I feel very rushed tonight. I have been working on a test for UTIPS, the online testing service that Utah has and I finally have that finished for my class tomorrow. But I started about 4:30p.m. so it took longer than I wanted it to. I had to go in and make a post on the class I took on webpages for the district and now I am here. I wanted to post here because I had some things I wanted to say but I also was hoping to get more of my Scope and Sequence up on my school website for Teenliving and Foods. If you want to see my school website it is at www.davis.k12.ut.us/staff/dpresser/

Brooke had a birthday party at Classic Skating last Saturday so Larry and I went to that. Jake and Nikki were there with their family and a lot of Jon's family. They had rented the Karoke room and the kids enjoyed the singing and laser tag before we left. Larry enjoyed the BYU Football game on big screen the most. They had Pizza and drinks and cake and ice cream complete with Halloween spiders and dracula teeth. My cousin Kimo was there with his family as we got there so it was fun to see him. He has several children who live around here even though he is still in Mona.

Saturday morning we went to part of Ethan and Jaron's soccer games. It was really raining at Ethan's but it wasn't too bad at Jaron's. It started raining and then snowing after that. Sunday morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow. It has dramatically cooled off, too. Today it was really cool at the school because the district does not want to turn the boilers on because it might get hot again (which is what the weatherman was predicting tonight for next weekend.)

Friday Night we went with Maren and Landon to their stake's production of "Savior of the World". It was wonderful. I have never been to a stake production that had so much talent. Everyone who sang had such a wonderful voice. Shelly Coray was the music director for the production so that is one reason that Kimo was up this way. They were at the production also. Jimmy was also in the production. They both did a fabulous job. Maren said that Shelley was also involved in the hair design, she is a beautician like Maren. Maren and Landon had to leave a little early because Brinlie had had enough but they got to see most of it.

My class this semester is on Thursday's so I was busy there. Larry came home to work on homework and I went home on the Trax and Frontrunner. It worked out well so I was happy. We are working on a project for the Huntsman Cancer Center to help patients understand their chemotherapy in my class this time so I am getting some experience in the real world of IDET.

Wednesday I had Parent Teacher Conferences. Larry had homework to work on so he came and picked me up after. I should have had them on also on Thursday but I was able to take off for my class and leave notes for the parents on how to contact me. The conferences went well but it was a long day.

Tuesday Larry worked on Homework and I worked on grades for Parent Teacher Conferences so everything would be up to date. I was up quite late getting it all done but felt good that I could face parents with everything caught up.

I have decided that while I am alone on Monday evenings I will do something that will help me keep in contact with my children and grandchildren on Monday evenings. Sometimes lately Maren and Landon have invited me to be with them on Monday's but last Monday I spent the evening finally getting everything ready for Misty's birthday (which was August 28th so there is nothing slow about me.) I also prepared some things for Leah's birthday which was that night, Oct. 6th, but then I didn't get it to the post office until Saturday. I tried to call Leah but no one was answering so they were probably out having fun.

Last Saturday and Sunday was General Conference for the LDS Church. It was really a good conference to listen to and I told you last week that some of the kids came for dinner that evening.

Yesterday was a good day at church. Rigo Gutierrez was one of the speakers. He told how his Mom was converted to the church when she was a young lady in Mexico. She came from a family of about 15, I think he said, and they were very poor. She was the only member of the church in her family and she wanted to go on a mission. The missionaries contacted church headquarters (this was in the 1950's)and a man named John Vernald agreed to support her on her mission. He lived in Garland,Utah. He did not know Rigo's mom and he was not a wealthy man. He worked as a postal worker. After her mission she was able to come to Utah to meet the family and she stayed with them for 2 or 3 years. Finally she went back to Mexico and they lost contact for a few years. Several years later the Vernald's went to Mexico to find her and found her with her husband and young child and pregnant with her second which was Brother Gutierrez. They were not in the best of circumstances so he helped them move into an apartment in a better part of town and paid for them to live there for a year. He also bought the husband the tools he needed to be a mechanic. Many years later they heard that he was dying of cancer so Rigo's mom went up to see him. She also died shortly after that of cancer. I am not sure if Rigo met him then or if there was one more tripp before that. Mr. Vernald showed him a little about how to play the organ. He wrote the words for the Hymn "For Homes of Saints Glad Songs Arise". Rigo sang the song in tribute to this wonderful man whom he described as an "Angel" to their family. It made me realize that we can do more to help others go on missions and to reach their potential.

Brother David Whittaker told about his great-grandfather who was born as the illegitimate son of a upper middle class lady in England. The father was off to war and did not know he had a son until 7 years later. The mother taught him many things but kept him at home in the back yard. She taught him two languages and many more things. He was talented at art and seemed very well educated but he eventually ran away and stowed away on a ship because he felt like he was not wanted because of the stigma of being born illegitimate at that time. He went around the world for several years and then settled in Tahiti for several years and married his first wife there. He eventually ended up in San Francisco and then joined the church and came to Utah. He settled in Centerville and became a farmer with several polygamist wifes. Anyway his son and Dave's dad were farmers. Dave's dad, Olene, owned much of the land that our ward is situated on. He bought the land with his brother and when his brother died he raised not only his own nine children but his brothers 6 as well. He pointed out that through service to others you learn to love others and draw closer to the Lord as well.

The meeting ended with the song "A PoorWayfarring Man of Grief" I noticed as I sang it that each time the person had to sacrifice something for someone else of substantial consequence before the blessing he sought came back to him. I have made a commitment to be of better service to others after listening to this meeting. I love the Lord and want to do all that I can to help others find the happiness of the restored Gospel.

Last night Maren and Landon and kids, and Erick and Heather came came for dinner. Maren had given us a winter squash and so we cooked it and shared it. Larry wanted meatballs so I fixed those with baked potatoes. I made a cherry cobbler with the cherries off our tree. We had a good time visiting and talking and playing "Apples to apples" Heather has her official ring now and it is very pretty.

Well I hope everyone is having a great week. I know this will be a better week for me. There are only three days of school this week. I love school but it is always nice to have some time off.