Church Family

Today I want my blog to be a "shout out" to all of the family that we have at church! I am so thankful for all the brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents that are around to help me with my girls! Today Rob was called into work so he was unable to attend church with us this morning. Since I participate in the choir and bell choir, I am fairly occupied during the morning. If not for all of the loving and understanding people who also attended this morning in spite of the cold and snow, I would not have been able to participate in the music during worship. So thanks to everyone for not only helping, but making us feel like part of a big family!

Black Friday

I've been meaning to update my blog for a while now, but haven't really had the time to sit down to do it. I've had lots of thoughts about what to blog about, but one thing in particular that keeps coming up is Black Friday. I am a Black Friday shopper, it has become somewhat of a tradition, and it is something that I enjoy doing. Some people think this is crazy, and apparently they have no inhibitions when it comes to telling me so! Here's the deal: some people get up early to go hunting for a week. Some people like to camp overnight in the south hills in the middle of February, and some people get up very early to go to spinning or aerobics. Do these people continually get harrassed about their activities? Maybe so, but probably not so much as those of us who enjoy getting up early to save a few dollars. Because of the great sales on black friday I have most of my Christmas gifts purchased. So now I can focus on all of the other fun activities that come up during the month. Now I don't have to worry about who's getting what, and which store has a great sale on Barbies. So anyways, I guess what I could have said in fewer words is: To each his own!!

Fall Fun!

Last night after work, the girls and I headed to Burley to hang out with Grandma, Papa, Ally, and Jerrica. They had a blast decorating their own Halloween cookies and enjoyed a lengthy sugar buzz thereafter! In the morning we all got to go see Ally play in her last soccer game of the season. Papa showed Rosanna how to operate the video camera, she did pretty good and Papa now has a new addition to his camera crew!

After lunch we drove out past Paul to the "Pumpkin Patch" where we all got to pick from a HUGE selection of pumpkins, gourds, squash... you name it! The girls had a great time together and we got an excellent price on pumpkins! After that, I sent the girls with Grandma and Lyndsey so that Dad and I could do some recording back at the house. I was able to record three songs for now, that way I have something to show people who may want to hire me to sing for whatever event they may be planning. :o) The evening ended with a yummy dinner of my mom and dad's tuna noodle casserole and some very competitive Wii Mario Kart racing! Thank goodness I still have a day left in my weekend to recover from all the fall fun!

Worship Skills

What a great night at LOGOS! I have to admit, I have had my doubts about my ability to teach young kids about how to worship. Thankfully, with a little bit of preplanning and patience, I have been pleasantly surprised by how much fun I am having! I am also learning that it is not about me, but about the interaction with the kids that will help me to teach and to learn.

Let me back up a little because I just realized that some of you reading this might not know what I am talking about! LOGOS is a children's/youth program at my church, which allows both children and adults to get together on Wednesday nights to build relationships through recreation, bible study, worship skills, and by sharing a meal together.

SO, I am responsible for the PreK-2nd grade Worship Skills class, which has 11 kiddos in it. Tonight we sang a song about the story of Noah and the Ark, and we also are learning a musical version of The Lord's Prayer. I am so happy that I did a little rearranging in the Chapel so that we could all sit together on the floor to talk about our songs. We giggled over words like "kangaroosies, roosies" and "gopher barky, barky" and we also had a very meaningful conversation about temptation. We were talking about the phrase "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" and one of the kids asked what temptation meant. I am so excited that they are not just singing the words, but that we are ALL learning from our time together at LOGOS!

Goodbye to Max...

This morning our puppy Max died from illness. We didn't have him for very long, but surprisingly a bond had already been formed and it has been a pretty emotional time for all of us. We will miss this little guy running and playing around underfoot, but we are relieved that he does not have to suffer any longer. Thankfully, Gunner is in good health, and we can love and care for him while we work through this time of sadness.

Snow in October.

It's snowing and it's only October 4, that stinks! I love the fall and I'm not one who likes to be rushed. Hopefully this dreadful snow will go away so that I can enjoy watching the leaves turn and have a few mild weather days to better prepare me for the cold weather to come.

A Busy Saturday

Today started just like any other Saturday in September... with soccer! Rosanna totally kicked butt and scored three goals, which makes a total of seven for the season! I'm so proud of her, not just because of the goals she has scored, but because she is a great player who runs hard, and has a great sense of sportsmanship. She lets her other teammates get time with the ball, and doesn't push or call names like some of the girls on the other teams do.

Layla also got a little practice with the ball and is ready to get in there and join the team. However we decided to wait until she is five and started Kindergarten before we get her registered. After the soccer game, the girls and I went to the Farmer's Market by CSI and found some really yummy fruit and veggies, and also some homemade salsa and raspberry jam. This was our first time to the market and I look forward to going again soon!



When we got home we checked in on Rob, who had his knee operated on this week. The surgery went really well, but he is still in some pain and confined to the couch for a while to heal. The girls and I are playing nurse so that he has everything he needs, he just has to get up at least once an hour to walk around and get the circulation going. Hopefully he will be back to as good as new and ready to hike those mountain trails soon!