Delta before Florida

As I mentioned yesterday, we took a quick trip to Delta. My parents are going to Florida for a month. A month. It was really hard to wrap my brain around that when my mom first told me, because it's so uncharacteristic. But my dad has a mission buddy who bought a home out there who's apparently been planning this thing for a year, and things worked out for my parents to be able to go. It's kind of funny because we often go a few months without seeing my parents, and we'll still be able to call them, but I just really felt like I'd miss them quite a bit. A girl just doesn't grow out of needing her mommy and daddy. Anywho, I really wanted to see them before they went, so we left after church yesterday and came home this morning. As a bonus, Matt and his girlfriend were also there and we all got to play games and spend some quality time.

Ethan got this red fuzzy monkey from Grandma and Grandpa for Valentines Day. He was really cute with it, giving it hugs and jabbering to it. After we played with it a bit and made some monkey noises, he really seemed to be using his imagination with it. Fun. :) (Thanks again for not giving him candy, mum!)

Dad had made a nice roast beef dinner, and mom asked me to bring a dessert. We don't do dessert much, so I was kind of excited to try something new. We made this recipe, but substituted a few ingredients with what we had on hand, not the least of which was strawberries for cranberries. Everyone seemed to like it, but Terral and I really enjoyed it. We I decided it was definitely a repeat recipe. It was yummy, and I loved how I didn't feel weighed down or overloaded with sugar even after a couple pieces. Now I want a tart pan. ;)

Anyway. . . we spent the evening playing games, talking, and laughing. One of my favorite combinations. :) I made sure to get in several hugs from mom and dad. I'm a huggy kinda girl.

Then this morning, mom cooked us some fried eggs. It was surprisingly yummy. I haven't had fried eggs for quite a while because they were a "trigger" when I was pregnant, and that throw-up feeling just lingered with the thought of them. After breakfast, we had a little time before we had to take off, so we spent a bit of it outside. Ethan was enthralled when he saw this contraption.

Oh, my sweet boys! They make life fun.

When we finally loaded everything up in the car and said farewell, we found out pretty quick that we weren't going anywhere. The car wouldn't start. We said a prayer, and then Terral got to tinkering. Ethan and I wandered around outside in the meantime. We went and looked at the neighbors colorful roosters, and I was again grateful for Ethan's new shoes that let him explore. I also got to help mom a bit by doing some vacuuming. She gets pretty out of breath when she does that, so I was glad to save her the task. She always does so much to help me—to help so many people—and I feel like I do so little for her.

While I was still vacuuming, Terral came in and announced that the car was working again. Hurrah! He wasn't quite sure what he did to make it work, but we were sure happy with the result!

Thanks again for letting us come to visit, Mom and Dad! We love you lots!

Last-minute Sub

We're at my parent's house, and since I'm tired and their internet is slow, Imma make this quick.

I ended up speaking in Sacrament meeting today. I got a call yesterday afternoon saying the primary president was sick, and would I please fill in for her? Holy stress city batman. I was already worried about getting stuff done because I was doing something completely new to me (and Terral) in primary—Captain CTR came to visit—and we were planning on leaving right after church so I had to get everything ready for that, which included laundry. Anyway, I called back thinking I would say I wouldn't be able to do it, but somehow during the conversation I ended up saying I would. The stress was the worst part. Oh, and staying up later than I wanted. But it actually went really well, and I was glad that I got to relive some wonderful memories from my mission and delve into the scriptures a little more than I have been lately. So it all worked out in the end. It usually does, doesn't it?

**edited to add: Right after I published this post, I checked my phone messages, and a lady I don't even know had called just to let me know that what I said meant a lot to her. Wow. I've never had that happen before. I'm so glad I said yes.

The Mabbsies

In December, some of our very best friends moved away to Arizona. We've lived within walking distance of them our ever since we got married. It started out that just Kristin and I were friends, but it didn't take long for all four of us to become friends. Needless to say, we've missed them quite a bit.

Today we got to see them for a little while. We met for lunch and had a chance to visit and enjoy each other's company. I wish we'd had some more time with them, but we'll take what we can get!

The whole gang :) (Except Terral, who's taking the picture.)

 Emily really wanted to hold Ethan. He was squirming until he saw the camera and smiled for me. She couldn't believe he is walking and she kept following him around. It was kinda cute.

 And here are the four friends that brought all our husbands together. ;) L to R: Kristin, Whitney (and Addy), me, and Laura. Whitney is a little younger than the rest of us, but we all were in Modesitt's voice studio. 

 

It was so good to see everyone! Even though Whitney and Laura still live here, we haven't gotten together with them for quite a while. *Must remedy that*

Bit o' Sunshine and Callings

The sun came out to play today. Oh, how I love the sun! We had lunch outside to enjoy it. We would have been able to enjoy our lunch a bit more if we didn't have to keep chasing after Ethan. Someday we'll have a yard that isn't covered in dog poop and doesn't have such easy access to the street.Thankfully, I do have a friend with such a yard, and Ethan and I were able to go spend some time over there this afternoon. Ethan learned how to play in mud. He also had fun digging in the lingering patches of snow. Those shoes grandma gave him sure came in handy today!

Terral is gone on a scout camp tonight. It was supposed to be the klondike (snow) camp, but somehow this week, someone decided they should go west of town instead. Terral was pretty disappointed at that. He thinks if you are going to go camping in the winter, you should either go where there is snow, or go south where it's warmer. He seemed to feel better about it today after he decided it would be a good opportunity to do some photography for his senior portfolio.

After I got Ethan to bed, I spent the evening preparing for Singing Time. I'm planning a month at a time now, which is good for the piano player and nice for me because I don't have to come up with something new every week, but each planning session is a bear. It's hard for me to commit to songs (aside from the main one for the month) that far in advance. It is helping though, and I feel much more organized in general. It's hard to believe that I'll be starting my third year in this calling soon. I've learned a lot, and I enjoy it a lot more than I did that first year.

Now I've got to get to bed and hope that Ethan's teething doesn't keep us up too much. Wish us luck. :)

The Cobbler's Son

You know that saying about the cobbler's children going unshod? Well, it's been pretty true at our house lately. Ethan grew out of a borrowed pair of leather shoes, and we just haven't gotten around to making him a new pair. I've gone as far as looking at DI, but didn't find anything flexible that would fit. (We like close to barefoot around here. And I think Ethan has really good balance because of that.) In general, it really hasn't been too much an issue, which I suppose is why I haven't been spurred on enough to make it a priority. We just put on extra socks if it's warm enough for him to walk outside.

Well, today Ethan had some grandma time while I was teaching lessons, and he came home with a new (to him) pair of  shoes. Now he can walk outside even if there is snow out!

This is his first pair of hard-soled shoes, so they will definitely take some getting used to. Ethan doesn't seem to mind that though.

Backlog 10

And here's the last post about the reunion, I promise.

A Few Things

Last night at Family Home Evening, my mother-in-law told me that once when she was watching Ethan, there was another little boy over at her house. He's about a month younger than Ethan. Anyway, she had a couple of hot wheels she'd recently bought, and she brought them out for the boys to play with. The other little boy played with his car as most kids do, "driving" it around the floor. But she said that all Ethan wanted to do was fit it back in the package. :) That's my boy. He's very interested in how things work together. Take it out, put it back in. Twist it off, twist it on. Flip the switch. Spin the wheels. Figure out the flip top.  Stir the spoon. Take it apart, put it together.

So far this week, I've pretty well beaten the haze. I've been much more productive, and much more satisfied. Gotta keep chippin' at that to-do list. I've been focusing on Ethan's sleep again the past couple weeks, and it's paying off. We're establishing a rhythm here, and it's very helpful. I tried some of the same things several months ago, but I guess he's just more ready for it now because it's working better. And I've had a few nights of better sleep too. Also very helpful.

Since I felt pretty on top of housework, today I decided to do a little sewing. Most of Ethan's clothes are previously loved. My sister Lisa gave us some jeans that Ethan's been wearing for a little while now. (Thanks again!) One of the pairs was really baggy in the bum, and the snaps kept coming undone.  I don't like to bother with the snaps anyway, so I just sewed along the inside of the legs and took a bigger seam up by the bum. It turned out pretty wonky the first time, so I had to do some unpicking and try again. Much better results the second time, but the crotch area still looked a little funny. Since I'm not a seamstress and I didn't really know how to fix it, I called it good enough and finished it off. I decided they still look better than they did before since they fit him better now.

Over the weekend, we finished our taxes. (Hooray!) I also finished the series of books I mentioned I was reading last week. It was a pretty good series. The author isn't mormon, but she is Christian and the overriding theme is how people get through their trials by relying on God. It made me want to do as Elder Scott advised us last conference and make the scriptures my friends by learning them by heart.