We finally have callings!

We have been in this ward for about 9 months, and we just barely got callings. A couple of months after we moved in the bishopric changed, so we figured

they were just busy with other things. When we met the new bishopric we thought we would be getting a calling any day. . . didn't happen.

I have had serious issues with Relief

Society. Recently I had come to a conclusion that the reason we hadn't received callings was because I needed to gain an appreciation for Relief Society.
I have been trying my best to go with an open heart

and doing my best to meet other girls. A couple of weeks ago we were asked to sub in sunbeams. . .

Shawn said that it was our trial run to see if we were primary material. There were so many dang sunbeams. . . freaking 11!

This last Sunday we were at my parents house and my mom said that she was

going to call our bishop and ask him why we didn't

have callings yet. Gotta love my mom.

Ironically, last night the bishopric stopped by our apartment and asked

if I would be a sunbeam teacher and if Shawn would

be willing to help out in primary where needed. He was also asked

to be a Webelos leader (but they are rethinking that calling because of his

soccer coaching during the week).

I asked the bishopric if our new callings

had anything to do with a possible phone call from my mom.

They weren't aware of one. haha

So pretty much my Sunday mornings will be consumed with hand sanitizer, tissues, clorox wipes & lysol. I promise I will do my best not to have a complete stress attack when there are puzzles covering the entire floor, boogers everywhere & kids screaming. Should be GREAT birth control

wE pReTtY mUCh RoCK ! ! ! ! !

We beat Super Mario Brother's on the Wii!!!

After lots of frustration, swearing, finger cramps, blisters, dreams of mario, etc. Yes I know we are pathetic. If you have every played this game you will understand. . . it's awesome. It's just like the old school nintendo super mario brother's. So much fun.

Before you stop reading let me explain...

After finishing Shawn's last semester of his under grad he has found himself with a lot of free time. Here are some of the things he has said to me over the last couple of weeks:

Me: So I was looking at our wedding photographer's website and they have the cutest pictures of little babies. So I want one, a baby, NOW.

Shawn: NO you don't Ang. Being a stay at home mom is not all it's cracked up to be. It's hard work. I mean I did all the grocery shopping yesterday, did all the laundry today, took maggie on a walk, I'm making your brother's dinner tomorrow . . . and it's hard. You're not going to like it as much as you think. . .
hahaha

That was my favorite. . . but here are some good quotes by my awesome husband.

• "I don't know what I want to be"
• "I hate being a grown up"
• "I suck at life"
• "maybe I should go into ______" (fill in the blank, guarantee he said it)
• "Ang I have been really busy all day, I beat 3 worlds on super mario brothers"

There were lots of other things he said, but I have a really bad memory. Here are MY highlights of Shawn's 2 weeks of being a stay at home dad (to our dog maggie).

• cooking
• laundry
• grocery shopping (my cute visiting teacher found shawn lost at walmart and helped him with a couple of items he could not find)
• Lots of cleaning
• soccer playing
• coaching
• reading
  
• playing with Maggie
• Super Mario Brother's
• job interviews
• researching adopting (for the future, Haitian babies are my recent obsession. I can not stop thinking about all of these poor kids who are now parentless)
  
• Last but not least he FOUND A JOB

Yay!!! Shawn has been looking for something part time, because we can not give up his coaching. He gets paid to do something he loves & it really isn't work to him. So why quit? Shawn is going to be working for the U doing advertising for the school newspaper. He is pretty excited about it.

And so you see I had to get super mario brother's so shawn wouldn't be bored out of his mind. . . and yes I had to play it with him when I got home from work at night, on the weekends & first thing in the morning. Pretty much it's made our marriage stronger. . . or something. . . Okay? Don't judge us!

Homecoming Talk

Kevin's homecoming talk was this last sunday. He did such a great job. I was so impressed, along with a lot of other people. He talked about the Book of Mormon, how it converts & the testimony he gained from it while on his mission. He is all grown up!

After the talk we headed to my parents for donuts & breakfast goodies.

Kevin. Me. Spencer.

Kev. Me.

Todd. Ashley.

My mom & her cute friend Jalair

my mom's cousin Julia. Dad. uncle Todd.

cousin Brad. Gma Westra. Brendon. Dallin.

Katherine. Taylor. Carly. Gpa Westra.

friends. alex. nick. karly. kinsey.

Kevin. Kale. Nick. Chase.

New Year's Homecoming Party

My brother Kevin got home from his mission a couple of days ago. . . FINALLY! I have been counting down for a long long time. He got home on New Year's eve. Shawn and I headed up to the airport with my parents & youngest brother, Spencer. It is so crazy to finally have him home. After the airport we headed back to my parents and ordered in chinese. Kev's request.

We had fun catching up with him before heading up to my uncle Todd's company show-house in Heber. We had a big New Year's Eve party. Lots of family and friends. It was a blast. There was a TON of food and lots of fun things going on. Pool table, ping pong, bounce house, movies etc. Lots of our family came into town for the party. We all gathered into the theater room to hear about Kevin tell about some of his mission experiences while we watched a slide show of his pictures on the big screen.

New Year's day we slept at my parents house after the party so we all slept in, including Kevin, and had a fun family brunch. It ended with Spencer shooting me in the eye with a damn nerf gun. I was going down the stairs and came around the wall and a dart hit me right in the eye. MY EYE WAS OPEN!!! It seriously hurt so bad. Don't worry, I didn't like get a black eye or anything cool like that. It was just sore all day. After that we headed to the mall to get Kev some new clothes, then we just headed back to the house to watch movies and relax.

It feels so weird to finally have him home. Especially since Curtis isn't home. I feel like Kevin & Curtis go hand in hand. Like Salt & Pepper. Like peanut butter & jelly. Like ice cream & Angela. I'm sure its more weird for him. He told me that he keeps having little panic attacks because he feels like he should be doing something, but he really has nothing to be doing. haha. I imagine it would be really hard adjusting after devoting your whole complete self for 2 years. At the party I kept saying "where is my husband" and Kevin was freaking out about that. He was like "you have a husband...it's so weird to hear you say that". Anyways we are so happy to have him home and are so so so proud of him!!!