A new calling

Yesterday I was called to be the 2nd Counselor in Young Womens. I LOVE working with the YW! I worked with the YW for almost 3 1/2 years in our previous ward, it was a great experience for me. When I was a YW, I didn't have a strong testimony of the YW program, but as I served in YW as an adult, that is when I gained a strong testimony of the program. I love serving the Lord, in any capacity. I always find my testimony strengthened in one area or another, and I also form great friendship with those I serve with.

This time around is already starting out very different from the last. Let me explain a bit... about a month ago our ward boundaries were changed a bit. Our ward boundary to the North of us was extended a few blocks, so with that, we gained four new families. One of those families became our new Bishop. AND then from one of the other families our new YW President was called yesterday. So I don't know the President I will be serving with. And she did not know me as she prayed about who to call as her counselors and secretary, but she did tell me that she felt a very strong impression that I was suppose to serve with her.

I do know this, personal prayer and revelation are real, and can and do help guide us in our lives. As our Bishop set me apart for this new calling, I could feel the power of the Spirit testify to me that this is where my Heavenly Father wants me to serve at this time. Then as we were all leaving the Bishop's office, he told me that he knew I was suppose to be in this calling that I was going to have a great impact on the girls I will be serving. I am grateful to our Bishop for sharing his impressions with me, as it reaffirms the feelings I was having.

So cheers to a new calling, a new adventure, new friendships, and building and strengthening my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Happy 27th Birthday Jeffery!

Today is Jeff's 27th Birthday! Happy Birthday you old fart. (I only say this because Jeff keeps saying that he is getting old, and I just roll my eyes when he says this)

Jeff is pretty easy to shop for, because he always gives me good ideas. But actually buying and keeping what I buy a secret is horrible! Here are the reason why he is horrible to buy for:

1.) There have been a few years that I have planned on buying Jeff' something really cool (like a paintball gun), and Jeff has gone out and bought the item, just days (or weeks) before his birthday, not knowing of course that I was going to buy it for him. This is something I tease him about all the time, and will never forget, or stop teasing him about.

2.) He HATES waiting until his birthday to open his presents, he whines and begs, like a two year old, so I usually give in and let him open his presents a day or two early.

3.) He always guesses what his presents are and gets his guesses right. Is it always that obvious what I get him? No. Jeff will say it's because he's good. I would beg to differ. Whatever it is I HATE IT! I wish he would not guess at all, because the moment he gets it right, he can read on my face that he is right. I am a horrible liar. Grrrrr.

This year my plan was to not let any of those things happen. So here is what I did.

I bought his present about a week and a half early and wrapped it. I didn't just wrap it, I WRAPPED IT! I put towels in with the present and wrapped the box in this super, heavy duty masking tape, then I put that box in a bigger box, put more towels in with it, and duck taped that box. Then I let Mason and Cooper color on the box.

THEN, just to tease Jeff a little I sent him a picture of his present while he was at work. I then set his present on our dresser, just so he could see it every day for the next week and a half, and let it bother him.

Here is the final product.

This morning he opened his present. Opening the first box.

Oh look, another box.

This one wasn't so easy to get open. The knife he was using, would not cut through the super, heavy duty masking tape, so he had to undo it by hand.

unrolling....

and unrolling.....

and unrolling....

Finally! He was able to get the box open and see what was inside.

So I'm sure you are all wondering if my plan worked. It did! There was only one little issue. Jeff did guess it was a watch before even seeing his present in person, but he was in another room when he guessed, so he did not see my face with the dead give away look it had upon it.

This morning Mason, Cooper, and I took brownies into Jeff at work and met most of his new co-workers and got to see his new office.

Tonight we will be leaving the boys at home to enjoy dinner together at Outback Steakhouse.

Canning Applesauce

The Saturday before last, Jeff and I took the boys to greenbluff and picked about 33 lbs. of apples. The next day I made chunky applesauce and canned it. I was able to get 12 quarts of applesauce, and it is yummy.

Prayers

Lately Cooper has been really into praying. He will fold his arms and bow his head, and when who ever is saying the prayer, he will repeat every couple words. Mason has caught on to this, and so now when Mason is saying the prayer, and Cooper begins to copy Mason, Mason leans over to Cooper and helps Cooper finish the prayer, giving Cooper time to repeat what Mason says before going on to the next part of his prayer.

It is really wonderful to see, as a mom, my children growing in the gospel, and being a good example to me and to each other.

Fair 2009

We went to the fair with Jared, Michelle, and Ethan last Friday night. I stole these wonderful pictures from Jared and Michelle's blog because we still have not bought a new camera. So thanks guys for letting me be a thief. Walking though the animal exhibits. Cooper does not like dogs at all, and we found out that night that he doesn't like cows, sheep, pigs, or any other big loud animals. The whole time Cooper had to be held and he had his hands over his ears and his eyes closed.
All three boys petting a really soft bunny.

Michelle and Cooper

Mason and I rode on the Ferris Wheel. When the wheel first went up, Mason grabbed my legs, but by the end he was enjoying himself.

We took the boys on a roller coaster. This was Mason's second time on a roller coaster, and Cooper's first. Mason sat with Jeff and Cooper sat with me.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see us on the left side.

Pre-School

Mason started Pre-School today. So sad. My baby is growing up! Next thing I know he will be graduating high school and leaving me forever.

He was so excited to start Pre-School! Mason told me that I didn't have to stay with him at school. It made me sad to think that he doesn't need me as much anymore, but I guess I'd rather have that, then have him holding onto my leg for dear life, screaming and crying. Here he is at Pre-School, standing in front of his back pack, which is on his hook that says, (according to Mason) "M-A-S-O-N, hey that says Mason!"
Then Cooper needed a picture with his big brother.
Mason with his cousin, Zachary, making funny faces.


When I picked Mason up, he said he had a great time and can't wait to go back!

First canning experience!

Tuesday myself and two friends for mine canned spaghetti sauce and diced tomatoes. It was quite the project! I guess spaghetti sauce is one of the most time consuming things you can can. So not exactly the best thing I could have chosen to can for my first canning experience. In all I canned 11 quarts of spaghetti sauce and 5 quarts of diced tomatoes.

Not a statistic anymore

JEFF GOT A JOB! He interviewed with three different places this past week.

The first interview on Monday was at a home care company who only wanted someone to take call one night a week, so that wasn't really a great source for income.

The second interview was on Tuesday at the Pullman Hospital. It was a full time day position, working 3-12 hour shifts a week. We weren't too thrilled about commuting every day, but figured it would be better than not having a job at all.

The third interview was on Wednesday with a different home care company here in Spokane. This is the one that we thought wasn't going to hire a full time person until October. We know the one other therapist who works there, her husband was Jeff's Supervisor at Preferred. So we are not sure why, but they decided to call Jeff in for an interview. Jeff was there for close to 3 hours! At the end of the interview, the owner told Jeff that they were going to throw away the rest of the resumes and get back to him probably by the end of the week.

On Friday Jeff was offered the job and asked if he could start this coming Wednesday. (I probably don't need to say this, but Jeff did take the job.)

Tool Belt

For as long as we can remember Mason has LOVED tools and can name each one. This has actually come in real handy when doing a project and in need of a certain tool, Mason is just the man for getting the tool. We were at the hammer store (Lowe's) the other day and Mason REALLY wanted his own tool belt, so we let him spend a little bit of his birthday money on a tool belt. Here he is showing off his new tool belt.

Garage Shelf

Right now we have six houses being built on our block. After the framers are completely done Jeff goes over to their big garbage pile and finds perfectly good 2'x6's (if you don't mind if the wood is bowed and has a few nails in it). He has also found whole and partial pieces of ply wood. Jeff figured that if he "dumpster dived" after the framers were done with each house, he would soon have enough wood to build a shelf in our garage. Plus we had lots of left-over screws from other miscellaneous projects. So today he built this shelf (with help from the professionals, me, Mason and Cooper of course). The only things we had to buy were 8 joist hangers and 1 box of 4 1/2" screws, which cost us just under $15.00!!! Doesn't it look awesome! Jeff did a great job! Thanks Jeff.

Rub a dub dub...

5 boys in the tub. Last night all 5 boys need a bath, so we thought, why not squeeze them all in our Master Bath. They all fit and had lots of fun playing in the water together.

Cooper's 2nd Birthday Party

Sunday night we celebrated Cooper's 2nd Birthday with family and a few friends.For Cooper's cake I made two 9x13 cakes and printed off a big #2. I cut out the "2" and used both pieces as a stencil for the sprinkles.

The finished product of one cake. Check out Cooper's attire! Classic.

Finished product of both cakes. Not bad for pulling something together last minute. Yes, I do mean last minute. I didn't have a clue what I was going to do for Cooper's cake until about 11:00 Sunday morning.

I'm not sure what was going on here, but he must have been either upset about something, trying to explain something to someone, or possibly directing air traffic.

Michael

Dietrich and Lillyanne

The birthday boy while everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. Sorry no video of that, I forgot to tell my sister to get video, and she didn't read my mind. Gosh!

Opening presents!

Cooper's rich!

50th Anniversary

This Saturday was Jeff's Maternal Grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration. For lunch we went to the Timber Creek Buffet out in the Valley, which was a really good buffet. Then we went to Jeff's Grandparents house for cake and to visit with family.

Grandpa and Grandma Long. Happy Anniversary!
Aunt Antja with her granddaughter, Lucy. The 8 great grand children. Lucy, Bailey, Ashley, Megan, Connor, Hannah, Mason, Cooper.

Selena and Cooper

Yours truely!

Mason playing with Daddy

Part of the statistic now

Jeff was laid off on Friday. We have known it was a possibility for a little while now, but it is hard just the same. He was laid off because their branch doesn't get much business. As I said, we have known this was a possibility, so Jeff has been applying for any and all Respiratory positions he could find. Unfortunately, the hospitals have been on hiring freezes and most other places are not hiring either. So, needless to say, he never found another job BEFORE being laid off.

We went to the temple just two days before Jeff was laid off. We both got the feeling while there that Jeff didn't get any of the other positions he applied for because our Heavenly Father has another plan for us, and that he will show us, when the time is right, what that plan is. I'm grateful we went to the temple before all this happened, being in the temple has given me the comfort I need to endure this trial.

We are choosing to look at this "trail" as a blessing in disguise. Jeff really wasn't happy at Stat, but wasn't going to leave until he had another job lined up. It's like our Heavenly Father is saying, OK guys, here is the first step on my plan, figure out the rest now.

Jeff does have one lead on a RT position, but that might not happen until October, but he did take in his resume today anyway. Until then, or for how ever log he is needed, Jeff is going to work for a good friend of ours, Terry, who owns a construction company.

Heathens!

A few weeks ago I took a trip to the bank with my two boys and my sisters' three boys. As we were at the drive up window, Mason asked if they could all have a sticker. The bank was out of stickers, but had rub on tattoos. So as soon as we got home the boys all sat around the table and waited patiently for me to put on their tattoos. They LOVED them! Look at those grins!