Big Week and Enjoying An Extra Morning Hour

Some weeks fly by and are uneventful. Others, like this last, are full of activities and occasions that leave lasting memories. Oh, where to start.

As usual, practices consumed the better part of the first of the week and the evenings were compressed for time as I helped J finish his Rain-Gutter Regata for Cub Scouts.


J had a great time at the event, blew his heart out and earned an award for the "Best Sail Design." My wife was quite pleased with that as that was her contribution to the event. It was fun watching J assemble, sand and paint his vessel and enjoyable to watch him puff away to victory at times and defeat at others.



That evening was partially consumed, however, by interviews with youth desiring to participate in our temple outing held yesterday. At times through the year, the Young Men/Young Women of our congregation, ages 12 - 18, get the special opportunity to perform a service in the sacred temple. The sacred saving ordinance of baptism is performed in behalf (known as proxy) of individuals that have departed this life in order to satisfy the demands of justice and mercy to all of God's children. Last night was A's first time to serve in the temple and what a glorious opportunity it was.



Yesterday's games were exciting with a near tie defeat of J's team (2-3) to the top ranked and undefeated team. We play them next week and we'll hopefully be ready to knock them down a notch ;)







S's team clobbered a team (3-0) that last season displayed unsporting behavior by the coaches and beat us twice. When shaking hands with the coach after her defeat yesterday, she went limp in the handshake and refused to look me in the eyes. So sad she remains unsporting. L's team had the best game of their season with every girl scoring at least once. Considering 2 girls had never scored previously, this was a huge game and confidence builder. And finally, A's game, played while we were en route to the temple, crushed an in-association team 6-1 (not a big shocker). With just 2 games left in the their season and a chance to break into the top 3, it's going to be a fun season ending.

Lastly, Halloween descending on us in full force with fun holiday parties (which characters can you pick out below?), pumpkin carving, trunk-or-treating at the church parking lot and trick-or-treating through the neighborhood.


























My one remorse, and S commented on it as well, was not having A with us through the trick-or-treating portion of the evening. He opted to spend the night with a friend and descend upon their neighborhood rather than join his family. As my wife informed him last year that it would be his last trunk-or-treating opportunity, this year held no interest in hanging out at the event. And while he had an enjoyable time with his friend, we deeply missed him. Just another rite of passage on his journey to manhood.

With all of these events, its nice to have a morning with extra time to relax especially "falling back an hour" off of daylight savings. There is so much I'm grateful for and as you can see by the list of activities mentioned above, my heart is full of gratitude for my family. What a wonderful blessing it is to have a family whom I love.