Beneath the Wraps

  Before moving to Oregon, the last ward (church boundary) I had attended was in West Valley.   As I think about it there were always activities – primary activities on both ward and stake levels, youth activities, adult activities, family activities, holidays such as Halloween, Easter, and 4 th of July breakfast.            There have been youth activities and dances on both ward and stake level – no primary activities that I recall – and I was in primary FOREVER thus you would think I would have noticed.   My last ward is the only ward I had been in where I hadn ’ t served in the primary for the duration.          I miss introducing others through said activities.   In this ward we have some activities and LOTS of meetings – mostly on a stake level.   Each meeting I have attended has been less motivating than the one before.   I don ’ t think I ’ ll be attending ...

          Jenna had been accepted to Southern Oregon University which we toured on the 19 th . We had invited Jenna ’ s friend Kylee to go with us. We had to have proof of vaccination or else a negative result on a “ last 24 hour ” test.  I thought Kylee would have had that already but was not able to get either in time for our tour and so ended up not going with us which is really too bad.  I think she would have enjoyed it.         We arrived in Ashland very early in the morning.   The elements were dark but there were buildings lit up with Christmas  décor .   It was as though Ashland embraced us with welcoming arms.   It was so beautiful and inviting. We had arrived early and thus able to get a decent parking spot in front of the admissions building which is where the event started.  Those in charge admitted us into the building so that we would not freeze as it has been cold outside....

          As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Jenna received an envelope with some activities.   One of the suggestions was to make energy bites – which really didn’t turn out to be as wonderful as had hoped.   But I wasn’t watching to see Jenna measure all things.   I don’t think there was as much peanut butter and honey as the recipe called for as it was really too dry to mold.   We spooned into our mouths like a cereal.   It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either.   It seemed sweet enough.   We both got the impression that I enjoyed the taste more than she.           Last night I suggested that we add flour to the mixture.   I added flour and eggs and should have added some sugar or more honey as well, but did not.   The mix came out more like drop biscuits or definite unsweetened cookies.   Roland and I did not care for them, but I notice...

             Jenna took the college placement test – more for practice than for placement.   But ever since she has been receiving brochures from different colleges and is a bit fed up with the amount of mail she’s been getting.   Yesterday she received a piece of mail that wasn’t college related and thus felt very excited about it.             One of the YW leaders had contacted us by phone, and another had sent the mail which contained a brief note, a word search puzzle, a recipe for something called tail mix bites and a coloring page.             Jenna handed me the word search while she worked on the coloring page.   It was quite a challenging puzzle with 900 letters.   Who does that?             Most puzzles are less than 250 letters.   I ne...

When the “Come Follow Me” program was introduced at the same time as two hour meetings, we were told to use the third hour to study at home.   We were also told that we wanted to develop the habit for one day when we were unable to attend church meetings for whatever reason.   None of us had predicted this soon however. We had cancelled our last RS activity due to the weather and decided to cancel our upcoming as well.   We had made the decision before the church announced NO MORE MEETINGS until further notice ( here ). Only seminary will be held unless the schools shut.   But as of now only seminary is the only meeting that will be held at the ward house.   No others.   Not even sacrament meeting.   Why do people panic instead of remaining calm?   Why do so many always expect the worse.   Instead of viewing the police car at the high school as “Oh, good.   They are keeping my child safe” a parent may panic and demand, “What...

             Our family vacationed every year.   Often we went to either Disneyland or Yellowstone National Park, but there were also times when we did something different.   One of those vacations was sponsored through then Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho.   I don’t remember where exactly the “Outdoor Family Program” – took place.  I'm guessing somewhere in Idaho.             I think Kayla was five at the time.   I don’t remember how many families were involved – though I can remember six.   We were all put in cabins which surrounded the shower area and bathrooms with flushable toilets.   There were portapotties available, but they needed to be moved as they were pretty full to almost overflowing.   It was disgusting.   The cabin we were in was pretty much wall to wall bed.   There were five of them fit together like a U shape (if I remem...

        I'm guessing that Tri City gets its name from being in the middle of three other cities.   Myrtle Creek is north of Tri City, Canyonville is to the south and Riddle is to the west.   Though Tri City has its own fire department and water and sanitation source, it does not have its own post office but shares a zip code with Myrtle Creek.   http://www.myrtlecreekchamber.com/aboutarea.html         The communities seem supportive of one another and don't have rival cities - which is good.   I enjoy the comradery of living here.         Though I've written several posts about the libraries here, I'm afraid I haven't done much with them since last summer.   Riddle has full support from their city and has decided to go independent.   Myrtle Creek doesn't have the same city support - pretty much the opposite, and so the system joined...

            We have activities each week for the Children's Summer Reading Program.   Today's "Build" activity featured a solar oven and building S'mores. Yum!             JM took the children outside and placed marshmallows in the oven and explained how it would work.             We then came inside and had story time - only it was more of a question, answer and demonstration than straight reading.   We talked about the sun and moon.             When we finished with the book, Rindy was up with her "Pin-a-Moon-to-the-Sun" craft.   Each of the children were given black paper to create a moon.   After all the moons were cut out, each stood in line to paste their moon on the sun while wearing their solar glasses.   It was really fun.        ...

            Our class size varies at the pool.   We have had as many class members as 15 (our instructor had brought four members of her family to participate in our class on Tuesday) and as few as one or two (I did not attend on Wednesday but had heard that there were only two students to show) Yesterday there were seven students plus our instructor.             After our class ended, Jenna and I stopped by Millsite Park to look for the FMCL booth for the Myrtle Creek Festival as we had been assigned to man it during a shift yesterday.   It hadn't been set up yet.   We decided to return home for some breakfast and I texted Serena to see if she needed help with the booth.             R oland fixed French toast for Jenna and me before we returned to the park to help set up.   We were there for just over an hour before we left again.   Jenna ha...

Myrtle Creek Library reopens Monday CARISA CEGAVSKE Senior Staff Writer The News-Review Carisa Cegavske Senior Reporter published June 30, 2017 Top of Form Bottom of Form The Myrtle Creek Library will reopen Monday with an all-volunteer staff, and kick off its summer reading program right away. Like many of the smaller branches of the former Douglas County Library System, the Myrtle Creek Library has been closed since April 1. Sutherlin, Oakland, Riddle and Reedsport have since reopened their libraries. The Myrtle Creek Library is unique in the county in that it is now managed not by the local city council, but by the nonprofit Friends of the Myrtle Creek Library. "We're very excited," said Friends Treasurer Julienne DeMarsh about Monday's opening. DeMarsh said the group has about 80 people on a list of potential volunteers or donors, with a group of 21 that has passed background checks and plans to volunteer thro...

       The school library will be open three times during this summer.  Yesterday morning was the first day and I took Jenna to return the books we already had and trade them for something else. We had also stopped by Soco to have a meeting with the committee for the  Children's Summer Reading Program.  Jenna asked me if I'd take her to the library in Riddle which was also on my agenda, but it does not open until 3:00 on Tuesdays.  We returned home before we went to Riddle.  I took care of some school work.        Jenna had wanted me to present my Costco card at the library for identification.  I've had it for over seven years.  The picture is of both Jenna and me.  She had really wanted to be in the picture that day, and I was just going to have her stand in front of me, but the man who'd been waiting to take my picture said that we could both be in it.  I like the picture so I keep the card.  Je...

          During our winter break from school, students had the option of participating in a discussion on a Winter-what-you-doin' course - I guess you could call it that.   Students were not required to participate -   it was just an option to earn prizes.   I participated just for fun.   I didn't have any other classes.           This summer the school is offering another "fun" participation with a course called "Road Trip" which I thought I'd be interested in learning more about, but had totally put it out of my head the week we had returned to Salt Lake City.   On the day of the funeral my alarm went off.   "Road Trip" appeared on my screen.   I didn't understand why my alarm had gone off to remind me that I was on a road trip (keep in mind   that I had lost a tremendous amount of sleep by then)           Before we got...