Musings on Monday

*I heard a quote last week that has inspired me. I'll confess it was while watching Bones and was said by the new southern accented intern but still, I liked it! He said, "God gave us words, it's up to us to give them wings". Yep. I liked it. It gave me justification for being a talker. It drives my husband and brothers crazy because they just want me to get to the point. But I feel any story worth telling is worth telling well. Just ask my roommates at Ricks College. 

*This weekend was amazing!!!!   Friday I sent Brennan off on his first "Boy Scout Camp out". Preparing for this I learned that Brennan may be a little OCD. He had his list of things to bring and spend the whole week going over this list nagging me to death about things like a first aid kit and a tarp. Trent was not buying my declaration that I have the "girls" covered it was his turn to handle this "scouting" thing. Problem is I am probably a little OCD myself and Trent is NOT and I don't really like how he prepares for things like this, so although in theory I want him to take control, I don't.  Well I really do, but I want it done with my same attention to detail.  But he got there with every thing he needed. Trent and Brennan froze to death and Brennan was wide awake at 5am ready to fish, and later fell asleep in the tractor while Trent was plowing. Too cute I say!!
* Friday night while London was visiting friends and the boys were off on their camp out, I bribed Isabelle with an Orange Julius if she would help me in the yard. Worked like a charm which is great since Isabelle has a "learning disability". She has a very hard time understanding that she is not the Queen of England or any "land"  for that matter and that yes, she does have to do manual labor on a daily basis. She really must have wanted that Orange Julius. So we worked in the yard for about and hour and got one section of the flower beds groomed and pruned and she talked my ear off the whole time. It was delightful. In case you were unaware or forgot the life of a 14 year old girl is tricky, so I was so happy to be privy to her thoughts and feelings during this time together. 

*Saturday. Off to the Pasco Invite. This was a big day for London. The Pasco Invite is essentially an elite high school track athlete event. 100 schools attended and the general rules are that the athlete has to qualify by time or mark, depending on running or field events and each school usually can only send 1 athlete in each event, although I did see some exceptions to this rule.Why I don't know. Anyway London was lucky enough to be eligible to compete in 4 events. BIG DEAL!!!! She ran the 200m (not her best event) and placed 20th out of 40. Respectable finish. Then the 4x100 relay team competed and placed 5th out of 40 but the girls broke the school record for the 3rd time this season! (They are currently 1st in the Big 9 and 2nd in the State) It was amazing, but it gets better! The 400m is London's best race and she has been working really hard to improve her time this season. She won her heat, did set a personal record by almost 1 second and made it on the medal stand by taking 8th Place!!! I know this may not sound like that big of a deal but again I remind you there were 100 schools there. Her new time puts her in 1st place in the Big 9 and 2nd place in the Big 9/GSL (our region). She may be looking at State in 2 events!!!!!! So proud and happy for her!!! 

*Church. Our church schedule has been so strange the last couple of months. The building we go to was being remodeled so we met in our gym instead of the chapel. And instead of our normal Mormon schedule of 3 hours it was cut to 2.5 so there was no overlap in wards meeting. Then we had our semi-annual General Conference the first Sunday in April, so we watch our leaders from Salt Lake speak to us via satellite. Then we find out our building remodel was facing some serious setbacks that left it unusable for a week or 2 while they remedied it. They shuffled the wards from our building to other buildings Easter Sunday and we all had 1 hour, not 3, of church.No problem. Yesterday remodel issues almost fixed, we can use the chapel but not classrooms so again 1 hour of church, not 3. Oh and by the way, "Come back at 5pm for a meeting where we will rearrange ward boundaries." Whammo.We haven't met together as a ward for almost a month and we find we are being split up. This happens because the church in our communities grow and change. Some wards become overly large and need to be pared down while some, for whatever reason, shrink and we like to keep them as equal as possible, therefore boundary changes. We know it happens, you can start to predict the happening of it, but it is hard nonetheless. So next Sunday, we should be back to 3 hours of church with some new faces. It's going to be great!!

*Money. Yep I went there. I've just been thinking a lot lately about it like I'm sure a lot of you are. Gas and food prices are ridiculous and I have teenagers which is the definition of expensive. So I have been trying to think of ways to save and SAVE. I'm good at paying our obligations everything is paid on time and our kids get to participate in extra-curricular activities that do require some expense on our part. But I am bad at paying ourselves.
So, how do you save money? What are your tips for saving on food, gas, etc and how do you save for a rainy day?