Wedding, museum, cooking, SCHOOL!!!

Well it's been a while now hasn't it. I thought I'd get on and actually pretend for another moment that I still am aware this blog exists. :) Life has been very eventful lately and I do think on a regular basis that I should get on here and post and put up some pictures. However. I am always at work when I have these thoughts. And once again, I am at work. But this is the first step right? :)

So Kate got married last month!!! That has to be the biggest thing that happened recently and will probably hold the illustrious title of Most Exciting Thing That Happened for a while. I got to go to Chicago and see her and her new hubby John and all of my family (except Josh of course) and I even got to go to Wisconsin for a few days. Rits and family and I went to an air museum and played around there for a while. They had a really cool kids area with toys and hands on science stuff like how to hover a helicopter - which is really quite difficult - and a heat sensor camera - I was so cold in Wisconsin that my color was red and orange instead of orange and yellow and when Andy put his hands on my shoulders it left yellow hand prints! Oh my poor little California acclimated self! Lucky for me, Kate let me borrow her very large and warm wool peacoat. Nevermind that everyone else was wearing just jackets. :) What can I say. I've turned into a pansy.

I've also been doing a bit of cooking lately. I've decided that since I don't get to go home for Christmas and spend gobbs of time in Wisconsin with all my frosty family, I'm baking! I made a pie for the first time and next up on the hit list is the Lemon Coconut Squares. Pictures to follow, hopefully sooner rather than later. :) Again. I'm at work. This is a problem. 

Dave is finishing his last week of school before finals right now and he - and I - can't wait for him to be done! He'll be graduating in the summer and I've already applied to a school pretty close to home and I can't wait to go!!! Hallelujah!!! 

So like I said. Hopefully I'll remember some time when I'm not at work and I'll post some pictures. Until then... chao. :)

Calling Update

So I have been a Mia Maids teacher for a couple weeks now and after studying 5 lessons, preparing 2,  and showing up every week, I have yet to teach. Very interesting to me. I have 3 girls in my class, 2 of which are inactive, and the other girl has been off enjoying the summer elsewheres. So the first week I studied 3 different lessons - we couldn't figure out which book and number I was supposed to be on - and then they told me to just teach the lesson on heritage whenever I have a class. But then this last week, I really felt like I should move on. So I prepared the lesson for the week I'm actually supposed to be on and I was feeling really good about it, I showed up for class and all 3 of my girls were there!!! *happy dance* Only then, I realized it was the 1st Sunday and that means a guest speaker. Lovely lesson. But not mine. 

And so here I sit. But don't get me wrong. I have thoroughly enjoyed preparing for these lessons. I have learned about journals, heritage, missionary work - twice, and finally how to maintain an eternal perspective. And I've been thinking lots about family and geneology and temple work and missionary work and it's kinda changed how I'm thinking. Making me re-evaluate things. So I've decided. I think *and hope* I definitely have something to give to these girls, but I think I'm supposed to be teaching myself too. I hope I can actually have my class and teach them soon, but I'm ok with how things are going for now. 

New Callings

So Dave and I just got new callings at church. He's the 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum and I'm teaching the Mia Maids. Actually, I don't start teaching until tomorrow, but I'm all ready! Been reading up on the lessons this week. Last week when they gave me all the stuff I needed I got the wrong manual so I was studying the wrong lesson. Which is perfectly fine by me. The one I didn't need to read was on journals and it brought up some really good points. Did you know that it was actually a commandment to keep a journal? You don't have to write in it every single day, but it's actually a commandment. And I forget which one, but there's a quote from one of the prophets that says if you aren't keeping a journal you need to repent and start one! That was a bit of a check for me. I have one, but I don't write in it very often at all. 

But anyways. The lesson for this week is pretty cool. I'm actually really glad that I get it first because it's all about heritage and family traditions and things which should provide a really easy way to get to know my girls right away. And even better, it focuses on the girls and stresses the importance of leaving a good heritage for your posterity instead of focusing on their parents and ancestors so I don't need to worry so much about being careful to not make them feel bad if their parents haven't done an exceptional job. I don't even know the names of my girls or anything about them so that's quite relieving. 

I'm pretty excited to teach. Having never done it before, I'm a bit nervous, but I'm feeling pretty good right now. Hopefully I'll still feel the same way tomorrow! :)

Dave is pretty mellow about his calling. He isn't nervous or anything. It was pretty funny when they were explaining to us what he would be doing - I was thinking about how much time he'll need and how it sounded like a huge pair of shoes to fill. And then when we talked about it he was just like Yeah. It's a counselor in the Elders Quorum. No sweat. I'm really glad he's so relaxed about it. I'd be sweating bullets, but I guess that's why it's his calling and I'm just teaching the 14 and 15 year old girls. :)

Tasha

Well here's Tasha! We got her last Saturday and I think it took her until about this Saturday to finally be comfortable around us. She's been pretty cute to watch hide and play and be a kitten. :) 

It's kinda funny to me - we bought her bunches of toys with crinkles and bells and ribbons, all the things that cats are supposed to like, and she doesn't play with any of them! Her favorite toy is a plastic strap that I got on a package in the mail. :) And she's so small! We bought one of those cat tree things and she can't jump up on it yet. Pretty funny to see her try though. She made it once when she jumped from Dave's knee to the first level, but she didn't quite make it when she tried going from the floor. Good thing she'll grow. :) And she uses the scratching posts down at the bottom, which was the entire point of getting one so we're all good!

I'm Alive!

Well. I think I just had the Southern California Earthquake Initiation of all time. We had a 5.8 earthquake centered about 5 miles away at about 11:45am today! It was huge! And I was on the toilet!!! It shook for about 30 seconds and I actually could see the walls shaking next to me! My heart was pounding so hard. And even when it stopped, it didn't really stop. And my phone is dead. :(

So there we have it. I have had my first earthquake. 

And in other news, I bought a cat on Saturday. More on that later. I'm still a little rattled.

A Quiet Sunday

Well it's been a nice Sunday. Went to church, came home, Aunt LuWana and Uncle Ken came to visit, and then we had dinner and we're working our way towards the bed now. Maybe watch Legacy. A very nice relaxing day. 

Dave was playing piano today. It was really nice to listen to. He really likes to play the hymns, but he's not quite ready to play those so I think I'll have to get him the simplified book. And he was saying he wants to learn chords so he can just play since he has a hard time reading so maybe I'll get him one of those too. But it was really nice to hear him play. I feel very blessed that my hubby likes to play and listen to me play. Every once in a while he'll come into the piano room and just listen while he reads or just plain ole listen. I'm a very lucky girl.

A wonderful discovery

So today while in the process of making my grocery list, I actually put away the things in the closet in the front bedroom (the food storage closet.) And after months of feeling like I have absolutely no food storage, I put it all away and I have food storage!!! Not a lot, but a bunch. YEA!

And I've been in a cooking mood lately and - this is just how nerdy I am sometimes - I take pictures of it! 

Mmm... Time to go grocery shopping! :D

Beginning

Well here we have it! My very own blog!!!

How exciting... Now to figure out how to play with it. :D