Beginning Life as a Bishopric Widow....

Okay, I'm kidding. But Jim is currently at Bishoprics meeting and I have been thinking about how quickly things change. So far, his calling hasn't been bad for either of us. In fact, I think the blessings have even begun. Yes, he has more meetings, but he seems to have more engery too. I think that is a fair trade. But what I REALLY find interesting is that I now have TWO, count them, TWO callings. I am now the Primary Secretary. No problem....I've done it before and it has benefits. I have a hard time sitting for 3 hours straight, now I don't have to! I have PERMISSION, in fact I'm EXPECTED to roam the halls. AND, I have been called to be the Ward Website Co-ordinator. I'm beginning to worry that every time something comes up that Jim feels I would be good for it, he will suggest my name. LOL Okay, probably not...and I don't see any problems fulfilling both callings. I just found it humorous that I went from basically NO calling to TWO callings within two weeks of Jim being put in the Bishopric.

I Want to WIN!!! Don't you??

Sweet Potato Pie

Sooooo, Matt is at it again...for the last TWO nights he has made a Sweet Potato Pie. I had never had one before, but they are pretty good. Similar to Pumpkin, but not as sweet. Matt continues to surprise me with his cooking. He even made the pie crust. Something I USED to do, until I found Marie Calendar's FROZEN pie crusts....and I LOVE them! But Matt, being the purist...makes his from scratch. The funny part is....he doesn't even use a recipie. So far his cooking has all been edible, and quite good. Wonder what the next creation will be???

Happy 6th Birthday Laira

So Saturday was Laira's 6th's Birthday. We had quite the day planned, but as luck would have it, several of us weren't feeling very well. We HAD planned to go up to Thanksgiving Point to go through the corn maze, but we have postponed it. We DID go shopping and have Birthday cake. While shopping Denae happened to find something she wanted to buy for Xander for Christmas, (since it's NOT his birthday) but Bailey spilled the beans and Xander wanted his gift NOW! There was no consoling him! So Ashley, at Matt's suggestion, wrapped up one of Xander's old Lightning McQueen cars, "Chow" as Xander calls them, and then gave it to him. We figured this would work wonderfully or be a total dud....but we didn't know which it would be. You can see from the picture it worked!!!

He kept saying "My NEW Chow, my NEW Chow!....I LOVE IT!" We were all laughing so hard....unfortunately for him, this is one of those stories he will probably NEVER live down. Ashley mentioned later that she's not buying him Christmas this year...she's just going to wrap up his old stuff. Hummmm, it just might work.

Tribute to an AWESOME Dog!

My heart is heavy as I write this tonight. I am full of sadness and remembrance for a good friend. Kallie, our dog is now gone. She was 12 years old, but in her last few years she was full of pain from arthritis. Then about 6 months ago, we couldn't keep her in the house as she couldn't make it through the night without an accident. This broke my heart as she was the only dog I knew that would get depressed when we would leave on vacation. Our neighbor mentioned every time, how she would just mope around the yard. By leaving her outside, I now knew what that looked like....it was SAD. So to banish her to being an outside dog was hard. Especially when it was raining and she was huddled under the tree, just looking at the house as if to ask "Why?"

But rather than dwell on the last part of her life, I want to remember the good times. She was pretty much MY shadow....which was funny because she was Matt's dog. I guess she didn't know that. When I would cook, she would stand between me and the stove. She was great for cleaning up food that dropped on the floor. She LOVED to catch a frisbee, and she would catch it IN THE AIR! If you said the word frisbee, she would run to the closet and look up. (The frisbee was kept in there on the upper shelf.) I will never be able to look at a frisbee and not think of her.

She loved to sleep on the end of my bed....which was quite something, cause she was a big dog. I basically slept somewhat diagonally in the bed. I can't believe Jim was so tolerant of that. She was also the most obedient dog I've ever had....which has ruined me for ever having another dog. The odds of getting another dog as well behaved are pretty slim.

She could do tricks.....the usual, Shake, High Five, Sit, Lay Down, but she NEVER learned to roll over. And every evening for about 15 minutes or so, she had what I called her "crazy hour". (Yeah, I know the time doesn't fit, but that's what I called it non the less.) She would just be CRAZY, making a playful growling noise, and pawing at the ground as she layed on her side, and then would just paw and wiggle and make noise. It was quite funny, and like I said, she did it pretty much EVERY night.

When the kids or I would run (or walk) around the yard, because of the Border Collie in her, she would try to "herd" us by niping at our heels. She would never hurt us, but she would nearly trip us. And in being my shadow, she would sit right under my feet, and would get caught by the chair when I moved, or stepped on when I didn't notice her. But yet, there she was again, the next time.

Basically she was the best dog I've EVER had. She was my friend, my shadow, my companion...and I am going to miss her.

I know some who read this will wonder how I can have such feelings for an animal, but I do! They just get totally under my skin and become a part of the family. Not everyone is an animal lover, and that's okay. Just know that I AM an animal lover, and I have lost one that I TRULY LOVED. So I just want to say a few words of farewell to Kallie now.

Dear Kallie,

Thank you for spending your time on earth in our home. I have enjoyed your time with us, and I am going to miss you. You are truly an AWESOME dog and I will cherish our memories.

I am sorry it had to end this way, and I hope you understand it was not an easy decision to make. It was hard on Jim, as well as the rest of the family. I hope you are happy now and free of the pain. Please be watching for me when my time is over here as I want you to be a part of my eternal life. Please be patient however, as I still have things to do here.

With All My Love to a Good Friend
Diana

Master Cheese Maker

Matt has a new hobby of late. He likes to watch the food network channel. Then usually on Sunday afternoons he whips something up for the family to enjoy. There have been many comments of appreciation for Matt's new found interest.

Well, last night he REALLY surprised us. He wanted to make CHEESE! He had purchased all the ingredients...Milk, Citric Acid, and Rennet....and he was ready to go. I was curious, so I stood by to lend him a hand. (Basically, I was his "go-fer") As he proceeded, we found that our kitchen is lacking a thermometer, so he decided that using our "fever" thermometer would do the trick. Sounds good, but the recipie says that you heat the milk and citric acid to 55 degrees. Then at 88 degrees you add the rennet. Well the fever thermometer doesn't even register until 90 degrees, so Matt was making comparisons with the air temp, and figured his hands were about 90 degrees, etc. It made for some pretty funny conversation.

After the rennet is added you heat it up to 100 - 105 degrees and hold it there for 5 to 8 minutes. Well, FINALLY a temperature range we can register! So here we are cooking and waiting, waiting and cooking....but it doesn't seem to be doing what the directions SAY it should be doing. Our cook time is up, and NOPE...not happening. Matt disappears for a while and then comes back and says, "Let's turn it up. It says if you are using store bought milk you may have to cook it at a higher temp." Sure enough, we turn it up and it starts to do it's thing.

Finally we have the finished product. FRESH Mozzerella Cheese. Matt had even purchased the bread to eat with it. MMMmmmm, it was good!

When I walked out of the kitchen last night, I went into the Office, and Matt said, "You'd better not blog about this!" Who ME? Never! LOL I don't have any picture to prove it, but we did it! Who'd of thought, WE could make Cheese?

It's Official...

Okay, I know I didn't say anything after our meeting with the Stake President this week, but it's OFFICIAL now so I can tell you all what happened. Jim has been put in the Bishopric as the 2nd Councilor (sp) [Never could spell this word!] Jim has been overwhelmed all week about this. But I have to say he has just kept moving forward and will just have to take it a day at a time. I am amazed how things all worked out.

Jim had to be ordained a High Priest, so he asked his brother Karl to do it, which he was more than willing to do so. He also contacted his younger brother Max to be there. The time worked out that both were able to be there. In addition, Jim's oldest brother Mel, and his wife are currently in the MTC and they were also able to join us, and Mel ended up ordaining Jim. Then they are off to Orlando Florida to serve their mission. And YES! That is where Bryce is! Soooo, the timing was great to include them in Jim's ordination.

I'm sure this will bring blessings to the family as Jim serves in this calling, and I know with the Lord's help he will be up to the task placed before him. As I mentioned in my testimony today, I am truly grateful to have a husband that is worthy of the call. Now I just wonder how much time he will be way from us....hummmm.

So SMALL in that BIG bed...

So Bailey is a pretty small package for the four year old she is. So when she gets sick things can change rather quickly...which is how she ended up in the hospital this afternoon. She was fine last night, but apparently she wasn't holding anything down this morning. Denae took her to the Doctor this afternoon and low and behold, she was off to the hospital, very dehydrated, and with a low blood sugar level. After a few hours on an IV, and with some clear liquids she's feeling much better and will probably be home tomorrow (Friday). But she looks sooooo little in that big hospital bed.
She likes animals so I took her a stuffed siamese kitty and she was excited. It's amazing how some fabric stuffed with fluff can make a child feel so much better. Denae then told me that just the other day she was asking if she could have her own (real) kitty. We already have two in the house, so we don't need another one, besides, Denae is NOT an animal lover. The girls were lucky to have the gerbils they had for the past few years. So hopefully this stuffed kitty will help her feel better faster AND give her the "kitty" she wanted.


So, getting back to that little girl in that big bed. I am so grateful that we live in a day where we have the technology to treat our little ones when they get sick. They are so precious and fragile. The hospital has made great improvements on how they treat the kids. They had a backpack of activities for her filled with stickers, games and toys which Bailey was putting to good use. Then there was a quilt on the end of her bed that had a note tied to it. Actually it was a poem that basically said the quilt was made with love to comfort her while she was there and that it was a piece of the maker. It was then signed by the maker, which I forget her name, but she had also listed her age, which was 92. This touched me so much to think of this sweet lady of 92 in her home working on this lovely quilt that was there to comfort my granddaughter. This was done through a group called Project Linus. This just all brought to my mind, even with all the bad news in the world, there are still wonderful selfless people in the world to make tough situations easier....even for someone they will never meet. How WONDERFUL!

Everything was fine UNTIL......

So after a nice weekend of General Conference, the phone rings, and the name on the caller ID imediately get's me worried, it's the Stake Executive Secretary. I answer the call and he wants JAMES. "Jim, you would like to speak with JIM? Okay, please hold." I go get him on the phone and hang up....waiting....waiting.... Jim then comes out and asks me if I have anything planned Tuesday or Wednesday evening.....DANG....No. The Stake President would like to meet with us on Tuesday evening at 9PM. MAYBE he just wants to talk to us about our Missionary...yeah...that's probably it....


Then a while later our good friend calls who happens to be on the Stake High Council. So I ask him....."You wouldn't happen to know WHY the Stake President would want to meet with us, do you?"


He replies, "No, no I don't.....and if I did, I couldn't tell you!"


I then say, "So you DO know!" and he laughs! HE LAUGHED!


Then he mentioned that there HAD been some discussion about SOMETHING....and for us to "ENJOY our meeting with the Stake President." Yeah....RIGHT!


So now Jim and I BOTH are nervous about this meeting...we don't know WHO it's for or what it is...but yeah, Tuesday evening at 9PM we will find out! Wish us luck?

Penguins.....

The other day I had to take my car to the shop. I had been there about 3 weeks ago getting my window fixed and we had the shuttle take Ashley, Xander and I up to Day Care and work. This was a NICE shuttle, it had a DVD player in it, and the driver popped in the movie Happy Feet....the one with all the penguins in it.

Well, THIS time, it was a different van, and I noticed it DIDN'T have a DVD player in it. I figured Xander would never know the difference. WRONG!!! As I was putting him in his car seat, he looked up and said, "Where's the Penguins?" I was astonished to think he remembered that from 3 weeks ago! I will never under estimate his memory again!