Crunched for time but going to update.
The rest of the summer was great. We went to Lake Powell for a full week and had a blast. We weren't sure if we'd like being there an entire week but we loved it. The kids also went to science camp for a week and Marcus did a second science camp with school friends and Layla did a musical theater camp. Lucky kids!
Layla got up on the surfboard this year at Powell.
Did some cliff jumping.
Our houseboat had a hot tub this year. Never thought we'd use it, but we did (it wasn't that hot). Also, this year will go down in the record books as the year at Powell that my parents' boat broke down on day one and Oakley joined us but Kevin and Nicole sadly didn't because of an emergency hernia surgery. We sure missed them!
School started and now we're already done with first term. The kids are adjusted to the routine and enjoying 5th and 8th grade. Marcus has Mrs. Lebaron this year, the same teacher Layla had for 5th grade. It's not a match made in heaven, but it's okay. He's learning and being challenged and is happy with friends in class. Layla is a student body officer again and stays very busy with that and dance classes. She is excited for musical theater that starts in January.
I am still at Aspire Counseling and loving it. I just had my "pre graduation interview" and was offered to stay on as an Associate CMHC. Yay!
Mitch is still plugging along at work. They are always busy, but he is entering an extra busy season with some looming deadlines coming up. His stress levels have decreased some recently, which is great.
I was asked to serve as our ward Young Women President. It's only been about three weeks, but I have felt every emotion so far. Before the bishop asked me, I knew it was going to be me. When he released the current president, a voice in my head said, "It's me." But it felt pretentious to say it outloud, so I didn't tell anyone. I was not surprised when the bishop exteneded the call, but felt completely calm. After I was sustained at church, I had 4 people mention that they also felt ahead of time that it was going to be me and they felt peace about it. That was a great confidence booster to me and felt like Heavenly Father's way of telling me that it's supposed to be me, because I never would have picked this for myself.
I have since received inspiration to some things I feel would help the girls grow closer to Heavenly Father. I have also had feelings of complete inadequacy and wonder about "why me?" when I'm often defiant and disagreeable about church procedures and others' ideas of how to do things in the church. For example, in ward council, one of the bishopric members said to me that he would "really like to see so-and-so attending activities and church," so can I make that happen? Ummm, excuse me? Can I just magically make someone come? Noooooo. And I won't manipulate or trick or coerce anyone into coming to church. I know his heart is in the right place and he wants to help others, but it feels icky to me to think about it so simplistically and matter-of-factly. Instead, these things need to happen organically and authentically through honest friendship and the person coming to their own conclusion that they want to participate. Anyways, rant over, but these thoughts are why I sometimes am surprised that I was called to this calling when I often think differently from the mainstream church member.
Overall, I am excited about this opportunity to get to know the young women and help them strengthen their testimonies. I do have a testimony of the gospel and of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I feel honored to serve Him in this way. Even if the way I do it differs from the normal methods. My patriarchal blessing says to "serve the Lord and also to do the things I know to be right." I feel that applies here: I will serve as young women president but it will be in my own way, the way I feel is right, which is often different than how it has been done in the past. I am also grateful and excited to serve in young womens while Layla is there and hope it will be a great bonding experience for us. And Marcus will join the young men in a year from now, so it will be fun to spend that time with him, too!
Layla and I went on another annual girls trip with Nicole and Oakley. It was a blast, as always. This year we saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Tuacahn. It was awesome and the oompa loompas were absolutely hilarious.
Mitch, the kids and I went to Washington DC over fall break. We saw so many cool things! It was the first time for both kids to experience a big city and ride the subway. They loved it but both said they prefer to live in a much smaller city like our current home. The highlight for the kids was the International Spy Museum. I also think we'll never forget seeing a kid puke all over the glass protecting the Bill of Rights document. We also toured the Capitol building and saw many monuments.
For Halloween this year, Marcus was a banana and Layla wore a Taylor Swift inspired outfit (her friends did the same, and they hung out together). Marcus went trick or treating with Mitch and friends and Layla went with a friend and then to a party afterwards. Mitch and I were invited to our neighbor's (Chad and Emily Knowles) murder mystery dinner and it was great! The setup of the game was different than we'd done before and everyone was so great at staying in character. It was a fun night.
