Sleepless in Georgetown, Rain, Reading and Crocheting...

Monday, May 18th, I tried to complete my Blog for the previous week. I had such a hard time getting into Blogger. I'm not sure if the software is getting old or what. My Blog is really my journal. Using Blogger is a good way to get it written with pictures included. I always copy the Blog version to a Word document and save the Word document. I have had a couple of times where signing into Blogger was very difficult. Hope that difficulty goes away. I was able to get into Blogger and complete my Blog for the previous week. 

I walked the treadmill after the grueling Blogger experience. Claude went to PT and came home exhausted. 

We determined it was a Schlotzsky's kind of day. We drove into Lexington but it was a challenge as well. We enjoyed our meal and hoped that the traffic would be better going home. 

In the evening we watched West Wing and got some more rows crocheted on Nelson's afghan. 

I caught up with Katelyn and Joel. He tried school but was sent home with a fever. Katelyn took him to Urgent Care and he had no fever. She was trying to determine how to handle the rest of the week. 

Tuesday, May 19th, was the first of several bad nights of sleep this week. Ugh! This usually means sleeping in a bit the next morning.

I did manage to get the basis of the June Relief Society newsletter complete. This takes hours to do. And I walked the treadmill. Claude did a grocery run for us. In the evening, I crocheted a bit more on Nelson's afghan. This one is just going to take a long time to complete. 

I posted this on Facebook about Hayden's success: "Proud moment and a chance to brag. See that name at the top of the picture. Hayden Marx is our grandson. In a few weeks he will graduate from DePaul University in Chicago. He wrote and directed this film. It has been nominated for "Best Episodic" at the 2026 DePaul University Premiere Film Showcase. Congratulations to Hayden and all who participated in the acting and production of Detective Orion." 

Wednesday, May 20th, was a rainy day. We were in for several rainy days. I posted the announcements for Relief Society on Facebook and via eMail. I walked the treadmill. Then I curled up to read in my book about the Lewis and Clark Trail. 

Claude went to PT, picked up a few items from the grocery store and stopped at CVS to pick up prescriptions. 

In the evening, I had a Relief Society presidency meeting. Rita Thorn, 1st counselor, came and picked me up. It was a delight to ride with her. The meeting was really good. We were editing the ministering routes in preparation for our Sunday Relief Society lesson. 

Thursday, May 21st, and I had another bad night's sleep. 

Once awake and functional, I managed to get the Relief Society birthday cards prepared for June, mad the changes in all the places for the Relief Society lessons, placed an Amazon order, ordered a shirt from Ariat for Claude for Father's Day and walked the treadmill. The I sat down and cleared things from the DVR while Claude took a nap. In the evening, I crocheted a few more rows on Nelson's afghan. 

Friday, May 22nd, the rain kept coming down. 

I determined I needed a haircut. I tried growing it out a bit but determined a haircut would make my life a lot easier and a lot better. Claude said he would drive me over and we could get a biscuit after!!

When we returned home I walked the treadmill. Claude found our marriage license and I scanned it and made the copy we need to take to the cemetery. 

Then we sat down to watch all 7 episodes of Pole to Pole with Will Smith. This is an excellent documentary. 

Claude made tuna salad and we had that for dinner. Yum!

I crocheted a few more rows on that afghan. Slow and steady wins the race! I do love turtles.

Saturday, May 23rd, the rain continued. I had another bad night so I slept in again. 

I spent my morning finishing my book about the Lewis and Clark Trail. It is an excellent book to prepare for this road trip. The author had written about the roads to drive combined with the story that happened at that location. She also share other sites to visit in that area that are not part of the Lewis and Clark Trail. The book is divided into several chapters that cover sections of the trail. There are maps of each section. At the end of each chapter, she lists hotels and places to eat in the towns along that portion of the route. Excellent resource book. 

We both wanted a Friday night dinner outing. McCalister's was our place of choice. We each enjoyed a delicious salad. 

We would watch Little Shop of Horrors in the evening and, you guessed it, I crocheted a few more rows on Nelson's afghan. There are yarn strings at the ends of lots of the row because I change colors frequently. I have to spend time burying these ends in the afghan. I really don't want to have to do that after I finish all this crocheting. Slow and steady, slow and steady.

Sunday, May 24th, was a good Sunday. 

Our sacrament meeting was a mission farewell for Payton Hale. He will serve in the Salt Lake City mission. We think very highly of the Hale boys. At the end of the meeting, Bishop Barber had us all stand and sing "Carry On". Wonderful.

Our Relief Society lesson was taught by Whitney Garrett, 2nd counselor. It was based on Sis. Kristen Yee's talk from the April General Conference about ministering. The Young Women attended with us. At the end of the lesson, Whitney left time to pass out the new ministering assignment we worked on Wednesday evening. Then we used the remaining time to find those we would be ministering to and chat a bit. It was simply lovely. 

Claude and I had lunch from Jimmy John's. We watched a couple of Music and the Spoken Word while we ate. Then Claude went to nap and I tried to clear the DVR of my documentaries. When Claude woke up, I walked the treadmill.

In the evening we watched On Golden Pond. During that time I sent texts to Jake, Katelyn and Aubrey. 

It was a rainy week...but a good week also.

Broken Jaw, Funeral Planning, Baseball...

Monday, May 11th, was a finish things kind of day. I finished my Blog for the previous week. I finished Emelia's Christmas afghan. Her favorite colors are pink and purple. In the evening, Claude and I watched the third Lord of the Rings Extended movie. Whew!

In the afternoon, Claude and I drove to Lexington to buy yarn for the last two afghans I need to crochet for Christmas. Nelson's will be red, white and blue. Raelyn's will be blue. I will make Nelson's next. Since there is frequent change of color in the yarn, this one will take longer. After purchasing yarn, we treated ourselves to dinner at A&W. 

Tuesday, May 12th, I was anxious to work in Sandiland. I had things that needed a home, all that yarn for one. This led to me cleaning out the three drawers of yarn I have in the closet. It felt good to go through the yarn. I keep each skein in a plastic bag. For years, the yard was put in the drawer, the ends of the yarn would pull out and get tangled. I finally figured out I could put it in ziplock bags that I could see through and it was not quite as hard to manage. This time in cleaning, I found a couple of small bags of yarn that were the same type of yarn and color that I could put into a bag with a more full skein of yarn. I love neat things. My yarn drawers are neat again. 

I mailed a card to Hayden. I have been having a prompting to send him a card with a bit of money in it. He is working so hard are his movie education and the prompting was strong. I had $40 that I put in a card and mailed to him. Then I sent him a text to watch for it in the mail. He was happy. Follow promptings. They won't lead you astray.

I also worked on The Drive for September and walked my treatmill.

Claude was busy doing yardwork. I went out to join him. I realized my ivy that I placed on a table between the two Adirondack chairs was burning from the sun. I moved it to a plant stand on the patio where it will be a bit more protected by the shade. The plant on that stand was ivy we had tried to grow on the hill. The bits that lived I put in an old flower pot. They were thriving. I moved that pot to the table between the Adirondack chairs. We will see how that works. 

Claude and I gathered items to donate to the young men for their garage sale. We took them to the church in the evening where the boys were collecting things. We went to eat at Taco Bell. After coming home, it wasn't long before my tummy was not well. Sure enough, I hurled my Taco Bell. Ugh! I would wait until later and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That seemed to stay down just fine. Go figure.

In the evening, I started crocheting on Nelson's afghan. This is not a hard pattern but it will be time consuming with the changing colors of yarn throughout the project. 

Hayden posted this picture on Instagram. It is his movie and is in post production.

Wednesday, May 13th, Claude had PT in the morning. They have added more challenging exercises. He came home exhausted. 

I spent a lot of my day going through the National Park Service website making notes for The Drive this September. They have a who section on Lewis and Clark and it is divided into states. I made it through all the states (there are a lot) and not must sort those those notes for what we will see possible and what to disregard. 

I managed to hurl again. This time after having my lunch of Greek yogurt and two dates. Hmmm...not good. 

I did walk the treadmill. 

My evening was spent crochet on Nelson's Christmas afghan. 

Thursday, May 14th, we started our morning at Johnson's Funeral Home for training in pre-planning for your funeral. This is something we have wanted to get going on and haven't yet done. Going to training seemed like a gift to get us going. Johnson's Funeral Home took care of my parents funerals. I knew we would use them when the time came. So grateful they set up this training. It was good, to the point, great checklists, and the opportunity to sign up to get the particulars going. We left with a 9am appointment on Friday to get our plan together. Hallelujah!

After the training, we went for a biscuit. This gave us time to talk about the plan after the training. We have had these talks many times but this time it was in preparation for the real sit-down on Friday morning. 

When we got home, I started typing up the items on the big checklist. Claude laid down for a nap. 

I got a message to us from Katelyn at 1:42pm. She wanted us to keep Joel in our prayers. She was concerned his jaw was dislocated from a fall on playground monkey bars. I immediately placed Joel's name on the temple prayer roll and assured Katelyn we would keep in and their family in our prayers. 

By 2:23 they had ordered a CT and and x-ray. Drew finally got hold of Drew. She made contact with the bus driver who agreed to keep Raelyn on the school bus until Millie was on the school bus so both girls would get home at the same time. She assured me Joel was only moving his jaw when he would ask for Taco Bell. Little did he know it would be some days before this could happen. Katelyn sent us this picture of Joel.

About 3pm, Katelyn sent the report from the scan and x-ray. Our boy had a "serious jaw fracture". The next step could be surgery. Katelyn gave me permission to post this on our family Facebook page so we could all send love, prayers and good vibes there direction. Somewhere during all this, Katelyn managed to set up a priesthood blessing for little Joel. Hallelujah.

By this time, Joel had been to urgent care first. Then to the ER at a Muskegon hospital. Now they wanted him to go to Grand Rapids. Joel only wanted to go home and eat. Katelyn was pretty sure he had not eaten since dinner the night before. The ambulance driver came and away he went to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Drew would drive their van. Katelyn would ride in the ambulance. 

The assessment by Devos was they might no do surgery. They would do nothing that night. This hospital is all about pediatric care. Muskegon didn't have anything like this. They had a Ronald McDonald house nearby where Katelyn and Drew could stay while Joel slept through the night. 

Friday, May 15th, Katelyn called in the morning. Our appointment was at 9am. We were able to chat with her before this appointment and assured her she could call or text as needed even with us in a meeting. Katelyn found a fidget toy for Joel to play with so he wouldn't play with is IV. 

About 11:46 Katelyn said they were taking him back for surgery. They would makTe a small incision inside his mouth. They would but the "floater" bone back into place and hope that nature would help it heal. They put four eyelet hooks on four teeth in the bite area, 2 on the top and two on the bottom. Then they used orthopedic bands like braces to hold them shut. This will allow his 4-year old mouth to continue to grow. It also lets him speak and use a straw and be able to eat soft foods. The surgery would last 1-3 hours depending on what they found as they went into the surgery. 

About 3pm, we got this picture with the update that Joel was out of surgery and they were getting ready to take him back up to his room. I was most happy to see he had his Paw Patrol stuffed animal by his side. 

I set to work ordering soft food through Amazon to be delivered on Saturday. When you are far away, this helps you feel like you are doing something physical to help. 

At 5:46 we got this updated picture of our boy sitting up playing with a phone. Drew's mother came to visit. Drew went back home to Muskegon with them. He would handle Joel's three sisters and Katelyn would stay with Joel. 

At 9:30pm we got this picture of Joel eating. He didn't get his beloved Taco Bell but he was happy with his Italian ice. He also had some beef broth which he downed after it cooled a bit. They would give him more Motrin and he would sleep for the night. Katelyn would stay in his room and sleep, as best she could, he a chair by his bed. 

Let me go back to 9am. Claude and I with Roger Brown at Johnson's Funeral Home. He took all the important personal data needed to fill out death certificates, post obituaries in the newspapers we would want, and create an account with the insurance company that would hold our funds to cover our caskets, vaults, etc. We discussed the type of funeral we wanted and whether to have a viewing or not. The end decision was Claude and I both want a graveside service. We would like to have a quick family viewing at the funeral home for about 30 minutes as the family gathers to go to the funeral. We want a family pizza party the night before with family and close friends and/or possible a lunch after the funeral with family and close friends. We want to keep it low-key. 

Roger took us back to look at caskets. We picked out metal caskets. The first two pictures are my casket and the top of the vault. The third and fourth pictures are Claude's casket and top of the vault. I did ask if they had a purple casket. Claude rolled his eyes. He was amused. 

By the end of our visit, we set up that I would text Roger a copy of a check. He would do an electronic transfer of funds and all of the things we could pay for ahead with the funeral home would be covered. We determined we would be buried at the military cemetery in Williamstown. We next need to meet with them. 

After all of that negotiations, we went for another biscuit to discuss what had transpired and how we felt. Claude expressed it as a feeling of relief. 

In the evening, we had purchased tickets to see a Florence Ya'lls baseball game. Their season opened this week. It was cloudy and felt like a rain storm was coming in but the rain was not due until the morning. We each took a jacket which we would put on about the 4th inning. We ate our traditional ball park food. I had my nachos and a Mountain Dew. Claude had a hot dog, a hamburger and diet coke. The Graeter's ice cream truck was parked in the food area. Claude got us each a scoop of ice cream about the 4th inning. That is why the need to the jackets at that time. 

The joy of a Friday night at the Florence Ya'lls is the fireworks after the game. The fireworks are donated and a local business sponsors the event. They are always fun to see.

It seems to be a longer game that usual. Our team lost by one point. But they all played hard and well for an very enjoyable game. Great evening at the ballpark.

Saturday, May 16th, Claude and I slept in and determined we would have a quiet day at home. Claude would make a pot of chili to compliment the rain we were having. I started this Blog entry and got through labeling those pictures, I walked my treadmill, I cleaned out my eMails and text messages.

Joel was up in the morning and enjoyed chocolate ice cream and banana for lunch. Bet he was happy to have some food, even if it wasn't Taco Bell. 

About 6pm he was finally back home in Muskegon. Claude and I sent soft foods through Amazon. The girls drew on the boxes to welcome their brother home. Drew wrote Welcome Home Joel on the front of the boxes and the girls colored on them. They missed their brother.

Joel continued to cling to his Paw Patrol but was happy to get home to Bell (Taco Bell). Our boy was on the mend!! Yeah!! Children are resilient creatures. I remember Nissa playing with a baton when she was pre-school age and we lived in an apartment complex in Denver. The rubber tip was off the end she was playing with and using as a microphone. One of the other kids was running and knocked her down allowing the end of the baton to ram inside her mouth. I found a very bloody child with the roof of her mouth hanging down. Away to the doctor we went. He checked it and said to simply let it heal on its own. He told me the mouth was the fastest healing part of the body. I hope that applies to broken jaw bones on rowdy little boys.

Sunday, May 17th, I was asked to say closing prayer in Sunday School class.

Claude and I enjoyed Arby's for lunch. This was followed by a nap for Claude and my having time to play on my laptop. I edited my Chair Yoga document for future use. I worked on the data we need to have on hand for funeral preparation. I walked the treadmill. 

When Claude woke up, he was sure he needed ice cream. A quick trip to Dairy Queen helped with that need. I had my usual small strawberry sundae. Very refreshing as the temperature outside was at 90 degrees. Yike!

In the evening we watched West Wing and I crocheted some more. Here a picture of my progress on this fun afghan pattern. Nelson's favorite colors are red and blue. 

It was an good week, an interesting week. What in the world with this next week hold.

Vaccines, Music, Missionaries, Two Dinner Dates...

Sunday, May 3rd, in the late afternoon I walked to the side of our home and picked these lovely flowers. They are very important to me. They came from Utah and were in Claude's family back to at least his grandmother Ruby Cornwall Christensen. I look forward to these blooming a bit each year. When we left our home in Sadieville, I left the big beds of these flowers there and only took a few to start growing at our home in Georgetown. So very happy they survived my meager gardening skills. It's like have Utah family and history around when they bloom.

Monday, May 4th, the big event of this day was a trip to CVS to get our second shingles vaccine. We got this one in our left arms. I wanted to crochet and that always makes my right arm very sore. A vaccine always makes my arm very sore so I really didn't want that to be my right arm. 

When we returned home, I walked my treadmill and worked on "The Drive" for our September trip. I was very grateful for Tylenol and that help it gives when we hurt. I was also very grateful to be able for each of us to sit in our recliner and get through the pain together. 

When it came time for bed, Claude was having chills and fever reactions. This is very unusual. That is more my thing after a vaccine. I had him sleep in his footlet socks to keep his feet warm. That and Tylenol helped him through the night a bit. He was miserable.

We are still playing the Trivial Pursuit game daily on our family Facebook page. This day I posted the question, "Geography: What is The City of Brotherly Love?" Andie posted the answer Philadelphia, which is correct, with this picture.

This sent me to my picture files for this treasured picture. I commented this with the picture: "Here is one of my favorite visits to Philadelphia. Bonnie and Evan came to visit. October 1987. We kept Jake Christensen home from school so he could go with us. This is Claude, Evan and Jake looking out a second floor window in Independence Hall. Look at that stance. Can you tell they have the same genes?"

Tuesday, May 5th, Claude was supposed to go to PT at 8:30am. I had the alarm set for 7:45am. He was awake before that and told me he couldn't go to PT. He was feverish. I called and told them he would not make it because of the fever after our vaccines. They were very gracious. Claude curled up and slept until 11am. That is a long time sleeping for Claude. Clearly his body needed to rest. 

I walked the treadmill and worked on The Drive. My concern was our evening. We had tickets to go to the Lexington Opera House to see Amy Grant. I was not feeling well myself but was not as bad as Claude. When he woke up, I asked him if he felt like going. He said we should try to go. So...we did.

We had our usual dinner at Firehouse Subs on the way into Lexington. Amy Grant has the most unusual voice and I love to hear her sing. She is deeply Christian so you know there will nothing blue in the show. It was a really lovely evening. Here are a few pictures.

She sang El Shaddai. I love this song. I did record just a bit at the end. Enjoy!

I found this picture on Facebook as we waited for the show to begin. I saved it and sent it to Bailey in a text and to her this was her. Bailey loves cats. She is a strong young lady. And, on top of that, her school mascot is a tiger. Bailey got the picture and said. "Yes!"

Wednesday, May 6th, we were both starting to feel better. I worked on The Drive and took the Kentucky portion out and made a grid for just Kentucky. Claude and I will not take that and do the Kentucky portion during this summer. 

It was Wednesday and that is Whopper Day at Burger King. They reduce the price of a Whopper. Claude and I drove through the drive-thru and got our dinner order. Then we parked the Jeep, rolled down the windows and enjoyed the fresh air with our burgers. As we ate, my mind caught hold on our Come, Follow Me studies for 2026. We are studying the Old Testament. We had covered the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness and complaining because of the lack of food. The Lord sent manna to them every day for that 40 years. I looked at Claude and said, "If we were the Children of Israel and wandering in the desert and the Lord sent us Burger King for 40 years, do you think we would get tired of it?" Claude didn't miss a beat. He said, "No, because we would die from being overweight first!" He is such a funny guy. We do have deep gospel discussions. 

Raelyn is playing softball. This is a picture of Drew, her dad, helping her practice with the bat. I think this will make a great Father's Day picture. 

Thursday, May 7th, my dear Hubby went to PT. Then he went grocery shopping after PT. This amazes me. I was totally worn out after PT. Sitting my my recliner for a bit to rest was always a welcome bit of time. 

My day was filled with the following: water plants, take the ivy out to the back yard, finish the laundry, walk the treadmill, sweep the kitchen and set the table for dinner, freshen the flowers on the counter, order the temple clothing for the Ropers and clean the guest bathrooms. 

Claude needed to grocery shop. We invited the missionaries over for dinner. Claude was making Kentucky Hot Browns. We wanted these missionaries to have a taste of Kentucky. The missionaries really enjoyed their Hot Browns with a salad. We served Dilly Bars for dessert. It was a very nice meal. Then the Elders shared Ether 12:27 for a spiritual thought. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for is they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I loved this scripture as a seminary teacher. It was always one o the scripture mastery verses. I told the missionaries I loved this verse and like pairing it with its sister verse in Alma 37:6 "...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." It is always good to enjoy the missionaries spiritual thought before they leave your home.

Friday, May 8th, we realized we had a beautiful day and we wanted to take advantage of it. We agreed I would walk the treadmill. Then we would give Claude a haircut. Then the rest of the day we would enjoy together. 

We started by filling our water containers. One with ice water and one with soda for each of us. Then we got in the Jeep and Claude drove us to Elkhorn Creek. We rolled the windows down and enjoyed the fresh air and peace of the water. 

Later we drove to Hall's on the River for a great meal. We ordered Fried Green Tomatoes for an appetizer. They bring a sauce and a ranch dressing to put on them. There were four slices. I tried the sauce on my first slice. Then the ranch on the second slice. Claude and I could not place how they made the sauce. It was light and had a bit of an unusual but very pleasant taste. We asked the server what it was when she came back to our table. She called it "River Water Sauce". Okay. That piqued our curiosity. I asked if she could give us a hint as to how it was made. She shared it was a lite Italian dressing with a bit of Pepsi mixed in! Is that amazing. We will add that idea to our menus at home. I took two pictures as we left. The second one is Claude by a maker. The Kentucky River floods every now and then. even though Hall's is well above the River, it still gets flooded on occasion. This marker shows flood levels over the years. Claude is 6-feet tall and his hand raised gives some perspective of how much of the restaurant was flooded in those years. The simply clean up and start serving again. 

We took a drive through the country on roads I used to take Papa on drives on. This was one of my favorite roads. It was delightful. Once home, we enjoyed an evening watching The West Wing and I crocheted some more on Emelia's afghan for Christmas.

Katelyn posted this cute picture of Joel. His nickname is Potato. He loves his nickname. He askes to be called Joel Tato when he plays sports. How cute is that?!

Saturday, May 9th, I truly tried to fight the urge for a biscuit in the morning. The argument in my head was loud and strong to not eat until lunch time. Alas, I failed. Claude and I went to Bojangles for a biscuit about 10:30am. As we sat facing Broadway at watching cars while we talked, an elderly man was walking up the drive in the hospital. He was not very steady on his feet. I am sure I look that way a lot now. He came on up to the corner where the light was. They have put steps on a sidewalk to the street at the light for those who also spend time at the medical building by Bojangles. It is affliated with the hospital. Instead of walking a few steps to go down those steps, this elderly fellow decided to step down into where the base of the street light is located. Big step. We held our breathe and he made it into that flat spot. Then he waited to cross Broadway. This is a main street in Georgetown and is two lanes going and two lanes coming. He waited for the light and then started to make his tottering way across that wide street. Again, we held our breath and he made it across. He turned and headed up Broadway toward Zaxby's. It was at this point that Claude and I noticed this stop sign in the picture. How many times have we parked and eaten our biscuit and talked for long periods of time. Neither of us ever noticed this stop sign. It is at the end of Bojangles entry into their restaurant. It is facing like it is for the traffic on Broadway, which makes absolutely no sense. I am wondering if it was meant to tell the cars leaving Bojangles and entering Broadway to stop before exiting the parking area. Maybe it was hit and turned a funny direction. Although, there is no bend in the sign post. Just a little thing for two aging minds to ponder as we ate our biscuits and watched the world at work.

We planned another outing in the afternoon. While home I picked the crochet patterns for the final two afghans for our great grandmonsters for Christmas. I noted the amount of yarn in my cell phone for shopping purposes. I prepared all I was responsible for, for Relief Society on Sunday. We would have a special Mother's Day lesson. I downloaded the short video we would watch and added my thumb drive with pictures of all our Relief Society activities. I also started this Blog.

We went to Galvin's for our dinner outing. They moved to a different space in downtown Georgetown and we had not been to that location. We each enjoyed their version of a Muffuletta. They do a good job with their olive relish. Too big for one sitting. We decided we could have ordered one and shared it and all those fries. We had dessert at Spotz, a gelato place in Georgetown. It was good but we were spoiled with gelato in Italy. 

When we came home I walked the treadmill.

Then we curled up to watch the first of the Lord of the Rings Extended Version. Excellent evening.

Sunday, May 10th, Happy Mother's Day to me!

I was away at 7:30am. When I checked my phone, I found that Hayden was the first to send a text greeting. He sent it at midnight. 

Sacrament meeting was about mothers but was also a young lady giving her farewell address as she leaves for her mission. She did an excellent job and focused on Doctrine & Covenants 4. 

We quickly set up for our special Relief Society meeting. The Priesthood covered all the Primary and Young Women callings so that all the sisters could gather in the back of the cultural hall. We had a brief lesson, then refreshments as the sisters got to mingle for the remainder of our class time. While they mingled, we had the pictures for the time the Jenessa Dymock has served as our Relief Society president as a slideshow on the television. It was an excellent Mother's Day Relief Society.

Claude had plotted to take me to Chipotle's for my Mother's Day meal. I love pinto beans and rice. Yum. The fun thing about this outing was my giving Claude three gift cards at places to eat for a gift. One of those gift cards was for Chipotle. We used it and went over its value by $2. We loved share our gifts and thoughts for each other this way. Made this outing more special.

Jake called when we got home. This is my favorite thing on Mother's Day. Jake started doing this years ago and it is now a tradition that I cherish. Jake calls. I answer my cellphone. Then Jake started singing "Happy Mother's Day to You" to me. I love Jake's voice and love having him do this every Mother's Day. 

Claude got his Sunday nap while I watched several episodes of Northern Disclosure. I had gotten behind on this show. Then I walked the treadmill.

Claude and I watched the second of the Lord of the Rings Extended Version. During that time Andie, Michael and Bailey called. 

Nissa and I exchanged text messages. 

I was able to get the body of Emelia's afghan finished except for the final row. Now I have to crochet a border and then I will have three of the five afghans complete. Yeah me!!