Elder Moseley

We had planned a family party for yesterday to celebrate a few birthdays. We always have dinner, presents, cake and ice cream and a whole lot of fun (as seen below in pictures). Saturday I went shopping for the dinner items I needed and came back to a message from the stake executive secretary. He'd called for my husband who was working late but I had this feeling I should call him back so I did. To my surprise, he said that our son James' paper to receive the Melchizedek priesthood was going before the High Council in the morning and that if he was approved, he would meet with the stake president and most likely be ordained that next day. I didn't think this would happen until October and with such short notice, it was a blessing that everyone was coming already! James was approved, the meeting with the stake president went well (he even said he'd 'push the button' on the mission papers) and the ordination time was set. The wonderful High Councilor assigned to see this was done agreed to come back at 5pm to do the ordination. I just had to tell our family members who were already coming at 5pm to meet at our stake center instead of at our house. What a crazy wonderful weekend!

Everyone enjoyed the salsa and chips I put out as an appetizer. Thanks cousin Joann for such yummy salsa!!

You can see how much fun we have... it's all over Adelyn's dress!

It's rare to get our precious grandparents out for these family parties. It's just too much commotion for them but they do love the kids.

Try this Japanese restaurant!

Tonight we went out to dinner as an alternative to left-overs in the fridge. Dad came home later than usual so I didn't know when to expect him, was busy with other things and hadn't given dinner much thought. We kept talking about stuff we had going on and skirting around the problem until I said "how about sushi?" I'd been over to Jordan Landing on an errand and saw that a new restaurant had opened. Dad will jump at any chance to have sushi so off we went. Dad even let me drive!

Sakana Sushi Bar and Japanese Cuisine opened up a new location in the strip across from the Walmart. It's at the north end of the strip by PetSmart. They have the full menu on the website so you can browse at your leisure at http://www.sakanasushibar.com/ . The only change in the pricing they told us is that the Bento Box lunch special is $10.95 instead of the posted $8.95. Something quadrupled in price so they had to raise that a little. Dad had the Shrimp Tempura which came with rice and salad, miso soup and 2 California Rolls. I had the Salmon Teriyaki and Shrimp Tempura with rice and salad. Everything was SO tasty. I didn't think I'd eat much but I only left a little salad and most of the rice. I mean really, who's going to fill up on rice when you have salmon and shrimp?? I wish I'd taken pictures of the art that came posing as our entrees but didn't think about it. Dad had 6 large shrimp stood up like a teepee. I had 3 large shrimp with mine. The batter was lighter than most. I did get a picture of the California Rolls though. Aren't they delicious looking? They looked so tempting I wished they didn't have that dang seaweed in them.

The decor was modern with tables that at least looked like marble. I was too enchanted with the food to pay much attention to if it was real or fake. As you walk in there is the hostess desk with a screen behind it. The booths along two walls have an actual wall between each booth. I thought that was a very nice feature although the sitting space was a bit squishy for us. Throughout the middle there are tables and chairs in black but the walls are colorful. To the back is the Sushi Bar and there was a tv with a baseball game going. The website talks about making reservations but we just walked in and were the only people there besides a couple at the bar. We had great service. Those cute waitresses just doted on us making sure we had everything and refilling our water when it went down an inch. The hostess came by a couple times too, not always saying anything but making sure we were not neglected. I know this sounds like a lot of attention, and it was but these gals were there and gone. They didn't linger or interrupt our conversation. It was just a really nice meal with real good service. They are in the $12-$16 range for most things. I think I'll go again soon and try their steak!

Ward Camp 2009

To prepare for ward camp, I went and purchased a new bottle of OFF. With the mosquitos being worse this year, and our camp being near a river, I certainly wasn't going without the bug spray. I also purchased a new tube of sunscreen and one of those bottles of spray sunscreen. I'm totally sold on those now. They are way easier than trying to find every nook and cranny in your skin. Not one of us had any sunburns at all... not even a pink spot.

Camp was nice as usual. You get to visit with people who aren't trying to get to class, get home, or whatever like on Sunday. One cute little boy got scared of all the aliens flying around. I think someone spoiled it and told him they were just big moths. I'm glad dad captured a picture of Dalton with his 'alien'.

The Primary President is married to the Activities Committee Chair... a position she held with him (as co-chair) until her calling to Primary (then as a counselor). She's really fun and has a lot of crazy activities and games up her sleeve. She got all the youth involved in this game where you mound up a bunch of flour and then put a quarter on top. The object of the game is to slice away some of the flour without letting the quarter drop down into the flour. If the quarter does fall, you have to fish it out with your teeth, thus making the player get a face and mouth full of flour. I couldn't believe the youth went for this but they were all pretty good sports and it ended in a flour fight. Everyone but James was covered in flour. James kicked butt in this game and never had the quarter fall on his turn. He was delighted with his skill and watching everyone else have to do the face plant!

After breakfast the next morning, all the youth played frisbee and tossed a football around... both at the same time. James and I are of the same mind and we get up, get packed and ready to go before breakfast. We left camp fairly early to we could stop by my quilt class so I could show off my block and get my next one. I haven't been in 4 months now. Maybe next time I'll be able to stay for the class.

We coulda died!

Just look at this tire! How does such a thing even happen?

(And no I don't care for the scientific answer.)

This blowout happened just a couple miles east of Strawberry reservoir. If that's not bad enough, can you even see the microscopic jack they gave us for this vee-hicle? We (James) could barely get the tire off and the new one on. It was accomplished after about an hour and 15 minutes. The spare was somewhat flat (but not too bad) so we tippy-toed all the way to Heber where we filled it up. We also bought a fairly decent looking used tire, had that put on and the spare put back in it's spot because we weren't going home... we were headed to the ward camp!

Thar be cement in them thar hills!

Flowing water to follow, probably by the end of the summer. However, that doesn't mean a bathroom. This last Friday we met (and paid) three groups of men up at 'the property'. The first group were dirt diggers and movers. The second group were cement layers and finishers. The third was in a group by himself... he was the cement truck driver.

During the week, the cement guys had laid out the forms in the places we wanted. The dirt guys came early on friday to build up the dirt so that the leveled forms wouldn't have cement running out from the bottom. We got their while this was happening so James pitched right in with our rake and helped get the job done. Just in time too. The cement guys came about 10am and laid out the rebar to strenghten the cement then the cement truck arrived about 10:30am.

All the men were really nice, hard-working fellows. The older gentleman on the cement crew sure looked familiar to me (like maybe he was someone I met through my dads connections). His cousin captured our funny bones. This fellow was so fun and looked like he should be on one of those cowboy greeting cards. He told us funny stories like this one: "Dang it's hot in Missouri. Why it was so hot the corn started popping right off the cobs. So much corn popped all the cows thought it was snowing and do you know them cows laid down and froze to death!"

I took the opportunity to take some pictures of things I wanted. When I was out to the property after our family camp, I was looking for the birdhouse and birdfeeder that Natasha and Emma painted. James had hung them up just before we left that day and I didn't get a chance to take pictures. I hadn't been able to find them both for some reason and we'd been pressed for time. Friday I found them both. I'm not sure there are birds small enough out there to make a home out of this one, or the ceder one I'd bought but they sure did empty the bird feeder. Now that I know where everything is, I'll have to get more bird seed and fill them up.

I also took pictures of the trench that was dug. Part of the dirt groups job was to dig this trench from the well to the tank pad. We had three cement pads poured: shed pad, water tank pad, and a trailer pad for the trailer we hope to have someday. The distance from the well to the tank pad is about 210 feet. When I thought of a trench to lay pipe, I was thinking more of the type you'd dig through your yard to put in PVC. This thing is more like a war zone trench. It's certainly big enough to fit nice young soldiers in... just see exibit A where my soldier is in the trench. James was carefully chipping the cement casing away from the well so we can drill a hole for a pitless adapter. It's some dad-gummed thing we have to have to get water out of it and into pipes below ground level so everything doesn't just freeze and break.