April 16, 2006

April 16, 2006

Happy Easter to everyone!!!!! We had a very rainy Easter, but a wonderful one. What a busy week we have had. I have felt like a slug today, worn out I guess from all the “stuff” going on. Let’s see...

Alayna had a tough time at the doctor this week. I guess the wax in her ear has built like a cement wall by her ear drum, causing a tremendous amount of pain. The doctor tried to get it out and had no luck. They tried an irrigation machine and again no luck. All the while, Alayna is screaming her head off. She kept crying at night complaining of the pain. They decided to send us to an ENT specialist, but they said they couldn’t see us until May. I was in a huge panic. After many prayers and ear wax drops, her pain just...went away. It has been the weirdest thing. We are hoping it has loosened everything up in there.

Bob started his class on Tuesday night. He said he actually enjoyed it. His softball team also started this week. So, he is staying very busy. Marisa is headed to Camp Courageous tomorrow. Her group will be spending all day up at the camp helping handicapped children. She is so excited to be a part of that.

Tyler had a cool week. He had his first basketball game Saturday morning. This game is a bit foreign to him, but I think he had a great time. The second graders had their “People Fair” at the school. Each child chose a person to do research on and then for the fair, they dressed up like that person and had hints on their desk. We, as parents, all got to go through and guess who they were. It was so much fun!!! Tyler was Robert Kennedy. So, he was all decked out in his Sunday clothes. As usual, I am impressed with this school and the amazing job they do with these students.

Well, it was a huge weekend for me- the Stake RS symposium. I think we ended up having about 150 women or so attend. We have been planning this for months. We set up for a few hours Friday night and the place looked incredible. The theme was “Sisters following the son”. And we decorated the whole place with sunflowers and black and beige plaid. It was beautiful!! The cool thing is they let me take it all home -as I would love to use it for my classroom. It was about 5-6 boxes of decorations. I am so excited. We also had all the women particpate in an art presentation. Each sister was to create their own art about what we do as women to follow the Savior. I will attach a picture of mine. The cool thing, is one of the other counselors is posting it on the UofI website trying to help promote women and mothers.

Anyway, it opened with a program that I helped create. It was music interspersed with talks about turning to the son. The opening song was the Stake RS choir, conducted by your truly. It was my first experience conducting a choir, and it was so wonderful. We had about 30 women participate. 4 of whom were Laurels. We did my own arrangement of the 2 “Abide with me” hymns. Then I spoke in the meeting by sharing the story of the currant bush. I will try and remember to post it. Then I sang in a trio to the song “Believe in God”. I really worried about it, but the performance really went well. Then, the closing hymn was also the choir, conducted by me- a special arrangement of “I know that my redeemer lives” I now know why I don’t conduct. I started to cry because I was so touched.

After that meeting, the regional Family services guy came and spoke to us about the Superwoman syndrome. It was a fabulous presentation. I loved how he said we need to realize the word “no” is not a four letter word! Then everyone could attend 3 classes and there was a luncheon as well. Corey came and taught this fabulous class on organization. She had amazing pictures from so many peoples homes with great ideas. She had lots of people attend. I taught a class on Children’s Lit. The sad part was the only people who attended were the Stake RS pres, Corey, and one other lady who forgot to sign up for classes and had no where else to go. Anyway, I did compile what I think is an amazing list of the awesome books that have come out in the last decade. If anyone wants a copy, just let me know

Anyway, overall, it was a great success. I took my camera but forgot to take pictures so you will just have to trust me that it looked amazing.

Even with our busy schedule, we were able to watch Narnia and Chicken Little this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Hopefully all of you had a joyous weekend!