BB Guns and Helium Balloons

I am slow today.  I had to run to the gym before watching a little girl and I am just sitting down now J 

Good week this past week.  I have been having some emotional moments regarding Young Women’s this week.  It’s hard for me to deal with these kinds of emotions because normally I am a fairly confidence person!  Anyway, we have such awesome and amazing YW leaders that sometimes I feel as though I am just not “fun” enough or “good” enough to be in the calling I am.  It’s really interesting how Satan works on us when he knows we are vulnerable…I mean this is really dumb, but somehow I’m letting it get to me!  Interestingly enough, after ward counsel the Elders Quorum President came up to me out of the blue and said, “I just wanted to tell you during ward counsel that the spirit really touched me when you were talking and I know you are in the right place, this calling is exactly where you are supposed to be.”  Ha!  Talk about hitting the nail on the head!  Either he was really intuitive (with ZERO clues that I had been feeling motional a couple days prior), or the that was yet another LTM (Little Tender Mercy) from above.  Anyway, it was just the confirmation I needed to know that I am doing the job He wants me to do. 

Andy had to leave right before sacrament meeting ended yesterday due to a trip, so I had all the kids plus a neighbor kid (GO Audrie!) to rally up and try and keep 5 kiddos quiet.  It is always a feat! Then after church all the kids came to meet me in the YW’s room, which is exactly what they are supposed to do….EXCEPT this time Audrie and Jada (her friend) were LAUGHING hysterically….to which I quickly said, “Guys!!  Be reverent.  We are still in church.”  After a few more seconds of uncontrollable laughter they both began telling me that as they picked up Sam from nursery they were walking down the hallway towards the YW’s room.  Sam stopped looked towards her feet as she WATCHED her diaper fall completely off….took a step over the diaper and began running down the hallway!!!!!  They chased her all the way to the YW’s room with a BARE BUM in the middle of CHURCH!! AHHHHH!!!  Oh my word.  My first reaction was, “WHERE is the DIAPER???”  To which they said, some lady picked it right up and threw it away—MORTIFIED—I ask WHO?  To which they have NO idea.  So there is a random lady at church that surely thinks my children are heathens.  Holy moley.  I am still laughing…and crying about the entire incident.  Only MY KIDS, I’m telln’ ya.

Oh and one other story, then I better send this off.  Please see attached picture #2.  It is a helium balloon that has been stuck on the ceiling for weeks.  Apparently it has been driving my husband crazy because on Saturday afternoon I walked into the living room catching my 35 year old husband in mid shot (with a BB gun)...he made a bullseye in the balloon.  Not to mention a large indentation (correction from my facebook post hahaha) in my CEILING!!!  Gotta love this grown up little man….maybe that’s were Sam gets her silly antics from??!?

BYU Game!

It was a great week this week, but very busy, as always.  This weekend was particularly fun :)  We started off with piano lessons and a birthday party, followed by Audrie's volleyball game then the BYU game here in Houston with the Bush family. 

Andy got a great action shot of Audrie playing her game.  She is really strong and has got skill for sure, definitely the better one on the team.  We have quite a sad team with no shows and forgetting kneepads...just unmotivated parents and kids I guess.  Which is unfortunate, but I keep telling myself this first year is for the experience, not to win the games.  Audrie can see that she has talent and is gaining confidence, so maybe it's kind of a blessing in disguise that our team stinks?  Hahaha...

Then finally the BYU game.  Oh my word.  I am NOT a football person, but I don't mind watching a game or two while doing other things, but MAN, the game we went to on Saturday right here in the Reliant Stadium was AWESOME!  I don't think I have EVER been to such a great game!  The stadium was at least 1/3 BLUE with BYU fans...there were tons of us there.  Then to top it off our current ward was there PLUS our old ward from Humble was there as well!  It is always so fun to see old friends :)  I have never been to such a close game and I'm sure that the next time BYU comes to Houston (this was a first because they have changed conferences), it won't ever be able to top that game.

Conference

We had a great weekend this weekend!  It included the Ford family for the Saturday session of conference and the kids had a GREAT time with their cousins.  They are just so much fun J  Andy unfortunately had to work Saturday (his quarter close) so he didn’t get to enjoy conference, or at least the efforts in trying to hear conference (not gonna lie it was a bit hard to hear a lot of the time! Hahaha). 

We had some good laughs though.  Saturday during one of the congregational hymns I said, “Tyler!  Sing!”  In which he gave me his usual response that involves a humph and a scowl.  To which I responded, “Honey you need to sing!  Before you know it you’ll be in the MTC!”  Apparently we haven’t used that word much, or he hasn’t stopped to think about it before, but he furrowed his eyebrows and blurted out, “Is that the thing that spews out money??”  HAHAHAHAHA!!  We had a GOOD laugh about that and of course cleared up his misunderstanding. 

Then Sunday conference session came, Andy was home and the kids were being relatively quiet…I dare say they MAY have even been listening a little bit! (Miracles never cease!)  Audrie was laying on the floor with one of the animal bean bags we have, I was lounging on the couch behind her.  In the middle of one of the talks, still lying on the floor, she yells to me, “Hey. WHICKER!”  Me, being completely caught off guard said, “Did you call me by saying ‘Hey Whicker’?”  She quickly said yes, very matter of fact like.  I then proceeded to ask her “First off WHY are you calling your mother in such a way, and second WHERE in the world did that randomness come from??”  She said something about the talk that she was listening to that made ZERO sense, but either way we had a GREAT laugh about it.  So now she is calling me “Whicker”.  She is such a hoot!

I had some inspired thought regarding the YW’s in Excellence program come to me while listening to conference…it was really nice to get some direction on that.  I’m excited to start getting things pulled together. 

I couldn’t remember if I had sent the attached picture of Sam.  She and I were walking along JCPenny’s when I realized she wasn’t right next to me.  So I quickly turned around and saw her HUGGING a male manikin!  I grabbed my phone as fast as I could to catch her in the act.  All of the employees were just giggling at her!  She is hilarious sometimes. 

After the Saturday conference was over the Ford kids played for a while as Andy and Shane went to the priesthood session of conference.  Tyler was able to show off a little of his musical abilities as the littles watched.  They wanted to try it for themselves and so Sam and Porter (or Quarter as Sam calls him) gave it a whirl J  They loved it!  Porter was so proud of himself.  (See picture)

Well we are headed to Louisiana this Friday for a weekend trip for Andy’s works annual Rowan Extravaganza.  We are hoping to go canoeing this year as the place we went the last time was closed and we couldn’t find any others that rented canoes!  The kids are constantly asking if they think we will win another ipad (we won ours at this event last year)…I keep telling them chances are slim to none.  Andy signed Tyler and I up for some Minute to win it games, which I am a little nervous about.  I don’t normally get nervous about things like this, but I am a little insecure around his coworkers.  I feel like I am looked down upon as a “stay at home mom”, but obviously I shouldn’t feel such things, or at least let things like that get to me, but for some reason I do!  We will definitely be taking some pictures J

Rowan Extravaganza!

Audrie had Friday off, and everyone had Monday off!  A great break from the rigorous weekday schedule.  We did go to Louisiana and back on for the weekend and had a great time.  Tyler and the girls had a fantastic time, ate more junk food than they ever have their entire lives (and reaped the consequences of that during the night one night).  Andy's work does this extravaganza every year, puts everyone up in a hotel or in our case a cottage and puts on a big event including food, carnivals', games, raffles, more food, etc. Last year we won our ipad at this event, but to the children's ultimate dismay this year we didn't win anything (specifically a mini ipad that they were hoping for...Ha!).

Tyler and I participated in the "Minute to Win it" competition and we did fairly well, although Tyler was AWESOME and I was the failure...but we had a great time doing it.  We have several pretty awesome videos of us TRYING to complete our specific tasks, some of which we are still reaping the consequences of (pedometer on your head for example...to see how many counts you can get...BTW how do people headbang on a regular basis...I am STILL dizzy).  It was a great time.  I haven't gone through the real pictures from our good camera, but attached are the few shots from my phone.

Post Note:
After going through the pictures I found a couple from our trip last weekend to Toledo Bend.  Remember how I said Tyler and I did minute to win it?  Well there are a couple of pics that show exactly how much fun we had.  One of me trying my DARNDEST to finish "Junk in my Trunk".  I could NOT get that last ping pong ball out, but man I was WORKING it...I had no idea I had such skills ;)  Then Tyler and I had to do one at the same time where he had to bite a ruler that had tic tac boxes glued on both end, and get all the tic tacs out by being a crazy man.  All the while I was head banging to the best of my capabilities...painfully funny is the best way I can describe it!  Good times for sure though.