Rachel had a girls night out playing Bunco tonight so I rented Thor to watch with the kids. They are into super heros right now. There was a kissing scene where Gracie said, “Now she is going to be a queen. If you kiss a prince you will be a queen.” I said, “wouldn’t that just make you a princess?”. Gracie: “Oh yeah. She has to kiss him twice to be a queen.” Oh, child logic makes me smile.

I had a two appointments this afternoon, one with my oncologist and one with the endodontist. A year ago I didn’t know what either of these doctors did. Everything went well. The visit with the oncologist was brief. My liver and blood counts are fine. No major side-effects with the Gleevec. The endodonist also wasn’t too bad. He just finished the work he started two weeks ago. I still have to schedule an appointment with the dentist...

As I was getting ready for work this morning I was carrying Murphy around with me. He woke up a bit early and just wanted to be held. Fortunately I enjoy holding him. He is very cuddly in the morning. It is one thing I really miss when the kids start to get older. I just enjoy holding them.

Today for family home evening Rachel planned the lesson. We played tug of war – everyone against her while she was holding Murphy. Obviously we won easily. Her point was that she feels like this at home when no one is helping. She related our family to a baseball team. She planned some activities to help us be a better team. It was a fun lesson.

I had a lot of meetings today. It started at 7:00 am with stake priesthood leadership meeting. From there I went to bishopric, PEC, and ward council. Then of course I had the 3 hour block meetings of Sacrament, Sunday school and priesthood. I planned to go home teaching, but I couldn’t get a hold of my companion. It was a busy but enjoyable day. It was also the 10th anniversary of the world trade center attacks in NYC. Rachel and I watched...

We had a ward harvest party today at 11:00. The kids decorated their bikes for a bike parade. Rachel made a pineapple cream pie and was voted the unanimous winner of the pie tasting contest. Somehow I got wrangled into a pie eating contest. I had to eat a whole coconut cream pie. It was disgusting. I was surprised that I won though. I was more surprised that I didn’t feel too full just after eating it. All in all it was a very fun party...

I left work early today to help out with Nolan’s birthday party. We invited boys from around the neighborhood over for a super hero party. They put on capes & masks in a telephone booth we made out of cardboard. They then lifted a pretend barbell. They the “flew” through the sky on the zip line. I think that was the biggest hit. I bought a new pulley for the zip like that really goes fast. The first time I had Gracie try it...