feeling blessed by safety, belongings, and opportunities

Very long story short (I love details to stories but will forbear): This week we had trouble with both Glen's truck (which is already mended) and Hannah's car (which is now dead in the driveway after dying on I-80 near Fernley). Everyone is safe. We are feeling very blessed.

I forgot to mention the other week that Andrew and Heather are now the proud owners of a piano! They live on the second story of their apartment building. Andrew said it took something like 8 helpers to get the piano up the stairs and into place. Congratulations Andrew and Heather! It looks beautiful.

This past week the Regionals Tennis Tournament started off with team play. The boys traveled to Truckee where, sadly, they lost the match to Truckee 11-7, and so they did not continue on in the tournament. Alex played singles and won 1 of his 3 sets. Thomas and his doubles partner, Myles, won all 3 of their sets. Way to go! The girls' Greenwave team, who are undefeated, fared better than the boys and they won the girls' tournament. Yea!

In Truckee this next Friday, the individual's bracket for Regionals will begin. Alex goes up against the #5 seed, a player from N. Tahoe. Since Alex is not ranked in the top 9 in singles, his slot was picked randomly. Thomas and Myles are ranked 5th in doubles and play against the #12 seed.

The difference I see between regionals for team brackets and for individual brackets--in individual, after the first round, you might wind up with your teammate as your opponent.

Anyway, the top 3 seeds in each category will go on to State. Good luck, Greenwave!

Glen and I got to go to the temple on Saturday to help support our nephew, Joseph, who is getting ready to leave on his mission to Tallahassee, Florida next month. It was a wonderful evening and we're so excited for Joseph in his new path. 

I finally have a smartphone...and getting it turned out to be a very frustrating experience. I spent a total of almost 4 hours on the phone in several phone calls over a few weeks' time span to finally get one up and running (at first they sent me one that didn't work in my area and it took hours for them to figure out why my new cell phone wouldn't activate). Now I just have to learn how to use it.

Hannah has already started giving me lessons...the first lesson being last night at 11:30 pm when we bumped into Hannah and Rusty in Walmart. We had stopped on the way back from the temple so we could buy ice cream to help us celebrate Alex's 16th birthday on Monday (more accurate--the ice cream is for us to celebrate his last day of being 15 today since Hannah will be back in Reno on Monday and won't be here to celebrate his birthday). Anyway, it was funny. I will need many more lessons.

We took the first photo on my new phone:

Apple Hill and other things

A day in Camino, California was the plan to help celebrate 2 of my friends' birthdays. In Camino we enjoyed what's known as Apple Hill. There are many farms that participate in the fun. It's food (lots of apple choices, of course) and craft booths of all sorts in a beautiful setting.

squatting down (to not get muddy) was tough

checking out other photo options

fun art work

Alex's last home tennis game was Tuesday. Next week is when Regionals start. Alex and Thomas did such a great job. We were playing against S. Tahoe, who are undefeated. Alex and Thomas won their first game, went to a tie-breaker for their second game (where they lost), and then won their 3rd game. We think the final score for the match was 5 to 13, with Alex and Thomas having 2 of the 5 wins. It was great!


Loved these clouds the other day.

And it's General Conference weekend. I know it's not about candy, but the candy part is fun and really helps us to listen.

Our chosen words to listen for this time: scout(ing), trust, snowman, reach, uh-oh, purity, revelation, future, blessing, and Giants. Doubt we'll be hearing a few of those, but you never know. Guess which one is Henry's...

So far my "trust" and Alex's "blessing" seem to be in the lead. So many truly great messages and stories. What a blessing to have this marvelous opportunity to listen to these inspired men and women. And today's sessions are already online to be re-watched: https://www.lds.org/general-conference

Looking forward to more tomorrow!