Another Week Another Birthday

The week was not as eventful as last week, but brought us a sweet-16 birthday.

On Tuesday, Marsh Valley claimed the Fifth District Boy's Basketball championship. They defeated Snake River on Monday and Tuesday to claim it. They open up the state tournament against Kimberly.

Deb and I met with Marsh Valley High School principal Mr. Lords and Angie's English teacher, Mr. Black. Deb's coworker's husband is Jim Robinson from the NAACP who also came. Lynn came in also, so it was quite the crowd. We discussed the situation Angie faced when Mr. Black's class got out of control. I felt it went unresolved. I also felt that Mr. Black was setting Angie up for failure. We are going to get her out of Mr. Black's classes next week. Yes, it is plural. She is signed up not only for English but Spanish.

On Friday, Angie turned 16 years old. It does not seem possible. She is fast becoming a young adult. Soon, we will be sending her off on her own.

Our family finished reading the Book of Mormon. We have been reading a chapter a week. It seems like we have been reading it for five years. I do know that both were quite young when we started reading it. We have decided to start over. Angie mentioned that she will probably be out of the house when we finish reading it the second time.

An Eventful Week

The week started out with the family celebrating Presidents' Day. I had the day off as well as the girls and Deb. We celebrated by doing nothing much.

On Tuesday, the girls weekend was extended as Marsh Valley cancelled classes due to the weather. I still had work, and it was a scary commute. I was very thankful I got to work OK.

Wednesday I celebrated turning 61 years old. I went to work then came home to get ready for Bishopric Meeting. Right after getting home, Mom and Todd showed up. She had a card for me and gave us some chocolate as a Valentine's gift. We visited for awhile. We then had supper just before going to Bishopric Meeting.

On Thursday, Deb used the pickup to get some things done. Just as she pulled into Downey on her way home, the pickup acted up. She struggled to get it home. When I came home, I looked under the hood to see that the belt was missing. I am not sure how long she drove it with no belt, but it did overheat. I hope no serious damage was done to the pickup.

Friday, Deb had in-service meetings at McCammon. So, Angie went with Deb and me to Pocatello. They dropped me off at work then Angie dropped Deb off at her meeting in McCammon. Later, Angie and Lilli came into Pocatello after picking up Deb to get our car serviced and then take Lilli to her doctor's appointment. It was a really busy week.

Saturday was spent relaxing then attending Stake Conference. I went to the leadership session at the stake center. Then I came home, and Deb and I watched the adult session over the Internet. We could not get it to cast onto the TV so we watched it with the laptop. It was really good.

Sunday, the girls went to the stake center for the youth session. They then came home and we watched conference over the web. This time, we got it to cast to the TV, but it was very glitchy. We did not get to see much of Bill McNabb's talk.

It was a very eventful week. We now have next week to look forward to.

Valentines Day

 

It was back to normal for me. At least, as normal as it could be with my back bothering me. Thankfully, just sitting does not hurt. I spend most of my day sitting so it is not too bad.

On Wednesday, February 10, I reflected on the birth of Grandpa George Gambles. He was born 119 years ago. Catherine Luke Garner posted on Facebook about Grandpa, and I had to chip in my two bits. Two things always come to mind when I think of Grandpa. Whenever I saw him coming up our lane, I knew he was coming after me to go help him. Almost always, it was to help him fix fence. The other thing was sitting in the grain truck during harvest season. When I was not on the combine with Dad, I would sit in the truck with Grandpa. He would tell me tales of being with Indians and would speak to me in Indian. It was not until I was an adult that I found out that Grandpa really did not speak Indian. I was sure convinced that he could!

Angie finished her cheer competition for the year. On Friday, her team performed at halftime of the boys basketball game. Then on Saturday, Marsh Valley competed with American Falls and Snake River for the Fifth District Cheer Championship. Although I thought they did great, the judges did not think so. They took third place. It was fun to watch Angie cheer.

Today was not only the Sabbath Day but also Valentine's Day. Deb bought some things for the girls after the cheer competition. I bought her a dozen roses.

BYU started the week off not too great. They lost to Gonzaga in Provo, 82-71. The games for the weekend were cancelled due to the other teams having COVID issues. The game we attended for Angie's halftime performance was the regular season championship for the boy's Fifth District. In a very exciting game, Marsh Valley won to claim the outright championship by the score of 57-54.

What a Week!

The week started off the way it should start off. Monday, Mom and Todd came to Pocatello to go to the Farm Service Agency offices to re-sign up for the SAFE program. The 40 acres by the Oxford Reservoir have been in that program the last 10 years so now it is time to renew it. However, the amount of money we will receive will be way less that what has been given to us. If, and that is a big if, we are accepted into the program, Mom will only get a little over $900 a year. Currently, she is getting about $2,300 a year. I am not sure it is worth getting back into.

Tuesday was an unsettling day for our family. Angie's English class devolved into a class on racism which upset Angie greatly. She was so upset, she wanted to come home. Later that evening, we spoke with her teacher, Mr. Black. Naturally, he defended his actions, but it seems to me he did not have control over his class. Many things that Angie said happened, Mr. Black denied hearing them. It was not good. It was very upsetting to us.

Wednesday was another awful day. I was getting ready to take Angie to her early morning cheer practice when I slipped and fell on the stairs outside. I slipped off the top step and landed on the sidewalk with the brunt of the force on my lower back from the bottom step. It was so incredibly painful. I limped to the car then took Angie to her practice. When I got home, I could hardly move and called in sick for work. I then spent the next three days home. It got more painful as the week wore on then Saturday morning, Deb took me to the clinic in Preston. I had not slept much the night before because of the pain. I had not had much pain the other nights, so I decided I had better see the doctor. He prescribed some muscle relaxers for me.

Friday, Lilli went to the cross country skiing and snowshoeing activity the school sponsored. On the way back to the school from the activity, a boy asked her to send her nude pictures. He then said that he was going to rape her. Naturally, it was very upsetting to her. She reported it to the principal, and later that evening, the principal called us to let us know that they were investigating it.

It was an eventful week that was not that good. Hopefully, next week will be much better.