The day after Thanksgiving we decided to drive over to tour the Turkey Hill Ice Cream Factory. You could learn about the history of the company, see how the ice cream is made, design your own flavor and packaging, and best of all, eat as much ice cream as you wanted! It was really fun and was a great way to enjoy being with cousins.
We drove over to Ed and Kathy's house for Thanksgiving day. Dan and Tricia came up from North Carolina and we were so glad to see them - it's been way too long! Their kids are growing up so fast and it's great to get caught up with each of them. Kathy did her traditional meal (by the schedule of course) and we enjoyed relaxing together, playing chess, and having dart competitions. Happy Thanksgiving!
Dallin and Ed have gone to work in New Jersey twice with Mormon Helping Hands. It's been several weeks now since the storm and the houses are deteriorating quickly. Mold and dirt are everywhere and the wet carpet, drywall, and appliances have to be removed from every house. The weather is cold and the people are tired. Our Stake is required to supply at least 50 people every Saturday and Sunday for 2 months.
Ed and Dallin worked in this house today and the piles in the streets never seem to end. The woman who owns this house was so grateful for the help. She is over 80 years old and her husband has dementia and can't understand why they are not able to go home. A crew of 16 people spent over 4 hours just pulling out moldy, wet stuff.
Church is weird without most of the men and teenage boys. Dallin helped with church services early this morning for the work crews before leaving. He felt a little strange blessing the sacrament in dirty work clothes. Our sacrament meeting was pretty empty, but we are grateful for the opportunities to help and serve.
We have a new Girl's Camp! Seven Stakes went together to purchase a camp for our girls to use in the summer. It is very different than the other place we have been using and has been neglected for several years. Every weekend now there are members and missionaries working hard to fix it up, but we have a long way to go. We drove out with our Stake YW and Camp leaders to check it out and try to begin planning for next year.
Taylor is the YCL president for next year and I was so glad she got to come with us. There was a strong feeling in the camp and I know it's going to be great in about 5 years. We just need to figure out how to get through the first few years. There are currently only 2 cold-water showers in the entire camp and there are no flushing toilets. There is also no central kitchen equipped to prepare food for all the girls and no equipment for the kitchen whatsoever. There is also a rattlesnake den on the other side of the hill and it
poses a big problem in the heat of summer. But, there are some big cabins and many small pavillions with electricity. The campsites will be great.
I am a very visual person, so I was glad to see it in person. I'm excited to work with Taylor throughout this year to create a spiritual experience for the girls in the Philadelphia Stake.
Dallin got a call for an interview with Stanford. They don't interview everyone, so we think that is a good sign... but what do we know.
Our neighbor interviews for Georgetown and has done several practice interviews with Dallin. He basically destroyed him both times, so anything had to be easier than that. We are really grateful for Colin's help because Dallin was well prepared and the interviewer seemed more nervous than him. He feels really good about how it went and is anxiously awaiting notification for early applicants on Dec. 15th. That could be a very joyful or very sad day at our house. Regardless of the outcome, Dallin can feel like he gave it everything he had.
Dallin and his friends went to see the illumination of Christmas lights in Peddler's Village. They do something together every weekend and are like part of our family. It makes me sad to think of all of them being gone to school next year. I will really miss them. Let the holidays begin!
Our Relief Society had a craft night recently and it was a lot of fun. We provided projects or you could just bring one of your own. We had fun laughing and chatting until very late at night. I think people even got some crafts finished :) I'm really enjoying serving in RS for the first time in my life. These are some amazing women.
Taylor's friend, Caitlin (Shewby), had her sweet 16 party at a go-cart track. They had a blast and now Taylor won't stop talking about learning to drive. I'm not sure if her stories about drifting and crashing into her friends are inspiring confidence, but we'll just have to take it slow when March rolls around! We are excited to give this place a try as a family.
