Clark and Madeleine finished up their last soccer season. We've decided that Madeleine is going to focus on volleyball and Clark is going to work on his basketball skills. And I decided that I enjoy watching volleyball and basketball quite a bit more than soccer -- for one thing, the weather is always nice!
The first grade put on an Invention Convention where each student was supposed to think of a problem in their life and come up with an invention that would solve that problem. One day when I was at Deseret Industries (basically a Goodwill store) I found an electronic double shoot basketball standard that actually worked. The problem was it was missing the "ball return" part. It's kind of hard and frustrating to try and compete for a high shooting score, if you have to chase your balls all over the place. It seemed like the perfect "invention" project. We ended up duct taping a bed sheet to the back of the backboard and tying the opposite ends to heavy buckets of wheat from our food storage. Alan is the one that invented the stand so that we could take it to school. Overall, it was a real life problem that now has a solution, but it was a somewhat big job for Clark and his family. Thank goodness we don't have any more first graders!
19th Birthday for Loren and Phillip
Phillip and Loren turned 19 this month. It is hard to believe they only have one more year of being teenagers. They decided they wanted to go out to dinner this year, so we made reservations at Buca di Beppo, a new favorite restaurant. They have one table actually in the Kitchen that seats eight people and Alan and I thought our kids would enjoy watching the chefs prepare all the food for everyone. It was rather noisy, but fun. The staff all sang Happy Birthday to the boys and finished by banging on all their pots and pans. We came home stuffed with Italian food and leftovers in boxes.
This year we decided that it would be fun to branch out and visit some cemeteries further away. So, we headed south to Moroni and Ephraim where my ancestors all come from. With my Aunt Lesa's help, we were able to locate the cemeteries, the headstones and the family homes. Alan made good notes, hopefully helping others in the future.
At the Moroni Cemetery while we were looking around, we met an older woman who remembered my Great Grandmother Macel Tidwell as her Primary President when she was a little girl. She said that she remembered my Great Grandmother as a wonderful person with a very strong testimony of the gospel. Later, when we were driving around looking for the house, we saw her again coming out of a convenience store and we asked her if she could help us. She and her daughter told us to follow them and they would take us right there.
It was an interesting experience to see the homes where my grandparents grew up. The home in Moroni where my Great Grandmother Macel and my Grandma Tess grew up, was built by my Great Great Grandparents Daniel Henry and Emmeline Draper Cook. It didn't really look at all like the picture that we had. For one thing, someone has covered up the brick with siding, removed a bay window, added a porch with a roof and painted the beautiful roof woodwork blue -- go figure. So, basically, it doesn't look anything like the original, but it was still fun to see it and take some pictures. I tried to imagine how it was back then. I wanted to go back in time -- even for just a few minutes. Thank goodness someone took photos back then. It has made all the difference to help all of us "know them."
The home in Ephraim was built by Wilford Lewis and Jenny Marie Breinholt. My Grandfather, Floyd E. Breinholt, grew up there. This home hasn't been changed really, just woefully neglected. It hasn't been lived in for some time and may even have the original curtains in the windows. We really wished we could go inside and have a look around. There was a shed in the back where my Great Grandfather carved stone into cemetery monuments. It was interesting that while we were looking around, the people who lived next door were out on their front porch watching us. Later, when we were at the cemetery, they were also there and started asking us who we were. It turns out that this sweet older lady (named Kathleen Deakin) grew up with my Grandpa Floyd -- lived right next door. Her family still lives there. She gave me a hug. I wish I had taken a picture with her.
How amazing is it, that were are a part of such wonderful families?