grandma and grandpa came and I went to time out

Joan and LaMar came out to visit. We were all so excited and loved their time with us. I went down to Denver for a couple of days to attend Time Out for Women with some friends, so I missed most of their trip, but I know the boys had a such a great time. They love attention that their grandparents give, puzzles, movies, McDonalds, pizza, etc. There was a snowstorm during their time here so they went out and built a snowman. Each trip is a cherished memory!

Time Out for Women was pretty amazing!  Matthias' mission president, Daniel Kelly Ogden, was one of the speakers, speaking on becoming happy like Christ. I went down with a bunch of friends from my ward. We all shared a hotel, laughed laughed and laughed, hit the shops and went out to yummy places to eat. I saw a group of gals from Sheridan I knew and ran into my cousin Sarah. My favorite speaker was a lady who spoke about our prophet President Monson. It was a very uplifting and fun time. I loved it! Thanks to Joan and LaMar for watching the boys while I was away and Matthias was at work.

I took this picture for Matthias... and had Pdte Ogden sign his book for Matthias. 

LIVE LIKE YOU BELIEVE

Young Women's Camp 2011

I was the camp director for the young women in my ward this year. I didn't really love the preparation for camp because I got asked to do it a little late, and it was a bit of a headache trying to get everything ready on time, but I thoroughly enjoyed the camping experience with the girls. I had heard horror stories of the drama that comes with girls camping and so I was slightly nervous but very motivated at the same time to make this the best camping experience the girls have ever had. And so with all of that hard work, and a lot of help from the other leaders (we had our own camp cook couple), our camp turned out to be a success! Besides a little bit of whining and slacking off at the service project, the girls had a great time, good attitudes, helped, and were really nice to each other. I was so happy in the end. 

Some of the highlights include: finding a spooky, abandoned cabin and the girls breaking in to explore. Our Cinderella Skit on chastity that took the show. The girls were amazing actresses! The Piel's were our camp cooks and took such great care of us! Our ward quickly became known for having the best food!  Our new Bishop took the girls on a hunt for Navajo Sam and got really spooked! They talked about it for days! Ramona Jack brought up a big bath tub, foot scrub, lotion, and polishes for manicures and pedicures. The girls loved it and it came at perfect time when were were almost at our stinkiest! It rained every afternoon, and so we had lots of time to talk and do crafts underneath our big tent. And last, during testimony night hearing some of the new girls testimonies and how they love their Heavenly Father and want to do what is right. 

I feel so lucky that I could experience girls camp again, and get to know the amazing young women in my ward. I always loved going to girls camp when I was a youth, and it was a treat to experience it again as a leader! 

denver temple

We drove down to Denver last Friday for a weekend visit and our ward family temple day on Saturday. Our Bishop wanted ever child to touch the temple. He said, "If you touch the temple, it will touch you." The kids planted flowers in the gardens and Matthias and I switched off with our friends doing a session. The boys were so proud of the flowers they planted, and told me they wanted to help me plant mine over memorial weekend. Cute, fun boys.

sunshine hair gone

This is one of the last pictures I have of Beckham with his beautiful golden hair.

It reminds me of the sunshine.

Perfect hair for his first big day when he entered the Sunbeam class at church.


He had an unfortunate meet-up with the scissors.

It took only seconds.

The first thing I did was laugh.

This made him cry.

And so he did the crying for me.

The next few days, he walked around with his hand over his forehead until we could get it cut.

Now he looks like a totally different kid.

Funny thing is, I knew it was going to happen.

I got that feeling a few days before.

Tomorrow, I'll post pictures of his new do.

christmas pageant

The last time I attended a church Christmas Pageant was at age 14, when I was in the Young Women program. I was suckered into playing the role of Mary. I remember being quite uncomfortable stuffing a pillow in the bath robe I was made to wear (which was one of my youth leader's, eeew) to make myself look pregnant. I felt extremely silly when I had to turn away from the audience to throw out the pillow and replace it with a baby doll in my arms. To make it worse, I had to sit next to one of the grody Young Men, who played Joseph. I was quite immature at that age, and still thought boys had cooties. I felt I had sinned playing that role. ;)

The primary put on a cute little play of the Nativity at our Ward Christmas party this year. Ty was such a ham and was more interested in flapping his arms in his over-sized robe than singing Christmas songs. We loved having Matthias with us. It was such a sweet time for us.

Ty is still holding on to the belief that Santa is real, even though some of his friends insist it is all a hoax. Just to be sure Santa was the real deal, Ty asked Santa if he could pull his beard. Santa was kind enough to acquiesce. Real he was.

primary program

Dear Nan, Pop, Grandma Joanie, and Grandpa Lemon,

Ty gave a smashing performance in the Primary Program today! We wished you could have seen him, and know you would have if you could have. So we posted a small part of it for you, plus a bonus video. (Ty wasn't too pleased about having to put his church shirt back on AND sing another primary song. He would only perform on the agreement that I also posted the turkey poem he learned in school. So here you go.)

Enjoy.

Love you.

the shining

*Disclaimer* the following post assumes you have seen the classic thriller The Shining.

As evidenced by the picture below, there is no "Red Rum" going on here, but some old fashioned footwear maintenance: a shoe shining of Beckham's scuffed-up church shoes, not scuffed by Beckham but by the previous owner who is prone to dragging his toes. Every Sunday Ty boasts of the shininess of his shoes while Beckham is left with Ty's dusty and scuffed hand-me-downs. Even after the shining, Bex shoes are still nowhere near the sheen of Ty's.

The following image might, however, evoke "Red Rum" type flash backs. In an effort to show off his shiny new CTR ring, Ty got caught with a rather "Shining-like" expression. At the beginning of January Ty moved up into the CTR5 Primary class in church. He loves the "power" the ring brings him. Oh, and apparently sending Ty to his room for a time-out is NOT choosing the right. Don't know how I missed that in primary class.

YW in excellence

Young Women in Excellence was last month. Here are some cute pictures of our whopping 4 Young Women. Janelle (top left) is our only Laurel. She is an amazing artist, volleyball player, and is on the tennis team. She has crazy style, kinda like you would see a cool librarian wearing, mismatching but unbelievably cute. Mikayla (top right) is one of my Miamaids and she is the bomb. She wants to be a clothing designer when she grows up. She's the best babysitter ever, is a text sending machine, and is the sweetest girl ever. I love her polka-dot sneaks. Victoria (bottom left) is my other Miamaid. She writes for the Herald Times once a week, is super witty, plays volleyball and throws the shot put. She's a go getter and all about girl power. She actually planned the entire YW in Excellence for her value project. She wouldn't even let me make refreshments. Reagan (bottom right) is our brand spankin' new Young Woman. She is so funny and happy and spastic. She LOVES music and is always jammin' out to her ipod.

Although we are few in numbers, we are a really tight group. These girls are so different from each other, but are so accepting, encouraging, and loving towards each other. I love them all!

And here is a picture of the lovely leaders. (It's funny how we outnumber the girls at every activity.) Left to Right: Eva (Personal Progress leader), Beth (President), Geniel (2nd), me (1st), Jennifer (Secretary.) I feel a little silly at times because of the age gap between these ladies and I but they are great cuz they don't make me feel like a little girl, except for the time that I was the only leader that would take the girls on a bike ride. I guess that is why they need me.

hope

Elder Uchtdorf gave a talk today during General Conference that I'll always remember. I can't stop thinking about the quote he read:

“In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”

The job search is on, and for me, has been very overwhelming, and scary really. It seems like doors keep slamming in our faces and discouragement and fear have all but settled on my front doorstep. (Matthias not so much, because if you know him, you'll know he is an optimist.) Anyways, this talk helped me remember there is hope and that my life is so much better focusing the good and the positive, and that it will eventually ALL work out.

child labor

The temple was so dirty - covered in filth. We made our boys go and scrub it down. They did an amazing job. Left it sparkling. Well, that's not completely true...

The temple district we belong to is the Louisville Kentucky Temple District, and so we drove down one Saturday last month to clean the temple grounds. (Members of our church volunteer to take care of most of the ground work and inside cleaning of the temples, which is amazing, because if you have ever seen one of our temples, they are incredibly beautiful and immaculately kept. Our temples never get too dirty, because they are always being cleaned.) The boys and I washed down all the hand rails, light posts, and tops of the marble walls. Matthias dead-headed all of the flowers and pulled out overgrown ground cover.

The Louisville, Kentucky Temple at night

A little blip of a conversation Matthias and I had while trying to figure out what to say in this post:

Me: My body is a temple.
Matthias: I know. I love to see the temple.

ward family temple trip

About a week and a half ago, our ward organized a family temple trip. The closest temple to us is the Louisville Kentucky Temple. We left early in the morning and spent most of the day there. It was a lovely day! The Primary and other amazing ward members organized care and activities for the kids while the parents traded off doing sessions.Some of the activities the kids participated in: making a temple quilt, pictionary, playing with the parachute, and making picture frames. The best thing about the day, besides being in the temple, was how excited the boys were that they got to simply see the temple. It really makes me appreciate the couple of years when we lived across the street from one in South Jordan - so easy to get to. This temple trip came at a good time for me and really helped me to evaluate my life and put things into perspective- if ya know what I mean.

primary party

Our primary had a party Saturday called, "PJ's, Pancakes, and Places." Ty visited Poland, France, and Thailand. Ty told me he wants to go on his mission to Thailand because they have monkeys that will stand on your head. Beckham was discouraged by the long travel times so elected to run up and down the hallways as opposed to visiting distant lands. They also played with a parachute. Kids are so cute in their PJ's and bed head!

GBH

I will always remember Pres. Hinkley as the Prophet of my youth, how he always shook his cane in the air, and being in the conference center where he first spoke of the 6 B's. Gotta love this man!



We told Ty this morning Pres. Hinkley died last night and his first response was, "Did somebody kill him? Is he a robot now?" This kid cracks me up.