To Much Time on Their Hands

I went to pick up my daughter last night from Young Womens, and needed to talk to a lady in our ward , so I wandered into the Relief Society Room. She was busy so I sat down by the door to wait when another woman from our ward came in to "talk to me". She told me that I might want to look at my daughters shirt, and not let her wear it again, because she was "practically falling out of it". I said, "huh", she went on to inform me that it would be better if she was at least wearing a bra. I assured her that Emily hadn't left the house without that, "Oh I don't think she has one on" she quickly told me. (Now bear in mind that this is the same woman that wore pants to Sacrament meeting on Scout Sunday, she's also only about 31) I informed her that Emily wouldn't leave the house without proper support, and didn't give her very much encouragement. She then told me that she had stood behind Emily while she was sitting down, and could "see everything". At this point I am more concerned with her same sex tendencies.

A few minutes later my daughter came in, wearing her t-shirt that barely came down to her collar bone, let alone showing anything else. Emily and I had a good laugh on the way home, seriously there are some people with to much time on their hands. I chalked it up to strangeness, but when I told my sister she was livid. So, now I have to keep Nancy from taking care of her, apparently there once was a couple who were concerned about my niece Jackie...

Bittersweet

OK, a few weeks ago there was a job announcement at Scott's work for a new position. It sounded pretty good, but did have shift work associated with it. Scott and I discussed it and he applied, stating that he would only accept the day shift. You see, for most of our married life Scott has either worked shifts or been TDY when he was in the military. So, now that he has a job with the same hours as I do, we have gotten really used to our evenings and weekends.

Well, about three weeks ago, the job offer came. He got offered the only day shift and things were great. We were so excited because of the opportunity. He was scheduled to start on August 2nd, and yesterday he called his new supervisor to clarify a couple of things. The supervisor said, "Oh no, the schedule is Tuesday through Saturday." That wasn't what the job offer stated. Now, Scott is the guy that can find all the hidden clauses in your mortgage agreement, so he had full documentation on the announcement and job offer. Well, after a bunch of meetings where the leads and HR all determined that they needed to amend his offer, he decided to decline.

We were so excited, and he scored so high on the application process only to decide that our 11 and soon to be 15 year old really need their Dad on Saturdays. So it has been a rough week, but we are glad that his choices were between a job he currently really likes and a job that might have been great too, in this economic climate we really can't complain to much.

Dance Fest 2010

WARNING: LONG POST

Last January we heard a small announcement about dance practice for a dance festival in July. I was so excited, "Emily, come on it will be fun." I said. "I don't dance" she said. I pulled rank and drug her to practices for six months. I even took her once when she had a concussion. It turned out they were doing the Charleston. Emily had a partner that dropped out about March, "Don't worry we will find you a partner." OK, it took until about two weeks ago, but her second cousin, Bradley Whiting, ended up coming up for the summer and was awesome for stepping up.

Then we needed a flapper dress, so with confidence I ordered one from ebay. It was awful, so we headed to get a pattern, fabric, and fringe. On the way home Emily and I had the following conversation:

Me: Emily, the pattern says it's an easy one hour project. Do you think I can do it in an hour?

Emily: No

Me: Do you think I could do it in four hours?

Emily: No

Me: Do you think I should call Sister Everett?

Emily: Yes

So, I called Sister Everett and she said yes, she came and took measurements I didn't even know existed. Then she worked and worked and produced an amazing dress, we can't thank her enough.

Finally the day of the 5 stake multi dance festival started. It was all day Friday with practices and a sock hop that ended at 10 pm. So by the time we got home and got her hair into rag rollers it was late...and she had to be back in at 6:50 am. She had some more workshops (it was a youth conference, so there were a bunch of classes on dating!), dress rehearsals and finally the show started at 5 then again at 7. Each stake had a different era, Grand Junction - 20's, Montrose - 40's, Meeker - 50's, Moab - 60s, Grand Junction West - 70's, with a big finale of around 700 kids dancing to We are Family!

Emily has allowed me to curl her hair exactly twice in her life, once when she was 4 and a flower girl for a wedding, and for this. I'll take what I can get, but she did get asked several times "Is that your real hair?" And Erik said Emily's hair, "Freaked him out".

Anyway, it was an awesome festival. The dancing was amazing, the place was packed and it was so much fun. After we got home I said, "Emily, this is the point where you say, "Mom that was awesome, I had so much fun. You were right, THANK YOU'" She replied, "I had fun, thank you for making me go to dance." OK that was close enough.

EGGS!!!!!

On a whim I sent Erik out to check for eggs tonight. It has been a long six months waiting...waiting...waiting. The chickens are Whiting Blues and the eggs are definitely worth the wait, eight on the first catch. They'll get bigger, and the New Hampshires will start laying in a week or so, then here comes the omelets, fritatas, custards, egg burritos...

It's Genetic

Well, as anyone who knows me for any length of time knows, I am a bit heavy on the organized, got a great idea, grand scale events. Yes, I have been known to fantasize about organizing and planning family reunions, taken on way more than I should with Scouts and still look for more. You see, my sister's and I all have different strengths, Donna is an incredible cook and Nancy is definitely the hostess with the mostest. My forte is definitely in the dreaming up ideas and having way to much time to think about how to make them bigger.

I was thinking about some of the things I have done in just the past 24 months, Cub Scout Camporee (for about 110 scouts), Kannah Creek Regatta Race, Cub Mobile Race, wooden ducks for the great nieces and nephews, super above and beyond Parade of Lights Float, family play at the little reunion in Arizona, Primary activities that require giant bubble wands, matching shirts for the family reunion, agreeing to drive back to Arizona this year for the big reunion, and a whole lot more projects than I can't remember.

Fortunately for me, I happen to have a husband who is amazingly accomplished in his ability to take my hair brained ideas and help make them happen, ie., "I need stage props for an old west saloon" or "I need something that will launch the cubmobiles at the same time, so we can time them" or "We need to get ready for over 100 people to camp down at the creek". He has been an incredible good sport about all of it, simply asking, "What have we got going on this weekend?"

Last night Nancy, Mom, Scott and I were looking through some of my more treasured (and hoarded) family pictures for the "Whiting Museum" at the reunion. We came across this photo that showed a bunch of kids doing a patriotic parade down our little street back in the 70's, my Mom said, "Remember that? That was from when your Dad decided to do a bicycle rodeo for all the kids. He had such good ideas." That's when it hit me, I looked over at Scott and said, "See? I can't help it, it's genetic."


So the next time my mother tells me "You're just doing to much" or Scott sighs and says, "What?" I will just remember my Dad with bicycle rodeos, scout jamborees, huge sledding parties up to Y, road shows and giant stake BBQ's that required backhoes and gravel grates. I will remember my Grandma Whiting and her Christmas and Easter Cantata's, her 24th of July pageants (one time she even made her sons clear off a spot on Kannah Creek hill to rival the Hill Cumorah pageant).You see, I simply can't help myself.

Come to think of it...a bicycle rodeo would be fun...