING! I remember when I was younger and we would go to the community pool and when we got out would be so hungry. I bought a pizza at the food court in the mall, picked up a new hair product I've been wanting to try from Aveda, and took the girls to Claire's (otherwise known as bling-bling Gehenna). They were having a sale (of course they were).

It was hot and crowded with tons of little girls crammed into a tiny little space full of "stuff". I did purchase the earrings all the girls wanted but the two favorite things I bought for Page are the darling little leather purse (I would love to have one a little bigger just like it) and the sleep mask. She was so excited (as was I since she keeps sneaking mine). And yes Fran - she is still wearing her "favorite" pajamas - I took the straps up in back. THEN we went to every store that sold children's shoes in that mall and found Cam some white shoes for the convention in the last one we went into. About the time we left the mall, BigD called to say he had made spaghetti and was getting ready to put the noodles in. It was getting late and I had promised the girls ice cream so I took them back home with me and they all ate spaghetti.  It was funny - looking at all four of them sitting at the table facing BigD - he looked like a deer caught in the headlights.  After they ate, I piled them back in the car, we bought ice cream cones and I took them home.  When we got to Lin's, Page found and put on the Bat Man costume.  I LOVE IT!  How do I tell you how tired I was but you know what?  I would do it again - maybe not tomorrow - but again.  Sadly, we came home without the little earrings I really wanted for Page as well as a pair I bought for myself to make the sale work. The girls were taking everything out of the big bag and separating them but I'm almost sure we put them in Page's bag. I asked the other two mothers to look for them but am not holding out much hope. If they can't find them, I guess they were thrown away with the bag.

So this all brings us up to date. Today an old friend was at our meeting with two of her sons and one of them's family.  Her sister goes to our KH and they also brought their brother.  They invited me to go out to eat after the meeting so Page and I said YES!  We had a room of our own and the table got so long it covered the whole room.  It was so nice getting caught up with an old friend who is doing so well.  We talked about how we met when we were teenagers the first time.  They got some much better pictures of Page than I did so I'm hoping they will share.  After lunch, we came home to CRASH!  We both put our PJ's on and have just been snacking off and on the rest of the evening.  We will have full days of service Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but hopefully will be able to take Rie and the boys swimming one afternoon and I still want us to get back to the Museum to go upstairs.  Since we won't have a meeting Thursday, I'm planning to take Page out to Boy's to play in the creek or whatever they want to do.  I wish I were ahead with my time but alas - I have to get full hours these last two months.  Since I'll be at the coast, that means I'll be out the first week of August also so I can enjoy my time with my family the following week at the BEACH!  Spoke with Page1 for a bit today - she sounded good.  Told her about seeing my friend's youngest son (they went to school together).  I'll try to do a little better so posts aren't so long....wanted to make sure family & friends see a few of the pictures.
So - one of the funniest things to happen this week ---- when I told the girls yesterday that BigD was going to watch them while I was at the pioneer meeting, Page said- Yeah - they call Granddaddie the "whipper" and he "growls" when he gets mad!  I'm sure that made all of them feel warm and fuzzy.  He loved it when I told him.  I also told him what Abs said about his baby-sitting skills - sleeping!  He laughed.  When I told Leah, she told me Page growls too when she is taking her guitar lesson and messes up. Hmmmm - life goes on. Be sure to click on the collages and then click again to see the pictures up close if you want to.....