May brings end of school and better weather (most of the time)

It's May already, and that means programs and recitals--the end of the school year is in sight.  I was able to attend Doyeon's and Gunnar's last day of school, pre-school programs.  It was fun to see their smiling faces and their enthusiasm as they sang with their groups.  Gunnar, of course, is on to kindergarten next year, and I'm guessing that Ollie will take his place in Miss Lisa's pre-school. Doyeon has one more year of her pre-school.  We're grateful that Davis county has such a wonderful system in place to help children who have speech difficulties, because they've helped Doyeon tremendously.  She now speaks in full sentences and never stops talking!

Gunnar

Roy is already busy in his new calling.  Monday night for family night his young single adults had a service project.  They split all the kids into several groups and he and 9 or 10 of the young adults went and pulled weeds out of a creek in someone's backyard.  (a backdoor neighbor to our new house).

Roy with his YSA group

Thursday evening, while Roy went to the Ice Skating Club meeting (he's still on the board--serving for Caitlyn and I), I went to Logan with Nick and Sara.  We went to the Malouf friends and family sale with Crista.  Of course, Matt was there, too, but busily working.  We saw him but didn't get a chance to visit with him.  I was able to get some sheets and pillows.  It's nice to have a source for such great deals.  Afterwards, we went to "Tandoori Oven," a little restaurant inside a gas station with Indian food.  It was very good.  I had the shrimp curry with a Naan that had cauliflower inside it.  We then went back to Crista's and played a fun game that Nick had brought called Splendor.  I brought some food home for Roy, which he waited for, so he didn't get to eat until about 11:00.

Ruby took 14 steps while I was there, but I missed it because
I was contemplating my next move in the game.  She obviously
loves shopping.

Ori and Ruby are great friends.  Ori even shared with her--until it
 looked like she might run out of blueberries.

Friday, Roy went to Farmington to tend Finn, Gunnar and Ollie because Adrienne and Aj went to Texas for the weekend for a friend's wedding.  Guiltily, I went ice skating, cleaned up a little, and prepared some food for our weekend jaunt,

Ollie and Roy

Finn

 Caitlyn, Roy and I headed up to Flaming Gorge to de-winterize the trailer.  We went on our traditional 2 mile hike and really enjoyed the beauty the Gorge has to offer.  I thought I might see deer, bunnies, and/or cows on our walk, but instead we were rewarded with duck, geese, marmots, a squirrel and a chipmunk. When we go to Flaming Gorge, we're usually too busy with hiking, boating and family, to play many games.  This time we played Wizard and watched a couple of episodes of Firefly, which was interesting but didn't really grab any of us.  We went to bed somewhat early and slept in a little bit also, so it was all in all refreshing--even though we had 7 hours of driving in two days.

Catharine, Roy, Cait

Marmot

I was getting tired and didn't really want
to climb through the fence.

While we were gone, our realtor held an open house in our home.  She said there were 6 groups/couples that came through, with two of them showing some interest.  One lady really liked it, but was a little unhappy with the price.  We have had mostly good feedback, so I'm not worried.  I'm sure we'll sell the house at some point.  Later this summer would definitely be more convenient, but if it happens sooner it will relieve the stress of having it on the market and we'll work out whatever arrangements we need to.

We also had a few showings during the week; before the open house.

Elise sent us this "fuzzy"picture because she said it
melted her heart.

We're not worried about Maverick getting
enough to eat :)

Our little emergency room specialist.  Nursemaid's elbow with inflammation

Ori

Cousins! (from left) Ori, Hyeji, Yuna and Doyeon

 Saturday Night, Caitlyn and her best friend Annika went to our framed new home and took model shots:

Yes, they're a couple of goofs!

Jennie came over for dinner Sunday night and tried out the new hammock Caitlyn bought for
camping this summer.  She looks pretty comfortable.  It was fun to spend time
with her--we don't see her very often.

I titled my post May brings end of school and better weather (most of the time).  Today in primary, as I was teaching the kids a new song, the thunder and lightening was scaring most of the kids right out of their seats.  I was pretty startled by it, too.  The hail came down fast and furious, but by 2:00, right as church was over, the sun was up and the clouds were parting.  Amazing.

House for sale

It's been a very productive week--but organizing, cleaning, dejunking, weeding etc. doesn't give me very much material for my blog.

We put the house on the market Friday.  I think it was official on Saturday.  

Update on the house we're building:

Roy and I were able to do a couple of fun things this week while taking a break from all the hard work--we took Jennie out to lunch for her birthday to Sushi Monster.  That was very enjoyable and the food was good, too.  We also drove to Logan to take some stuff up to Crista and were able to have dinner with them on Friday.  We had yummy Aggie ice cream for dessert.

Though there's not a lot to write about, but we do have a couple of things specifically to be grateful for this week.  Elise had a polyp removed from her utereus and an adhesion repaired.  Now, hopefully she'll be able to recover completely from Maverick's birth.
On Sunday (today), Adrienne and Aj and family were forced off the road by a semi-truck, and the trucker didn't even notice.  Thankfully, no one was injured, though two tires were thoroughly destroyed on the right side.
We're definitely grateful for the Lord's protection and care.

Roy gave his first talk as high councilman of the Singles Stake.  He spoke on taking advantage of the atonement each week while taking the sacrament, and the mercy and forgiveness the Lord is willing to give us as we ask for it.  He did a very good job.  It'll be great to hear him share his thoughts with the Young Single Adults each month.

I also have to add how much I'm enjoying teaching the songs to the Senior Primary each week. This may be my favorite calling ever.  I thought I loved playing the piano, but though this is more work, it's also much more rewarding.

Happy Birthday to Roy (and Jennie later this week)

This picture was sent to the Rasband Clan early
in the week.  Dan's comment, "Kids are the
cutest when they're asleep."

 I met Jieun and the girls at the ice rink on Tuesday.  Yuna is not afraid at all.  She's pretty amazing for a 2-year-old.  She didn't get hurt skating--but while playing in the hockey boxes, she got her finger in the door resulting in a trip to Instacare.  Thankfully, no stitches and no broken bones.  It bled quite a bit, though.

Grandma Catharine and Yuna

I made a key lime cake for Adrienne's birthday and she had everyone up to her home for a little celebration. Happy Birthday (again), Adrienne.

We had about half of the family for dinner for Roy's birthday and Mother's Day.  All the kids were great with their loving cards and gifts to both of us.  Crista and Matt are sick so they stayed home with Ruby, Adrienne and AJ and their boys are on their way to Disney Land, and of course, Elise and Andy and Max and Mav are in Texas enjoying their own Mother's Day celebration.

We're still working hard to get our house in order to put it on the market, so due to exhaustion and time constraints, I'll end this letter by just expressing my love for all of you.  As I listened to the tributes to mother's today in church, I was reminded just how grateful I am to be a mother and a wife, and how grateful I am for my wonderful mother.

An awesome, powerful, and damaging wind storm

Happy Birthday to Sara today, Adrienne Wednesday, and Roy next Sunday.  May is a busy month for birthdays.  

The above picture is a "Clyde" artifact.  Laura Stayner, in our ward, who is a descendant of Cynthia Davis and George Washington Clyde Senior, received this from her father.  She wanted to know if any of our family would know anything about it--could there be a story behind it?  I imagine there is.  It's just painted on cloth.  Laura said it has to have some import because she's pretty sure her father 'stole' it from the family.  Apparently, he was a bit of a cad.

This week we have been busily packing up all the inessentials in our home so we can get it on the market.  The goal for that is May 15.

Tuesday night Roy was set apart for his new high council position in the Bountiful Young Single Adults Stake.  Prior to that, I went over to Highland High to a reception for Mr. Christensen, my high school choir teacher.  He had taught at Highland High for 40 years and now is on hospice in a nursing home.  He requested that he'd like to see some of his former students.  It's amazing how something like that can be pulled off with social media.  It wasn't a huge crowd, but acceptable, and I saw a few of my friends from High School.  Christine and Steve were there and it was really fun to visit with them.

Roy would have started in his calling today big time, but the wind storm we had caused some damage in the area, and a few of the regular stakes cancelled meetings, so the stake president of the singles stake had to go along with their decision and cancel the wards in that area, which included Roy's new ward.  Sara and Nick barely missed having damage to their home.  Thankfully, we are members of a wonderful church.  Even before church was over, the priest quorum was dispatched to go take care of trees in the ward.  Within an hour and a half, the 7 homes in our ward that had downed trees had been taken care of.  

Ori in picture to show size of tree.

We were a little worried about our home in Centerville, so after church Caitlyn and I drove over to check things out.  It seems that the framers have done a good job because everything looked intact.

Luckily, this seems to be the extent of the damage
at our home in progress (Roy and Caitlyn went over to
pick up the metal sheeting and stack it back by the house.
I don't know if they righted the porta potty.)

I have been working on memorizing "The Living Christ" and I have enjoyed the experience.  I want to have it word for word, and as I work on it, and inadvertently replace my own words for theirs then find the correction, I realize how perfectly the document is written.

Saturday was busy with family events:  First thing in the morning we headed up to Layton where Caitlyn and her friend Annika competed at State with their cello, violin duet.

Anika and Caitlyn

Later that day, we celebrated Ruby's first birthday party.  Our family and Matt's family met at the zoo and we had a fun afternoon.

Ruby

Ruby with her new cupcake hat.  It was really cute, but too small.  Matt
made it, but he didn't have her around at the time he made the band so he had to guess.
She wore it the whole time, so apparently, the size didn't matter to her.

Adrienne and Ruby

Yuna, Ori, Ruby, Doyeon

Gift Shop Display of Jieun's Artwork that the zoo purchased from her.

Ruby with her other grandma, Jana

The following pictures are not videos, but they loaded as videos.  

So, don't click on the arrow, it doesn't work.

Both Friday and Saturday evenings, Caitlyn and I had our ice show at the Rec Center.  Roy was also involved, running the spotlight, as he does every show.

Parent's number.

Cait and Ori

Mav and Max

Basement

Back of house

Also back of house

Comments

Happy 1st Birthday to Ruby and Sara and Philip this coming week.

In cleaning up some papers this week I came across another poem I had copied from my grandmother's book.

     "If I could number only happy hours,
     I should perhaps name all that I have known,
     For days when clouds hung low and grief engulfed
     Me with its surging flood, when hope had flown
     And doubts obscured the way, have now passed on--
     Ameliorated by times gracious hand.
     Today I know that blessings ofttimes wear
     A strange disguise, I better understand
     The need for clouds and tears and shattered dreams.
     A maze of hues will hide the rich design
     Of master works of art, when seen too near--
     A distant view full beauty will define:
     The somber tones accentuate the bright
     Give warmth and depth to modify the light.
                                            -Maude Osmond Cook

I wanted to include this here because it adds to some previous comments that I've made about how her poetry spoke to me at a difficult time in my life and also brought me closer to her (though she died when I was only 10 yrs. old).  With all the pain and sorrow my grandmother went through in her life, she could still begin this poem the way she did. "If I could number only happy hours,/ I should  perhaps name all that I have known."

Crista asked me what she could do as far as genealogy goes at this time in her life.  I told her she could gather stories and share them with her children as they grow.  We are blessed because we have so many stories that have been written down, some even published, that we can share with each other. A good place to start is reading my dad's book.  There is also one written about WW Clyde.  Phineas Wolcott Cook left a journal and Janet Porter has written a book based on that journal that makes it read more like a novel except that it's not fiction.  There is a book about James Henry Hart, and there are many more. Steve Christensen has also done a lot of research and gathered a lot of stories about the family.

I don't have a lot of news to share this week.  Finn had another infection, most likely caused from a mosquito bite.

Finn

 I tended the boys while Adrienne took Finn to the Doctor.  

I tried to get a cute picture but those boys don't know how to smile for the camera.  They have to be as goofy as possible.

Max had to have a wart removed from his toe.  They gave him something to calm him, but apparently it was pretty traumatic for him anyway.

Matt, Crista and Ruby were down from Logan for the Frontrunner Century Event.  A century bike event usually indicates 100 miles, but this one was only 62 miles. Salt Lake to Ogden. Matt and Roy rode in it and felt very blessed and grateful that the rain that was forecast 100% chance all day Saturday, was delayed until the afternoon.  They finished the ride, having felt only a few raindrops.
Crista dropped them off and she and Caitlyn picked them up 4 1/2 hours later.  She was able to get a few pictures as she saw them off.

Crista, waiting with Ruby for the guys to take off.

At the beginning.  Left: Matt, Middle: James Shriever, one of Roy's co-workers
and Roy on the right.

Progress with the framing this week: Front of house

Back of garage

Bridge foundation

Here are some pictures of the grand kids from the week:

Picnic in Sara's backyard

Doyeon, Hyeji, Yuna, Ori

Hyeji

Doyeon

Ori intent on her coloring

Ruby and Finn with grandpa, Saturday night.

Maverick

Roy and Ruby

Ruby