Made by Memilyrae

This is a sample of the wrist badges for Lauren’s Dragon Rider birthday party this weekend.

So Steve and I were granted financial aid for school and were thrilled! I’m very excited to back in school. We decided to use some of the leftovers to get a laptop – we chose a Mac. Steve went through UVU (also known as UVSC) and got a student discount. We got a free printer/scanner and then Steve brought home a surprise. He got me a WACOM board for my digi scrapping so I can draw and create my own papers, alpha, etc. I’m so excited! So, that’s our Christmas presents. We’re so excited!

This last weekend was the Utah Open Source Conference that Steve was helping with. I also helped out creating flyers (and one became the t-shirt design). Steve helped set up for the event and got home pretty late…usually after 1 or 2 a.m. I have wonderful family who offered their help so I could volunteer at the Conference too. Spencer spent 2 1/2 days at Grandma and Grandpa’s. They found this awesome firetruck with moving ladder, flashing lights and sirens. It’s seriously about 3 feet long! He had so much fun! I just hope Grandma and Grandpa did too! Chris and Julie watched Evie on Thursday night. They came over around 4:15-ish and stayed until 9:30 or 10:00 (I can’t remember when I got home). Evie loves Chris and Julie! On Friday I took Evie to Annette’s around 8:30 (after dropping Steve off at the Conference so he didn’t fall asleep driving). She had so much fun playing with Evan and Luke. She got lots of kisses from Aunt Netty and Lukie…mostly Lukie. They sure love each other! I called to check on Annette a few times and she assured me Evie was behaving for her. I think I picked her up around 6:30…mainly because I was hurting from not feeding her all day! I went back with Evie to get Steve but the shirts I designed finally came so I helped out a little. Saturday morning I dropped Evie off at Mike and Nicole’s around 7:45. I went to my Geology class because I had a feeling he was going to quiz us…and he did. I left as soon as the quiz was over. Around 1:15-ish I went to Mike and Nicole’s to feed Evie and she fell asleep (for 2 1/2 hours!). Nicole told me that she let Mike sleep in but Evie was giggling so much that she woke him up. Luckily it’s not a bad sound to wake up to…or at least it’s better than her crying. The BYU game was on tv so Annette and Lukie went over to Mike and Nicole’s.  I knew Evie would be occupied with Lukie so I figured she was fine. After  the conference we had a “post-mordem”  meeting and then cleaned up so we picked up Evie around 10:45 and Spencer around 11:15.  We are so lucky to have family so close by who are willing to help when we need it!

A week ago (from this past Sunday) Steve received a new calling. This past Sunday he gave his first lesson as a Sunday School teacher. Actually, he’s the only one right now. 🙂 I was there for his introduction and then Evie got hungry and tired. So, I was able to make it to the very end where he shared his testimony and a challenge. I hope next week I’ll be able to hear the whole lesson!

So Alec and Pat felt they needed a second opinion on test results that said he now has lung cancer (after having colorectal cancer). Lung cancer is terminal – I think they said 3 to 10 years. After getting a doctor’s opinion from New York (I think the same doctor they had for the colorectal cancer) we’re all feeling much better about it. He says he believes they are benign! We’ve all felt calm about it since we heard that he had cancer…of course I felt sad about the fact that Spencer and Evie and our future children wouldn’t have their grandpa around but if they are benign that’d be even better!

So Steve’s Aunt Barbara and Uncle David are so nice. They offered us their 1995 Dodge Grand Caravan for free. It may be 12 years old but we’re okay with that. Poor Steve has had to live with his ’95 Honda for so long now…not that it’s a horrible car but the driver’s seat has a bar poking out and giving him back problems. So, the van should help out.

Steve’s buddy, Bryan, is here visiting us from New Jersey. Steve picked Bryan up from the airport yesterday later afternoon. They came home to pick up me and the kids then off to Red Robin for dinner. Just like Bryan…hitting on the waitress and getting her number. Typical (and funny to watch too!). 🙂 We’re hoping to drag him up a mountain or maybe up to the “Y.” This should be a fun few days.

Today we were able to attend the Temple Endowment session with John. It was a wonderful and spiritual experience! I couldn’t remember the last time I went through an Endowment session…I’m sure it was before Spencer was born…actually, I believe I was pregnant with him doing my Grandma Black’s endowments. It was so wonderful being inside the Temple again. I need to make sure I don’t wait so long to go next time. I tried to remember the first time I went inside the temple and wondered if that’s how John felt. The spirit is so strong inside and having the love and support from family and friends increased that spirit. You can really feel how much Heavenly Father loves you.

I remember telling Steve what a great experience it was and how much I loved being there with him to support John. I even pointed out that this was one of the first times since we’ve been married that we didn’t have a little fight before…usually over being late and needing to hurry. But not this time…and it felt great!

After the session we took pictures outside with all those who attended. We’ll have to see what’s next for John…only a little over a month and a half and he’s off to the MTC. 🙂

It finally came! John (Shaw) got his mission call. The post office called Steve’s parents to let them know that the call was there so they went to the post office to pick it up at 7:30 am. John was still sleeping. We all got calls and headed over to their house. John realized why his parents kept urging him to get up and shower. We got the cousins and Steve’s Aunt and Uncle on the phone then John opened it. He started skimming through it – at which we said “Out loud!” He began reading and WHAM! Mongolia Ulaanbaatar! What a shock! Steve joked about John getting sent to Siberia and he guessed the closest! Mongolia! Wow.