I'm a dedicated fan!

I absolutely love the group Coldplay! They're a bit like U2 with a piano. So for our 9th anniversary that we celebrated this past week, Richard took me to their concert in Salt Lake on Saturday night. I was so excited! We bought their new cd 2 weeks ago so we could get to know the new songs and sing along. It was such a great concert! We had a really good time.

It was supposed to start at 7:30. But since the BYU/Utah game was still going and many of those fans were coming to the concert, they had other performers on stage until 9:00! Then they had to set up the stage for Coldplay, which meant they didn't come on stage until about 9:30. But by then, it was packed and wow was it worth the wait! They were amazing! Everyone was on their feet dancing and singing. I could have gone all night listening to them.

Then Richard insisted on getting something for the boys and for me. So we stood in line afterwards and got the boys a key ring. I know, probably cheesy, but it was one the cheaper things (you know how concert items are double the price than what their worth, right?) And he got me a cute t-shirt. We had to do it! We probably could have gotten online and got them cheaper, but then it's not authentic from the concert, know what I mean?

I love my hubby!

Gulp...I'm not playing piano?

I have always had a calling in some musical spot in the church. For as long as I can remember. Choir pianist quite a bit, RS pianist, primary chorister, choir director (better at playing piano, let me tell you!), primary pianist substitute, playing on my mission at almost every zone conference, playing piano when I was in YW's, etc. I am the most comfortable with playing piano for a calling or being involved in some musical capacity. We all have our areas of comfort when it comes to serving in the church, right?

So when we moved into our current ward last June, I told my bishop/brother (yes, you read that right, he is my bishop. Kinda weird, but fun!) that I would love any calling that involves music, cause that's what I'm comfortable with. So naturally I think I'll get it. Right? Riiiight......

The first counselor comes over to our house to talk to us about callings. I'm thinking for sure it's playing the piano in something. Nope. Mia Maid advisor. Okay. Not what I expected but I am open to new experiences, but honestly I didn't want primary or YW's. I hesitantly said yes and questioned the Lord, "why me?" "Are you sure?"

It was really tough for me in the beginning. Coming to a brand new area and ward and not knowing the YW at all was a real challenge. It would have been easier had I been in the ward a while and knew them at least a little bit. I was so nervous and had no idea how to relate to them. I had a hard time wanting to go to church and activities for a while cause I just felt out of place! And I felt I wouldn't really get to know anyone else in the ward if I'm always in YW's.

Now we've been to girls camp and quite a few weekly activites, and sat through a lot of lessons, and it's getting so much better now! So for my #15 thing I'm grateful for this month is the young women in my ward. They are amazing girls that face lots of challenges. They are fun, funny, smart and spiritual. I have been learning so much about myself and my abilities as well. I think the Lord was just saying, "it's time to try something else now." I'm grateful for that because he knows what I need to learn. I sure hope I can be as good for these girls as they are for me!

A Thankful Month

When things get tough and frustrating, it's always good to remind yourself of what you have, right? It's called 30 days of Thankful. My friend Holly is doing this on her blog and I decided to give it a go as well.

As I've been sitting here thinking about what I am thankful for, I actually got a warm feeling in my heart. I am certainly so blessed! At first I thought it would take me a while to think up some things to get to the 11th day to be caught up, but it certainly wasn't hard at all!

I have the list on my sidebar if you want to follow up. I'll try to do some short posts as well.

Halloween

Here's some belated Halloween pics of the kids. We had such a fun day! Surprisingly the kids haven't been asking for much candy so it's going to last a long time. They've had maybe one piece a day. I keep it hidden away at the top of one of our cabinets called the "shameful shelf", or sometimes called the "shameless shelf". Depends on the day. Since they don't see it, they don't think of it as much which is so nice! Sara was a cute little witch, Preston was Superman, and Ethan was a vampire, all bought on Ebay for cheapo!

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.