I used to sit down every Sunday and write a letter to Peter detailing the events of the family and family members over the past week and giving my opinions about the state of the world, nation, state and city.
I haven’t done much of that lately.
Things are still happening, and I suppose that I still have opinions, but I don’t feel as pressed and another week passes and I haven’t updated my blog.
My sister-in-law told me before I even started to blog, that blogspot has a feature that after a year or whatever other period you want to define, you can print out all the things that you have put on your blog into a book.
I think that is a great idea to preserve all of this in hard copy, but, of course, if you don’t write anything you don’t have anything to save, so here is the recap of another stretch of time.
On February 24, 2009, our new president Obama spoke to the joint branches of the legislature. I am continually amazed at what a charismatic and dynamic fellow he is, but I couldn’t quite make out what he was thinking. He spoke of many admirable ways that he was going to fix the economy, what programs he was going to develop, fund, create, etc. and how he was NOT going to raise taxes—it was a wonderful speech, but I am still wondering how he will do it. –and now it is two weeks later and all we have seen happen is that the stock market continues to bottom out. Every day I think it won’t drop further than this, but in fact it does. It sits at the lowest it has been in twelve years. Hmmm. Anyway…
Paul continues his recovery from his surgery and the adjustment to having a stent in his back. It is still a journey. He is feeling well. He goes to work every day, and is resuming all the things that he normally does. On Saturday, the 28th he went on a Back Country Horsemen Trail Ride to Puddle Valley. I have been on this particular ride twice and didn’t go on this trip, but Paul left early and didn’t come home until the late afternoon. He was tired, but not in any particular pain and had a good time, in spite of some of the “stupid” riders who were there. (One lady was such a poor rider and afraid of her horse that she got off and walked part of the way, falling way behind. Finally someone gave her another “less scary” mount and she got bucked off of that horse. Both situations ended up with a loose horse. She’ll probably never come on another ride.)
I didn’t go on the ride because Saturday was the Stake Education Day. I had signed up to work in the kitchen—there was a light breakfast served and then a keynote speaker followed by a choice of four breakout sessions. Each ward was asked to provide one sister who would help with ferrying food out to the cultural hall and various levels of preparation within the kitchen. I volunteered to do that since nobody usually signs up for that job. After I finished in the kitchen, I passed out programs in the chapel in preparation for the keynote speaker meeting to begin.
I remember wondering when I was a young married about older women thinking that there wasn’t that much that directly pertained to them anymore. I had for the first time that feeling in this Education Day. The theme was about teaching children, and teens about reasons to stay morally clean. And the breakout sessions were teaching your children about child abuse, preparing boys to serve missions, talking to your teens and understanding young adults. I went to the break out session on understanding young adults, but it missed my mark. The keynote speaker was interesting and well spoken, but I felt like I was hearing stuff I didn’t need to hear. You were supposed to go to two breakout sessions, but after the first one, I left and went home. I was disgruntled or unhappy, but I had other things to do at home, and I had been there an hour early to help in the kitchen and I was just ready to go home. I wasn’t sorry that I went, and I thought it was a lovely event, but I can understand what older women are thinking now, when they feel that things don’t pertain to them as much as they age.
It was a good job I came home early anyway, because shortly after I got home Erika called. She and her roommates were thinking about a quick trip down to SLC/Provo to “hang out” with some other friends who were already in SLC/Provo for the weekend. 
They were going to leave Rexburg at about 3:00, then spend the evening in our area and then go back to Rexburg on Sunday morning. I moved into my white tornado mode, changed the sheets in K.C.’s room, they hadn’t been changed since K.C. was home for Christmas. But Erika’s bed already had clean sheets. I spotted the old dog pee spots in K.C.’s room and vacuumed and dusted and generally got the house in order. When Paul got home from his horse ride we made a trip to Home Depot for the final additions to the bathroom that Paul has been working on since Christmas, the fixtures, towel rack, hook, toilet paper holder, new door knob etc.—and I stopped in at Albertson’s and picked up a few items for dinner for the girls when they got here. We hurried home and I set the table and started the cheese and broccoli soup, when the girls arrived. They dumped their junk upstairs, and old friends of Erika’s from Brighton stopped in for an hello!. Then the boys that they were going to hang out with arrived and stayed for a few more minutes and then the whole house emptied.
While they were gone for the evening, I jumped on the computer downstairs and did Erika’s federal and state tax return, copied the documents that needed copies, prepared the envelopes, and got everything ready for her to sign. Then on Sunday morning before breakfast, I was able to have her sign the two returns and put them in the envelopes and closed them for mailing. (I mailed them on Monday, they are gone and off my list of things to do.) It was fun to have Erika here for even the tiny time that she was here. I enjoy her very much and it was nice to meet her roommates and have a table with every seat filled again.
Sunday, after church meetings, I began scanning another of the ‘Kern’ family scrapbooks. When Paul’s dad passed away we got a storage box with about 12-13 scrapbooks in it. Some of them were papers and documents and these I think were originally organized and put in binders by Paul’s mom. Others were just scrapbooks with photographs and stuff like that. Jared Kern (Richard’s son) asked about them recently and wanted to scan some pictures, so that was the incentive to begin scanning them and to post them on the internet so all family members would have access to them. I have been working away on this project for the last couple of weeks, spending a couple of days each week working on them. It takes a long time to scan documents. Some I make into jpgs, and some into PDF files. Either way, the new scanner/printer/copier that we just bought works wonderfully. I finished this week the letters (that remain) that Paul’s grandfather, Alfred, sent when he was serving in World War I. I am now working on the letters that Reese Kern sent to his parents during his early marriage, from World War II and Korean War. It is not a comprehensive set, but a selection of his experiences. These are really treasures and I am glad to be preserving them.
On Sunday evening, I attended a meeting at the Stake Center about a celebration that is being organized for the youth of this area to commemorate the dedication and opening of the Draper Temple. It will be in the conference center on May 29. It will be a singing and dancing extravaganza. Different combinations of stakes will be doing different numbers—each with something to do with the history of Draper, ethnic groups that are in the area, events that happened in the past or present etc. Our stake is part of three stakes that is doing a number about an early in the century baseball team that included general authorities of one kind or another. I want Erika to be involved in this celebration, who knows when there will be another opportunity; the last one was when the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated. They didn’t do one for the opening of the Jordan River Temple and who knows when they will build another temple in the Salt Lake Valley and we won’t have any youth from our family ever again, sooo—I got permission from Teresa Curtis, our stake chairwoman, for her to participate and I volunteered to be a helping person, so that I can participate and attend as well. This might be a fun thing to be involved with anyway.
Working on the family documents on Paul’s side of the family and getting them posted up on our personal family history website has kicked me into motion again on the Gates side of the family history. On Monday, I went downtown to the Family History Library to see if I could get some pictures that I wanted to attach to some family histories that I have been compiling. I have been working on the Gilbert Marion Gates line at the present time, and I was trying to get some pictures from a book that I remember looking at years ago in the library called Devoted Empire Builders. It had pictures of Wellington F. Gates and Emma Forsberry in it. I turned out that the book wasn’t a book but a poorly resolved microfilm of the book. By the time I scanned it, and then brought it home and then looked at the pictures, they didn’t look like faces at all, but grey scale pictures of bowls of rice pudding. Sad. But the day wasn’t a total loss. I came across a book that I had tried to find ten years ago, entitled Hardy and Hardie Past and Present. I was able to get a lot of good information of the Augustus Hardy Line from that book and I was happy about it. I scanned all the pages that I needed to and felt that it was a productive use of my time to find it. It made me want to go and spend time in the library again and I will probably have to when I move to other branches of the family.
Monday evening I was a volunteer at the Draper Temple Open House. Paul and I were supposed to work together on that evening, but Paul ended up having to go to a follow-up appointment regarding his surgery, so he didn’t go. I worked in the foyers of the Stake Center, seeing people who had just come out of the temple—on their way to eat cookies. It was the second time that I have been a volunteer and I am happy that I got to be a part of this experience.
Wednesday night this week was Bibliobabes at Marina Collins’ home. I always have a fun time visiting with these women. The book this time was My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. This book posed some interesting moral questions and there was quite a bit to talk about, but generally speaking the group didn’t care much for this book. I don’t think it was the debate and ethics that people objected to, it was just kind of shallow writing. It is hard to follow Jude the Obscure and The Story of Edward Sawtell. Anyway, I think Marina felt bad that people didn’t like her book as well as some, but nevertheless there was some lively conversation about this book and the subject. It was generally a medically themed novel about a girl who wants to declare medical emancipation from her sister, who needs to have a kidney transplant and for whom she is a perfect donor match. There are a whole series of subplots as well. Next month it is The Gernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I have begun it and am already enjoying it. Mostly I enjoy being with clever and smart women from a variety of situations and educational backgrounds and ages that have a lot to say and who aren’t afraid to say it. My life is richer because I belong to a book club. (Two actually.)
This week the Productions Class at Brighton High School put on their competition piece as theatre in the evenings this week. I had visited with Phaidra Atkinson, the drama coach and teacher, about this play earlier this month and was curious about it. It is a light piece with lots of physical comedy in it and I was curious about it. The play is called The Rules of Comedy. Paul wasn’t particularly interested in attending so I went on Friday night by myself. It is a competition piece so it is only forty minutes long, and so I was home by 8:30p.m. It was an interesting and entertaining experience, and I always like to see what high school kids manage to pull together. I did have quite a few laughs.
Saturday night Paul and I went on a “date”. Paul had missed his chance to see the Draper Temple as part of the volunteer staff, which I had twice and wanted a chance to see the temple and so we went to the Open House. Because of the demand and the parking available at the temple, visitors began at one of four chapels and then were bused up to the temple for the tour. Visitors were shown a short DVD about the history of Draper and the purposes of the temple, and then shuttled onto buses for the six-minute ride to the temple where a docent on the bus gave another informational chat. The temple is really very beautiful. This temple has two stage endowment rooms, which are quite small and intimate, the first room of the endowment session has beautiful murals all around, one with mountain scenes and the other with fall trees and foliage. Both are very intricately painted and magnificent. The Celestial Room is also relatively small, but is four stories high with a fabulous chandelier, which hangs from a copula in the ceiling. There was a mob scene at the temple with literally thousands of people. We were in line about a half an hour before getting into the temple. Many people want to share in the experience of a new temple. It was a nice way to end the week, and a great preparation for the Sabbath.
I finally finished up the quilt that has been languishing for a year waiting for me to complete the hand quilting part of it. 
This one is for Philip and has T-shirts and sweatshirts from his college days and from when he worked at the Utah Republican Party (his "part-time/full-time job during some of the time that he was attending college.) I have had it sitting in a corner waiting to be finished since last April, and I will hand it off to Philip this coming weekend. It is nice to have another project completed.
I include two pictures of the Carriage House in its various stages of completion, (during the framing process and as it looked at the beginning of the winter) 
