Holy moly....how do I even try to catch up? Sheesh...apparently the rest of summer just flew by and now we are well into the new school year. I will do my best to update. Since my last post we've had tons of fun things going on. One of the things that has happened (which I will use as my excuse for not being so on top of this blog) is I received a new church calling. In August our ward had reached 700+ members-our sacrament meeting was filled all the way back to through the gym-it was more like a Stake Conference, lol. I had been in YW's for 5 1/2 years, and I knew that a split would be coming soon-because I definitely was starting to feel burnt out. It's a huge calling and it's a huge time commitment. It's all my girls have ever known "Mom's leaving for YW or doing something for YW" So I knew that the end was in site. I had mixed feelings about a ward split because honestly I adored all my YW and I had watched them grow up. The day came that the ward was split and when I was released from my calling-I honestly came home and took a 2 hour nap (I don't nap). But I think it was honestly just my mind knowing that I could relax a little more, and rest. I received a phone call at 3:00 that afternoon from our new bishop asking if he could meet with me that day. Crap!! So I went in to meet with him that evening, and he extended the calling as the YW President. I just started to cry. Poor bishop, he didn't know what to say. I wasn't crying because I was sad, I honestly LOVE those girls, but it was so overwhelming to feel my Heavenly Father's love for me, and know that he knew I needed this calling to help me with my earthly calling. I am in awe of the youth, and they have such a special place in my heart. I love that I get the opportunity to be a part of their lives!
So-there ya have it-my excuse for being a blog slacker. I feel like it does take up a lot of my time doing family things and church things-but I feel like life is finally slowing down a bit and it's time to get this family journal updated.
Right before school started me and the girls packed our bags and we made a surprise visit out to see my dad in South Dakota. My mom met up with us at the airport and we all headed over for a surprise weekend, it was great!
These two are the best travelers ever!! Here they are in the airport shuttle heading to Salt Lake.
We had to hit the Children's Museum-it's pretty dang cool!
This was our last trip before the new school year. The girls were really excited to start school (well Isa was until the day actually rolled around-then she got really nervous!!) This year was a huge adjustment for her. Going from 1/2 day Kindergarten to a full day of 1st grade was a big shocker for her. Not only that, but she is doing the Portuguese dual immersion program. Half of her day is 100% Portuguese learning and the other 1/2 of the day is English learning. It's a great opportunity for the kids. When they graduate from High School they will have a minor in Portuguese-what an amazing opportunity.
Since Isabella is in school all day-that gives me some a lone time with Eva. Eva has preschool 4 days a week for a couple hours and she loves it. It's been fun just having time with her-she's a total crazy girl and we have lots of fun!
One of the first mommy daughter dates me and Eva had a lone was a trip over to Brigham City to pick peaches off of Aunt Tiffany's parents tree. They have tons of huge peach trees, and they were soooo yummy!
This year I attempted Pineapple Apricot Jam and Peach Raspberry Jam. Yum-o!
The kids are growing up so fast. This summer they really bonded with a lot of the neighbor kids. We have a lot of kids 3-6 in the neighborhood and they all run around together! This is a picture of Eva who stole our neighbors Halloween costume for the evening-ha ha I love it!
At girls camp this year we learned how to do archery. Since then, me and these lovely ladies have started up our own archery club. I bought my first bow and arrow this summer. You should have seen the weird looks I was getting from people at the Sports Store walking out with this!! It's so much fun to shoot. We go down to my friend Sharrisse's house-she has a large field behind her house-and we have a fabulous time shooting!
Eva headed up to U.S.U. Child Development Lab for preschool this year. I am in love with this preschool, they have the greatest teachers and she is loving every minute of it!
Here's the carpool gang. Eva, Stein and Gavin.
Isa is getting so good at doing her homework-it was a challenge at first since 1/2 of it is in Portuguese. But she's a rockstar and is amazing at math!! I'm so proud of her!
Just a random photo shoot one night when the sun was shining bright but raining at the same time-I love those kind of summer nights!
So-I absolutely love gardening and this year we got our retention wall built and I have been dying to plant something in it. We did peas, cucumbers, baby zinnias, and hollyhocks this year. It turned out beautiful and I loved sitting in my backyard and looking at the beautiful flowers (I know I sound like I'm 80 years old, but I don't care!)
Love these cute neighbor gals of mine. Audrey and Lilly live 2 houses down from us and these girls have such a fun time together!! This would be a picture of the last time we bought ice cream from the creepy ice cream van this summer. Lol. The kids loved this ice cream van!
Isabella wanted to be part of the tri-school trot. It's a fund raiser for the school. The kids set a goal on how many laps they can do around the track and then people sponsor them. Isabella had a blast and she made all her laps!
Eva is a total animal lover-she has such a connection with nature and animals. She has fallen in love with our neighbors dog and they are great neighbors so they let her take him for walks. This actually works out great, because then I don't have to actually buy her a dog.
Isabella started up dancing at Tueller's again this year, but Eva wanted to try something different so she asked if she could do gymnastics. She's great at it and she has sooooo much energy it's a great way for her to get rid of some of that extra energy.
Okay part 1 of getting caught up-DONE!
