Life and Times of the Walkers: Happenings 10/14-10/20

We had some exciting moments this past week, the most notable being a tornado warning. On Thursday evening, I played tennis with the tennis club, and the wind was increasing and the clouds were coming in. When I got home, we watched the local channels in our kitchen and they were talking about tornadoes north of us. We were in a tornado watch, and then we were in a tornado warning all of a sudden. J.J. had gone to a meeting, and Rachel was in bed upstairs, so following the advice of the people on TV, I brought Rachel downstairs and her, Claire and I took a radio and sat down in J.J.'s closet, which has no outer walls. J.J. came home and found us there, and we stayed in there for about 30 minutes while the storm passed. There was some tornado damage south of town, but nothing happened around us. I wasn't really frightened, but having the kids makes it more serious -- especially when it is so dark outside and you can't see anything. (I was at a meeting and while driving home, the lightening was unbelievable. We had some pretty impressive lightening storms in Flagstaff, but the sky was just lit up constantly from the lightening and I couldn't see anything from the literal sheets of rain coming down and the wind blowing. It was a little scary driving home. When I got home, I was soaked just from walking from the car to the house. I got inside and it was very quiet and I found everybody in my closet. I joined them and we waited out the warnings. While in the closet I got a wake up call in that I haven't redone our 72 hour kits since before Claire was born. She and Rachel don't have anything including diapers, formula, food, etc. I need to get those done. The diaper thing became very clear as the room became stuffy and a little warm and both girls took the opportunity to poop and add a nice aroma to the small area. Claire started to get antsy in there also so I was glad when it was all clear to come out.)

Otherwise, I spent plenty of time at work, in addition to teaching, preparing for a conference I am attending next week at ASU, which will be fun because I can see some friends there. J.J. was plenty busy babysitting all the kids we know almost every day of the week -- Wednesday afternoon (Laynie's daughter Lucy), Thursday all day (the Eubanks' two boys), and Friday evening (the Bakes' two kids). She was ready to be back to 2 kids by the end of the week. Claire had a lot of playmates this week.

Saturday morning I went with Trevor Harper, a friend in the ward, to our stake priesthood meeting in Paducah, about an hour away. The meeting started at 9:00, and it was well attended. The mission president spoke, and he was impressed by the turnout, saying that it would be hard to get people in Utah to a priesthood meeting on Saturday morning with the building down the street. One of the high councilors told me that they have tried other times, but the best attendance has always been on Saturday mornings. It was a good meeting, and when I got home, J.J. and the girls were at the Murray State farm where there was a fall festival. Earlier, they had gone to a children's music class that Claire has started, so they were busy. Later in the day, we went to an informal English department party at the house of one of my colleagues, and then I brought the girls home after J.J. went to a ward girls' night out. (We started Musictime with Claire on Saturday mornings and she loves it. They dance around and sing and play with scarfs, beanbags, sticks, etc. My friend Lainie is doing the class. She has a background in childhood music education and does a great job. We then went to "Fun on the Farm" at the Murray state farm and spent a few hours there. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day. Warm, but not hot, sunny and comfortable. Claire had a great time and all the strolling and looking around wore Rachel out! They had pony rides - Claire went twice and was very serious about it- a petting zoo- ducks, calves, sheep, goats, rabbits, pigs, hens, and llamas- a balloon slingshot - Claire and I figured out how to make it go way up high in the air and she loved it - water duck races, tractor tricycle rides, hayrides - finally a "real" hayride for Claire-painting pumpkins, a corn pit, a corn maze, making butter, and a huge fast slide that I was sure would turn into Claire getting up to the top and crying until I came up to get her down. She surprised me though and talked one of the workers at the top into letting her sit on their lap and sliding down with her - not only once mind you, but a couple of times. The people were really nice and loved it. We had a great time!! That evening we went to Paul's party and I left him there with both of the girls - the brave man- and went to a girls night out with girls from church and had a great time - you can see pictures of this at my friend Shara's blog at www.pilotandprincess.blogspot.com)

Sunday after church I did the tithing and then visited a sister in the ward who had major surgery, and we gave her a blessing and the sacrament. This sister is formerly Anita McBride from Burley, and told J.J. that her brother dated a Paskett from Oakley. When she feels better, we'll have to learn more. Then, later in the evening, we had the missionaries over for dinner, and enjoyed their visit.

That's all for this week. We love you all!

A Day At The Farm