New calling...

I can now officially announce that the "exciting news" or "big changes" I spoke of a couple of weeks ago is that....I have been called to be our ward's Young Women President. It's gonna be nuts! There are 42 young women in our ward and 17 of them are Laurels (ages 16 and 17).

I am super excited and ready to just get in their and get 'r' done!

Life...and Flashback Friday

Life has been hectic this past week and I have not posted. Some things just have to go when you get busy, right?

Tuesday was Enrichment night at church and it was wonderful! The theme was "An 8-cow woman". Now I've got you curious, huh? It was great. They talked about the point behind the Johnny Lingo movie and then we had 4 mini classes that all had "cow" in their title somehow. We learned COWmunication, COW-tipping fun for families, cash COW (budgeting), and holy COW (keeping the spirit with you). We "grazed" at the beginning by eating pizza and salad and at the end we "chewed our cud" with milk and cookies. I feel very blessed to be in this ward. The Enrichment board is phenomenal and they try so hard to organize and plan FUN activities that are also helpful. It is great!!
Wednesday was the parenting class that I have been taking. Only one more class to go. I have really enjoyed learning things to help improve daily life at home. I'm not so sure that the kids have enjoyed it, but....
Thursday was Girls Night Out to celebrate Shannon's 15th birthday. (hee hee, only Shannon and Melinda and I get that joke...) It was a blast. We ate at Mimi's and then went to Barnes and Noble (because we are book nerds) and then to Target. I found a couple of cute shirts that I am excited to wear since I am getting thinner and I also bought a hat! OOOH! It is fun and I will post a pic of it soon for you all to see. Then we went home and parked in Melinda's driveway for 2+ hours talking. SO FUN! Thanks gals for listening. You ROCK!!

Then today I volunteered in Jenny's class like I do every Friday morning. Caught her cheating on her spelling test. Little stinker!! I was so mad. But so happy that I was able to stay calm and talk to her about it and she had to go apologize to her teacher and take a new test. Then I got to go help in Rachel's class for their Valentine's Day party. It was fun and I was in charge of the little craft which they all liked so hooray for me!

On a side note...life will soon be getting crazier around our house. Things are always a changin'!! It won't be for a couple of weeks, but it is already making me see things that will be different around here.

Flashback Friday is a fun one this week. I remember when I thought it was so cute that Jonathan would climb up in the food closet and get snacks out for himself. What a smart kid, right? (he's 2 1/2 in this pic)

Here is Sidney doing the same thing. Silly silly silly kids! (she is 21 months) *on a side note, I think my pantry is much better organized now. Look at the pictures and tell me if you notice a difference.

Super Sunday.

I don't often say this. Well, actually I never say this....today was a good day. AND it was a Sunday. Around our house these two things are never combined together or so it seems. But today was different.

I got ready for choir practice and asked the kids if they wanted to come early with me or come later with daddy. Everyone wanted to come early and get in extra coloring time. Even Sidney was dressed and ready to go by 8am. I know! Miracle, huh?

So I hauled them all with me picturing in my mind the seven million times I would have to leave the choir seats during our practice to go remind my kids not to fight in the chapel.

But, I didn't have to. They were quiet and wonderful and definitely not my kids! Anyone know where mine have run away to? Seriously if I believed in alien abductions, I would bet my life that that is the reason for the strange behavior from my children.

And guess what is even better? I came home from church without a headache caused from fighting with kids, and the day has progressed with still not much fighting. Hooray for whatever drugs they have given themselves. It seems to work. I would blame the Halloween candy, but I just can't fathom that sugar is helping them to be nicer. That just seems impossible. Of course, so did well behaved kids.

Maybe I should just count my blessings......

Museum Fun

I get to work with the 8 year old girls in my church in a program called Activity Days. It is lots of fun and these girls are so cute! My own little Rachel one of them too! Twice a month we have an activity. We try to make sure that they are all from a little booklet that the Church puts out, which means that essentially they are "passing off" a requirement, but sometimes we think of other things to do that are more fun and we do those instead. I work with an awesome lady named Natalie who also has two daughters in our group. This past Thursday was our activity day and we had planned to go to the museum here in Syracuse. It would actually pass of one of the requirements that is "going to or participating in cultural event or place". A museum works for that!!

There was lots of great stuff at the museum. Old clothing that the girls got a kick out of. There was like 7 wedding dresses! Here are three of the girls saluting next to the Air Force uniform.
Two more of the girls checking out the REALLY old piano.
This wooden bench used to be in the first LDS meetinghouse (I think) that was here in Syracuse. Natalie said that she remembers sitting on it as a kid and how hard it was. We had to girls squish in like if they were part of a pioneer family and then give us their best "Pioneer serious face". They did great!
Right next door to the museum is the Farm Museum. It is more interactive. For example, if you can't tell....in the above picture, the girls are MILKING the cow. Can I just say how cool they thought that was!!
Funny story with this picture. There is an old outhouse and the tourlady was telling the girls about how you would have to walk all the way outside in the winter or in the dark to use the outhouse and then she unlocked and opened the door and the mannequin scared the living daylights out of one of the girls. She screamed and jumped about a foot into the air! I don't think the girls anticipated seeing the outhouse actually being "used". It was classic. We giggled for a long time about that!
And last but not least, here are the girls posing in front of the log cabin they have on the property there. Some of them were striking a pose if you couldn't tell. Fun times!

Woo Hoo!

Is that not the prettiest Temple ever? Oh, I am so happy about this! I grew up in the small town of Buhl, Idaho and the closest Temple for a long time was the Idaho Falls Temple. I remember being about 9 years old and my family went to the open house of the Boise Idaho Temple. It was wonderful and an experience that I shall never forget!

And now the Twin Falls Idaho Temple is all done and ready for its open house. Woo Hoo! We are taking our kids and going through it so that they can see how beautiful the Houses of the Lord are. My parents are thrilled to be able to drive 20 minutes to go to the temple now, instead of going on Stake or Ward temple day when they rent a bus and it takes the whole day. Now, they can go whenever they want. What a blessing for the people of that area!

What a day!

I'm not talking about today. Yesterday was busy, busy, busy! Well, actually, the whole week has been busy. But now it is over and next week looks to be less occupied with "stuff to do". So what made it so busy?

Here is the rundown: My two oldest are off track. They think I need to entertain THEM. Jenny had end of year Kindergarten testing this week. I had Activity Days to do on Thursday and since it was also the beginning of the month, I had to get typed up the newsletter for the girls. Rachel had a party with her soccer team to celebrate being done with soccer. WOOHOO! We had to go to the church and pick up the baptismal clothes for Rachel. I had a Cookie Lee jewelry party at my house. I had to clean my house. YUCK! And I had to make some food and go to Costco to get the rest.

That was the preparatory stuff. Yesterday was the culmination of what we prepared for. My sweet Rachel was baptized by her dad! It was an awesome day and I am so proud of her.

And since we had Stake Conference last week, it worked out well that this week was Fast Sunday and would be her baptism, since today is Sidney's FIRST BIRTHDAY and so our family all got to be here to celebrate that as well! So much fun! She loved her cake. After she fully woke up and people helped her a little to taste it. That's when she really got into it. She's getting closer to walking too. She takes a couple steps at a time. I think she is about a week away from full-blown on her own. YIKES! I am not ready for that!!

What a day!

Fun weekend!

I'm back! A fun weekend was had by all. Except for the part where my kids forgot ALL that they learned in swimming lessons and tried to drown themselves in the pool. Other than that it was all good. :)

Katelyn was beautiful in her white dress (which I didn't get a picture of) and so EXCITED to be baptized! It was great to be there to show our love and support of her.

I caught Rachel twirling in her dress as we got back to the house following the baptism. It was so cute that I had to take pics of it. And my new camera is so awesome that I think the pics are adorable!

Daddy/Daughter Date and the poodle skirts

Okay....just remember...you asked to see it. And please keep in mind that the camera adds 10 pounds, plus it's like 3 yards of felt which has got to add a good 50 pounds. So really, I am only 105 pounds. Skinny really. *And apparently in a state of denial as well.

Rachel (left) and Meghan (right) in their poodle skirts.

Here is me (big fat hippo wearing the truquoise skirt) and cute skinny daughters all decked out and ready to go.We borrowed this "HOG" from a leader's husband and took pictures of each of the girls with their dads on it. It was so fun! All the girls LOVED this part of the entire night! Here are my cuties with their Daddy. He was a party pooper and did not dress up. Some of the dads really got into it. There were a couple of letterman jackets from Clearfield and one from Davis, a couple of dads with slicked back hair and rolled up sleeves. It was great!

And the best part? IT'S DONE! We don't have to do another until September when we do our Mommy/Daughter. And it's gonna be a spa day activity. Mani's and Pedi's and massages. WOOHOO!

Randoms thoughts of the day

I've had a pretty fun weekend doing things on Facebook and finding old friends and aquaintances long forgot.

Jenny gave a talk in church and did it almost all by herself. Then she apparently volunteered to give the closing prayer too. She just does it all if you let her and I guess that they were. Oh well, at least she wasn't being naughty!!

Daylight Savings stinks if you have young kids and early morning church. I'm just sayin'.

President Hinckley

I heard the news from my best friend about an hour ago and I still cannot hardly believe that President Hinckley has died. It's like I thought he would be here forever or something. Now, I didn't really think that, but I am awfully attached to him. My heart is so full and so sad. What a truly remarkable man. Think of the growth of the Church that has occured while he has served. All the temples that have been built. It's amazing.

I think the memory that I will always treasure is when he visited my mission in October of 1996, and spoke to us missionaries there. I had been having a difficult time and I wanted to go home. My mission President asked me to wait at least until the Prophet came before I made my final decision. I struggled for a few more weeks and then came the day. I had also received a transfer to a different area and had all my things packed when I arrived at the mission office with my companion and the rest of our zone. The air was thick with excitement! All the Brazilian missionaries recognized this as the ultimate opportunity for them. When else would the Prophet be in a local close enough for them to see and hear him personally speak. For me, a small town girl, it was pretty much the same scenario. As we sat there waiting for him to come into the chapel, I remember thinking, "Will I know he is the Prophet when I see him? Will the spirit testify to me?" I really did want and need to know.

When he walked into the chapel, I felt such a strong feeling of truth that I cannot deny I know that he was a Prophet called of God. The amazing thing that happened next is that I was sitting amongst all the Brazilian sister missionaries and they began to sing the hymn "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet". I did not know the words in Portuguese, but the spirit was touching me so strongly that I was able to sing ALL the words in the language I was still learning as if from memory.

My heart is especially full since this week for activity days we had a combined activity that was about listening to the Prophet;s voice and we shared his message of the "Six Be's" (because it is my favorite). I had the opportunity to testify to the girls in our ward how much I love the Prophet and how thankful I am for all of his counsels. I'm just so grateful and glad that I took the time to share my testimony of him with them.

I love President Hinckley and will miss him as I have missed all the Prophets that have served during my lifetime....well, maybe a little more.

Weekend update

What a weekend we have had here at Crazyville! Friday night Mike and I were so lucky to have my best friend watch our kids for us so that we could go on a date. It's been so long that halfway through our dinner we realized we were scarfing it down in a effort to be done before...oh wait...they aren't with us! And to top that off, we even went to the same place to eat that we went to the LAST TIME. What is wrong with us? I'll tell you. It's called "no time alone"!
We saw "Becoming Jane" at the Kaysville Theater because it is only $3 vs. $9 for a movie. It was a pretty good movie. I'm glad we only paid $3.

Saturday I was in my jammies all day. Oh yes, all day. Mike and Jonathan went out at one point to shovel the driveway and found our neighbor doing it with his snowblower. Lesson learned: wait long enough and your neighbors will do it for you.

Sunday we woke up bright and early for 9 am church. Yippee! I am so glad to be back on a normal church schedule. My kids are always better behaved first thing in the morning anyway. Jonathan went right to Primary; Rachel did not get brought to me and Jenny didn't have to go on 10 bathroom breaks. All in all, it was a good day. The best part though was coming home and having ALL afternoon to hang out and take a nap etc. I even got to talk to my little sister on the phone for 1 1/2 hours! WOOHOO!
Life is good. Very good.

Full circle

This morning before church our Home Teachers came by. Normally, this isn't that remarkable (or bloggable) of a thing, but we haven't had Home Teachers in about 2 years. I know that someone had been assigned to teach us, they just haven't come or made any mention that they are our guys to us. Maybe our kids (and us) are too scary a thought to have to visit. I don't know. But last Sunday, Brother Thompson grabbed us and said that he and his son Ben were our Home Teachers. Yay!

They were tons of fun! And the best part was that they didn't mind when our kids were spazzes and climbed all over them!

Now for the really cool thing...Mike and I taught Ben (the son) in primary in the Valiant 9 class and now...he is one of our Home Teachers! How cool is that?

I think that is what one would call "Full Circle".

Another good Sunday

Church today was pretty good. We didn't have to fight too much with our kids,which is always nice. No one got brought to me for bad behavior. No,they were brought to me because of made-up illnesses. OH yeah, one had a "soreness in her swallow". A sore throat? She can't help it. She was trying to be creative so that I wouldn't get mad. I let her stay with me, but told her she had to be quiet and nice,and she was. The other gave a talk today in Sr. Primary and about five minutes after her sister came in to be with me, she came in complaining of a bellyache. I think it was just nerves. Either way, I had my two bigger girls in Relief Society with me. And they were actually quiet!

The lesson was on Sister Beck's talk about being strong and immovable. It was a great lesson and I loved all the thoughts that the teacher gave. Then the teacher reiterated a challenge given to us from our Stake President for each family in our Stake to write a Family Creed. I remember that he challenged us to do this when he spoke at Stake Conference and of course, we had forgotten. My eldest daughter leaned over to me and said, "Mom, we don't have one of those. Are we gonna do it?" I guess I have really be challenged now! So, for Family Home Evening tomorrow, we will probably be sitting down as a family and writing a creed of what our family believes and feels is important.

What about you? What did you learn at church today?

Not MY kids...

Yesterday was the Primary Program in our ward. I have to say that it is my favorite Sunday of the whole year, except for General Conference. And this year was especially good because for once it wasn't my kids putting on the naughty kid show. You all know what I'm talking about. There is always the kid (in the front row on the stand) that is standing up the whole time. Then he puts his shirt over his head and bumps into the other kids because he can't "see" them. Or the kid who sits there picking his bugers and eating them the whole time while his mom has a heartattack out where she is sitting.

Yes, I have been mortified before by what my kids were doing. It happens. But this year it didn't. Wahoo! My favorite moment of the whole program was when this one little kid stood to say his part and said it wrong, and it was so great! He said," I'm trying to be like Jesus when I disobey". I feel certain that he meant obey. But who cares! It was fabulous and obviously he has heard a certain phrase a bit much in his home to be able to say it without thinking.

That makes me feel better since all I have to do is start to say the phrase and my kids pipe up and finish it. It feels good to not be the only one threatening their kids daily.

It gets me to thinking....what kinds of things do you remind your kids about whenever they are going somewhere or before school?

Jonathan is 4!

Yesterday was my little boy's birthday. He turned four years old. Time flies on wings of lightening. I think that is a real saying and maybe it applies here. To put in bluntly...he is not my little baby anymore. Hasn't been since Sidney was born. But now he really isn't. He is a big boy. Or so I keep getting told.

Sunday was Stake Conference and he packed his own bag of things to take to entertain him. Just in case church itself wasn't enough entertainment,I guess. So, he gets his books and magna doodle and puts them all in his "man boy purse" and off we go to Stake Conference. Where LOTS of people will be. And not the same people that we see every week that are used to our kids and their quirks. Much more people. Not that it matters what people think. Who am I kidding? Of course it does! But he was proud as punch to have his own bag,so we let him.

He is very into dinosaurs, superheroes, and hot wheel cars right now. He is a fun little boy. For his birthday we got him a spiderman scooter. He was asking for it for months. Two days before his birthday,I went to the dollar store to get some things for the girls to give him. I got some hot wheels cars that had superheroes on them. I thought they were pretty cool. He likes the $1 presents better than the $30 scooter. Next year, I am only shopping at the dollar store.

Here are some tributes to my little man. Who insists that his middle name is "Green Arrow". Whatever.