My Sweet YW

I was missing the young women on the first Wednesday after being released. But the doorbell rang and several came to the door holding this:

What sweeties! I wanted to make sure to post because the note is so clever... I might need to remember it for the future. It was like pulling teeth getting the kids to leave the candy on long enough to snap a photo!

Nolan the Photographer

He's really good at what he does. He can really get in the zone, too. I just downloaded my camera and there were nearly 80 shots that he had taken. Good thing we have a great battery! Here is some of his work.

I have a feeling he may have captured Ezra working on "his business." And as a side note, have you ever seen so many outlets in such a small space? That would be Justin's doing. We're going to have a sweet movie area... yeah, in like 10 years. Ha ha!

Here we have a puppy portrait (his favorite subject) and an action picture as well. Maybe pup was having a hard time sitting still! I love how he's give us different emotions, and captured extra chillin' in the playroom.

And these are completely random, but I'm glad he captured our pumpkin family... they're pretty cute! Ez always picks up the little one and say, "Oh, beebee pumpkin." It's the closest thing we have to a baby girl in this family.

Risk-Taking Monkey Boy

I debated about whether I should share this picture. One reason: I probably shouldn't have taken it. Justin said not to put it on because people out there would report me as being abusive. That's a little harsh, maybe, but he does have a point. Ez was doing something dangerous, for sure. Two weeks ago I was downstairs and Nolan came running down saying, "Mom, Ezra is being naughty. Come see, quick!!!" I started up the stairs and realized Ezra was just above my head on the railing. What a little stinker! I'm not surprised, if I was a kid I would do it, too. But he seems so little to have tried climbing over there. I stood behind him and got him to go back, realizing he was quite steady, luckily.

After he got down, I went to get a drink of water. A minute later, Nolan says, "Mom, Ezra's doing it again!" I turn around and my camera is sitting right there on the counter. So my impulse is to grab it and snap a picture before getting him down and putting him in time out. Does that make me a bad mother? By the way, he hasn't done it since. Thank goodness.

End of an era

It had been 3 years and 2 months since I'd been called to Young Women's in our ward. I was the second counselor for only two months and then our ward split. I was then put in as the secretary and have really loved it. I've been through 3 different presidencies and have continued on as the secretary. I always felt so lucky! We had many great activities, and I was able to attend two youth conferences (during one summer I was due to have Ezra). I've loved serving with the other leaders and getting to know the youth in our ward.
But I knew the end was coming soon, and yesterday was the day. But I got lucky all over again: I'm now an activity day leader for the 11 yr. olds! I'm pretty excited to get to know my partner, Allison, and the other leaders that do the younger age group. I think I'm going to love these new girls. It's going to be great!

New words

Today I colored my hair and Nolan was studying it over lunch. I said, "Do you notice that my hair looks different?" He said that he did notice and asked what I did to it. I said, "I dyed it so that the color is a little darker."
He thought for a second and said, "Oh, when did you kill it?"
Dye... kill... New words can be so confusing.

ERASURE!

I've only been to several concerts in my life: Clay Aiken/Kelly Clarkson combined concert, Enrique Iglesias, an American Idol Tour concert, and The Beach Boys (my sister, Lacey, tells me that one doesn't count, but I had a blast with my mom!). Justin has only been to several as well: Gypsy Kings, Collective Soul, Kelly and Clay concert with me, and oddly enough, The Beach Boys! How interesting that we'd have that in common. Well last week we added another concert to our list: ERASURE! Justin and I went with Lacey and it was excellent! It was such a fun experience. We spent half the time laughing at the backup singers and their hilarious 60's moves (which is odd, because it's an 80's band), and watching in awe at the lead singers' flamboyant, feminine dance moves. Lacey called the night before the concert to get my reaction to a clip of one of Erasure's previous concerts. If you only watch for 28 to 30 seconds you'll get the idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH0SoZNdozs

Needless to say, Lacey and I were laughing so hard at that and were quite excited to see what the concert would be like. Justin was downright nervous that we'd spent actual money on it. But we were a little disappointed that he didn't even dance with a feather boa! Justin was glad he wasn't wearing a leotard. It was such a fun time. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Keeley and Bryan there with us. We could just picture how Bryan would have been dancing. It was a Wednesday night so they couldn't get up here from St. George. We missed them!

It was awesome how the keyboard player was rockin' the gargoyle on the right there.

Keeping Healthy

I've been so lucky to have a great way to exercise for the past 4 and a half years. A group of ladies in my area work out together at our nearby church. We rotate who teaches (I teach zumba and occasionally yoga/pilates) and all of our kids can run around and play with each other and the nursery toys. It's nice to know that I'll always have friends to socialize with as I work out and thankfully, it's free! It's really been a blessing because I typically have back and neck pain but as long as I exercise regularly I feel great. Here are my wonderful exercise buddies! Sadly, one of the Michelles just moved and we'll miss her. But we're always having people come and go, especially as many of us are in the baby-making years. Soon our friend Anne will be back! We're missing a couple in our pictures, but most made it in.

Erin, Christie, Amber, Michelle, Ali, me, and Brianne

Sam, Holly, Michelle (the moved), Kirsten, Christie, and Jalena

And we finally got a bike and a bike trailer. The boys have loved going for rides, especially to preschool. We delayed it because we didn't have any place to store it between bike rides (our garage is tiny). Between frequent rides I put it behind the fence and cover it with a tarp to protect it from the sun. But we found a great storage option when we know it will be a few days or longer between rides. These bike pullies are so easy to use and don't take up any floor or wall space in the garage. We can even hoist up the trailer! If you're interested, we found them at amazon. The weather has been gorgeous and even Justin "steals" my bike and takes the kids out. We'll get him a bike some day, but he takes a long time to compare and make a decision!

Primary Program

Yesterday was Nolan's first primary program at church. He had a week to learn his part, but I was amazed that he had it memorized in about 24 hours. I wish my mind would be as quick as his! I watched him walk into the chapel holding a girl's hand and then he helped her later on to get up the steps to the stage. So sweet. He said his part so well: "Moses chapter 1, verse 39 says 'For behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.'" The only trouble was that he made an early exit and said, "... immortality and eternal life of..." He left everyone hangin' there a little, and several of us couldn't help but chuckle, but I felt like my little chest was gonna bust open with love! Way to go, Nolan!
It's too bad that after that he didn't want to sit up and sing the songs and later came and sat with us, rather than on the front row with his class, but I'll take what I can get. Justin and I were bummed that he didn't sing "Praise to the Man," but we know he knows it. I asked why he didn't sing it and he said, "I just love that song so I wanted to listen to the kids sing it."