Magnificent May

Once again, my brain is stumped! This is why I have to catch up to where we are now. Anyway, the only thing I can really remember about May was us trying to get adjusted to living in a new house, in a new town. Of course, there was also Mother's Day. So I guess we'll just talk about both of those things.

So as I mentioned, May was full of adjusting to our new home. Overall, the transition went really well. We were lucky to move next door to some awesome neighbors, James and Chelsea McKinney. From the moment we showed up with the moving truck, they were there to help! We had to move on a Friday night because that is when we had helpers. So we showed up at around 9 pm to unload, and they came over with their newborn, to help us out. They even helped us to set up the crib so Xander could get to sleep. The ward really has been amazing. We have had several families drop things by and introduce themselves, and one family even invited us over for dinner. The ward is very diverse though. There are young families, older families, richer families, and poorer families.We even have some hispanic, native-american, and african-american families. I absolutely love the diversity of our ward! I also love how homey this area feels. In the first month or so, I would go on walks and every day it seemed I would meet a new person who was out working in their yard. They would always take time to stop and say hi and introduce themselves to me. Though we loved living so close to Scott's work, I have to say that I couldn't be happier that we moved to American Fork. The ward just seems so much more welcoming than our last ward, and it is a much smaller town. It just feels like home!

Our ward was also ready to put us to work! Scott was extended a calling before our names were even read into the ward, and I was extended a calling the day our names were read in. Scott got called as the Assistant Scout Master to the Deacons. So he basically helps organize scouting stuff and attends Young Men's every week. I was called as the Primary Chorister. I have to admit that receiving that calling pretty much freaked me out! On my mission, I was asked to lead the music at a baptism. I tried to explain to my mission companion (who asked me), that I didn't know how to lead music, and outside of the church, very few people have that skill. I explained that I would gladly go where the Lord would have me go, but that it might turn out very badly. How right I was! They had me lead a 6/8 song, and I was so bad that the girl getting baptized was cracking up in the front row, and the companion who asked me, was trying to show me with her fingers how to lead. Of course it was a musical ward too, so I am sure lots of people were laughing on the inside as well! Anyway, I accepted the calling, and then asked what it meant exactly. I have never served in Primary, so I haven't even seen what Sharing Time looks like. Well, now that it is August, I am happy to say that I really am enjoying my new calling. I am getting better at leading music every day, and am constantly trying to come up with ideas to make it fun for the kids. Many of the teachers have also commented how great I am doing. So my confidence is building. Anyway, the ward is keeping us busy with our new callings, but we love it!

We also had a fun little housewarming party, in May to show off our new home. I took tons of pictures of our home then, and had fun showing our guests around the new place. Scott's family came, as well as the Cox family (Scott's co-worker and his family). We made yummy treats and had tons of fun. Scott's parents got us a weed whacker as a housewarming gift, and the Cox family brought us some homemade jam.

Okay, so lastly, we will talk about Mother's Day. Wow...it has been a few months, so I will do my best to remember what happened. Mother's Day, is on a Sunday of course, so we didn't go out to eat or anything like that. But we had been walking to the temple every Sunday morning (before it started getting really hot), as a fun family activity. Before I was endowed, I used to love to walk temple grounds and just take in the wonderful Spirit of the temple. Now that we live only half a mile away from the temple, I am excited to help my children gain that same love of the temple. So we started doing Sunday morning temple walks (since our ward doesn't start until 2:00 pm). Since it was Mother's Day, I had Scott take a few fun pictures of me with the boys in front of the temple. It was so great being at the temple and reflecting on eternal families. Even though it has been a little hot to walk up the huge hill that leads to the temple, we are still doing all we can to help the boys love the temple. One thing I do is whenever we are passing the temple, I say, "Alexander, where's the temple?" He then points to it. Well, the other day, I asked him where the temple was, and he pointed to it out the window and said, "WOW!" I loved it!

Okay, so back to Mother's Day. Scott let me pick out a hanging flower pot for our back deck (which I promptly killed, because we didn't hang it and I forgot about it...maybe next time) for my gift. We went to Russ and Diane's for dinner and desert. It was a fun night, but I can't really remember what we had for dinner. Though I do remember we brought stuff for brownie sundaes for desert. It was super fun spending time with the family!

Oh! I almost forgot! One more exciting thing happened in May! We had been trying for so long to get Alexander to say "Mama" and "Dada." For most kids, it is their first words. Not for Alexander. His first word was "Hi!" He loved telling everyone that he saw "hi!" After that he even learned other words, but we couldn't say our names. Scott finally decided that Alexander was going to learn, and worked really hard at trying to get him to say "Dada" and Alexander finally started calling him "Da." Well, I wanted him to say my name too. So I kept working at it. A few days before Mother's Day, he finally did it! We were shopping in Walmart, and he reached his arms up towards me (while sitting in the shopping cart) and said, "Ma." I got so excited that I picked him up and carried him through the whole store. He kept saying my name the whole time because he realized how excited it made me, and that it got me to pick him up! So I am pretty sure that was the best Mother's Day gift I could have ever gotten. Since then, his language has just taken off, and he says "Mom" all the time. I just love my little man!

Well, that is all I can think of that happened in May. I hope to start June next, so you guys can read all about it, and we can get caught up. No promises though. Life as a Mommy of two is much busier than a Mommy of one! Tune in next time for Joyous June :)