Amanda's Here!

She took the train down from Seattle, and we're having a blast.  Yesterday we made tons of cookies, went on a cleaning rampage, and generally acted like crazies, and today we're going shopping and getting ready to head to Saginaw! Yay! Will and Shelly are picking us up at 1:00, so I better go wake her up, and start packing :)

I'm Back :)

Convention was wonderful, and now I'm back with new resolve and re-focused vision.  I'm so glad I got to be there with so much spiritual help, and strengthen some friendships and forge new ones in the process.  Now I have a couple days to rest, replenish, and bake before heading back to the grounds :)

Packing again

For the second time in as many weeks, I'm packing my bags and heading off for a wonderful week at convention.  This time though, instead of taking a train I get to go with Will and Shelly and their adorable boys! They are so sweet to me so I have a couple surprises to help keep the boys occupied in the car, just some new books, and a quiet toy for meeting :).  I better finish packing though, it wouldn't do for me to not be ready :)

Twas a dark and stormy night

What an incredible, beautiful night.  Grandma and I watched the dark clouds roll in and the temperature drop, and I went out and swung a bit in the windy afternoon.  Later, when I was baking in the kitchen, I saw the first flash of lightning, and we went outside to hear the rolling thunder.  There wasn't a ton of lightning, and the rain was light and short-lived, but the sunset was simply magnificent.  The entire skyline behind the farm was fiery red and magenta, and everywhere black clouds were backlit with brilliant color.  In front of the farm, there was a beautiful rainbow, lit up on a background of pink.  I tried taking some pictures, and they really didn't do any justice to the splendor, but I'll give you a taste of what we had the privilege of witnessing.

View from the back.

View from the front.

  I think what I was planning on writing before the beauty of tonight distracted me was something silly about having fun baking tons of chocolate chip cookies for Saginaw :).  I really am happy about how they turned out this time though, they're edible! Hehehe, I should know ;)

Olympia

 I had the privilege of going to Olympia convention this last week, and enjoyed it immensely.  There was so much love and encouragement, it really made up for the 90 + degree weather, and that is impressive.
 I took the train up from Sweet Home, and Gary and Doris Raab picked me up and took me to my fourth convention this year.  They are such a wonderful couple and Alaska is lucky to have them :).  With a lot of help, I managed to figure out where things were, and even secured a cushy job working desserts.  Despite the heat, it really was a special time. There were a lot of Alaskans at the convention, including a handful of Cullips, Evridges, and for the weekend- Weltzes.
 I ended up staying Sunday night so that I could get a ride to the train Monday morning, and it was a greater privilege than I could have imagined.  I was the only one in the dorms, so Sunday night and Monday morning I got to help clean and generally hang out with the workers.  In the morning during breakfast someone spotted a squirrel, but I just thought it was cute and went back to eating. Apparently, if ignored, they make pests of themselves and get into the food, because the next thing I hear is "No! Don't do it!"- BLAM.  One of the brother workers, Brandon Boller, had grabbed a shotgun and nailed the little thing, while Caroline Sanderson vocalized her horror.  It was kind of funny, once I stopped freaking out about the sudden gun shot a few yards away :).  After breakfast we went to the "white house" and all shared something we enjoyed that we heard at convention.  That was so special to get to be a part of, and was really like an extra meeting I got to attend. Afterwards, I got a job cleaning in the girls dorms, and then Terri Marsh took me to the train station.  By that point, I really didn't want to leave, but I didn't want Grandma and Grandpa to worry, and at least I have Saginaw to look forward to this week :).
 It was such a wonderful trip, and maybe next trip I'll even remember to take pictures :D

Here goes... something?

As you probably know, my track record for keeping in touch is less than spotless, but I'm hoping that by the time my fascination with this new way of communicating has worn off, I'll be hooked.  Well, we'll see :).  I will say though, that I've never really felt behind in the technological game until now.  Seriously! I don't know what half the things they asked me about were.  Where are the blogs for dummies? Hmm, I might have to look into that.