Spudnuts

I made spud nuts today.  The recipe is taken from a Deseret cookbook with pioneer recipes included.  The donut is actually mixed with mashed potatoes.  That is the reason for the spud nut title.  It was a yummy treat.

We picked up Sarah's dress for homecoming from Circle of Love today.  It is a darling short dress with silver spots on a black background.  She is going to look quite cute on Saturday night.

We Are Watched Over

Because of budget cuts on the state level, we along with many others received a substantial deduction in pay.  What makes this difficult is that the cost of living continues to rise. Our family was in a bit of a pickle with some pretty significant bills to pay.  With our state of affairs, I could have thrown myself into a frenzy but for some reason I maintained a calmness.  Probably because of knowing through past experience that everything seems to work out and because I was trying to exercise a bit of faith.

Well, I was quite thankful when Bro. Allen from BYU-I called and informed me that they had a large number of students needing piano instructors.   Because of these large numbers I will be teaching 14 students this semester.  This amount will help us pay for all the extras that have come up.  

For example, contacts are very expensive.  Catherine has just began wearing them for the first time.  Because she is far-sided and has an astigmatism, the cost of her contacts comes to about $400.00.  Wowsers!  

Sarah needs her new supply of contacts.  Another few hundred dollars.

Because of a diagnosis of a small noncancerous tumor in her pituartary gland (a fairly common issue), Catherine has had 3 MRI's in the last year.  The last prognosis was that the tumor was no longer(we are very thankful) so no more MRI's are needed at the time.  Meanwhile, the MRI bill is a big one.

Sarah has taken medicine for epilepsy since she was 12.  Because her EEG came back with normal indicators, and also her sypmtoms of seiszures have not occurred for over a year, she was taken off her medicine (again we are extremely thankful).  Having an EEG is another big chunk of money.

And of course, we wouldn't want to leave out car problems.  Our Mazda just received a brake job and our van needs to have it's All-wheel drive repaired.

Not to mention all the school fees that come up each year.

My point of this entry is to acknowledge that the Lord watches over each of us.  We feel thankful that options opened up so we can pay our bills.  We are also thankful that these expensive medical procedures have led to improved health in our family.

Peach Pie

To release the stored energy of our boys on Sunday evening, we often find ourselves at the BYU-I gardens.  It is a beautiful spot where we enjoy spending family time.  Yesterday, we decided to meet up with our long time friends, the Hibbards, to visit and share some dessert.  Dave and I decided to put together a fresh peach pie.  Everyone enjoyed the taste, but it was totally messy.  Nothing held together.  It was served in a pile of peaches and crust.  So, if anyone has a lovely peach pie recipe, pass it on.  For me part of the enjoyment of eating is being happy with both the taste and the presentation.

We find ourselves missing our girls in the oddest of times.  Yesterday, Catherine set the table and had to remove two place settings when she realized we needed 6 not 8, and as Dave was handing out the hamburger buns, he reminisced about how we used to need an entire package of buns.  Now there are two leftovers buns.

Food Choices

We had the missionaries,  who are assigned to our area, for dinner this evening.  Served was roast beef on homemade rolls, cantaloupe, corn on the cob, potato salad, green salad and chocolate marbled banana bread.   It is always interesting to observe the tastes of missionaries.  For the most part, vegetables and fruits don't really interest them.  Usually a serving of meat, corn (the favorite vegetable) and bread are readily taken and consumed.  Anything else is usually passed along.  That was the case last night with Elder Hill.  However, Elder Pitt, who grew up in a family of 11 kids, filled his plate with all the options.  I would imagine in such a large family that you would happily take whatever was served because it could disappear quickly.  It was enjoyable having them over for a bit.

Friday Night in Rexburg

Night life has returned to Rexburg.   When the students leave town in mid July, the busyness of our town is dramatically changed.  The grocery stores are empty, the streets are quiet, the businesses are much slower.  It is a very noticeable change.  Tonight Dave, Catherine, Spencer, Matthew and myself decided to attend the Farmer's Market.  Wow!   There were so many students out and they looked younger than ever.

We saw a new business, Sammies, having it's grand opening near the campus.  The line waiting for service reached half way down the block.  Camille and a friend were somewhere in that crowd.  The waiting line was by far mostly college students.

 I kind of like it when life returns to our town.

Gospel Teaching

Dave and I attended regional meetings last evening for our respective callings.  He went to the Young Men section while I went to the meeting for all teachers.  We were instructed by the General Sunday School President.  Not sure of his name because I arrived late.  (Back to School  Night at MMS was also last evening.)

A few points that I wrote down:
There should always be an invitation associated with teaching.  Learning doesn't happen when the learner isn't exercising agency.  Students should be encouraged to make an effort--"anxiously engaged" in asking, seeking, and knocking.  The goal is to fill the hearts with the desire to change.  His grandchildren sang his own song about the 3 d's:  desire, determination, decision---Yes, choose to do something!

Teaching is a skill--practice--get feedback.  Teach people not lessons

3 elements of gospel teaching are:
1.   Key Doctrine
2.   Invitation to Action
3.   Promised Blessings

It was a good meeting.  However,  if you ask Spencer and Matthew the meeting was too long.  They were home alone for a bit of time.  It will be good to implement some of their instructions in our FHEs.

Down to Four

Today Camille moved back to Carriage House.  Two weeks ago Kirsten began her freshman year at BYU.  Crazy to realize we have two off on their own.  It was not long ago that we had all of them around the kitchen table.  It does send a shock wave through the family when children move on.  They are missed by their siblings and their parents.  And we are all looking forward to future opportunities to gather.

Even though we miss them, of course we are thankful for the opportunities they have been given to further their education and accomplish their goals.

Exciting news.  Catherine tried on her first pair of contacts and is now learning to put them on and take them off.  Sarah answered the young man who asked her out to the homecoming dance.  Catherine helped Sarah decorate a Monkey cake which she then delivered to her date, Andrew Johnson.   

Spencer is the fifth of the Hinck children to have Mrs.Thomason as a 5th grade teacher.  She is a beloved teacher to all our children.  He is loving her emphasis on science which is seeming to be his favorite subject.

Matthew is in 2nd grade at Adams Elementary.   This is the first year since Camille's beginnings that I have had only one elementary aged student.  Spencer is at the middle school.  Catherine attends the Jr. High and Sarah is at the brand new high school.

Outside of Kirsten's Apartment at Wyview in Provo.

Matthew boards the bus on the first day of school.

The neighborhood gang on the first day of school.

Sarah answered her invitation to the homecoming dance with this
monkey cake.

Catherine's Monkey cupcake (made in Mutual)