Family Happenings

Glen was in the newspaper a few days ago. Glen is the Pony Express District Commissioner here...one of the "Key Three" for the Pony Express District, so he helped to present some awards to Mayor Kenny Tedford and former mayor and current city councilman Bob Erickson.

A few weeks ago Glen was involved in a beading ceremony where he received his beads for his Woodbadge participation a few summers ago. Woodbadge is where adult leaders participate in a week long camp and set goals. Then there is a year (1 1/2 years?) in which to accomplish your goals. If you do that, you get your beads. Glen's ceremony was a little past due...(speaking of which, Eric earned his Eagle last February and we still haven't had his award ceremony...).

Glen and I sometimes have communication problems and I don't know where the communication broke down here, but it did. I knew there was a dinner, but somehow I didn't know he was in anything and I was subbing for cub scouts that night (which I didn't have to do, but I really was the most logical choice), so  I was there for the dinner, but missed the beading ceremony cause I was off building treasure boxes with the bears. Luckily, his parents attended the dinner and were there to see him receive his beads.

On February 12th Glen will be receiving the Silver Beaver Award for the Northern Nevada Council (which includes part of California). Here is the blurb from the scouter.org website:

*****
Silver Beaver Award & Annual Recognition Dinner  

Now is the time to recognize the hard work of your fellow scouters by attending the Annual Recognition Dinner on February 12, 2011 at the Grand Sierra.  We will be honoring the Silver Beaver class of 2010.

JoAnne Baumgart
Kent Hanson
Linda Holmes
Glen Perazzo
Terri Pearson
Jim Shurtliff
Kevin Stebbins
Linda Woodland

The Silver Beaver Award is the highest form of recognition that a local council can bestow on a volunteer. Information about the dinner can be obtained from the council office 787-1111.
*****

Glen's upcoming play season includes The Psychic (directed by nephew Michael), The Secret Garden, and An Enemy of the People. Plus he still has to choose plays for his Junior High students.

Andrew is still in Ames serving as a missionary and doing well. Five months to go. I have to say, though, that I'm not really counting. Every once in a while I check. Now our nephew Adam finishes his mission in Michigan on the 23rd of this month. Amazing. Can't wait to see him and hear his stories!

Eric has started classes at the community college for this semester. Three are online and 2 are evening classes (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Plus he goes to Institute on Thursday nights (a religion class for college-aged students). This means that I am chauffeuring Eric around a lot, but I don't mind. And of course he reads a lot, picks at the guitar occasionally, and has just gotten his learner's permit for driving (so maybe I won't be doing all the driving for him soon).

Swimming practice has started for Ryan...and he then had swimmer's ear and had to sit out the second week of practice. Instead of swimming, he got some conditioning in by joining Hannah for her track team practice. He should have his Eagle Board of Review soon, and if he passes that, he and Eric will have their  Eagle Ceremony. He still has his learner's permit.

Hannah, who is counting the days until she gets her learner's permit on June 1st, started track practice when Ryan started swimming practice. It is so beautiful...they both have practice on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 3-4:30. So, Glen just works at school and brings them home together. Love it. She and Ryan have been attending most of the home basketball games (they have a cousin, Michael, on the JV team and a cousin, Brent, on varsity) and having a great time cheering.

Alex is reading up a storm these days and recommends these books: Magyk, Flyte, Dragon's Breath, and Once Upon a Curse. He loves making smoothies. He is doing well in school. I guess that covers the life of a 10 year old.

I, Beth, continue plodding along. Don't know if my goal of paying off the mortgage by July 1st (when Andrew gets home) will be realized, but at least we'll be close. Which is good considering what the future holds (less pay, 2 kids in college, need a new car soon, summertime trips). My weight, cholesterol, triglycerides, and thyroid hormone levels are all high, so I need to spend more time on my health.

I like to listen to audiobooks when I'm in the car or cleaning and I just picked up To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I almost didn't get it, but am so glad I did. I am one of those who doesn't like to read (or watch) painful things and Glen's put on the play before. I know it's a painful story. But it's a classic and I felt I should at least give it a try. I am loving it. The painful *stuff hasn't started yet, but I am just so enthralled with the language and happenings of Scout and her family and friends (which the play mostly misses). Fabulous. Fabulous. Fabulous. We'll see if I still say that when I get to the trial.

As for reading books and not just listening to them, I am currently reading several. I am almost half-way through To the Rescue, which is a biography of our prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I especially recommend the chapters on his childhood. It will give every parent hope. Not that he was bad, but he was a little rascally. Fascinating story. Some of the "coincidences" in his life are awesome.

I am half-way through The Other Side of Heaven which is the story of Elder John H. Groberg's mission to Tonga. It's been made into a movie, which we own and love. There are some more lessons and introspection in the book than the movie, and of course it's fun to see what they rearranged for the movie. Once again, it's a fascinating story.

I'm Not Perfect, Can I Still Go to Heaven? Finding Hope for the Celestial Kingdom through the Atonement of Christ by Anthony Sweat is a book recommended to me by my sister. She gave me a Deseret Book gift card for Christmas and I used part of the money to buy this book (and it was on sale for half-price!). Brother Sweat is a seminary teacher and though the book is fictional it is based on his interactions with the teenagers he has taught. Good read.

I am also reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in Spanish. I got it for my birthday. I am trying to improve my Spanish and I have discovered that reading a book (that you already know and love) in a different language really is a great way to work on your foreign language skills. I occasionally listen to movies in Spanish, too. My reading skills are definitely better than my listening skills. My goal is to read 6 pages a day. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. That's OK.

So, life is good and we are doing well or well-enough.

*I know that the English teachers push not using the word "stuff" but I'm doing it anyway. I like the word (since this isn't a formal paper, I think I can get away with using it).

weekly highlights: new niece, Utah Theatre trip, our 22nd anniversary, and "old" niece

NEW NIECE:

Tessa Marie, Brandon and Calista's first baby (and our grand-niece), was born on Wednesday! To go to Brandon and Calista's post on their blog click here and to see photos click here. She is adorable. Congratulations Brandon and Calista. We are so happy for you.

UTAH THEATRE TRIP:

A few hours after Tessa was born (at 2 am to be precise), Glen and I boarded a school bus with some of his drama students (including Hannah) and some of their mothers for our annual trip to the Utah Theatre Association's Conference for Junior High and High School students (20 students all together, though 3 traveled in a car, and 6 mothers). In the middle of the night we were on highway 375 (it's nicknamed the extra-Terrestrial highway). Don't know if I'm happy or sad to report there were no sightings. The fact that most of us were trying to sleep may have had something to do with the lack of UFO sightings. Well, at least I was warm--which doesn't always happen on the school bus in the middle of the night, if not totally comfortable, and got a bit of sleep in.

This year's conference theme: "Make a Scene!" Glen, Hannah, and I all have lovely t-shirts to prove it. This year the conference was in St. George at Dixie State College (which has recently been bought by U of U so things'll be changing for them). Next year the conference will be back at BYU and we'll get to see Andrew there!

I only went to one workshop this weekend and it I took it that first afternoon. Juggling. I've always wanted to know how to juggle. You  know, sometimes having "juggling" written on the skills section of your resume may make the difference in getting an acting job or not.

The class was taught by Paul Draper, a magician and mind reader at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Click on his name to go to his website. (Deni, have you heard of him?). I couldn't take photos of me trying to juggle, of course, but here are a few I took during class (I only got Paul's back...he's the one in purple):

First thing in the classroom, after having us look at a ball (it's like a fat hackysack) on the ground 10' or so in front of us, he had us close our eyes, walk up to where the ball was, bend over and pick up the ball. I missed all three tries (75% got it at least once), but my hand was within a palm width of the ball, so I was "close enough." This was to prove you don't need to be looking at the ball to find it.

Then we moved outside. First we took one ball and tossed it up to eyebrow height and went back and forth between right and left hands. Then we took one ball in each hand and tossed with our right then our left and caught with our left then with our right. Then repeated it in reverse: tossed with our left then our right, caught with our left then our right. There's a pattern to it 1-2-pause-2-1-pause-1-2-pause-2-1-pause...

We sat in the grass so we wouldn't have to bend over and retrieve our balls all the time. Then we added the third ball...I'm still on the 2 ball step trying not to drop them. The most I've gotten up to was 3 1/2 sets without dropping. But with three balls, you toss right hand, toss left hand, catch left hand and toss right hand then catch right hand, repeat. Yeah, right. OK. I later bought 3 squishable balls from JoAnn Fabric's (they're supposed to relieve hand stress if you've been sewing for a long time) to use for practice. I wonder if I'll ever be able to do it.

That first night the musical that we attended was The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee performed by students from Westminster College. According to its blurb it's about "Six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn't everything and the losing doesn't necessarily  make you a loser." Just before it started we were "reminded" that it was rated PG-13. Hmm. Yep, it deserved that rating. Yikes. On the whole it was a very funny play and the casting was absolutely perfect. Too bad the boy scout with hormone problems had to be a character.

One interesting thing about the play is that they call 4 audience members up to be in the spelling bee. Two from our group were called up: Jordyn (who was our Cinderella last November) and Melanie, our dental hygienist and  the mom of one of Glen's students (who was our Anne Shirley in December). It wasn't a total surprise that they were called up. If I understand it correctly, during the day they had talked to some people from the show and were told their names might be called and if they were they were just to be themselves and not act. What a riot! Jordyn kept spelling the words correctly so they finally had to call her up twice in a row and give her a ridiculously hard word to get her off the stage. Way to go Jordyn.

OUR ANNIVERSARY:

Marsha, the bus driver, dropped Glen and me off at the St. George temple on her way bringing the kids and other chaperons to that morning's activities. We had been married there just after 9 am on January 21st, 22 years ago...and at 9 we were in the temple performing sealings for some of my dead distant relatives. Very cool. Afterwards we walked the 3/4 mile back to our hotel, changed out of our dress clothes.

While walking another 3/4 mile up to campus we stopped for a few minutes at the cemetery and saw the tombstone of one of Glen's ancestors: Samuel L. Adams.

We made it on campus in time for the teacher's luncheon. We then separated. I walked 3/4 mile back to the Family History Center and looked at some census records while Glen went to class. (Don't ask me why everything turned out to be 3/4 mile distance...the temple, college, and hotel formed a nice triangle for walking). When I was done at the FHC, I went back to the hotel to await the arrival of Melissa.

"OLD" NIECE:

Since Melissa is almost 20, she doesn't really qualify at being old, but compared to newborn Tessa, she is. Anyway, Melissa is currently attending the Paul Mitchell Cosmetology School just outside of St. George. She came and visited for a bit. After a while, Hannah and Glen showed up and we all got to chat. Here is a picture of the cousins:

Friday night I stayed at the hotel with a girl who wasn't feeling well and the others went to see The Miracle Worker performed by Dixie High School.

Saturday I took the bus and went shopping (got a shirt, a book--thanks Deni for my Deseret Book gift card!,--and my juggling balls). I read and worked on some things for Primary until it was time to board the school bus again and head for home. We left about 6 pm Nevada time and got in at 2:45 am, I think.

So, thanks to Kathy, Gary, Jackie, and David for watching the kids we didn't take with us. It was a nice trip, but as always, it's good to be home.