As you all know conference was yesterday and today. It’s not broadcast on TV here unless you have satellite, which we don’t, so we had to listen to it on the internet. At first it seem kind of inconvenient only being able to hear the audio, and not see the video, but then I remembered being a kid and having to see conference at the chapel, and realized that we have it pretty good. As always the talks were great, and they seemed to be just what I needed. I love the gospel, and I’m grateful to have a testimony. I would be unhappy with out it.
(Hannah) Maya Gibson had her 3rd Birthday yesterday, I was asked to make yet another special Hannah Piñata. This one was supposed to be a lady bug. When I took a look at the final product I had to quote Eric by exclaiming “scare ball”. I have never known what he means by that but it fit the occasion. Actually the piñata turned out better than I thought it would. Eric helped me make it the night before and then we left the wet piñata in the office with the window open. Well it was cold that night and the balloon shrunk and the piñata caved in on its self and was still mushy. Eric wanted to put it in the oven and I consented because I was busy getting ready for work. Well ten minutes later I hear Eric yelling and a few minutes after that he presented me in the bathroom with a steaming mass of newspaper. The balloon had swollen due to the sudden heat and then exploded leaving a huge cravas (sp?) with steam poring out of it
(Eric) When we moved to Colorado we were told that the area we live in is not suited for cats. There are too many foxes, coyotes, and turkey vultures. We heard horror stories about people’s cats disappearing, so we decided that our cats could only be out during the day time. This works out fine for Reggie. He is very sociable, and loves to be out side. We have to trick him to come in at night, but for the most part it’s not a problem. Sally on the other hand is scared of everything, so she hates to go outside during the day. Because she can’t go out night, she’s inside 24/7. It wasn’t a problem until recently when we noticed that she had started to scratch on the stairs. She is bored, so she scratches. We have a post for her, but it just wasn’t enough. Reggie, who is really just a follower, figured that if Sally could do it so could he.
We tried everything we could think of, and still they scratched. Finely I read an article on line about scratching. It said that one of the reasons cats scratch is to mark territory. If you spray some kind of citrus spray (which they hate) on the area they won’t be as likely to scratch there…if they have an alternative. Since we’re poor, I didn’t want to buy another scratching post, so I made one. Only cost me six bucks. I didn’t want to pay anything for it, but I couldn’t find any scraps.
After it was built, we started playing with Reggie around the post. As soon as he realized that he could scratch it, he started going crazy. He was clawing at it with all four paws, ripping into one room and then running full blast back to the post and jumping at it with all fours again. He was playing so hard that he started panting. We had to quit playing with him because our bellies hurt from laughing.
(Hannah) Well, you can tell that we have been busy working if the highlight of our week is the new scratching post.
Last Saturday Tsaile Gibson was baptized (she is the daughter of our friends Tim and Holly from Alaska who live by us now). She asked me to give a talk on baptism. There were two other girls their getting baptized, one was Sierra Wolfe. Eric is her home teacher so she asked him the give the talk on the Holy Ghost. So Eric and I were the two speakers for the baptism. It was wonderful to remember the day that I was baptized. Eric gave a great talk and used a rock spray painted gold as the Liahona.
Varenka Beesley Harman, her little boy Cedros and her parents, Colleen and Wayne Beesley came to visit us. It was so nice to see them. Varenka has always been a genuine friend. We went to the Molly Brown house, which is the preserved house of Margaret Brown. If you have seen The Unsinkable Molly Brown you know who I am talking about. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be. Those Beesleys know how to pick the winners. The home was amazing. What was more amazing is that Cedros (2) sat in his stroller through the entire tour. The tour guide even found Varenka afterwards to tell her what a good mom she is.
Varenka and Colleen drove out here but Wayne took the train from Salt Lake after flying in from Mexico. He had just finished a Book of Mormon tour in Mexico and Guatemala. Wayne rocks!! He was so excited about the Book of Mormon tour that he yelled out in the middle of Union Station “It was like freakin’ Sunday school the whole time”!!!! Eric was highly entertained by his enthusiasm. Later he showed us videos of the ruins which convinced Eric and me to work harder so we can afford to go too.
Colleen, Varenka and I also went to a thrift store that they knew about. It was defiantly not a Utah DI. Everything was new or in good shape and not picked through. Colleen stocked up on dress up accessories for her grandkids. She is a wonderful, patient grandmother. The Beesleys are wonderful people who were extremely welcoming when we were teenagers and still are.
Eric has lost 20 lbs and looks great. We just baked banana bread together and are going to take some to the Bishop. Eric promised him some bread for his help with a job referral. We have attempted to make him bread twice before but one batch was nasty and the other batch Eric ate.
And now your moment of ZEN....
Eric and Hannah
