A Hearty Dose of the Good, the Bad, and the Good

This post is mostly for my own personal record.  Not one incident is truly blog worthy, so I'm combining them all into one lengthy entry.  I apologize if it's a snoozer.  Blog worthy themes have been lacking this past little while. You've probably already noted that.  Thanks for being patient.

These past 6 days have proven to me that you never know what's coming around the corner in this earthly life.  Most of my days are spent doing fairly normal things and experiencing life in a generic tone (with a few hiccups of excitement or frustration here or there).  But these past 6 days have mixed things around and shown that I should always be on the lookout because trials and blessings come skipping down my street hand in hand. 

1. Friday night, we went with our good friends, Randee and Jeremy Mitchell, to the Bountiful LDS Temple.  I love the temple and the peace that I feel there.  I'm ashamed to say that I don't get there nearly as often as I should (especially since it is a mere 15 minutes from my house) but it was a wonderful experience and it was fun to go with friends.  After the temple, we stopped by my parent's home to check on the kids and introduce the Mitchells to my parents.  My dad had promised to be on his best behavior, but for him that means making the effort of dressing up in his Christmas plaid pants, donning a striped dress shirt, putting on a necktie with one side hanging really long and the other side ultra short, and parting his hair down the middle so that he had a very close resemblance to Alfalfa. It's because of experiences like this that I have spoken those 3 special words to my dad all of my life - "Don't embarrass me!"  We went to the Sego Lily Cafe afterwards (see suggestion in sidebar) and then went for Nielson's Frozen Custard.
2. Saturday, Jeff decided to venture out kayaking with the 3 older kids.  He took his brother, Ryan, as backup in case the kids started a mutiny.  He checked the water levels in the morning.  He thought he'd be fine.  But because the water is controlled by the higher ups (not sure who that is or what their credentials are) the levels can change without warning. Long story short, my kids shouldn't have been on a kayak by themselves. Within 5 minutes of being in the swift current, they hit a tree and capsized.  As they were freaking out and crying because they were now in the water rather than being on top of it, and were splashing around like they were going to be swallowed alive by the Weber River Gods, Britt stood up and said, "Hey guys, I can stand!"  The water was less than 3 feet deep. How they didn't scrape their knees on the rocky bottom while they were panic stricken is beyond me.  Jeff ended up ditching his kayak and riding down with the kids the rest of the way.  The good?  My kids were safe and I didn't kill Jeff (for putting them in a scary situation).  The bad? When the kids tipped over, they lost a $90 paddle that was borrowed and that had to be replaced. Jeff earned himself a very short leash when it comes to future high adventure outings with the kiddos.
3. I've been more irritated than a Pit Bull with hemorrhoids over the whole Obama speech controversy.  Jeff keeps telling me to let it go and I've simmered down a lot, but I'm still irked.    
4. Jeff put his Honda Civic on KSL.com to try and sell it.  Within 48 hours, he'd had a dozen calls, 6 emails, and several people wanting to come see it.  Nothing but positive responses for the condition of the car and the price.  Except for one email in which a guy called Jeff a nasty name, ridiculed him for trying to sell it for that price, and just being an ornery son-of-a-gun.  Why do people have nothing better to do with their lives than to email strangers and be mean?  I don't get it.  Maybe they just need a hug or someone to tell them their mullet is looking extra nice that day. Who knows!  Anyway, Jeff should have the car sold in the next couple of days and should get full asking price.  For this we are grateful.
5. BYU beat Oklahoma!
6. Yesterday, we found out that our new interest rate for our mortgage is 3.625%.  That will be saving us $111 per month on our mortgage payment. This is locked in for the next year!  Woo-hoo!  Pennies from heaven that will go towards paying off rocks in sewer lines.
7. I've had the chance to do some house cleaning with a friend to earn some money for our upcoming Florida trip. Again, I am most grateful.
8. Last night, as I was picking Taiden up from scouts at our church, I saw a man and woman walking down the street while heavily involved in an argument.  The man was being very physically rough with the woman and yelling profanities at her.  She kept trying to get away but he would push and grab at her and was trying his hardest to block her way.  I didn't have my cell phone with me so I jumped in my car and followed them down the street.  I AM SO TIRED OF MEAN AND IGNORANT PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD!!!!  I could tell that they weren't drunk or strung out on anything.  I pulled over, asked the woman if she needed help, but she said, "No, I'm fine."  The guy was relentless and kept up his aggression towards her.  By then, one of the scout leaders had followed me and had pulled over too.  The guy finally realized that I wasn't going anywhere and decided to stop and walked off in another direction.  The woman continued on and I followed her until she was around the corner, at which point I asked her again if I could help or if she needed a ride somewhere. Before you question my judgement, let me assure you that I had a feeling of peace that she was safe to pick up and that she was just someone who needed my help at the moment.  I never would have picked up a stranger had I not had that confirmation within me. I drove her to the courthouse west of the freeway where she said her sister was going to pick her up. We didn't do a whole lot of talking (it's hard to make small talk with someone who has just been assaulted) but I felt like I needed to say something.  So, I said, "I don't want to butt into your business but you really don't need to put up with that.  That's not OK, and that's really not cool."  She nodded her head and agreed.  Whether or not she truly realizes that I will never know. Not our typical ride home from scouts, that's for sure.  Yes, things like this happen even in Mayberry.