Holy Busy Calendar, Batman

Wow I can't believe how crazy this year has been so far. We should have seen it coming when our January calendar started with only a tiny bit of white space available. Needless to say, we are still around, but I haven't had time to even read anyone else's blogs (gasp!) let alone think about what I might say on my own. That's when you know.

Actually, that's not entirely true. One day probably 3 weeks ago, I came home to a sight that startled me and sounded the distant blog alarm that used to be in my head. I got so far as taking pictures of the unexpected sight, but those pictures never made it past the camera.

I would have titled it 'A Cat Mystery' or something witty like that and talked about the shocking sight of getting home and finding 3 cats perched on, yes I said on, my house. Well, one ON my house, one on my fence (giving the stare-down to the one on the house), and one curled up on the porch like nothing strange was going on. I would have pointed out that we don't own cat(s) or anything (I don't think) that would attract them, and asked for advice on how you make your house cat repellant. Here's the pictures I took. I still think it was weird:



We ended up having to get the little scared one off the roof with a ladder later that night after he climbed to the highest peak possible and wouldn't come down. We would have called the fire department, but I think that's just for trees.

Anyway, after jumping on blogger just twice this whole year and trying to speedily catch up on all of you, (responses flying through my head but no time to actually comment!), I am finally making myself sit down to type! Oh, blog, I've missed our talks. A few things you've missed in the last 6 weeks:

1. Fisher picked up a new favorite exclamation: "What ga HECK?" He says it all. the. time. I don't know where he got it, but I find it hilarious that cousin Lucy in California is saying the same thing. I've been trying my brother Tyler's idea of replacing it with "What in TAR-nation" because that's just funny. It hasn't stuck.

2. Young Womens Ga-Lore
We hosted the stake dance and taught at our first ward conference,

...I made this YW value tablecloth for a visual, (thanks for the idea, Heather!):


...Made four different styles of key fobs for birthdays of each ward presidency member--they turned out SO cute (if I do say so myself)--here's one style:


...Started attending the ward New Beginnings programs (only 1 down, 8 to go!),

...And put on a HUGE youth stake activity last week. We started out with Elder Holland's Brand New Year fireside talk, then switched gears into unity games, refreshments, youth conference slideshow, and words from the Stake President in conjunction with our stake conference which was also last week.

Unity games were my assignment and I got to plan & facilitate two games, then speak to the 350+ kids & leaders in attendance. WOW. That was an intimidating first for me, but it went really great. A glimpse during the games:

It's been a BIG few weeks, especially on top of Rick's schedule, but now, even though I'm on to what's next, I feel like I can breathe again.

3. Maddie was working hard to prep for her winter dance recital. She is having so much fun with clogging. Her new studio has been extremely challenging, but her hard work is starting to pay off and the fun is coming back! Cute Maddie in her Grease costume:


4. Explosion of SCHOOL...science fair, book reports, dioramas, homemade instrument...etc. You with school kids know the drill--when projects rain, projects pour! We're also in the process of getting Brayden tested for classes and registered for middle school! He is SO excited. Mom is doing okay with the idea.

5. Last but REALLY not least, Rick started his own business. Two weeks ago he bought a company's book of business that will extend his recruiting beyond finance & accounting execs to engineering, IT, operations, inside sales, etc. He's been very occupied with the ins & outs while still working at Ajilon. He's not ready to leave his job yet, but is hoping to leave in the next year. I've been busy editing/re-writing the website he inherited and designing him a quick logo. He is excited and feels like this opportunity really fell into his lap. It's something he was trying to start up anyway, but being able to buy business really propels the process--it's like starting at square four instead of square one. Don't ask me how he's going to manage it all, especially with his busier-than-mine church demands, but we know it's wise to have his finger in more than one source of income in this touchy economy. We feel good about the decision.

Well, my time is expired. A week after remarking what a healthy winter we've had, I'm home from church today with two croaky little boys with colds. Oh, and Brayden had pneumonia this week. I think I'll take it without complaining! Healthy has been necessary.