Strawberries and Flowers

We planned to go biking Saturday -- first Saturday we haven't had "stuff" going on that would interfere with a good bike ride.  Well, thanks a lot, Mother Nature, for sending the cold and the wind!  Thanks to you, we did not go biking today after all :(

Since we were gone so much last week with zone conferences, we didn't purchase any strawberries last Saturday.  So yesterday we couldn't wait to get some more.

I read online that this is the best way to store fresh strawberries -- in glass.  Don't wash or stem until ready to eat.  I will let you know how that works out.  In addition to these beauties, we ate a huge bowl last night and another one for breakfast.  This was half a flat or six cups full.  Mmm Mmm!

I also splurged and got some fresh flowers.  You can see them growing and being harvested in the fields nearby.  So they are really pretty reasonable.  I love them!  I always have a tough time deciding which ones to get, trying to figure out the ones that will last the longest.  I can tell you, not the gladiolas.  They were very disappointing.

Randy and I spoke in church today.  Everyone lived through it :)  This ward is great to have the entire program center around a topic.  First of all, both Randy and I were given the same topic to speak on (several weeks ago, I might add) -- "The Sabbath Day;" then we discovered that the youth speaker also had this same topic.  Additionally, each of the hymns today was also about the Sabbath.  The bishop says they try to always do this, and it works out well.  You have to have a bishopric that assigns talks well in advance, and then you have to have a music coordinator who puts the music with the topics.  Well done, Oxnard 2nd Ward!

Our ward mission leader was released today, Brother Skip Johnson.  I've mentioned him previously.  He is headed to Las Vegas on Tuesday to begin cancer treatments there for six months.  Serious business!  The cancer is in his bones now.  Sad.  They did not sustain anyone to this position.  Elder Mecham has been asked to attend ward council meetings and fill in as best he can until someone is called to this position.  Elder Mecham will also be teaching the Gospel Essentials class for three weeks.  Way to go Elder Mecham :) 

Sister Mecham, that's me, was asked to sub in Primary this week, CTR 7.  It was honestly a complete disaster! No one warned me that one of the kids has an attention problem and can easily get out of control.  Not the teacher nor any of the primary personnel or the mom, who sat right next to me for the opening song in Primary.  Then, about a third of the way through the lesson, if you could even begin to call it that, on the Holy Ghost, no less, I discover that it is the same lesson the kids had last week!  Seriously!  The teacher herself told me which lesson to prepare!  What a total waste!  Five kids, and once one was off the wall, which he was from the moment he got into the classroom, they all were.  The total Primary experience was interesting.  (And I've been so impressed with everything else in this ward, up until Primary.)  I'll leave it at that.

But I felt pretty good about my talk.

Here are a couple of random pictures of our apartment, which we now call home.  I am still searching for a few specific things to make it a bit more homey.

Our little kitchen

Another angle -- from the living room into the kitchen

I can see that these are pretty lousy pictures. I will try again another time to get better pics and replace these.  Still working with my camera :)

Elder Mecham is at stake Priesthood meeting; the stake center is in Camarillo.  He picked up Elder Blue and they went together.  Now I am going to Skype my mother :)