A Change of Scenery

After all the changes that have been going on around here over the past few months, we decided that we needed to give Eric a space of his own at the house. He needed a place to be able to make sensitive calls, or to sit quietly and make decisions, or to study in peace. We even thought that if he had his own space, he could do some interviews here at home. My dad did many interviews at home during his time in Ward and Stake leadership. While we knew he was unavailable at times, we knew he was there! And I remember being grateful that he was there.
So, we made some changes to the room situation here at home. Shelby was previously in her own room. However, she would sleep on the floor of the little girls' room whenever we'd let her. So, we moved her into the same room with the little girls. It's very squishy in there, but they seem much happier. Next, we moved Chandler down to Shelby's old room... after we redecorated, of course.
Here's Chandler's new BYU themed room...

And here is Eric's new office...

I love the office. Sometimes I even go sit in there to find a little peace of my own.

We've learned something from this... Make wherever you are -- HOME! Even though we had big plans of buying/building a big beautiful home before Eric was called as Bishop, we are learning to make the most of and be grateful for what we have. We know we're very blessed... even with our little home.

Change bring growth... Or so we're told!

What a difference a few months can make! 5 months ago Eric was serving as the 1st counselor to Bishop Ric Moon, and he was loving it! He was learning so much from him, and had that “missionary” feeling that he hadn’t had since he was a full-time missionary in the mid 90’s. I had just quit my part time job, and we were aggressively looking for a piece of land to build our dream home on… outside of our ward boundaries. However, we both felt the winds of change blowing, and were a little scared of what that meant.

The last time we had felt that feeling was last July while we were on a family vacation in WA/ID. As we sat at the Demars family cabin overlooking beautiful Hayden Lake, we both talked about how we knew changes were coming. At the time I was serving as the YW pres, and had been for 3 years. We were sure that these feelings meant that I was going to be released from that assignment. Neither of us were prepared for the call that came the very evening that we arrived home from our trip.  We were asked to meet with a member of the Stake presidency, where the call was issued to Eric to serve as the 1st counselor to Bishop Moon. He was overwhelmed, but up to the challenge. The next few months that followed brought lots of growth and learning for him.

Now… fast forward to April 10th of this year… We were once again asked to meet with the Stake presidency. Remember, we had felt those same winds of change blowing, so we were pretty nervous. This meeting was a beautiful experience in which Eric was extended the call to serve as the Bishop of our ward. He had seen Bishop Moon first hand, and knew some of the challenges that face a Bishop, and their family. The idea that those were now his challenges was pretty terrifying.

Over the last 5 months we have seen the Lord's hand in our lives, and in the lives of the members of our ward. It has brought many challenges for us to face, but Eric has done an amazing job, and we're learning to be patient with the process of refinement. We're hoping that the Lord will refine us and make us instruments in His hands.

Here's a picture of his new bishopric...

His counselors Tyson Davis (Left, 1st counselor), and Ethan Garret (Right, 2nd counselor) are AMAZING!!! They are so good at just doing what needs to be done, so that Eric doesn't even need to worry whether things are taken care of. They are all such hard working, inspired men. I'm so proud of them all. They have jumped right in and done so many great things for the people of the ward already; In their 5 short months. They all amaze me!

Baby Hairs!!!

A few months ago we discovered that Tater had a few spots where she was missing some hair. After a trip to the Dr, our suspicions were confirmed that it was Alopecia Areata. We put on a happy face for Tater and the kids, and tried to assure them that not every person with Alopecia will lose all their hair.
However, in the privacy of my own room, I was DEVASTATED! How could this be?!?! I have always been told that there are no indications that Alopecia is genetic. How could this have happened?!?! Even the Dr said he'd never seen a mother and daughter with the same condition.
I know that growing up with Alopecia literally made me who I am. I think it's made me more tolerant of other people; Understanding that there may be things that make them the way they are. I've tried to keep it in mind that there are worse things in the world, and that this too shall pass. I think it's made me a strong and confident woman.
HOWEVER!!!!!!!... It is NEVER something I would wish on my child. I think I was always a little disillusioned into thinking that if I had it, my kids would never have to have it. But, I guess I was wrong. Tater was almost exactly the same age I was when I discovered my first spots.
For a few months we watched her, covered her spots with other hair, and down played our emotions around the kids. And... Woo hoo! WE HAVE BABY HAIRS!!!

We're not necessarily out of the woods yet. She could always have more spots pop up. But for now, all is well, and we're all LOVING these baby hairs!

Like Mother-- Like Daughter

This pic says it all!

They were actually taken months apart, which almost makes it funnier. Hilarious!

I'm Spoiled!

The girls disappeared into my bedroom for an hour the other day. When they came out, they had create a "spa" for me... Complete with flower petals on the bed and in the bath, and jammies with a robe and slippers. They also made a box with paper hearts in it that listed things they love about me. *melt* Such sweet girls!

Papa's B-day

Having Papa (my dad) in Africa on his birthday is hard. How do we possibly tell him, when he's on the other side of the world, how much he means to us? It's pretty hard!
So, this year I had each of the kids take a big letter from P*A*P*A, and color it however they wanted to. Then, we took pictures of each of them with their letter, and put them together in one big picture. We figured he would be able to print it and keep it all year long to remember how much we love and miss him.
I just LOVE how it turned out...

I also wrote a message to him on Facebook that got LOTS of responses. I thought that was pretty cool... even though dad has yet to come to the dark side (Facebook). Mom allowed him to peak over her shoulder so he could see it, and he wrote me a very sweet note in response.
Here's a screenshot of the message I wrote, and the responses. It's obvious how many lives he has touched. I'm proud he's my "Papa". Love you, dad! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Ladies' Lunch

Today I had to drive Chandler to his zero hour jazz band class. I can usually run the carpool and still get back just in time to take the girls to school. However, today there was a TON of construction, and it took an extra long time to drop off the carpool. So, I called home and told Shelby that she and the girls would have to just walk to school today.

We literally live down the street from the school, so it's not like it's a big deal for them to walk. But, when I got home, I got a text from Laree Fuller that said Tater was sad because she didn't get to tell me goodbye. I told her to tell her I love her, but I knew that with Eric having left early this morning for a business trip to Minneapolis, and me not making it back to send her off, this was gonna throw off Tater's whole day. So, I decided to go to the school and have lunch with all 3 girls.

I knew this would be extra fun because they weren't expecting it. So, I bought some cookies for them to share with their friends, and headed to and hour and a half of cafeteria madness with my girlies.

It was actually really fun... being silly with them and their friends. We even got shushed by the principal once for being too rowdy. Awesome! :)

I took a picture with each girl and sent them to Eric just to make him jealous. I think it worked!

Here are the pics...

I LOVE my girls! I think it made my day as much as it made theirs. :)