10

We celebrated Ainsley's 10th birthday on Monday.  I can't believe she's been with us for a decade!  I think she had a pretty good day.  She got phone calls from her Grandma Dinger and her Aunt Sydney.  We went bowling at Big Al's and played in the arcade with family. 

 

And she got taken out all morning by my mom for manicures and to pick out a gift.  She chose roller blades and she's really excited about them! We had her taken out all morning so that we could get her gift ready.  We redid/finally finished her room for her birthday.  We added curtains, poof balls, pillows, knobs on her dresser and some things on her wall.  It was nice that she was gone for a few hours because it took us that long to get it done!

And since she turned 10 it seems appropriate to list the 10 most awesome things about Ainsley!

1.  She's kind

2.  She's super smart

3.  She's a great big sister

4.  She's a great friend

5.  She's silly

6.  She's gorgeous

7.  She's not afraid to try anything

8.  She's creative

9.  Her imagination knows no bounds

10. She's amazing!

3 Things

1. This little princess came to me crying yesterday because her pee smelled "so bad."  Crying.  Apparently it was so bad she couldn't even go back into flush it. 

2. This one won and art contest for the fire department.  About 3 months ago.  I forgot to blog about it.  But we're still super proud!!!

3.

And to end the suspense.  I did in fact receive a new calling.  My fellow presidency members have not yet.  Am I slightly jealous?  Yes.  But I'm sure their time will come.  About 10 minutes after I was released I was called as the new Mia Maid advisor.  I was flattered when I was told that the current Mia Maid leader had been working on her own for 3 months patiently waiting for me.  Hopefully I do not disappoint.  My feelings now are of complete inadequacy and trepidation. 

 

I went to New Beginnings yesterday and felt soooo out of place! It feels weird to not be in charge and not really know what's going on.  Weird, but good!  I really am excited.  I know I'll learn to love it.  It's a little tough because I'm coming into an established group.  The current mia maids have been with their leader for years.  Hopefully I feel less like an outsider and more at home soon.  I was excited about the thought of going to girls camp to break some barriers, but then I was completely bummed to learn that girls camp is the exact week that we have a trip planned with John's family this summer.  How is it that they scheduled it for the one week I can't go!!!!????  So there you have it....Young Women's here I come.



The End of an Era

Tomorrow will mark the end of an era for me.  I have a meeting with the Bishop to be officially released from primary tomorrow at 10:00.  I have been a counselor in primary for just under 4 years.  Emmie was 4 months old when I started. Ainsley was in the CTR 5 class, and Owen arrived as a Sunbeam while I was there.  I have been able to be with my kids at church for years. 

• Mostly it was good. 
• Sometimes it was funny(Emmie made me, and any ward member on the same side of the building, laugh as she sang songs she loved during singing time...her voice carries at an alarming rate).
• Occasionally it was challenging (For example.... Last week when I had to stop in the middle of sharing time and reprimand my son.  Or on the occasions when Emmie refused to sit with her class and followed me around the primary room crying.).

I have really loved being in primary.  I can honestly say that there were moments I had in primary that I will cherish forever.  As much as I griped about having to prepare sharing times that was truly a time that I always felt the spirit strongly.  I love teaching much more than I love preparing apparently.  And I loved singing time.  It was my favorite.  It (almost) always made me happy. 

I feel completely content being done tomorrow.  I feel like as a presidency we accomplished a great deal.  Especially considering the extra crazy we dealt with at times.  Like the 3 babies born to presidency members over the span of 2 months during primary program time.  That was fun! 

But, with that being said, I'm ready for a change.  Although I'm a little nervous for what lies ahead.  I wonder where I will fit in? Maybe I'll get to do something else in primary. Which would be nice. Because I have become like a child on high doses of caffeine and sugar where church is concerned.  I don't think I can sit through 3 hours of church. Then again, maybe it won't be so bad.  Perhaps I'll start campaigning to be the Relief Society music leader.  Would it be to much to hang a  poster suggesting that near the bishop's office? I think I'm ready for a little down time.  But just a little.  And then I'll be ready for round 2 of primary!

New Year's Eve

This year we got a little adventurous for New Year's Eve.  John and I aren't huge fans of the holiday so this was a big deal.  We have some friends that take their family ice skating every year to ring in the new year.  Their youngest is only a couple of months older than Emmie.  So I thought we could do it.  So after dinner and lounging with family friends we headed to the rink.  

 

There ended up being quite a group of us.  Probably 7 families from our ward.  And you  know what?  It was actually fun and the kids did pretty well.  Emmie gets the award for most improved since our last skating venture.  Owen somehow got a little worse.  He took a pretty good fall early on an was overly cautious the rest of the night.  (The little girl that flew past us in the video is named Clara....and Owen loves her :)  Ains started out overly hesitant but that's just her nature :). She even kept going after 2 hard falls hurting her wrist.

 

John and I, of course, have no skill worth boasting about.  But the kids all made it until midnight!  Even Emmie was skating strong when the clock struck 12.  And surprisingly on the way home they were asking if we could do it again next year.  New tradition perhaps?

Sledding, but at what cost?

December 28th is my niece Bria's birthday.  Somehow we all thought that sledding on her birthday would be a fun idea.  We have had a bit of snow here and thought that surely there would be snow in the mountains.  Boy were we wrong!  A planned quick trip to the nearby mountains somehow turned into a day trip to McCall all in an effort t to find snow.  McCall actually had a measly amount of snow.  Just enough to sled on a mediocre hill!  So we drove 2 1/2 hours for 2 hours of sledding, lunch at the beloved "My Father's Place"  and a trip to the rock shop.  At least we weren't bored that day!

Christmas 2014

Our Christmas this year was wonderful!  We spent a quiet night at home as a family on Christmas Eve for the first time ever.  We usually get together with family of some sort, but this year we decided to go it alone.  And while I love getting together with everyone, I loved just being with our little family too. 

 

This year our Christmas consisted of:

 

*Fancy dinner

*New Pj's

*A stellar Christmas program put on completely by the kids

*A Christmas power point (again, completely done by the kids)

*A restless night's sleep (especially for Owen...our resident non-sleeper)

*Legos

*Lots of games (skip-bo, Clue, Battleship, Toystory)

*Movie making (the kids got a new ipad mini and have made some pretty cool videos)

*Lots of family (on Christmas Day)

*And lots of food!  We'll all be paying for that for a while I'm sure!