Winter Campouts 11-30-24
Retired Life. Sunday.
6 freaking AM. That's when the alarm went off so we could make it to church on time. Very early. We looked at the Jesus Picture below, remembered why church makes us happy, and got up and got going.
Frivvy, however, refused to move from the bed and slept a bit more until he was bribed with puppy treats to go with us.
Busy day went like this: Adult Youth Leaders Meeting. Hid in the truck and ate a sandwich for breakfast. Choir warm up and practice. Sacrament Meeting with our choir performing. Men's Meeting. Choir Practice. Met with our Stake President to finalize mission plans. (It's a huge go!) Lunch. Drove out to Otis Orchards and attended yet another Sacrament Meeting to hear one of my Scouts speak about his two-year mission he just came home from a few days ago. Drove to Elk to have a scrumptious Pork Chop dinner with Del and Ella and Del's folks who drove in from Moses Lake.
See Frivvy making friends with Ella's cat. And then hiding under the table to avoid their little barking dogs. Del and Ella have their Thanksgiving Lights up too!
Got back home 14 hours after we left this morning. Tired.
The highlight was seeing Breckin, who was in my Troop years ago, talk in church about his mission. He has grown into a man. Not only physically, but emotionally and especially spiritually. He was my NYLT-trained SPL and excelled at that and also being a missionary. He has a plan for his life and is well on his way. Seeing him today made me very happy and made the hundreds of nights of camping with Scouts totally worth it. Even the dozens of Winter Camps. Worth it. Totally.
Retired Life. Monday.
First off, there is a picture of today's appointments. YES!! Nothing. I did not leave the house, unless you count going on a walk with Frivvy. We needed a "nothing planned" day after the chaos of last week.
Next, a picture of my Southern Fried Chicken I fixed for dinner. Yum!
During my career, time and time again, I saw the same thing happen. A tax client would come in all happy and joyous because he just retired. When I asked what his retirement plans were, he'd say "don't have any. Just gonna hang out." or something like that. The next year, his heart-broken wife would come in for taxes, now a widow, because he passed away. He didn't even make it a year into retirement before passing on.
I saw this phenomenon over and over again. My take: You gotta have a purpose in life if you expect to keep living.
And thus our mission. When we came home from that mission in 2018, it was hard to go back to work at our tax office. "Prepare an accurate tax return while saving the client as much money as legally possible" just no longer carried much weight compared to "Serving others and bringing folks closer to Christ." So, we committed to get in a position to go out in the mission field again. Hanna's medical professionals have given her their approval. Our mission application right now is on its way to church headquarters. We hope to serve a proselyting (aka MLS) mission in the Spokane, Washington mission (so Hanna is near her cancer doctors) and do what we did in California, bring folks closer to Christ. There is no one thing we have experienced in our lives that has brought us as much joy as doing that did! We can't wait to get at it again.
Our mission start date will be sometime in April. (We originally planned on June, but that plan changed after we rethought things and our church leaders wanted to know why we were waiting so long...)
Gonna live nice long lives full of purpose and goodness.
Retired Life. Tuesday.
With no alarm going off, we all slept in today. We probably needed it. Seems like we sleep and rest more in retirement than we did while working... The joys of retirement!
We need food. So, planned out our week. Came up with yummy menu. Created meticulous grocery shopping list. Drove to Plummer. Had Salads, but only after some rings and a few rounds of Rummy. Hiked on the Trail of the CDAs in the fog and snow coming down. Filled up with cheap Idaho gas. Got the groceries. Drove home in the snow. Unloaded. Put away.
And then I took a nap. 
Our issue today was that we bought some more stuff for food storage (mayo, peanut butter, salt) and also stuff for Thanksgiving dinner for five, and also stuff for when the grandsons visit on Saturday. The shopping cart was extra full.
In the evening, we watched some shows. We started into the Alex Cross series. Very nicely done. Every Alex Cross movie I have watched was horrible compared to the book. This one was not.
Retired Life. Wednesday.
It was cold and foggy out almost all day. Good day to not go anywhere and to just sit by the fireplace and read.
But in addition to that, I put the finishing touches on the Chile Itinerary. We now have flights, lodging, rental pickup truck.
Along with paying some bills and creating financial reports to gawk at.
My turn for dinner turned into Dogs and Burgers. I created a Dogonner. Yummy.
Retired Life. Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving!
See the Thanksgiving sunrise! The sun actually came up today!
People are coming to eat turkey, so Frivvy was given a bath.
They arrived. We ate. We played a game. We ate pie. We talked football, religion, politics, vacations, cars, health, and geocaching.
And the sun even looked nice going back down.
Thankful for Thanksgiving.
"Take a selfie" they said....
Retired Life. Friday.
We ran into town to worship in the temple, pick up some meds, and a few groceries. At home in the evening, we had a date night which included eating Thanksgiving leftovers and watching a movie.
Sometimes I find myself doubting that I have done enough so far in my life. And then I have experiences like I had in the temple this afternoon, just seeing folks that I have served and/or served with. The guy that I was on a Stake Youth Committee years ago when he was a youth, now in the temple with his own son who just returned from his mission. The guy that we taught weekly for several months, challenging him to come closer to Christ via worshipping in the temple, seeing him IN the temple today. Sitting next to a very fine Bishop that I know from Scouting. All good experiences and great to see in the temple.
Also, this evening, our 3-year-old grandson, Louis, is in the hospital with the Croup and having a hard time breathing. I posted a picture below of us playing together on a better day. If you feel inclined, prayers would be welcomed.
Retired Life. Saturday.
Louie had a good night, got better, and got sent home from the hospital.
Old folks go out to eat breakfast, and play Rummy. Harvest Moon for steak and eggs and an omelette.
They finally did arrive. We watched football (Go Cougs x 2), ate a Sandwich Bar, made and consumed homemade peppermint/candy cane ice cream, and started putting up Christmas Decorations.
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