By Flew Time

How 6 months got away from me without reporting here once is beyond me...well, okay, it actually isn't. I got blog lazy. However, it has nagged at the back of my mind for all those months so I had to give in and take a minute.

So, I will do a run down of the last 6 months...list style....kind of because I explain too much and it turned into more of a novel than a list.

Since my last post....

*I attended "Muffins with Mom" with Carter during his Kindergarten class. (Answers Carter gave to questions asked by the teacher were read aloud. His favorite thing about me was that I cook him dinner every night. Apparently he could not think of one thing he likes about me because the answer he gave me was a flat out lie! All the other mothers kind of gasped when the teacher read that. It is nice to know I am no the only one that does not cook every night but shhh...no one has to know).

*Carter finished Kindergarten

*Summer Break! Lots of baseball played and watched. Carter was an awesome 3rd baseman and did very well hitting the ball this year in "coach pitch". We are already excited for next summer! This year games finally got exciting to watch vs. the earlier years of kids playing in the dirt and crying when their teammates got the ball.

*Dollywood! As soon as school ended we packed up and headed to Pigeon Forge, TN. This was our 2nd trip there and we really love it. We enjoyed going to Dollywood and Dollywood Splash Country again. So much fun! We stayed 5 nights and just had a blast.

*Carter turned 6 on June 6th! He had an awesome ninja party at the local gymnastics place. The coach running the party did amazing! Seriously, the kids had so much fun.

*Lots of lost teeth and Tooth Fairy visits. (while out of town we were all sleeping in the same room and one night I happened to empty the contents of my pocket onto the dresser. Coincidentally, Carter lost a tooth that day and was expecting a visit from the Tooth Fairy...who forgot to do her duty and show up! When Carter discovered absolutely nothing under his pillow he assumed the tooth Fairy did not want to wake him and saw that she had left his money on the dresser. $7.00 (in pocket change) is pretty steep for a tooth. He has been pretty annoyed that the Tooth Fairy has not kept up with such ambitious payments. Even still, Josh will leave $3.00...inflation much? What happened to the good 'ol days of being excited about 2 quarters under the pillow?)



*July 4th...we drove cross county to Twin Falls, ID. It was an eventful drive this time as our car has decided it is getting old and decrepit and does not like making that drive. We overheated A LOT! But we made it. Then almost immediately got called back home for a business meeting. I was pretty bummed about that because I had planned to stay the entire month of July....sigh. A week was not long enough...lots of people not seen...many people not seen long enough. But loved being home even for those few days!

*Drove all the way across the country back home. 

*Celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary!! 

What better way than a selection of desserts from Barnes and Noble's Starbucks (and of course a molten lava cake from Chili's)

*Josh became the Regional Manager, as well as, the Head of Maintenance for the company we work for. This is definitely worth noting because he had to give up rehabbing and flipping homes in Memphis as a condition of accepting these positions. (thank goodness...had they not mandated that he would have just added it in and kept flipping homes and just would never have a free minute ever) Which means he works mostly from home now on the computer and by phone. So, instead of saying goodbye to him every morning...I only wish I was saying goodbye to him. Ha ha..totally kidding. But for a while I kept joking with him that he was throwing off my groove. I had gotten used to him being gone all day that I was not sure what to do with him being home so much. But now we have fallen into a nice schedule and I absolutely LOVE having him around and at my disposal. We actually do a lot of work together in the office but it is so nice to be able to just take off and go where and when we want. I also love that he has the time to attend things with me at Carter's school during the day, go to lunch together and we get to surprise Carter at lunch sometimes too. He also gets Carter up in the morning and takes him to school. Swoon. I get to sleep in! :) Life is perfect.  It took Josh some adjusting too. He is not an "office" person. He likes hard, physical work and using his hands. He is not a fan of being on the computer and phone so much but he is getting used to it. The trade-offs totally outweigh any of that. This change has definitely been a blessing and I can see the Lord's hand in it as he was called to be Elder's Quorum President the same exact week and needed that flexible schedule.

*Carter started 1st grade! August 6th was back to school. His teacher is Ms. Welch and Ms. Jen is the assistant. They are awesome! I have been extremely pleased so far with how the year is going.

*We went on a Disney cruise!! The first time for all of us and we had a blast! I need to do a whole trip report for this.

*I recently got released as 1st Counselor in Young Women's. I cried for two weeks straight. I did not have a clue I would feel that way about being released but it felt sudden and unexpected and right as I was starting 3 big projects with the girls that would go until the end of the year. It took me some time but I am feeling better about it now. But even still...today the Young Women and all the leaders got up to sing in Sacrament meeting and it stung a little that I was not included. I know, silly, but my heart was kind of broken. Immediately after being released they called me to be 2nd counselor in the Primary. I said yes of course...but kind of dreaded it. I was cheered by the fact that all the ladies called to the Presidency are awesome and I am excited to be working with each one. The past couple of weeks have been good and I can actually say now that I am happy to be in Primary. I did my first sharing time today and the kids really are wonderful. They are excited and cheerful and full of energy. They respond and give me feedback. They are just lovely and make me smile. Phew! I was worried I would be grumpy and not tolerate all the little rug rats but they are fantastic. Prayer and the Atonement work wonders.

*I became a Paparazzi Consultant! Out of my own free will even! I signed up in September and I have seriously loved every minute of it! Over the past few years I have loved shopping for costume jewelry to jazz up an outfit. I have never been a fan of expensive jewelry and do not own a single piece and would not even consider it. So when I discovered $5.00 jewelry that I could order AND sell...heck yes! I just did my first big event yesterday and it was a success! I am loving it! The other day I went to my "store" and giggled like a kid in a candy store as I was picking out pieces to wear. So fun! You should try it;)

Oh and we moved twice! Just out of our house...into the office...and then onto the property we manage. We will stay on the property now until we sell it. I love our little home and our little town and my little family and our little life.