It hasn't been the normal routine for us the last two weeks. Last week amongst all the Halloween festivities, Dave's long-time friend Trent was married. Many would see a wedding on Halloween Day as untraditional, but you must know this couple...they seemed to have enjoyed the day with family and friends. The ceremony was beautiful and my girls enjoyed seeing Alyson (Trent's bride) in her wedding gown. I missed the reception that night, though. My kids felt it was more important to go trick -or- treating instead of being stuck at home with a babysitter. Plus, finding a babysitter on Halloween night is a challenge to say the least!
Dave's parents came to town with their R.V. on Wednesday. They are camping out at the race track in anticipation of the racing activities this weekend. David Taylor joined them Thursday afternoon, and Dave's brother Scott flew in from Missoula on Friday. I haven't seen or talked to my David since Thursday. I kind of miss him! I get text message updates every now and then, but for the most part he is off in his own little world. Since the kids do not have school tomorrow, he invited them out to the campground to spend tonight with the gang. I will take them out there but then return home to sleep in my own comfortable bed. I don't know if I'll be able to handle the peace and quiet!
The kids got their report cards back for the first term. They all got straight A's! We met with teachers for parent-teacher conferences and for the most part they are doing very well. Matthew is almost too smart for his class and finds he gets into mischief because he is bored. His teacher is working with him to find other ways to challenge him. Alyson is a "joy to have in class but tends to be a little chatty". That's a nice way to say Alyson likes to talk a lot! Her teacher learned quickly who she can and cannot sit by in class. Other than not being so social, Alyson needs to work on reading and math. Rachel continues to love school and it shows in her work. She is becoming more mature and is able to stay focused on her school work.
This weekend was our Stake Conference. I attended the adult session Saturday night and the talks revolved around prayer, scripture study, and strengthening our youth. The stake gave us a copy of a talk given by Julie B. Beck in a CES meeting in August titled
"Teaching the Doctine of Family". This talk focuses on how the world threatens the family organization and ways we can strengthen against the currents in the world. I would highly recommend it for reading.
Work has been normal - stressful. We had a go-live on Thursday. In addition, we are under our annual IT audit. I am the department liaison for the auditors so I have been stretched pretty thin working multiple projects and long work days this week. I wish I could see an end in sight but I am learning this is just the way it is. My challenge has been "balancing my life". I continue to work on this area.
While here for the races, Scott and David toured the new Texas Stadium with their parents. This pictures gives a good perspective of the stadium - you feel very small there standing in the middle of the star! They got to see all aspects of the stadium and really enjoyed what they saw. I think the next best thing would be for them to be hear on game day! That will have to wait for some wealthy benefactor to invite them along. Game tickets are way too expensive for the normal folk!
We're making progress on our home. The only problem is.... this is our home on the WRONG lot! The builder was so grateful Dave was observant and pointed out the mistake before it got too far. We have a specific lot we want and Dave could tell when they started to lay the forms that the house on our lot was way too small compared to what we thought we were getting. In the end, the contractors shifted 3 homes down one lot due to unusual lot numbering done by the city. Quickly the forms came up and the tractors came back in to level the ground to start over. This put us a week behind schedule. But that's ok because the build is ahead of schedule based on our calculations. Our original plan was completion late March or early April. The builder is looking for completion at the end of February barring any weather delays. We'll just cross our fingers and keep a close eye so no more mistakes are made.