The Final is Passed!!!

Just wanted to let you know that Paul pasted his final yesterday! HURRAY!! He does have two more practical exams before he graduates Wednesday but they aren't as big of a deal.

My postings are short and sporadic right now as the Internet won't work on my mother in laws computer and we leave in a week and a half, so I'll try and post when I can but it's going to be less often for awhile.

For those of you who have been wondering...

I received an email today asking what I had decided to tell the Bishop. Since more than one person probably wants to know I thought I'd post it. I told him no about the Nursery calling. I didn't get the impression that I had to say yes.
I've been out of town as my Dad flew in and we went down to southern UT to see my 94 year old Grandmother in the town my Dad (and I, though I don't like to admit it) grew up in. More about that in a later post. While I was there Paul did pass his second to the last written test. The final written test is Thursday. Meanwhile he has had all sorts of practical exams that he continues to pass. The count down begins in earnest, as a week from tomorrow he will graduate, and it's less than a week and a half until he comes here. Less than two weeks until we leave for AK. Hurray!

Nursery Calling Part 2

So, do you remember my post a month or two ago about the Primary President wanting to call me to Nursery? Well the executive Secretary called and asked me to meet with the Bishop last night. I thought he was just checking up on me as I have had a some health problems recently. The Bishop was late so I met with his counselors. They extended a calling to...
Yep, you guessed it, the Nursery. They began by saying, "As you know everyone in the church needs a calling". Well here were my thoughts on the matter-

1-If everyone needs a calling why wasn't I given one 4 months ago when I got here, not 3 weeks before I leave? And on a related subject doesn't every woman in the church deserve to have Visiting Teachers and Home Teachers and the oportunity to be a Visiting Teacher? None of these have been given/offered to me.

2- Just last week I was in the Bishop's office and he was saying what can we do to help you, and give you a break? Um, I don't think that taking the only 2 hours a week that I have away from my kids was really what I had in mind. He had referred me to the RS President to ask for help with my kids so that I could go to doctor's apts and just generally get a break from things. (Side note here, after calling her several times and leaving messages which she would never return, she told me she didn't know of any women in the ward who could help me by watching my kids for a couple of hours occasionally. Apparently you have to die in this ward to get any compasionate service.) I wanted to say, I'll make you a deal, you get me the compassionate service I need and I'll work in the Nursery for the two Sundays that I will actually be here!

3-I am totally and completely burned out from watching other peoples kids literally all my life. I feel that I'm not a good person to work with children anymore due to this and I don't feel it's fair to my kids as when I do,I am not as good of a mother. And come on, seriously,I am with my kids 24/7 except for that 2 hour break on Sundays while they are in Nursery. I need a break.

SO... I said I would seriously have to pray about it and I would get back to them on Sunday. My Mom and Lois said they would have turned them down flat on the spot. My thought was that if the Lord wants me in Nursery for my remaining couple of weeks here he must have a darn good reason and I'd better find out if that's the case. I haven't gotten any answers yet, but we'll see.

A visit from Aunt April

We picked up Aunt April on Friday at the airport and although for some reason this picture doesn't show it she came bearing gifts of chocolate bars and gummi bears which was of course all over them during the course of the ride home. Of course the chocolate covered donuts that we got didn't help matters either.

Friday night we went to one of Grandma's favorite restaurants- Chuckorama for dinner. Of course the biggest hit of dinner was the ice cream which got all over. I think Reagan went through 3 outfits that day.

This is something fun Reagan and Daniel do with Grandma all the time. They try on her glasses. Now we know what they will look like when they will have to wear them for real, though they probably won't have poka dots on them.

Reagan refused to eat her lunch and thought mine looked better.

Daniel adores Aunt April as you can see from the pictures.

Sibling love...

More sibling love of a different kind. Tickle time! They went to church with my cousin and his family so that April and I and Lois could attend Music and the Spoken Word. They said that all during Sacrament Meeting Reagan would just love on Daniel and then pull his hair. Then it would start all over again.

Tired little girl.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. We spent a lot of it at my cousin Wendell's who lives just down the street. We wore Daniel and Reagan out completely. There were puppies to see and play with, a swing, rocks to climb, learning how to walk a tightrope and of course the parade. It didn't take Reagan and Daniel long to figure out what you do at a parade. The purse that Reagan has in the picture was stuffed and overflowing with candy. After the parade we went home for some rest and lunch and went back to Wendell's for dinner. Daniel wanted to know if we were getting more candy. Luckily when he learned that we weren't it was still okay as he loves my cousin Wendell (above in the pictures holding Daniel and helping him walk the tightrope). Later after dinner we went home for a few minutes and to light some fireworks and put the kids to bed. The fireworks didn't last long as my kids were scared to death of them and were running for the house crying. So April and I left them there and went back to Wendell's for the big fireworks without them.

Pool fun

Daniel has always loved the pool and since my kids are so young and so close in age I have never dared to take them together to the pool without someone with me to help. This summer the first time we went to the pool I took my cousin's daughter Faith with us and it was a good thing as it was pretty new for Reagan and she just got really cold and didn't like it at all. Daniel however was crazy. He got kicked in the mouth and was bleeding but he wasn't crying because of that, he was crying because Faith was making him come to me and be checked out. He wanted to go play.

The next time we went to the pool it was a ward party and Lois was there with me. Reagan was a little better but still cold and very hesitant about the whole thing. When I got ready to leave, Daniel got mad, ran off and jumped in over his head. I was right behind him but not quite fast enough and the lifeguard jumped in after him and hauled him out. He screamed for about 45 mins. afterward not because he was scarred or hurt but because he wanted to be back in the water.

My sister April came to visit this weekend and we took her to the pool with us. The pictures of the kids are from Friday after we picked her up at the airport. It was fun to see Reagan really enjoy the pool too. They both had so much fun. Reagan actually wanted to swim in the deep part and kept trying to get away from us so she could do it on her own. Daniel is a crazy man in the pool. The pictures are all over by the frog but this pool has a nickelodeon type tower in the middle of it with slides and guns to shoot water at people as well as other things. Daniel LOVES it and causes a ruckus every time we try to go home. He would love it if we would go every day. Any volunteers to help?

Digging in the dirt

One of the things my kids love to do at Grandma's house is digging in the dirt. As you can see they have the proper equipment. Shovels, buckets, rakes and oh, yes Daniel's big digger tractor. Reagan thought that she would let Daniel do all the heavy work and use the equipment to her advantage. She made sure that she was stylish with the hat though.

Another test passed-

Another test passed and over with Congrats to Paul!