Another Change

Sundays have been really crazy for us the last two weeks. Last week I got a new calling, and yesterday Jared got a new calling. Both of us had been serving in the Youth program for a year and a half. Jared is now the first counselor in the Elders Quorum and a Scout Committee member.

Primary went really well for me yesterday. And I can definitely see now why everyone was so excited for me. It really is a lot of fun! It is also very exhausting though. We have two primaries and then the nursery so I am never really sitting down. But the kids are so cute and so fun.

I am really excited for the changes that are happening in our life. It may sound silly, but this simple change in callings really is a life change. Serving in YM and YW... it becomes your life. Especially in our ward where we have a very busy youth schedule. And those kids really grew on us too. They became our family. I will miss them tremendously....but know that life must go on. And now I get to just play with my kids at church. That I LOVE. I get to see Ree and JC in a different setting and I am loving it.

Jared's life will be getting even busier; our ward will take up a lot of his time in the capacity he is serving in. People have always commented that they didn't know why they would put a husband and wife in the youth program when they have toddlers at home. And there have been many times when I have murmured about the same thing. But I have finally come to the conclusion that that is okay. Heavenly Father has blessed me recently to catch another glimpse of the vision of our purpose in life. Our Savior spent his entire life serving others, even as a child he was teaching and serving. Our families are definitely number one, but they can survive well on less than I thought. In fact, that is the lesson I have learned through all of this...the more we serve the Lord as he has asked us to, the more he will bless our families, even if we don't have all the time we may want with them. I guess that is why we must cherish what little moments we do have with them, and make them count. On more than one occasion Heavenly Father has helped me to feel the love he has for his children...even the most difficult to get along with....and I am so humbled by it, and inspired to serve more with a willing heart and a silenced tongue. I am excited for Jared that he will get to do more for the Savior by serving the ward in such an intimate capacity. There is much work to do! And we are all here for eachother....what a blessing. I know this church is true and I know Heavenly Father is very mindful of us and what we need to experience to grow to our fullest potentials. We don't always see it, but he does, and so faith and love are essential if we want to progress. I love my Savior and my Father in Heaven. And say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

We finally sold her :(

So I finally bit the bullet and sold our dog, Tootsie. We have had her for almost a year, since a puppy, and I feel I have given it a good try. I don't know why we think we can handle a little inside dog. Maybe when the kids are much much older. But for now, I will only have an outside dog (don't worry, we aren't jumping on that right now...I'm talking like when we are able to build out on some property). Conner was devastated. He cried and was upset with us. But thanks to Auntie Bev (we sold her daughter the dog) who brought the kids some distraction treats, they were soon distracted! Funny how that works :) Last night though while in bed Ree kept asking where Tootsie was, because she usually sleeps in Ree's bed the first part of the night. And this morning JC asked where she was as well. It will take a little while getting used to being able to open a door without screaming "DON'T LET THE DOG OUT!" and being able to leave without putting her out first, and getting up in the morning to take her out right away. My kids can actually sit at there little table with food without worrying about the dog getting it! It will be an adjustment, but one that I am glad for. So basically we are really going to miss her, but glad she will be somewhere where she can be the baby. Now I can move on to trying to have a human baby! So "thanks" to the Bev and Kulia!

They Released Me!

So I was released on Sunday as the 1st Counselor in the Young Women. I have been called to be the Primary Choruster. At first I cried, as I am scared to death of this calling. But I also know that Heavenly Father has prepared me for it. I have felt over the last couple of weeks that my time with the Young Women was coming to an e nd, and He had most definitely been steering my thoughts toward primary music.

As I have looked to the internet for information and help in this calling, I am now feeling more confident.....and even a little bit excited! I am only looking forward to my first Sunday so that I can get it over with :) The learning curve is never something I look forward to, but I know that I am here on Earth to learn and to grow and to be stretched to what Heavenly Father knows is my potential. He certainly taught me a lot as a leader in YW and I was definitely put outside my comfort zone on more than one occasion, but I survived! And I am so thankful for it! I have grown so much in the last year and half...in ways that I know I could never have done on my own. SO, I guess I must take that lesson learned and apply it to my next learning adventure. It is certainly going to put me outside my comfort zone, but as I said before, I can't grow to be like my Heavenly Father without these experiences, and I know He qualifies whom He calls. So enough of that! I'm off!

Recipes

Well sorry no pictures this time, but I do have some great recipes to post. I made a stew in my crock pot yesterday that was to die for good. And all I did to it was add some cut up apples. Delicious!! But the icing on the cake was the crescent recipe from my sister. So I will include the original recipe and her ammended one. I also have been given the best cornbread recipe I have ever had (If anyone else has a good cornbread recipe, I am HAPPY to have it). So here you go! Have a great day!

Crescents (original)
1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1/2 c warm water
1/2 c warm milk
1/2 c softened butter
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
3/4 tsp salt
4-4 1/2 c flour
Dissolve yeast in water. Add remaining ingredients plus 2 c of the flour. Mix. Gradually mix in remaining flour and knead until smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise until double in size. Punch down, divide into 4 balls. Roll out into 8 inch circles and brush with softened butter. Cut into 8 wedges and roll up, beginning with wide end. Cover and let rise a second time, about 30 mins. Bake at 375 F for 12-14 mins.

Crescents (ammended)
3/4 plus 2 Tbls warm milk
1/4 c warm water
3 Tbls sugar
2 tsp yeast
6 Tbls butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3-4 heaping cups flour
Dissolve yeast in milk and water mixture. Add remaining ingredients plus 1/2 cup flour and mix well. Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time. Follow instructions for original crescent recipe above.

Cousin's Cornbread
1/2 c butter or margarine
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c cornmeal
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c milk
Combine butter, sugar and eggs and mix well. In seperate bowl combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients and mild to butter mixture and blend only to moisten. Bake in well greased 8x8 at 375 F oven for 35-40 mins, or until golden and delicious!! Let cool slightly before cutting into squares. Enjoy! It is so moist and sweet, I could eat it for dessert!

They're At It Again!

So I could so easily post a story about Ree every day. Poor JC never gets talked about. He is just so good! And then so ornery the next moment as he is 3. But unfortunately not much of what he does is very funny :) He is such a sweetheart and so polite. He is a struggle to keep busy and still at church though. Which reminds me. I DO have a story about JC. We are trying to change our seating at church because the kids just want to play through sacrament meeting with the kids around them, and I have had it! I am trying to teach our children to sit with their family during church. They can read, or draw, but it must be with us. So JC has been having a particularly difficult time with this adjustment which has brought out all sorts of behavior durning sacrament meeting. We have made a habit out of always finding the "sacrament" picture in his Jesus book during the actual sacrament, and then we talk a little about Jesus and I tell him that during the sacrament we think about Jesus. So yesterday, in the middle of it all, he SHOUTS out, "I'm NOT thinking about Jesus Mommy, I will kill Jesus! I'm going to break his neck!" Mortified, Jared grabs Conner and runs him out faster than I have ever seen Jared move :) Everyone around us was cracking up. I am so thankful for parents who remember that they have "been there-done that."

Ree has been up to her same old stuff. Chewing on Daddy's razor (you read that right!), chowing down on dog food, dumping out the baking soda box to play in it (how she gets into half of these things I have no idea!), climbing on everything she can.....and then she turns on the sweet little angel girl charm! She is so loving and cuddley, and I can see Jared's heart just melt when he looks at her. I am finally realizing the power of a female!

REE!

I had to include a picture of Ree's "Braveheart" war paint. JC was painting with watercolors one day and decided to paint Ree. What gets me is that he even painted her tongue! She looks just like a little Scottish warrior from Braveheart.

Now don't let this little angel face fool you. This morning while I was on the phone, I heard the sound of crashing silverware and shattering dishes. I ran to the kitchen to find that Ree had decided to "help" me unload the dishwasher, and was taking everything out and throwing it on the ground. She broke a dish and there were sharp knives and other silverware and dishes all over the kitchen floor. When she saw me coming she started working overtime, trying to get every dish out before I could get to her. What a stinker! She really is a lot to keep up with. I just hope she makes it out alive :)

Christmas

This Christmas was a lot of fun. It was the first year JC got the concept of Santa Clause, and he was SO excited. We have a friend at church who dresses up like Santa each year at the church Christmas party. Conner was the first kid in line to sit on his lap when it was announced that it was time for that. He ran as fast as he could yelling over and over, "Daddy, now I can sit on Santa's lap and tell him I want a "Bob" (Bob the Builder) chainsaw!" Santa then came and visited us at our house on Christmas Eve, which was a big treat. JC was a little confused when Santa went to leave a got into a car. He asked where his reindeer were at, and we had to explain to him that they were at the North Pole, resting for that night. He accepted that exlanation and moved on without another word about it. And as "Santa" is a good friend of ours, we see him all the time, and that's his real beard...it just kills me that JC doesn't make the connection. Oh the innocence of youth!

This picture cracks me up because I tried so many times to just get a picture where they were both sitting down and looking at me, and this was the best we came up with!

The Skelton Family

So this is the Skelton family, (minus Matt, Tami's husband) like Christmas of 2006. Surprisingly, no new babies have been born since....but Tami is now expecting this year! That will make 14 grandchildren in eight years! I just love how our family GROWS!

WE'RE HERE

Okay so we finally decided to join the blogger's world. We hope to keep family and friends up to date with pictures, funny stories, thoughts, and, well...family updates! So we'll see how long it takes me to figure this blog thing out to get a nice page up, please be patient with me! (it's supposed to be a "family" blog, but it will probably all be done by me ;) ) Okay! Here goes!

The Parr Family

For Christmas 2007 the whole Parr clan was together, so we had family pictures taken. Sam (far right) returned home from a mission to Denmark like a week or so before Christmas. It is so great having him home! We missed him! He was great before he left, but has definitely grown into a spiritual giant. What an awesome understanding of the gospel he has, and a great outlook on life in general. The new baby belongs to Dan and Theresa (J's brother)...and what a cutie! Jared says it's the Parr boy gene, which I happen to agree with. These Parr boys are mighty handsome! We were so happy to have Leah (far left, J's older sister) with us for the holiday as well. In the past she had a work schedule that required she work most holidays, so we were excited to see her. She is a great Auntie. I am so lucky to have such a GREAT "family-in-law!"