Primary Program

Today was the Primary program in Sacrament Meeting. I thought I would feel so content just sitting in the congregation instead of being the one responsible. I actually felt a little sad. When the Primary children sang their first song, I naturally started singing with them until I realized I was the only one on our pew. I miss the kids in our old ward.

I did enjoy seeing E.R.'s face when he gave his part instead of the back of his head like last year. He did a great job. That kid does not hesitate in the slightest when speaking in front of anyone. I wish his excitement for talking translated into a desire to sing. I think he managed to chime in on the last song, and that was about it. Instead we were the proud parents of the waving, yawning boy who occasionally wowed the congregation by balancing on one foot.

If E.R.'s talents weren't enough to impress our new ward, I'm sure once combined with A.M.'s uncanny knack for shrieking "Stop it!" over and over right at the most reverent part of the Sacrament prayer is enough to win them over.

Job Well Done!

Well, in less than a week, I've successfully managed to eat the majority of my kid's Halloween candy. With current issues such as childhood obesity, I tell myself I'm doing it for their own good; but we all know that's not true. (Disclaimer: the hand in the photo is not mine--it may as well be.)

No Stalking Allowed!

You may have noticed I've changed a few things. For those of you who are our family and friends, you are welcome to, hopefully, enjoy this blog; which is why I didn't want to restrict access. For those I don't know, I figure important information is on a need to know basis. Why the sudden paranoia? Well, I saw this:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=4699330

I'm not trying to be ridiculous here, I just figured it couldn't hurt to keep things a little more anonymous. "Nelson" is a common enough last name. (If that really is our last name. :)) As for our first names, my smart and sexy husband will be referred to as R., our son is E.R., and our daughter is A.M. I hope you won't be too annoyed to keep reading! Lots of love, M.

*Spoiler Alert*...I Voted For...

I voted--thanks to a GPS otherwise I would never have found the place. Oh, how I miss a good grid system!

So have you ever seen a voting booth like this? Well, I hadn't. I felt like a bit of a moron for having to have the thing explained, but the ACME method of pushing various levers to cast my vote was way beyond me.

Boy, we really do live in a small town!

Daylight Savings and Moral Cleanliness?

So we're always late to church. Always. We were late when it was just the two of us and blamed it on late nights studying. We were late when we had babies and blamed it them. We were late when church was at 9am and blamed it on being too early. But, we were late when church started at 1pm too.

We decided to turn a new leaf with this move. Didn't happen. Until yesterday...

The morning started out as usual--the kids were extra slow, I couldn't find anything I wanted to wear, etc. We piled in the car knowing we would, yet again, be our usual five minutes late. Halfway to the church, I mentioned how embarrassed I am over our tardiness (knowing full well it's often my fault). R. groaned and said, "Well, you're in luck, we're early." Yep, we forgot to turn our clocks back.

Speaking of church...I'm the YW adviser for the beehives (12/13-year-olds). We have a good group of girls making the calling quite fun. Last week I introduced the lesson to the girls by telling them it was a very important topic and I was particularly excited to be teaching it.

Before I could even share the topic, one of the more clever girls said in mock disgust, "I sure hope it's not about the law of chastity. We already had that one. Talk about awkward!" I assured her I would be shaking in my boots if that were the topic so they were safe for another week.

Our House is Haunted!

I'll be honest, this new house of ours is a little scary. It mainly has to do with the fact that most of the rooms do not have adequate lighting. (A predicament we're correcting in the next couple of weeks.) This problem is compounded by the fact that I am a scardy cat! But after last night you won't blame me.

I stayed up later than R. Being alone, I found myself turning out the lights, running like a bandit up the stairs and climbing safely into our bed. I left our door open so that we could hear the kids in the night.

At 4 am. I was awakened by our door slowly, slowly creaking shut.

I laid in bed, heart pounding, wondering what to do--should I wake R. or should I open the door and accept my fate. I decided to man-up and check it out myself.

The low-lit hall was empty. A.M.'s and E.R.'s doors were open. (They had been shut when I went to bed.) A.M.'s room--empty.

It was in E.R.'s room where I found my ghost--sitting there looking at books in the dark while her brother lay sleeping, undisturbed. Curse the day A.M. learned to open her bedroom door!

So as it turns out, there was nothing to be afraid of--well, except, that is, for the frightening deposit my little banshee left in her diaper. I should have woke R. up after all!

Halloween

What a great day! The weather was fabulous. (Earlier in the week it had snowed, so we were worried.) R. took half the day off. E.R. had a school party and costume parade. We carved pumpkins and ate scones for dinner. Then came, of course, trick or treating.

The kids were just as excited to hand candy out at our door as they were to go out themselves. At the first doorbell E.R. exclaimed, "It's our first customer!"

We live on a small, secluded street and one might think it's not so great for trick or treating. On the contrary, the kids were given fistfuls of candy. After just a few houses their bags were full and we could call it a night. A.M. scored most of all. Her skunk costume was a HUGE hit. She really was cute. And E.R. made a great Optimus Prime. There was even a classmate dressed up as Bumblebee.

The only crisis of the night--one petrified 5-year-old after going through the haunted house at the ward party.