We spent several days at home lounging around. What good is a break without a few days of no agenda? The kids enjoyed that. Then we spent a few days in St. George with two of my friends, Julie and Claudia and their girls. We had talked several weeks ago about doing something together over our school breaks. St. George was the result. It was really fun. Saturday we spent the day at an outdoor market. I gave the kids $20 and said when it's gone it's gone. It was funny watching them agonizing over wants and prices. But they didn't ask for another dime, so I guess lesson learned! Alex got himself a pocket knife and a rabbit pelt. Vienna got herself some hair clips and some bracelets and Reagan actually spent her own money and got a nice little ring and some banana bread. That night we went to the outdoor theater there and watched the play Hairspray. Lots of singing and dancing and very entertaining. We also spent some time in Zion National Park, a place I've never been. It was a beautiful day and we did some nature walking. You can't really call walking a paved path hiking, but the kids loved it. We saw, and stopped for, many squirrels that are closer to being tame than wild and they'd come right up to anyone hoping for a morsel of something tasty. You're not supposed to feed or touch them, but some nuts from our backpack sorta fell out right near a squirrel and darn it all, if he didn't find them and stick them in his cheek! He kept sniffing around for more, and then decided he'd found all there was to find and went to nibble on them on a brick ledge. And darn it all, if he didn't brush right up next to Reagan's hand! We also caught sight of some white tail deer and got some great close shots of a herd of big-horn sheep. Amazing! We were so close to them. We also toured Brigham Young's Winter Home. It was pretty cool. Alex was SOOO impressed that there was a waffle maker in the kitchen. Apparently he didn't notice the wood-burning stove, no running water, no counters etc. Just the important stuff! We all had a good time. I'd love to go back and do some serious biking and hiking without worrying if the kids will fall over a cliff.
Also, I received a new calling today in church. Drum roll please....... First Counselor in the Young Women's. No matter where I go this calling seems to follow me. Except this time Reagan will be right there with me. I had a nice break with Primary for the last two years and now it's time to hang out with the yw again! I've literally served in yw's in every ward I've lived in. Twice in our last ward. But, I honestly don't think there's a better place to serve than with the yw of the church. My patriarchal blessing says that my influence will be especially great among the youth and after nearly 20 years of serving in the church and most of that spent with the youth I feel blessed to keep working with them. I hope I can serve them well. Most of the Mia Maids have recently turned 14, Reagan included, so I have a pretty steady group to work with and I hope we can really become a family. I will miss my little Primary class and my little girls in Activity Days though.
Our prayers are with you. We love you. We miss you. It seems like you've been out longer than you have and maybe that's just wishful thinking as the holidays approach and we know we won't see you. But you are in our thoughts and prayers. Talk soon......
ok you seriously need to stop going to Disneyland without us. Congrats on the new calling, YW's is super fun.
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