Westmoreland Asays

Thursday After spending the early morning by letting the boys jump all over me and Meg in our bed, I drove to Leslie and played football with some fellows from church. We played tackle, and I came away with some bruised wrists--at least nothing happened to my poor, poor ankles. It was freezing and raining buckets (we set a new record for total amount of rain in November--once again attributed to mom and dad leaving our fair state), so we didn't play for more than an hour. Last year was probably more fun; I think playing tackle is just a little harder and requires more brute strength than skill or speed . . . We then drove up to Sherwood to enjoy what was probably the quietest holiday gathering at the Booren's that I have ever experienced. We were the only direct family members there, and the only other party was one of Grandpa Booren's cousins who lives in SW PDX, I belive. So we ate and ate and ate, and I even left room for some chocolate pie. Friday I think I just wa...

Aaron gave the scripture (Psalm 100:4) and prayer today in Primary. Meg and I practiced with him throughout the week, and he nearly nailed it from the stand, missing only a small phrase in the middle. But he kept going and didn't let the mishap get in the way of his smooth delivery. Quite the contrast to the time he was asked to give his talk a few months ago . . . Edward also attended Nursery all by himself today, as it was the first day that Meg wasn't in there as the leader (she's now working with the Cub Scouts). He has been to other Nurserys before and did all right, but he was somewhat problematic in our ward when Meg was in there with him. He can get very jealous if Meg or I are holding or playing with another kid, but he has always been well-behaved when we're not around. But don't we all act that way sometimes--that is, we act all proper and dignified when around guests or people we don't know well, but when we're around family and friends we...

The notion of the Brothers Pox proved to be false. I suppose it is easier to mis-diagonse something when circumstances are fresh in memory, as one of Aaron's pre-school "teachers" at Sprague came down with the Pox, and the boys sprouted mystery red marks on their body within the week. The mystery spots were likely scratches or scabs that occur naturally with young boys. So the only real event of the incident was that Aaron got to wear his pajamas on three consecutive days.

It appears that Aaron and Edward have contracted the chicken pox. Stay tuned for the related fall-out.