Long weekend

I heard some tragic news yesterday that I can't stop thinking about.  Life can be hard.  That is all.

I'm grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  It bolsters my courage for the times when life is hard.  I know that God lives and that He has a plan.  I loved what Elder Uchtdorf said in the recent General Conference about Covid 19.  I

There are still a lot of unknowns about this virus. But if there is one thing I do know, it is that this virus did not catch Heavenly Father by surprise. He did not have to muster additional battalions of angels, call emergency meetings, or divert resources from the world-creation division to handle an unexpected need.

I am grateful for that perspective.  God is at the helm and we are here to learn lessons.  One of those lessons is to rely on our faith.

We have also had a good weekend--it is still happening.  On Saturday I had "a clear out" in my office as Jean Pargetter would say.  (From As Time Goes By...one of my favorite British television shows.)  I'm not even halfway done because I want to go through every single thing.  It needs it.  We took Mark to Red Lobster for lunch just because we thought he'd like it.  When you're the youngest....

He did.  He got something called the admiral plate and said he wanted us to call him admiral for the rest of the day.  Even being youngest has his limits though.

He went to work and Adam and I did our errands.

Sunday it was our week (except Adam) to stay home and watch church.  I love those weeks.  Watching church in a comfy chair while wearing jeans is not a bad gig.  I did some family history and talked to Marie Louise on the phone.  That is always an immediate feel good boost to my life.  Besides family history talk, we caught up on life.  Her youngest is Emma's age so I talked to her about my impending empty nest.  She told me it was not terrible, kind of like a date all the time.  I can see that and it seems like it will be wonderful to be with Adam, Adam and more Adam.

Since we've all had Covid now, we decided to open up our doors to Desi and Hyrum.  Hyrum ended up having a meeting but we were delighted to have Desi.  We celebrated Braeden's birthday belatedly.  I made him a cake and we lit candles and sang to him and I took a picture and now I don't have it on my camera roll.

I did find this picture though which I took to brag to my family about my kids' math test they took Friday.

I gave a sticker to every single one of them because they all did SO well.  It was exciting.  Maybe every bit as exciting as a 24 year old blowing out his candles.