Sister Ballantyne in Singapore: September 8, 2013

From Mom: Michael had to order the last of his garments from the distribution center online because his size isn't very common. They came within about 4 days or less, just in time for his birthday! We also got him some nice shaving stuff for his birthday. He has some kind of fungus or something on some of his fingers that we may need to get checked out. They don't seem to get better just very red and scaly. We've tried different oils on him and lotions but nothing seems to help. He got his Hepatitus A shot the other day and the flu shots aren't ready yet so that's all his immunizations for now. He's pretty much ready to go now. I have new days off and new hours so my new days off are Sunday and Monday. My new hours are 9-5 so I can make sure Faline gets off in the morning once Michael isn't here to help. Tomorrow we are going to the Salt Lake Temple (it's the only one open a few hours on Mondays) so he can see a live session.

Today was interesting at church. Five wards went into the meeting and came out six wards. They dissolved one ward and created two new ones. We are in one of the new wards, the River View 7th Ward. Our bishop is from the 4th ward and lives just behind the apartments a few streets over. Bishop McKay sounds like he'll be fun! He reminds me of Darryl Christensen, our recent family member since Grandma's marriage to Al. We will have Stake Conference next week then Sacrament meeting only on the 22nd to hear the new callings. We will have a regular schedule starting the 29th. Our time hasn't changed, just our building so we're still at 1 pm which means I can still go to Music and the Spoken Word any time I decide to (it starts at 9:30am)

It's really cool going to work when I do because the sun is behind the mountains to the east, where Glenn & Carrie live, but I can see the sunlight just to the west of us on the other mountains. That's what the two pictures are of. The other one is a picture from the family dinner we had after Michael received his endowments on the 24th. As you may see, Steven was there and Jake & Amy, Leonard's bunch. When you get home you can see all these cousins since they live around here. We also saw Linda, one of Marion & Paul's children. Marion is one of Grandpa's sisters who lives in South Jordan. It was nice to chat for a bit. We'll have to see Marion & Paul before Michael leaves, maybe.

Faline will sometimes read with me but usually finds other things to look at besides the book. She won't write at school hardly at all and when she does it looks like a kindergartener did it. She will write numbers but they aren't much better than the words. The school is going to have her tested to find out exactly the help she would benefit from and then implement a special plan just for her reading and writing. Hopefully she will figure things out so that she enjoys going to school.

Karlene & I went for a walk this evening and visited with one of our new ward families. We've talked to them before but they weren't in our ward before. Karlene will have a few of her friends she already knows in our ward and her crush is now in our ward - Tyler. We had fun. They have an exchange student from Germany staying with them for the school year. Maybe you can remember a few things you can talk to her about in her native language, although they study English from when they are little so she's very good at that, too.

Well, I better go. Hope you had/have a good week! Dad's working at the state fair for Sears after working at Extend every day so he's going to be very tired by next Sunday!

From Dad: Well, it looks like the stake realigned some of the ward boundaries and we're no longer in the 5th ward. We're now in the newly formed 7th ward - that means that when we go to church we drive by two other buildings before we reach our building. So I guess you'll be coming home to the River View 7th ward, however I think Marsing 2nd is still claiming you. Your mom and I are automatically released from our callings, which is kinda funny because I was just set apart to be a teacher in the Elders' Quorum and haven't had a chance to teach yet! Anyway, I hope things go well. Thought you would find this entertaining.

I left my Traeger when we moved with Mom and Al. I kinda miss it! I would like to get more of them and cook for a lot of people we'll see. I found a way that I can hook the Traeger up to a batter of the car so we could do some fun tailgating and camping!

Here are some pictures from the family dinner after Michael got his endowments that we had up at Carrie and Glenn's.

From Michael: It's going to be okay so long as I obey all the traffic laws and then some.

From Karlene: Michael is not a teenager anymore tpday was his birthday. One of my friends wants me to "spy" on a boy that she likes. The boy is the same as me. Mom thinls he likes me but I don't think so. Alex attacked my hand while I was reading a book. He was on catnip at the time though. I am taking mandrine chinese fpr my second language credit and doing pretty good in it too. The boys name is Tyler and my friend wants me to inform her if he starts flirting with a girl. I dodged her question of if I like him by saying "he is a friend". We got a new ward boundry and we are now in one of the newest wards. I found out that I was supposed to have taken geography last year. I apperently went from social studies strait to honors world civ and so far I have managed to do good in it.

From Faline: I love you. I got to see some Eureka this week. Nice picture of the passion fruit, it looks like an apple on the outside. The picture of the inside was kinda blurry. I got to see some funny cat videos - they were pretty funny!