Exciting, Scary, A Time of Growth

See this man?
I love this guy!

I have had quite a roller coaster ride the last two weeks. They have been full of fear, doubt, inadequacy, trepidation.............
I could go on, but I think you get the picture.
Chris has helped me to see that I need not doubt or have fear, but have faith.
He has helped me to see that I am about to embark on a calling full of blessings and that while I may not feel up to the calling, the Lord believes I am.

I can truly say that today I felt peace and dare I say it........excited!

Some of you already know, but for those who don't...
I have been called as the Relief Society President of or ward. A big thank you to my mom and mother- in- law, Joan, who gave me some guidance and words of encouragement and shared a bit of their testimonies of this calling with me.
I have two great counselors who I am really excited to serve with and a great secretary to boot.
I am ready to learn and to grow!

Updates, Updates!

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day.
Ours was nothing over the top. It was just simple and nice.
Chris took the girls out on a date the Friday before Valentine's day, and they all picked out truffles for me. I had a very nice sized and yummy chocolate treat filled box of See's candy.
It was nice that they picked out some of their favorites, because then I just let them eat those. That saved me from devouring the entire box myself. It is always so much more fun to share.

I gave Chris a jar full of heart shaped peppermint patties.
With a personalized little note attached.

I had fun making up little rhyming Valentine's poems for the kids and got them
a little something to open when they woke up on the 14th.

The girls had New Beginnings for Young Women's last week.
They were supposed to dress up like they were going down the red carpet.
They had the folding doors partly open with cardboard attached to look like a Limousine.
Someone would open the door to the Limo and out would come one of the young girls coming into YW this year.
Aeva was the last one because they forgot she was coming in this year.
They had to have Chris come up and tell some things about her as she
was escorted down the red carpet. I told her they save the best for last.

Here are the girls in their "Red Carpet" attire.

Both Rhaevyn and Aeva have had a lot of fun styling Myles's hair.
They like to gel it all up.

Here are some pictures that just crack me up.

Myles has been waiting on pins and needles for these......

Yep, he's got glasses. He calls them "wear all the time" glasses.
They just came in yesterday and not a minute too soon. He was getting very impatient and would ask everyday how long it had been since they were ordered and how much longer they would take to come in.
We had a lot of fun picking them out. I had some picked out that I liked, but he did the old eenie, meanie, mienie, mo trick. I had to laugh because at the end mine came up the winner as "you are it!" But he quickly moved his finger to the pair he is wearing saying those were actually the winner. He had us laughing.
Although I really liked the style I picked out, I told him he was the one who had to wear them, so he could have the pair he really liked.

Here is just a bit of a phone conversation between Elsa and Uncle Ben.

Women at the Well and More....

Aeva was asked to sing "Daughter Arise" again in Women at the Well, which was performed for our Stake Relief Society. She picked up the song pretty quickly even though she hadn't sung it in almost three years. All the practices went well, and she was ready for the real deal.
I think I get more nervous than she does. My heart was pounding through my chest.
Just before it was time for her to sing I felt inspired to say a prayer for her.....that she would be fine and would not mess up, which looking back I find interesting because I've never worried about it the last time. I am so glad that I did. Her music started, but when she started to sing no one could hear her because the microphone was not working. Then her microphone started to work but screeched loudly and no on could hear the music. Eventually it got straightened out and we could hear her and her music just fine. My sweet Aeva did not miss a beat. She didn't freeze, she didn't stop singing, but just kept going. All the other performers were amazed at her poise and that she didn't fall apart. It didn't seem to phase her a bit. The gentleman doing the sound came up afterwards and couldn't apologize enough. He wanted to make it clear that it was not her fault, but his, and that she did great. I am so amazed by her!

This past week has been another week of baking new things.
Rhaevyn decided Wednesday afternoon she wanted to make Red Velvet Whoopies.
They turned out pretty good. They might have turned out better if I'd have had buttermilk on hand, but instead I did the substitute of vinegar and milk.
She did a great job on them.

Then I tried a cinnamon roll recipe (thank you Karen).
Oh my goodness they are delicious and super easy!
I made three pans worth. Luckily I gave a good portion away.
We made three different icings, one of which we made with orange juice and zest.

The girls and I decided their desk top needed some help. It was looking a bit battered.
So we decided to redo the top with a collage of scrapbook paper and mod podge.
I put a big piece of paper in the middle of fairies because the girls love fairies.
It just spiced their little desk up a bit.

Wishing you all a great first week of February!