lots of reasons to celebrate!

I was excited to speak with my dad for a few minutes yesterday.  It was his 76th birthday.  He sounds good.  He's living in an assisted care home and doing well.  I was thinking about my grandmother after we called and realized that she would have been 101 on this upcoming Saturday.  I think that we need to do something to celebrate Grace's namesake.  We shall see!

I spent my morning playing cards with Carol's mother, who's 89 and her daughter, Madi.  We had a game of hand and foot, then went our separate ways.  I had a list of three things that needed to be done and I could only remember two of them for hours.  I went out to visit with Doug at work and had lunch with him in the car, which is always sweet. The kids had an early YM/YW activity, so Doug came home from work, had a bite to eat and we hottubbed along until his bedtime. ONLY FIVE MORE 8PM bedtimes before his shift becomes a normal one after all these years!!!  HAPPINESS!!

We talked quite a bit about the people who had not come to work due to the layoff.  He's truly sad for some of the people... a few single moms, a close friend, many friend...all of them, really.  Again, we are counting our blessings and giving thanks that he still has his job. I can not imagine being the one to decide who goes and who stays in a situation like that.  It would be so hard!  There's a huge Utah company, that through the years, has had layoff after layoff for decades.  We've watched our friends struggle before for weeks with fear and after with reality of being laid off.  Honestly, I don't know how they endured that fear for so long.  Times are hard and we are thankful to have survived this one!

Highlight of the day...

So, last week, Grace was asked to Homecoming and declined because she had to work and, quite honestly, because she went on a date with this boy last year and felt very uncomfortable with him because he persisted in wanting to leave the group and go to his house alone with her.  She thanked him graciously and told him that she would have to work that night.

Fast forward to last night.  At 9:15, our doorbell rang and there was this note and candy dish on our front porch.

 

When you turned the note over, it had four boys names and a combination attached to each boy.  The instructions were to unlock the clue to know who was asking her.  Grace was so nervous and excited, she said, "Mom!  YOU DO IT!"  So, I'd enter the combination and hand her the lock to pull and see if it was the right combo.

 

 

When we got to the right combination and she knew who it was that was asking, she was so excited, she squealed!  The boy is our cute neighbor, Kendall, who is Layne and Julie's son.  He goes to Logan High School, not Grace's school.  So, the awkwardness of telling the other boy no is not an issue.  She will have to get off work too.  That's still an issue.  But, she's excited to go to Homecoming!  We're not even sure if the dance is formal or casual, like Grace's school.  They are on the same night.  She's slightly excited about this, can you tell?!

 

 

My favorite thing was, as she was getting ready for bed, she was bearing the hugest grin and said, "I'm a junior.  I'm really a junior."  Too cute!  Now, today's project is for her to accept in a cute and clever way, as well!  So much fun!

 

Her brother, on the other hand, has had no interest in going to the dance in his senior year.  He doesn't want to spend his money!