6 months

I've been the Relief Society President for 6 months (yesterday). And that's something. It's been amazing and terrible, all at once, but I think often the really big and good things in life are. Having a baby, getting married, moving, getting a new job, all super high on the stress meter, and all (in my opinion) amazing and terrible at the same time.

I've done a wedding, 2 funerals, 4 moves (I think), 1 sacrament talk, 1 arm talk, 2 lessons, arranged 1 marriage fireside, presidency meetings almost every week, and more visits than i can count. I've listened to every Julie B. Beck radio channel interview there is. I've watched every online RS training on lds.org, and read many more. I've had amazing experiences, and terrible, embarrassing ones. I've helped and hurt. I am trying, and wish I was better. But I'm learning and growing, and that's what matters. It's often painful and not my favorite thing, but I know the growing is necessary. 

This was at Addie's piano lesson right before I went to sister Everett's viewing. I was sitting there waiting for Matt to come from work so we could trade off kids, and Frankie came and wanted to take pics together. I was looking at this picture just trying to figure out where we were and why my hair was actually done. That's what led to this whole train of thought. 

When I got called I googled "new RS president" and read everything I could, and there's not a lot from a personal point of view, which got me thinking I should write about my experiences. So maybe I will. 

Checkin' 'em off

This morning little miss Frankie and her cute friend Tessa were awarded Bus Citizen of the Month awards. This is funny because we ride the bus maybe twice a week at this point. The first half of the year we were stellar walkers. I could probs count on one hand the number of times we rode the bus from August-January. Then winter and cold weather and rain hit, and Delaney was often still asleep at our leave time, so they took the bus more then. Then I went through a driving kick, and now we're back to walking. Either way, proud of her for being respectful and responsible.

It's a whole new world now that we're all bike riders! Even though sometimes some of us are slower than molasses.

I ordered some diapers from target and they came in this awesome huge box. It's now become their rocket ship and its a perfect place for a snack, or 4.

The room swap went well and f and d have asked to make it official starting now. When little sister got tired this afternoon and went to lay down, she forgot and went into her old bed still. It's def gonna take some getting used to.

We had our last piano lesson tonight. Silent cheer! Every last of the season has been a big happy dance for me. Last ballet, last spelling words, last piano. We have 2 more brownie events and 1 more Daisy one before were home free on the activity department. Of course, by then Addie will start activity days, sooooo. (Never ending)

To celebrate our free Tuesday nights, (after today) we heated some chicken nuggets (nutrition is important) grabbed some strawberries and watermelon and headed to the pool.

Happy days are here again!

8 more days of school!

rando

I don't remember the story behind this pic, but it was at alecia's and Delaney was disgruntled. who knows. :)

alecia had an amazing bbq for the weist's and myers, who both moved within a week of each other. super crazy, we had 3 families move in 3 weeks, it was a busy few weeks! and a sad few too.

I thought this pic of leisa reading with frankie, vera, and emma was super cute.

after it got dark, the kids hung out in the basement watching movies.

franks went on a field trip to elm's beach, and I didn't get picked to go. :( my first field trip that I could have gone but wasn't able to. made me sad.

it was a long day and she was pooped by that night.

dress up cutie.

dress up cutie x2. the jacket is less impressive since I already posted him in his tux, but still. we rented his first tux for senior prom. lexi got one dress, chris got one tux.

I don't know?

the cute sisters came and gave us a fun lesson. sad that these sisters will be leaving in 2 weeks and we'll have elders again. although i'm sure they'll be fun too.

we cleaned the church one day. addie dug right in.

matt was able to help with a youth temple trip one night. gorgeous day at the temple!

movie night!

tape is awesome. so is lanes.

instead of buying cigarettes or getting a tattoo, my baby boy became a notary public when he turned 18. dig that.

Matt's birthday

I've got lists and planning and work to do, but I've had so much fun blogging the last few days that I'm gonna sneak in one more update before I get to work. And maybe one at lunch and maybe a few tonight. I am loving catching up.

The main man turned 47 in April. I made 2 cakes, one for the family to enjoy and one for the friends. Before we went out for the night, we sang to daddy and enjoyed some cake. Complete with 47 candles because we like to live dangerously.

Super surprised we didn't set off the smoke detectors with this one.

I didn't get him a thing. Not one single thing. He's not the easiest to shop for and had been telling me about some super specific things he wanted, so I told him to order them. But then he didn't. He did buy himself a new pair of kicks when he was in Texas, so I guess that counts. 

We finally, after a few years, made it out to Quayde's restaurant. We've tried before, but never been successful. So a few days before his birthday, I sent out a group email and said come with us for a birthday dinner at a fun little hole in the wall. And we had a nice little turnout!

before dinner picture taking with our nice camera. those pictures are still on our nice camera. :/

the gang! mc's, rays, ainas, myers, callihans, and Amanda and crew. super fun, even though we waited 30 minutes (at least) for appetizers and then another hour for dinner. and then I never got my food, so I ordered something else that they charged full price for. I kind of think if you've been waiting over an hour and they still make a mistake you should probs get something free, just saying.

Amanda is always the troublemaker. ;)

cake time! and the now infamous gallon of milk. :)))

I got distracted by something outside, a bird I think, and came out to the most gorgeous sunset! while we were bird watching and oohing and ahhhing, Amanda was having a heyday with my phone. i'll spare you the full size, but I had a ton of these.

so then after the iPhone hijinks, everyone came out to get their prom pics.

finally, before we left, we got the whole group. super fun evening!

silly shot!

it was like 8 o'clock and we were like, what should we do? scavenger hunt at Walmart was ruled out, so we came to our house and played some games for awhile. we played logo and were so close to winning, but it had gotten late in a hurry so we'll just have to cream our friends another time. ;) we had so much fun that we've already had another group date night for Laura's birthday and we seriously need to schedule another one.

 

Memorial Day

It was supposed to rain from 3:00 yesterday until well into the night tonight. Tropical depression Bonnie was supposed to have soaked us. But the ever unpredictable weather forecast changed about 12 times in the last 24 hours.

Last night Laura came over and we went for a walk with our umbrellas. Only we didn't ever need them. It was pretty steamy, but it never rained. AND we saw the first lightning bugs of the season! I've been looking for them every night, I don't ever remember them being so late in the spring. 

Since it still wasn't raining when we woke up this morning, and Chris didn't have to leave for work till 9:30, I convinced Matt to take a run with me. I ran in to get something and my ever busy man was already working it.

After our run, Frank's and I went for a bike ride, super presh. Matt made us a big breakfast and we tidied and puttered all morning. Laura offered to host the ward since our annual BBQ was cancelled due to the "weather," and even though the thought of staying home all day was super appealing, we decided to head over. It was super low key, just a few families there, and it was really nice. 

Oakes are moving on Friday, so it was nice to visit with them and celebrate jackie's 13th birthday.

We love our red, white, and blue!

I had promised the girls some pool time this evening if it wasn't raining, but then realized how cool it was, low 70's. They were not to be deterred though. So the best daddy award winner took them for an hour and they all froze. I do love some evening pool time. A - no sunscreen. B- shower before bed and straight to pj's. C - worn out kidlets. 

We ordered Addie a big girl comforter for her birthday and in preparation for her to move into her own room. Delaney has been coming into our room at night because she doesn't want to sleep alone, so tonight we are running a trial to see how the new room sitch is gonna work. We shall see!

Laura came over for the 2nd night in a row and we enjoyed a nice, cool evening walk. Loving having walking buddies at night!

Lastly, I am so very grateful for this amazing country we live in, and for all that have paid the ultimate price to defend the freedoms we enjoy. There has been lots of talk this year (maybe it's been around before and I didn't pay much attention - probably) about not having a happy Memorial Day, but a grateful one, and I've been thinking about that a lot. It does seem kind of weird to celebrate with bbq's, trips to the beach, and good sales. So today we've had a very grateful Memorial Day. 

dr - installment #2

it's only been 2 years, so i should probably post more on the dr. i am seriously missing the beach and ready for summer up in here. finding those snuba pics makes me all sentimental too.

so just quick snapshots.

the boys.

 auto and i ready for dinner.

 my hair was basically a disaster 90% of the time we were there. humidity and short hair don't always mix.

 these were our little apartments. such a cute place to stay.

 ahhhhhh, a night at the beach = heaven.

 the food was pretty tasty. most of the desserts were pretty gross because they tasted like refrigerator, but the main dishes, especially at the restaurants were pretty good.

 

one night we went to a michael jackson impersonator show, and they asked for people to compete in a michael jackson contest. so our 3 boys did. here was matt's effort. the 1 boy that was not from our group ended up winning. haha.

 we met up with beyonce and somebody else.

 ready for dinner again.

 this cute server did a trick with the wine bottle for us. he was very excited to show us.

 the crew at dinner. each restaurant was different - american, dominican, italian, etc. i think this night was dominican.

 they had these big lounging beds all over the bar. nice for a picture.

 love these ladies. we've been besties for almost 20 years.

 

 and finally, leaving paradise.

 

unless j&d learn how to send pictures electronically, this will probs be my last dr installment. so sad.