The 3rd month of 2009 Marches in.

I guess you could call it a moving week. Monday I babysat for the baby of the Wood family, who are moving to Port Orchard. Wednesday I went and helped the missionaries load a moving van for the Hickam family, who are moving to Shelton. Friday Daddy B.J. took our van and helped the missionaries move Rhonda Rameriz and her children, who are moving within our ward boundaries.
Monday was Debbie & Jay’s daughter Amy’s 8th birthday. The whole family went to an inn on the beach for one night and enjoyed the activity facilities there the weekend before. Of course, Debbie took cupcakes to her school for her. Each treat had a little toy ring on top. Then for her party Debbie cooked up lots of ribs, which Amy favors, and had all the traditional birthday festivities. Amy is a fan of a musical movie series called “High School Musical”, so Debbie found a large poster of the stars of the part III edition and posted it on their wall of mirrors. Nathan & Nicholas used a helium canister to blow up fifty balloons. Amy went from that fun to a pajama day at her school. Debbie frequently calls me as she is chauffeuring the kids around. I could hear the smile in her voice as she watched Amy heading into her building and plumping up the collar of her fluffy bathroom as she went.
Travis’ birthday was Wednesday and he turned eleven. Daddy B.J. and I were able to catch him before he left for school to sing our birthday wish to him. I had mailed off his birthday card along with those heading to Amy and Joseph (March 1st) and Mindie(also March 1st). Then I remembered that I had committed to writing each grandchild a personal letter for their special day when they were between the ages of eight and marriage. I enjoy touching their lives this way and perhaps impress them with how much we love them. Travis’ only took about a half-hour, but I stewed over what to write Amy. I ended up piecing together a picture letter. I made the mistake of leaving a picture of Monica off. Fortunately Debbie called so I could redo the page and email it. Debbie printed it up and it turned out to be a real hit. Jay’s favorite part was my using a picture of a deer in place of the word “dear” in the greeting.
Ruth’s husband took the Nevada bar exam for three days at the end of February and then the whole family headed up to Utah to visit his cousin Charity’s family and unwind. Daddy B.J. and I know he passed it, but the true release of pressure doesn’t come till he receives the letter of acknowledgment in the mail in about three months.
David calls most mornings while he is driving to work and he has also stopped by a couple of times this week. His wife and girls all suffered a bout with the flu but they survived. David gets to hear first hand about all the aches and pains that afflict us as we grow older. He does all he can to stimulate health.
Nathan has included us in a wonderful cell phone package with T-mobile that will allow us to save a lot of money every month. Hurrah! You know a buck saved is like two earned – because of taxes. Speaking of taxes, we were surprised to receive a tax return this year. True, it would be better if things were going so well that we had to pay even more taxes, but in the current recession we are just glad for the modest blessings. We know a lot of workers who are losing their jobs or having their hours cut back.
Adam chatted quite a while yesterday with his father and then called and talked to me too. He has decided to really focus and getting his Bachelor’s degree as soon as possible and should have it by the end of this year – yes December 2009. He has also carefully looked as his time, energy, and financial budgets and decided he can leave his job at the casino. Actually this is part of the focus. Go Adam! At football he is practicing at starting positions on several defensive plays. Look out you ball-carriers!
From Aunt Linda Goodman’s blog: “Truth be told, we really didn't do too badly. Out of 214 teams we came in 74th; we were 26th out of 94 teams in our division. The fastest time was 20 hours and 29 minutes; the slowest 36 hours and 27 minutes. Our time was 29 hours and 28 minutes. I am proud of our effort, and so proud to be included with all those young, fit athletes. What could they do? My son was the team leader!” Shaila and Nick Jr. were on her team.
I visit all all my children’s and relatives blogs as I prepare entries for my own blog. It is wonderful to see and hear what is going on for them.