New Calling

Yes, you are all asking yourself didn't I (Challene) just get a calling as the Relief Society Secretary not so long ago? The answer is Yes, in mid January. However I guess Heavenly Father thought I had mastered that calling and wanted me to have the opportunity to grow some more. That's what you get when you get too comfortable in your calling. Also, let me just tell you to be careful what you pray for! It was in early January right before my first calling here in the Clearfield 23rd Ward when I was mulling over my spirituality. I was thinking to myself "Wow I have been active now for 11 years. Am I where I really should be spiritually?" My answer to myself was "no probably not, I think I could be stronger." So what do I do? I start asking Heavenly Father to help me grow and be a stronger member.

BAM! That's when everything started to hit. I got my calling as the Relief Society Secretary, I was also asked to say the closing prayer in sacrament meeting that same Sunday (Yes it was my first time, I was always able to get out of it before. But the guy who asked was very persistent and again I was thinking at that time these were opportunities to grow. I seriously had a little melt down during sacrament meeting. I just was very overwhelmed by my new calling and having to pray that day in front of everybody. After a little short cry/breather in the bathroom I pulled it together and of course did just fine.) Not to long after all of that Will and I were asked to speak in sacrament. I have done this a couple of times before. However it had been a while around 4 years. Of course I was nervous but that went just fine also.

So you are all by now probably going crazy to know what the new calling/opportunity to grow is. I am the 1st Counselor in the Relief Society! I am the counselor over Enrichment. I have to say I kinda saw it coming so I really wasn't that surprised or overwhelmed. I don't know maybe I am just in denial. The reason I say I saw it coming is because we have been having an awful time filling the 2nd Counselors position ever since I was called to be a secretary and that was all before we lost our 1st counselor just a week or so ago due to her selling her house and moving. So I just thought they might move me up to be a counselor since it is a more important calling than the secretary. Oh and for now I am still called to be the Secretary as well. Yeah, like I said they are having a hard time filling positions so hopefully I won't have to do double duty for long.

Well wish me luck! Oh and I will take all the prayers/advise/help I can get with this new calling.

I know it sounds like I was complaining but in all reality all of this really has been a great opportunity to grow. It really is amazing how Heavenly Father will grant your hearts desires especially when they are righteous desires. I can't tell you how perfect that first calling as a Secretary was for me at that time. It had everything that I was thinking at that time that I needed. For example I needed help paying more attention at church. Often times I get distracted just by looking around at people instead of paying attention to the speaker. However part of my calling as the secretary I had to listen/take notes of the lessons and announcements so I could put them in our email newsletter. This was such a great thing to help me focus on those spiritual things being taught. I also had to learn peoples names for various reasons to do my calling and that was such a great opportunity to get to know people in this new ward. Which in turn has helped me feel more at home here. There are so many other reasons that I won't bore you with. I am just so thankful that my Heavenly Father answers my prayers, this was not the first nor will it be the last and I am so grateful He loves me. I am excited and a little nervous about my new calling, but I am ready to take on this new opportunity to grow.

Coupon Crazy!!

As of this last Sunday I have joined Grocery Smarts. It's a free website that takes all the work out of couponing. Simple put, all I have to do is: Go to the website, pick which store I want to shop at, pick my items off of the add, print my shopping list, cut only the coupons I need, and then go SHOPPING!! That's it! I get the majority of my coupons from the Sunday paper (I have 5 delivered). That's how you maximise your saving and build a good food storage. Yes it took me longer then those that have been doing it for a while but it was my first time. Andrea (the girl I learned all of this from) says it only takes her 20 minutes to get it all together.

Here are some AWESOME DEALS I got!

I got 4 boxes of Frosted Flakes for only .50 cents a piece!! They were regularly $4.98, I would have gotten more but they were all out!

This was my best deal!! I got 4 bottles of this shampoo/Conditioner for a grand total of .48 cents!! Yeah, all I paid for was the tax! Still a sweet deal! The regular price on these all together would have been $16.90!!

As you can see I got some great deals! I have really come a long way, I have not ever gone out of my way to buy things on sale let alone use coupons. I have always just gone to the store and bought what was on my list, if it was on sale that was always nice. But now, I am so excited to save my family money, especially in this hard economic time, let alone while we are trying to growing a business. Oh yeah, I also saved half off of all I spent today! Not bad Eh!

Here is the some info on the site if you are interested. http://grocerysmarts.com/graphics/g84caa.pdf . You need to get the passport code to use the actual Grocery Smarts website. Then go to the website www.grocerysmarts.com to get started. That's it! Good Luck!!

John & Amy Visit

My lovely wife has gently chastised me for not blogging like I used to. "I don't even know who you are anymore," she said, eyes welled with tears on the verge of overflowing. "You used to love blogging... now all you do is sit on your lazy butt drinking a root Beer! I want to live, Will. I want to LIVE!!!... via your incredible blog postings!" Gently, I stroked her hair as she sobbed in my lap. "Hush, little pup," I whispered, "Why, from this day forth..." I stood from the sofa resolutely, my wife's head flopping down to the cushion, "I promise TO YOU, CHALLENE..." The Battle Hymn of the Republic softly yet penetratingly played in the background as a soothing light silhouetted my frame. My arm raised in triumphant resolve. "I PROMISE TO BLOG! AS I HAVE NEVER BLOGGED BEFORE." I turned to her. Her hair strewn across her smooth face. "FOR YOU, MY LOVE!" I slowly return to the sofa and tenderly kiss her pouted lips.

So. I'm gonna blog more.

Way back in late December, I believe, our good friends from Portland began their long journey to move to Payson. They stopped at our house on the way and stayed the night. We had a rip-roaring good time as we always do with the Marshalls. I had recently acquired Guitar Hero for the Wii and we all enjoyed rockin' out to such hits as: "Heartbreaker" by Pat Benatar, "On The Road Again," by Willie Nelson and even modern day hits by Blink 182, Linkin Park, and Korn. Each of them, including my wife, were very impressed by my matchless skillz on a pretend guitar.

As midnight approached we began to become weary. We can always tell when the Marshall's are getting tired because the amount of swear words in their vocabulary increase exponentially. In fact, I found a graph.


Just think of Aberration as time. The % variance relates to the increase in swears.

As it was, we decided to finish our Guitar Hero escapade with one final song. "Will," they pleaded, "I want you to play a song on the Hard level." Who am I to deny adoring fans? I chose "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi and set it to EXPERT level. I sniggered to myself as I thought, "they want a show... I'll give them a show!"

Imagine, if you will, fingers working the makeshift fretboard so furiously, that they were merely a blur. Ponder, if you can, a strumming action so precise and so quick it resembled flashes of lightening in the night sky. Despite desperate efforts to sway my attention (including derogatory comments regarding my undeniable manhood) I rocked the EXPERT level of that song.

Just like in Rocky IV where The Italian Stallion was able to sway an entire stadium full of near rabid Russian boxing fans (including the prestigious governmental leaders) into rooting for him and a glorious American victory, I swayed my little audience of three into cheering me to a magnificent finish.

That's when it happened. I struck the last cord of the song in true rocker fashion, knees bent, arm in the air, sweat dripping down when we heard what sounded like a loud explosion. Attention was taken from my magnanimous frame and turned to the window. Another explosion and an eye piercing flash of blue light rocketed through the windows and shook our very cores. The power went out. A transformer had blown and the power went out for the entire block. Including the "You Rock" signage that appears right before it shows you the score. All that toil, sweat, and pure rocking was for nothing!

At any rate, we had a new problem on our hands. Irresolutely, we decided to get ready for bed. It was then that we heard the beep. It seems that the land lords failed to change the batteries on nearly all of the smoke detectors in the house. Why is this so important? Because at 12:05 a.m. when the power goes out and you haven't changed the batteries, the "low battery life" beep will sound every 60 seconds. So it was with us.

What's the deal with putting smoke alarms in nearly impossible to reach places? We hadn't an adequate ladder so we tried to improvise.

Pay no attention to my white belly. Yes, I'm reaching for the battery with my grilling tool. The power was off, right? Sadly, My height, John's shoulder, and the grilling tool all came up short.

Fortunately, John had an LED headlamp which helped us find a broom and some duct tape. So, being the innovative scout he is, he suggested taping the grilling tool to the broom stick to lengthen our reach. He's such a good Eagle Scout. That's only the second time in my life I've wished I was an Eagle Scout. Only then would I have been prepared with an LED headlamp and been able to come up with such a wonderful plan.

You can see here that it worked perfectly. I popped out the battery with no injuries to anybody! You can tell by the circle of light on the ceiling that John's attention was focused on the job at hand and not on my crotch as the picture may appear to depict.

We finished with that one when another one went off in my bedroom. Again, durn vaulted ceilings made an interesting game of that one too. I think there was one or two more that we had to pop the batteries out of. We have yet to replace those batteries. Anybody have a 20 foot ladder we could borrow?

But we had a fantastic visit with the Marshall's. Ethan was especially excited to see them. Following are some pictures of the kids. If you've made it this far through the post, you deserve some pictures.

Joshy and Chloe. Josh is in awe over the awesomeness being displayed in the form of mock guitar. Choe is... eating something.

Ethan and Gwen. These two are just so darn cute together.

Josh stole Chloe's "baby". I'm next to positive that he took "it" as if a hostage in order to finagle a ransom out of Chloe. I'm sure that's why.

Joshy between the girls. That's more like it, Josh.

Well everybody, thanks for making it through the post. Challene, I hope this helps!
Adieu!!!

I Made Bread!!!

The first part of February I went to an enrichment night activity on how to make bread. I went to this activity knowing nothing about making bread. I was interested in learning about it but, I had this idea that bread was hard to make so I was a bit leery. I love to bake I just have never tried anything with yeast before (I guess you can say I have been intimidated by it). I really enjoyed the class and was way excited to give it a try. That week I had even bought all the ingredients. However due to life, which includes a good week of being sick, I was unable to do it until today.

The class was taught by an amazing woman Nita Smith. She is just one of those women who seems to be able to do it all. Which I am sure has to do with her doing and trying things until she gets it (she even mentioned this when she was teaching us, that she has been doing it for 20 years and it has been a lot of trial and error). I just love her. Anyways she was called to teach the class last minute and she did a great job. She gave us a great recipe and all the in's on the best products/ingredients to use. So I don't know if bread making isn't as hard as I thought, if Nita is an amazing teacher or if it was just pure beginners luck but my bread turned out great! However I know Nita was a big part of it. Without her I really didn't know how to do anything.

The finished product. The two in the middle of course are the prettiest!

The boys testing the finished product. They gave me thumbs up. It has to be great if a 4 year old and a 2 year old like it, right?

The Hubby testing!

The Hubby liking! Well at least he said he did, which I'm going to believe because I thought it was good myself.

Anyways just bragging a bit I guess. I am just really proud of myself. It is always nice to succeed, especially at something you are trying for the first time.

Oh and I can't forget about Amy she helped me out when I called her a couple times for help with the bread. She's always there for me when I'm in a bind! Thanks Amy!

Ethan

I was downloading some pictures to our computer/our blog when I came across these cute pictures of my big boy Ethan. I love them so I thought I would share.

So Handsome!

Ride'em Cowboy!!


This one is of Ethan playing Guitar Hero. He loves it, especially the drums but we didn't have the whole set yet just the guitar.

Here is his score, not bad for a 4 year old!

HIDE AND SEEK

So today I was playing hide and seek with the boys. Ethan seems to get the idea but Joshua just likes to jump out and yell "boo" whenever you get close to him. He is too cute and always makes me laugh! At one point in the game it was Ethan's turn to count while Joshua and I hid. Mind you he counts really fast so that does not give much time to hide. I grab Joshua and ran to our half bathroom on the main floor. Which is just around the corner from the living room where he was counting. So there I am standing in the corner of the dark bathroom holding Joshua when Ethan see's me in the reflection of the mirror and say's to me almost sarcastically, "Mom, that isn't a very good place to hide. I can see your reflection." So my mouth dropped and I was in stunned silence for a moment. I just can't believe how grown up and smart he is. So I finally pulled myself together and told him how smart he is.

Missing Oregon

I really really really miss OREGON!!! I have to say I never thought moving back to Utah would be such a hard transition. I was very happy with my friends and with every part of life in Oregon. I miss the waterfalls, the ocean, and quite frankly the green. I am so sick of the cold white snow.

I have been meaning for quite some time to post these pictures of just a few people that I love and miss from Oregon. It was such an amazing ward there are many women that are not in these pictures that I truly miss as well.

The wild bunch from left: Gwen, Joshua, Chloe, Ethan and last but not least Liza.

From left: Me, Martha, Amy.

The Chiro Guys from left: Jared, Jesse, Will, John, and Dan.

The Girls: Lindsey, Amy, Me, Holly, Beckie, and Daya.

And last but not least Me and Lindsey.

What a wonderful experience and part of our lives. We were so blessed to have been able to have these women/families be apart of our lives. We made bonds that will last us a lifetime.

Ethan's birthday... take 4!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 was Ethan's 4th birthday. I cannot believe he's so old. His primary presidency dropped off a delicious oversized red velvet cupcake for him. You can see the want on Joshy's face.

Boy, that's a big cupcake.
Joshy and me. Not sure exactly how or why this one got in here.

So, we had a party for Ethan on Saturday. He had some friends from Oregon (Gwen and Chloe Marshall) come. Plus, Amelia Johnson, Brooklin and Ryan Giddings, and Peyton and Bryton Harrison. It was a wild crowd, but they were good for the most part. The party theme was based on the Backyardigans. A cartoon featured on Nickelodeon. We don't have Nickelodeon, but the Marshall's did. In a sick and twisted act of guised friendship they gave us a copy of some of the episodes. 18 annoying mind-clinging songs later Ethan was hooked. The party was specifically based on Pablo, the propeller beanie, bow-tie sporting, duly recognized quasi-leader of the group, blue penguin.

Here we have Joshy donned with a phantom of the opera style blindfold affixing Pablo's bow-tie to his ample belly. Peyton, in a truly selfless act, was ensuring Joshy's sticker fixing.

Group Shot! From the left: Josh, Bryton, Gwen, and Brooklin.


Ah, presents. His grandparents spoiled him beyond belief. He ate up every minute of it, too!

I'll admit it. Sometimes, I'm jealous of my kids' toys. The Marshall's gave Ethan this nerf popper gun. I lovingly dubbed it, "The Enforcer" a not-so-tongue-in-cheek reference to my threat to popping the kids if they act up. Didn't take, though.

You faithful blog followers will know of Challene's ill-founded passion for creating special birthday cakes for our children. Ill-founded, I believe, is an apt description in my opinion because of the hassle it takes on her... and indirectly, me. However, the cakes are such a hit it usually makes up for it in the end. Here we have the Pablo cake. I thought she did a wonderful job. She wasn't so happy with it. The kids loved it, though. Bravo Challene!

Singing Happy Birthday. John Marshall and I sang the high part at the end, a la Michael Scott from The Office.

What better way to end a birthday than by a decapitation? Poor Pablo, didn't even see it coming. Word was that his torso kept twitching for an hour after the head was removed. Those fad-fangled Nickelodeon animated penguins just don't know when to quit!

Happy birthday, Ethan!