Ward Party
Work was really busy for me this week. It didn't help that Paul was out in Disneyland for the entire week. All the problems got brought to me, and I got sidetracked in a lot of the things that I was doing. The biggest issue was the new claims that were not coming over. We thought we could make a simple SQL change and it would be fixed. It was a fairly simple fix, but we didn't get through it simply. While the SQL worked in one area, it would not work in the tool that I was using. I guess the translator that was being used didn't recognize one of the key words (COALESCE). This was needed for the fix as we needed to get something other than nulls when nothing was there. In the long run we were able to put the SQL directly on the box that it was needed and then were able to treat it as if it were simply a dataset (even though it has to run). We also had to change my code because it wasn't recognizing lines that were over 80 characters in length (the error messages weren't quite pointing to this correctly - it took a lot of trials and errors to realize what the problem was). I needed to have this done immediately, and was getting afraid that I would not be able to take Friday off because of the need. We finished it up just before I left on Thursday. That was a relief for me.
Not too much happened during the week for me. My daughter called me from Florida because she was excited that she wouldn't have to take her final for Calculus. I found out that she had called everybody else, but wasn't getting an answer, and then she decided to call me. I was just glad that I was a thought. She told me that her phone had been broken (again) and that's why she hadn't picked up last Sunday (I talk to her almost every Sunday). Other than that, there isn't too much to say.
Piano was canceled for our daughter because my wife and I had my company party to get too. We got a little lost in getting to the stadium at the UofU, but we did get there in time. Most of the tables were taken and we were forced to sit with some people that I have never met before. A couple more came and then Curtis and his wife came and sat by us (at last I knew somebody). The dinner was good and I won a camel back hydration thing. I also won the centerpiece because my birthday was the closest to our companies birthday (July 1st and my birthday is July 2nd). We drove home after having a good evening together.
Friday was my day off from work. I woke up and started to call some dollar stores because my wife had been thinking about the Ward Christmas party and told me that she thought some kids would finish with dinner and then be restless and start running around. She thought a nice Christmas puzzle would work on each table. Nobody had a puzzle, but a coloring book was recommended. I was able to get two of those for a dollar with a set of 4 crayons. We decided on one per table, so I went and spent around $17 for coloring books and crayons. I also got my father a couple of coloring books. While I was heading to the dollar store I thought up that idea.
My father turned 81 years old on Friday. They really don't need anything, and I decided that I could make a card that said, "We were wondering... at what part does your second childhood start?"... The picture in the middle was one of an old man going down a water slide. The water was covering him so you couldn't tell if he was wearing a swimming suit or not. Then the coloring books and crayons went with that. We figured they could use those coloring books for some of the grand children as well as the great grand children.
Before we left for my fathers house, we received a couple of calls about potatoes and carrots not being to peoples homes who were to peel and cut them. This worried us a bit as we thought the Lowders had taken care of it. I left messages with the Lowders, and told my wife not to worry about it until we heard from them that there was a problem. It didn't matter much unless there was a problem, and they should be home from Canada tonight. My wife worried anyway. The Lowders gave us a call after they arrived at the airport and everything was in control. They hadn't needed everybody that had signed up to cut up the carrots and potatoes.
It was snowing a little bit when we headed to my fathers house Friday evening. My little sister came with her family, and my little brother with his. We all visited for awhile, and then we decided to leave. By now it was snowing hard. There were a couple of close calls on the way home, but we made it home all safe and sound. Of course, we thanked God for that.
Saturday morning, I woke up to the dog whining. I went to let her out (it was 5:00 AM) and the snow was about 8 inches deep. She did her thing, and I couldn't go back to sleep. Since I couldn't sleep, I got out around 6:00 AM to start shoveling. It was still snowing, but this had to be cleaned up. My daughter would have to go over to the church at 9:00 to clean the building. I am just a fat man trying to shovel the walks and it was hard on me. I had to rest quite a bit, as it was a heavy, wet snow. There was a moment when I wondered if I was having a heart attack. I kept at it, and shoveled the two car width of our driveway and the sidewalk. I also went and did an area for the dog in the back yard. I finished all of this up at 7:30 and then came in to read the paper. I didn't get too much of that done as my wife thought I should shower to be ready for some of the activities of the day.
Our daughter was able to get a ride over to the church by her leader, and our son ended up shoveling up the last 1/2 inch of snow that fell in the meantime. No more snow needed to be cleared after that. My wife and I headed over to the church to see about some things in the library that we needed for our party (I don't have a key to the library) and then we brought our daughter home. The primary of the 1st ward was having a party when we were there, and there was an idea for the tabletops that my wife liked. They had bought some rectangular table cloths at the dollar store and cut them in half to put over the round table cloths. We would only need a few to add color to our Christmas theme. We went out and picked those up and then went to get the Santa Suit.
Soon after arriving home from all of this, we went over to the church as a family because there was a little bit of cleaning up to do from the previous party (they couldn't find the dust mops) as well as to set up the Christmas trees on the stage and the Santa chair. There was also a nativity scene and a picture of Christ with the little children up there. We turned on some colored spotlights on the stage and they pointed perfectly to the place we had set up the nativity and the picture. That would be perfect for the party tonight.
We went back home, only to get back over to the church at 4:00 so the priesthood could set up the tables and chairs. That didn't take too long, and then we went back home again. Our daughter decided that she wanted a Santa hat, so we hurried to Smiths to pick up three (so each of us would have one). We went straight to the church because we had told the committee to be there at 5:40. I finally called up the Lowders to see how things were coming. He thought the party started at 6:30. The stew was done, but we needed to get it to the ward. Some of the stew spilled in our vehicle. What a pain that was.
We didn't get to sit down at all during the party. It was decided that I would MC all that was to go on. We started with a prayer and then people went to get their soup. We had a hard time keeping water on the tables for people to pick up. We had set up 200 chairs around 25 tables, and all of the chairs seemed to be taken up. While they were eating, we distributed the coloring books and crayons around to the tables to try to keep kids busy rather than just running around. After dinner, we got some desserts out. These were brought by various ward members so I announced that we needed to know which ones had nuts for those with nut allergies. Of course, this brought every kid in the place to the tables. It was a mess, and we couldn't do all that we had planned on doing. We got one complaint that we took care of nut allergies but my kids have allergies to milk and eggs. I told my wife we can't be worried about all the various allergies, and she informed me that we had picked the more common one to worry about.
After dessert, we had Tanner Bean and Lauren Christiansen play some music that they had done for the Festival of the Trees. People seemed to enjoy that. I was then asked about when we wanted Santa to come in. He had dressed before we had planned on him doing so, and he was hot. We talked to them for a bit and let them know of the plans. We next had the primary sing a song, and then Brother Wallace read "Teach the Children". He did an excellent job, as we knew he would. While he was doing that I went to get Santa, but we had one child in the halls that her dad was trying to get them to go home. When I went to get Santa, he had disappeared. He had gone around to the back door (of which he had no keys for - he is a councilor in the stake presidency), and there he waited till his wife let him in. We had our son stand with him while the story was being finished and then the primary sang "Santa Claus is coming to town". That is when Santa came in, and there was pandemonium (but in a good way). We ushered the kids to the door we wanted them to go up to meet with Santa, and our son handed out a sucker to each after they had talked with Santa.
Clean up was pretty good. I had asked for help, and we seemed to get plenty of that. Even with that help, we were dog tired by the end of all of this. People complimented us all night long.
This morning, my wife was so tired that she couldn't get up and get to church. She was completely wiped out. When I got to church they were still talking about how good it was, and I think everybody enjoyed it that came. It was a good turnout. I turned in the receipts and we had kept the total bill under the $350 budget we were given. I really didn't think we would pull that off. After church, I took around one of the roasters that was used and picked up the Santa suit. I then went to give the washed table cloths (my wife stayed up a bit late Saturday evening washing them) to the Relief Society president. After coming home, we watched "Santa Claus III" and "Blizzard". It was a good day.
Not too much happened during the week for me. My daughter called me from Florida because she was excited that she wouldn't have to take her final for Calculus. I found out that she had called everybody else, but wasn't getting an answer, and then she decided to call me. I was just glad that I was a thought. She told me that her phone had been broken (again) and that's why she hadn't picked up last Sunday (I talk to her almost every Sunday). Other than that, there isn't too much to say.
Piano was canceled for our daughter because my wife and I had my company party to get too. We got a little lost in getting to the stadium at the UofU, but we did get there in time. Most of the tables were taken and we were forced to sit with some people that I have never met before. A couple more came and then Curtis and his wife came and sat by us (at last I knew somebody). The dinner was good and I won a camel back hydration thing. I also won the centerpiece because my birthday was the closest to our companies birthday (July 1st and my birthday is July 2nd). We drove home after having a good evening together.
Friday was my day off from work. I woke up and started to call some dollar stores because my wife had been thinking about the Ward Christmas party and told me that she thought some kids would finish with dinner and then be restless and start running around. She thought a nice Christmas puzzle would work on each table. Nobody had a puzzle, but a coloring book was recommended. I was able to get two of those for a dollar with a set of 4 crayons. We decided on one per table, so I went and spent around $17 for coloring books and crayons. I also got my father a couple of coloring books. While I was heading to the dollar store I thought up that idea.
My father turned 81 years old on Friday. They really don't need anything, and I decided that I could make a card that said, "We were wondering... at what part does your second childhood start?"... The picture in the middle was one of an old man going down a water slide. The water was covering him so you couldn't tell if he was wearing a swimming suit or not. Then the coloring books and crayons went with that. We figured they could use those coloring books for some of the grand children as well as the great grand children.
Before we left for my fathers house, we received a couple of calls about potatoes and carrots not being to peoples homes who were to peel and cut them. This worried us a bit as we thought the Lowders had taken care of it. I left messages with the Lowders, and told my wife not to worry about it until we heard from them that there was a problem. It didn't matter much unless there was a problem, and they should be home from Canada tonight. My wife worried anyway. The Lowders gave us a call after they arrived at the airport and everything was in control. They hadn't needed everybody that had signed up to cut up the carrots and potatoes.
It was snowing a little bit when we headed to my fathers house Friday evening. My little sister came with her family, and my little brother with his. We all visited for awhile, and then we decided to leave. By now it was snowing hard. There were a couple of close calls on the way home, but we made it home all safe and sound. Of course, we thanked God for that.
Saturday morning, I woke up to the dog whining. I went to let her out (it was 5:00 AM) and the snow was about 8 inches deep. She did her thing, and I couldn't go back to sleep. Since I couldn't sleep, I got out around 6:00 AM to start shoveling. It was still snowing, but this had to be cleaned up. My daughter would have to go over to the church at 9:00 to clean the building. I am just a fat man trying to shovel the walks and it was hard on me. I had to rest quite a bit, as it was a heavy, wet snow. There was a moment when I wondered if I was having a heart attack. I kept at it, and shoveled the two car width of our driveway and the sidewalk. I also went and did an area for the dog in the back yard. I finished all of this up at 7:30 and then came in to read the paper. I didn't get too much of that done as my wife thought I should shower to be ready for some of the activities of the day.
Our daughter was able to get a ride over to the church by her leader, and our son ended up shoveling up the last 1/2 inch of snow that fell in the meantime. No more snow needed to be cleared after that. My wife and I headed over to the church to see about some things in the library that we needed for our party (I don't have a key to the library) and then we brought our daughter home. The primary of the 1st ward was having a party when we were there, and there was an idea for the tabletops that my wife liked. They had bought some rectangular table cloths at the dollar store and cut them in half to put over the round table cloths. We would only need a few to add color to our Christmas theme. We went out and picked those up and then went to get the Santa Suit.
Soon after arriving home from all of this, we went over to the church as a family because there was a little bit of cleaning up to do from the previous party (they couldn't find the dust mops) as well as to set up the Christmas trees on the stage and the Santa chair. There was also a nativity scene and a picture of Christ with the little children up there. We turned on some colored spotlights on the stage and they pointed perfectly to the place we had set up the nativity and the picture. That would be perfect for the party tonight.
We went back home, only to get back over to the church at 4:00 so the priesthood could set up the tables and chairs. That didn't take too long, and then we went back home again. Our daughter decided that she wanted a Santa hat, so we hurried to Smiths to pick up three (so each of us would have one). We went straight to the church because we had told the committee to be there at 5:40. I finally called up the Lowders to see how things were coming. He thought the party started at 6:30. The stew was done, but we needed to get it to the ward. Some of the stew spilled in our vehicle. What a pain that was.
We didn't get to sit down at all during the party. It was decided that I would MC all that was to go on. We started with a prayer and then people went to get their soup. We had a hard time keeping water on the tables for people to pick up. We had set up 200 chairs around 25 tables, and all of the chairs seemed to be taken up. While they were eating, we distributed the coloring books and crayons around to the tables to try to keep kids busy rather than just running around. After dinner, we got some desserts out. These were brought by various ward members so I announced that we needed to know which ones had nuts for those with nut allergies. Of course, this brought every kid in the place to the tables. It was a mess, and we couldn't do all that we had planned on doing. We got one complaint that we took care of nut allergies but my kids have allergies to milk and eggs. I told my wife we can't be worried about all the various allergies, and she informed me that we had picked the more common one to worry about.
After dessert, we had Tanner Bean and Lauren Christiansen play some music that they had done for the Festival of the Trees. People seemed to enjoy that. I was then asked about when we wanted Santa to come in. He had dressed before we had planned on him doing so, and he was hot. We talked to them for a bit and let them know of the plans. We next had the primary sing a song, and then Brother Wallace read "Teach the Children". He did an excellent job, as we knew he would. While he was doing that I went to get Santa, but we had one child in the halls that her dad was trying to get them to go home. When I went to get Santa, he had disappeared. He had gone around to the back door (of which he had no keys for - he is a councilor in the stake presidency), and there he waited till his wife let him in. We had our son stand with him while the story was being finished and then the primary sang "Santa Claus is coming to town". That is when Santa came in, and there was pandemonium (but in a good way). We ushered the kids to the door we wanted them to go up to meet with Santa, and our son handed out a sucker to each after they had talked with Santa.
Clean up was pretty good. I had asked for help, and we seemed to get plenty of that. Even with that help, we were dog tired by the end of all of this. People complimented us all night long.
This morning, my wife was so tired that she couldn't get up and get to church. She was completely wiped out. When I got to church they were still talking about how good it was, and I think everybody enjoyed it that came. It was a good turnout. I turned in the receipts and we had kept the total bill under the $350 budget we were given. I really didn't think we would pull that off. After church, I took around one of the roasters that was used and picked up the Santa suit. I then went to give the washed table cloths (my wife stayed up a bit late Saturday evening washing them) to the Relief Society president. After coming home, we watched "Santa Claus III" and "Blizzard". It was a good day.
posted by Craig's Blog at 10:35 PM
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