Here Comes the Bride

I was going to write a "royal wedding" post this morning, but of course, my sister had to beat me to it. I don't really follow much popular culture in the United States or in England, but my mom always had an interest in Princess Diana. Plus, I guess the whole royal family is just famous for being famous' sake (kind of like Elvis) and that's why I am intrigued.

Anyway, I've always thought Prince William was the more handsome of the two, but he is not aging well and is turning out to look much more like his father than his mother. I think I like Harry now.

And . . . reading certain blogs give me a stomach ache. I'll keep that to myself, though. (No, it's not a blog of anyone who actually reads this one, so don't worry, it's not you.)

Sunday Afternoon Update

It's noon on a Sunday. I've returned from doing sharing time in the Spanish Branch. Our ward doesn't start until 1:00. Molly is sleeping, but I'll need to wake her up soon to eat before church. James is also sleeping (or at last check, laying on the bed playing with his phone), but also needs to wake up to go to church. Between Disneyland, General Conference, a ward conference, and and baby blessing, I have not gone to church in my own ward since March 12th. That is totally crazy!!! I feel very inactive, even though except for Disneyland, I've been at church every week since then. Oh well.

Here are a few picture updates for the week:

We've been playing beauty shop whenever Molly will cooperate. Here is an antenna. She kind of looks like the puppy dog on the Grinch. I'm actually getting better at pigtails. I've also trimmed her bangs and cut a little more around her face since this photo.

Molly is crawling all over the place and is in to EVERYTHING!. This picture was taken on her 2nd or 3rd attempt this week at emptying the instant oatmeal out of the box. Forget cool toys, just get her packets of oatmeal. The funny thing is that before she crawled away from this picture, she did put several of the packets back. No, I did not leave her unsupervised and just happened upon the oatmeal mess. I let her do it while I was doing some other stuff (also in the kitchen). Until she figures out how to actually open a packet and throws it around the floor, it's a pretty harmless toy and can entertain her until the box is empty (and sometimes longer).

Finally, Molly has her first homework assignment due tomorrow. She is the "Star" of the week and we had to make a poster to hang up at school for the week. I'm not very creative, so thanks to Grandma Judy, we have some lovely flower background on the poster.

New Post and New Pictures

Here are some of Molly's most recent funny faces!

And then there's this one . . .

It pretty much describes my life. Tired. Hangers on the bedroom door that should have been put away. Trash can is full. Greasy hair. Haven't had a chance to shower. Bed not made. Squinty little girl getting her finger nails clipped. Asked James to please not take pictures of me and to please wait until I got Molly dressed to take pictures of her. You get the idea.

Spring Break Recap

Spring Break is over. It is April 3rd and it is snowing outside. Go figure! I cleaned up my little yard a bit and planted pansies (that are now covered in snow). Molly and I spent lots of quality time together. We visited the double T's. We hung out at the DMV. We got the kitchen table cleaned off and threw most of it in the recycle bin. We also cleaned out 3 cupboards in the kitchen. We fixed dinner for Grandpa. We slept in until 7:00 almost every day! Hooray for days off. (And, of course, we went to Disneyland!!)

Unfortunately, a few more of my spring break projects included cleaning my house, and finishing some school work. That, of course, did not get done. School work has been left until Sunday night. Housework . . . keeping up on the laundry, dishes, countertops, and bathrooms is all I can seem to manage. One of these days, I might get the rest of it in order. Before Molly was born, I prided myself in having a fairly tidy house . . . no more.

I also spent a good deal of time over the break talking to a couple of realtors and a couple of financial guys. Thank goodness Molly had some long naps and I was able to do this. Selling our house is going to be quite an obstacle. We are in good shape to purchase a new home, though, except for the whole selling of this one. I've come up with a 6 month plan and James has agreed to come on board. In the next 6 months we will:

1) without touching our savings, try to tighten our belts and put as much extra money on our current loan as possible to help cut the difference between what we owe and what the realtors thing we could sell it for.

2) lightly nudge (or pester like crazy) our current HOA board to get our complex FHA compliant. Right now we are not and this is why the other homes that our for sale are not selling. I e-mailed the presidente on Friday, but of course have not heard back from her. I'll call her this week.

3) keep our fingers crossed that at least one of the other homes sells in the next little while and then ours will (there are currently 3 on the market and and 4th with a for sale sign up, but not actually listed).

For the rest of the month of April I am also going to keep myself busy doing the following (all of which have deadlines by the end of the month and all while James is gone for 2 weeks for Annual Training):

1) Finish my final project for the most stupid class I have taken yet at USU.

2) Finish THE final project for my Master's Degree. I am building a curriculum of online games and activities to match the Algebra 1 curriculum. I've been creating the project all year, but I have to do the final write up and report on it before the end of this month so I can walk at graduation (maybe), even though I still have one class to finish in the summer.

3) Finish my portfolio that is also a requirement for my pending degree

4) Finish my part and help Annie and Emily with our booth for the BYU Women's Conference - "Social Technology - Good, Better, and Best."

5) Teach the temple prep class to a couple in our ward - first lesson is tomorrow (and maybe we should actually go to the temple since it's been a while, but our recommends expired and we can't meet with the bishopric until Tuesday).

Phew! I hope I make it! If I do, we'll celebrate Molly's 1st birthday, wrap up the school year, and have a great summer!

General Conference

Primary General Board Meeting

• Study the scriptures and have personal experiences with the scriptures in order to better teach them.
• The focus of primary is teaching the individual to lift up the family

Saturday Morning Session

• New temples in Fort Collins, Colorado; Meridian, Idaho; Manitoba, Canada
• Keep the Sabbath Day Holy, including proper dress.
• Be humble like the little children.
• Do Good. Serve Others.

Saturday Afternoon

• When others make mistakes and offend you, just let it go.

Sunday Morning Session

• Be ready to do the Lord's work on the road to Damascus, don't be afraid to talk to your friends and co-workers about the Church
• Marvelous blessings often come on the heels of great trials, you will never be asked to go through trials that are beyond what you can handle
• Help the needy, take care of the sick, feed the hungry
• Go to the temple! Some people have to work in a nickel mine for 4 years to be able to go. You don't have to do that, so you should go to the temple often.

Sunday Afternoon Session

• Love your spouse and tell them how much you appreciate them
• Pay your tithing
• You have to do and be. Do things, but also be who you should be all the time. Do is an activity, but be is what is in your heart all the time.
• Repent!
• Appreciate general conference and love the prophet.