Mama B's back in biz

A largely uneventful week filled with work and sports and more work. I had a good pickup volleyball session on Monday while Rog played basketball. I went to the gym while Rog had 2 softball games for the 6y olds he coaches (where they usually play 2 innings where everyone hits and nobody keeps track of points). 

Hiking.

In some of my spare time, I've been working on my Etsy study guides again, getting ready to add some new ones in. I've also been reading - 2/3 of the way through the Defy trilogy by Larson (which is ok) and finished Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I'm not really a horror fan, so I was leery of this, but it had a happy ending and was really just more realistic than magic and fairies and nobody getting bloody. Would recommend. 

Cheese balls and Garlic Bread.

We went to Oregano's, where Rog caught up with his friend Hunter who works nights as a waiter there. The best new thing we tried was fried cheese curds, aka cheese balls, aka gourmet mozz sticks. Delicious. 

The weekend was one for sleeping in and reading some more. We also went on a little hiking adventure in the aspens and stopped by our favorite burger joint in town - Mama Burgers. It just reopened after the owners took a year hiatus to do some renovations and the shakes are just as good, although a little more expensive. 

Classic.

We had dinner at Carol's house with the missionaries (since our missionaries won't meet with us and her husband was out of town scouting for buffalo). We had some delicious enchiladas and watermelon and stayed to visit for a little bit after. 

The other adventure of the week is house hunting. Loosely. We found a 5-acre plot in an ideal location for $100K which is UNHEARD of in this town (vs. $200K for 8000sq ft, which is low end of normal). At first we thought this was a great deal for some dirt to build on, but turns out it's in the flood plane and would be VERY costly. We also went to look at a house with a realtor friend of ours, listed as a 2bed/2bath for $360K that will probably actually be better off getting destroyed with all the work it needs. (Seriously). We aren't in a hurry and I'm still half convinced that we're not going to find anything workable price-wise in this town, but we're in the market loosely.

VB & Monster Jam

Sunday was Stake Conference - which was probably the best one yet. The 70 that attended was very focused on the youth, so that was the bulk of our speakers. He did a good job as well, so I was glad I went (although I always get real antsy sitting for that long). 

Afterwards, we had dinner at Grandma's with Carol and Eve. Unfortunately, these things are usually planned too late for us to thaw something from our freezer supply, so the lasagna we brought "just in case" didn't get cooked until we were done. (Which meant that we got to eat it all week long). The good news is that the food provided actually turned out to be just enough for everyone present - including a delicious lemon pie for dessert. 

I had a chance to chat with Kassie, one of my old mission comps for a while and catch up. She's always delightfully cerebral and has some tangible goals, so I hope it all works out for her. And I'll probably chat with her again in another two years, so don't hold your breath on updates there. 

My work hired a new PT who starts in about a month - which is to help us with all the new work we have. Which means I get to transition out of Williams/Mund's Park areas and stick closer to town. Which means I'll see more patients in the same amount of time and save a lot in wear/tear on my car. This is also the time of my annual standard raise, which is 2%, and a joke. Inflation quadruples that at best, so we keep telling management that it's more of a loss than a gain, but it hasn't helped yet. I'll keep bugging them. It fits with one of my mottos - you can get anything you want if you're annoying enough for long enough. #Havasupai. 

Tired of chronic allergies that are getting worse every year (and paying for the strong OTC meds at the pharmacy to decrease the symptoms somewhat), I decided to try my hand again at a netty pot flushing. It didn't really help. But Rog DID scare me with a story about a parasite that enters your brain through water up the nose - killing 85% of its victims and leaving the others severely handicapped. It happens in still pools or in tap water that isn't filtered and has taken some netty pot victims before. So only use special water for those contraptions. 

For those not following the drama of my multi-ward activity, let me remind you. Our SPy has banned stake activities involving the 11-13y youth. Why? Who knows. So instead, we decided on a multi-ward activity for our YW in that age group that I agreed to run. I figured we could do some VB skills and games and eat food and it would be simple enough. 

Except that despite reminders, the wards didn't get the info out to the youth and my own ward completely forgot after kicking me out of YW. The second problem is that we had to use the LV building instead of the stake center and the net/poles there are trash garbage. I did go on Friday to practice setting them up and found a temporary fix and some ideas for something permanent, which ended up failing. (I think there have been too many temporary fixes previously and now we just need a new system). 

"Grave Digger" - overall winner of the night

ANYWAYS, we ended up with 3 girls and 3 leaders. We worked on skills for an hour, played a bit, and ended with a real game. Then we ate some sandwiches and chips and watermelon. The 3 kids had a great time and said they would love to do it again and would convince more people to come. So it went well and now that's one stressful thing off my plate. 

I immediately left to drive to Cenita's new casa in Chandler, AZ (about 2.5h south of me). It's a cute little townhouse and I'm excited for her and Colton to share it. We had dinner with Colton and Kaleb (homemade by Cenita, so ALWAYS delicious). Then Kaleb went to a multi-stake YSA activity and the rest of us + Colton's sister went to Monster Jam (which has been on my bucket list and Cenita has been helping me check things off). 

The crew ft. my new shirt (thanks Rog)

It was fun and super loud, so I was grateful for the ear plugs Colton procured for us from work. There were 3 events - a race for fastest overall, a skills test (rated by the audience), and a 2 minute freestyle (also rated by the audience). The trucks were often having electrical issues and needing to get flipped back over if they were stuck - but the crews were super fast at fixing them so most didn't miss any events. 

Highlights were mostly during the freestyle. The winner of this event was El Toro Loco - because by the time he was done bopping around the course, the entire body of his truck was in pieces around the track, leaving the skeleton truck. The second place for this event was Grave Digger - the only truck to do a double back flip and then attempt a third backflip (which probably would have worked if the whole truck didn't catch fire at the start). 

We got back late and Cenita and I were both nodding off before everyone left so we could sleep. She made a delicious omelet for us (sorry I said you didn't have breakfast food in your house lol). And I met our mutual friend Hannah (and fam) at the gas station for a quick chat since she's in town for a bit from NM currently. Then I hustled back to my own sacrament meeting for some ordinances and spiritual uplifting, and went home for a nice shower. You're welcome world. 

Camping & More Bread

 The Palmers invited us over for dinner on Sunday (since I share a birthday with Mike). So we got to enjoy their company and food and new massage chairs / foot massagers. It was a fun time and we ended up staying over there for a lot longer than we planned. 

I did make the rest of that amish bread into 2 batches - blueberry and coconut, the classics. We ate some, froze some, and gave some away. (Our neighbor keeps giving me bread for no reason, so I figured I would return the favor at some point). Always delicious and gone way too fast. 

We did actually have CFM study together, but it was after a day of Rog working his biology job. For this one, he had to hike a perilous trail straight down a canyon, unload/load supplies and set them up for some data collection on fishies, and then hike back up. He said the hike was hard, the ticks were many, and he was super tired and nauseated by the end. So our CFM was around 5 and then he immediately fell asleep for the night so he could recover from his heat exhaustion. 

The chopper dropping supplies.

After talking to all the stake YW presidents again (who have done zero advertising for the multi-ward activity that they were excited to have me plan/execute) I decided that if I didn't run it, nobody would. Which would be a shame. So I reminded them to TELL people about it and I would make it happen. (My own ward also 'forgot' and planned our camp fundraiser the same day/time, conveniently). 

We actually went camping this weekend. We had to break in our new camping trailer with a fold out tent on top. It was pretty comfy, although a really cold night. We camped by Ashurst Lake - kind of where Rog wants to go turkey hunting. It was busy. But we ate some hamburgers and hot chocolate and were woken a little by some daring coyotes that Rog scared away, and then by some really lovely birdsong. 

Then we went on a nice little jaunt into the woods to a spring and a salt Rog has been stocking to lure in the deer. We adventured farther than he had previously because I wanted to find the actual single source of the spring, instead of the muddy puddle with bright green grass that resulted farther down the line. We found a pipe out of the rocks that was diverting water from the lakes probably and chose that spot to have  a snack and listen to the water for a while. It was nice. I did get some photos on my camera, but I am too lazy to get to them at present. 

After getting home and showering, we went to a matinee showing of Henry Cavill's new movie - The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Which was hilarious and well-worth it if you can stomach some language and blood. Probably one of the best we've seen on the big screen in a while. (Although I have heard The Mummy is coming to theaters again for a week soon...)

Rog's mom was in town for some pre-op stuff and will stay for a bit to recover from an eye surgery, so we went to Sam's with her to pick up a few bulk items and went out for ice cream. Long live the birthday month of fun. 

(Let it be noted that Rog also was gifted a new gallon water bottle jug and some English scriptures for his half birthday, which apparently only I think is a celebratory milestone. Usually not enough to get a gift, but enough for me to bug him during his own birthday month of fun.)