Gratitude Month

It's so great to be in November when gratitude is a focus.  I love reading the "gratitude" posts on Facebook.  My friend and mentor Sharon Plaskett said, "Gratitude can move things that love cannot."

Mom and Dad came over to dinner last Sunday.  I served ham loaf with potatoes and a green salad, with pumpkin pie for dessert.  Dad picked up the violin and started to play some notes.  I love these pictures of him!  It is simply a delight to have my parents living so close.  They contribute in so many happy ways to our lives.

One night when I was working on the computer, Libby was playing with my hair, braiding it. 

 On Tuesday, I went to the middle school for a Veteran's Day Assembly.  Peter played his saxaphone in the band and then sang in the choir as well.  It was a great assembly.  Mr. Warwick, who served in the Marine reserves, spoke.  He was one of Jesse's very favorite middle school teachers.

Later in the afternoon, Peter, Libby and I worked in the Concessions stand at the Middle School.  The band runs the concessions during the basketball games for a fund raiser.  Peter kept popping out to see the girls basketball game, and then he'd return and work some more.  It took some getting used to, but by the end, Peter and Libby were both working like pros.

Mary was in Honor Choir this week! 

She had a blast, just as all of our other kids have had when doing this Honor Choir.  There are 10 or 11 local high schools that have choir students try out to be in the Honor Choir.  60 students from our High School made it!

Waiting for the bus after rehearsal

We went to the concert on Wednesday night, and it was great!  I loved it, as I always do. 

The next day, Mary came home from school and related that her Choir teacher, Mr. C___ was talking in class on Thursday, and he said that during the rehearsal for the concert, the choir clinician had four students sing "The Lord Bless You and Keep You", by John Rutter (one of the pieces they sang) as a quartet.   Mr. C___ said that the sound of it was piped in to another room where the teachers were all standing around talking, listening to the quartet in the background.  And then, he said, a soprano started to sing and it was so beautiful that every teacher just stopped talking to listen.  As he was telling this to the choir students the next day, Mr. C____ asked the choir, "Who was that soprano?"  Well - it was Mary!  He said, "That was you?"  There's this beautiful soprano line at the end of The Lord Bless You and Keep You, where the soprano sings a high A, and this is what the choir teachers were listening to.  That was a big confidence booster for Mary.  She has not been given a lot of credit for her voice - mostly she is recognized for dancing, so this was a really fun experience for her!

Dan and Claudia, some friends of ours who went on the Martin's Cove Trek with us this summer, invited a bunch of friends for an "80's Party", and we had it here at our house.

We had fun dressing up and remembering old movies and music!  I showed them my classic 80's dance move, and I got some good laughs off of that.  Ha ha  I can hear in my mind Joshua, Joseph and Jesse's exclamations over that one!  ha ha ha!

Last night I got to go to the Temple.  What a wonderful experience it is to go and sit in the House of the Lord and feel His presence near.  I am so grateful to have that blessing.