Playing in the Pool - June 6, 2015

Saturday - June 6th

We sat around and relaxed most of the morning, then around noon, we decided to set up the pool.  It was hot and sunny, with no clouds when we went out, but as we started filling the pool, clouds started to gather.  We played in the pool for as long as we could before the storm came.  Alissa's friend, Malaiyah and Parker, spent most of the time running and jumping in then out of the pool.  Malaiyah kept falling, so I took lots of pictures, hoping to get some good action shots.  she makes funny faces when she is jumping and falling.  The kids were excited to see the pictures when we were finished.  They all thought it was funny.
We also tried to make a redneck waterbed from the plastic sheeting that was covering one of the twin size mattresses we bought a couple of months ago.  I thought it would work perfect and be fun, but I was wrong.  turns out there are little holes through out the sheeting.  There were too many of them and we weren't able to patch them all up.  Next time I'll buy plastic sheeting.

The missionaries stopped by while we were out at the pools and asked if they could come over for their meeting with Malaiyah a little earlier than we had originally scheduled.  So, we cleaned up and put the pools away a little earlier than planned.  It wasn't a big deal, there was a storm coming and we would of had to clean up because of the storm.

After the missionaries came, the kids were bored.  I had made a list with ideas of things they could do to whenever they get bored.  One of the things on the list was to have a cooking type contest where you use a few ingredients and see who can make the best food out of it.  We used nacho cheese doritos, honey nut cheerios, peanut butter, and syrup.  Then we had Kylie and Tayson come over and be the judges.  They didn't know who made what.  It was kind of funny.  They liked all of them.  I don't remember who won.  I forgot to get pictures while we were doing it, but here is what the aftermath looked like.

Trying to Function with out Hands - June 5, 2015

Friday - June 5th

Alissa and Malaiyah were bored, so they decided to tape up their hands and try to do everything they could think of with their hands taped up.  I watched them as they struggled to eat, write something, take their socks off, and I think they tried to put them back on.  I can't remember all they did, I wasn't paying that close of attention.  Anyway, they are funny kids.

Another Windy Night - June 3, 2015

Wednesday - June 3rd

We had another big wind storm tonight.  This one was worse than the last one.  It happened right before it got dark.  I'm hoping people will post pictures of the destruction in the morning.  The dumpster in our parking lot was pushed back and blown sideways, the fence was starting to break, and a neighbor's rain gutter was about to blow off the last time I looked out the window.  I couldn't stare out the window very much because Brinley and her friend, Teirnynn (who I was babysitting) were afraid.  It was pretty exciting.  The storm came in quickly.  Everything was calm and normal outside.  I sat down to work on some scrapbooking on the computer while Brinley, Parker, and Teirnynn played a game next to me.  I thought I heard a knock on the door, so I went to check.  I just barely turned the doorknob when the wind blew the door wide open.  The kids all came running.  We were so surprised and so shocked by how strong the wind was blowing.  We got the door shut and ran over to the window to watch the storm.  That's when the wind moved the dumpsters and it looked like the 2 trucks parked right outside were going to blow over.  Brinley and Teirnynn got really scared.  they both thought a tornado was coming and they begged me to say a prayer with them so they could feel safe.  We said a prayer then turned on the TV, to help cover up the sound of the wind.  They had a hard time not thinking about it.  Brinley was so scared, she was shaking.  They are funny girls.  Eventually the storm calmed down and we are all okay.

After the storm, Alissa started heading up the stairs, but stopped when she noticed the door to the attic was open.  It kind of freaked us all out.  I'm not quite sure how the storm did that.  I took a picture and sent it to Roger with a text mentioning something about being scared and somebodies living in the attic.  I can't remember exactly what I said, but it made him laugh.  I read a story a few months ago about a family, that experienced some strange thing, like weird noises and things disappearing from their home.  Eventually they found out that a homeless man had been living in their attic.  That's what this reminded me of.  I knew that wasn't the case, but it still freaked me out a little.

Alissa's friend, Malaiyah went to Young women's with her tonight.  Malaiyah was really nervous about being the new girl and nervous about how they would treat her.  She has never been to any church thing before.  Alissa said they had fun, but Malaiyah felt like the other girls were looking at her funny and she didn't really feel welcome.  I feel bad about that.  I wish it would have gone better.  I had really bad experiences when I first started Young Women's.  I didn't have any friends.  None of the girls liked me.  It was rough.  I hated church and never wanted to go.  It didn't get better until I was 16 years old and we had a big ward boundary change.  Anyway, I know that when I was treated so poorly and had no friends I wanted nothing to do with the church.  It wasn't until the boundary change, where they divided us in a way that we created a new ward, that things got better.

I worry about how things will go for Malaiyah.  I'm excited for her to be learning about the church.  I really hope that the girls in the ward do a better job to make her feel welcome.  She really needs to feel accepted and welcome.  She is a really cute, fun, nice girl, but she has low self esteem.  Anyway, I just hope things go better next time.  She told Alissa that she will go to Young women's with her one more time, but if things are the same as this time, she won't be going back.

Playing at North Park park - June 2, 2015

Tuesday - June 2nd

We went to North Park Park to play for a little while today.  They call it North Park Park, to clarify that they are talking about the park and not the elementary school, North Park.  Parker's friend, Jeshua, lives close to North Park Park.  Parker's been wanting to play with him really bad, so we headed over to the park, hoping to see him.  The kids all had fun playing.  Malaiyah and Teirnynn came with us.  Since we were so close to Erin's house, she walked over and met us here.  After about 45 minutes or so of playing, Jeshua and his brother came walking over to the park to play.  Parker and Jeshua spent the rest of the time playing baseball.

 As we were gathering our stuff to leave the park, a group of boys about Parker's age, threw a baseball and hit Parker in the back.  It hit him hard and he had a big red welt on his back.  The punk kids just pointed and laughed.  I was so mad.  I wanted to just freak out and yell and make those kids feel bad for what they did.  I felt really bad for Parker.  It hurt him really bad physically and emotionally.  Bullies are no good!

When we were all done playing and our friend's had all gone home, I came up to my room to sit in front of the fan, watch a show and do a puzzle.  I love relaxing that way.  The kids came up to talk to me and got distracted by the fan.  Parker's extra large shirt was a lot of fun.

"Winds"day - June 1, 2015

Monday - June 1st

We had a big wind storm tonight.  It came in very quickly and suddenly.  It was so nice and sunny all day.  It's crazy how quickly it all changed.  Somebody posted this picture on Facebook of the storm as it was blowing in to Tremonton.

The missionaries came over tonight.  Alissa's friend Malaiyah is having the missionary discussions and since there are only girls living at her house, they came to our house for the discussion, so there is another male present.  I'm really glad that she is interested.  Since her and Alissa have been friends, Malaiyah has had a lot of questions about the church.  she was really curious and wanted to learn more.  Alissa and another friend of theirs have taught her what they could about the church.  Alissa invited her to go to Activity Days with her and after they turned 12, she invited her to come to some of her Young Women's activities.  She was never able to come, because her mom's boyfriend said no.  Malaiyah got the impression from the way he acted about the church stuff that he really didn't like it and he wanted her to stay away from it.  She had gone to Activity Days with a friend once before we met her and she said that he got really mad at her for that.  So, she was really afraid to ask even, because she knew he would say no.  anyway, so she was never able to go to anything with Alissa, but Alissa still asked.  Last year, we had the missionaries over and she was at our house when they came.  Malaiyah was so worried about her mom's boyfriend getting mad at her, that she insisted she would wait in the kitchen and play the computer or something until they left.  She was afraid that he would get mad at her if he found out that she had been talking to the missionaries.

About a month ago, missionaries I hadn't met yet, stopped by.  We talked for a little while and they asked if we knew anybody who might be interested.  I told them about Malaiyah.  I explained how her mom's boyfriend had been against it, but they broke up and she is with someone else now.  I hadn't met her new boyfriend, so I don't know what he's like, and I don't know how her mom feels about the church, but I thought maybe now they would be more open to it.

I was so excited when Malaiyah told us they had made an appointment with the missionaries.  It turns out her mom's new boyfriend is a member of the church.  It seems like Malaiyah is really excited to learn.  Alissa is really excited too! 

So Last night, the missionaries, Malaiyah, and her family came over.  We all enjoyed it and I definitely felt the spirit.

Back to the "Winds"day thing.  When everyone came over for the missionary discussion, it was nice and sunny outside.  In the middle of the discussion, it suddenly got darker and we could hear the wind.  It was crazy to look out and see how the weather had changed so drastically and so quickly.  It was kind of exciting.  The wind was blowing so hard.  When the discussion was over, we all had to go out and look at the weather.  It was fun to be out in the wind when it was blowing that hard.

I watched an episode of Storm Stories yesterday and it was really funny to me, because the lady they interviewed was like me in that she never thinks the worst or that something bad might happen.  This is a problem I have.  When something bad happens, my brain doesn't seem to realize or see that this situation is bad.  Examples:  I watched my neighbor's house get robbed when I was thirteen.  I walked by their house and waved to the robbers as they were carrying out the microwave and the tv.  It never dawned on me that anything bad could be happening.  I thought that they were my friend's uncles.  I stared at them for a while, thinking about how her uncle looks nothing like I would have expected.  Then I wondered about why they were borrow so much of their stuff.  I wondered how my friend's family was going to get by for a while without that stuff, but then I thought, maybe they are buying new stuff so they are giving this to their uncle.  Anyway, the bad guys nervously waved back and me and my little sisters skipped along the rest of the way to go play at the school playground.

Another example: I had a peeping tom when I was 22.  I always felt creeped out and like I was being watched at the apartments I was living in, but I thought it was my imagination.  One night, Roger was over and we were talking.  I happened to glance over at the window during our conversation and through the broken part of my blinds, I saw some eyes staring back at me.  I did a double take to make sure of what I was seeing.  The first thought that came to me was that one of my friends must be playing a joke, so I'm smiling and looking at the eyes, asking Roger who he thinks is out there.  I'm like, "What one of our friends is playing a joke on us?"  Then Roger looks over, sees the eyes and knows immediately that it is trouble.  He angrily jumps up, goes to the window, and flings open the blinds.  The guy outside jumps up.  Roger starts yelling at him through the window, then takes off running outside to chase him down.  The guy managed to get away.  I didn't realize anything was wrong until Roger jumped up and was angry.  My brain just never thinks the worse.  I have a lot of stories like that, where something bad is happening or I am in danger, but I don't realize it until somebody points it out or saves me.

So, the lady on storm stories, lives in Canada in an area that does not get tornadoes. She lives in a trailer park with her husband and 3 kids.  Her husband is at work and she is home with her kids.  It is a nice sunny day and they are outside playing.  The look up and see a storm moving in really fast, so she gets the kids inside, then she heads back out to put their bikes and the toys away.  While she's outside, she looks up and is in awe at how fast the clouds are moving.  She's never seen anything like it and she's thinking it is really cool.  The wind has picked up and is getting really strong.  She's surprised by how strong it's blowing.  A big gust blows her over and knocks her into the fence.  She laughs it off and is thinking, Wow!  that was crazy!  She not worried, she's just in awe and a little entertained by how different this storm is.  Then she sees the roof blow off of her neighbors trailer.  She said when she saw that she laughed a little and was thinking, wow, he is going to be quite surprised when he gets home.  She still didn't realize there was any danger.  She finished picking up the toys and went inside.  Her and her kids gathered by the window to watch the storm.  while they were watching, a trailer across the street got picked up and blown away.  That's when her brain finally realized that this was bad and they were in danger.  Her and the kids had no where to run, because they were in a trailer also.  She said they tried to climb into a closet, but it was too full and they couldn't get in, so they just huddled together in the closet doorway.  Then a neighboring trailer smashed into theirs.  When it was all over, they were okay.  Their trailer didn't fly away, because it was pinned down by the neighbor's trailer.  They were lucky to have survived with only a few cuts and bruises.  I just thought it was funny, that she was oblivious to the danger.  I've never met or heard of anybody else like that.  It makes me laugh and it was really funny to hear her tell it and her initial reaction to things.  She was a funny lady.

The kids and I were feeling really tired of living in this town house tonight.  I suggested we go for a walk, but it's not fun walking around near the townhouses, so we walked to the nearest "normal" neighborhood. A normal neighborhood in my opinion is a neighborhood filled with houses and no townhouses or apartments.
We had a nice walk.  I discovered a panorama setting on my phone camera, so we took some pictures.  The kids each took a turn trying it out.  Brinley's friend, Layla was out riding her bike around, so Brinley stopped and played with her for a little while.  It was a really nice, enjoyable walk.