GC 24.0 APR

 As Roger said last week, he is not allowed to do anything on conference weekend. That's our pajama church time. And as he said this weekend, he didn't plan to do any chores because he didn't want to. (He still did some chores somehow). 

It was a good sports week again, although I subbed for a different co-ed volleyball team in the real leagues with much better competition and 2 of our players missing for the first game (one of whom was the person inviting me and so it took me a while to figure out what team I was on). 

Rog and I went to a Theatrikos (community theater) production of the Gods of Comedy. Rog was NOT having a good time at first, but then the gods showed up and stole the show. He had a good time after that AND we made it out in time for ice cream afterwards. 

At the theater (classy)

We also did a team shopping effort for meal prep and GC snacks. Rog loved it for the M&Ms and cheesecake and chocolate milk. And he even made some more breakfast meal prep. I made some banana bread with old bananas, broccoli chedder soup, an oatmeal apple breakfast thing (someone gave us a bunch of apples and broccoli) and we put leftovers in the freezer. 

Rog also did some work to the trailer and helped with dishes in between sessions and taking a fat nap both days. And for all of you wondering, I have some GC summations for you (minus a few thoughts that have been processing for a new writing project): 

1. CHOOSE TO TRUST THE LORD (helps with foresight, giving/getting corrected, finding joy in suffering, integrity, etc.) - He is there to help, not slow you down, and He has a plan. 
2. Russell M. knows what's up (think celestial, avoid myopic vision, God will prevail)
3. Study covenants in scriptures (including wearing garments, doctrine of Christ)
4. Be available for the spirit (pray, go to the temple)

So if you didn't watch conference, there it is. But go watch conference. Or read it. Whatever works. 

Easter Sunday

 After being released from YW, I have since been asked to still help with the fundraiser for camp (lol) which has also been planned the same day as the stake beehive activity I was planning that apparently everyone forgot about, so...

In other news, I've been gymming it up and playing some good VB. I even subbed for a co-ed team on Thursday - crushing the competition in city league. I've also been experimenting with my new high protein meal prep-style cookbook - cajun chicken mac n cheese and tomato bisque were both delicious (and have so much cheese in them, how could they not be??). 

Rog and I did our Come Follow Me study and I showed him my list for traditions we could start for Easter that bring us back to the Savior (with a clearer connection than eggs with chocolate or bunnies). Surprisingly, Roger is down to do every item on the list. I met with my study group later in the week, and they couldn't come up with any better ideas, so these are it:

1. Kill a goat/lamb. Eat it. 
2. Bread (it rises)
3. Crunching deviled eggs
4. Read the BOM resurrection story
5. Jesus sing-along

It's March Madness, and frankly we're all more interested in the women's bracket than men's. They have some ballers. And it's less like pickup. Anyways, so that's how we spent a good chunk of Easter weekend - watching games at Roger's parents house. We also ate delicious food and I got to play around with my accordion. 

The new design
(although it looks a little blurry here)

We were a little squished in the car with Stu and a bed frame we were returning (since our bed is now the couch bed to give us a little more room). We also are able to do that since our mattress topper went to the camp trailer and someone gifted us a car top storage thing. It was a nice relaxing weekend until the rest of the family arrived and then it's always stressful with kids and rules and making things work together, but luckily I don't have to really deal with that. It was fun to see Becky again and revamp the design for camp shirts. 

Turkey Banquet

The good news of the week is that my workouts are going a lot better. I played volleyball with a good crew on Monday, then went to the gym for a weightlifting session daily for the rest of the week. I'm changing up the strategy a little, but it's going well so far. I even went on a walk on Saturday in the crazy winds. 

The youth had a combined activity this week, which was indoor kickball. The YM were in charge, which means the YM leaders were in charge, which means they played and tried to dominate all the youth - most of which have never played kickball before in their lives. That's always kind of annoying to me because I feel like we're there to be facilitators and not just crush them because we know the strategy. 

Thursday, Al and I had a good study session for CFM and how it relates back to purposes of the BOM and covenants. Rog and I had a different CFM study earlier in the week. And then I also was at Bree's house for 2 hours helping her prepare for a lesson on for Sunday (that I wouldn't be at and is a point of contention between me and the other leaders, but that's besides the point). The point is that this is her 5th lesson in her YW career and the only one she's every prepared for, so I'm happy with that. 

Roger was sad because he was supposed to be on a 3 day camping trip with his BFF early in the week, but there ended up being a very sudden and huge snowstorm and he said if they hadn't left when they did (day 1), they would've been stuck out there for a few weeks at best. As it was, they had to leave by offroading as the roads were too treacherous to navigate. 

My latest meal prep investment. 

So as a consolation, I got Rog ice cream. It worked out because I had a doctor's appt and they ended up telling me that the tests they had planned for that visit didn't make it into the schedule and so I had to come back a different day and do them and it was a waste of my time to even be there. (But also since I can only see them at 3 or later, they recommended I go to a different office for scheduling and I'm not sure they take my insurance so I haven't decided if I'm going to do them or not yet. Apparently they weren't important enough to put on the schedule.)

I had a real late start on Saturday, but I did some grocery shopping and cleaning and showering (amazing). And Rog went out and looked for antlers for a bit. He's having a harder time keeping track of his location without looking at the GPS. Hopefully it's just the snow messing with him and not early onset dementia.

We had a date at the annual turkey banquet - which is both a good tax write-off and our favorite form of gambling as it goes directly towards wildlife preservation (Rog's passion). We met our friends from last year - Dorothy, Guy, and Rex, and were able to sit at their table. Rog sat next to a stranger who talked his ear off the whole time and I sat next to Guy, a mentally/physically handicapped vet who gave me his slice of cake. 

We were disappointed at food quantities this year - last year we were stuffed. This year we pre-gamed with ice cream and left hungry. But we got to put in for some raffles (which we didn't win) and play some fun games for more raffles. Rog smoked at pong - with the high score for the night. (Higher score = more raffle tickets for 0.22 rifle). He also really liked one were you get as many tickets as your wingspan. 

The turkeys. 

We didn't win anything this time, but we had fun being around good people. And with the ladies' raffle, you went home with a bottle of wine and a turkey call, so we weren't empty handed and I got to pick a bottle that might be useful for cooking rather than drinking. 

The news of Sunday is that I was released from YW. The bishopric made it sound like it was a mercy release since I've been working with the youth for a while, but the girls were upset, some of the parents were upset, and the last YW president called me because she's upset. I'm just interested to see how things play out from here.