Twins

I love finding people’s twins. There was this lady that comes into the library every few weeks or so and I kept trying to figure out who she reminded me of in her looks and mannerisms. I didn’t ever really get a chance to talk to her until last week and I finally figured it out. She reminds me of my mother-in-law. No wonder I have liked this patron so much! Now I look forward to getting to see her but I also look forward to seeing the real Camille in just a few short weeks!

Marc’s Schedule

Marc’s hours have been cut back quite a lot at Subway and we are looking for other forms of employment. But until that happens I am loving how much is being done around the house and yard. It is amazing what can get accomplished when you aren’t working 50+ hours a week!

Down to 18

I am finally down to 18 credit hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a big deal in our house and I finally feel like I have a little breathing room. We are still really busy but we aren’t drowning anymore which is a big deal. Almost half way done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FHE Group

We have started another FHE group. This one is very different from the one in Prescott and honestly we still miss our FHE group all the time! But here our FHE group currently consists of us and our neighbors. It is so much fun doing FHE with kids again and being able to hang out with them once a week, at least. This last week we told the story of the Good Samaritan but it was changed into a boy that had a bike accident rather than a man who was beaten and robbed. And the rivalry was between Arizona and Oregon (they had just moved from Oregon) and other things. The kids understood the story really well and we got a chance to show our “brotherly kindness” as we trashed talked each other through a game of Uno. Oops! We have met once and I can’t wait for our next meeting!

Halloween

I have never been a big fan of Halloween but I was really looking forward to it this year. I was going to be able to pass out candy at my house and be a real grown-up this year! But alas, Halloween falls on the one night a week that I close the library. As such I will be at the library rather than passing out candy. Oh well, there is always next year!

Missing New Hampshire

Fall for some reason makes me really miss New Hampshire. Marc and I both whine all the time about how much we miss New Hampshire. I don’t see us ever moving back but I do see us always missing it. The colors, the smells, the people, the culture, the food, the feeling of fall. I miss it all. In order to try and duplicate what little I can about the East Coast, I have bought apple cider and am going to make whoopee pies. Fall was always my favorite there and the next time I return I do hope it is in the fall and I could see all of the amazing tree colors and get to see all of my friends too!

Marc’s Running Crew

With Marc trying to get into law enforcement, he is all about working out all the time. He has even roped some of our neighbors and friends into running with him. I think that it is awesome that he enjoys his runs and that others are getting benefits from it too. I do have to laugh though, his runs used to take his 20 minutes tops and now he is gone for at least an hour a night. I guess they run for their twenty minutes and then stand around and talk after that. What silly boys!

General Conference

General Conference was this weekend and it is always such a blessing to get to listen to general conference. What a blessing to be able to listen to the words of the prophet and apostles today. I won’t lie though, some of the talks made me a little weary about what is going to come in the future. There were a lot of talks about waiting, relying and trusting the Lord. I do know that whatever happens it is for our good and that there is a purpose in it. After that, I guess I just have to trust in the Lord.

Finding my Blessing

You know how when you move something always goes missing? Well that thing happened to be my Patriarchal Blessing this time. I knew that I had moved it, it was just a matter of finding which box of papers it had gotten put with. I finally found it yesterday and it was such a blessing to get to read it again. I love that we can have that kind of direction in our life and what an anchor and support system it can be. I also love how much it makes me strive to be better to be worthy of the blessings discussed. I love my patriarchal blessing and if you haven’t read yours in a while you should totally reread it. I promise it will be awesome!

Made Up Words

Honestly, there are moments when Marc and I can be one of “those” couples. You know the kind that you hear talking and it makes you want to gag? The kind that is always, “You hang up first” “No, you hang up first!”. You know which ones I am talking about? Marc and I are that way in arguing over who loves or misses the other one more. The conversation usually goes like this:
“I love you!”
“I love you more!”
“I love you most!”
“I love you mostest!”
“I love you mosterest!”
“I love you mosteresterest!”

You get the point. Anyway, one night I decided to end this debate once and for all. I told him that I was going to make up a word that meant that I loved him more than he could ever love me plus one times infinity. He said he was going to make up a word that meant more than that. The conversation ended there that night but then I got the cutest text from him and don’t tell him but I am pretty sure he wins with this conversation:
Marc: “I miss you.”
Me: “I miss you too.”
Marc: “I made up word for miss you more than any other made up or not made up word :)”

I mean seriously I about died because I thought it was so cute but I can totally see how it would make me gag to read about it. I am sorry for any gagging that might have happened because of this post.

Crossing Your Legs

How many times can you cross your legs? Max is an expert in crossing his legs in more ways than I can count!

Sleepy Saturdays

Here are some pictures of us on our sleepy Saturdays. Carmel likes to sleep in a separate room from me so getting pictures of him is really hard. I will have to work on getting some more!







I finally found where he was hiding!

Cleaning

I totally got the bug to clean this weekend. I went through tons of boxes, mopped, vacuumed, rearranged, etc. It was so nice to work on the house and I felt so much better when it was all said and done. I can’t wait until I have more time to do it again. Maybe next weekend that can be my project again!

The only problem with cleaning on the weekends is that the animals really like when we have lazy days on the weekends. Normally Marc is at work and I am home working on school and so we have lazy Saturdays and the animals just sleep. Kiara was apparently upset that my cleaning was interrupting nap time because the next thing I know she is sleeping on my project. It was so much fun to snuggle with her though that I didn’t even mind!

Rainy Days

I had always heard parents with children complain about how bad rainy days could be with kids. I now know the feeling because rainy days are really hard with the dogs. The poor things aren’t allowed outside and they are all cooped up and can’t figure out why! Poor Kovu is the worst. Today is day two of rain and we are in for two more…. It could be a long two days for all of us!

Girl’s Night In

With the priesthood session of general conference coming up, I thought it would be the perfect time to have a girl’s night! However, everyone was either out of town or sick! I know, what is up with that? It ended up being Holly and myself and we had a blast making cupcakes. They were supposed to be these really cute ghost cupcakes but we ended up with some interesting creations and some sticky fingers!

What it was supposed to look like:


What it turned out like:










The ones that we created:

(The Earthquake)


(The Bug)


(Fire Pit)


(Love Girls Night In!)








(The ones that weren't really anything....)






(I ran out of ideas....)


The next one I want to try:

Girl’s Night Out

So apparently I only played this week. Friday night my neighbor called and asked if I wanted to go see a movie with her. The last time I saw a movie was before my parent’s Jerusalem trip because we took Mikkel with us. But anyway we went and saw a movie and hung out and it was so much fun! I love hanging out with Holly and getting a break from school.

While we were out partying Marc was back home with his friend Mark (trust me I get confused too!) working out together. They went running, did sit-ups and push-ups, stretched, etc. They had a fun boys night in while we had a fun girls night out!

Shopping Spree

This week I was able to go shopping with a friend. We just needed a girls night out and this was the best way to do it. We went and searched around the local thrift stores and went out to dinner that night. Megan found a $500+ grill at goodwill that she bought for her husband’s birthday for $150! It was an awesome deal and Kaleb should be ecstatic about it! I was able to find some bedding and a few decorations for one of our bedrooms. We have finally started unpacking and moving into the house a little bit. I was able to buy

• A wall decoration
• A decoration for the desk
• Matching set of bedding (fitted sheets, normal sheets, 2 pillow cases, and a bed skirt)
• Another matching set of bedding (minus the bed skirt)
• And a set of curtains

For all under $50! I was super excited and can’t wait until I finish going through more boxes and I can decorate that room a little bit!

Zumba!

This last week I was able to go to my first Zumba class with my visiting teaching companion. Side note: Jenni is fantastic and I love having her as a companion. But the class was so much fun! I have done Zumba in my living room before but being in a class was awesome! In fact I loved it so much, we are trying to fit a gym membership into our monthly budget. I can’t wait to go again!

In the meantime I have really enjoyed playing the Zumba game for the Wii. It is better than any Zumba DVD that I have found through the library and it is a really fun way to work out!

The Story of the Pop-Tarts

Okay so funny story about Marc. 9 times out of 10 Marc has a better memory than me but when it comes to the kitchen he suddenly can be very spacy. I am always putting the milk that was on the counter back in the fridge or turning off the stove because dinner finished cooking 20 minutes ago, or whatever. One such incident happened with some pop-tarts. Marc loves to heat his pop-tarts in the toaster. One morning he went to cook them and then did something else and before you know it he had forgotten about the pop-tarts. These poor pop-tarts sat in the toaster for several days before I took this picture. I wanted to see how long it would take Marc to realize he had forgotten them. I few days after the picture was taken I found the pop-tarts here. Apparently he remembered them and then forgot them again. Poor pop-tarts!

Good Samaritan

There are moments in life that make you realize that there is kindness and human decency left in this world. This week the teenagers have found it funny to start stealing from each other at the library. We have had several items stolen this week, most notable, a violin. We figured the kids stole it as a prank because why else do you steal a violin. The police were called, a report filed, and an article was written about it in the local newspaper. It made me so sad to think that they would do this to each other, even if they were trying to be funny. It really bummed out the staff but there wasn’t a lot we could do for him. After the article was posted in the newspaper, we had a patron come in to talk to me. I talked to her and apparently she had found the violin around the corner from our library. She had returned it to a different location because she thought that is where it came from and they had contacted the mom. Not only did this patron come to tell us but she went to the local middle school as well to make sure he got his violin back. The patron has his violin again but I was so impressed with what this patron did for this teenager and how much that act meant to his mom and him. Now if only we could get them to stop stealing everything else we would be good!

I have more animals!

Before anyone has a panic attack that I really went out and got another fuzzy creature to add to my little family, check out these pictures of what happens when the new neighbors come over for dinner!

Getting to Talk…Again

After being so sick last time, the Bishopric asked me to speak again. They let me use the same talk that I had prepared last time and I was so grateful to be able to talk about testimonies. I was asked to talk about a talk giving by President Eyring at the General Young Women’s Broadcast in April. It was entitled “A Living Testimony”. Reading and studying that talk really allowed my testimony to grow and created the desire to learn more and to be better. We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives and I hope we don’t take it for granted and become casual in our worship. Being able to give that talk really has made a huge impact in my life. I was even able to incorporate sign language as I talked about the meanings of the different signs for testimony. The sign in LDS ASL is different than the ASL version. The regular sign means a proclamation of faith and the other sign means a true and good statement said with authority. I talked about how we can grow in our testimonies to be worthy of that LDS ASL sign as the prophets and apostles are. As I listen to their testimonies they are said with such authority that I can’t help but believe them. I hope one day that I am worthy for that sign and that my testimony can be said with that much authority.

What a day!

Though I adore my job, there are days that I come home and I think, “Why on earth am I a librarian?” Most people think of librarians to be the people who sit calmly behind the desk, speak only in whispers, know exactly where every book in the library is and what it is about, and have tons of time to read at work. I have yet to find a library where these rules apply.

One Friday I came in and this group of boys was in the parking lot. This is a group of boys that I deal with at least a couple of times a week. Their offenses range from throwing rocks at each other, to throwing each other into trees, to grabbing the girls bahookies (ask Mikkel for a correct translation for that word), to eating, to bullying, and the list could just keep going. They really do make for exciting days when they are there. But on this day I got out of my car and noticed them playing in the parking lot. They had a giant metal pole that they were trying to hit each other with and they were in the main entrance to the parking lot. I figured if they missed each other they were going to hit a car. They then started throwing giant rocks at each other. Before I even made it into the building I was dealing with this group! I told them that if they wanted to play at the park it was around the corner but this was a library and needed to be treated like one. I went to leave and they swore at me. With that they were kicked off of library property. From there it seemed like that is how my day went. I had grumps and people all upset that I expected them to follow the rules. I know I am weird!

Thankfully my typical days aren’t like this but sometimes I wonder if I work in a library or a bar!

Happy Birthday!

This summer has been filled with celebrating new landmarks with the animals we have and enjoying having the dogs in the house. This August we celebrated having Kiara for a full year. Both her and Carmel are now a year old but we will celebrate birthdays with Carmel in May because that is when we got him. Okay, so back to Kiara.

Having Kiara be a part of the family for the past year has been amazing. It is hard to remember how little and frail she was when we first got her. Our little 0.4 lb kitten is now almost 10 lbs. She is such a princess and can’t stand to be dirty. She has toughened up quite a bit and I blame living with Carmel. The two of them have play together all the time, in fact as I type this they are playing in some plastic bags down the hall. They have recently discovered that they can steal my bags to put dirty clothes in and they drag them down the hall like they are racing. Honestly, I am glad they have each other and get along so well!

She fills our days with laughter and joy. She is constantly getting into trouble, “helping” or wanting to snuggle. It is through all of these things that we love her so much. Check out some of our favorite pictures of her over the year.

Doubles Day

So after 7/11 day I loved my idea of new holidays. I kept the tradition going on 8/8/11 and 9/9/11. We called these doubles days and tried to do everything with a doubled theme. On the date in August we went to taco bell and only ordered things that had to do with numbers. So we ordered things like the double-decker tacos and 7-layer burritos. Honestly I am having a hard time remembering what twist we put on it for September but I do remember having a ball! I love how much we are able to laugh and enjoy life, even through small ways.

They are COMING!!!

Some of us are totally looking forward to the holidays this year because they will be filled with family and fun! For Thanksgiving we will get to have Marc’s parents in town and will celebrate with my mother-in-laws family. We haven’t seen Marc’s parents since our open house a year and a half ago. We have definitely missed them lots and are looking forward to a few days with them this Thanksgiving.
We are also looking forward to Christmas this year. For Christmas we are being super spoiled to have Melissa and her family come over from Jerusalem. This will most likely be the only time they get to come home until they are reassigned posts which won’t be until 2013, so we are SUPER excited. I am definitely looking forward to being home as much as possible and hanging out with my kiddos again. Can the holidays just hurry up!

Catching a Cold

Today I had the unfortunate fate of catching a cold. I have the whole runny nose, sore throat, achy body, the whole nine yards. I was able to recuperate and sleep all afternoon and it did me a world of good. The best part of it was being watched over by our little one while Marc was at work. Kiara made sure to snuggle by me the whole time I slept and even laid next to me when Carmel kicked her out of her spot on my stomach. I love knowing that I am taking care of even when Marc is gone and after passing out for several hours today I am starting to feel better but it also could be the medicine… Wish me luck tomorrow at work and please don’t judge me if I am a total zombie!

Book of Mormon

Marc and I have started reading the Book of Mormon again as a couple. We have started back at the beginning and I have decided that late night commentary isn’t always the best at being religious. These are some of the comments of this last week’s readings.

Me: Do you know one way that I know the Book of Mormon is true?
Marc: How?
Me: If it were written by an author he would have thought of better names for his characters. I mean seriously we are on page 5 and still learning who everyone is and you send Laban and Laman together in the same sentence. I would have at least named him like Lashawn so that I could tell them apart! So it has to be real!
Marc: So that is how you knew it was true? That is totally going to be my testimony next month!

Then we had to stop because we were laughing so hard and we were beginning to fear lightning strikes!

Broken Hill

Marc and I watch movies at night to relax and usually it takes us a few days to get through movies. The same was true with “Broken Hill”. The movie wasn’t fantastic and the actors weren’t wonderful, the storyline was weak and so forth. However, the MUSIC was PHENOMENAL!!!!! There is a scene where they have a drum sequence on a 5-gallon bucket and I have never seen something so amazing! I loved it so much that I went to find the soundtrack. I was super depressed to find out that they never made the soundtrack! How can you make a movie about music and not make a soundtrack? Really that is so wrong!!!

Another Angel

One day at work, I wasn’t feeling good and I had to deal with crabby people all day long! It was getting towards the end of the day and I knew that the teenagers were going to come and push my buttons and I just wasn’t looking forward to it. Then I noticed this mom with her two little girls. The mom had her hands full with a baby carrier and books and the two year old was enjoying the freedom of having her mother’s hands busy. I was noticing how frustrated the mom was getting and her attempts to get the little girl round-up weren’t going very well. I picked up a stack of videos and walked by the little girl trying to escape out the front door. I put my hand out to her and asked her if she wanted to be my helper in putting the dvds away. She took my hand and off we went. The mother started professing her thanks to me and I told her it was my pleasure. We began putting dvds away and I laughed at the commentary that happened. She pointed out “mommy movies” “movies with bad guys” (we agreed we don’t like those movies!) and the list kept going. It was so funny! I laughed and thought and how much more fun it was to put away these movies because of this two year old. She totally made my day! The mother kept thanking me and you could see how much it meant to her. I just wish I could have truly conveyed how much her letting me borrow her daughter meant to me too!

Answers to Prayers

Sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways. The other day I was explaining to Marc that though I love our new ward I haven’t found my niche yet. Sometimes I feel as though everyone here is so stable and set in their ways that there isn’t room for someone new. I know I am just feeling sorry for myself; I just miss how easy it has been to truly make friends in some of my past wards. I had just had this talk with Marc on Friday or Saturday night and I was still thinking about it when I attended church on Sunday. I was sitting there in sacrament meeting and I was listening to the speaker talk about their perfect neighbor and how wonderful they were and they were always there when they needed the, etc. I was listening and my friend Megan leans over and explains that I was that neighbor for her. She said that my moving into the ward had made her more comfortable and she was so grateful that I had moved in. I had been so focused on myself that I hadn’t even wondered if I had been the person I needed for someone else.

Babysitting

One of the things that I have really missed is kids in my life. For some reason people think it is weird when you first meet someone and you asked to kidnap their kids for an afternoon while you play with them. I am not quite sure why but whatever. But anyway I finally got a chance to kidnap some children. My neighbor and good friend Holly let me watch her kids while her and her husband went swing dancing. Marc and I would have gone with them but he was working so I offered to watch the kids. It was so much fun and I loved being able to do normal things like bedtime. It isn’t the same to put the animals to bed as it is a child and tuck them in and read books. I have missed that. Thanks Holly for letting me steal your kids for a night. I can’t wait to see it again!

Hello Dolly with Holly (I love that that rhymes!)

One of my coworkers was performing in a local play and I got the chance to go see her. Anyone knows I am a sucker for the theater and especially musicals! I took along my neighbor Holly and we had a girl’s date. It was so much fun and I loved being back in a theater. I have missed it so much and didn’t realize until I was back inside. Holly and I enjoyed a night away from the boys and kids and ate chocolate and watched a good show. We are planning our next outing and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later!

Library Episode #5

Once again we get to hear from Mr. Nicholas. We have crafts for the kids at the library after school once a week. Nicholas went and was very excited that snacks were being served. He quickly shoved a whole cookie in his mouth and was chewing it while he went up the staff member and asked if there were peanuts in the cookies. She asked if he was allergic to peanuts and he confirmed that he was as he continued to chew. She asked how allergic he was, starting to panic, and he shrugged and said, “I don’t know.” She asked if he had ever had to use an epipen and he couldn’t remember. The cookies were made on the same machinery as cookies with peanuts but they didn’t actually have some in them. He was watched thoroughly and he appeared to be fine. We called him mom and talked to him about his allergy. Though we all shook our head at the situation, we were concerned that neither Nicholas nor his mother knew how allergic he was. If you have an allergy in your family, please take a moment to educate those around that person. You never know when your child, who is deathly allergic peanuts, will eat one at a library event at it could be a deadly scene! Please take a moment and talk about these issues with your children so that all can be kept safe.

9/10/11

I am starting to become known for my made up holidays and September 10th wasn’t an exception to the rule. I made up the holiday “Counting on Each Other Day”. This holiday couldn’t have come at a better time. Finances had been tight with school starting and some other surprise bills and we were just out of sync with each other. We decided that we needed to start back at the beginning. We recreated our first date and spent the night laughing and it was just the cure that we needed. I can’t wait for our next made up holiday and the next 75 years of marriage. I know that I can always count on Marc and I loved being able to celebrate that!

ASL Club

I have been granted permission to start an ASL Club at our library for Elementary aged kids. It has been so much fun to teach them Sign Language and it gives me a chance to enjoy the language with others! I am hoping to have a class for adults soon. We have learned all sorts of things including our alphabet and numbers. We don’t always use the most mature ways of teaching but the kids tend to remember better. Like for the number 11 and 12 it was taught as if were flicking boogers off of our fingers. I have gotten to know more of the kids in the library and they seem to really enjoy it. This next week we will learn our colors or animals. I can’t wait to see where this leads!

Classes begin once again....

Well we are busy with classes once again and so if we are hard to reach or if our blog isn’t very well updated then you know why! Well and it doesn’t help that some of us are being over-achievers in going to school this semester. Marc is working two jobs and taking 15 credit hours. He is enjoying school but looking forward to graduating this May with his Associate’s Degree. I hadn’t finished my 7 credit hours from summer classes and decided to take an interpreting class at CCC. Between all of my school I am taking 29 credit hours and working full time. The summer school hours would have finished this weekend but their system went down. I have finished 95% of the assignments and just need to submit them at this point and I will be down to 22 credits. I have an 8 week class that will finish in about 4 weeks and then I will be down to the prescribed limit of 18 credit hours. Until then, don’t hold your breath from hearing from either one of us!

Library Episode #4

My favorite patrons are the little ones that come into the library. We have this adorable little three year old that comes to the library and I am amazed at how smart he is! As he walked in the door he explained to me that he was wearing a camouflage jacket but he would blend in with the mud and not the trees because it was gray. He went and looked at books and came back later with his final selections. I was being silly and pointing to a picture of a frog and asking it was cat and things like that. He told me I was silly and laughed at me. I then thought that I could use this as a teaching moment and asked if he wanted to learn how to say cat in sign language. I explained that you take your hand like you were showing your whiskers and pulled out. He looked at me very seriously and said, “I am a boy and I DON’T have whiskers!” With that bit of knowledge he wouldn’t even try to sign it. I now think of that sign just a little bit different….

Library Epsiode #3

Remember little Nicholas, well this is another story about him. Nicholas came in with a water bottle one day. He asked the front desk if we would hold the water bottle for him and we reminded him that he could keep it because it had a lid. He said he was sure he would spill it and wanted us to hold it. We were sure that he would forget it but held it anyway. Sure enough he forgot it and we went to dump out the water before throwing it away. As my coworker dumped out the water she discovered there was a BB in this water. Like a BB for a BB gun. We started to freak out a little bit because you can get really sick from sticking things like BBs in your water! We agreed to talk to him about it the next time he came in.
The next time he came in we discussed the BB in his water. He said that he knew it was in his water and that his teacher told him it would grow. We tried very hard to explain to Nicholas that a BB would not grow in water! It took a long time but I think we might have convinced him from not growing BBs anymore!

Reading to Each Other

One of the traditions that Marc and I have started since moving to Flagstaff is reading to each other each and every night. I read to him and then he reads to me. It is such a wonderful tradition and so relaxing! The problem is Marc reads last and each night I fall asleep every night before he is finished… oops! So the next night he catches me up and reads again. I love how patient and kind he is with me and can’t wait to read another chapter tonight!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was a big day this year for our little family as Marc and I both had Monday off! We haven’t both had the same day off since we moved up here. We decided that we would go and see my parents and spend the day hiking with them. We drove down Sunday night when Marc got off of work and we were so unprepared for what life was going to bring us. Max and Kovu do GREAT sleeping at our house and we don’t have a problem with them at all. However, at my parent’s house there are new noises and smells and movements and we were in for a long night. We tried to get them to sleep in the laundry room but they were almost up to a full howl before Marc tried sleeping with them. That didn’t work and neither did sleeping outside with them. They were finally locked up in the car and the rest of us got a good night sleep. We got up the next morning and started our hike. The dogs did really well on the hike and Max really liked my Dad. We finished our hike and left the dogs outside while we went into town to walk the Square. I love walking downtown with my family and this trip was no exception. While we were out it started to storm and I knew I would come home to two drenched little dogs. Sure enough they were muddy and wet and reeked! My parents let them come in and wash them in the tub so they wouldn’t be so dirty for the ride home. We washed them and I was surprised at how much Max hated his bath! He held perfectly still and we hardly got wet but he HATED every moment of it. While we were going to bathe Kovu, Mikkel and Dad dried off Max and brushed him. They were equally amazed at how much hair that dog has! With Kovu we weren’t so lucky with not getting wet. I am pretty sure that Marc and I were just as wet as he was. It was nice afterwards because I was drying off Kovu and he lay calmly in my lap (which has never happened before or since!) It was so nice to see my parents and get to spend a day with them. I can’t wait till we all get to do it again!

Library Episode #2

Most of our funny moments come from a little boy named Nicholas. Nicholas is the most unique little thing and keeps us laughing as we shake our heads. Our library has PIN numbers so that patrons can use our computers or check their accounts at home. Anyway, Nicholas was afraid that the kids had learned his library card number and pin and were going to use his account. He was going to buy a new library card and I suggested that he simply change his PIN number. I explained to Nicholas that he needed to pick a number that he would remember. He thought about it for a moment and declared “5032”. I asked him if he would remember those and he simply stated, “No!” After laughing for a moment we discussed a better pin for him. We picked “8888” because that was his age and he very seriously looked at me at asked, “But what happens when I turn 9?”

Talking in Church

The Bishop asked when Marc and I would be able to talk together in church. I made the mistake of telling him that wouldn’t be until Marc finished the academy. Well Bishop thought that was too far away and so I got called to speak by myself. Unfortunately the day of the talk, I was deathly ill and couldn’t even get out of bed. Hopefully the next time I get to talk it will be with Marc!

Library Episode #1

There are so many funny things that happen at work every day that I can’t help but put them here on our blog as well. So every once in a while I will interrupt our normal posts to put in some of the funny moments from the library.

Most of the funny moments happen thanks to children. They truly are the light of the library. Anyway, I had this new family come in for new library cards and I got to be the one who issued them. This little boy was waiting while I did his sister’s card and it involved the standard questions of birthday and so forth. When I asked her birthday, he very proudly announced that he was almost 11! I asked when his birthday was and he beamed as he said February. I was just making conversation as I clarified that this February he would be 11 as per our earlier conversation. He looked at me as if I had three heads and said, “No, I will be 8! But I am ALMOST 11!!!” Good to know I had no clue had birthdays worked!

Dinner with New Friends

I have loved getting to know new people in our ward. One of the people that I have gotten to know is my visiting teaching companion. She is new married and so awesome! I find myself having so much fun with her and have even found another Zumba addict, which is so much fun! Anyway, we went over to their house for dinner. We had a wonderful meal and great company! I can’t wait to get to know them better as we live here longer!

We finished training!

FINALLY! This couldn’t have come at a better time in our life. I was starting to feel like our lives were being run by dog training appointments. Life has been so much nicer now that the dogs are better behaved. Walking Kovu has become a manageable task and they are so much better behaved! I will always be grateful that we did the training but I am also so grateful that it is over!

Police Force and Sheriff Deputy

I write this post with mixed feelings. Marc unfortunately didn’t get the job with the Police Force. There were some things that were unclear on their testing and we didn’t prepare in the right way. He has applied for a job with the County and is always looking for new opportunities to get into this field. His determination and training is amazing. He is doing two-a-days on top of working two jobs and I am constantly amazed by him. I am such a lucky woman to have him in my life!

New Calling

So writing my blog in this new way usually means that I can’t remember what I posted because I do it so far in advance, so if I copy a post or some such nonsense…. don’t get too annoyed with me!

But anyway, I have a new calling in our ward. I am the new Primary Pianist. I have wondered over the past few months why on earth I would be called to this position and I realize that it is my own fault. Over the past few months I have really wanted to improve on my playing skills and this way I have to practice. Someone is relying on me to be able to play those songs each week and I can’t let them down. This has also been a great way to have kids brought into my life. Marc and I have wondered about our ability to have children and I really miss having Melissa’s kids around as my constant companions. This is a way to have those kids in my life and I thank my lucky stars that I get to have them in my life!

Marc's Grandparents Come to Visit

We were so blessed to have Marc’s Grandparents come and visit this summer. They were so sweet to come and visit and want to spent time with us. I only wish that we would have been able to spend more time with them. The dogs, namely Max, weren’t quite so cooperative though. This had been the first time that we had had “strangers” in the house and he didn’t like being stuck outside and not knowing what was going on. So he took off to go find a new group of people. Max loves kids and when he wanders off he finds a group of kids and follows them home. This time he found a family around the corner from us and just walked in and made himself at home. Instead of being able to socialize with our guests I was off combing the neighborhood to find our lost dog. We did find him with just enough time to scarf down breakfast before I had to be at church. It was so much fun to get to see them and can’t wait to see them again! Hopefully we will actually get to talk to them this time!

7/11/11

I love having reasons to party and am constantly creating new holidays for us to celebrate. Thankfully these are holidays that if I forget then it won’t be a big deal. The first of these made up holidays was July 11, 2011. Marc and I celebrated 7/11 day by trying to do things that reminded us of 7/11 stores. We went and bought icees (after going to three gas stations!) and spent the night hanging out like we would have on a road trip. It was a riot trying to find the icees and we just spent all night laughing. It was an awesome new holiday!

Beautiful Flowers

Marc knew that I was having a bad day and not feeling very well and so he brought me home these flowers and some chocolates. Aren't they beautiful!

They are playing tag....

with their teeth! Since getting the dogs Carmel seems to be having a hard time. He doesn't like to chase Kiara like he used to because he is afraid of Max but he stills wants to get Kiara to play with him. So his solution? To bite her butt.... I mean bottom. (sorry Mom) The poor girl hates this but it doesn't stop him from doing it. We are trying to teach him that this is not to be tolerated but he hasn't learned very quickly yet... maybe one day he will learn. Until then here are some pictures to document their playing tag with their teeth!

I am not doing anything:


I know you are going to do something:


Gotcha!

Spanxs

Though I have enjoyed working out again, I haven’t enjoyed the weight gain that seemed to follow. I understand that muscle weighs more than fat but suddenly I was getting slimmer and weighing more and I didn’t like this at all. I still knew that I had weight to lose and was constantly whining to Marc about how much I weighed and how I looked fat in this outfit or another. He finally recommended that if it bothered me this bad that I could look into wearing spanxs. I went to Dillards to even see what they were. I bought a trial pair and have fallen absolutely in love with them! They are my new best friend. I feel so much smaller when wearing them and it makes me less self conscience. I still have the weight to loose and I am working on it but this is my favorite solution while I do that.

Date Night

I love that Marc and I still take the time to have date nights. It was a piece of advice we received before we got married and we took it. Our date nights aren’t usually glamorous or anything out of this world but it is fun to have a special night with just us and to enjoy each other’s company. This last date night was a little bit out of the ordinary as we decided to have a picnic dinner at the dog park. This would have been a great idea if the dogs had cooperated but they were not very friendly this time at the dog park and so Marc and I took them home. We needed to do some grocery shopping and so we went and did that. We walked around the gardening area and talked about solar lights along the walkway and different things and at one point we just sat and swung on a porch swing. It was so nice to just sit and talk to Marc in the middle of the gardening section as we pretended that we were swinging in our backyard. Then we came home and watched a movie together. My favorite part of that night though was buying a shaved ice maker, also super discounted. We have loved making shaved ice and are looking forward to more memories from more date nights.

Too Many Broken Dishes

Marc and I have cleaned up the glass from several broken dishes this last week and finally we decided enough was enough. We went to Wal-Mart and found some dishes that were super discounted and got a set of plastic dishes. I think for 24 cups, 24 plates, 24 bowls, and 2 serving platters our total was under $15. Our dishes are now super colorful but at least if the cats knock them over, they won’t break!

Cleaning Up A Mess

One night Marc and I were sitting and cuddling on the couch when we heard a large bang. This was the bang that meant that the cats had knocked something off of a counter and it was broken. Marc jumped up to clean it up and after several moments of trying to clean it up while trying to keep the cats out I grabbed the camera. I know, a good wife would have helped but I felt this moment needed to be documented. Here is how the insanity went.

Marc captures the culprits:


The culprits try to escape:


(At this point Mr. Carmel gets put away because Marc can't juggle two cats)
Kiara waits until Marc is far enough away putting Mr. Carmel away:


Kiara goes to check out the mess one more time:


Marc is coming so Kiara jumps to the chair so he won't know she was in the mess again:


Kiara makes sure that Marc has really left the area again:


Jumps down to inspect what is left of the mess:




Kiara then "helps" to clean up the mess: (this is her catching a rock)


Kiara does a quick walkthrough to make sure Marc really didn't miss any pieces: (looks like he missed a leaf)


Kiara very sad that the mess is cleaned up: (don't mind the creepy colorful eye!)