Tiny Expensive Bottles

I finally gave in and bought one of those crazy expensive bottles of eye cream.  How can half an ounce cost so much???  The only reason I bought it at all was because I had a coupon for $2 off.  And because, as I explained, this last year of sleep deprivation has left me looking ten years older than I looked ten years ago used to look. 

Maybe this will help?  Please?  I'm really not old enough to look old just yet.

Since I'm admitting all this, I may as well ask: have you found an eye cream that you think works well?  Please tell me!  The brand I got was ROC, which is made by Aveeno.  But I'm open to suggestions whenever this bottle runs out.  For the price, it ought to last a year, but I suspect I can only stretch 0.5 ounces out for six months.  Good thing I'm saving all this money not cutting my hair, right?

This Should Probably Be Five Separate Posts

My little kids like me to play Go Fish with them.  We have a deck of Go Fish cards which-- prepare to be shocked-- features a bunch of different fish.  One of the fish is a shrimp, and somehow Camille calls it a Frimp, which makes me laugh every time.  That's got to be harder to say than the actual word, right???  (She also says Fawicious, instead of "delicious.")  Also, because she's two, Camille can't hold her cards properly and everyone is always seeing what she has.  I didn't think it was fair for me to take advantage of this, so when I have a match of hers, I'll usually suggest that she ask me for that card.  Colton has now caught on to this, and does the same thing for her.  She keeps winning.  It's adorable.

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Have I talked about how Colton wakes me up at night?  Because he does.  ALL THE TIME.  It started when we rearranged the kids' bedrooms in January (yes, this has been going on for nearly a year!  And I have the big dark circles under my eyes to prove it!).  He'll just randomly wake me up in the night.  He doesn't do it every night.  But sometimes he'll do it several times in one night.  And there is absolutely no consistency to any of it: sometimes he needs his sippy cup filled up again.  Sometimes he needs to use the bathroom (even though he does NOT need my help for this!!!!!).  Sometimes he wants books to look at (at 2am????).  Sometimes he's scared.  Sometimes he just wants to snuggle in bed.  Sometimes he wants to chat.

I've tried various things to put a stop to this: we've tried turning his doorknob around so we could lock him in his room, but he just starts kicking the door.  Getting woken up in the middle of the night to someone trying to kick a door down is terrifying.  We've tried locking our own door, but then he kicks that instead.  Also terrifying.  I've tried making a bed up on the floor that he could sleep in, but the only time he actually tried sleeping in it, he had a cough and kept us both awake the whole night long coughing.  I've tried pleading and threatening and comforting and everything I can think of.  I've been at my rope's end over all this.

And unfortunately, I tend to handle each night very differently, depending on why he's woken me up and how tired and cranky I am.  I'm generally pretty opposed to kids sleeping in my bed, but there have been times when I'm so exhausted I don't even wake up when he wiggles his way under the blankets.  And usually I try to be nice and just take care of the problem and get him back to bed as fast as possible.  But there have also been times when I've completely flipped out at him because I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE.  Like last week.

While we were in Houston, I got a brief reprieve, since Colton was afraid to leave his room at night because of the dog.  But our third night home again, he woke me up at midnight (for books) and then at 5:30am to use the bathroom, then again to fix his sleepers that were inside-out, and then once more because he couldn't do the snap at the top of his sleepers.  That last time was when I finally lost it and just started yelling at him as I marched him back to his room.  I have no idea if I woke up the other kids in my tirade, I was so out of it and angry.

I got back in bed and tossed and turned trying to sleep but mostly freaking out because I knew if I didn't start sleeping again I was going to kill this child that I love so much.  And then I hit on a new idea: the pack-and-play.  I set it up in his room the next day.  Of course, this seemed new and exciting and he wanted to sleep in it, but I explained that if he was in the pack-and-play, he didn't get any books and no lights on in his room (right now he sleeps with the closet light on).  And the rule is, if he wakes me up, he goes into the pack-and-play.  Otherwise, he sleeps in his bed with books and lights and everything he likes.  And so far (knock on wood!!!!) it's worked.  He hasn't woken me up in a week.

It's fun to play in, even if no one is sleeping in it!

So could my eyes go back to looking five years younger now?

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I have three sons.  They are like Goldilocks and the three bears in their underwear habits: one doesn't seem to change his underwear unless I tell him to (GROSS!!!!!!!), one changes his underwear every time he changes his clothing at all-- he'll sometimes go through three or four pairs in a day.  This seems a touch excessive to me (but a better problem than the first has, at least).  And one child actually seems to put on clean underwear every day like a normal person.  If I could average them together, we'd be so hygienic!

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We are slowly edging Camille away from baby things.  She chewed through her last binky a few months ago and has been pacifier-free ever since.  When we went to Houston I didn't bring any bottles (that was on purpose!) and told her now she was a big girl and didn't need bottles any more.  She still gets an occasional sippy cup with warm milk in it, but I'm trying to not let it be something she NEEDS the second she wakes up in the morning or from a nap.

Unfortunately, as she grows up in these ways, she's also trying to outgrow her naps.  She just doesn't seem to need them much any more, a fact which makes me sad.  We still try, but sometimes it just doesn't happen.  And she's fine.

The funny thing is, I've been taking care of babies and/or toddlers (and often both!) for eleven years now, but the thing I'm looking forward to being done with the most is...  Nope, not diapers.  I actually don't mind changing diapers.  (And for toddlers, it's often WAY more convenient to change a diaper than to find a bathroom in an emergency!)  No, the thing I'll do a happy dance for when we're finally finished with it is buckling those stupid five-point harnesses on carseats.  I really hate those.  Camille can switch to a booster seat in February and that will be a joyous day indeed!

And while I'm talking about Camille, she likes to color now and if she gets interrupted, she will yell indignantly, "But I was making a bootiful picture!"  Or if she wants something she can't have and you offer her a compromise, she'll say, "FINE.  I'll take that!"  But she says it with an impressive amount of spite for one so tiny.  The other day I came out of my room to find her standing in the hallway with her hands behind her back, trying for an innocent smile.  Both fists were full of loose change she'd found in Bentley's room (I locked his room for him after that).  This girl-- I am going to have to keep an eye on her!

She also demands that everyone give her hugs and kisses before leaving in the morning.  It warms my heart to see Bentley, my prickly son, dutifully give his little sister a hug and kiss before heading to the bus stop. 

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And speaking of my kids getting older, we went to the temple on Saturday to look at the Christmas lights.  We're learning that it's hard when you live in one place and build up all these amazing Christmas traditions and then you move two hours away because you just want to keep going back, but at this rate, I have reasons to head to northern Virginia every weekend in December, and that's getting to be a bit ridiculous!  But the temple was important enough to make the trip....  Anyway, I had all five kids for a bit while Craig was inside the temple, and I was pleased with how much more manageable that is than it used to be!  Not having to carry anyone or deal with a stroller helps a lot.  And Bentley and Kendra are old enough that I can usually count on them to be well behaved and not do anything terribly stupid (like run out in front of cars), so that helps tremendously.  At the Visitor's Center, I glanced over at the mother's room and thought of all the times I've sat there nursing a baby and I was okay with not needing that room.

Here are the pictures from this trip:

Ryder was grumpy

They were in a better mood for this picture

And then Ryder and Colton started busting out their moves.  And Camille, but she did hers sadly...  My kids are really weird.

Craig was letting Ryder take pictures-- this one is pretty cute!  Look how long my hair is getting!

Also by Ryder

Okay, so this is super blurry, but you get the idea

Note: jackets with reflective bits don't mix well with night-time photos.  Good thing we already got our portraits!

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When Craig and I were first married, we took a weekend trip to St. George.  I think we ended up stopping three times along the way, so that when we got there, I informed Craig that it hardy felt like a road trip-- it felt more like we'd just been running errands for a long time.  That was how Saturday's trip to the temple felt.  On our way there we stopped at: the library*, Target**, Culpeper***, and Manassas****.  On the way home, we did almost the exact same thing, but in reverse.  It made for a long day (we were gone for over 12 hours), but at least I kept getting to stretch my legs!  

Life with Craig is never dull!

*The kids needed books.
**Craig wanted to buy a DVD player for the car.  It kept the kids entertained, but made some annoying buzzing sound.  We're going to return it.
***I'd told Craig to see if his parents wanted to tag along, so we picked up my Mother-in-Law on our way
****The condo toilet was leaking, so Craig needed to fix that.  On the way home, we needed to stop at Cafe Rio for dinner.  Obviously.

Houston for Thanksgiving

Craig has been trying to figure out how we could manage to go visit his brother in Houston for a while now.  Jason and Jeni and their four kids have made the trip to Charlottesville twice since we moved here, and the last time we went to their place was three years ago when I was pregnant with Camille.  So we felt like we "owed" them a visit.  (Not that you can ever really owe family, but you get what I mean, right?)

After much discussion, we realized that the only time that would really work was this Thanksgiving.  Craig's parents were already planning to be there, so we sort of announced that we'd be coming, too, and hoped everyone could make room for us (which they very graciously did!).  Craig managed to get time off from work, I emailed teachers to explain my kids' absences, we loaded the van, and we were off!

It is a LONG drive to Houston.  19 hours each way, and that's not including stops for gas, bathrooms, and food.  And because Craig is a better person than me, he also decided we should be good and go to church while we were traveling, too.  All told, we left home on Saturday morning, stopped for the night in Slidell, Louisiana, and arrived in Houston around 4pm Sunday afternoon.  So that was a long time to drive and a long time to be sitting in the car.  I didn't know you could get sore just from sitting!  We were VERY relieved to finally arrive!

As soon as we'd piled out of the car, our kids scattered throughout the house and I felt like we barely saw them the rest of the time.  Cousins have got to be about the best thing in the world-- all the comfort of being with your own siblings, but none of the fighting.

Donna with her boys!

Bentley and Eli blowing bubbles

Kids on the trampoline, Peyton wishing he could join them

Some of the surprises from the trip were that Bentley and Eli had a FABULOUS time together (this is only surprising since Eli is the same age as Ryder, and Bentley and Ryder don't tend to get along very well).

The other, bigger surprise was my kids' reaction to Peyton, Jeni's poodle.  We'd met Peyton when they came to our house last Christmas, but he was always confined to a couple of rooms, so this was my kids' first time in a place where a dog had free reign.  From experiences with dogs at the bus stop, I knew that Camille would demand that I carry her around a lot (she LOVES dogs until they get within about three feet of her, and then she'll get very nervous).  But Camille got used to Peyton pretty quickly and after a couple days wasn't scared at all.  It was Colton who got more and more freaked out.  He found places he could go where the dog couldn't reach him (a room with a door he could shut, the trampoline, a corner behind the couch) and would hide there and demand we carry him any time he moved locations, lifting his feet up even higher so Peyton couldn't touch him at all.  It was tedious, and I worried that we were just damaging him.  I'm all about facing one's fears, but at what point are you just being mean to a terrified little 4-year-old?

Cousins hanging out after they finish their dinner

Camille trying to figure out how to get off the couch without squishing the dog

But life goes on, whether your 4-year-old is a scared mess or not.  We ate a TON of food (duh) and spent one afternoon making model rockets and then the next day launched them in a nearby field.  Camille was napping, so I missed the launch, but it sounded like everyone had a good time!  I enjoyed walking around the neighborhood any time one of my sisters called to chat-- the weather was PERFECT.  We usually end up going to Houston in the summer, so it was fun to be there when it was so delightful.  (Although truthfully, Houston's heat and humidity don't usually bother me-- I'd always rather be hot than cold.)

Bentley made a tiny rocket

Colton concentrates very hard painting his rocket.  Uncle Jason had a lot of patience to stand there holding it for him while he painted!

Dinner at Chuy's Wednesday night.  The refrigerator was absolutely stuffed full ready for Thanksgiving, so no one was allowed to bring leftovers home!

And then one morning I came downstairs to this:

Suddenly Colton wasn't quite so scared of the dog!  He would still get nervous-- especially when he hadn't been near Peyton for a bit (since that was when Peyton would be the most excited to see Colton and more likely to jump around trying to lick him).  But he worked really hard to overcome his fears.  I was so proud of my brave little boy!

Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Kids' table (not on Thursday)

Eli, Ryder, and Peyton getting up to no good!

I love this picture

Static electricity does fun things to our hair

Kendra was very excited that her (14-year-old) cousin, Lindsy, put make-up on her

And yes, there were times when we all sat around staring at our various devices

Starting to really like Peyton

Grandma teaches Ryder the REAL way to enjoy a slice of pumpkin pie!

Camille snuggling with Lindsy

We had a wonderful time together.  We'd play games in the evening with the older kids, and then once they had gone to bed, the grown-ups would sit around talking, which is my favorite thing EVER.  Our Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful (I did feel bad that I didn't do any of the cooking, but Jeni just pitched in and got everything done so calmly, I was hardly aware that she was working at all-- so very unlike me, who has to stress out in the kitchen and order everyone around!  How do you cook without yelling at everyone???).  Friday morning Jason and Jeni made crepes that were amazing, and then in the afternoon we went and saw Coco, the newest Pixar film, which was super cute.  And then of course it was leftovers for dinner!

And suddenly it was Saturday and time to get back on the road!  It was my decision to really push on our first day of driving, so I'd booked us a hotel in Knoxville, TN, the idea being that we'd have 13 hours of driving the first day, but only six the next.  That turned out to not be a good idea-- thirteen hours is just too much for one day, plus we lost an hour heading east.  So we rolled in a little after 11pm and went right to sleep.  (The hotel was extremely nice about the fact that I'd somehow made our reservation for the wrong day, a problem we didn't notice until we were on the road.  They didn't charge us for the night we hadn't shown up!) 

Bentley falls asleep for a few hours on Day 2 of driving

And I have to say-- all things considered, the kids were SUPER good in the car.  Camille spent some time crying (but she could hardly move, trapped in a five-point harness-- I'd probably cry, too!).  At one point she began sobbing because she wanted to go back to Peyton's house!  And there was at least one time when Colton wouldn't stop making some little popping noise and that sent Ryder into hysterics.  But considering how many hours they spent in the car (40?  All told?) they were fantastic.  Kendra and Bentley were super helpful: they would pop out of their seats and look for water bottles and lovies that had gone missing under chairs.  At one point they were passing out sippy cups and they totally looked like little flight attendants during the beverage service!  And Bentley was very generous about sharing his kindle with his siblings.  That definitely made everything go smoother.

We were less than three hours from home driving through the "mountains" of western Virginia when we hit traffic.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised-- EVERYONE is traveling on Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving.  But it still made me about ready to tear my hair out.  That's when I start making declarations like, "We are never going anywhere for Thanksgiving again EVER!!!!" (which I'm pretty sure I say after trip to New York for T-day, also).  It was stop and go for almost an hour before Waze rerouted us, and we got home around 4:30pm.  Camille screamed for the last 20 minutes of the drive, then fell asleep as we pulled into our neighborhood.  Of course.

Home.  FINally.

It was nice to be home again.  I did about seven loads of laundry in two days.  And I am thoroughly enjoying not having any children sleeping in my room.

But we had a wonderful time and I'm so glad it worked out for us to go!  Yay for Thanksgiving with family!

I Try So Hard

I had today all planned out.  I was going to get up early and get showered and dressed, get the kids off to school, and take Colton to his speech therapy.  We were going to leave straight from that to go to my friend Sarah's house and hang out with her until the kids were due off the bus.  Then, at night, after dinner, my friend Juneann was going to come to my house and together we would take all the kids to see Charlottesville's Grand Illumination.  This is where they light the downtown mall's Christmas tree and Santa rides by waving from a fire truck.  My choir is performing, so Juneann was going to watch the kids while I sang.  (Craig will be busy chaperoning a basketball game.  Lucky guy.)  And it was going to be a wonderful day.

I got up early (despite staying up WAY too late doing on-line Christmas shopping).  I showered.  Craig woke the kids up.  And Ryder came downstairs crying because his tummy hurt. 

And with a splash of vomit, all my plans were gone.

I'm telling you-- mothering is not for the faint of heart. 



The silver lining in all this is at least he got it all in the bucket.  Nothing makes me grumpier than trying to wash vomit out of carpeting and bedding.

He's feeling much better since then.  But not good enough to stand around outside in a crowd of people on a chilly December night.  Maybe we'll make it next year.

Thoughts on Immunity

Last year I watched every episode of The Office on Netflix.  I'd watched it sporadically when it was actually on the air, but I didn't have consistent access to a television (and, when I lived in the Japanese House, we weren't allowed to watch TV in English), so it was fun to finally watch the whole series, start to finish, and get all the inside jokes that built up throughout it.  And, of course, I loved Jim and Pam.

It wasn't a perfect show (that honor goes to either Arrested Development or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Obviously).  There were plenty of times when watching Michael Scott was just painful, which is NOT the same thing as funny.  But his character mellowed nicely throughout the series, and by the end he was a pretty good guy who you could genuinely cheer for.

One of the things I thought they handled perfectly was the plot line for Jim and Dwight, office nemeses...  (Yes, I had to look up how to pluralize that word.)  In case you're not familiar with the show, Jim is the guy who's always playing practical jokes on Dwight.  For plenty of people, that would make them love him, but I don't especially like practical jokes, so this would normally make Jim the bad guy in my mind-- at some point, most jokes cross the line into bullying, right?  But the show always made Dwight a bad enough guy, that you ended up feeling that he deserved whatever Jim threw at him.  At the same time, the show gradually turned Dwight into an okay guy, and eventually made him friends with Jim until by the end of the series it was-- dare I say it?-- kind of sweet.  That's some good writing there!



Anyway, there was one episode where Dwight lectures the entire office about how, rather than using hand sanitizer all the time, they should embrace germs because it helps build up your immune system.  He declares that if a person sneezes on you, rather than be grossed out you should thank them for it.

This of course turns into everyone rushing to Dwight's side every time they need to sneeze so they can sneeze on him.  It's gross.  Watching that episode turns my stomach.  Even thinking about it too much to write about it here makes me want to gag.

But I've come to realize (to my horror) that it actually describes my life pretty accurately.  These kids of mine are CONSTANTLY sneezing on me.  Especially when we read scriptures in the morning!  Something about that makes Kendra and Ryder both have fits of sneezing.  Are they allergic to the Book of Mormon???    If they're not sneezing on me, they're coughing on me.  Or trying to wipe their noses on me.  I probably wash my hands dozens of times each day.  And then I have to just squeeze my eyes shut and try to not think about it too much. 

But on the plus side, I really do have a pretty rockin' immune system.  I'll get a cold every now and then, but even that's pretty rare.  I can't even remember the last time I had to see a doctor because I was sick.  If Dwight is correct (and we all know we can trust any medical advice we get from a television character!), is it possible that I have my children's disgusting habits to thank for how healthy I am?

Seminary and Winter

This week is killing me.

First of all, the kids had no school on Monday or Tuesday.  I kind of like it when they have random days off like that-- it gives me a break from getting up early to pack lunches and it's fun to not have a schedule.  But Mondays are not my favorite day for that to happen since that's my grocery shopping day.  So we spent a big chunk of Monday at Costco and Food Lion, my current stores of choice.  But on the plus side-- we had gorgeous weather in the 70s AND Craig managed to come home for lunch AND leave work early!  So Monday was fabulous.

I was getting excited to take the kids to a park on Tuesday since we'd finished our errands, but then the temperature dropped thirty degrees (WHY, EAST COAST, WHY????), so that was no longer appealing.  I took everyone with me to vote and then we went to the library instead.

I turned my back on the little kids to help Kendra find a book, and when I turned back, they were playing "Bus" with a bunch of other kids!  Camille seemed quite pleased to be the driver...

We stopped by Craig's work on our way home-- the kids always enjoy getting to see Daddy's office.  Then they mostly tore the house apart for the rest of the afternoon while I chased behind them trying to put it back together.

I was kind of a stress case by then, though, because I was worrying about the fact that I had to teach seminary* the rest of the week, Wednesday through Friday.  I'd agreed to substitute without much thought, but I hadn't realized the kids would be home for the two preceding days, so I somehow thought I'd have time during the day to look at lessons.  Ha!  Then I thought maybe I could work on lessons during YWs Tuesday night, but then our president was sick and so I was in charge, so that didn't happen either.  I got it done after everything else that night and it was fine, but that wasn't a great way to get it done, you know?  I felt like I had it looming over me for those two days and it was exhausting (as was not sleeping well the last few nights thanks to many mean factors working against me).

So anyway, this week I'm getting up early and showering.  I'm making sure my entire house is clean for the girl who comes over to babysit ("girl"-- she's a mother of two, she's just a lot younger than I am, so I feel like she's still a girl; is that totally anti-feminist of me???).  I get myself all pretty and actually dressed in a skirt (!!!) and then make those lunches.  At 7:25 I go down to the basement to wait for the students to arrive-- we had four kids today, so that's better than last year when our numbers dwindled to two.  Seminary only lasts fifty minutes, so within an hour I'm back upstairs and done for the day and then...

Then I don't know what to do!

I'm already showered and dressed.  The house is clean.  It's cold and dark and rainy outside, so I don't particularly want to go anywhere...  I just want to turn on my electric blanket and snuggle in my bed with a good book (currently: Essays by E.B. White).  But that doesn't really work too well for Colton and Camille who seem to think we should do more interesting things than watching mommy reading.

So that's where I am.  Tired and cold.  And looking forward to the end of this week when I won't have seminary hanging over me.

Basically, winter hit at the same time as seminary.  And that's a little much for me.

I'll do better next week.  And if I don't, well, then we'll be driving to Houston for Thanksgiving so that's one way for me to escape temperatures in the 40s for a bit!



*Astute readers might recall that I was a substitute teacher for seminary last year.  Ironically, I only ended up ever teaching a couple times-- my friend and I were supposed to have to cover for 6 weeks, but then that was too much so the mom of the seminary students just did a home study with her kids instead.  And then after that was all over, they released me from that calling.  But then they needed a sub again and didn't have anyone called, so they asked me.  But I actually prefer it this way, since now the stake won't bug me to go to their inservice meetings on 8am on Saturdays!

The Richmond Zoo

I woke up the morning of November 1st and thought to myself, "I survived Halloween!"  My kids had three different trick-or-treating events throughout the month, plus a neighborhood party that we missed.  Does that seem like an awful lot of celebrating for a holiday that doesn't actually mean anything???

We managed to do stuff in the month of October that wasn't focused on Halloween-- we took the kids to the Richmond Zoo one gorgeous Saturday.  This zoo is basically the exact opposite of the National Zoo in DC-- it's on the expensive side and it's kind of small (DC zoo is free entrance and huge), but it's NOT BUILT ON A FREAKING HILL, so walking around looking at the animals is actually an enjoyable experience.  And because it's small, you can race around and see everything and then make it back to in time to see all your favorite animals get fed.  So, yeah, I really enjoyed this zoo.  (And in case you didn't manage to read between the lines there, I loath the National Zoo.)  And more importantly, my kids had a great time, too!  The only bad thing is that now they keep asking when we can go back and I don't think we can afford to any time soon!  Ah, the irony!

Kendra with an emu

Ryder, the king of awesome faces, shows us how scared he is of the cobra

Since one of Camille's many nicknames is Chameleon (often followed with the song, "Karma Chameleon"), we HAD to take a picture of her with one!

Seriously the biggest iguana I've ever seen.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.

This monkey sounded like an opera singer getting warmed up.  Really.

This cheetah has a golden retriever as a best friend-- see him sacked out in the other corner of his cage?

Getting to pet a giraffe is just cool.  I know, everyone loves giraffes.  But let it be known that we do, too!

I think a giraffe got spit on Craig's camera lens, because all his shots (that aren't selfies) after this have this soft foggy glow to them...

You could ride on a ski lift that went over some of the animals

Closest I've EVER managed to get to a rhino, ever.  So that was awesome.  Also, I love the face Craig pulls when he's trying to get a selfie lined up just so!

Zebras and ostrich in the background

This peacock stole the last bite of Camille's sandwich and made her cry (she didn't get hurt-- she was just scared/mad).  This was especially funny because I was terrorized by a peacock when I was about three and bolted from my mom and she had to abandon my little sister in the stroller to chase after me.  Guess it runs (ha!) in the family...

Ryder, once again, pulls awesome faces for the camera.  Also, bactrian camels are super cool and super weird.

Waiting for feeding time

Camille kept wanting to lean way forward and I spent the whole ride afraid she'd fall off the lift

It 's hard not to get excited about a Galapagos tortoise

I like Ryder's toothless smile here

Dromedary camels are cool too, I suppose, especially when they have cute babies...  Some zoo somewhere had a baby camel and named him Alexander Camelton.  Brilliant!

We had a great time.  The weather could not have been better!  And as we were leaving, I found out that I would NOT be needed to chauffeur the young women all over the stake that evening, so I got to relax at home after a long day.  So everything was perfect.

Also, it was in the 70s yesterday and today.  Happy November, y'all!!!