The Nitty Gritty

Wow! A lot has happened over the past few weeks! Isaac: Isaac passed his dissertation defense with major revisions. He's Dr. Bickmore now! Woo hoo! He needs to submit his revisions by Nov. 15th in order to graduate this December. His choir performed last Sunday. They did amazing! They sang, "Hey Jude",  "Big Yellow Taxi" and a four chord mash-up that the choir arranged. It was awesome to see Isaac directing a choir again. It brought me back to the days when we'd go and watch his concerts at Nibley Park. Once I upload the videos to YouTube, I'll send out the link. Lesley: I've had a good time volunteering at the schools. I got to work a few Book Fair shifts at both schools and at Van's school I organized the dinner for the teachers during PT conferences. It reminded me of the Down 'N Out Diner days. We served soup, salad, rolls, and dessert. The teachers really liked it! I was sustained last Sunday as Young Women secretary. I'm reall...

Hi Family! Isaac flies to Phoenix tomorrow to defend his dissertation on Wednesday! He is very nervous and overwhelmed. We know he is going to do amazing though and I'm excited for him to share his thoughts and views on what he's been working very hard on. His choir is performing this Sunday at the fall music concert. Keep him in your prayers! I had an awesome 36th birthday!! My friend from our ward, Jen, took me to her Zumba class. The teacher said I was amazing so that made my birthday! Isaac fixed dinner--homemade falafel and dairy free carrot cake. It was a lovely day! We went to two parties this weekend. Saturday night we went to the Sentgeorge's house. Jake has been at UCM for 10 years and Aerin teaches art at the middle school. They have two kids, Edith and Maxwell. Edith is Will's age and Maxwell is two years younger than Van. The boys had a lot of fun playing with them. Isaac and I had a great time getting to know Jake and Aerin. Jake cooked dinner and it...

I told William on Friday morning that I was going to his school to watch the school sing Happy Birthday to him at the morning assembly. He protested. "No Mom! I don't want you to come!" I promised him that I would hang out in the back in the corner and no one would even notice me. I kept my promise. The funny thing is as soon as Will saw me his face exploded into this huge grin, he ran over, and snuggled up to my arm. I tried to stay "cool" and said, "Hey Will!" Then he ran off for a few minutes, came back, stood by me, ran away and repeated that sequence a few more times. I was just laughing to myself. The school sang Happy birthday to the birthday kids. The principal lets the kids pick what age they're going to be. William said, "19". I waved goodbye to him when his class lined up and brought him Mc Donald's for lunch later. Isaac came with me too. Then we went outside for recess and observed from the bench. Then I checked him out...

October First! Hooray! The mornings here are so lovely, but when I walk to pick up Van in the afternoon, it's HOT. It's been hovering in the 80s. My weather app shows cooler temps with some rain this week. That will be so nice. I love rainy days. William celebrated his 9th birthday yesterday! I'm writing a separate post all about that. We love William and we're so grateful for him. Fall is here! The teachers decorated the school with scarecrows and cornstalks. Van is doing awesome on his bike. His friend Colton is a fantastic bike rider so his skills help motivate Van to get better. Van read a total 165 minutes for his read a thon. It was so cute listening to him read his Dr. Seuss books everyday after school. One day he read for 60 minutes. He didn't want to stop after 20 minutes. The school practiced their tornado drill this week. Van said, "Ugh! It's so long. You have to sit down and put your head down in your knees. But there's no alarm. The ...