Abe and Klarissa Expecting #4 and Bought a Home in NC; Vent Surprises; Mom's Birthday Lunch

Abe and Klarissa are expecting baby #4. HURRAH!! Their new baby will be a Florida-born baby. Abe showed us he now has a Florida driver's license. 

He and Klarissa are so glad to be out of San Francisco. Not only have they "left their hearts in San Francisco," but they have left their two homes and all their belongings there as well.

Abe and Klarissa have purchased a fixer-upper in North Carolina which will take many months to renovate. At that point they will decide how to move their stuff across the country.

It is a whole different way of living for them now than it was living in the bustling big city.

Looks like Magnus is feeling very autumnal with his choice of cereal.

Sarah's family really enjoys going to Red Rock Canyon and they have now become proud season ticket holders.

Put some boys on some rocks and they can be happy for hours.

Or put some boys in a pumpkin patch and it makes for another adorable all-boy photo.

What a joy to see children enjoying books so much.

Ben and Haley are feeling very sleep-deprived these days. Apparently Levi likes to keep them up at night. Kade likes to keep them running during the day. Between the two little ones, the parents are feeling overwhelmed and appreciate a change of pace every now and again.

So, they come to visit every few days and let Kade run around the house and then I get to hold and admire the perfectly-formed little newborn. 

We have discovered an obsession of Kade's. He likes to stick things in the central vacuum wall inlet. He has put dice in there before. Our television remote control has been missing for weeks. We are sure he put it in there. Who knows what else he's stuffed in those convenient holes in the wall.

After we watched Kade earlier in the week, I noticed three of my decorative pumpkins were missing. 

I looked all over for them and could not find them. Then I noticed the other two pumpkins were missing. 

Good thing Haley was here the second time as she was the one who figured out he had taken out the heat vent, dropped the pumpkins down the opening and replaced the vent like nothing had happened. She also retrieved a few other things that past grandchildren had put down the vent. 

Since the recent installation of our new furnaces and air conditioners, I have been feeling like we should get our air ducts cleaned. They haven't been cleaned since the house was built nearly 20 years ago. I felt like the air would be cleaner if the ducts are cleaner.

So we hired a company to come out and do the job. They spent quite a few hours here and retrieved quite a few interesting things.

This is a pile of some of the stuff they pulled from the vents. The thing that amazed me was the package of wet wipes that was nearly full. 

When I shared this photo with Sarah, she said she recognized most of those things belonging to their family. She said Jonah was an expert at lifting the vent covers and shoving things down into the open hole. 

It was my turn to play the organ on Sunday. It felt like I was playing four organ solos as I played the prelude, the opening and closing hymns and the sacrament hymn without any singing from the congregation. 

Before the meeting, Todd Brimley--the ward music director--was giving me a pep talk as it was my first time at the organ with the Covid no-singing rules in play. He encouraged me to not rush the hymns and to make sure my counting is correct despite him not standing up in front leading the music. 

I did my best to do as he had suggested. Imagine my delight when I checked my emails before bed and read this subject line of Todd's email. I floated off into a cloud of angelic slumber after that.

This is an update on the house down the street from us that sustained wind damage. The other leaning trees that were on their back neighbor's property finally got cut down. Now we'll see how long it takes to get the roof fixed. 

Halloween is sure going strong all around. It is entertaining to see the decorations people put out in their yards. This clown offering "FREE HUGZ" is a bit creepy.

I am now making it a daily ritual to either walk by or drive by this home up on Bountiful Boulevard. The owners reposition their skeletons every single day. It amazes me with all the effort that is made, but it sure is giving me a lot of pleasure with each changed scene.

When we got home from our mission, I was so impressed with the ultra clean tile and carpets in our house. Sarah had worked hard on the floors and I noticed!! I was surprised when she said she was the one who had cleaned the carpets with her own carpet cleaner.

Ever since then, I was determined to buy a machine so I could clean the carpets myself. After more than a year here, I decided it was time to buy a machine. Even more impressive than that, I got up the gumption to try out the new machine right after Glen pulled it out of the box and got it assembled.

I started out on the stairs leading to the basement and for some reason I accidentally stepped on the hose, causing me to twist my ankle and fall down. Thankfully, it happened on the last two steps, so I didn't fall far, but my ankle was hurting so much!!! 

I powered through, though, despite my injury. I had just filled the tank and didn't want to quit until the solution was gone. I did the rest of the stairs, the basement and the family room on the main floor. 

The whole time I kept thinking I needed to get my foot elevated and ice it. But on I kept going as I fixed us dinner and then was so sore I didn't know how I could manage to clean the machine and put it and the vacuum away. 

Thankfully Glen came to my rescue and cleaned all the parts of the carpet cleaner before he had to leave for an evening meeting. I could barely make it up the stairs to our bedroom after he left. 

The next day, I was thankful I had improved a bit and was able to hobble around to get ready for the day and then I was able to use that foot just fine to drive. 

I was able to go to Ogden to pick up Mom and Nani so we could go to lunch together at Olive Garden to celebrate Mom's birthday. Dad has been gone hunting with Sam the past few days, so it was a fun thing for her to do while she was home alone. 

Now here's some more good news... This morning when I got up, I found my ankle had improved so much that I have been able to walk around and do things today almost as if the injury hadn't happened. I still have to be careful going up and down stairs as that still hurts a bit, but otherwise, it's feeling pretty great. HURRAH!!!!

I was sad to learn my friend Diane Stewart, who lives across the street, now has Covid. She said she woke up on Saturday with a little head cold and since she works at a dental office, she decided she better get a Covid test done before going to work and she tested positive. After a couple of days she was feeling fine and said it felt like a regular cold--only this time it is called Covid. Crazy!! But, I am so very thankful she has a mild case and keep praying that Grant will not get it.

This time of year is so beautiful with the changing of the leaf colors. 

Despite the sign that winter is coming, I'm going to enjoy the beautiful fall colors while they last.