25 November 2016 - Touring McKinney

So I thought others would like to see some of the photos that we took in McKinney after Thanksgiving this year.

Santa's sleigh in McKinney with a fun load of
joy!

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Oakley in her ballet outfit over a t-shirt.

Isaac

Joshua

Andrew

Nathan

Kimball

Christmas Tree and sleigh in McKinney.

20 November 2016 - Happy Birthdays and more

Monday started basketball tryouts for Samuel. He spent the first 3 days of the week after school working out and then came home Wednesday having made the JV squad. He seemed pretty happy about his performance.

Trying to get that "tough guy" look.

New uniform for this year.

Tuesday was Katelyn's 8th birthday and she had lots of fun and activities for the day.

What a fun and special birthday for Katelyn.

   Wednesday was Michael Gordon's birthday but he decided to go to school and work instead of celebrating. He got a call late at night wishing him well. Next time will be better.

Getting ready to start.

   Wednesday night was a Mother/daughter activity with Rebekah at a Starbucks in Federal Way. A painting party with all supplies provided along with an apron to stay clean. The venue was full to over-flowing and noisy but so fun with a daughter to enjoy experimenting with different colors and styles. Learned how to use a paper towel to paint a canvas. Enjoyed the day immensely. Left with two unique but similar paintings. Hope to be able to do more in the future.

Adding the finishing touches.

The finished products.

Thursday was filled with a required CPR class for Kathleen's work and lots of church work for Stephen.
 Friday after Seminary there was a short break before Kathleen left for a New Testament class to help with teaching the New Testament. After the class she headed for the Stake Center where Stephen was on the stand for the funeral of Sean Murphy. Stephen was the last speaker and he spoke on the blessings that await families whose children are handicapped and die young. Sister Carrie Manning spoke before him and covered most of his talk on the Plan of Salvation so he didn't have much time to speak but all the speakers did very well. It was a nice spirit under the circumstances.
  That evening was the wedding of the Jackson daughter. She is not active in the church and they were married at the Lake Wilderness Lodge. We wanted to support her parents, Dave and Melody. They started about an hour late and the music for the groom and bride was from Stars Wars, The Empire Strikes Back. The minister was from Seattle and he never said anything about God or Jesus Christ. The vows were along the lines of "not forget to take out the garbage" and "not forget to cook". It was a little depressing. It was nice to see two people formally commit to each other but it was so lacking in the spirit of the Lord. Gratitude was overwhelming for the sealing blessings of the temple that bind a couple to each other and to their Father in Heaven for eternity.
  Saturday, Kathleen had to work so Stephen spent the day shuttling Samuel to practice, mowing the lawn, working on projects around the house and preparing for Sunday and the departure on Monday.
  Sunday Kathleen worked on her Seminary lesson and Stephen spent the day at the church. Rebekah and Stephen made it to the Adult Singles activity and Samuel had a fireside. It was a great week!

13 November 2016 - Adult Dinner and music performance

A close up of the Trio singing with Rebekah on the piano.

The singing group and a view of the tables.

Another week of work and play at the Ralph House. With Seminary, meetings and school things went by much like every other week. The exception was Friday. It was Veteran's Day and no school and Kathleen had to work but that left the evening for the Relief Society Adult dinner. Rebekah was asked to play the piano for the group of sisters that sang a trio of Old Fashion songs, Moon River, Don't sit under the Apple Tree and Mister Sandman. Kathleen was asked to sing 2nd soprano and Mary Kozy sang alto with Dorothy Simons as 1st soprano. It was a fun night with food and music and good company. They decided to celebrate V-day by wearing Red, White and Blue.

Stephen and Rebekah close to the dessert table.

    Saturday was a special day for Benjamin as he had a birthday and a competition where he and Carli made it to 2nd place in the Pre-champ Smooth competition. Jessica decorated his car and had breakfast ready for him. Carli put up notes and made the day special and the competition was viewed by Jessica and Sarah and action was relayed back to Washington via phone.

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Birthday activities on November 12.

6 November 2016 - Halloween, Birthday and Rain

Rice, veggies and hamburger in a coconut curry sauce.

   Monday was a quick Halloween celebration due to the fact that all of the trick-or-treaters in this house are too old to beg for candy. It made it simple. Dinner was in a pumpkin and FHE had cookies so that was about all that was done.

This guy was all smiles.

   Rebekah did get a nice flower arrangement from her work that made for a nice table display during dinner. It was from her boss who thanked her for all of the work she does for their office. Good Going Rebekah!!!

Rebekah's surprise.

   Tuesday through Thursday was a routine of Early Seminary, work out at the gym, fix things in the house, have dinner, go to meetings and make it to bed before it's too late. Friday was a little different because of No School due to Teacher's workshop and Kathleen was scheduled to work but they called her off until 12:00 then they called her in to work in the mother/baby unit where the Pediatric patients are located. They had 3 teenagers that were on suicide watch. Something is going on in our society when young teens feel so hopeless that ending their lives is an option in their minds.
   Thursday on the 3rd of November there was a phone call to a special young man for his sixth birthday. Andrew mentioned that he was having his cake on Sunday and that he enjoyed his birthday so far with his Grandma Heath taking him out to a Frozen Yogurt place. Happy Birthday, Andrew Stephen Heath!!!

Soaking wet with a full truck of native plants

Both teams knelt in prayer for the injured player.

   Friday night the Kentlake HS football team played in Bethel and Samuel played in the Pep band. Stephen decided to go to the game and bring him home but he went to the wrong High School at first so he was pretty late and then the had a 30 minute time out for an injury that they called an ambulance for during the 3rd quarter. Stephen and Samuel didn't get home until after 11:00. And they lost also... :-/  Samuel still had a good time.
   Saturday Stephen and Kathleen went to the Duthie Hill Park Nursery in Issaquah where they spent 3 hours weeding the potted plants that were salvaged in March. It rained heavily most of the time that the weeding was done. Clothing was soaked through including shoes and sox. With each hour of work there was a "reward" to take 10 ferns or 6 trees/bushes home. Most of the plants would have cost a great deal of money and they were "free" with a few hours of work. The back of the truck was full of plants so it took an hour to get home going slowly on the back roads. It was a fun adventure. Now we have to take some time to transplant those plants in the front yard to give a more native look to the landscape.
   Today in Fast and Testimony Meeting, Stephen bore his testimony and remarked about what he learned during the visit of Elder Rasband and on the letter that he wrote to his children. He will always remember that wonderful experience and the lessons learned.