Beneath the Wraps

        I watched the 2016 version of Ben-Hur for the first time last night.   I don't recall ever having made it through the 1959 version without crying, so why should 2016 be any different?   Jenna looked at me after the Chariot Race scene and asked if I was crying.   I cry for a number of reasons each time.   She had excused herself before the crucifixion.   That was heart-wrenching.           I had recently met some of my water buddies at the local coffee shop.   One asked what makes one a Jew.   Is it a race? a religion?   It doesn't matter - we're all part of the human race.   He was just wondering.   I'll admit I've wondered about that myself.   I sent him a link to this site .         I am one who could never be in the Klu Klux Klan or put labels on people - usually I don't know.   I don't know if that would be consider...

            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.        ...

       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...

       The primary had their program yesterday and only one practice.   I didn't understand as it feels so late in the year.   I don't recall there being a primary program this late in the year - not with any of the wards I've been in - including this one.   Last year we had more practice and performed on October 18.          This is the first year that Jenna wasn't on the stage as she is no longer in primary.   But as I looked out in the audience, I could see her singing along, and it really made me smile.   I'd have to honestly say that it was my favorite part about having the primary program.   I think the children did quite well for only one practice.        Growing up, my favorite thing about Thanksgiving was spending it with a different group of people than the year prior as I mentioned here .  The smallest Thanksgivings I can remember incl...

Annett and Jenna are like two peas in a pod.   They just met this school year.    I thought it had been the first day of school on the bus.   But Annett does not ride the bus – at least not yet.   Perhaps it was in morning meeting.   I will have to ask Jenna to refreshen her poor old mom’s memory. Yesterday, I had received a phone call from Annett’s mother, who wanted to meet me.   Jenna and Annett had set up a play-date (is that the appropriate word for a twelve year old?) for yesterday after school.   The phone call from Annett’s mother was the first that I had heard of it.   Isn’t it great when children make plans without consulting the parents? Somehow the after-school visit turned into an overnighter.   Annett’s mom was right about them.   They are like two peas in a pod.   That’s great!   I hope this friendship will last for a long, long time.

          I vaguely remember reading about a situation of a girl who was struggling with maternal issues.  I don't know where I read it or how I had access, but evidently I commented on my own situation, trying to establish some kind of hope.  Two months later my family had moved from Kearns to West Valley.  I hadn't given my comment or the girl a second thought.           We lived in West Valley for five and a half years before we moved to Oregon.  We've been in Oregon for seven months now and out of the blue I get this picture message and then a facebook request from someone I don't even know.  Turns out to be the girl who had saved my message to her phone and has had it there for all this time.  Evidently my words had left an impact on her end and she sought me out.           I know I have done that myself.  Recently I sen...

       Being in Oregon still feels so surreal to me – like at any given moment I will wake up and be in that cracker box house in West Valley.   Take this morning for instance.   It was definitely cooler than any day that we’ve been here since we had come out for spring break.         I had dropped by the middle school to ask a few more questions.   The front door was open, and there was a light on one of the offices.   I think I heard a vacuum cleaner in the distance. It was before 9:00 am and perhaps was too early and so I decided to return at a later time.         I drove to the pool which was still closed. I decided to sit on a bench and read until the instructor and lifeguards started filing in, and then walk down to do some water aerobic workouts.   I took a few pictures from my cell phone (as I had left my camera at home by the computer) befo...

            Last night we had four college students spend the night as they travel from Vermont (where they go to school) to Oregon (where at least one of them lives)             We actually just met Sam, Simon, Julia and Jen last night when they arrived. Sam had made arrangements with Roland – although his mom had given him my number, I couldn’t seem to return his call from my phone.             I had somehow believed that we had plenty of sleeping bags.   I pulled out two sleeping bags from the shed – (it turned out that one of those was actually just a blanket) and one from Jenna’s room.   There was another that I couldn’t reach.   But Sam could.   He pulled it down with no problems.             While we were outside, he spotte...

I don’t know when mom became an avid walker or how many years she and Pam Sanders had walked together practically every weekday morning.   I know that Corey was still in high school and driving because many times mom and Pam would end their walk at the high school and take the car.             Once, as they were leaving the parking lot, a security officer from the high school pulled them over to see their ID – wondering why the car was being driven off the high school grounds during school hours.   I guess he figured out that they weren’t high school students. They laughed about the experience of being pulled over and stopped by a diner on their way home.               The girl behind the counter started to ring up their order.   I don’t know what they ordered, but evidently it was available at a senior price.   Neither one of them were ...

Before Jenna turned five she was introduced to Isaac – a cousin to Paula – who, at the time, was Biff’s platonic girlfriend.   Roland asked Isaac how old he would be (or what age he’d just turned – I forget what time of the year it was) We both figured at least nine.   Both of us were quite floored when he answered seven..   He was too tall to be only seven. He was actually quite tall for nine.    Surely Jenna and Isaac were more than just two years apart.      Isaac’s mom was involved with an Easter tradition.   Every year right after Church, the children would look for the plastic eggs that the adults had hid around the yard – her father’s yard to be exact.   Paula had outgrown the tradition and had asked Biff to bring Jenna so that Isaac and Paula’s brother weren’t hunting for eggs by themselves.   So from 2009 to 2012 Jenna has always done Easter with Isaac and his family.       ...