Feeling nervous... inadequate....and last but not least overwhelmed!

Long story short I got a Church calling this morning. I am the new Relief Society Secretary. I am overall excited about the opportunity this will give me to get to know the women in the ward better and quicker. I am also excited about the opportunity to grow more spiritually as I serve in this calling. However as I mentioned in my title I am felling very nervous about what this will entail. I am also hoping that it will not be an overwhelming calling, time wise that is. And last but not least I am felling somewhat inadequate, I just want to do well at my calling.

& a Happy New Year!

Love, The Greens

It's the time of the Season for... graduation!

My wife had been acting kind of strange over the past few weeks.

It is not necessarily out of the ordinary for her to experience unannounced mood shifts. Unforeseeable, though these may be in that regard, I am usually able to preemptively anticipate the direction of her dispositional oscillation... be it desirable or non... and strategize my activities accordingly. I have been married to her for nearly 8 years now, you know. I've grown quite accustomed to gauging the emotional and/or psychological vibes she is prone to emitting. That is, until a few weeks ago.

There were little things that, in retrospect, should have been a red flag telling me something was amiss. Little nuances that were somewhat uncharacteristic for my little sweetheart.

I had started to list these nuances, but it wasn't nearly as entertaining as I had hoped. So, I'll just tell you about my day yesterday. (That renders the entire introduction as a complete was of time and space, doesn't it?)

We woke up a little late that day. Our kids are usually up somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. Ironic, in a way, that the day we had somewhere to be they would sleep in until 8:00. We were supposed to be at the Bountiful temple at 9:30 for Sara taking out her endowments. It was snowing too... again. We quickly dressed and hurried to the temple.

All went well with the temple. My baby sister is now wearing garments and will be married in one weeks time. That in and of itself is baffling to me.

Typically, after a special occasion like that one is prone to commemorate with some sort of meal or dessert (especially us Mormons). I was very sad to discover, however, that my family had no such plans. So we got the kids and went home for nap time. I ended up taking a nice long nap myself while my wife busied herself in the kitchen.

We had a special date night planned that night because, in fact, it was my graduation day. I didn't go back to Portland for graduation so Challene wanted to make a special day for me. Among all the other nice things we did, we decided to go out to dinner and then back home to watch The Dark Night. Colleen was to be watching the kids because BreAnna and Justin had a job to do that night.

I wanted to go to Tepanyaki for dinner, but we discovered that there was to be a 25-35 minute wait. I didn't think that was to bad, but Challene nearly insisted that we just go to the Braza Grill instead. I'm a fan of all things Brazilian, so I obliged. We had a delicious and highly over-priced meal there. During dinner I duly noted the fact that Challene filled up unnaturally fast and also spent unnatural amounts of time in the bathroom. Who am I to jump to conclusions, though. Perhaps she was having gastrointestinal issues.

After a quick, but expensive meal (their lunches are more reasonably priced, though) and an extended bathroom break, Challene announced her craving for Mint Oreos and suggested we get some for the movie. Again, this struck me as somewhat odd, particularly in light of our conversation about trying to eat better not a few days ago. But, again I obliged.

Macy's is expensive too!

Finally, we headed home. As I pulled into the driveway, I noticed a newly purchased late model silver Honda Pilot parked just passed our home. That registered as somewhat ironic since Mike and Katie had just purchased one of those. Then I noticed the green Dodge Durango in front of the Pilot. One just like the one Dave and Michelle drive. I turned to Challene and asked, "Is that Mike's Pilot?" "No," she lied, "Why would that be Mike's Pilot?"

We pulled in and closed the garage door. I knew something was up, and in my distracted state I raked the sharp corner of the car door across the back of my knee. Distracted again, but this time by pain, I went in the door. What was my surprise when I heard the absurdly loud explosion of novelty poppers and a boisterous "Surprise!!!"


So, there I am. All thoughts of my aching leg long gone. Everything clicked. All Challene's quirks over the last few weeks, insisting on having the house immaculate, insisting that the dusting of snow be shoveled before we left the house, Tepanyaki, the mint Oreos. Lying about Mike's Pilot and Justin and BreAnna working that night. It all came together in a single agglomeration of "duh"ness. The house was packed with family and friends. There was food galore and an incredible assortment of alcohol-free beverages. It was a true party in the most literal of senses.


Here's some of the family. You can see that despite his claims to the contrary, Andrew's elbow-to-elbow span comes nowhere near to the length of my new TV (my graduation present to myself).

There was much Wii playing. BreAnna really got into the racing games. It was unfortunate that Rockband wasn't working so well. I really wanted to ROCK! There was also a large group of people playing Bunco. I've never played that before, but it seemed that people really enjoyed it. Dr. Norman and his family surprised me even more by stopping by to say "hello". He presented me with my very own x-ray view box as a graduation present! That will go into my new office, for sure!

It was a wonderful party. We all had loads of fun. Big time props to my wife for pulling it off (despite the blatant lies)! This is, I think, the first surprise that she's planned that actually ended up surprising me! She usually gives it away somehow. In retrospect, I should have suspected something by the many odd things she was doing and the uncharacteristic way she was acting and reacting at times. As it is, however, I had a wonderful night, and a wonderful graduation. I hear Portland has had ice storms that night. I'm glad I'm not up there for that.

It's the end of an era. I've been a student in some capacity or another for 77% of my life. That doesn't count my mission even though I studied just as hard. What am I going to do without finals to look forward too? What will I do without teachers to blame my shortcomings on? I'm on my own now. No one else to blame but myself. Sobering.

But I'm so happy to be done! I made my goal of being completely done with school before 30 years old! Barely, but I made it.

I had a wonderful day yesterday. Thank you, dear, for doing all that for me. We celebrated my graduation, but we should celebrate the end of school just as much for you as we have for me. You've sacrificed so much to be on this journey with me and I can't thank you enough for that! Thank you! I love you!

This is Josh after getting into Challene's mascara. Apparently, he thought his eyebrows needed more defining.

Halloween 2008

I know, I know it's a month over due but here are our Halloween Pics. We spent Halloween with my Mom and my sister's family. We went trick or treating around her neighbor hood, hit the trunk or treat as well and then headed to Chuck E. Cheeses for dinner. What a great night to hit the Chuck E. Cheese hardly anybody was there. Thanks Mom it was a lot of fun, Ethan keeps asking to go back.

My two Super Hero's!

Ethan and his cousin Peyton. Isn't she the cutest witch you have ever seen. Ethan got tired of the mask. Oh NO! Now everybody is going to know his secret identity!!

Bryton was so cute but I didn't get a picture of her in her little outfit. Sorry Bryton! I guess that is it. Better then nothing I guess. Hope you enjoyed!

"Twilight"

Will and I saw "Twilight" last night and had a blast. We arrived 2 1/2 hours early for the 12:01am showing and we were still towards the end of the line. Come to find out the first person arrived at 11:00am to get the first spot. Crazy! I know I am obsessed but obviously not the worst out there. The funny thing is it was a Dude! Some really great husband went to save a spot for his wife. At least that was his story. Maybe he really was a closet super fan. Anyways we still ended up getting some pretty great seats.

So here is Challene's critique of the movie:

I promise no spoilers, well except one really little one! But if you read the books I couldn't spoil it if I tried. So here goes.

It definately was not as good as the books. It felt like a rushed version of the book. But I am sure if they put evey detail of the book in the movie it would have been like a 12 hour movie or even 9 months long because that is the real time span of the book. But it was still a really good movie. I found it to be somewhat corny, this was due to certain lines said and the way they choose to portray the vampire's super human abilities. I also felt sometimes the music took away from the scenes. Don't get me wrong I really like the music, I own the sound track, it just felt to loud and over bearing in a couple spots. Not to mention the glitter sound they made when Edward shows himself to Bella for the first time in the sun. That was the worst for me. All in all though I really really liked the movie. I am being very nit picky here. Oh and I almost forgot and yes this is some what of a spoiler so if you don't want to hear it don't read any farther. Stephenie Meyer was in it.

Robert Pattinson and Kristin Stewart at the LA premier.

And last but not least I have bad news! Will was cut from the movie. Sorry Will, as jealous as I was I am really sorry you weren't there.

Wahoo!

TWILIGHT

I've got my tickets, do you have yours? Tickets are going fast for this much anticipated teen film so if you want to be one of the first you had better get a move on it. Will and I are double dating with Melissa and Spencer Turner. Our show time is at 12:01 am Friday the 21st and I know that it is the first showing but I still CAN NOT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and don't forget Will might just be in it. If you recall back in march the girls (Amy and Lindsey and I) all went and did a casting call for this film. NO none of us got in (YES still a little bitter) however Will and Jared (Lindsey husband) got to do it. So Look for Will in the seen where Edward takes Bella to the prom. Will was the Valet who helps Bella out of the car.

Speak of the devil here is Edward and Bella at the prom!

Oh la la just kiss her already!

No this picture is not from the movie but I still lOVE IT! Nothing like being swept off your feet by rippling biceps!

Okay I think I have drooled enough.

Long overdue

Wow, nearly a month and no post. Sorry to leave you all hanging. I haven't any photos to include in this blog... unfortunately. But since it has been some time since I last blogged, I thought it important to update everyone on what we've been doing over the last few weeks.


I checked out of school on October 15th. That was the earliest possible time I could do it and I made my goal to do it then. Two days later we were packing the U-haul up and getting ready to move. My brother and his wife graciously offered to vacation on the Oregon coast and then drive down with us back to Utah on Saturday the 18th. No one really remembers the details perfectly, but it was mentioned during the evening of Friday the 17th, albeit rather faceciously at the time, that perhaps we should just drive out that night. We would spend all night on the road, avoiding all the traffic, and the children would sleep during the greater portion of the drive. Plus, we wouldn't be getting much sleep on the floor that night and we wanted to leave at 5:00 am anyway. Well, despite my better sense, we actually decided to do it. After a lovely dinner of whole wheat pancakes offered by the Marshall's (Thanks guys!) we packed the rest and headed out. It was 10:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

The kids were out almost immediately, and ultimately there was only one melt-down from Ethan throughout the entire trip. It was pitch black through the pretty parts too, but all-in-all I think it went rather smoothly. Oh, there was one more thing. While driving the big truck with the trailer, occasionally a gust of wind would come and push us. Nothing serious, but it did cause us to swerve ever-so-gently. Everytime the truck would move Challene would worry. Everytime she fell asleep she'd wake up 5 minutes later and say, "are you ok?" I appreciate her concern, but after 12 hours of that, it got kind of old. I think she was the only one who didn't appreciate leaving when we did. She didn't get any sleep at all.

We pulled into my Mother's home at around noonish (Mountain Daylight Time). She, Dad, and Linda and Sara graciously watched a well rested Ethan and Joshua while Challene and I crashed for three hours.

Afterwards it was unpacking time. What with my family, and a few friends we had everything out of the truck within an hours time. It was great! I'm also pleased to report that my bike made it down here unscathed, despite one of the tie-downs breaking. It didn't move.

So, we've been getting settled since then and I've been working with Dr. Norman too. That's been interesting to say the least. I've been spending the majority of my time learning the office logistics with only minimal patient interaction. That's good, though, because I had no clue as to how the office would work. I've also been learning a lot about marketing and public relations. His PR person quit the weekend before I started so the office has been kind of hectic. We're working on transitioning into my taking a more formal role into patient care. Personally, I think it is working out well. Most of the patients see him because of his personality. Working up front and in an indirect manner with the patients has allowed me to build a repore (sp?) with them. As I've taken more patients on, I've learned that this was a good thing. If I was just thrown into seeing them, I don't think it would have been as smooth.

Dr. Norman is great. He's everything I hope to be as a chiropractor... with a few minor changes I'd make, but that's normal. He talks as if he's already hired me in January. That's fine by me.

So, Challene and the kids have been acclimating fairly well. We missed church our first weekend here and the next week was little Dylan's blessing. But we made it last week and that was an experience, that's for sure! First off, the church house was built circa 1968 and it is tiny! The hallways don't even wrap around. Which is a problem, because Elder's Quorum is in the extreme Northwest part of the church while nursery and relief society are on the extreme Southwest parts. Problem? We have to circle clear around the front of the building and cut through the chapel to get to the other side. It's rather annoying. But I'll deal with it.

We came to find out that the relief society president lives across the street from us! Across the street!!! I had to find someone on the street, ask him if he's Mormon and ask him what ward I was in and the time we meet! But in the three weeks that we were moved in she didn't come once to meet us or tell us what ward we were in or what time we meet. Thanks to 12-year old Andrew we found out that we meet at 1:00 p.m. We were actually relieved that we meet at one. That way, next year we'll be at 9:00 a.m. which will work much better with the kids and nap time. Yeah, well, that's what we thought. Come to find out that they just changed to 1:00. They change times based on the school year! THE SCHOOL YEAR! Have you ever heard something so rediculous? Me neither.

I met the bishop on Sunday. Here's how the convo went:

Bishop: Hi, how are you, I'm bishop such-and-such.
Me: Oh, hi bishop. My name is Will Green. My wife and I just moved in from Portland, OR.
Bishop:

Bishop: Well, see you later
/end communication

Bizarre. Eveything about this ward so far: Biz-to the 'a' double 'r' to the 'e'.

But, we're enjoying our time here. It's nice to be home in Utah. All of our skin has dried out extensively, but we're getting over that too. We miss Oregon and we miss all of our friends there.

Challene has been sicker than a dog over the past few weeks. Two Sunday's ago (Dylan's Blessing day) she was so sick that while I took the kids to the blessing her mom took her to the instacare place. Turns out, Strep throat. So, 10 days of antibiotics later she was feeling pretty good. Until yesterday. Another trip to instacare and, you guessed it, strep throat again. She's down and out and on her second bout of antibiotics. Here's hoping this one takes, eh? The poor girl hasn't been able to enjoy family or friends too much because of it and she feels horrible. So, if you haven't seen Challene yet don't worry, I'm sure she'll be ok for a few days... until round three hits!

That's all for now. Tune in later for updated pictures Oh, speaking of pictures, our good friends the Bralliers took us some family pictures before leaving Oregon. Check them out here. I can't wait to get the CD with all of them. Thanks Becky and Dave, you did a killer job!

Until next time!

Adieu.