Moving Up

In our last ward I spent 4 years doing food storage and 2 years in the nursery. John spent three and a half years as Elders Quorum president and 1 year as ward clerk. I am happy to report that we are moving up.

As of January 1 we will be team teaching the sunbeams (3 year old Sunday School). We are thrilled because we have been requesting team teaching positions for the last 5 years. Sunbeams are so much fun too because they don't ask the hard questions that older kids do. And you know that we will be among the most informed people in the ward. With 3 year olds as our informants you know we will hear everything.

Bless Your Heart

I cleaned my kids bathroom today. It was long overdue. Of course the kids bathroom is long overdue for a cleaning 24 hours after I clean it but it had been much longer than that. Due to sensitive stomachs I will refrain from telling you just how long it had been.

As I was cleaning it reminded me of another time that I cleaned a very dirty bathroom. In college just before Christmas break it was time for the cleaning check. One of my roommates was assigned one of the bathrooms but was running late and didn't have time to clean it before her flight back home. I volunteered to clean it during the break because I wasn't leaving town. During the break however, before I had a chance to clean it I got the stomach flu. I obviously didn't clean the bathroom and called our landlords who were doing the cleaning check to warn them. The thought of entering our disease ridden apartment was enough for them to decide to skip the cleaning check all together. Well I completely forgot about cleaning the bathroom because John was also in town for the break, and well, he's a really good kisser.

The break ended and the roommates started coming back in town. We started classes and got busy. The bathroom was bad. It had been far to long since the bathroom was cleaned so one afternoon I finally did it.

We didn't have any rubber gloves so I got plastic sandwich bags to cover my hands and spent almost 2 hours scrubbing that bathroom until nary a germ could be found. That afternoon two of my roommates were having a conversation. My one roommate informed the other that I had spent 2 hours cleaning the bathroom.

"Bless her heart!" My other roommate exclaimed. Silence ensued for a moment when my roommate said "You know, 'bless her heart' is just code for 'she's an idiot."

It's true. Try it next time you hear someone say "bless his heart", fill in "he's an idiot". It works ever time. And if you're like me you will then have to try and hide your smile if front of the person who said it.

Finally

When we moved into the ward we were so busy with unpacking and getting our old house ready that I was afraid that we would get calling quickly. I kept thinking. "Please give me two weeks to adjust before a calling." Well we made it two weeks and even a third week after that. Every Sunday John and I would wonder if we were getting callings. Well the weeks stretched into months and we eventually gave up wondering about a calling.

Finally after five months in the ward we got the call into the Bishops office. And they managed to find a calling for each of us. Can you guess what it is? Leave a guess in the comments section for each of us and the winner gets . . . . uhh . . . . a delivery of some really fantastic Christmas goodies. What the package will entail will depend on how close you are and how sturdy the treats need to be. Unless you happen to be one of my siblings and already are making the same goodies as me. In that case I'll have to think of something else to give you.

I'll announce a winner for each of us (or whoever is closest if no one gets it) on Wednesday, or Thursday if I feel like it.

Gratitude List

Every year during the week of Thanksgiving we always have a Family Home Evening where we make a list of things we are Thankful for. It's always been a neat activity to reflect on all our blessings. Really our list could be a lot longer but we have to cut it off because of bedtime. Here is our list this year in no particular order.

Good Family
Dogs
My Eternal Family
John’s good job
Buddy
Good Books
Dental/medical insurance
Beautiful Wife :)
Jesus Christ
Heavenly Father
Our new house
Grandmas and Grandpas
Good songs
Nephi
Alan’s teacher
BYU
Toys
Scriptures
San Francisco Sourdough
Good Friends
Chocolate
Cakes
Computers
Cars
Trampoline
TV
Good shoes
Latter Day Prophets
Our pond with fish (On the kids list-NOT mine)
Jump Ropes
New recipes
Enthusiastic kids
Blankets
Paper
Mom get’s to stay home with Alan and Hyrum
A good boss
Pillows
Alan is good at math
Mom can do preschool with Hyrum
Temples
Beds
Churches
Nice Clothes
Indoor plumbing
Learn new tricks (OK I’m not sure how this one got on the list because I’m not sure what it means either)
Crayons
Done painting the kitchen
Laptops
Prayer
Bikes
Making friends in our new ward
Our quiet neighborhood
Beautiful mommy :)
Ideas
A new Temple being built close by
Electricity
Jokes
Good classes
Relief Society
Dads
Movies
Backpacks
Our old ward
The Earth
National Parks

Family Pictures

Recently I got in touch with a friend who I grew up with who coincidentally also moved to the Valley of the Sun. The news got even better when I found out that he's a great photographer. He recently took our family pictures and I think they turned out great. Here are a few of my favorites.

I sure do love that goofy kid.

Look at us! We could be engaged!

I took the liberty of titling this one

"Look out!"

I Can't Find My Video Camera Charger

Really, do you think this was the best way to pack this stuff?