Post Birthday Week

This last week I turned 35!!

Oh my, oh my, oh my!

I remember when I was in Texas and thinking about what type of a fun party I was going to have for my 30th birthday....but then we moved and I we put in an offer on our first house here in VA on my 30th birthday.

Now we have been here for 5 years, and it doesn't feel like we have been here for 5 years!! I still feel like I don't REALLY know people. I don't have those deep, deep connections with people and that makes me sad.

However, the connection that I have felt that it has grown A LOT is my relationship with my honey.

We go on nightly walks for about an hour and it is one of my favorite things each day.

When I was at church a couple people asked me how my week was, and I couldn't really remember my week. I was like why are they asking me this? Then as I thought about it more, I remembered that I had a birthday that week, that is why they were asking:) hahaha.

The lady that I visit teach invited me and some other people out for breakfast on my birthday and we went to Cracker Barrel. That was fun to go out for breakfast with friends so that was a great start to my day!! I had never been to cracker barrel but it is really fun. The ladies that came were Debbie Dalton, Debbie Richardson, Elizabeth Swainston, and Julia Leber.

The kids only had a half day that day so when Matthew go home from school, Chris and I went out for lunch and got gyros. Chris has introduced me to so much new food in our marriage. I used to be just a hamburger and hot dog girl. Now I like Tika Masala, Gyros, some Thai food and will try more things, though I still don't love filet mignon, or really good cuts of meat. I am not a huge meat eater but I am also not a vegetarian.

That night was suppose to be Enrichment and so I was excited to go be social, but they had to cancel so some of us got together and had Cold Stone Ice Cream instead. The ladies that joined me for that was Sharon Richardson, Jessica Rowland, Lyndsey Fox, Cassie Millburn, and Elizabeth Swainston. We laughed a lot and it was fun to be around them.

Chris also got me a Serger!! 

Now I need to think of a project to do in order to use it.

Chris doesn't care about what his age is but to me, it kind of freaks me out that I am not 35...though I don't feel that OLD:)

A few pictures from my birthday week
I went to lunch with Annette Dalton at Jason's Deli two days before my birthday. We got there a bit early so Michelle and I took some pictures:)

The night before my birthday was my first pack meeting as Pack Committee Chair.
I was hoping parents would come and they did!! The room was filled!!
It was a great turnout for my first pack meeting.

Also, I have an INCREDIBLE friend, Sharon Richardson, who often sends me flowers for my birthday, mother's day, or because I listened to her vent or something. She is SOOOOOO generous with my family and I. She sent this bouquet to me and I was BEYOND excited!!! I have wanted one of these Edible Bouquets for SOOOO long!! I had never told anybody I wanted one of these because they are so expensive (this one cost like $50!!!!) Anyways, I was talking to my mom on the phone when I saw Edible Arrangements drive up in my driveway. I was kind of freaking out and just new with about a 99% surety that Sharon had sent them and sure enough she did.
My family helped me eat this:)

So yummy!!
I had a pretty good week when I look back on it:)

Skipping out or Serving.....?

So right now I haven't really wanted to go to Relief Society. I am so used to all the fun and laughs and music and all that is involved in Primary so to go to a very silent, long, unstimulating place like Relief Society is just really hard for me. I don't want to leave primary. My first week not being in Primary we had snow so we only had Sacrament meeting. Last week Michelle had a runny nose so I stayed to listen to Chris' Sunday School class...(because he is such an AWESOME teacher) and then 3rd hour I listened to Allison give her talk and then took Michelle home.

Michelle is healthy this week (though so won't be once she goes to nursery) and I wasn't needed in Primary so I was actually going to go to RS. HOWEVER, the Sunbeam teacher told me that since I didn't want to go to RS if, I ever wanted to come in to assist her, I was more than welcome since she had new very energetic Sunbeams. 

So since I wasn't needed as a Primary teacher anywhere else, I got to listen to Chris' lesson and then did some talking (trying to help the Cub Scout program...apparently many parents are overwhelmed with Cub Scouts) then I went to help Sunbeams! They are so cute. 

Next week I get to be in Jr. Nursery (which isn't Michelle's class) apparently it is really hard to find Nursery subs. Then the week after that I get to be CHORISTER!!! YIPPEE!!

I guess the current chorister told the kids that she would be gone for the next two weeks and that Sister Thomas would be subbing for her. They all erupted with YES!!! (at least in Sr, Primary that is what happened, my kids and another teacher told me) Makes me feel good (and bad), but I wish they would not have done that in front of her. 

AWESOME Big Sister

I don't think that Michelle could have a better big sister!

Allison just loves this little sister to pieces. I am actually surprised how much she spends time with her and just wants to be with her.

She is almost always willing to help with her and sometimes I think Michelle likes Allison more than me and that is saying a lot. Part of that could be because Allison doesn't want to get mad at her or make her cry, though she will if she has to, or I tell her to, but if Allison can help it she prevents her from crying some way or another.

I just love the bond that these two have and though I know it won't, I know they will lose it at some point, but then I hope they get it back again.

Allison has taught Michelle to say, "We are best bends boreber" (She doesn't say her f's or if it starts with an s, she doesn't say it, so she means "best friends forever.")

We got them My Little Pony pajamas for Christmas so they could be twinzies, and they LOVE it!!!

I love the expressions in their faces. 

They are both such happy kids.

Fitbit Family

I got a Fitbit, almost by accident a few years ago. We had some credit through Amazon and we didn't know what we could get so I suggested I get a Fitbit Charge HR. It has been a fun thing to have seeing what my steps and such are. It got replaced once in that year and then it was breaking again and they had the new Charge 2 out, and gave me 20% off of a new Fitbit. I wasn't completely sure I wanted to actually buy another one but I am so glad that I did now.

I started getting my 10,000 steps on a pretty regular basis and I was the top of my leader board of my friends that I ACTUALLY know.

Then I joined this group called Walking and starting getting motivated by reading their posts, then I decided I needed more competition so I started doing challenges and being "friends" with other people and it has turned out to be SO fun. I have a couple Fitbit friends that really encourage each other to keep moving, getting badges, and my competitive spirit really comes in handy in these challenges I do.

Some days are better than others but I sometimes I care more than others as to getting my goal steps and my bigger goal steps. There is a virtual "badge" you get at 5k, steps and then every 5K after that up until 80k, then it goes to 90k and 100k. I don't think there is anything after the 100k. It is ridiculous but those badges are motivating. I thought it was crazy if people got 15 or 20k. Then my visiting teacher got 30k and I learned that you can go really high if you want to. Because I was in challenges I started hitting those big 30, 35, 40k numbers. It is a lot of work and I usually only do it if I am in a challenge but it is fun to reach that next goal. So far I have gotten up to 75k. It takes a lot of time though to reach those big numbers and you can't sit down much and your feet HURT!!

You chat with people in your challenges and get to know them and encourage and push each other and it is just a lot of fun!

My kids did have Garmin Vivofit Jr. it was one the best activity trackers for kids and they are waterproof so that was good, but Allison really wanted to compete against me and stuff so this Christmas when they got money from their grandparents and found good deals, they bought themselves Fitbits and we have all been pretty active competing against each other. Allison is by far much more motivated by those numbers on her watch than Matthew is. 

It has been really fun and we are avid Fitbit fans!!

Matthew has gotten badges, 5k, 10k, and 15k

Allison has gotten badges, 5k, 10k, 15k, 20k, 25k, 30k, 35k, 40k.

It is a lot of work for her to get such high numbers because she goes to bed so much earlier than me, but she is working hard to get those steps. It is very cute!!

This is after we went for a long walk, played around, had a snowball fight, walked some more and then came home and put on Full House (I got the whole series for Christmas) and we all walked in place watching and Michelle likes to do what we are doing.

Now if I could get my eating to be better, I might actually lose some weight:)

Matthew Said So

Here is my second week of blogging, though I have been doing many posts and adding them to 2017, where they happened, if you want to read other posts.

It snowed here Wednesday night so that means that the kids didn't have school Thursday or Friday. The temperatures have been even in the single digits, but for church on Sunday, we were suppose to start going at 9am. We have many Virgina native people here and don't do the snow or cold. They were trying to decide what to do about church when it would be super cold Sunday morning and there is still some snow and ice on the roads on the side streets.

I was actually impressed with their compromise. They decided to do 11am Sacrament Only Fast & Testimony Meeting. "It gave a couple more hours for it to warm up." They said, that if you don't feel safe driving in the snow, then stay safely at home.

Michelle was sick so Chris stayed home with her while I took the older kids to church. While we were in Sacrament I told Matthew that I really hope he goes on a mission. He kind of looked at me with a dumb expression, and said, "Of course, I am going to go on a mission mom!" He is a good kid and I sure hope he stays that way.

Later in the meeting someone was talking about 2/4 of their adult children were active. Matthew said to me, "That would be really sad. Mom, I am going to always stay active."

I know that so much happens in life, but I sure hope he does go on a mission and I sure hope he does stay active in the church his whole life.

Christmas Card Photos

I am not happy with my weight this year (like usual) so I opted not to do a full family photo for our cards this year and instead just the kids.

I obviously went with the Aggie theme this year.

Texas Born

Aggie Raised

I am so thankful for these kids.

This was the letter that went with these cards:

2017 Thomas Family Christmas Letter

Here we are, December is starting and it’s time for the obligatory Christmas letter. I know I don’t have to write a letter but my mental Christmas to-do list isn’t complete unless it’s done.

               One of the best things about this year is that we discovered that Matthew was “going to bed” on time, but couldn’t fall asleep and therefore instead of just laying there, he used his time wisely and used a flashlight to read books until past midnight.  We thought he was having serious aggression and anger management issues.  Turns out he was simply over exhausted, and instead of getting tired like most people do when sleep deprived, he got angry.  That’s when we introduced him to our good friend Mel A. Tonin. And the world has been a better place since.   We can actually stand to be around him again!!! He enjoys everything (ok not chores…or piano) but other than that he is a pretty happy kid. He likes 6^th grade and so far enjoys middle school more than he did elementary (see above comments on sleep patterns).  He very much enjoys reading and is a reading Olympics team captain.  This year his team won! Sadly his love of reading sometimes interferes with his schoolwork and his teachers catch him reading under the desk instead of paying attention – I suppose there could be worse disciplinary problems.  He enjoys swim team in summer and his goal is to make Champs next year. Loves being in middle school – a big 6^th grader now, he says it is like a fresh start, and he loves being in the Archery club. One of his biggest accomplishments this year was earning his Cycling Merit Badge, all in 6 weeks. The badge necessitated 160+ miles cycling, mostly road biking, and his final ride had to be 50 miles in 8 hours. He did awesome.  Despite his griping about piano he very much likes to show off what he can play at school and church.  He got to accompany the primary kids on one song during the Primary program.

               Allison, having just turned 9, is starting to exhibit many of the same symptoms Matthew was showing, thus she too has become well acquainted with Ms. Tonin.  She wasn’t sneaking up books, but was having trouble falling asleep despite getting lots of exercise each day. Our kids just need lots of sleep. They don’t love that they have to go to bed early, but they recognize that they are happier when they do. Allison’s big achievement this year was swimming super well in a more advanced league than last year. She had a clean sweep and won the blue ribbon in every race at many meets.  She then topped it off with a 1^st place medal in her division at Champs. She says she wants to swim in the Olympics.  She LOVES school (in 4^th grade), loves her teacher, and loves to be the “teacher’s pet”. She loves to read books and do crafts to give to people. She also plays the piano and likes to play her songs with the Primary kids singing as she plays. Her favorite song as a Sunbeam was Nephi’s Courage, and this year she learned to play it. I was impressed that she could learn it given the complexity of the piece, and there were many a shouting match during the initial learning and practice stages, but of course, now that she can play it she will do so at the drop of a hat. Lastly, she is the best big sister Michelle could ask for though admittedly there aren’t exactly a lot of other options.

               Michelle (2.5) is pretty perfect….most of the time…when she isn’t sick. We feel like Michelle has been sick for most of the year. Since we stay home a lot and don’t have a lot of other people exposure, when Michelle goes to nursery she is sick for 2-3 weeks afterwards, gets better and goes, and then the process starts over again. A lot of times she likes to help bring in groceries and anything else she can carry. She was a little slow to talk at first but we weren’t concerned with this one since Allison was “slow” also, and now we can’t find her off button.  Michelle is the same at home, but when she goes to nursery, she clams up.  We are thus looking for ways to make her think the whole house is part of nursery.  Her older siblings spoil her “because she is just so cute.” Just like her siblings, she LOVES to read, read, read. Her siblings love to show her off to their friends and show off her “tricks.”  Every time the kids ask for a dog, Chris says we already have one (though he admits a dog would be far more obedient).  Michelle is one toy that even though we have had for 2.5 years, they still think she is so much fun. She loves to sing and be sung to. She has quite a little repertoire of songs she wants us to sing and songs she knows. She tends to match pitches so maybe she will be a great singer. With help from her siblings our trampoline, Michelle has been our first child to brake a bone. She got her two bones in her leg broken but thankfully everything has healed nicely. She gets SOOO many comments on her red curly hair when we are in public, it is insane. She loves trains and loves to watch Chuggington and also Super Why.

               This summer we did quite a bit of traveling. We all went to Arizona to see family for a week and then for the month of August Steph took the kids on a month-long road trip. They went camping (which Matthew had wanted to go camping for SO long), so they got to do that along their way. They spent a day in Nauvoo, then went to Mount Rushmore, which was really cool. To get Michelle to care to look at a mountain we told her to look for noses so those presidents are forever known as “The Noses” in our house.  Next destination was Big Sky Country to be with Grandma & Grandpa McNiven for a little bit, as well as play with cousins. They had a great visit in Montana before moving on to Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and then home. We got to see many family and many friends along our way and we loved being in Texas again. It was more nostalgic for Matthew since he was old enough to remember living there.  In some cases the reunion with his friends made it seem as if the years since our move never happened.  Allison was only 4 when we left, so she doesn’t recall much. We got to see so many friends along our trip that I am not going to mention them all because I will forget someone and I don’t want to make anyone feel bad.  We loved the opportunity we had to make this trip and visit family and friends, and Chris enjoyed his time as a bachelor for a month so much that he wasn’t quite sure to what degree to rejoice or mourn when the family returned home.  The older kids did such an incredible job with keeping Michelle happy throughout the whole trip, it was wonderful, but after a month of being away and not sleeping in our own beds we were all so glad to be home again, on our own schedule.

               Along with the travels that Steph took with the kids she also flew to MT in February to celebrate her parent’s 50^th wedding anniversary with the incredible party that Steph’s brother and his wife, put on for them. Then she got to fly to TX in March for a Girl’s Reunion which was so great to see (keep in mind all this travel took place before the month-long road trip to those very states). Steph got to enjoy this year doing her most favorite calling in the church which is Primary Chorister and LOVED teaching the kids the gospel through song. She was devastated when got released. Now she gets to help the Cub Scout Program try to run well as the Cub Scout Committee Chair.

               Chris pretty much was a homebody, didn’t get to travel all that much other than to AZ in the summer and to FL to grade the AP History exams. He stays home and works so Steph can go on all these adventures with the kids.  As Steph is often heard saying, “He stays so we can play.” But he isn’t too sad to have an entire month family free to enjoy all his hobbies with reckless abandon (or as much recklessness can be had with painting while watching shows on Netflix. He is still the Gospel Doctrine teacher and is really excited to be finished with teaching Doctrine and Covenants.  Every time he is put in a teaching calling it’s at the beginning of the D&C.  Though he enjoys having a coveted “once-a-week” calling, he is still aspiring to Hymnal straightener another calling that requires a solid once a month (or year) effort.

               We enjoy this time of year and are thankful that we have the free agency to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Though songs can’t be sung about the Savior’s birth in my kid’s school it makes my heart happy when I do actually hear people tell me Merry Christmas.

So Merry CHRISTmas family and friends!!!     May you enjoy this time with family and friends.

Love,   Chris, Steph, Matthew, Allison, and Michelle Thomas

Best Calling Ever

I have found out what MY most favorite calling EVER is in the church.....Primary Chorister!!!

I LOVE to sing with those kids! I love to sing the gospel truths and help them know the words so that when they need that in their lives they can sing them.

I LOVE being in Primary with my own children. I felt like all the time and effort I put in, wasn't just for nothing, but my kids saw all the time I spent on my lesson each week and then they got to enjoy it on Sunday.

I LOVED encouraging the kids in my primary to WANT to learn how to play the piano so they could accompany us. It was SO cool that Matthew accompanied the Primary kids IN SACRAMENT twice last year. Once for Father's Day, and then he accompanied a song and another 11 year old boy accompanied a song in our Primary Program!! It was SOOO cool. 

I know that I have never accompanied anybody in Sacrament before.

Anyways, I love being in Primary. I was first put into Primary as the 2nd Counselor in the Presidency with Stacey Leber as President, and Karen Eliason as 1st Councelor. Then after about a year there we needed a new pianist and our chorister could play the piano so they moved Heidi Taylor to pianist and me to Chorister. When they issued that call, I may or may not have pumped my fist and said, YES! I got put in in August of 2016. I was gone for a few weeks and then we had our program in October of 2016. Heidi had already decided on all the songs and such so I just had to come in and review and do the program. 

I was excited for the start of 2017 because then I could pick the extra songs and make it my own thing. I LOVED it!! I was in the LDS Primary Chorister Facebook group and that was SOO helpful with new fun ideas each week. My biggest struggle was getting my 20 minutes. I didn't usually get it because they wouldn't let singing time go first, always sharing time.

I had a great year, though I was a NERVOUS wreck for our program because I had never used kids so much for accompanying and we did bells and we had lots of solos and duets. I was so worried they would get stage fright or something but they didn't and they did awesome.

One compliment was, "I have never seen so many kids doing so many different parts of the program. She really liked it."

Anyways, the beginning of December, our friend...and a member of the Bishopric over Primary, Bary Dalton, stopped by our house unannounced on a Saturday. I was just driving home from running errands and I thought he was coming to visit Chris because they are friends. Anyways, he was there on "official business" and I didn't think I really liked him being on official business because that ALWAYS means a new calling.

He told me about how we are combining the other ward, Chickahominy and Mechanicsville ward youth nights and our Cub Scout program is coming together.

He was telling me/us how it was all going to work, telling us how we needed good leadership in Cub Scouts and stuff and finally I said, ok, get to the point.

He said that he wanted me to be the new Cub Scout Committee Chair. (Our Cub Scout program was HORRIBLE!!!!!) I hated going, I hated going to pretty much anything it was apart of. Matthew had great Wolf leaders (Lisa Luck and Candi Blaser) and a REALLY good Webelos Leader (Ronnie Sipe). I was glad when Matthew was finally out of Bears so that he got such a good leader like Ronnie Sipe. Takes his calling very seriously and is SOO good. Anyways, that was about the extent of anything good in that pack. I was SOOOOOOOOOO happy when Matthew turned 11 this year and I was OUT!!! I didn't have to be apart of that crap of a program anymore. When I was in the Presidency of Cub Scouts I TRIED and TRIED and TRIED to get them to communicate to the parents more and tried this and that and the committee chair just did his own thing. The person that became the new 2nd counselor I thought would be able to get him to do well, and NOPE that didn't work either. Bottom line they needed someone else in that position especially having TWO wards now involved. Not that I am a wonderful person but when Bary said they wanted me to do it, I was all-for it knowing that it needed change in that program to make it good for the boys.

I was like yep, ok, yeah, I can do that......but then the BOMB dropped!!!!

Chris asked......."Is this in addition to Primary Chorister???"

Bary shook his head no.....

I actually kind of screamed out NO! and burried my face in the back of the couch close to Chris and just started bawling!!!!

But this isn't a Sunday calling!! I can do both!!

Bary shook his head no.....

"We need all of your efforts to be in this program". He tried to talk to me about other things as I just cried, and cried, and cried. I just shut down any niceness towards him. I was SO MAD/SAD!!

He eventually left and asked if I wanted a hug, but I was mad at him and just let Chris walk him out. I pretty much cried for two days straight. 

I didn't tell me kids since I am not really suppose to tell anybody until I am sustained, so I had the Bary, Stacey (the Primary President) and Chris to talk to.

I wanted to stay until the end of the year, and we weren't going to actually do the releasing until then just to finish this year out and start fresh in the new year.

We had stake conference that weekend anyways but I actually didn't go, because all I would have done was cried. 

I cried a lot!!! When I went to do piano lessons with my kids I would cry. I worry that they won't get that opportunity to play the piano anymore in there since I won't be in there and then they won't want to learn more songs.

Everything set me off. I got depressed and just shut down....and cried some more.

The first two days actually Chris just took the kids and let me do WHATEVER I wanted. I actually went out into the garage and did wood-working. Many times I had to shut off the saw because I was crying so bad. I thought of how horrible of a job I must have done for them to fire me. I thought about saying no to the Stake President when he wanted both wards to do the prelude music and we were already preparing for something else and thought they kids needed a break after just getting done with the program.  I thought that Stacey must just not want to work with me anymore.  I thought so many horrible dark, feelings of why I wasnt wanted anymore. I cried a lot all the time and Chris couldn't believe I was taking it so hard but I had only been in there a year, ok like 16 months. I wasn't done yet, I didn't want to leave me kids. I enjoyed being crafty and using it and playing games and songs and laughing with the kids. I had so much fun in Primary and I don't want to be to boring Relief Society. 

The Relief Society President called me the next week and was talking to me and asking how things were going and such. She asked about my calling, because everyone knows how much I loved that calling. I was a little solemn about it and she was surprised. "Oh I thought you really liked it." So I had to switch tactics and said, let me tell you all the many reasons why I LOVE being Chorister........

After that she said, "Oh I am so glad you have that in your life right now."......yeah....I don't :(   ...... but I wasn't suppose to talk about it.

I finally texted Stacey and Bary to see if I might be able to get released but just "sub" until the end of the year, so that I would be able to start talking about it and dealing with it. It was hard not to talk to Bary's wife, my friend, Annette, and he doesn't ever tell her anything to do with callings so I know she didn't know, even though he knew why their friend was so depressed. 

When I got called to be chorister, I had already planned on being gone for two weeks so they released the old chorister but just had her sub for two more weeks, so I figured why not do that here so that I can start talking to other people, telling my kids and such. Well, Saturday night they decided to cancel church the next day due to the snow anyways so we didn't have to worry about any releasings. However, they did say they would do it the next week so then I could start dealing with it by talking.

After two weeks of dealing with the idea of not being able to do this great calling anymore, I wasn't crying over it constantly. In fact, I thought I was doing pretty well.

Allison got asked to sing a duet with Kyla Raab at Holly Fox's baptism and so we went to that. I saw Bary before the baptism and I was smiling and I gave him a hug so that he saw I wasn't always crying when I saw him. He asked how I was doing and I was chipper and said, I am dealing with it, just takes time.

I had Allison and Kyla sing a medley of Baptism and When I Am Baptized. I had Allison learn the Alto part and though she sort of fought me at first to learn it, we just drilled it into her head so much that she couldn't remember any other way to sing it. She actually did so well at her part that Kyla couldn't even sing the melody on part of it, she sang with harmony with Allison. It probably wasn't noticeable all that much to those listening but if you knew the music or know music in general they probably might have been able to tell.

She did a great job though and she had a great time knowing the harmony after that.

The closing song at the baptism was I Am A Child of God. That is next year's Primary Theme. That song is one of the songs they are singing. When we started singing that song, I lost it. I thought I was doing so well, but I opened the waterworks again.

We were thankfully in the back, but I had to leave and go to the bathroom to get tissue and stuff. It was just so hard. When I went back out, everyone had gone from the Relief Society/Baptism font room to the gym for desserts, but Bary was still in the Relief Society room. He gave me a hug and I cried some more. He knew that the song did it to me. We talked about Cub Scouts and what we needed to do. Then eventually I went into the gym, just kind of waiting for Allison to get done.

Stacey was talking to someone else and then I heard her say, well, I need to go talk to Stephanie, and she came over.

She gave me a hug and I was not all that friendly and said, I don't want to talk to you. It was the first time that I had actually seen her since finding out "she was firing me". She said, let's go out and so we went into a dark Relief Society room and cried together and had a great conversation.

She said that she had been struggling with the Spirit so much on this. She knows how great I am in Primary and didn't want to lose me there but I am needed with the Scouts right now. She was sad that I felt like I was getting fired or that I did something wrong. We cried a lot together, and had some laughs in there too.

She told me how much I meant to her and how much I had taught her. I didn't know I had taught her anything but she said she saw how passionate I was about those kids and my calling and singing and teaching those kids. She just was inspired by what I did in there. *I just shook my shoulders, ok* I didn't really think I did anything special, just had fun with them.

We finally stopped talking and when we went out in the hall, Allison had asked Mark Fulcher, do you know why my mom is crying? His response was, "She is a rock and water falls over rock." Yeah, he is weird/funny like that. She didn't quite get it.

On Sunday, December 17th, I was very solemn when I went to church. Not social because I was just trying not to cry....while before church started. When they hymns started playing I started crying and I didn't stop all Sacrament. They released me and I cried. When I was to stand up for my new calling I stood but I was on the side and I just stared at the floor and then sat down. 

I was able to pull it together for the most part in singing time, except when they sang really well, then it was hard not to cry but it was ok.

We played Primary Christmas Singo so that was really fun! But Bary came in at the end and gave me a hug and I cried. It seems like when I see Bary now, I cry. How sad is that? I texted he and Annette and told them that Chris and I need to go out with them sometime and do something non-church related so Bary isn't always seeing me cry whenever I see him.

The next week was Christmas Eve and we just had a joint Sacrament meeting with Chickahominy ward.

Then last week was New Year's Eve and I got ALL of the time!!

It was fun! We played hand bells and sang Ring, ring, ring, I like to ring, I like to ring a bell, ring, ring, ring.   while we rang in the new year.

We sang all the songs I wanted us to sing and they got to put their favorite song on snowball and try to make a basket, then we sang their favorite songs.

Our final song that we sung was We'll Bring the World His Truth, my favorite song, and of course....I cried.

I hope that they need me to sub when the chorister is gone but also to sub as a teacher in Primary. It is just so fun, and I love being in there with me kids to watch what they are doing and how they are acting:)

When we sang the last song in SR Primary, I looked over and just saw Allison crying which made me cry more...and then I saw Matthew crying!! Allison cried when she found out I wasn't going to be in there but Matthew hasn't ever cried so I didn't really think he cared all that much if I was in there or not, but seeing him cry, I guess made me feel good that he was in fact going to miss having his mom in there with him. We were the sobbing Thomases:)

I know that I will be back again in the best calling ever, but it is A LOT of work:)

One day I did Music Measles and the kids had SOO much fun, and apparently the teachers did too, many of them were taking out their phones to get pictures of me.

2018 GOALS!

I am not normally a big fan of New Year Resolutions because I usually know that I don't intend on doing them for long or something but for some reason this year felt like I wanted to make some goals for myself.

The first one I am checking off is a weekly goal so now I will only have to do this 51 more weeks to accomplish this one, since I am doing it right now, first thing waking up in 2018.

2018 GOALS

1. -Blog Every Week (at least once)

2. -Drink 100oz of H2O daily (before 9pm)

3. -Get Pregnant or lose 50 lbs 

4. -Keep house cleaner

5. -Do dishes every night before bed

6. -Get step goals everyday

7. -Get ready each day (showered, dressed, hair, makeup)

8. -Enjoy and spend more time with kids

9. -Save More

10. -Stay in budget better

11. -Treat my wonderful honey well

12. -Have more lady get togethers

13. -Update brown trim/ceiling/walls, kitchen

14. -Limited time on Facebook/Internet

15. -Read a Book

16. -Learn 6 Primary Songs & 6 Hymns on Piano

17. Daily Family Scripture Study

18. Daily Family Prayers

We shall see how I did in 365 days from now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!