I have fallen off the face of the blogging earth

And with good reason to.

I am a bit (ok, somewhat) overwhelmed with my new responsibility of Primary president. 

Yep, somehow my bishopric was tricked into thinking that an eight month pregnant, shift-worker's wife was the perfect canidate for the job.

And let me tell you, I am actually really excited about it.....minus the fact that I might have to kiss some of my spare time (what's that?) goodbye. 

I have been in the primary presidency for the last 7ish months and have LOVED it! 

I am just thinking all those baby projects that are half started may never be finished.  My baby won't care if her quilt doesn't get done 'til she's one, right? 

And my husband won't care if the corner shelf, he so lovingly painted for me, doesn't get antiqued for the next month or two.  Right?  I mean, who needs the use of their recently organized garage anyway?  Especially when you live in Arizona.  :)

All kidding aside, I am thrilled to still be in the primary and I am super excited about the ladies I get to work with. 

AND, this pregnant lady is DETERMINED to still cross a few things off her to-do list...with the help of her ever-supportive husband, of course.

Goin' to church in style

Once I found the little bag for Alayna's "Crispers", I told her we could decorate it.  Just days before finding her little bag, I came across a tutorial to make a ruffle bag. 

And because every girl likes ruffles, we decided to make said ruffle bag.  Only, a miniature one in her case.

Layna picked the fabric.  And I did the creating.

Turned out pretty darn cute, huh?

In fact, I thought it turned out so cute, that I made a mom-size version for me. 

I have to admit, I like hers better, but alas, not all my church "stuff" would fit in her bag.  So I'm stickin' with mine.

A Sunbeep, A Sunbeep

Can you believe this little girl is a SUNBEAM!?! 

Or a Sunbeep, as she used to say a couple months ago.

Our primary waited until the second week of January to change to new classes so yesterday was Alayna's first Sunday as a Sunbeam.  She was SO excited to go to "Mommy's class" (since I am a counselor in Primary and she sees me for sharing and singing time).

But the main reason she was so excited about Sunbeams was because she got to carry her bag that holds....

Her very own miniature Book of Mormon.  Complete with her name inscribed on it.  And let me tell you, she LOVES her "Crispers" (Scriptures).  She got them in the mail the day before and COULD.NOT.PUT.THEM.DOWN.  She even carried them around the store when we ran errands. 

She loved her Sunbeam class and her Sunbeam teacher, "Gwenna's Mommy".  In fact, I don't know if I have seen her so friendly and chatty church.....which may be good, and then again, it may not.  :)

Here she is after church with her very own "I am a Sunbeam sticker!"  (She was SO done with getting her picture taken, but I told her we had to get a picture of her sticker....and then she was somewhat okay with it.)

An attempt to keep her entertained

As any mother of children knows, sometimes it is, shall we say, a bit of a challenge keeping kids entertained during church. 

I have especially learned that when you are by yourself, and out of patience, it can be really hard to keep your cool with a certain attitude filled three year old. 

So, I took matters into my own hands and decided to finish a project that I started over a year ago. 

Yep.  A YEAR ago. 

And here is the finished product after countless hours of coloring, cutting, gluing and cutting again:

File folder games. For church.

For any of you not familiar with these, they are basically activities in a file folder.  Each file folder has pieces that are attached (velcroed) on to the folder to complete a game. 

This specific game is about the Armor of God.  They are supposed to dress each man in their appropriate clothes (aka: suit for the missionary and armor for the warrior).

The pieces are kept in a Ziploc bag stapled to the folder.

This one is a color matching game.  You have to match the child being reverent to the chair that's the same color as their outfit.

I made ten games in all and let me tell you it was a lot of work.  But SO worth it when my child was entertained during Sacrament meeting.  Now, thanks to some suggestions from friends and family, I have a few other purchases/projects up my sleeve in hopes to keep Miss Layna better entertained during church.

Beware: When bringing file folder games to church, every kid within a few rows will want to join in on the fun.  It might be a good idea to bring enough to share.  :)

Does your child

want to take the entire house with them when you go anywhere?

Mine does. 

Here she is ready for church.  I told her everything had to stay in the car.  But she wanted to bring it all anyway.  Sheesh. 

A backpack and purse FULL of toys, mini purse, spoon, Easter egg, book and a baby were the must haves for this trip. 

I tell ya, I am having to wait on her when it's time to go.  Most of the time I don't mind until we come back home and I find myself unloading and carrying everything out of the car.  Now that doesn't seem fair does it?

I hate to admit this

BUT, I have yet to make a casserole in my married life.

Gasp.

I am a little ashamed.  In fact I almost didn't tell you, but I have this problem, you see.

There is a funeral this Saturday and I signed up to bring a casserole for the luncheon. Honestly, if there was an option to bring something else, I would have, but alas, this is all that was needed.  So, I guess now is time for me to branch out and make one.

Maybe the reason I haven't made one yet is simply because our family is small and I don't what all the leftovers?  Anyway, whatever the reasons, I need to make a good, easy casserole.  Do you have any favorite recipes?  Please share.  Thanks!

From,
the soon-to-make-her-first-casserole mom.

P.S. I'll let you know how it turns out.

You know you have moved one too many times

when the lady that calls to see if you will sub for her primary class lives in a different town than you.

The sad thing is....I accepted and even had her email me the lessons. It wasn't until a couple hours later when I opened the email and realized that the kids that she listed as her class, did not live in Laramie. Needless to say, I called her back to let her know that I did not live in her town anymore.

That was a somewhat funny/awkward phone call.

It's done!

If you think that I have been slacking on blogging...I have.

For the past couple of months I have been planning a Terrific Tuesday for our ward.

It was a night filled with crafts (glass etching, decoupageing wooden frames and letters, stamping christmas tags, making woof 'em sticks...sticks that cook bread dough over an open fire and create like a hot pocket of sorts, quilting, and learning to make fried tacos.

And now I am done.

Ladies came, ate, and got crafty.

I think the night was a success!

Whew!

After A Long Day At Church...

This sweet little baby just finally gave it up, in Daddy's arms.

Note: This rarely happens, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a picture of the sweetness.

Take a look at her hand. Just too cute.Dan actually contemplated whether or not to just hold her while she slept.

That's true love.

SPOILED!

All it took was deciding to go and a less than 10 minute drive.

Yes, that's right. No more spending ALL day driving to and from the temple.

(Although, I think secretly I am going to miss those all day adventures to the temple, we are looking forward to being able to attend the temple more frequently-even when it is winter and the roads are bad. Ha ha.)

We are definitely SPOILED!!!