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Sunday, October 26, 2008

The Pumpkin Patch

Life has been crazy and I haven't updated the blog for a while, I have some catching up to do. I am the Primary President in our ward and today was our big program! The kids did amazing! They really brought the Spirit into the meeting. It was a lot of fun to see it put all together. It was a lot of work, but I had some great help. The chorister, Brook, is incredible...she has really helped the kids love the Primary songs and (in her words...) "the old grandma's in the back could even hear!" Yesterday we practiced and she brought Magic Singing Spray for all of the kids to help them sing. Today, right when we went up on the stand, one Sunbeam Lawrence said, "Ms. Brook (he started preschool recently and calls everyone Ms.), I remembered my magic singing spray!" I am not sure anyone in the congregation heard him, but it was a great way for us to start the program with a smile. I also have great counselors and teachers who were a giant help, Thanks everyone for your help! I truly appreciate you all. What a great experience and challenge this calling has been for me, but I feel like I am learning a lot (although I still have MUCH to learn). I feel blessed to be able to work with the kids, they are the best teachers:).

Hayley seems to be growing up too fast. She is starting wave at us, and today we noticed that her top tooth just poked through! Poor baby, but she is in pretty good spirits anyway. Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch with the Means. We had a bunch of fun and got a few cute pictures.



Hayley on her first John Deer ride with Alexa!







Jon is trying to recreate Hayley's face...I think he did a pretty good job, they look EXACTLY alike!



Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Volkslauf!

I don't know what got into me(I think I was really motivated to get all the baby fat off)...but about four months ago Jon and I signed up for a 10k mud run with our friend Sara from church. And it snuck up on us yesterday! For the record (and I am kind of embarrassed to admit), I have never run that long before. Not only that, but there were also a ton obstacles we had to get through! Here is a quote from the website:


"Counting all the hurdles, slides, tunnels, pits, berms, ladders, swings, rope climbs and low crawls found on the course, there are well over 75 obstacles in all for the 10K course... Add to that several million gallons of water and mud on the course and you can easily see why this isn’t just any old mud run: this is VOLKSLAUF, The Ultimate Challenge!"

When I read this on Friday night I was freaking out. But I got through it and had a really fun time too. Jon was the only boy on our team and he was a true gentleman, he stayed with us the whole time and helped us through the obstacles. We didn't get any pictures of us during the race because no one came up with us, but here is a link for a video on YouTube of last years race just to give you an idea of what it was like (It is worth checking out if you skip over the first 2 min) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFrwk2mlZk8.

I think Jon and I will make it a yearly tradition! I am not a runner, and I don't love the mud...so I feel pretty cool that I was able to finish. Although, I am sore today it is worth the feeling of accomplishment and the memories! If anyone wants to join us for next year, we'd love to have the recruits! These are the pictures we have: before and after!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Weekend Visitors

Steph, Teri, and their families came to visit us this weekend, and we had so much fun together! i hadn't seen Teri and Troy since June. I miss them already, it really made me wish we were all close again. I don't think I knew how great I had it when I lived by all of my sisters in Utah, boy do I miss those days. Steph's boys are getting so big and Bo is crawling all around...putting Hayley to shame! Jon, Carl and Troy had blast at the beach...it was freezing and even raining one day, but they didn't let that stop them. Here are some highlights from the weekend...

Bo with the stink eye


Teri with the babies at the park


The triple threat...back in action


We got a babysitter and all went out on a date. It was the first time I left Hayley with a babysitter. I had to fight the urge all night to call every 2 minutes! But I had a great time and now can't wait to do it again.




Confession: We put Hayley in Bo's clothes and Bo in Hayley's clothes for a good laugh, but ended up almost crying because of how much each of them looked like the opposite sex. These are serious blackmail pictures for when they are older.


We are always looking for more visitors if anyone else wants to come and stay! Thanks girls for making the trip down:)

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Playing Dress up

I have worked for a guy in our ward, Mike Means for about a year now. The Means have pretty much adopted Jon, me and Hayley into their family and have been so good to us. They have 6 beautiful daughters and Hayley spends a lot of time with them while I am at work (our office is in their garage). Here are some random pictures that they have taken of the baby and given to me. Some are hilarious:)


Hayley with hair...kind of (really) creepy!
She looks like a different baby...or a monkey (no offence Hayley!)

This was Jessica's swimsuit when she was Hayley's age...80's Flashback
Her first painted toes...sooo cute, I love having a little girl!
I love the Means...they are like family to me! Thanks for all you do for us!