Earthquake

There was a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Panama today. We didn't know about it until she texted us at 1:27pm and told us, followed by another text saying "I'm alive". 

She felt it, but it was smaller where she was in Panama City. She said it hit closer to Santiago. She sent a few pics and videos, most of which I think were not her own but ones people shared with her (members or other missionaries). 

One video was of a tall suspension bridge shaking pretty badly, and she said she and her companion had crossed it a few hours ago. We are glad that she is safe.

Katharine and I had a good day. We practiced the ABCs today. I drew it and then she copied what I drew next to it. She was very cute and proud of herself, such a smart girl.

Peter made his school skeleton and was finished with it today. He was waiting to give his Jack Skeleton a Christmas hat, which I did for him before school. Now it is done! 

And his skeleton is wearing the same outfit he will be wearing on Halloween (Natalie made him a Jack Skeleton costume). 

Katharine is good to always give her brothers their morning hugs before school. Daniel left early this morning for book Blitz.

I did a kettlebell workout a the rec center this afternoon, then went and sat by the creek for a few before Corey and I went down to Provo for an MBA reunion dinner. 

There was a neighborhood chili cook off and pot luck, but we just told the kids to go without us. I had signed up to bring a salad but we had Natalie make cookies instead. Corey and I had a nice visit on our almost TWO HOUR (1 our 53 min) drive down to Provo. The freeway was totally backed up, from Point of the mountain all the way to Lindon. And then there was also a BYU football game, so there was still lots of traffic when we got off the freeway. But it was nice to have his mostly undivided attention. We talked about a few of the usual news items, and then I read to him a Deseret News article I liked about why people believe conspiracies ~ 

"In his book “Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational,” science historian Michael Shermer explains that the greater the significance of the victim or event, the harder it can be for people to accept an explanation that feels comparatively small — a psychology term called “proportionality bias.” In an excerpt of his book that he shared with the Deseret News, Shermer demonstrated that with Kirk — a famous and politically influential person — a lone individual or a straightforward motive can feel psychologically inadequate. “Highly influential people and events feel like they need a highly influential cause of their death,” he wrote. In another excerpt, he wrote the following: “9/11 is a type specimen: the most consequential terrorist attack in U.S. history can’t possibly have been caused by 19 guys with box cutters, could it? Well, as a matter of fact, yes, that’s exactly how such a massive event could happen, in contrast with the hundreds of thousands of people who would have had to be involved to pull it off as an inside job by the Bush administration.” His point is that it can be more psychologically satisfying to believe that a powerful organization or government orchestrated an event than to accept that history can be dramatically altered by just one person or circumstance. It also helps people have both an explanation and the feeling that they understand what is really happening, he explained. Jessica Pounds believes the origins of a conspiracy begin with distrust."

That article was referring to conspiracies around Charlie Kirk's assassination, and it also applied to some stuff that's been on my mind cause of a few podcasts that I listen to of people that seem sincere but it all just leaves me confused about life and the world (We are the people, happy lady, etc). But by believing these conspiracies, they feel like they understand what is "really" happening (bolded above). I'm glad that when I go to church, listen to general conference, or visit BYU, I have interactions with nice people and the ground feels solid under my feet again. So we had a good visit with some of his MBA friends. A few of them know about Ethan and the stuff he's doing down there at BYU. Some of Corey's classmates have had interactions with him at iHub. When one of Corey's friends put it together, he said "You're Ethan's dad?!?!" which Corey actually gets quite a lot when he has visited Ihub. "THE Ethan???" It was good and we were given all the Costa Vida catered leftovers, which the kids were happy about. We also got some ice cream before we started the drive back home. The Creamery on 9th is all new and remodeled, it was really nice!! We'll have to take the kids there soon.