A Bullet Point Summer

Hi there! Long time no post....

So here's the scoop....

*Today marks our 13 year anniversary.  It's been a bumpy road, but I couldn't have married a kinder man who never shows his embarrassment when my crazy starts to show. He even joins in every now and then! We celebrated on Saturday with a showing of The Dark Knight Rises, (Why, oh why, did Tom Hardy's face have to be covered the ENTIRE movie???) and a yummy dinner in SLC at PF Chang's. Love you, Babe!

*I was released from my beloved Gospel Doctrine calling and was made 1st Counselor in the Young Women Presidency.  I have never in my life been so excited or so happy about a call! For the past few months I've felt such a pull to these girls and now I know why.  I love how I can see the tender mercies of the Lord in action! And the women I get to work with? They're seriously the Dream Team.

*On Thursday I begin my graduate program through Grand Canyon University, for my Masters in Education: Elementary Education. My options were somewhat limited in terms of schools I could attend because I already have a Bachelor Degree, but I'm not already a licensed teacher. Grand Canyon's online classes, tuition rates, and timeline made it the perfect fit for me, and I'm over the moon to finally see my path in life. I doubt I'll do any substitute teaching at NDPA this year...much to the chagrin of the teachers.  It's so nice to be loved and needed, isn't it?

*Thanks to a kind and generous Home Teacher, we'll spend my birthday (Saturday) soaking up the rays and splashing around at Cherry Hill. Chelsea amazingly volunteered to take Gretchen for the day so we can have a little more freedom to do as we please!

*Before I knew that Wednesday nights were going to be scheduled for the foreseeable future, I made reservations for our family to attend the Brigham City Temple Open House next week, the night of Maggie's 11th birthday. The girls can hardly contain their excitement that they can actually walk through a temple!  I have to admit, I'm pretty pumped myself!

*Thirteen days. School starts in thirteen days and not a moment too soon!  For some reason this summer has been different from previous ones.  We started out on top of the world--went fishing and played tennis and went to the library and the park--but about 3 weeks ago, it was like a switch got flipped and everyone is at everyone's throats!!!  I really truly in my heart believe that we have just been together too much. The kids need to be away from me (and me them!), and probably more importantly, they need to be away from each other.  They've lost some of their individuality and autonomy and need the separation that comes with being in different grades, different classrooms, with different friends and different teachers.  We are ALL ready for school to start so we can go back to liking each other again. :)