Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Latest Happening

I went to the temple with the youth last Wed. night; Jared wasn't able to get off of work in time to go with us. We ate at McDonald's afterwards. Here are the girls that went and one of the other leaders:
A friend of mine that I met my senior year of high school asked me to play at Drummers for Jesus at a Baptist Church this past Saturday. I talked about and played both the piano and the marimba. I played two songs on the marimba--one with two mallets and one with four:
The Young Womens' New Beginnings is tonight. A few of the girls came over to my house last night to make the castle cake for it. The theme for our New Beginnings is "Be the Girl of your Dreams". Here are some pics from last night, including the cake:



I think they did a great job! Tonight should be fun.

So that's about it for the last week, besides normal goings on. Oh, I got a webcam over the weekend and video chatted with Kiki and her kids on Sunday. It was so fun! Carma LOVED it; she was laughing and goofing off the whole time and making faces right into the camera. Judson didn't say much and Wyatt just sat there in Juddy's lap. :) I loved seeing them, though! We plan on chatting at least every Sunday. I've also v-chated with my friend Shelly a couple of times. It's a blast. Why didn't I do this sooner? We're hoping we can get all of our family that is far away to start video chatting.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

New Callings!

I was released as 2nd counselor in the stake Primary presidency in Dec. because the president was called as our ward Relief Society president. Our bishop called me on a Saturday night (12/27), while I was still in Utah, to call me as the 1st counselor in the ward Young Women presidency! Since I was in Utah, I wasn't there when I was sustained, then stake conference was the Sunday after I got home, so last week was my first activity night and Sunday was my first time teaching a lesson in Young Women's.

Jared was just released from the Elder's Quorum presidency and called as the YOUNG MEN'S PRESIDENT! I'm really happy that we will get to go to some of the activities, dances, firesides, temple trips, etc. together! Jared was just sustained on Sunday, so he hasn't had a chance to do anything except go to a meeting and attend a fireside Sunday night. I know he'll do a great job!

Monday, January 19, 2009

The end of my trip to Utah

I last posted from Utah so I'll start from there and just tell about the rest of the trip. I pretty much spent the rest of my trip sick at Kiki's house--I think I h.

Friday 1/2--I watched most of the Sugar Bowl alone but Kiki and Michael got home early so I watched the rest of it with Michael.

Saturday 1/3--still sick, slept a good portion of the day; Kiki & them went to a wedding reception that night but I stayed home.

{The kids before the reception}:
Sunday 1/4--Felt a tiny bit better; went to church (Wyatt's baby blessing); Nikki and Levi came over and we played a couple of games

Monday 1/5--I took Carma shopping with me to the Distribution Center, Deseret Book and the Dollar Tree. It started snowing just as we got back and just kept snowing and snowing. I watched the Fiesta Bowl that night.

Tuesday 1/6--Kept on snowing; Nikki & Levi brought chicken topped with bacon and cheese for dinner and we played Phase 10 with Judson.

Wednesday 1/7--Kiki brought me to the ariport at the butt crack of dawn--we left the house at 3:30! Thankfully, all of the roads (once we got out of Kiki's neighborhood) were plowed and salted and we made it there safely with plenty of time to spare.

Here are some pics of Wyatt that I took the day before I left (the white outfit was his blessing outfit):

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Suze Orman's 209 Action Plan

If any of you have debt or just want to learn about using your money more wisely, check out this book you can download for free from oprah.com.  Hurry, you only have until Thursday, Jan. 15!  She gives advice on credit, retirement investing, saving, spending, real estate, paying for college, protecting yourself and your family and more.  It's worth checking out even if you don't have much debt.  I just love her straight forward approach!

Friday, January 02, 2009

Happy New Year!!!

I can't believe it's 2009! So far, I've spent the new year sick. I started feeling a little sick Wed. night (New Year's Eve) and my voice started getting hoarse that night. Yesterday, I had no voice at all and had to whisper all day. Carma had actually asked me at one point to stop whispering, ha ha. My throat hasn't felt sore but I've had a sinus headache for two days.

Since I last posted, I've mostly stayed here at Kiki's house but here are some things that I've done:

Tuesday Kiki and I went to eat at Winger's with Nikki & Levi, then the four of us went shopping at Robert's. Later that afternoon, Kiki & Michael brought Wyatt to a dr. appt. and I babysat Carma and Judson (although Carma took a nap the whole time). I played Wii games with Juddy, then Michael joined later. They all went to a baby blessing that night and I stayed home.

{Nikki & Levi at Winger's}

{Me & Kiki with Asphalt Pie at Winger's, yum!}:

{Judson & Carma before heading to their cousin's baby blessing}:
Wednesday I had to "watch" the LSU game on the puter (Gamecast on ESPN, where you can read the play-by-plays) 'til we went to Michael's brother's house for their New Year's Eve party. We had dinner (Hawaiian pork and ham, rice, bread, veggies & dip, chips...) and lots of snacks and root beer floats there. I kept an eye on the game on Kiki's laptop (LSU whipped #14 Georgia Tech. 38-3) and we mainly just hung out. I played a few songs on Rock Band and they set off some fireworks at midnight. Carma was my New Year's kiss, since Jared wasn't here with me. My voice started going out that evening and got worse as the night went on. We left just after the fireworks and got home ~12:40.
{Carma's cousin came over and played princess dress-up with her}:

{Juddy eating a root beer float}:

{Carma and her root beer float}:
{Wyatt and a big New Year's smile}:
{Juddy playing Rock Band}:
{My New Year's kiss}:
{Our fireworks display}:
{Kiki & I toasting sparkling pear juice}:
Thursday 1/1--I felt pretty crappy; we watched the Rose Bowl parade--I was hoping to see Ashlee Smith (a girl in my ward), who marched with the Band of America. I watched the kids for three hours while Kiki & Michael went to Ikea and grocery shopping. I watched most of the Rose Bowl but hated to see USC win (against Penn St.) so then I watched TinkerBell again with Carma and Judson (we had already watched it that morning and Judson said it was dumb and weird and Carma said, "It's not a dumb movie, it's a beautiful movie". She cracks me up.
{Carma loves her baby brother and is constantly saying, "Hi, Baby Wy-wy! You're so cute!"}:

Friday 1/2--We had pancakes with blueberries and condensed milk for breakfast. I was still sick so I stayed home while everyone else went to a church to help decorate for Michael's brother's wedding. I watched the Cotton Bowl (Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech). They got back at the end of the game and brought lunch for me. They are going to hang out with Michael's family tonight but, since I'm really not feeling well, I'm going to stay here and watch the Sugar Bowl by myself.
{Carma looked super cute today!}:

Well, I hope I feel better tomorrow so I can enjoy the rest of my stay here. I hope everyone is enjoying the new year!