marching band, tennis, parables for Institute, my boys in Utah, and a nephew's mission call

Wednesday I subbed a half-day for the music teacher at the high school. Which meant I had my nephew Ben in the choir Minor Details (fun!) and then marching band (more fun!). We marched. In the 90º heat. In the dirt. It was great. I think one of my regrets in life is that I was not in a marching band. I want to go to the Labor Day parade tomorrow just to hear them play.

Alex is on the tennis team with his cousins Ben and Thomas. Their first tennis match, which was against North Tahoe on Tuesday, was won by forfeit. Their match on Thursday against Sparks (on a Reno court) was won while being watched by grandma, grandpa, Kathy, and me. Alex and Thomas, as a doubles team, won both their matches. It was very windy (which helped it to not be too hot) and we had a great time cheering them on.

I'm not the best photographer...especially when I'm just using my kindle

After the match, I drove to the Reno Institute building for my first Institute class this semester (Thursdays from 5:30-7:00 pm). The class is written up as "New Testament (Gospels)," but the real topic is the parables.

Because of tennis, I will be missing a few of the classes, but I'm sure I'll love the ones I attend.  Since I'm teaching the New Testament in seminary and also love the parables, I am very excited to go. My seminary coordinator, Brother McDuffie, teaches this class. It's a big help for me to watch a skilled teacher teach.

Coincidences? So, that morning, nephew Ben gave the devotional in seminary and he chose to talk to us about the Parable of the Sower (the seed falls on 4 types of ground--by the wayside, rocky, thorny, and good). That afternoon for my personal study I pulled out my General Conference issue of the Ensign. How I choose what to read these days is I just randomly open the magazine and read whatever talk it opens to. It opened to President Eyring's talk that talks about the Parable of the Sower! Then, of course, what did we talk about in our first Institute class? The Parable of the Sower! Cool beans, to quote my children.

This weekend, Eric and Ryan traveled down from Rexburg to Provo where they are having a game-fest of sorts with Andrew and Heather. I can't wait to hear all about it. Don't forget to take pictures boys!

Last night, we gathered at my in-laws where my nephew Joseph would be opening his mission call. It was definitely exciting. We had all put in our guesses as to where we thought he'd be called (nobody in our immediate family guessed correctly). He was called to serve in the Florida Tallahassee Mission (English-speaking) and will be entering the MTC on November 16th. We are so excited for him. Congratulations Joseph! We know you will be a great missionary.

Joseph holding up the all-important envelope

After the unveiling of the mission call, we watched the BYU-Arizona Wildcats football game. Great fun since BYU pulled off a win (18-16) with a field goal in the last 4 seconds of the game (kicked by a freshman!)!

Good week.