General Conference Priesthood Choir

This is kind of old news, but since I'm planning to print out my blog as a book for posterity sake (and to feel less guilty about the lack of scrapbooking and journal-writing around here), I needed to still post it.

Tyler had the experience of a lifetime this past October. He, along with hundreds of young men from our stake, were the choir members for Priesthood session of General Conference.

We went down to the Conference Center to watch their rehearsal and take some photos.


This is so blurry, but Tyler is in the center with the striped tie on.

We took this photo just outside the Conference Center. I love the Salt Lake Temple!

Marcus was our little buddy that night and came with us to watch.

Snydermill

Almost every November we have a fun family reunion at a lodge in Park City. The lodge is called, "Snydermill," and it is owned by Matt's grandfather's stake.

Grandpa and Grandma are always so nice to host us and we have a great time!

Grandpa, Aunt Carol, Grandma, Uncle Neal

Riley and Steph

Matt and Connie hanging out in the kitchen. Matt was awesome to help out a ton in the kitchen -- cooking with his dad, doing dishes, melting plastic things on the burners. (Just kidding, Matt!)

Alicia and Brenda chatting and reading magazines. We enjoy just hanging out.

Here is Tyler throwing around the football with some of his cousins.

Downstairs is another story... the kids are crazy, hut-building fools. There are numerous rooms with bunk beds, so the kids find a room and rearrange the mattresses to make a hut.

We even celebrated Aubree and Marcus' birthdays with a big birthday cake.

We love Snydermill!!

Happy Thursday!

When my kids came home from school they found this sign on the door.

They also found this crazy mom with a party hat on her head...

I got home from a work appointment one Thursday afternoon and had 45 minutes until my kids got home from school. I decided to make some snacks and decorate the kitchen and have a "Happy Thursday" party.

Here were their faces when they came in...

I posted notes on the cupboards telling them why we were celebrating. Some of them were a bit of a stretch...

(The kindergarten teacher has them take turns being "Kid of the Day." They get to take the attendance cards down to the office, be the line leader, lead the pledge, etc. I had been at the school earlier in the day and knew Caleb was the big man.)

Marcus received his Cub Scout book and after one week earned his Bobcat. He loves Cub Scouts!

Aubree turns 12 soon and has finished passing off all her requirements for the "Faith in God" award. It is four years of goals and requirements, so we are very proud of her!

Tyler texted me that day and told me his girlfriend broke up with him, so I was trying to make a negative seem positive. (I think it's a positive! Who wants their 8th grader to have a girlfriend?)

We had chips and salsa, cut-up apples, egg salad sandwiches and wassail for our party snack.

I am always game for a party!! Even if it is just to celebrate a Thursday!

Goodbye Scoutmaster Matt...

I chuckle at the post I wrote 14 months ago when Matt was called as the Scoutmaster for our ward. See http://thelittlefigs.blogspot.com/2008/08/life-of-scoutmasters-wife.html .

At that time I was complaining about this new, time-consuming calling, that included flags and other paraphernalia littering my home.

Well, that all came to an end last week.

Matt was released as the Scoutmaster. I have seen him tear up on several occasions when saying goodbye to this beloved calling. He has truly loved it so much that his eyes watered one more time last Sunday when he stood to be released. He has grown to love the boys he has worked with, the leaders he has served with, the camps, and the activities. Most of all, he has loved and cherished the time he has had being with Tyler, our 13 year old.

Here are some of the things I might even miss seeing around our house:

Okay, just kidding. I won't miss having the "Spirit Stick" in my garage!! (Matt was so proud of the troop for winning that honorable award at their summer camp. I'm not exactly sure what a Spirit Stick is, but I am sure I won't miss seeing it in my garage!)

Yes, I include Matt as something I will miss seeing around the house! So far his new calling (Executive Secretary for the Bishop), has been far more time consuming and we kind of miss him around here.

Matt is not really an outdoorsy kind of guy. He was a little nervous about all the camping, as he would much prefer a hotel over a tent. But he learned to love being in a freezing cold camp with an achy back after a rough night on a mat. No really, I think he did learn to love it -- or at least not be miserable!

I feel bad that I audibly laughed when the Bishop called Matt to be the Scoutmaster, but I quicky learned why he was so great. 1) He loved the boys. 2) He respects the Scouting program. 3) He is very organized. His organization skills came in handy as he created spreadsheets for advancements and I loved this...

... he had little baggies for the boys to have their merit badge cards in after the Court of Honor. All so they wouldn't get lost. Isn't that just cute?

I love you, Matt!

Teaching at the Elementary School

The other day I had the experience of a lifetime...

Substitute teaching a fourth grade class.

Honestly, it was pretty fun. I began my college courses as an elementary ed major. Ever since I was a little girl I thought I wanted to be a school teacher. It wasn't until we helped in a real-life kindergarten class that I completely changed my major to Mass Communications. Seriously, that kindergarten class took a lot out of me! I was exhausted by the end of the day and knew I would never make it as an elementary teacher.

So helping in a classroom for a few hours was fun for me. A few of the teachers needs several hours off to attend a funeral for a co-worker, so some of us PTA volunteers stepped in to help.

I was the "science teacher" for two of the class periods. We watched Bill Nye the Science Guy. (Who doesn't love Bill?) Then we made biomes. I had a couple of odd things happen. One was when I went to squirt some hand sanitizer into my hands. The nozzle thing was a little plugged, so when I pushed it down, it shot out across my shoulder and hit one of the students. She said, "Hey!" and turned around to see why she had goo on her arm. Seriously, that thing probably shot about four feet! It was quite impressive.

I took the class to lunch. I had been coached by one of the boys in the class about the "stops." ("You walk down to the library and then stop. Then you turn the corner and get to the aquarium and then stop. Then you get to the drinking fountain and stop...") After a minute of trying to remember these stops, and then realizing that they were just the teachers' way of keep the line of kids organized, I told the kid I would do my own stops.

I had all the kids lined up for lunch and this girl comes up to me and barks like a dog. Now I don't mean a little, "Woof," but I mean she kind of growled and then barked and had that look in her eye like... well, like a dog ready to attack. I said jokingly, "Do you always bark at the substitutes?" trying to be funny. Then another girl came up to me and said, "She is a little... different, and makes a lot of animal sounds." I truly didn't really know how to respond to that, and just said, "Oh."

Since we were substituting for free, we were given a free school lunch. (Eat your heart out, people! I know you are jealous!) It was even the Thanksgiving feast, so after eating that baby, I have no need for the real thing. It was fun to sit in the teacher's break room, though, and listen to the teacher chat and hang out with my friend, Valerie.

Then I went a picked the kids back up and "taught" (I use that term loosely, in my case) until Mrs. P came back. I found it odd that 13 kids needed to use the restroom after lunch. Seriously, that is half of the class! I'm not sure if they got bored of Bill Nye, or if they knew they could take advantage of the substitute, or if they really just needed to go, but I couldn't say no.

It was a fun day! My hat is off to all those teachers out there who do this day in and day out. It is a lot of work!

Making Movies

My son and his friends have been making movies recently with our camcorder. I feel like I live on a movie set. The other day I found a smashed DVD and asked Tyler what happened. They needed to smash a DVD for their movie. (I am thrilled that we are ruining things for the sake of movie-making. NOT!)

Anyway, I ran across this little clip. I need practice uploading video to my blog, so I figured this was a good one to practice with. I also got a chuckle out of seeing how 13 year olds film driving a car, when they can't drive yet. The sound effects are the best! (I think they may have run over a donkey at some point, or something.)

Aimee's Words of Wisdom -- Costco

If one decides to go to Costco to take advantage of their free tire rotations, one should be prepared that the hour that they take to do the rotation may really not be free. As one walks around said store, one may be tempted to purchase a myriad of items that were not on the original shopping list -- Chi flat irons, jeans for hubby, DS games, etc. The tire rotation could end up costing close to $532.16.

Also, if one decides to spend exorbitant amounts of money at Costco, one should really make sure the political signs are taken out of the back of the mini-van, or it could be quite a trick to get all that crap home.

Getting Bumped

Matt and I had enjoyed a wonderful weekend in New York. We arrived at the airport, purchased a Subway to share for dinner on the plane and got ready to board around 5 p.m. Our flights would have us home just before midnight.

As we waited, the Delta employee came over the loudspeaker and said that the flight was oversold and they needed to see if two people could give up their seats. Matt had gone to the restroom, so I walked up to the desk and asked when they could get us home and what they would give us.

We have never taken a bump before, but I've heard it's a great way to get free airline tickets, so...

She said she would fly us out the next morning at 6 a.m. and we'd be to Salt Lake around noon. They were giving us $400 in vouchers each and would put us up in a hotel. I went to talk to Matt. We decided to take it!

This is where I start getting giddy...

It was a little weird watching our plane pull away without us, as we frantically called my brother to arrange for the kids overnight.

The lady started printing out our vouchers and said, "It looks like they are giving you $600 each in vouchers." I found out later that vouchers are like a credit. We had $1200 in airline tickets!!! Woo hoo!!! Guess how much it costs to fly our family of six to Disneyland? Twelve hundred dollars!!!

Oh, it gets better...

The lady told us the Holiday Inn would be picking us up at the curb and our stay would be covered by the airlines. She also printed out six $7 vouchers for food -- dinner that night, breakfast and lunch the next day for each of us.

(Here's the hotel room the next day at 4 a.m.)

And... (drum roll, please)

We would also get to fly First Class home the next day!

Okay, people, I have never flown First Class in my life!!! This was so exciting!!!!!! I felt like I had been on a game show and won some stuff. I started skipping out of the airport and Matt told me to calm down.

We went to our hotel, shared our Subway, and then went to the hotel restaurant and ordered a nachos supremo grande platter and a peanut butter and chocolate pie for dessert with our $14 in vouchers. Free! I LOVE free!!

The next morning we got on our plane and headed to Atlanta. At Dunkin' Donuts we enjoyed a breakfast croissant, donuts and a hot chocolate to wash it all down for FREE!

When we got to Salt Lake at noon, we weren't hungry to use our lunch vouchers. (We ate a fabulous lunch in First Class on the plane.) As we walked out of the terminal, we saw a Krispy Kreme and took two dozen donuts home for the kids. FOR FREE!!!

It was so fun! I hope I have the chance to get bumped on another flight in the future. Oh, and I bought those plane tickets to Disneyland. The total.... $1195 for all six. But to me they were FREEEEEEEEEE!!

Okay, I need to calm down. Just writing about this has gotten my heart rate up and I am excited all over again. Deep breaths...