Surprises

The husband: "guess what new thing I did today"
Me: "what's that?" (thinking: new is good)
The husband: "brushed my teeth with Desitin"

Note to self: new is not necessarily good & attention to details, even when just brushing ones teeth, can be important.

Couples Retreat

No, not the movie (though we did see that & I personally wouldn't recommend it...not very & often crude).


Dave & I had our first date away from home since before Jordan was born. My Mom has been in town for the past week & a half, so Dave & I made reservations up in St. George for an overnighter.

No matter where we go, & no matter how many lists I make to check off, something is forgotten. This time it was my Temple Recommend. I grabbed the husband's, but forgot to check to make sure mine was where I thought it was. Totally bummed out, we went up to the Temple grounds anyway & went to check out the visitors center. A Sister missionary working there asked if we had been inside the Temple yet. When we explained that we hadn't & that today was to be our first time, she advised us to call our Bishop or Stake President. According to her, this was a special circumstance & told us of her husband's experiences as a former Stake President with this.

I didn't expect anything to come of it, nor did I really consider it a special circumstance (I just don't have those in my life), but we called Bishop anyway. I was SO glad this Sister advised us to do so. We were able to attend the Temple that night, seal Dave's grandparents, & do some other work for some family members! It was an incredible night & we had so much fun! We left feeling refreshed & filled.











We wound up staying up until 2 in the morning, eating our Wendy's frosty's, watching movies & laughing. It's something we never do anymore & I can honestly say we really enjoyed this time together!




The next morning, we headed out to Zion National Park. We'd never been there & had heard so many great things about it, so we had to go check it out. The mountain views on the way were unlike any I've never seen before.



We stopped at an organic apple orchard & market on the way out there. The Fuji apples were ripe & ready to be picked. We loaded up a bag-full of the beauties to bring home to share.

Overall it was a really nice little trip. The kids did good for my Mom & I doubt they missed us for even one minute. When we got home, Logan was a little upset with me because I wouldn't take him to the Temple with me that day. He said he wanted us to go on our "date" to the Temple....just the two of us. Someday. :)

Stake Roadshow

This past week, all of our wards youth & their leaders' hard work came to fruition. They put on a production of Grease entitled It's Hip to be Square. Though I might be slightly biased, I have to say they totally rocked!! Tyler played 'Danny' & sang his parts nearly to perfection.

They all gathered together, the excitement nearly tangible, in a few of the rooms before their performance time.
The only pics I got were taken after the performance. I video taped it but can't find my fire wire to download it to share (yet).

Karen Crowder, the woman-in-charge, was telling them what a great job they all did. I was so proud, my cheeks hurt by the end of it all, from all the smiling I did that night! The man in Blue beside Karen is our Bishop. That smile you see on his face is nearly permanent. I was just telling Dave how I like to watch him when he doesn't know it (sounds kinda creepy, but it's really not). He seems to always have this smile on his face that looks to be a mixture amusement from a funny inside joke & a radiant joy that can't contain itself inside him. His mood/attitude is infectious & just watching him makes me smile. Love that man! :)

My Mom was able to fly in to see the Roadshow. She, too, was impressed with Ty's mad singing skills! :)

Bart Yeates, telling Ty what a great job he did.


Braden, Justin, & Brandon. Justin did an AMAZING job!! His energy level made me want to get up & dance, too! Scary thought. LOL


Ty & I....I was beaming with pride! :)


Looking handsome & relaxed.


Ty, with one of his greaser buddies, Brandon.

After it was all said & done, my Mom & I took Ty out for a celebratory dinner at Outback. Ty watched the performance while we waited for our food, then made googly eyes at the hostess & his burger (not at the same time, fortunately).

In all it was a lot of fun & I'm so glad Ty was able to be a part of it. A HUGE THANKS to everyone who did anything to help out in this production. It took a lot of patience & diligence to get to this weekend & I'm so thankful for the dedicated, really great people in our ward.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!!

I bought new house phones last week since the ones we have had since 2001 were no longer reliable. I was excited about this set because it came with not two but THREE handsets! Within a day or so, we realize the same problem we began having with the old set of phones has sparked up in our new phones. Grrr!

They're both the same brand so I'm wondering if they speak Panasonic or something & the old phones shared their "how to drive Shannon insane" tips with the new phones.

I went to take them back, after meticulously writing down every phone number I took the time to input into the new phones, & one of the three headsets is MIA. I'm convinced it's hiding. It has to be. I can't take its brothers (you know they have to be male!) back until I find him.

I need it to magically appear tonight. I'm tired of useless home phones & Panasonic (& their non-existent customer service) will never cross my door step again!

Preschool

Days 1 & 2 have been a SMASHING success!! I don't expect the trend to continue (not pessimistic, just realistic), but for now I'm enjoying it.

I'm feeling like a really bad mom, though. I keep forgetting to take Logan & Hayleah's pictures, & pics of their new classroom, to post but I'll try harder tomorrow.

We switched Jo back to his old class due to some GROSS misrepresentations & outright omitting of the facts on behalf of the school.

Slightly off topic, but my Mom used to tell me even if you don't outright lie, it's still a lie if you leave out the truth! Someone must have missed class the day they taught that one!!

Anyway, Jo's happy as a clam & had a great day hanging out with me & later going to the park for our Wards playgroup. It was a fun day for me too. And the weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS!!

LOVE the fall!! :)

Change (the non-fun kind)

There are a few members of our family who avoid, whenever possible, & shun, whenever impossible, this fact of life. Jordan, my strongest-headed boy, is by far the best at the latter part.

We moved back in March & things haven't been the same for him since. He seems to have trouble letting go & has abandonment issues leaving over the old house. He went from doing well in school to not wanting to go to school anymore. Church was the same thing...he didn't want to leave my sight. There were a lot of tears & often trouble that would follow if he didn't get to stay with me. This went on for months after the move.

We were able to keep him at the same school for the rest of First grade but had to move to the new school to begin Second. I was really worried we'd have more of the same attachment issues, just after things were starting to look up, but he did very well from the first day. There was only a 2 week break from First grade to Second.

Since starting Second grade, he's had problems with his school work. One day he just decided he didn't want to be at school anymore & tried to leave campus (thank goodness they caught him!). The Vice-Principal called & they were suspending him for the day. Suspension!? I went in & talked with him & the school counselor & let them know if they sent him home, they would only be giving him exactly what he wanted. I put it in their hands, but explained there would likely be many more instances to follow if they chose to deal with it by sending him home. Thankfully they saw it my way & kept him in "in-house" for the day.

Things have been okay since then.

I think we figured out the problem though. With his abandonment issues still fresh with him, it should have been clear from the beginning. There has been problems with the air conditioning unit for his classroom. His teacher, Ms. Bussey, & class have had to move FOUR TIMES, in the past four weeks, to other classrooms. It's like abandoning his space over & over again.

Poor kid!

He was supposed to be on track break (we are "lucky" enough to be in a year-round school) for the rest of this month & when he goes back it would be more of the same...move to someone else's classroom who's on break, use someone else's desk (only the top, though...the child whose name is on it has all of his belongings inside it), look at the walls that are filled with things that don't apply to what they're learning this year, etc.

I got a letter on Thursday letting me know they were taking volunteers to move to a new class (overcrowding BIG TIME) & it would be on the track we wanted most. After thinking about it all night & talking to Jo about it, I signed it, saying we'd like to move to the new teachers classroom. I received a letter back that said we will be moved & he will now be on track 5, but when I told him about it took me a while to talk him down. He was fine with it in theory, but freaked out in reality.

I figure he was going to be shuffled around next month, when he comes back from break, for who knows how many more times, so why not once more for the year & that will (almost) guarantee no more moves. He's excited about it now...we'll see how he feels about it on Tuesday. I'm excited for him. I really hope this helps him get through these struggles he's going through.

Next year I think we'll be re-zoned for the new school they just started building. I'll deal with it then, but three schools in four years has to be hard for ANY child! :(