Labor Day

It's been a great weekend. We got a ton of little projects knocked out on Saturday-- wiped cobwebs out of windows on the outsides, put together the black bench that goes at the foot of our bed, cleaned and vacuumed the office so Dave and Megan would have a place to sleep, bought clippers and bug spray from Lowes and trimmed a bunch of overgrown monster shrubs around the house, hung pictures in Ana and Benji's room, assembled the picnic table and teeter totter, assembled shelves for the food storage in the formal living room, and got the food storage out of the boxes and loaded them on the shelves, hung some things in the kitchen, and cleaned up the house. It felt great. Dave and Megan got here that evening and we cooked pizzas and talked. They got to listen to my talk on Sunday, (How to help my family become more unified), which was fun. We had a fun weekend. We ate desserts, watched "Sahara," took a walk and  played games. Today we drove to the temple site in Carmel. It's about an hour away from here. A little far, which is a bummer, but it's better than 3 hours to the Columbus temple I guess. It's a bigger temple than I was expecting, and it looks like there will be a lot of landscaped grounds around it. It's going to be beautiful. Can't wait. After that we drove to downtown Indy and walked around. We ate Donatos Pizza. That was fun. Just as good as I remember. Dave and Megan left for home from there. We came back and relaxed. Thad mowed the lawn, and the highlights of the evening were helping Ana practice riding her bike with no training wheels, and FHE. This is the second time Ana has practiced, but the first time was with me in Idaho, and I was too scared to let go of her for the few minutes that we practiced, so we didn't get very far. Tonight she did awesome. She rode on her own quite a bit. She fell down quite a bit, too, but Thad helped her learn how to put her feet on the ground to steady herself when she got off-balance. We all rode bikes down the small road behind our house. It's beautiful. It's shaded, and it runs behind the houses on our road, back to a private horse farm and a few big houses. I love going down it. Afterward we all sat on the porch (Ana and I on the porch swing and Benji and Thad in the rocking chair) and had FHE. Thad suggested we go around and share our testimonies for our lesson. Thad pretended we were in sacrament meeting and took the kids up to the front of the porch like they were standing at the pulpit. They liked that, and it was the only way Benji would talk. Thad whispered what to say in his ear, and he said it. Ana loved it too, and of course didn't need anyone's help. Great FHE lesson. During my talk preparation, I read in a talk by Elder Eyring that he and his wife invited one of their kids to bear their testimonies of the Savior in every FHE. If they couldn't get a child to do it, then one of them would. I loved that idea, and after the spirit that we felt tonight, I think we'll start that tradition in our family. I loved it. We ate a small dinner (cereal, toast, and peaches), then I showered the kids and we put them to bed. Great end to a great weekend. The only hiccups were Benji getting more poop on the rug and the floor in his bathroom today, and Jane peeing on her library book before I could get her into the shower. Gross.