The craziness ensues...
Both of our cars ran into problems this past week. LeAnn took the van in to have the brakes checked, and a whole Pandora's box opened. The struts, the shocks, the brakes, the calipers-- just about everything needs to be fixed. It would take well over $1000 to get it fixed. Then Mr. Murphy came by with his law. The next day, when I tried to leave work in the Honda, it wouldnt start. I had Mark Daniels come down and try to jump it, to no avail. We figured it was probably the starter. I ended up taking the bus home. I believe I got on the wrong bus, because I ended up in Factoria, as opposed to downtown Bellevue. So I had to transfer to Seattle and then go south. The whole trip took over two hours! Although I was able to get a bus pass from Microsoft that works for the whole year, so I did at least save some money there. The next day I was debating whether to have the car towed, when Mark suggested we go buy the part and he would install it.　だめでもともと, as they say in Japanese--it cant hurt to try. He was able to get the old starter off and we ran to Shucks and got a new one. After he put it in, I crossed my fingers, said a prayer, turned the key, and TADA! It worked! I was so relieved. I know he saved us a ton of money although the part was $165. Its good to have friends who are handy with cars--cause I sure am not!

On Saturday, the 8th, we went to the Thornes to await a phonecall from Alan, who was calling from his mission in the Phillippines. We decided to sleepover and go to church with Mom and Dad the next day.
It was so fun to hear from Alan. LeAnn asked him to say something to us in Tagalog-- he proceeded by jokingly saying (I hope he was joking! :)) "you all are sure ugly, and Im glad you dont understand Tagalog, or Id be in a lot of trouble" So, he still has his sense of humor, if not moreso than before. His reception was quite poor at first, and we lost him a number of times. At one point, he was on a bus and told us after Matthew asked if there were any animals on the bus, that there was a rooster right next to him! COCK A DOODLE DOO!
It was so fun to hear the other missionaries in the background. They seem to really enjoy each other. It made me reminisce fondly of the wonderful times in the mission field with the other missionaries. What a great experience. He seems happy and healthy-- as far as we can tell :)

On Mother's Day, I made the breakfast casserole for the ladies, so they wouldn't have to cook for once. It even turned out pretty good!
We had a nice Sacrament meeting. They have a great ward there in Mukilteo. Jaylin sure wanted to go sit with "Papa" up there on the stand. We had to restrain her until the last song. Both her and Grandpa looked happy to be with each other after she finally made it up there.
The kids and I bought LeAnn a fuscia from them and I gave her a gift card for a massage at Gene Juarez. I love the mother that LeAnn has become. The children love her so much. What a blessing she is in all of our lives.
We stayed for dinner as Matthew, Anna and Jack were coming over. That Jack gets cuter every time I see him. He is much more mobile now, and gets around pretty good. He has even survived the mauling by Autumn, Austin and Jaylin-- so he is going to be tough too! :)
Jeannette Hill has moved up to Seattle now, and came by for dinner. Autumn was waiting all day for her to arrive. I think she likes having another redhead around to conspire with. :)
I tried to call mom while driving home. I ended up getting Brandon instead. So I wished him "Happy Brother's Day" instead of Mothers day. Mom and dad had gone to California for April's wedding, and hadnt arrived home yet. I will give her a belated call tonight. I am very grateful for my mother. She helped me become the man I am today.

http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/2004.htm/ensign%20may%202004.htm/strengthen%20thy%20brethren.htm

This was a great talk from the priesthood session of General Conference this past month. It was memorable as the speaker had a slide presentation which actually showed a man walking out in the surf in his church suit (not swimming suit) to retrieve the young man and bring him to church with him. What a great example of leadership. I looked this talk up as we discussed it in Elder's quorum yesterday. It is wonderful to have a great resource such as LDS.org available to us to peruse at the click of a mouse!

Last Friday, we were invited to go out with the bishopric to a thank you dinner on behalf of the Eaton's. They took us to Marie Callendars. The Fisher's, Fife's, and Walker's were also there. It is so nice to hang out with such outstanding people. I ordered the Rack of Ribs and LeAnn had the Salmon-- she loves the fishy stuff for some reason. :) Bishop Eaton thanked each of us for all of our service. He was released yesterday as he is moving to Idaho to teach at BYU Idaho. It is incredible how he has been able to fulfill his dreams. A great example to me that when you rely on the Lord, the things that you seek will come to pass.
There was much speculation as to who would be in the new bishopric-- and equally amazing was that the secret was never made known to anyone until they were called in the meeting yesterday. The new bishop is Bishop Clark, with Rick Gildart as the 1st counselor and Dave Fisher as the 2nd. They all will do a great job. Apparently, the bishop will be retaining my services as the Executive Secretary for the time being.

On Saturday, LeAnn had a Jewelry sale with all of the beaded necklaces she has been making. She did incredibly well. Anna, (our sister in law) had also made a number of bracelets and came down as well.
While that was going on, I took the kids to Bullwinkle's, a fun center with pizza and games. We went through about $15 worth of tokens fairly quickly, then got the 75 cents worth of goods at the ticket redemption counter. I love being with the kids. They are great fun to be around.
That evening we took the Borrowmans--Angela and Dan, as well as Dave and Erica Jones and went to Woodinville to celebrate Angela's birthday. We went to a Thai place called "Racha" for dinner, where we got "spiced" up. Afterwards we went to the Woodinville Reparatory Theatre, where we saw a musical show of Broadway showtunes. I didnt know quite what to expect as far as the facilities went, never having been there before--but it was $10 a ticket, so much more affordable than the Paramount! It turned out the "Theatre" was basically in the caddyshack, it reminded me of "Old Mack's Playhouse" but not as nice. The singers/actors did a fine job, although there were a couple of stinkers-- one from Grease, "You are the one I want"-- I much preferred Travolta/Newton John to the one we saw.
But overall, I think everyone enjoyed it. It was a fun evening to hang out with friends.