Busyness

I'll have to paint my porch ceiling!

We have had a calendar filled few weeks with many different experiences. One of my favorite activities was taking our favorite female Marine to Old Town. We  went to the miniature train museum, out for some not so great Mexican food, to the Mormon Battalion and walked through the village of victorian houses. I loved the architecture and so did she. She taught me something new. Under the porch roofs or the eaves of every entrance to the homes the ceiling is painted light blue. I didn't know that that was done to match the sky and to keep evil spirits from entering there.

Volunteering at the USO was good and not so good. We would love to be able to go to the airport on Tuesdays when the Marines are returning from their 10 day leave. But, it seems to be the favorite day of other volunteers, and they are very territorial. Also, our name tags must make someone there nervous, and we were asked to remove them. (I don't know what's so scary about that!) We went to another facility, the USO office at Liberty Station. Mike manned the desk and I helped serve ice cream. We liked it there better.

Sister Sayer and I have been teaching lessons to recruits who are coming to church for the first time in years. We have our class in the back of the auditorium after Sacrament Meeting. There is a lot going on at the same time in the same room: EQ lesson, interviews, blessings, four different missionary discussions, new member recruit orientation. It is quite the hub-bub of activity--the Gospel in Action!

We will be covering for Elder and Sister Sayer at the end of the month. They are the MRM's whose assignment is MCRD. They take care of all the business there. Anyway, we went to a Marine Graduation. We got to sit in the grandstand with all of the big wigs. My favorite part of it all was the Marine Band. It is very cool to watch the Marines march on the parade deck in their platoons.


We were lucky to hear the Maine Band again at a Flag Day Celebration. This was held at the Mormon Battalion Museum. Mike was asked to speak at the ceremony that saluted the flag and honored four other veterans. He did a really great job and was inducted as an "honorary member of the Mormon Battalion, US Army of the West." I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the audience while he was sweating it out on the stage. In fact, I was so comfortable that I forgot to record his speech or take any pictures.



A funny thing that happened a while ago: We were walking/biking and a cute little 82 year old Jewish lady came over to visit. She was a comedienne, literally. Her name was SueAnn, but she insisted we call her Sue. She told us a few jokes (some she edited after she saw our tags) and asked Mike if the government gave him any money when he got hurt. He told her, "$378.00." After a few expletives she pulled out her checkbook (which she showed me had a balance of $128,000.00ish) and was going to give him some money! We politely turned down her offer...

Yes, I'm wearing ear warmers

June Gloom is a real thing. We haven't seen the sun but maybe three days this entire month. It's caused by a marine layer or something like that. After all of the rain January-March we are seriously wondering about this whole Sunny San Diego theme. We manned the temple booth for a few afternoons and stayed wrapped up in blankets between visitors. We'll see what July and August bring!


We miss our family and friends, our home ward and sense of community. But, we know we are where we should be right now in our lives. The Stone rolls forth! How lucky we are to be a part such a great movement!