Out of Tune

This week

Here is a picture of us at the corn maze last week.

Clayton spent extra time tying to get caught up from his week off.

Nicole came and visited him and law school on Tuesday. We went to the J. Ruben Clark Society (JRLS) reception.  The JRLS is the Lds law club. It was fun to be there with other students and see all the little kids running around. The event was fun. We got to talk with some of Clayton's fellow classmates. We learned that one of the served in the same mission, at the same time, as Joseph (Nicole's cousin) and they knew each other. They sang together at different functions during their missions. The menu was interesting; there was a taco bar, there was also mac and cheese and chicken fingers for the kids, apple juice and a big tub of ice cream.

On Wednesday, Nicole came up to the law school again to go with Clayton to the Art Law Society panel. Nicole got to hear about law and the arts. It helped her to realize just how awesome it is not to be a lawyer and to be the one making the art. After the event was over we walked to china town. After surveying the fabulous culinary offerings we opted to go to Fudruckers.  We also saw a really cool water fountain at the International Monetary Fund building. We also saw a segway gang. Apparently there are night tours of the city on segways.  We were afraid we had come across a vile group of segway mercenaries, whose evil deeds are the white collar equivalent to the hell's angels.

We rode the metro home. We were feeling kinda gross because the metro car we were on was a bit... sticky. This reminded Clayton of something he saw a few days ago while riding the metro. There was a family with three or four kids riding to the zoo. The kids were super excited and were going crazy while their parents tried to keep them under control. The dad was trying to get two of the boys to sit down in the seat. When he turned around, his younger son was licking the window of the metro. The father was incapacitated with disgust. He just stood there, his jaw dropped and he let out a slight whimper. At this point the mother also noticed the boy licking the window.  She was quicker to act than her stupefied husband. She made a mad grab at the boy, pinned him to the seat and began a germaphobic lecture in an attempt to scare the child straight. The dad just stood there.

On Thursday Nicole received a call from her Mom about her Grandfather Fred. At the doctor's office, they found a growth in his lungs. On Monday he will receive further scans and decide the best course of action. He is in our thoughts and in our prayers.

On Friday, Nicole's friend, Hilary, who has a two year old little boy, invited her to go to the ward trunk or treat. Her husband is a lawyer and was out of town. As Clayton was still studying, Nicole too was widowed for the night by her law career husband. So they went together. It was fun to see all the little kids running around with candy-crazed eyes, finding ways to run the trunk circuit multiple times without getting caught. One of the trunks was decorated as a Wonka-vision nerds packet that transformed the giant candy bar into a smaller size. The couple was dressed as Willy Wonka and an umpa lumpa. In another display, a single lady in the ward dressed up as the queen of hearts and set a "throne" up in the back of her truck.  She made everyone bow to her before she would give them candy. Hilary's son was dressed as the cutest little robot. He had a duck tape covered box with dryer exhaust vents for the arms and legs. The original design had the child wearing a sweatshirt underneath, but it was much colder than expected, so when he put on his winter coat he couldn't really move his arms, let alone bow to a "queen of hearts," so he skipped that one.

Saturday we were assigned to help clean the church, but Clayton threw his back out and wasn't felling up to going, so we skipped it. It was probably a good call because Clayton stayed lying on his back for the rest of the day, icing it. It feels a little better, but these things take time to fully heal. Hopefully, we'll be able to help clean next time. Nicole's piano tuning kit came on Saturday and she was a bit apprehensive to start right away. We did find an electric tuner online to assist, but our computer isn't really portable so we moved the piano to the computer. Now it sits in the middle of our living room and will be there until she decides to finish tuning it. We'll see. Tuning a piano is much more tricky than it looks. Saturday was also the day we found out that Clayton got a speeding ticket. He got caught on camera when he was helping to transport the new piano. The bill was sent to his parent's address in Utah. It wasn't a huge fine, but it was a super bummer because it was Clayton's first speeding ticket.

Today was stake conference and we enjoyed the talks, though parking was a bit crazy. Nicole was worried about Clayton's back having to sit for two hours, but he did OK. After the meeing, Clayton received a calling. He will be on the troupe committee and is excited to be working with the scouts again.

We hope all is well with you, peace and blessings!