conference and dreamboy

This week I spent three days in Phoenix at the Title I Mega Conference. As with most of these meetings, there were some good sessions and poor sessions. I did get to spend some time with my neighbor JoAnne Nyquist and Debbie Darby who both work in Tombstone. That was a nice surprise because I usually end up completely on my own which isn't bad but it was a nice change. I did get to go to the temple on Tuesday evening, which was good.

Last night was the Dreamboy dance here in St. David. Chelsea continued the tradition that Rachel started by inviting one of the foreign exchange students. His name is Amp and he is from Taiwan. She was so excited which was really cute and said she had a great time. I still haven't figured out how to move the images so you can see the pictures above.

performance and talk

Last night was "Broadway on the River". I performed two numbers; "Everything's Comin' Up Roses" from Gypsy and "Hernando's Hideaway" from Pajama Game. I think it went very well and as always I had a lot of fun. Dad said it was a toss up between me and a harp duet for the best performance, but he might be prejudice a little. I had two couples from the musical theater class dance a tango behind me as I sang "Hernando's Hideaway". It was great! I'm so grateful that Richard and Beth brought my mom. Today, Dad gave a talk in sacrament meeting and he did very well. He really does know how to give a good talk. That's about it from here for now. Love to all!

crazy times

Have you ever looked back at a period of time and wondered what had happened? I guess my life is so full or so boring that it just whizzes by. I barely noticed Halloween. I did finally carve a pumpkin but it was not the fantastic creations that Tracy and Jeff made. Mine was the traditional diamond eyes, triangle nose, and a snaggle-tooth mouth. Boring I guess but that's me. Last week, the temperature dropped twenty degrees and froze for three mornings in a row. This Wednesday, it jumped back up twenty-five degrees and we are breaking records for highs. These are crazy times. School is keeping me really busy lately. I used to take a book and read during my lunch break. Now I work or hardly have a lunch break. I guess it keeps me out of trouble and I eat less too. Stay tuned for the next episode in the crazy life of Kathy D.

wolves weekend

This weekend was Doug's 40th class reunion. We had a very nice time. Friday night was the homecoming football game which was won in the last ten seconds. Go Chandler Wolves! It was like the ending to a feel good movie. The school band gave an awesome performance after the game. They were going to perform at ASU Band Day on Saturday. We went to a party after the game for a little while. The next morning I went to the temple and ran in to Glynnis Merrill and Casandra and Bill. Saturday afternoon was the road rally. This was a lot of fun. We drove all over Chandler and collected clues while being timed. Our team won second place! Saturday night was the dinner and dance. Dad had reminded me that I needed a dress on Columbus Day. I just happened to turn into the WalMart parking lot and saw Ross and felt like I should give it a try. I walked in and looked through a couple of racks and found the perfect dress. And it fit! I think even Rachel and Tracy would approve. Dad complimented me several times during the evening. Anyway, it was a very nice evening. Here is one of those "small world" stories. I was talking to Sheryl Carpenter Hancock who went to school with Dad. Her husband, Reed Hancock, was my brother George's home teacher! We did have a very nice weekend.

Snake in the garden and Sundays

Some of you may recall that I have caught three red coachwhips in the netting in the garden. This morning I thought I would go out to pick some of my ripe tomatoes because I didn't get to it yesterday. When I stepped over the fence, to my surprise, I heard rattles and saw a very large rattlesnake caught in the netting. I promptly headed back to the house. Maybe that was a sign not to work in the garden on Sunday. I did not return to see if it has survived. I will find out tomorrow.
I did have some real inspiration for Primary sharing time music for the last two weeks. Today we sang songs that the Tabernacle Choir sang during conference because they sang four songs that the Primary children know. Last Sunday I had matched a Primary song with a talk that was given during conference. Here is a list of what we sang:
Pres. Monson - "I Love to See the Temple" - the announcement of 5 new temples
Pres. Monson - "When We're Helping We're Happy" - his birthday wish for service and the jar of warm fuzzies
Pres. Eyring - "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" - his story about the children singing this song and he actually quoted the song (He is so awesome!)
Bishop Burton - "13th Article of Faith" - his Primary teacher had helped him memorize it and he talked about the -ity virtues and living a virtuous life
Sister Dibb - "How Firm a Foundation" - people hanging from the bridge because they didn't use their safety equipment
Elder Nelson - "A Child's Prayer" - better than a cell phone, we can talk to Heavenly Father without paying monthly fees or charges anytime and anywhere
Elder Holland - "Book of Mormon Stories" - his powerful testimony of Book of Mormon and holding up the book Hyrum Smith had read to Joseph before their martyrdom - WOW!
Elder Scott - "The Holy Ghost" - it can be hard to hear just like trying to taste a grape after eating a jalepeno pepper
I hope you enjoyed this. Conference was so wonderful and I just needed to share with all of you. I love the gospel and I love all of you. Hope you all had a wonderful Sunday.

fall break, cleaning, and memories...

This week is Fall Break, so I have this week off. We decided not to go anywhere to save money and try to get some projects done. So, starting last Saturday I have been doing some major cleaning. I'm pretty sure that Don Aslett, the cleaning guru, says that doing a fall cleaning is better than doing a spring cleaning. Well, as you all know, any cleaning in my house is worthwhile. It's already Tuesday night though and only the bathroom, laundry room, and half the kitchen are done. I am exhausted so who knows how much more I can get done before the week is up. One kind of nice thing is running into stuff that reminds me of my kids and all the life we have lived in this old house. We have had some good and some bad things happen in our lives. I'm sorry to all of you for the mess you had to grow up in, but do know that I love you all very much. Enjoy your little ones because they grow up too fast and you can't get that time back.

Reading Night

Tonight was the second of the four big events of the school year of which I am in charge. It was our Family Reading Night and I think it was a reasonable success. We had a good turnout and we got a lot of positive feedback. The theme was "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" and the kids got to wear their pajamas (so they were all ready for bed) and they went as families in to different classrooms to hear a story. It was a lot of fun. It was also, coincidently, a promotion for "Read for the Record". A group promoting early childhood education was trying to get as many people as possible to read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" today. I read it to 87 children. After this, next week is our fall break which I am ready for.

Fall has finally come

Fall, my favorite season, is in the air today. A nice cool breeze is now blowing through the front window in the living room. What a relief! I think I like autumn because it is the end of the heat. Well, at least I hope so. Of course, the changes in color are also wonderful even though they haven't shown up here yet. Wishing Rebekah, Chris, and Rachel a Happy Birthday this month. Happy October to everyone.

Sunday turned out to be just as good as Saturday in its own way. Our ward had the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation. It went really well and the theme "Families Can Be Together Forever" was a great beginning to the evening. We met together for our family dinner at Lion's Park in Benson. The evening was nice and except for the bees it was a good location. We also got together to say goodbye to Vance because he is moving to Tennessee. We had a very nice visit. Vance brought his girlfriend Rachel Bertram and his little boy Emmett. Even my mom came with Beth and Richard. These family dinners are a tradition that our daughter Rachel started when they lived in Tucson. We do miss not having her family and Tracy and Johnny, but these are very precious days for Doug and me. Doug played ball with Warren and we all had a few laughs playing Outburst together. I am so grateful for all of our children, their spouses, and especially those beautiful grandkids. I love you all! Hope you enjoy the pictures. Some of them were from Rachel B's camera.

Doug and I had an almost perfect Saturday yesterday. We drove up to Mesa and spent the night at Ed and Bonnie's. I got up early and went to the temple. I saw Karen Preston, Dennis and Denise Bluth, Cissy Andes Jordan, and then ran into Terry Davidson and his family when I was leaving. I walked around the grounds for a little bit and really didn't want to leave but I did. I went to Deseret Books to browse and then went to WalMart to get stuff to make posters and a D-backs shirt because we were headed for Mark Reynolds bobblehead day at the ballpark. We arrived just a little after 3:00. We found a great parking space so neither Dad or I had to walk too far. First stop was the pro shop where we got two shirts for $14. GONGA! Next we went to Friday's Front Row and had an excellent meal. I had a steak and shrimp meal and Dad had chicken and both had Jack Daniel's sauce. YUMMY!! Tracy would have loved the mashed potatoes. Then we saw a great game which included a Mark Reynolds home run and a Chad Tracy grand slam that spashed into the pool. We even got on the JumboTron probably because of the signs I made. We got out of the stadium and found ourselves in a different place than we usually exit from. We had to walk 3/4 of the way around the stadium and over a traffic bridge for 45 minutes. So our great parking space turned out to not be of any benefit after all. We had a nice safe drive home just as the clock struck midnight.

This is my dog Ginger with Vance. The picture is about 5 months old so she has grown a little bit. She has to be chained up outside all day while I am at school so I take her for a walk in the morning and bring her inside in the evening. This morning I had an exciting walk with her. We came around the corner of the front yard to go down the driveway and there sat three large jackrabbits. Ginger loves to chase jackrabbits or anything else that moves. So, you can probably imagine what happened next. I was jerked forward and dragged down the hill. I thought she was going to choke on her collar or break her leash. She was whining at me to let her go, but, of course, the rabbits took off and she eventually calmed down a little. It certainly got my blood pumping. When we climbed back up the hill toward the house she looked like the huskies pulling a sled in the Iditarod (is that how you spell it?). I hate to misspell things and I am embarrassed because I made a mistake in my last post. I should remember what I tell my students, "Always go back and check your work".

The other thing I wanted to share was something that happened with Chelsea (my 17-year old baby daughter). We were driving to school and I told her about a book I was reading. I had just finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and another book called City of Glass both of which were intense reads. I chose a short novel that sounded like it would be a simple love story but I told her it was starting to get complicated. She said, "When it comes to love it is always complicated." We both laughed. How true, how true. I love all of you so life is complicated, but worth it.

First words can be so important, so I am having a hard time starting this blog. I have enjoyed others' blogs but wasn't sure if I really had anything to share. Thanks to Tracy, our middle daughter, the whole family is trying to keep in touch through these blogs. I'm starting out simple and hopefully I will be able to the hang of this after a while. I wish I was able to write like Julie in the movie "Julie & Julia". (If you haven't seen it, you should!) Anyway, I'd really like to be clever and demonstrate my intelligence and wit. Well, be patient with my ramblings and attempts to communicate the Davidson Doings!