We had a touch of hurricane this weekend.  It was just a lot of rain around here.  Patricia was the biggest storm ever recorded but it was tempered when it hit the coast and didn't do nearly as much damage as the news people were hoping for.  :o)  We did enjoy all the rain.  It sounds great and it was warm and pleasant.  Not a lot of wind which is what most people worry about during a storm.

The man did a little work on the tree house Saturday between rain gusts and Sarah came over to admire it and play some with her little toy animals.  We attended her volleyball game and took her home.  We attended stake conference on Sunday and enjoyed it all with the rain.

Lara is laid up with a clot in her leg.  She strained a muscle a week or so ago after their trip to Hawaii and so went to the dr this Thursday for a scan since it still hurt so much.  The scan showed the clot down her whole leg.  The drs think maybe the trip on the plane encouraged the clot.  She isn't moving around much since it hurts a lot.  They gave her a prescription to begin dissolving the clot that we drove all over town looking to fill and NO one had it.  There was nothing we could do but take her home and let her rest.  Jon was at the Zelda concert the kids had been looking forward to for months and prepared costumes for and Lara didn't have the heart to disappoint them.  She told them to go on and she would ask me for a ride home.  They loved the concert but Jon was in a hurry to get back to see how Lara was doing.  The next day they were able to get her started on the blood thinners.

                                                             Mary in her super Link costume

Today the rain has stopped and the ground is nice and soft so we took advantage of that and ripped out the little tree that has been bothering Dad and also the holly bushes in the front of the house.

I raked up the pine needles and bagged them and was pooped!  I got three big garbage bags full.  I don't do enough work to keep me strong, I guess.  Need to get a construction job or something to build up my energy..

The front of the house looks so straggly since the bushes have to reach out so far to get a little sun.  Maybe the little bit we  have trimmed will help some.  We will be fighting those holly bushes for years.  They send up little sprouts from the roots forever.

The conference was really good. I appreciated the approach that was taken.  We are to do better at keeping the Sabbath, but the suggestions were realistic.  I remember being burdened with lots of things we needed to do and knowing that we couldn't make it all work.  Yesterday they suggested practical ideas for families with little children that were actually doable, recognizing the capacities of little children.  I did feel a lot of love there.  Our general authority visitor was a 70 from Oklahoma and he had such a kind way about him.  I am so grateful for the gospel and how it brings peace into my life.

Halloween is coming and we will have a trunk or treat Halloween party and dinner at the ward building.  I have a t shirt with a pumpkin on the front that I think will be my costume.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving too!  We will have the Collinses here for that!  And we are going to have a Thanksgiving dinner with our ESL class here too the Saturday before Thanksgiving proper.  They are all excited about it too.  We have a couple from Venezuela, a couple from Iran, a lady from Mexico and a young man from Israel.  We will do the whole thing and they are bringing things too.  I wanted some kind of dish from their country, but the Israeli is probably bringing a salad and enchiladas and the Venezuelan couple is bringing chicken salad.  Maybe we can get an Iranian dish at least.  No matter what, it will be fun.  I really enjoy these people.

The man made some headway on the tree house Saturday putting on the bracing and the floor supports.  Today he put up the rail supports.  He will put on lattice to keep the kids from falling off.  Sarah and Sam came over to help out on Saturday and Sarah came by herself today.  She loves helping with the hammering and the inspecting.  She has tried out all the different ways to climb on, around and under the different parts of the construction.

Jer drills holes and she hammers in the bolt and puts on the washer and tightens the nut, making it nice and sturdy!  Tomorrow comes the hard part:  making the flooring fit around the supports and the tree.  He will be using plywood sheets.  Now we are hoping the neighbors won't report us for having construction above the fence level.  They don't seem to use their backyards so we don't think they will mind.  

All kinds of good things are happening, due to the man working hard.  :o)  I support him and hold the light (literally) so he can do what he needs to do.

He is staining the deck and is about half done.  The stain is a nice light color that blends well with the surroundings and it goes on easily.  Gonna take two coats, though.  But the man is supremely patient.

And you can see the bougainvillea that is now planted.  We hope it likes it there.  We will see.  It will have the winter season to get its roots down and begin to feel at home.  We hope it will start to really grow in the spring.  We realized that we have an azalea in the front that is all overgrown but it has been doing well so maybe we can plant a row of azaleas along the front windows.  They would be really pretty in the spring and lots of green the rest of the year.  Haven't touched the front yet.  Still getting the back arranged.

And the mantel is almost done.  He hung it and painted it and this morning we stained it and wiped it so that it's drying and getting ready for the final spray of polyurethane.  Then it'll be ready for Christmas stockings and the nativity picture!!

In other news, we finally got a call from the temple and met with the president yesterday morning.  What a great interview!  We learned things about temple worship we hadn't known before.  When we attended the session after our interview it was so much more meaningful.  He called us to be temple workers and set us apart.  What a sweet experience.  He will be released in a month or so, but it was such a joy to get to meet with him and experience his counsel.  He said they really need both men and women on Wednesday afternoons.  They can use both men and women on Thursday but really need just men on Friday.  Because of our present commitments with ESL on Wednesday afternoons and the cannery shifts on Thursdays and Tuesdays, we will have to split our temple service for a while.  Jer will serve on Fridays and I will serve on Thursdays.  We told the library we will teach for another 9 months which makes a year, and then I would like to stop the ESL and do literacy which means I would have one student to help learn to read.  That will be a lot less stressful and we can arrange to meet when it's convenient for the two of us.  Then maybe we can serve in the temple on Wednesday afternoons together if they still need that.

Yesterday I got to do something that was fun.  One of the students from Ecuador I had earlier asked me if I would come to her house and show her how to make an apple pie.  I took one to class for Labor Day to show them what it was and they really liked it.  So I went yesterday and did that.  It was fun to see her again and introduce her to the fine art of apple pie making.  I left when it went in the oven, but she sent me a picture of it and it looked great.  I hope it tasted as good as it looked.  I mean to take a pumpkin pie next week so they can enjoy October properly.  Have to make a separate one for Iggy who is vegan.  He assures me there are fake eggs so I will see if I can find some.

Speaking of October, I get to make some Halloween costumes!! A lady in the ward wants to be Joy, one of the characters in Inside Out, and asked me if I can make the dress for her since she will be the disc jockey for the Special Needs Carnival in a couple weeks.   I thought it would be fun.  And then Mary wants to dress as Link for the Zelda concert we will be attending this month and needs a tunic.  She brought me a picture and it's elegant!  Should be fun to make too.

Lara has a damaged leg now that we are all hoping gets better soon.  The senior Barneys will be arriving next week for Sam's ordination to Priest and she would love to be mobile by then.  She has been so active with her workout classes maybe she will be able to recover quickly.