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Halloween Fun

Gigi has decided she wants to be a lion for Halloween. And was very antimate about it. But then it changed and this last week it has been a ladybug, a fish, a princess, the Hulk(She really wanted to paint her face green.) and now we are back to a lion. We haven'tfound any lion costumes but I did find a tail and made ears. Then we painted her face today. So cute. And it only cost $6.

Sabbath Day Observance Dilemmas

Unfortunately Sundays have become a day of dread for my husband and me. The struggle is this… finding a common ground for our family to celebrate and worship on the Sabbath. My husband was raised that recreational activities, shopping, and dinners out are perfectly acceptable things to do on your free day. He respects my desire for family time and worship however the challenge is finding the activities that will allow us to spend time together enjoying the day rather than fighting about what is acceptable.

Where Chris views Sundays as restricted, I find I have to compromise the Sabbath activities to accommodate family time. Being in a part member family and living with family members who do not desire to worship more than church attendants creates a special kind of challenge. Things like the TV being on constantly, family members wanting to go out to dinner, recreational activities like spending time at the pool all may include family time but seem to miss the worship that a Sabbath day should carry. Chris's big question is when I am praying and reading scriptures every day, "Why should you spend your entire Sunday reading scriptures and praying? Don't you do that every other day?" Though there are many more things to do like genealogy, writing letters, and visiting the sick. These do not seem to be activities Chris is very interested in. Occasionally we will take walks together as a family. Frequently extended family will come over however that does not mean that a TV would be turned off and it most certainly means that someone is going to suggest going to dinner.

Most certainly it creates a problem every Sunday. We either do things separately or fight over something to do as a family. So frustrating. My big goal is to work out a better way to worship as a family on the Sabbath.

St. Louis, The Arch and Family!

The move has been interesting. It has gone very smoothly. We have settled in and have a regular routine. We are comfortable and have been enjoying ourselves. Yet I still feel a little out of place. While the cost of living is much cheaper and much less of a stress, we are still looking for good jobs. Many of the things I want to see happen like our own place, having insurance, and a new baby are all contingent upon a good job. So I am trying to be patient and just enjoy the space that I am in now. I think about what I should be doing with myself and am not sure what I need to do more or differently. Still I feel that I should be doing something more. I find myself stuck in a boring routine. Thinking I have more spare time available I should be more productive. But what should I do with that time?

I find with Gigi being older and moving into a new stage of life, she requires less time and attention. She is also so excited about Daddy and hanging out with him. She wants his help all the time. I am able to sit and observe her a lot more, like I did when Katie was first little before Gigi came a long. Oh how life changes.

Wow I can hardly believe it. Life has changed so much in 6 years. We have all grown in so many ways. Gigi is now 4. She was so sad to celebrate her birthday so far away from her friends. We where at the grocery store a few days before her birthday and she saw a girl with red curly hair. She said to me "Mom I want to invite her to my birthday" with my reply " Honey you don't even know her" it dawned on me that she was missing her good friend Carmen back in Maryland. We really miss our friends. Good friends are a rare gift.

Though people are very nice I am not sure that I have found my spot here. I still do not have a calling. I have met quite a few people but have not really clicked with anyone. I find myself searching for conversation topics and hoping that we can be good friends. I walk into relief society and feel like there is no one my age. And though Age is relative. I wounder where are all the ladies that are in my stage of like. I like the primary. I think that maybe I should get a calling there again. I find it takes about a year to really start feeling comfortable with your new place. I forgot how it feels when you first move into a new area. We have met with each of our sisters we have been assigned to for visiting teaching. They are all quite nice. All seem to have lots of family close by.

Having so much family close by has been fun. We have enjoyed days at the pool, BBQ's, many birthday dinners out, and of course family dropping in at random times. It is nice to have family close by again. We have found some parks that are close and also taken Gigi camping for her first time. We have enjoyed lots of fun summer actitivites. For the most part people seem to be more layed back. It is different but we are getting used to it here.

Dentist assistant!

Today Gigi and I went to the dentist. We where both such good patients we each got a token and picked rings out of the machine. Gigi was such a good help they asked if she wanted to stay and be their assistant. She said no. When they asked if she was going to be a dentist when she grew up she said she was going to be a librarian like antie Shelly. We had fun hanging out this morning. We even stopped for breakfast afterwards.

A Valentine Tea

Well We hosted a Princess Valentine Tea at our house we had 11 princesses and one dragon come for tea. Gigi had such a wonderful time serving all her guests.