Ward Volleyball Gets Serious

For the first time in quite a few years, I got to play volleyball! I absolutely love volleyball! I was never on a team in school, but I took volleyball in college twice cause I had such a ball! (pardon the pun!)

So our stake started ward volleyball competitions in September and of course, I signed up! It was pretty funny when we first started out. It was just a desperate attempt to get the ball back over the net. We had so many good laughs. Then we decided to get more serious and have designated setters and actually have a method to controlling the ball when it was on our side.

We actually were tied for 1st place about 2 weeks ago. Then we lost our game last week which bumped us down to tied for 2nd. Then last night we played and won. Then we found out right after that if we played another ward (same night) and won, we'd play another ward for the spot in regionals!

We came last night expecting to just have fun and play one game. We didn't think we had a chance for regionals. We ended up playing 3 games! We won our first two which sent us to play another ward for the chance to go to regionals. (Sniff, sniff) We lost (to the singles ward. Grrr.) So sad! We were so excited and nervous and super close to winning. They were a good team. (I'm trying to be nice.hehe)

So now we're looking at basketball in a couple of months. Hmm...that will be interesting. I'm not a huge fan of a close contact sport like that, but I just might try it out. We'll see.

7 Unusual Things...

My friend Ivy once again has tagged me! This one I've had to think about for a day or so.

1. I hate the feel of fleece, foam, velvet etc! Anything really soft. Gives me chills just thinking about it.

2. Along with #1, I can't wear slippers without socks on.

3. I eat Nutella straight from the jar. Why put it on stuff?

4. I love Little House on the Prairie!

5. I can stay in the bath for hours! Especially if I have a good book.

6. I can tell you what most herbs are for. (I didn't say all)

7. I don't like fruit flavored ice cream. Not even chunks of fruit in it.

I tag: Tristi, JoEllen, Allie, Rachael, Amy, Emily and Holly. Have fun!

4th Picture Tag

My friend, Ivy, tagged me with this one. This is a fun tag. You are suppose to go to your photo folder, pick the 4th folder and the 4th photo and post it.

So here it is:

This is my cute, adorable, sweet nephew Zachary. He was born March 10th. He is really the most calm, quiet and easy going little boy!

I tag Cathi, Beckie, Jane, and Lisa!

I'm officially not swingin'!

Okay, this is in response to my last entry, so if you haven't read it yet, do that first.

The guy called me back and I did it! I told him "absolutely not!" and I was darn proud of it too. There was a lot more I would have liked to say as well, but, I just wanted him off my phone. He kept acting like I was crazy to turn him down. He even asked me why I didn't want to do it! I said back to him, "You're wondering why I don't want to do it?!" He was quiet. He knew. I told him I didn't want to be around a group like that. He said, "well, we don't do the 'couples games' until later so you don't have to be there for that." Oh, well, that makes it so much better then! He then asked if I knew anyone else that could teach them. I for sure said nope and good luck finding someone (while smiling!)

It felt good actually telling him no! I didn't want to keep avoiding his phone calls, so when I knew it was him calling, I just picked up and answered him. Honestly this may sound silly, but the way I felt when talking to him just made it seem like Satan I was talking to. He was sounding like it was such a fun and normal thing to be in a group like that! But, like I said, it felt great telling him straight out, "absolutely not!"

Things that make you go...Ugh!

I had an interesting phone call on Friday. First of all, I have an ad on KSL.com for piano lessons. Great site to place ads cause they're free! Anyways, I'm in Roberts on Friday looking for black paint, I have all 3 kids with me which I don't usually do and I get a phone call. It goes like this:

him: Hi, I'm looking for someone to teach piano for a couples group we have."
me: Okay. When are you needing the lesson?
him: tomorrow night (this last Saturday). We are a group that gets together once a month and we like to have different types of classes.
me: (after thinking about it) It's pretty short notice and I can't tomorrow night. I'm sorry.
him: Do you know anyone else who might be interested in teaching us?
me: (I give him a number of another friend)
him: If I can't reach her, do you think you might be able to try it in Dec or Jan?
me: Possibly. But, tell me more about this. What is the age group?
him: We have people in their 20's, 30's, 40's. About 15 couples. (I'm thinking that's a lot of people to teach one piano lesson to. Not sure it's worth it.) It's a different kind of group, though.
me: okay. What do you mean?
him: (he hesitates for a couple seconds) We're a 'swingers' group.
me: (I'm first thinking about swing dancing and wondering why they want a piano lesson) What's a swingers group? (yep, I honestly have no clue what this is!)
him: (more hesitation)well, we're kind of like a nudist group.
me: (Excuse Me!?) Uh.........okay. (This weird feeling starts to creep in)
him: we get together and have dinner, have a lesson of some sort, play group games, then play couples games.
me: (By this point, I can't find the stupid black acrylic paint, Sara is crying, the boys are getting in the way of other people, and I'm sure the other people are listening in on my end of the conversation and a guy is talking to me on the phone about a nudist group that's wants a piano lesson. I was so flustered! I had no idea what to say to him!) I don't know.
him: You and your husband are both invited to come.
me: Well, I need to go. Try my friend first then check back and I'll let you know. (I wanted to see what my friend was going to say!)

He didn't get a hold of her cause he tried to call me back. I couldn't bring myself to answer the phone again. But, I had to find out what this 'swingers' group is which I did a bit later! Oh my! I feel a bit silly for not knowing what this is. I'd never heard that term before. Basically, it's a group that gets together and does more than hang out in the nude. Know what i mean?? So the group 'games' and couples 'games'.....yep, probably what you're thinking. I've heard of those kind of groups, just not the terminology. I heard that some of these groups put their car keys into a bowl and mix them up, then draw and that's who you're with for the night. Ugh! I've had a few conversations with family and friends about this now.

So why do they want a piano lesson? I figured that they're just looking for more people to join. I was so disgusted! How can people do things like that!?! And groups like these have been going on since the 60's. I know things like that are happening all over the place, I'd just rather not be reminded about it. But, when I actually get invited to one, it's a bit disturbing.

So if he calls me back, I know what I'm going to say!

The Santa Letters

A few months ago, I agreed to do a book review for a virtual book review tour and today is the day I am to do the review on my blog. I have read the book called, "The Santa Letters" by Stacy Gooch-Anderson. I've never done a book review before, so I'm not sure of what I'm supposed to say, but here it goes!

First of all, I love the cover! It's very classy and attractive. I tend to judge a book by its cover. I really liked this one.

I'm not the type to read books about people having spiritual experiences. I like mysteries! So, I admit I was skeptical about this book when I started it.

The story is based on a woman who loses her husband on Christmas Eve due to being hit by a car. They had 4 children together. She faces a difficult road as she tries to adjust to being a single mom. On the following Christmas she struggles to find the Christmas spirit. She'd rather get through the holidays as quick as possible and have the children understand there's not much money to have a Christmas. To me, she forgets the meaning of Christmas.

Then a mysterious letter shows up at her home telling her that she'll be receiving 12 days of letters and instructions that she needs to follow with her children. (Like a 12 days of Christmas). The story is about these letters she and her children receive on a daily basis from 'Santa' and how these letters change each of their lives and bring the true spirit of Christmas back into their hearts and home that include the Savior. She learns or is reminded about forgiveness, service, the needs of her children and realizing what she already has.

This is a very touching story. Yes, I even shed a few tears toward the end! I really felt the spirit of what the author was writing about: focusing on the true meaning of Christmas and seeing the blessings that we already have, and using the Savior to get through our trials.

The writing was very good. It was easy to understand. I actually read the book in about 3 hours which doesn't happen at all for me!

I highly recommend this story! It certainly helped to remind me to focus more on the Savior and the needs of others and realize the blessings that I have.

Thank you Stacy for a nice read and touching story.

Reliving the EMM

My mission reunion was last Friday and seeing former missionaries that I served with (unfortunately didn't see any of my companions) brought back a flood of memories. My mission was the England Manchester Mission (the EMM) also known as the Eternal Marriage Mission because of all the marriages that came out of this mission! I'm serious! So many sisters and district leaders either planned while on their missions to get married or met up afterwards. I can say, it happens very easily considering how much time we spent with the elders and chatting with the D.L. on the phone to report every night.
Anyways, more and more of us are finding each other on facebook (blessed website!) and reminiscing about the mission days. It's sad though, after 10 years for me, I don't remember many names anymore. Thankfully, at the reunion we had good old sticker name tags on.
This morning I broke open my mission scrapbook and looked through it trying to remember places and names of members and other missionaries. So I decided to post some pictures of some good memories. I have loads and loads of good memories and can't post them all, but, here are some I love to look at. And hey, don't laugh at how I looked! The bangs are my favorite!

The Red Phone Booth. Enough said.

The Bus Stop. I think I probably spent about 25% of my time at a bus stop. Thankfully, I had a car in a few of my areas since sisters weren't allowed to ride bikes. Fine with me!

We saw lots of graveyards, abby's, old churches and some pretty interesting statues like this one. I had to do it, can you blame me? I think I look Hot!

This is Danny and my companion, Sister Durkee. We were in Rochdale which was my second area. He's the sweetest irishman I've ever met! He was so great to teach and I was so excited when he decided to be baptized. The ward was really good for him too. I hope he's still around and active. This is where I lived with Sister Jessop in a village called Penny Bridge up in northern England. It was my last area and one of my favorites! It's beautiful and close to the ocean. We were so happy to have a car considering the bus came every 2 hours to take us to the area we actually worked in. One trip I enjoyed was the mission tour. We were able to see all the historical church spots in our mission which included the place where Pres. Hinckley lived, River Ribble where the first saints were baptized, downtown Preston where the first missionaries served and lived and the village of Downham where all the people of this village were converted to the church. It was such a neat experience!And last but not least, the Preston England temple. This temple was dedicated while I was there. All the missionaries had the opportunity for 2 weeks to work at the temple during the open house and then attend the dedication by Pres. Hinckley. This is my favorite temple, I am biased!Pictured in front with me is my companion, Sister Brown and the elders in our district.

Our VP candidate...hmm...

My friend, Lisa, posted this on her blog and I couldn't stop laughing! I had to put this on. See the resemblance?

A sweet surprise

Most of you with kids will agree with me that it's so hard to get kids to be consistent at cleaning their rooms. Why is it that when there's toys, clothes, blankets, shoes, socks, backpacks, books, papers, and whatever else manages to find it's way to the floor, they can't see the reason of why it needs to be cleaned up. Can they not see it? I'm the type that hates clutter and seeing toys spread throughout the house. But, so far, I'm the only one that understands this concept in this household. Sigh.

But, every once in a while amazing things happen!

I kept my boys in yesterday while I taught piano. Usually they play downstairs, outside, in their room or watch tv or movies while I teach. I noticed while I was teaching it was a bit quiet. But, I wasn't worried. My boys aren't the type to get into anything they shouldn't. So after my student walked out the door, the boys came running in and said to come with them. They had a surprise for me. Instead of going to their bedroom, they lead me to my bedroom. Okay. They have me close my eyes (of course I have to peek so I don't run into the wall). When I get to my room, I find they've made my bed for me! The bedspread was pulled up perfectly and all the decorative pillows were placed just how I like it. I was so proud of them! (And just so you know, I do make my bed every day). They also took me to my closet and showed me how they'd lined up all our shoes on our shoe rack and the floor. It looked so nice! I made a big deal out of it to let them know I love it when they do things like that!

Of course, I go to their room and it's just like I described at the beginning. But, because I was so excited about their surprise, they were willing and uncomplaining about cleaning their room. Maybe I should leave my bed unmade more often.

Or maybe not...that would drive me nuts.

Grocery store excursion...

Do you agree that this is one of the worst things to see coming up behind you and not going around? How about two sets of them?? Even worse!

Yes, this happened to me yesterday at approximately 5:00 pm. It took all the motivation I could muster to get myself out to Macey's for food for the weekend. That's all I was doing! Just a short trip around the corner.

So I make my left hand turn onto state street and lo and behold, I see a police car right behind me (following me with the turn). No sweat. Then he turns on his lights. Oh boy! So I move over to the outside lane and he follows me. Oh no! And I'm thinking hard about what I could have done wrong. I couldn't think of a darn thing. I pull off the road hoping he's still going to go around me and that's when I see a second police car with his lights on. Do they think I have drugs, stolen car? (Yeah, who would steal a mini-van?)

The first policeman gets out, comes to the passenger side door and says "hello ma'am. Do you know why I've pulled you over?" No, I have no idea. "Your registration expired a few months ago, did you know that?" Holy cow! I felt so, so, so stupid at that moment. Then to make it worse I didn't have my insurance card on me cause we had just switched our policy and the new cards were still on my desk at home (where they didn't belong). I felt past stupid.

He takes my license and I'm trying to think of what I'm going to say to him. Honestly, who looks at their license plates on a regular basis? We just moved in June, so I'm figuring we didn't get the notice in the mail about renewing the registration. So, if no notice, I don't think about it!

I look in my rearview mirror and see both policemen looking at whatever it is they look at and talking. Okay, so why 2 of them? It makes me look bad! Whenever I see 2 policemen I think drug bust. Wouldn't you? Now that I've had time to think about it, one of them must have been training or something.

Anyway, I got off the hook. He gave me a warning and the speech about registration or else. It's interesting that I've been driving around in my van for almost two months oblivious that it's expired. Now, I'm freaked out to drive anywhere. But, I have to drive it to get the safety/emissions test and all the way to Provo to register it. Good luck to me! I will laugh if I get pulled over again.