Ocupado!

Let's see. . .
first there was conference
then a new babysitting commitment for once a week
a new baby (a friend's - not mine)
a sewing frenzy (two dresses in one week)
a baby blessing
a mission report
another new baby
MOPS! Yeah!
a trip out of town
Super Saturday!
a birthday
a new friend
another new baby
a stake auxilliary meeting
a sewing frenzy (Mermaid costume for new friend's grandaughter)
a sick child
a branch activity
a primary program practice
more sewing frenzies (Renaissance costume for daughter)
a visit to see one of those new babies
Halloween just around the bend.

Think November might let up a little?
This is about the time someone usually reminds me to learn how to say, "no" and you'd think I'd learn. . .

What happened to October?

Wasn't it yesterday that I was sitting in front of my TV watching conference? Now I'm frantically trying to finish a costume for Jessica before Friday (i.e. Halloween and the END of the month!) Pictures to come. . .

Today is my birthday, shout hurray!

We want to sing to me today. One year older and wiser, too. Happy Birthday to me!
Yep, it's finally here. Grand old 36. It's a nice even number divisible by 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, and 12! I like 36. It's an easy number to manipulate in an equation. . . not like 53 or 71 that's not divisible by anything but itself and gets you all frustrated because you can't do anything with it and makes your brain turn to mush trying to figure out how it fits in. No, I'll take 36 with all it's options.
I might make myself a cake and cream peas and potatoes to celebrate. If not - I won't be too sad. I had a great weekend with good friends. . . so can't complain!

Something to blog about. . .

Friday, after a full week, I rushed to complete Jessica's dress to match Lily's for Gavin's special day at church. We've been anticipating this day for almost four months. My younger brother finally came home from his mission and we were excited to see him report. My mom suggested that we just combine this occasion with Gavin's blessing and have a super family dinner afterwards to celebrate October birthdays in the family (Ray, Mandy, and Me.) So it was a full weekend.

Earlier on in the week Dad asked me to speak along with Jake in church. I was crazy to say yes, but by the time I realized it, it was too late to back out. Friday night we caught up with Jake and went to bed LATE. I dreamed that I was at the church meeting and it was my turn to give the talk, but I hadn't prepared my talk yet!?! When I woke up, what a relief to realize that it was still Saturday and I still had a day to prepare!

However first we had plans to go to the temple and do some work for Jhonny's family. They've been waiting a long time for this to be completed and words can't describe the amazing experience it was to be in the temple and do some of this work for them. We were fortunate enough to have a Spanish Sealer to officiate in the ceremony. He performed the ordinance in Spanish and the Spirit was incredible. I could feel the gratitude, humility, love, excitement, and relief of these wonderful people that I'm pleased to say are my family.

No time to dwell on this wonderful experience however, because I still had a talk to write. So we hurried back home and after getting my baby situated, I began working on it. This is tough for me - not because I have a hard time speaking, but because I can go on forever. Knowing this was a special day for Jake to speak, I didn't want to take up too much time, yet I really wanted to say something worthwhile in the short time given. So, it took me a little time to write it and all day to RE write it and edit!! I finished about 10pm and turned to finish putting buttons on the girls' dresses and getting things ready for the next morning.

Sunday I was pleased to find out the Elliotts, who were in our ward in Venezuela and participated in our wedding, made it out to the meeting. Brother Elliott, David Amadio (my best friend's husband), the Bishop of my parent's ward, my dad and brother were all there to stand in the circle to help bless Gavin. It was a beautiful blessing and I can definitely say I'm grateful for the priesthood!

My talk went well according to my feedback and Jake's talk was perfect. He also sang a song and did a beautiful job topping an already wonderful meeting.

After church we gathered at Mom and Dad's house for food. Tiffany, Jake's long time buddy that he's known since birth drove up from Clute for the day. The missionaries came over and Tanya was blessed to be able to drive a car down for Mom and made it too. Mandy and Jason's family were obviously there and we had great food and lots of dessert choices. After us birthday people blew out our candles, Grandma let all the rest of the grandkids blow out a candle too.

The time came too quickly to leave for home. It was one of those times that everything met all my expectations and beyond.

Got Milk?

Can you get a bug over the internet. . .?

I've been looking forward to conference for a while now. I was pretty happy that it finally arrived. However as I sat before the TV, an itch began in the throat. Then a sinus headache slowly came on until I was in MISERY. Double my misery because the kids began to whine from not getting enough sleep the night before. Triple my misery because I really wanted my peaceful, spirit filled awe inspiring conference weekend.

Jess was NOT happy about the fact that I hadn't bought candy for conference bingo. I figured that the 14 page activity packet would be interesting enough for a change, but she is quite set on our year old tradition and decided during Saturday morning to have a melt down about it. Good grief.

By the afternoon my head was spinning and the medicine I took for it knocked me out. I really didn't get much out of the second session at all. When my husband left for the priesthood session, I put the kids to bed (7:00pm) and fell miserable into my bed.

I must have really needed the sleep, because my husband found the girls awake when he got home and they watched "Shark tales" together. I was completely oblivious to all of this.

At the midnight hour, I woke up to feed my baby and had the most miserable nausea hitting my stomach. I thought of my blogging friend's post about soda crackers and Sprite and wondered if I caught something from reading her blog? I thought back to little kids mentioning that their stomachs hurt and I trying to decipher what kind of pain they were referring to. Perhaps I was plagued with this so that I would know? Did I eat or drink after one of them unknowingly? Could it have been that noodle that I suspected of going bad and tried out just to be sure? I vowed to throw it out the next morning to avoid this again. I finally fell asleep again dreaming about the source of my pain.

Fortunately, Gavin was gracious enough to sleep in until 7am after I fed him. I woke up feeling MUCH better and found my bed filled with kids that trickled in as they woke up.

Today was better. We rewatched the second session of conference before the 11:00am session. I'm glad we did. I missed some valuable counsel yesterday and especially loved Elder Holland's talk on the ministering of Angels.

The video of Pres Monson brought tears to my eyes. I hope that I can be so obedient to the promptings of the spirit some day. Wow. What a man of God! I love our prophet.

During the morning session, the girls disappeared to play in their rooms. When they came back, I informed them how disappointed I was. Jess asked me why. We had a short discussion on the importance of listening to the prophet despite her perspective of how "boring" it is. She repented and tried her best to listen in the afternoon. Lily obediently took a much needed nap.

I feel like I've feasted today. I hope I can implement the counsel in the days, weeks, and months to come. Happy conference, everyone.