POLARIS!.. and the Mayor's Day of Service

Howdy, y'all!  We had a pretty good.... well... I guess basically this whole post comes from the weekend.  We didn't tame many pictures through the week.  We did get a video or two of Grayson doing something cute or new, like how he's started to do "bye bye"!  This weekend Monica headed off for a girls trip with her friends to Breckenridge.  Few pictures returned with her, so I'll just focus on what the kids and I did.  One such event was getting to meet the mayor!  Brooke was super excited, and he seemed really nice!  We chatted for just a few minutes on our way back home to put Grayson down for a nap, bur more on that later.

At bedtime one night this past week, I lured Grayson over to the door to play with me.  He was grabbing my fingers and also hitting me with toys he was holding.  I was trying to grab them away from him, but wasn't successful.

Monica left on Friday a little before 2.  That was while Brooke was at school.  When I went to pick up Brooke she was SO excited to show us that she got Polaris, the class mascot!  Polaris goes home with a different student each weekend, and you make a little scrapbook like page to return him with.  Brooke will get to tell the class about what they did this weekend together, and we'll stick her page in the binder that goes home with him.  This is only the 3rd week, so there weren't many other pages to look through, but I think it'll be really fun the next time Brooke gets to bring Polaris home and we can see what all the other kids in her class did.  The girl before Brooke took him to the zoo and on a hike in the mountains.  We introduced Polaris to Jelly!

Polaris also joined us for pizza and family movie night.

On Saturday morning we headed down to O'Brien park for the Mayor's day of service kick off.  We got there early so the girls could play on the playgrounds, and I fed Grayson a pancake for breakfast while we were there.

Once Grayson finished eating we all headed to the swings and I found out that Brooke can swing all on her own.  I pushed her a few times and then she asked me to stop because she could do it!  Good job Brooke!  Also, you can't see in this picture, but Polaris is on Brooke's back on the swing in a pink carrier Brooke got for stuffed animals.

After playing for a little, the service kicked off over at the gazebo, so we walked over to listen and I got a picture of the girls.  They were very excited to help out!

The service was garbage pick up.  There were 5 areas to choose from, and I chose the one closest to our house.  It's not on the main trail that I typically run on, but I also think the town takes better care of the main trail, so they probably needed more help on these side trails.  I got a garbage bag and gloves for each of the girls and they were ready to go.  I wore Grayson, just like Brooke is wearing Polaris in this picture, and would pick up some stuff to put in one of their bags as we went.

There were lots of people there, but we were still able to find a bunch of garbage, and the girls did an amazing job!  When we were driving from the kickoff at the park to the cleanup area, Brooke was asking if the mayor would be there.  I told her he'd probably be at a different area, and then as we were leaving we saw him and stopped to say hello!  That was the first picture.  They also had a refreshment table with granola bars and muffins and stuff, but we stopped and got donuts already, so we passed on the provided items, but it was really nice of them to have it for us.  When we got home, we ate our donuts, which everyone loved of course!  I should have taken a picture of them.

After donuts the girls did quiet time and Grayson took a nap.  I took advantage and finished doing the laundry and putting it away, and then went for a run on the treadmill.  I finished just in time to get lunch ready.  After lunch and Grayson waking up, we prepped things to go out to a park for the afternoon.  The girls wanted to go back to O'Brien park, but it turns out it's super crazy there during the day, so we headed to a park in the neighborhood next to us and had a great time.  The most important thing is that the swings were available!  Brooke pushed Grayson for a while, and Grayson loved it.  Grayson almost fell asleep in the swing as he got up late enough from his nap that I was trying to just skip his second nap.  So we had to be done swinging and played on the playground for a bit before heading home for dinner.  After dinner it was bath time.  I put on a show and did Grayson's bath, and then when he was done the girls came up.  I had Grayson in the bathroom with me while I washed the girls hair so I could keep an eye on him.  Brooke wanted to get right out when she was done, and while I was helping her dry off Grayson flipped over the side of the tub and into the water with Winry!  Fortunately he did a good job of keeping his head up, but he did get a little water in his mouth/nose.  I grabbed him right away and got him out.  He coughed and sneezed a few times, but otherwise seemed fine.  I dried him off and changed him into dry diaper and clean pajamas AGAIN!  Honestly, I'm just glad he was fine!  It was a little scary.

Today was the primary program, and Brooke did AMAZING!  She memorized her line, and she sang just loud enough that I could hear her, but not loud enough to be "that kid..." you know, that kid I was when I was young.  Polaris was very impressed.

Today at church I got to help with the sacrament.  I was asked to help bless the sacrament, and I really enjoyed it.  It's been a really long time since I've helped with the sacrament, and while I was up there I reflected back on doing the sacrament while growing up and a lot of great memories came back to me.  I'm grateful to be able to hold the priesthood, and to have been able to participate in the sacrament for so much of my life.  It's a great blessing to get to help administer the sacrament.  I'm grateful for Jesus Christ, and the atonement.  I'm grateful that we can repent and become more like our Savior.  I'm grateful for the sacrament and the chance to start again and try again each week.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.