Lucy

Well ever since Scrabble went off facebook everything went crazy at my house. Now that Scrabble is back on Facebook I can't seem to get it together to play every night. For those of you who don't "facebook" it is a way of playing those Lindgren games across the miles with other family members. My plan is to start playing this week. That is, after two back to school nights, three cheerleading practices, two piano lessons, one voice lesson, three cross country practices and one cross country meet. Pre-school with my 4 year old niece and a few football and volleyball games to watch Rachel cheer. Laminating at the middle school and copy mom at the high school then help out with testing this week at the elementary school.

Until I typed it out I didn't realize how ridiculous my schedule is. I am doing elementary, middle and high school this year and I feel like I have 10 kids. We also plan to double date this week with my new sis-in-law. Dave's brother Chris (age 38) found the love of his life and we celebrated their wedding August 30th. I am so glad they are married!!! She is so fun.

Dave turned 40 Today so last Friday I invited over 100 people to his surprise party. We had a great time and Dave felt loved! We are having the best weather in Boise. You should all move here. Approx 85 and sunny for about 3 weeks now. Funny how happy the weather makes us. We were in Seattle in August and the weather was perfect every day. Too bad we know how rainy and cloudy it is most of the time. Ammon and Angela were great to show us the best sites and being with them was great.

We went camping in August near a lake and in the middle of the night I heard light scratching on the tent. The next morning I found spiders as large as my thumb under the awnings of our tent having laid their sacs of baby spiders. The next night I heard them again and went to sleep with prayers of gratitude for Heavenly Fathers creations and hope that they would not crawl on me. The next morning I woke up early to Dave shining the flashlight on two of them fighting over a spot just outside the netting of our tent as to who got to lay their eggs there. Dave destroyed them with the back of a flash light later. So much for my appreciation of Heavenly Fathers creations. I am not so sure I love camping like I used to. One of the ladies in our group got West Nile Virus from a mosquito there also. She has a low immune system so she has really been fighting it. I was thinking about putting together some camping trip next summer up to Red Fish lake in the Sawtooths. But until I get over my "Sick of Camping" attitude I may not.

I have a single mom living with me right now. She has been through a bad divorce and really trying to get on her feet. She helps me remember my blessings everyday. I lost a dear friend on August 5. She was 79 years old and a true full of life kind of lady. Her death has caused me great reflection the last month or so. She had a wonderful relationship with her husband and she always had a kind word for me and everyone. She always told me she loved me. I really miss that. I remember missing that on my Mission in the Philippines. Not being able to hear my parents say "I Love you" every time we hung up the phone. I am trying to show more love and be even more patient with my children. They are bringing me great joy but only when I remember I too am learning.

Rachel sang in Church last week. A 10 year old girl in the ward told her if she were in the Olympics with her voice she would have recieved a "Gold medal". We too enjoyed watching the Olympics. I especially love the synchronized swimming. I seriously was very impressed.

The state of the economy has caused Dave some great stress at work, but in our relationship and personal lives we feel closer than ever. I guess that makes us grateful for the challenges life brings us.

We are all healthy and taking our vitamins. We hope all is well for you.

Love, Lucy