Updates on our family

We have had some pretty relaxing weeks since Alan and I have been released from our callings. Alan is now serving as the 16-17 year old Sunday school teacher and I do Activity days with the 10-11 year old girls twice a month. Easy Cheesy! Bishop Olsen has pretty much turned the ward upside down and inside out with callings. Our family has been trying to help a family out in the ward during sacrament meeting. Her husband is a counselor in the new bishopric and she has 4 young children and one of those is a very active 2 1/2 year old. Alan picked her up from the isle this last week as she was just about to make a run for it and put her in the bench with us. It takes all of our energy to keep her entertained. I must say sacrament meeting is so easy for us now and we can actually sit and listen for the whole meeting with little or no drama. Having this little girl sit by us brought back a ton of memories of when Alan was serving in the bishopric with John Crozier and I had three little kids and was pregnant. I really wondered why I came to church each week. It was so hard! This lady seems to roll with the flow and told me during RS that she had a rare moment in sacrament this last Sunday where she actually got to listen to what the speakers were saying.
We missed Alan during his week to Tulare, CA. I really do hate it when he is gone. He almost got bumped off of their flight coming home, not because of too many people but because of too much weight overall on the plane. Jeff Stoker was gracious enough to step aside and take a later flight the next day. I felt bad that he did this because I knew that he had been on a trip the previous week and his wife Jen was sick. I told her that he is too nice and he should have muscled his way onto the plane. You would think that the airlines would be smart enough to make sure things like this wouldn't happen. During that week Hannah and I reflected that it was a year ago on the 11th that she got hurt skiing. We were grateful to have made it through the week this year without an incident!
We had fun having Alan home on Valentine's day weekend. Alan and I have agreed that whoever is in charge of Valentine's day the other would tackle the Anniversary in November. I elected to be in charge of Valentine's day and planned a night full of surprises on Friday. We had so much fun and realized that being surprised every once in a while is kind of nice! We will see what he plans for our Anniversary later this year. The bar has been set!
The kids had a great day on Saturday and got to play with their Twin Fall's cousins. Glen was busy taking layers of paint off of a dresser and sanding it down to surprise his wife Laura who was away with Acoya clogging in Boise. Glen took our four youngest and five of his kids to a movie and back home again to play. They had so much fun together and it made me realize that we really do need to get the kids together with their cousins more often. Playing and being with my cousins when I was growing up are some of my best memories.
This last weekend Alan and I took all the girls down to SLC for Melissa's tournament. We stayed at Ann and Mark's, they are such great hosts. The kids enjoyed playing with Sophia and her wide variety of toys. Alan and I were looking at vans when Ann dropped the girls off with Mark at temple square while she and Sophia went to Madame Butterfly. Alan met up with Mark after he dropped me off at Melissa's tournament. The girls loved temple square and how beautiful everything was. They even had hot chocolate and free cinnamon rolls at the top of the Joseph Smith building. They also had a great time swimming at a local hotel Mark was staying at. Melissa played well during her tournament and had some great outside hits. She is so much fun to watch. She really is a leader on her team and gets along well with all of the girls. Their team played well together and ended up winning their division. We gathered the kids after her tournament and left Bountiful about 8 p.m. I had such a headache and wanted to get home. On the way home I worried about hitting a deer through the mountains and I did spot one grazing on the side of the road. We made it home safe and in pretty good time and enjoyed our Sunday together. I really do like Sunday's and I am grateful that we treat it differently than any other day.
Alan and I have been organizing our storage room with shelves. Kent Baldwin has done most of the work. It has opened that room up so much and it brings me such joy to just go down and look around. He also put another rod and shelves in our bedroom closet and I can't believe what a difference it makes. Everything has a place and there is a place for everything. I love it! I could not believe the pile of clothes and stuff that we brought out of our closet and placed on our floor and the bed. Even the Baldwin's were amazed. The funny thing is that 1/2 of the time I feel like I have nothing to wear! And I might add here that for every one pant of mine Alan has five. We filled the Yukon full of stuff from downstairs and from our bedroom and took it to the DI pod at the stake center. It really was quite liberating! Now I just need to get out and tackle the garage..... Maybe later, when it is warmer outside.
We hope this post finds everyone happy and well. I haven't taken many pictures lately so no pictures this time. Love ya!