A Weekend of Memories

This weekend was one of those crazy-yet-good ones. It's kind of a relief to have the kids back in school and a return to normality... for the most part.

Saturday morning, Josh and Peter got to attend STEMosphere, an event put on at DU that allowed kids to explore science. Josh went early and joined with his team of three girls from his school to create a contraption that would crack an egg into a pan without getting shells in it. Peter wasn't on a team, so he was able to go on a school bus a little later, but he was able to explore and experiment with the different exhibits. One he particularly liked was building a tower. I understand that there was also a snow cone machine that was powered by riding a bicycle. Josh's teacher took this video of his group at the judging of their contraption:

Peter arrived home on the bus a little after 12:30. Josh didn't return home until about 3:30 in the afternoon, but I think that they both had a lot of fun.

Also on Saturday, I took Steven to the airport. He flew to California to attend his brother David's wedding, which took place at 7:00 this morning at Disneyland.

Saturday evening, Hannah and I attended the General Women's Broadcast. I loved the messages about the temple and especially President Uchtdorf's talk about trusting in our loving Heavenly Father.

____________________________________________________

Sunday morning we got up and got to church at our normal time. I put up the numbers for the hymns we would be singing in sacrament meeting, adjusted my music stand and prepared for the meeting. About five minutes before the meeting was to begin, I noticed that our organist hadn't arrived yet. I went over and opened up the organ and started to play prelude, praying that the organist would arrive soon. With just a minute or two before the meeting was to begin, and still no organist, I gestured to the young woman who is an assistant ward music director and she came up and prepared to lead the music. Just as the bishopric member stood to begin the meeting, the organist finally walked in the door. I gratefully relinquished the organ bench and went around to my place, and the young woman returned to her seat in the congregation.

As I led the opening hymn that morning, I had several thoughts:

1. I was very grateful that the organist showed up when she did. If I'd had to play that particular opening song on the organ, it wouldn't have been pretty. 
2. I should probably practice playing the organ more frequently just in case I do ever end up playing for sacrament meeting. I am hopelessly out of practice.
3. I enjoy singing, and that song, "The Lord is My Light," is a fun song to sing.

The talks in sacrament meeting were given by our stake Young Women's president and a high councilor from our own ward. (We got our high council speakers this week instead of last because our primary program was last week.) The YW President told of a motorcycle trip she went on up the California coast, and an adventure of losing the keys to the rented follower car on the beach while digging for sand crabs. She related it to being spiritually self-reliant, and it was a really fun talk to listen to. It brought back lots of pleasant memories for me of trips to the beach as a child. Just after the closing prayer, as I was sitting next to her on the stand, I let her know how much I enjoyed her talk. She told me how much she admired Hannah's creativity, and I showed her the duct tape purse that Hannah had made and given to me. 

A minute later, as I was heading down the aisle of the chapel towards the exits, an older man I didn't know grabbed me by the arm and held onto me as he finished a conversation with our ward's assigned high councilor. A little bit startled, I waited until he turned to me. 

"You don't know me, and you'll probably never see me again, but I wanted to tell you that you glow. Where did you learn so much about music?"

"My parents taught me, mostly" I told him, wondering what glowing had to do with music, and if I might be glowing just because I was so grateful that I hadn't had to play the organ!

We talked for a few moments. He told me that he and his wife were visiting with his nonmember mother-in-law, who was 96 years old, before they leave to serve a mission in New York City. Eventually he let go of my arm and allowed me to continue on my way to Sunday School. 

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully. I attended Sunday School and Relief Society. After church, I took Hannah to a presidency meeting, did a crossword puzzle and played games with the kids. We watched a bunch of videos on lds.org after dinner, and got to talk to Steven on the phone before the kids went to bed. 

Steven told us about attending church at our old ward in Rancho Santa Margarita, the wedding rehearsal, and how he gets to ride on a firetruck since he is one of the groomsmen. It sounded like fun, if not the reverent, spiritual kind of wedding that a temple marriage would be. At any rate, I wish David and Nicole happiness and the best of luck in marriage and life together.