I have a calling too...

Since EVERYONE seems to be posting their callings I thought I'd remind you that I am a primary worker. There is a reason they call it that... "worker". Because we are basically the worker bees - sent out to do the bidding of the primary presidency queens (one of which happens to be Kristin). Many of the teachers were missing last week so I was demoted to junior primary to cover for the two missing CTR7 teachers. We played charades - acting out the plagues that Moses inflicted on the Egyptians. It worked well till we ran out of plagues and one of the boys started running across the room and slamming himself into the wall... then back across and slam into the door... then back to the wall. That's when I bore a brief testimony about Moses and the priesthood and moved on to hangman for the final 10 minute stretch.

At least in junior sharing time I was considered a 'visitor' and got to choose the action for "Do As I'm Doing". We stomped!

Road Trip, Pt 2

The second half of our Utah Visit was spent with the Sandy part of the family. On our way down from Kaysville, we stopped and let the kids see Temple Square in Salt Lake. William really enjoyed the visit (in spite of being over-tired and prone to crankiness) and now calls the Salt Lake Temple his temple. Its picture now hangs over his bed.


The reason we chose this particular time to visit Utah was that all of Kip's family would be there for various college graduation ceremonies. It was a wonderful opportunity to see all the cousins, Aunts and Uncles. Of course, although we were there for graduations, we did not manage to attend either of the ceremonies. Instead, we hung out with our kids and relaxed, which was a treat. Unfortunately, Anna got sick the last few days and spent a good amount of time looking miserable. She wasn't in the best frame of mind for getting to know her cousins. William, on the other hand, had a blast playing with Jenny's boys. And Daddy especially enjoyed the Saturday evening game of Bocci.


We started our return drive Sunday evening, after family dinner. Unfortunately, none of us had gotten great sleep during the trip, so we started out a little more exhausted than we had been on the drive down. This made our drive a little more challenging. Our driving shifts were shorter and we stopped several times at rest stops so both of us could sleep. Unfortunately, with the car not moving, the kids would wake up after about an hour, so our naps weren't ever as long as we would have liked. But we made it home safe and sound and were even able to get Anna in to her Pediatrician on Monday morning for her cold and eye infection.

Now, things are back to normal. Anna sleeps well some nights and not well other nights. William is great some days and cranky others. We're always busy and our garden is growing well, especially in the rain we just started having again.

Road Trip, Pt 1

We finally decided to break in our fancy-pants minivan with a trip from Oregon to Utah. We took off on Friday evening, stopping to wait out rush hour traffic at Red Robin. William had his traditional noodles and red sauce. As he picked at his food after Kip and I had finished eating, I began to fear for my white t-shirt. In my attempt to move farther from his red-stained reaching fingers, Anna took advantage of my distraction and dumped Kip's chocolate shake on me. Hooray. I got to start a 12 hour overnight drive in chocolate-shake stained clothes.

The drive wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be. Kip did the first big leg while I attempted to sleep in the front seat. Then, I took over and drove from midnight to 3 am. In the thick darkness of deepest night, all I could see of the scenery was the small stretch of road my headlights illuminated as I flashed past and the twinkle of lights in the towns I passed. I loaded the CD player with 6 CDs I hadn't listened to in a while and enjoyed myself singing softly along in the solitude of a carful of sleeping companions. William woke at one point and talked for a while about the toy cars at his Grammy's house and the Matchbox fold-out city she saved from our childhood. He was also a little concerned about the fact that we hadn't brought his bed along.

Kip drove for the early morning, sun-rising time. As he coasted through the freeways of Southern Idaho, some kamikaze deer attempted to take us out. He hit the brakes and swerved and William and I came awake. William somehow got the idea it was rabbits we were about to hit and still talks about the rabbits on the road whenever we drive anywhere.

We spent the first half of our visit in Kaysville with the Parker side of the family. Grammy and Grandad were there, and Uncle Trevor. Janean and Jeremy and Craig, Lesley and Enoch frequently came to visit. We finally got to meet the elusive little cousin Enoch and he and Anna seemed to do fairly well, although she tended to bully him a little bit. Of course, she is a little older and has the advantage of having an older brother to toughen her up. I think she was just trying to let Enoch see what it was like to get picked on.

While in Kaysville, we toured the Air Force Museum. William loved looking at all the airplanes but was a little depressed that he couldn't get on any of them and fly away. We also had fun swimming in the family hot tub.