This is the way we play piano...

Happy New Year! (a few weeks late...)

Happy 2012 everyone!  Here is my sweet D with the picture he made at preschool, and darling AJ with the cake she made for our family New Years eve.  Hope everyone is having a wonderful year so far!

A little puffy?!

The last week of December J took the kids with him on a walk around the neighborhood to drop off Sunday School manuals.  While at the bishop's house the kids had fun playing with their cute little dog.  I was out doing errands but passed them as they were walking home.  I stopped to say hi and thought D's eye looked a little puffy.  I couldn't really tell but mentioned it to J.  By the time we all got home it was swollen almost completely shut.  We gave him some benadryl and put him in the bath.  We know that when he plays with cats or dogs his nose will get runny, he gets a little congested, and his eczema gets worse, but he has never had a reaction like this before!  The dog did lick his face so I don't know if that made the difference.  Anyway, I guess we will be more careful from now on!

My biggest Christmas Surprise (EVER)

Last week someone asked me if I had recovered from Christmas yet, and I thought to myself, "No, I think that's going to take a few years..."  Now that might seem like a weird, or somewhat negative thought, but let me just tell you what I got Christmas morning...

Christmas Eve we got a call from the bishop (church) asking if J and I could meet with him 30 minutes prior to sacrament meeting the next day. Yes, that would be Christmas morning.  Well, you can't exactly say no, so we said we would be there and in the meantime I told myself whatever it was I wasn't going to worry about it because I just wanted to enjoy Christmas eve and Christmas morning.  J was sure it was a calling for me, but I soothed myself that it was just something regarding AP's class assignment for the coming year or that it had to do with one of our special needs Young Women that J and I have been trying to help.  Well Christmas morning when we walked into the bishop's office the entire bishopric was sitting there to greet us.  Again, I soothed myself by thinking that if the whole bishopric was there this must be a calling for J, because if it were a calling for me it wouldn't require the whole bishopric to extend it.  So we chatted a little about Christmas and then the bishop looked right at me with a big smile and said, "well let's get to the reason why we're here." Then he proceeded to tell me that they wanted me to be the new Relief Society President.  I will say I was more than a little shocked.  I have not spent much time in Relief Society.  Other than serving as the secretary for a year after J and I were first married and short stint as a teacher when we were living with J's sister, my callings have always been in Primary and Young Women.  So I will admit this is a bit of a steep learning curve for me.

I am not a phone person, and if the last few days have been any indication of things to come (and I believe they are) I am going to have to get over my phone issues quickly; learn how to manage a crying child (D, who does not generally tantrum a lot had a meltdown every single time I got on the phone yesterday), pay attention to the person on the phone, and somehow remember all of the details from the conversation.  Many of you are aware and have heard my stories about how hard it is for me to approach people and go visiting; another thing I am having to get over quickly (did my first birthday visit to a non-member yesterday and I enjoyed it!).  I am grateful for the opportunity to serve and to grow, and I just keep telling myself Sister Dalton's line, which we have used on our Young Women so many times over the last year, "You CAN do hard things [and you will be blessed for it]."  So wish me luck (and I wouldn't mind any prayers in my behalf either *wink*).