Last Sunday I got a fun surprise. I got a call from our Primary President an hour or two before church was to start and she said that her daughter was headed to the hospital to have their first grandbaby and she wouldn't be able to make it to church because she wanted to be there for the birth. She told me our second counselor was out of town and hadn't called her with some assignments she was supposed to have made, so we didn't know if there would be subs for all the classes. She listed off a bunch of people I had to find/give things to and told me she was sending her folder and keys to church with her younger son and that the agenda for conducting was in there, but I would be the only member of the presidency in Primary that day! It was surprising... definitely. Suddenly I go from thinking I have nothing to worry about, and then it's all just me! But everything actually went really well- the 1st and 2nd counselors from the past presidency were there and helped out and we had subs for all the classes figured out and Sharing Time got figured out and everything was just fine. Whew! But I am SO excited to be in Primary- I'm going to LOVE it!
Update on the calling situation- our new primary president has asked us counselors (the 2nd counselor is the Bear Leader in cub scouts) to stay in our callings in scouting for the time being. I'm not sure how long we will be there but I'm totally ok with it, surprisingly enough. I thought I wouldn't be. But I am- I'm totally fine with it. I feel like I have a better support system now that I'm in two different organizations. I've felt a little overwhelmed today because I started listing up all the things that have to happen in the next few weeks before we leave for vacation... but I'm just relaxing and I feel better.
I can't believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving! We are going to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Wahlquists who were so kind to let us come again. We got to spend it with them last year and it was so fun. We definitely miss family, but we have so many wonderful friends up here that we don't feel too lonely! We are so excited to see everyone at Christmas.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
New Calling and Fishies
Wow- two posts in a week... let's not jinx it. Well, I got a new calling. I mentioned it last time- I just got called as First Counselor in our Primary Presidency. Hooray! I'm super excited about this calling- I am intimidated by it and a little overwhelmed but totally ready to go to work and have a blast! Our ward seriously has the best Primary I've ever visited, and I know the amazing presidency that came before us will be hard to live up to- but I LOVE primary. Oh so excited.
However, I'm still technically also the Webelos Leader. So off to scouts we go today! I'm assuming they will release me next Sunday once they have a chance to call someone to fill my spot. I'm a little sad about leaving the Webelos- we only have two boys but they are great. I was looking forward to growing into that calling. However, I'm also relieved. Cub scouts is a TON of work that I'm not even close to accustomed to- I would have had to do a lot of outside work and learn a lot of things myself so I could teach them to the boys. I know I could have done it, and I'm sad not to be working with them anymore... but I'm also kinda relieved. It was a very overwhelming calling for me. But now I have almost 100% more knowledge than I did before about how the cub scouting program works, and I have a lot better appreciation for it than I did before. I can definitely see how it's prepared me better to accept this new calling- and I feel like a lot more part of the ward now than I did before I was called into Webelos.
Our ward situation is interesting because of the boundaries. We have about half our ward living in the trailer park (consisting of mostly older couples/families, students or recently graduated students with 0-1 child) and the other half living in the more well-off subdivision up on the hill (established families with more children, professors at the college). Because of this, all of the people that are non-student are all really good friends and know each other quite well. Because students get married, need a place to live, decide to rent a trailer, move in and out usually within a year or two, they all kind of look the same to everyone else in the ward who can't usually remember who is living where. It's just an endless parade of students that are always changing... and as a result they don't always reach out and befriend them instantly. Not that they aren't friendly, it's just hard for them to remember who you are and keep you straight from the other 5 couples that just moved in that have a baby. I think they are just hesitant to form real friendships with people that will be gone in less than a year. I have always felt so welcome in the ward, and people are always so friendly, but it's taken a year and some of being here, and several different callings for me to actually break into the "established family" circle of people and to be able to say that I have friends in them beyond just knowing their name and saying hi on Sundays. But now I really feel so much more welcome- it makes a difference when I have some friends that aren't students. I'm not a student, so I look to those women for friends and it's just hard to find them because they all assume I'm a student and will leave in the spring or whatever. I don't know if I would behave differently if I was in their situation- I completely understand it. It's just an interesting ward dynamic.
We had such a fun weekend! Saturday we decided to be spontaneous and to shirk housework and homework to go do something fun as a family. We went up past Ashton to a little place on the Warm River where they don't allow fishing and you can buy little fishy pellets and feed the fish! It was really cold and snowing so we all bundled up good and went out to do it. It was so cute! Audrey loved seeing the fish thrash around after the pellets- she would laugh and smile every time. She was very fascinated by the snow and ice- wanted to touch it and figure out what it was. She thought walking in the snow was different but ok, however she did NOT like falling face first in the snow. At all. It was a very fun trip though- overall very successful, a dollar very well spent on feeding the fishies. And it didn't take all day or a lot of planning- which was nice!
Audrey modeling her fashionable snow pants before leaving the house.
A picture of snowy fields on our drive out there.
Audrey took a nap...
Daddy drove...
And Mommy just chilled!
...and took pictures. :)
Audrey checking out the water!
I feel glad to know we supported something with our dollar.
On our way home Audrey got a little warm, so she pulled off her hat, but realized it did actually belong on her head, and tried to put it back, and left it there.
Again, she really hated falling face first into the snow.
However, I'm still technically also the Webelos Leader. So off to scouts we go today! I'm assuming they will release me next Sunday once they have a chance to call someone to fill my spot. I'm a little sad about leaving the Webelos- we only have two boys but they are great. I was looking forward to growing into that calling. However, I'm also relieved. Cub scouts is a TON of work that I'm not even close to accustomed to- I would have had to do a lot of outside work and learn a lot of things myself so I could teach them to the boys. I know I could have done it, and I'm sad not to be working with them anymore... but I'm also kinda relieved. It was a very overwhelming calling for me. But now I have almost 100% more knowledge than I did before about how the cub scouting program works, and I have a lot better appreciation for it than I did before. I can definitely see how it's prepared me better to accept this new calling- and I feel like a lot more part of the ward now than I did before I was called into Webelos.
Our ward situation is interesting because of the boundaries. We have about half our ward living in the trailer park (consisting of mostly older couples/families, students or recently graduated students with 0-1 child) and the other half living in the more well-off subdivision up on the hill (established families with more children, professors at the college). Because of this, all of the people that are non-student are all really good friends and know each other quite well. Because students get married, need a place to live, decide to rent a trailer, move in and out usually within a year or two, they all kind of look the same to everyone else in the ward who can't usually remember who is living where. It's just an endless parade of students that are always changing... and as a result they don't always reach out and befriend them instantly. Not that they aren't friendly, it's just hard for them to remember who you are and keep you straight from the other 5 couples that just moved in that have a baby. I think they are just hesitant to form real friendships with people that will be gone in less than a year. I have always felt so welcome in the ward, and people are always so friendly, but it's taken a year and some of being here, and several different callings for me to actually break into the "established family" circle of people and to be able to say that I have friends in them beyond just knowing their name and saying hi on Sundays. But now I really feel so much more welcome- it makes a difference when I have some friends that aren't students. I'm not a student, so I look to those women for friends and it's just hard to find them because they all assume I'm a student and will leave in the spring or whatever. I don't know if I would behave differently if I was in their situation- I completely understand it. It's just an interesting ward dynamic.
We had such a fun weekend! Saturday we decided to be spontaneous and to shirk housework and homework to go do something fun as a family. We went up past Ashton to a little place on the Warm River where they don't allow fishing and you can buy little fishy pellets and feed the fish! It was really cold and snowing so we all bundled up good and went out to do it. It was so cute! Audrey loved seeing the fish thrash around after the pellets- she would laugh and smile every time. She was very fascinated by the snow and ice- wanted to touch it and figure out what it was. She thought walking in the snow was different but ok, however she did NOT like falling face first in the snow. At all. It was a very fun trip though- overall very successful, a dollar very well spent on feeding the fishies. And it didn't take all day or a lot of planning- which was nice!
Audrey modeling her fashionable snow pants before leaving the house.
A picture of snowy fields on our drive out there.
Audrey took a nap...
Daddy drove...
And Mommy just chilled!
...and took pictures. :)
Audrey checking out the water!
I feel glad to know we supported something with our dollar.
On our way home Audrey got a little warm, so she pulled off her hat, but realized it did actually belong on her head, and tried to put it back, and left it there.
Again, she really hated falling face first into the snow.Thursday, November 12, 2009
Ping-pong balls and Wintertime
Sometimes you just feel like a ping-pong ball. I feel like a ping-pong ball a lot these days. Audrey is getting molars and she is grumpy and starting to get bossy! Every so often she'll have a good day and return to my happy, sweet child. But a lot of most of the times she's quite insistent on doing everything her way, or else! She is learning to communicate what she wants better which is really cool... sometimes... but she is definitely an opinionated child. I look forward to her teenaged years with much trepidation...
She loves the coat closet.
Thomas is insane with busy-ness and business. School has been nuts for him, getting projects and papers and various things done, running here and there at all hours of the day and night (usually night). Work at Allstate has been pretty busy as of late, which is great because it means more $$$ for us in the end. MissionShoe is busy getting things ready for another shipment of shoes to come into Salt Lake the next week or so. I'm trying to keep up with all of this and get him out the door on time to everywhere he needs to be. So excited for Christmas... but first Thanksgiving! Definitely looking forward to that break. If it's really a break. At our house weekends somehow manage to be more stressful than weekdays... last weekend was GREAT because it wasn't. Fingers crossed for this weekend... and for Thanksgiving break. I'm really hoping it doesn't turn into Busy Central and we can have some much needed family downtime! But it really is a blessing to be so busy. I really can't complain!
In other news, Audrey is still cute. Guess that's not really news- she just keeps getting cuter though. Blows my mind. She is learning how to fold her arms when we pray. She also is learning how to come DOWN stairs. Up is really easy, but down is of course trickier. She is seriously obsessed with stairs- anyplace we go on that has stairs she has to go up and down them as many times as possible. She is learning to make the kissing sound- which is a lot less slobbery than the open-mouthed variety she practiced before. She is also learning how to play nicer with other kids- to share and to "be soft". Every time I tell her "be soft" she's taken to petting her own head. I guess I must have done that to her to show her what it means to be soft, and she does it to herself now. So CUTE. She loves loves LOVES to dance to anything that resembles a beat- from Daddy's typing on the keyboard to Mommy stirring something to "Called To Serve" during Sunday School, she will dance exuberantly.
I am doing pretty good- I really have been loving to recipe blog-hop and try new things out for dinner lately. I love cooking/baking... when my kitchen is clean... which is challenging because Audrey really doesn't care for me being in the kitchen when she isn't eating something in her high chair. She whines and cries and tries to push me away from the counters. Really her favorite place for me to be is sitting on the floor, doing nothing very important or attention-consuming. She likes me to be available just in case she wants to play with me or needs me. I'm like the toy that she doesn't want anyone else to play with- just for her to play with. And when she's not playing with me, I should just sit there and wait for her to be ready to play again! Sometimes she is nice to me- and in the mornings when she wakes up too early and I'm so tired because she wakes me up many times during the night due to aforementioned molars... she lets me doze while she tears up the house. So nice of her, really- I'd take the trade any day for a much-needed nap. Anyway, other than being Audrey's favorite toy, we've been enjoying the nice weather the past week or so and played outside a bunch! I even raked some leaves (before the super windy day blew them around again) and stacked some wood... Audrey LOVES being outside. It will be a hard winter for her inside.
I'd like to say this happened while I was napping... but I'm pretty sure I had just walked in the other room to grab something really quick.
Helping Daddy stack our wood!
She loves carrying sticks around. Whenever we go outside she has to find one and will carry it with her until we have to go inside and I take it from her.
My callings are changing again... again with the ping-pong business... more on this later. I've taken to organizing things lately (closets, toys, etc) which is fun, but really I'm just avoiding the pile of papers sitting and waiting for me to sort and find a place for and put away. I'm not sure why I am dreading doing it- I usually don't mind sorting papers like that. Oh well. Someday. Most days I do good to follow the Tornado around and pick up things left in her wake.
Halloween was fun- the only real thing we did was go to our ward Halloween Chili party and Carnival the Wednesday before Halloween. Audrey went as a pirate lass and Thomas dressed as a fat person. It was fun- Audrey loved running around and eating cornbread (she didn't like the chili) and dancing to the music at the musical chairs game. Halloween night we stayed in and ate pizza, candy, and watched Nacho Libre before Audrey went to sleep, and after Thomas and I watched The Raven- quirky old movie with Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. It was a fun movie- nothing really like Poe's poem though. We had a good night, even if Audrey didn't observe the end of Daylight Savings Time by letting us sleep in an extra hour the next morning.
Thomas and Sam Goff. Those fatties. ;)
Our sweet little pirate lass! She wouldn't keep her hair scarf on for anything. But it was pretty darn cute for about a second and a half before we left the house.
We are gearing up for the winter- it snowed tonight and I'm pretty sure our nice, play-outside weather is at an end. I felt like we got really lucky to have play-outside weather in October/November. Shout out to our poor AZ family who has had to endure insanely hot "fall" temperatures... but now you guys get the good weather while we huddle under blankets by the fire to keep our feet from freezing. And you don't have to worry about driving on the ice. :( I really don't mind that it's winter, or the snow, except that I'm really not looking forward to having a teething toddler cooped up inside for 8 months. Thank goodness for a brown Christmas in AZ!!!! Which we are super excited for!!! *cheers*
Snow from early-mid October sometime
Tonight's snowfall- a hurried picture because the child was screaming at me for leaving her for 5 seconds
Our toasty warm fire by which to warm our feet (and our house)
Thomas took this one morning- it's a picture of the ice on the top of my car.
Well I'm going to go eat some Corn Nuts and just veg for a bit before heading off to bed. Love to all!
She loves the coat closet.Thomas is insane with busy-ness and business. School has been nuts for him, getting projects and papers and various things done, running here and there at all hours of the day and night (usually night). Work at Allstate has been pretty busy as of late, which is great because it means more $$$ for us in the end. MissionShoe is busy getting things ready for another shipment of shoes to come into Salt Lake the next week or so. I'm trying to keep up with all of this and get him out the door on time to everywhere he needs to be. So excited for Christmas... but first Thanksgiving! Definitely looking forward to that break. If it's really a break. At our house weekends somehow manage to be more stressful than weekdays... last weekend was GREAT because it wasn't. Fingers crossed for this weekend... and for Thanksgiving break. I'm really hoping it doesn't turn into Busy Central and we can have some much needed family downtime! But it really is a blessing to be so busy. I really can't complain!
In other news, Audrey is still cute. Guess that's not really news- she just keeps getting cuter though. Blows my mind. She is learning how to fold her arms when we pray. She also is learning how to come DOWN stairs. Up is really easy, but down is of course trickier. She is seriously obsessed with stairs- anyplace we go on that has stairs she has to go up and down them as many times as possible. She is learning to make the kissing sound- which is a lot less slobbery than the open-mouthed variety she practiced before. She is also learning how to play nicer with other kids- to share and to "be soft". Every time I tell her "be soft" she's taken to petting her own head. I guess I must have done that to her to show her what it means to be soft, and she does it to herself now. So CUTE. She loves loves LOVES to dance to anything that resembles a beat- from Daddy's typing on the keyboard to Mommy stirring something to "Called To Serve" during Sunday School, she will dance exuberantly.
I am doing pretty good- I really have been loving to recipe blog-hop and try new things out for dinner lately. I love cooking/baking... when my kitchen is clean... which is challenging because Audrey really doesn't care for me being in the kitchen when she isn't eating something in her high chair. She whines and cries and tries to push me away from the counters. Really her favorite place for me to be is sitting on the floor, doing nothing very important or attention-consuming. She likes me to be available just in case she wants to play with me or needs me. I'm like the toy that she doesn't want anyone else to play with- just for her to play with. And when she's not playing with me, I should just sit there and wait for her to be ready to play again! Sometimes she is nice to me- and in the mornings when she wakes up too early and I'm so tired because she wakes me up many times during the night due to aforementioned molars... she lets me doze while she tears up the house. So nice of her, really- I'd take the trade any day for a much-needed nap. Anyway, other than being Audrey's favorite toy, we've been enjoying the nice weather the past week or so and played outside a bunch! I even raked some leaves (before the super windy day blew them around again) and stacked some wood... Audrey LOVES being outside. It will be a hard winter for her inside.
I'd like to say this happened while I was napping... but I'm pretty sure I had just walked in the other room to grab something really quick.
Helping Daddy stack our wood!
She loves carrying sticks around. Whenever we go outside she has to find one and will carry it with her until we have to go inside and I take it from her.My callings are changing again... again with the ping-pong business... more on this later. I've taken to organizing things lately (closets, toys, etc) which is fun, but really I'm just avoiding the pile of papers sitting and waiting for me to sort and find a place for and put away. I'm not sure why I am dreading doing it- I usually don't mind sorting papers like that. Oh well. Someday. Most days I do good to follow the Tornado around and pick up things left in her wake.
Halloween was fun- the only real thing we did was go to our ward Halloween Chili party and Carnival the Wednesday before Halloween. Audrey went as a pirate lass and Thomas dressed as a fat person. It was fun- Audrey loved running around and eating cornbread (she didn't like the chili) and dancing to the music at the musical chairs game. Halloween night we stayed in and ate pizza, candy, and watched Nacho Libre before Audrey went to sleep, and after Thomas and I watched The Raven- quirky old movie with Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. It was a fun movie- nothing really like Poe's poem though. We had a good night, even if Audrey didn't observe the end of Daylight Savings Time by letting us sleep in an extra hour the next morning.
Thomas and Sam Goff. Those fatties. ;)
Our sweet little pirate lass! She wouldn't keep her hair scarf on for anything. But it was pretty darn cute for about a second and a half before we left the house.We are gearing up for the winter- it snowed tonight and I'm pretty sure our nice, play-outside weather is at an end. I felt like we got really lucky to have play-outside weather in October/November. Shout out to our poor AZ family who has had to endure insanely hot "fall" temperatures... but now you guys get the good weather while we huddle under blankets by the fire to keep our feet from freezing. And you don't have to worry about driving on the ice. :( I really don't mind that it's winter, or the snow, except that I'm really not looking forward to having a teething toddler cooped up inside for 8 months. Thank goodness for a brown Christmas in AZ!!!! Which we are super excited for!!! *cheers*
Snow from early-mid October sometime
Tonight's snowfall- a hurried picture because the child was screaming at me for leaving her for 5 seconds
Our toasty warm fire by which to warm our feet (and our house)
Thomas took this one morning- it's a picture of the ice on the top of my car.Well I'm going to go eat some Corn Nuts and just veg for a bit before heading off to bed. Love to all!
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