I can't believe November is almost over, Christmas is really creeping up on us. In 3 weeks we should be in or close to Nauvoo, IL to visit Grandma and Grandpa Torrie. We have Christmas parties coming up, for both of our jobs, Christmas baking to do, Kali's Christmas concert and we have to make sure our car will be up for the 24 hour drive there and back..
Kali is going to be star of the week this week at school, we made her poster yesterday, she is pretty excited, I think she gets some extra privileges. Spence just got back from his winter camp with the Scouts, I'm really glad that he can do that with them. I would rather be dead than go on a winter camp, I have a hard enough time sleeping outside in the summer.

Things I've done this week:
- I just changed jobs this week, from a Montessori School to a regular preschool. I work for the Catholic school board and I requested that they relocate me, luckily I'm at the best preschool now. It makes a huge difference to be at a place with nice, happy people.
- I also got ambitious and carpeted the stairs going to the basement, they look great. They were kinda dangerous before and ugly with glue from whatever had been on them before.
- I had fun helping out a friend by watching her boys last week, I took them to their swimming lessons and couldn't get them out of the pool without getting wet. I'm taking them tomorrow, but I think I might have a better plan, swim with them before the lessons.
- I gave a talk in church today about the goals our ward is working on. We do specific goals each week, it was fun since the talk was only 5 minutes long. I hope my name is scratched off the list for another couple of years.
- Last Saturday, we went to the Temple with our ward, Spence did all my father's work. What a blessing it was and an amazing experience, I love the Temple, it was amazing to be there with our ward. I really love our ward.

Well, Christmas is that time of year of extra stress. I hope I can slow down and share some special moments with my family.

I have a family here on earth...

Kali had one of her debuts today singing in sacrament meeting. She sang "Families can be Together Forever", Spencer and I were her back up singers. We had a few practices and Kali would not hold notes long enough and she'd come in too early, finally with the patience of our wonderful Relief Society president and pianist, she got it. She was so unfocused during practices that I told that I would spank her in front of everyone if she did not behave properly. Then I told her that I would reward her with anything she wanted if she did well, I'm not sure which worked.
We were announced to sing after the high council speaker, just before he finished Kali "desperately" needed a tissue for her nose. Spencer went to retrieve her as the speaker sat down, I sat hoping they would come NOW, I was not prepared for a solo. After what felt like 5 minutes we went up to sing. Our ward had like double the people it seemed. We sang the song together until the second verse where Kali had a solo, "While I am in my early years, I'll prepare most carefully; So I can marry in God's Temple for Eternity," . Spence and I almost couldn't sing, the spirit really touched us, I would have been bawling if I'd been sitting in the congregation. One of our friends told us how proud he was of Kali even though she was not his child. We received many nice compliments, but really it was Kali who did a wonderful job, she is our star.

Primary Presentation... check

Kali had her primary presentation today, on the way to church we talked about last year and having Grandma and Grandpa Torrie there. She really misses them. The presentation is probably my favorite sacrament meeting of the year. Kali's teacher said she was so well behaved and encouraged the other kids to be reverent too, I'm glad she's a good girl. She loves to sing, I could hear her the loudest at the end of the verses, I think she likes to have a strong finish. Everyone had a part, Kali's was "Reverence and keeping the Sabbath day holy strengthens my family", we had to remind her of that today a couple of times. The Bishop read the part in 3 Nephi where Jesus took the children one by one and blessed them and where the angels surrounded them, I really felt that today. Those children who can't sit still, put their hands in their noses and mouths, sing too loud or not at all, still have bed head or the most beautiful dresses but lovingly wave at their parents are just the ones that our Savior loves so dearly. If only we could be as innocent as a child. Church was totally focused on families today, it made me feel the spirit, it was a good day.
Next week we've been asked to sing "Families can be Together Forever" as a family. We have to sing it in C so that I can do it. We practiced tonight... it may be a gong show, we'll see, I better pray real hard.
Our Super Saturday was yesterday, I taught a class making block nativities and using vinyl to decorate them, I think I will give one to Kali's teacher. I made a watch with beads and a frame with a glass insert that says "Family", Kali has already put that in her room. She begged to come to Super Saturday, she loves crafts, I had to tell her that it was a day for Mommies to get away from their kids, she didn't like that, but had fun with her Daddy anyway.

October 28, 2009

Well, Spencer just bought a 1978 Honda Mini Trail bike. He loves it. He got it last week and he's been working on it almost everyday, I went to bed at 9pm almost every night last week. Before he actually brought it home, he slept about an hour a night thinking and looking for parts for this bike. He is seriously CRAZY. He dug a hole in my garden to make a hill to do some jumps off, he rides it around in circles in the backyard, he seriously loves this thing. Kali also loves it, maybe it will be hers someday.


Last weekend our stake did a mock disaster. We had to pretend the power was out, the water was contaminated and all the stores were closed for 36 hours. We used candles and flashlights, we had lots of stored water and we had enough food, so that was good. We couldn't use our furnace though because it uses a fan to blow the heat, so we were cold. Spence has a single burner stove so we used that to cook soup and boil water, for dinner we used our BBQ. I think we would do okay if we were really in these situations. Just not for too long.

We had some friends stay with us this weekend, they have 3 kids ages 4,6,7. They had a Adoption seminar all weekend so we got to babysit, it was interesting to have 4 kids ages 4,5,6,7. Spence thought it would be fun to have kids like this in real life, I liked that they played so well together, but it is a lot of work. Kali loved it, she wanted them to stay longer, but our house just isn't big enough for 8 people long term. Our friends are renovators, they gave us some invaluable advice for our next projects, it makes me excited, I just have to save up some money first.

I'm freaked about the flu, so I think I will get the shot. I just don't want to wait for 4 hours in a line up. President Monson gave me some good advice last night: "Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rain may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us."

October... and i'm freezing.

I can't believe I used to wear shorts in 10 degree weather. I think I was so used to 30 degrees, this is like a slap in the face.
I missed writing for the past couple weeks, nothing really exciting has happened.
This weekend we went to Sparwood, BC and stayed in a Bed and Breakfast, it was neat, my first time at a B&B. http://www.bobbyhutchinson.com/
The wonderful lady who owns it is fabulous, she is a novelist turned biographist (not a word, but made it up for a lack of a better one), she used to write Harlequin Romance novels. Her home was very comfortable and clean, I suggest it to anyone, it's only about 4 hours from Medicine Hat. She put us up in a room with a King size bed, and Kali was going to stay in a room with a double bed... but she slept with us. That was fine with me, even though I would love to have a king size bed, she would go undetected when she crawled into bed with us and that's not cool. Kali loved the idea of staying with someone and not at a hotel, she chatted Bobby's, the B&B owner, ear off. That girl cracks me up at how social and curious she is. When we woke up we had breakfast. We had delicious waffles, bacon, fruit salad, o.j., and Spence had a BLT. She had a menu and we could choose whatever we wanted, the food was great, we left full, and with a signed copy of one of Bobby's Harlequin romance novels. The real reason we went was to meet a guy in Fernie to buy a truck. Spencer bought a PURPLE ford ranger with 4WD, it's a bit of a fixer upper but that's his specialty. We caught some conference in Sparwood, then in Taber and drove home late last night. I was glad to be home. I think my favorite talk from conference was Elder Bednar's, I think he's great. I'm excited for the Ensign to come out.

The Adventure Race

Spencer and 2 of his friends, Trevor and Spencer Wallace, did a 12 hour Adventure Race yesterday. They did so good! They had to canoe, bike, trek and bike again all while trying to navigate with a map and compass to find checkpoints. The company who organized the race was absolutely HORRIBLE, nothing went right, they cheaped out on everything, had messed up all the coordinates and only had 2 people working the whole event, to make it worse they charged $300 to enter the race. The best part was hanging out with Erin all day; we were the support team, we put out the bikes for the boys, got the snacks, lunches and clothing ready, we even tied on the canoe. We had to wake up at 4am and drive over an hour to the race start, we got lost a bunch, and the roads were so windy I got motion sick and threw up. The boys had 3 transition points were we had to work, but other than that, we just hung out, watched a movie and played some crib, and ate junk food, it was awesome. Spence has a sore knee, but he feels really good otherwise, we're both a bit tired but slept so good last night. I thought it might be fun to do an adventure race, maybe not one quite that long though. I'm so proud of those boys, they worked so hard.

School's In... Kali Torrie... Present.

Kali started school this past week. On Wednesday they had her come in for some testing and meet the teacher, we brought her some banana muffins to butter her up. Ms. Werner is her teacher, she said this was the first time she's had muffins from a student on the first day, we're off to a good start. Thursday was her first half day, they staggered the kids and had half come in the morning and half in the afternoon. She loved it, but said she really missed me, I like that. Friday morning was her first full day, it started with a family pancake breakfast. Kali and I ate with some friends and I left her alone at school with mixed emotions. It's quite a thing to think about, my little 5 year old girl is going to school all day now... this is what it will be like till she decides to move away. A new stage, a new responsibility for her. I have to adjust to the idea that she will be making some of her own choices and hope that I have prepared her for some of the temptations she will be faced with. When I picked her up from school she told me that a boy in her class said a swear, I asked her how she knew it was a swear, she said she just knew. Later when Spence got home she told him about it, we probed for the "swear". She said a boy whispered in her ear that another boy in the class was a "poopyhead", I tried not to laugh, but it was so cute, she was quite concerned. We had a lesson about standing up for what she thinks is right, we told her that it's okay to tell people when she doesn't like something they are saying or doing. I'm so glad that she talks to me about her concerns. Now I just have to convince her to eat most of her lunch, sandwich first.