Thursday, April 30, 2015

Toes and Fingers

April 30, 2015 - This is what marathon training is doing to my toes -- yuck!  I know my toes didn't turn black the first marathon I trained for, but I'm not so lucky this time around. 

April 24, 2015 Natasha's finger got shut in the door today.  When I looked at it I thought it looked crooked so I was concerned that it was broken and decided to take her to urgent care.  Luckily it was not broken her finger has a bit of a lump on the side from using it when she writes.  When it happened we were concerned it was going to ruin her plans for the night with some friends to celebrate her 13th birthday that was the day before.  Fortunately all was fine and she had a great time with her friends.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Call from the Stake Presidency

On Sunday, April 26th there was a stake meeting to change ward boundaries.  We live on the very northermost tip of the stake, so if the stake above us isn't involved, I feel pretty much like we aren't going anywhere.  After spending 3 hours in church I didn't even plan on attending the meeting because I was sure I would hear all about it from all the people the change would affect.

Well after church around 1 or 2 in the afternoon Jake and I were laying down to take a nap.  My phone buzzed and I noticed I had a voice message.  It was a bit odd that it buzzed because I don't very often get any cell service at all in our house.  I hit play and was surprised that I had enough service to listen to the message.  It was from a counselor in the stake presidency asking for Jake to return the call because they wanted to meet with him.  Jake had a voice message on his cell phone as well.  He returned the call and they asked us to come to the stake center at 4pm.  Jake had planned on picking up brother Moulton for the meeting at 6, so he had to call him and tell him he couldn't.

We went to the stake center and met with one of the counselors - I beleive it was president Southwick.  He talked to us briefly, but we still didn't know what was going on, then he had me wait out in the hall. I was out there for a long time wondering what was happening.  President Randall, the stake president saw me and although he is in our ward I am pretty good at blending in with the back wall, so he didn't know who I was.  He visited with me for a while and finally the door opened to the office that Jake and president Southwick were in and they invited me back in.

Jake still had a look on his face that showed me he still wasn't sure what calling they were going to extend to him.  He had just had a worthiness interview to become a high priest.  President Southwick told him that the stake president had felt inspired to call a new bishop for our ward.  This had happened mid week, so the new bishop had just a few days before the Sunday night meeting to decide who he should call as his counselors.  Jake was asked to be the first counselor.  I asked if we got to know who the new bishop was before he accepted (but I already was pretty sure I knew who the new bishop was).  For months I have said that John Mendenhall will be the next bishop, and even just the week before as I was painting a bedroom with his wife Shana and Joy Harris I had said to Shana that I thought he was going to be called, but I figured it would be 6 months down the road after all the ward boundary changes had happened and things had settled in.  John was called as the new bishop and he had felt even prior to being called that Jake and Ben Wise would be good counselors.

It was quite a surprise to get that type of calling just an hour before the meeting that they were announcing it in.

Bill and Alyce, even though they had just spent a couple weeks with us came back out so that Bill could ordain Jake a high priest on May 1st.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Tasha's Birthday

I can't believe this girl is already a teenager! For her 13th birthday she wanted a cake with sea horse and an anchor-- so this is what we came up with.  She didn't have a lot of requests for her birthday, but she did want new pants and pajama bottoms, so she got several pairs of each.



Saturday, April 18, 2015

Thurston's Baptism







We are so pleased with this little guy and his decision to be baptized.  He is very thoughtful and caring and loves to tell jokes and do tricks.  He is a fast learner and has always been coordinated so he picks up sports quickly.  He works hard in school and loves to learn, so he makes a great leader.

His baptism was a special day because Grandma and Grandpa got to be there.  We had to change the date from the original stake date, so it was a very small group that attended as we didn't have a lot of time to invite people.  The bishopric came and the primary president came.  Tamsyn sang and Grandpa Bill and Natasha gave talks.








Traditional banana split afterwards

Dantley and I were not there because Dantley threw a huge fit and I think some hitting was involved so he and I went home.

Pinewood Derby and Baseball

4/18/15 -  Saturday, April 18th was a big day for Thurston.  He had his first pinewood derby in the morning at 10am and then a baseball game at 12:30pm.  The highlight of his day was that afternoon at 4pm when he was baptized.



4/18/15





Friday, April 17, 2015

Dantley's Hike with Grandma and Grandpa

Friday 4/17/15 Grandma Alyce and Grandpa Bill took Dantley on a hike and outing with them while the kids were at school

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Working with Grandpa

4/15 Washing/waxing car with grandpa



4/16 Planting some bushes and trees





Checking Mouse traps 4/16