New Calling

I got a new calling today at church. "Another new calling??" you say. Yup. Another new calling. "Didn't you just barely get a new calling?" you ask. The answer to that would also be yes. Apparently I can't hold down a job like I should. :) I'm still in Young Women's, so it's not too big of a change, thank goodness. Now, instead of being the Mia Maid's adviser, I'm the second counselor in the presidency. That puts me in with the Beehives. I won't be teaching as much on Sundays (once a month instead of twice), but I'll be more responsible for mutual. I'll also have all the meetings and stuff to go to. So, not too big of a change, but I will be getting more responsibility. I guess that once I feel like I'm getting my life organized again, something else comes along. Wouldn't want to get comfortable, would I? :) I do love working with the girls, and I'm glad I'm still in with them. They have such sweet spirits, and I feel like this is where I need to be right now. So, here we go!

Crazy Pictures

So, the layout for the last post is kinda crazy. The pictures are all over the place...sorry. :) I had them all lined up, but then the words had gotten all mixed up, so then I had to fix the words. Now it's late, and I don't want to fix it again. I'm going to bed. Goodnight.

Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm this morning. We had a good time feeding the cows and goats, going on a hay ride, letting Christopher go on a little train ride, eating hot dogs, and picking out some pumpkins. The little goats were pretty cute, but had some crazy eyes going on. It seemed expensive to me, especially since Christopher seems to have the same ideas on fun as Dave does. The whole time on the hay ride, Christopher kept asking me where we were going, and was trying to figure out why we were sitting on some bales of hay in a trailer, being pulled by a tractor. I guess there need to be a purpose or something. :) Naomi had a great time hanging out with her daddy. I held her for a little while, and she got all cranky until Dave took her back. It's so fun to see the kids having so much fun with him. There were a lot of good photo opps today, so we got a bunch of pictures. I'll just post a few, and then send some more to the grandparents. I think we'll carve the pumpkins for Family Home Evening, and I'll post some pictures of how they turn out.

Autumn

Yay! I'm so excited that it finally feels like fall around here. The car this morning said it was 62* outside, and the weather report says the high is supposed to be 65*. I grabbed a sweatshirt and my slippers to make breakfast. We even turned the fireplace on last night. How cozy! I love sweaters and cushy socks. My favorite way to sleep is when it's freezing cold, and I have a ton of blankets piled on me. If I have enough blankets, the best sleep I get is when I've been camping (not that I've been camping recently - it's not Dave's favorite thing :)). I'm excited for the leaves to start changing colors. I enjoy all the season changes, but this is probably my favorite.

Best Friends Forever

I love watching Christopher with Naomi. He is so sweet and gentle with her. She adores him, and lights up whenever he even looks at her. They haven't had any "sibling" problems yet, but I'm sure we'll start getting into that when Naomi gets more mobile and into Christopher's things. For now, though, I just love watching them together.

Halloween

Halloween is coming up fast. I love this time of year. Jeans and sweaters, the leaves turn colors, the crisp scent in the air, hot apple cider, pumpkin pies, parties, and the holidays are beginning. Now, most of these autumn experiences are memories of how this time of year is supposed to be - not how it really is here in good ol' Texas. The weather is still in the mid 80's every day, although we did get an awesome thunder storm a couple of days ago that seems to have cooled everything down to upper 70's, which is nice (still not really sweater and hot apple cider weather, though!). I do have to admit that I'm really enjoying the fact that we can go to the park in the middle of the day and not roast. We've been having dinner outside on a regular basis, and one day we even had breakfast and lunch out there too! :) It's wonderful to get some fresh air.
I took some pics of the kids in their Halloween costumes for the grandparents. I'll post those. It's a lot of fun now that Christopher is old enough to understand the holiday. He's excited to be a train engineer, and Naomi will stay warm and cute in her pink leopard outfit. We'll see how long we stay out this year. Last year Christopher was so excited about getting the candy that he wanted to go home and eat it, instead of knocking on more doors. Also in the Halloween spirit, I found a fun candy-making kit at the store the other day. Dave and Christopher made them together, and had a lot of fun. I was wishing we lived closer to grandparents, because then we could have taken some over. Unfortunately, it's not really a good idea to hand out homemade candy to trick-or-treaters any more. So, (poor us!) we just had to eat them. :)




Pumpkins, spiders, bats, ghosts, cats, & mummies

Jumping Jacks

I took the video camera to TKD a while ago to catch Christopher's jumping jacks. It makes me smile to watch him - he's so cute. He's actually gotten a lot better at listening, and at almost all the moves, since I took the video. I'm so proud of how hard he works, and how much he's learning. He's younger than all the other kids, but keeps up with them almost all the time. He practices at home, and does his best. The video is a little long, but the jumping jacks are at the beginning.

General Conference

Well, General Conference is over for now, until April. We had a good time listening to the talks. I love how I feel encouraged and inspired to do better - in such an uplifting way. There's nothing better than hearing the prophet of the Lord telling us exactly what we need to hear! I am always excited to get the G.C. edition of the Ensign (Church mag), and to read over the talks again. Especially the talks that I missed, or only partly heard, because of the kids.
For those of you who don't know, General Conference is a church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints/Mormon) meeting that happens every six months. The leaders of the church speak at the conference center in SLC, and it's also broadcast to meetinghouses across the world, through satelite, and over the internet. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs, and there are talks given. Really a wonderful way to spend the weekend. Oh, and it's fabulous to be able to watch it on T.V.! Much nicer to let the kids take their naps at their regular times, and not have to keep them quiet at the church.

Christopher's birthday

Christopher turned three yesterday. I can't believe it's already been three years since he was born. Time has flown, and I love being his mommy. He's a great kid, with a lot of energy. He's very social, and loving. Sometimes, without prompting, he will come up to me and say, "You're the best mommy in the whooole world. I love you". It just makes my heart melt. I love him! We had a party for him on Saturday, and invited his friends. He had a blast playing in the water outside, and having a picnic with his friends. He loved his presents, and it seems like he felt very special. We gave him our presents, and the ones from his Ouma and Oupa yesterday. A tradition in my family is that you get to pick the dinner you want for your birthday, and he choose lasagna. So we had lasagna and leftover salad from the party (there were a lot of leftovers!). And, of course, birthday cupcakes and ice cream. I have to say that the icing was the best I've ever made. I creamed the butter first, before adding the icing sugar, which made a big difference. We've had a fun couple of days, for sure!

Dallas Zoo

Last Saturday we took the kids and went down to the Dallas Zoo. We had a really good time. It was a fun way to spend the morning as a family. The kids were both up before 7 a.m., so we just got dressed, had breakfast, and headed out. It opens at 9 a.m., and that's about when we got there. It was really nice to be there before both the rush of people and the heat arrived. Here are some pictures.

Christopher wore his construction goggles all day

Pretty pink flamingos

You mean I have to sit in here all day??

Pony rides...

I can't remember what these animals are called, but I think they look pretty crazy. The first thing I thought when I saw them was, "I should put a picture of them on my blog"

Pay It Forward

My friend, Melissa, has this cute idea on her blog, and I thought it would be a fun and cute way to have some fun, and get into autumn at the same time. Here's how it goes:

I will send a handmade(probably store bought,
I am a good shopper) fall gift to the first three (3)
people who leave a comment on my blog requesting
to join this PIF exchange. The only thing you have
to do in return is pay it forward by making the
same promise on your blog.

Let the fun begin!