I Voted For Gary Johnson

My kids think I did the wrong thing.  They all would vote for Hillary Clinton.  Except Eliza voted for Evan McMullin, which may make a difference in Utah.  Willa suggested I make this the title of this post.  I can't tell if she is shaming me or just thinks she is hilarious.  Probably the latter.

(It's actually a mix of both. A funny shame, if you will.  -Willa)

I realized that it has been a long time since I did a verbal portrait of the people I love.  Here we are:

Me:  Besides early voting, I have been thinking about four things: 1.  BYU Alumni donations. I am trying to get our local BYUA chapter replenishment grant endowed, so I'm trying to raise $60,000 to fund a half BYU scholarship for students from the Kansas City area in perpetuity.  It takes up a surprising amount of my thoughts and a fair amount of my time too.  2. Possibilities for inserting the church into the local press in positive ways. This is my calling, and it is kind of fun to think about.  I think I got an article for a sister missionary in our stake into one of the small local papers.  The reporter is on it at least.  I hope it happens.  My next goal is a human interest story about our awesome and inspired stake president in the Blue Springs Examiner.  3. Taking care of my family.  All the stuff and things.  Especially excited that Mariah will be home in a mere 24 days. 4. Doing random things I feel I should do because I prayed about them.  I prayed for a service opportunity and my refugee texted that day.  We have been hosting Amanda at our house again for the last few days.  Hopefully she is on her way to a new and better chapter of her life.

Alan:  He still spends most of his time biking to his excellent job and then biking home all sweaty and happy.  He is enjoying having time to accomplish his main responsibilities and have less responsibility for administering the workings of the practice.  He is in a temporary office right now while they remodel Med Plaza II to make more functional offices.  They took all the posh offices from the doctors and are giving the window space to people who spend most of their time actually in the offices.  The 20 or so doctors who are based at the Plaza hospital are going to have smaller offices contained in the same area.  Only 5 have windows, and Alan won the lottery of who got one.  He is pleased.  He also likes serving on the high council.

Mariah:  Having such a great end of her mission!  I love each email so much.  I can't wait till she gets home and I can hug her and pat her little hiney.  She is planning on starting cosmetology school in Provo in January.

Eliza:  Looking for jobs!  Finding a place for Mariah to live in Provo--in her same apartment!  Having such a great time with Evan.  Loving most of her classes.

Willa: Willa is doing mostly great.  She still has headaches every day, but I am hopeful we have found a balance of responsibilities and fun that is sustainable for her.  She goes to seminary almost every day, plus 4 hours of school every day.  And she is slowly working on finishing an online class.  And she takes piano every week and guitar every few weeks.  She has been filming and editing a video for Young Women in Excellence with her best friend Libby.  We are excited to see it on Tuesday before we check in on the progress of the election.

Wyatt: He is thinking maybe he should just make a smooth exit from my blog.  He doesn't think anyone would notice.  I have to be super sneaky to ever get photos of him, and he complains loudly when I do.  He is growing his hair out into an impressive curly mullet, and I thought you'd want to see though.   Wyatt still excels at school, being responsible, playing computer quiz games, snacking and exercising faithfully for at least a few minutes a day.  He loves to sleep with the windows open, watch a wide variety of films, and banter with Parker and Willa.  He abhors squash, getting his sweatshirt stolen by Parker, and his mom not taking him seriously and not having a very good record at maintaining attention on him in the face of many distractions.

Griffin:  He has said several times he wishes he were my only child.  And he often acts as if he is.  He loves to play superheroes, play word games, listen to stories, do puzzles and...THROW THINGS and HIT THINGS!  Alan is so pleased.  Griffin is taking gymnastics, soccer and swimming lessons in addition to two full days of preschool a week.  And he loves me, loves me, loves me.  

Evie is a kick.  She has twice this week laughed so hard she wet her pants.  I think it's a combination problem: small bladder, FOMO that makes her not want to ever go to the bathroom, and the ability to see humor in many mundane things.  Eve stopped soccer this week so she could do what she really, really wants to do instead--dance.  She goes with Lucy Dean to a dance class while I take Griff to soccer without her.  She is so happy.  She still is very detail oriented and notices the smallest things.  Taking her on a walk takes forever because she is always stopped in the gutter, checking out something else new.

Thank you to Dick and Kathy for the sticker sets!  They have provided hours of entertainment and were the perfect thing in stake conference today.

Eve checked to see if this was okay, because these stickers are REUSABLE.