Whew!

I made it through my first Sunday of organ playing and am so relieved it's done. I spent several hours at the church this week practicing and I am so glad I did. Playing alone and playing while people are singing are two totally different experiences. I found myself tensing up several times and had to keep telling myself to relax, but I made it through with only a handful of either missed or wrong notes. (Of course, I played the easiest songs I could find in the hymn book - so we'll see how next time goes).

The hardest part was not sitting with my family. I left for the church a half an hour early to get one last practice in. Devin had to bring the girls all by himself and sit with all three during the opening song, announcements, a confirmation, sacrament song and sacrament. I got to sit with him for 5 minutes during the two youth speakers, then had to play a rest hymn. From there, I took Shannon to eat and had to quickly halt the feeding as I heard the last speaker bearing his testimony. I literally walked back in, handed Shannon to Devin and walked up for the closing song and postlude. CRAZY!!! I think that on my weeks, I need to request that there be no rest hymn. It was a little too much for me. Maybe now that I have been set apart things will go more smoothly and I will feel more confident.

Devin handled it all like a champ. I think the kids were actually better for him than they are for me. I'm so glad to have his support. I felt so blessed this afternoon as he joined with our bishopric counselor in setting me apart and giving me a blessing from our Heavenly Father. What a blessing the priesthood is in my life. I felt our Father's spirit so strongly during that prayer and knew that this is what he wishes me to do right now. I know that it will be challenging, but I also know that this is how we learn and grow - by stepping out of our comfort zone and trying new things. I am grateful for the opportunities that I have to serve our Lord and hope that as my children grow that they will see not only the importance of serving, but the privilege of serving him as a way to prove ourselves worthy to return to him someday.

(Although - I can still use all the prayers I can get on behalf of my fingers!)

Bumbo Baby

Shannon is getting so fun! She has discovered her fists and LOVES to eat them. It's a good thing because she decided after about 2 months that she was not a fan of the binki! She is laughing more and more and loves to play and sing songs. She loves the bath as long as the water is not running and she is starting to get better sitting up. We got her the Bumbo seat to help her and I think she is happier now that she can sit up and see what's going on in the world around her. (Although you can't tell in this picture!) She drools and bites down on anything that comes close to her mouth! I know those teeth are moving, but I hope they stay down there a while - I'm trying to teach her now that she can't bite me or else I will be in big trouble when her teeth finally do come in!

Holes

Today while running errands with my posse - AKA Ashlyn and Megan, I decided to stop and get Devin an Apple Pie Carmel Apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate. Anyone who's ever had one will know they are too die for - I could go on and on about them....

Right across from Rocky Mountain in the strip mall was a Claire's. I decided that I would ask Ashlyn (again) if she would like to get her ears pierced. Now, we have been working on this since September when she turned 5. I wanted her to get them early enough before Kindergarten that by the time she went to school they would be all healed up. We have been in and out of different ear piercing shops at least 3 times since her birthday and she has always chickened out. Today however, she said she wanted to do it and she would NOT back out.

We went in and she picked some cute rainbow flower studs and climbed up on the tall seat. They even had a cute teddy bear to hold. The funniest part to me was that it took 10 minutes for the technician (is that what you would call her?) to get the little dots even on her ears. If you know Ashlyn, she has hear uncle Devon's ears that poke out. Hers are even a little crooked - but I love them, and think she is darling no matter what, and I hope she is never self conscious about them because that is part of what makes her so cute to me!

Another girl came over to help so they could do both ears at the same time. She was so brave and only cried a little bit!

Well, of course, as soon as Megan saw Ashlyn getting all the attention she decided that she had better get her ears pierced as well and she also wanted the rainbow flower earrings. I was a little worried with her being younger, but she is usually my tough kid so I gave in. We got to the point where the piercing guns (that sounds scary) were over her ears and she started freaking out, but told her it was too late, we counted to three and it was done! She cried a little harder than Ashlyn, but within 5 minutes she was fine too!

When we got home, I told them to go stand in front of Daddy and see if he noticed. Of course he did, because Devin notices everything like that!

Hopefully things go smoothly and we don't have any problems with them! Wish me luck!