Marching On

 It has been a pretty quiet two weeks. Lots of dance, band rehearsals and play practice for the most part and church responsibilities. Josh had a meeting from 9-12 up by the temple two Saturdays ago and then I encouraged him to go to the temple since he was right there. He was grumpier than I thought he should be when he got home but he was just lonely from being by himself all day. He is gone a lot for church things and I guess I assumed that since he is always with other people (meetings or interviews) that he couldn't be lonely but it is nice to know he misses us. I have recognized that even though he was busy as a bishop, at least he was at church and I could see his handsome face. I am pretty lonely at church since he is hardly ever there and I miss being with him. 

Lily has been busy traveling the stake to invite all of the youth to youth conference and it has been a good experience for her but a lot of driving around. Luckily our stake youth leaders are wonderfully helpful and they have made it all work, plus Josh took Lily one day and just followed her schedule; that was fun for them to hang out. Being on the stake youth lead committee and having two callings has kept her pretty busy and while I am grateful she's had the experience, I hope they don't ask her to do it again next year. She enjoys it and would probably love to do it again and I suppose it will be easier when she can drive herself so we'll just see what happens. She also is a wonderful ministering sister. She spends an hour or two sometimes talking with her home-bound sister every Sunday and I'm so amazed at her patience and love for this woman. 

Lily and Curtis both had their band festival last Tuesday and it was fun to go listen to them play. Thankfully their schools played one after the other so I just hung out and listened to both and it was nice to see the kids and hear fun music. I'm glad they both enjoy playing their instruments and being a part of a band; it was one of my favorite parts of high school. It is also nice to have all the after-school rehearsals done. I've been helping out with ticket processing for The Little Mermaid and that has been fun. It is tough to get into our school these days but now they are happy to see me. 

 

Brandon had his band concert Thursday evening and it was fun to listen to him play. It is a little disappointing they combine the concert with the orchestra. Squeaky violins are the worst (hence my children play band instruments) but it was short and sweet and Brandon did awesome. The trombones had a solo at one point so he got to stand up and it was so cute. 

Friday Josh and I went to the temple and that was lovely since we haven't been together in a long time. I've been listening to all of President Nelson's talks since he became the prophet, specifically listening for invitations so I can make sure I've done them all. Over and over again he talks about the blessings of attending the temple so I am making extra effort to get there and to get my family there. I spent one morning doing family history and the time just flew by and now I have a pile of Sealings we need to do and Josh has quite a few endowments so we'll go back soon. That night we watched my niece's basketball game. Her high school in Utah was in the state championship game but unfortunately they lost. My nephew was also playing in the state championship game for his high school but his game was too late for us to watch (Brandon was especially into it and was sad he had to go to bed) and unfortunately they lost too. 

Curtis had a camp out that night but decided not to sleep over since he had baseball tryouts Saturday. While he was at tryouts Lily had dance, Emma had dance, Brandon has his last basketball game (team lost but he had some great rebounds) and then he had a birthday party in Leonardtown so we went to the park for a little while. Emma just wanted to read and Brandon was sad to play by himself so we didn't last long. It made me a bit sad that we've totally outgrown the playground. It used to be one of my favorite things to do with the kids and now they are all too old. Sigh. I don't miss little kids but I do miss some things about having little kids and park days are certainly on that list. Lily went babysitting, we went to Dick's to get baseball pants and cleats and then used a gift card to go to Wendy's for dinner. It was funny just having Emma and Curtis; that isn't a common pairing so we tried to be fun and enjoy our middle children for the evening. 

 

Sunday was kind of a long day. Church was nice but Josh was gone until 6:30 pm, Lily had a stake meeting so she was gone from 3-6:30, Emma was up in her room reading most of the day and Curtis was putting together his new Lego set. So, Brandon and I wrote in our journals and played battleship and I worked on Lily's photo book for the year (I'm a few behind) before I made dinner and then we ate and watched Fixer to Fabulous and ate Lily's cinnamon rolls that she had made before her meeting and they were amazing. 

March is looking pretty busy with Brandon's show, stake women's conference, Lily is taking her driving test and the SATs, temple visits, and baseball season starting but I am so excited for spring!