Where is everyone?

No one has posted anything for quite some time, is anything happening out there? We had a fun time for Brendan's birthday. I think he is very pleased to be 5. It is such fun to see all the kids growing up, I'm enjoying it. Dad and I helped Christa pick apples on Tuesday. One tree has giant! red apples and the other one has tiny! golden delicious. We finally got tired of picking tiny apples and left many of them on the tree. She will have to prune next spring to help her trees out. Maybe Scott will do it. The temple is closed next month from 25 Nov to 22 Dec. Dad and I are considering taking a few days and going to Moab then. It should be nice to get away. I like to plan any trips when the temple is closed so I don't have to get a substitute. I'm not real keen on making the time up and substituting for someone else to trade. It's just easier to just show up on my regular days. I substituted one week to make a three day week, not my favorite thing to do. I don't mind the work at the temple, it is just tiring because you must concentrate all the day. Any loss of concentration means errors and that's no fun. Well, time to go make dinner. Somebody - say/write something.

Love, Mom

Temple Square 360°

A friend just sent me a link to this website that has 360° views of Temple Square and other places around Utah. Enjoy it when you get a minute...

http://www.utah3d.net/GalleryTempleSquare.html

What a difference just 3 pounds can make!

Something exciting happened yesterday. I have this brown skirt that I like, but have not worn for many months. It was just too snug to move around in the last time I wore it. Alex & Corwin were staying home sick yesterday, so I decided I could handle a little snugness with just Luke going to church with me. To my great surprise, the skirt fit better than it ever has before!

I only lost a couple of pounds the whole summer, so I really hadn't noticed a difference. But after putting on the skirt, it got me thinking and I realized that my levi's are a bit looser too :-)

New Calling

So let's run down my list of Primary callings, shall we?


Primary president √ (check)
First counselor √ (check)
Second counselor √ (check)
Secretary √ (check)
Sunbeam teacher √ (check)
CTR 4 teacher √ (check)
CTR 5 teacher √√√ (triple check – I’ve taught it in three different wards)
CTR 6 teacher √ (check)
CTR 8 teacher √ (check)
Activities day leader √√.5 (double check point five – did it twice in three different wards)
Sunday school for 12-13 year-olds (it’s practically Primary) √ (check)
Primary chorister ♪ (check!)


So I got called today as our Primary chorister. I’m a little nervous because this is the first genuinely new calling I’ve had in a while (as you can see by the rundown). I’ve never had a musical calling before and I’m really excited about it! As we were driving away from the church, I was already dreaming up ideas for singing time. Our whole Primary is being restructured because our president is moving away. It’s not a great time with the program coming up, but what are you going to do? Anyway, since a lot of you have been (or currently are) in a Primary calling, if you see something or remember something that works/worked well for singing time, could you pass it along? Thanks and have a lovely Sunday!

Happy Birthday Jake!

Happy birthday Dr. Handyman!  Here's to another year chock-full of home improvements :)

Love,
Leigh and Wyatt

Call me!

Here goes....

Hi. Just got a new google voice number: 801-613-TREK (8735). Yeah, my favorite film of the year so far. I've also been watching episodes from the original series on tv.com and playing Beetles Rock Band. Probably going to be Paul Mccartney for Halloween. Ok, enough said. Thanks for the blog invite.

Finally, something about the Sampsel's!

Our ward's primary program will be on the 25th of October (Brendan's birthday) and Brendan has been assigned a scripture to read, Mosiah 4:13. I am excited to see how he does. We received the part yesterday and I told Brendan that we will practice it so that he will be comfortable. Even after telling him that, he insists that he will need either me or Dan to help.
It sometimes shocks me when I think about how old he is already. The time has really gone by fast!
Kathryn is also growing fast. I think that she just might enjoy singing as much as Brendan does. I made up a song about our family last night to the tune of "Are you Sleeping?" and Kathryn wanted me to sing it to her over and over again. The words were: "Mommy and Katie. Mommy and Katie. Brendan, too. Brendan, too. Don't forget Daddy. Don't forget Daddy. We love you. We love you." Brendan and Katie also really enjoyed it when I put in Grammy, Grandpa, Uncle Wes and Julie too.

Unexpected changes

First of all, we are finally replacing the rest of our old windows!  Some of them are old wood casings that are original to the house and some are aluminum replacement frames.  Ironically, the 90-year-old windows are better than the 20- or 30-year-old ones, but none of them are very good.  We're changing out 11 windows and adding (a much needed) one to our bathroom.  I'm super excited about getting these done.

Now for the unexpected part.  Right after we signed the contract for our new windows, the faucet handle in our shower broke off.  No problem, we'll just buy a new fixture.  While we were trying to install the new handle, we realized that we would have to change out the pipe fittings.  OK, this is getting a little more involved.  We really can't access the fittings because they are behind our vinyl shower enclosure, so we try to remove one panel and... rrriiippp!  OK, we'll have to replace the shower enclosure.  Then we decide that if we are going to have to redo the shower, we might as well do it right.  So we're scrapping the cheap vinyl shower and outdated tinted door and we're going to tile the shower walls, knock out an ugly overhang, make the shower head tall enough for Jake (yay!) and put in a pretty door.  Eventually we're going to tile bathroom floor; replace the vanity, lighting and fixtures; put in a medicine cabinet and of course the new window.  Fixing up an old house really forces us to learn a lot of new skills.  I can honestly say that plaster and lath walls don't scare me anymore.  I didn't want to do all of this at once, but the sooner we make the fixes that are needed, the longer we get to enjoy them before we sell this place.  It will be so much better! Instead of a liability when we try to sell the house, it should be a real plus.  Thank goodness for moonlighting so we can pay for all of this :)  I'll try to keep y'all updated with progress pictures.

Happy Birthday Christa!

I hope you have a lovely day :)