For Christmas Tom got a new camera (yes, Christmas comes to our house in November if you’re named Tom). Anyway, he is still waiting for the good lenses to arrive but has had some fun learning to use it and took these cute pictures.








We had a fun long weekend last week. Hayden got out of school early on Thursday the 7th for parent teacher conferences. Then he also had Friday off so we enjoyed some time just playing and running around. I went to the conference with his teacher and she gave a glowing report saying that Hayden is a great student, he focuses well and is willing to help other students and doesn’t just give them the answer. He has really taken off with his reading skills and is loving it. Tonight before bed he read a page in his Magic Treehouse book, he had to slow down to sound out a lot of words but it was amazing for kindergarten! He gets so excited when he does it!

Saturday I got up and went for a long run because I’ve been “training” for a 13K, I am running on the 22nd. It’s been good having a goal for my running and I have been doing it with my neighbor Tatyana so it’s been nice. Last Saturday I ran 8 miles and it felt pretty good. I don’t think I’ll win the race by any means but I will enjoy it. After running we went snorkeling with a family I met while helping to set up for the fall festival at Hayden’s school. I met this other mom who just got here in August and they haven’t been out to do anything yet. We had a good time and they enjoyed their first snorkeling trip. They have a daughter who is 16 months and a boy in kindergarten so Hayden had a good time. When we got home from the beach we scrambled to get the house ready because on Friday night I had called around inviting people to come over to play kick ball and have a BBQ. The simple last minute activity quickly exploded and before I knew it we had 30+ people coming over! It was a mad scramble to get ready but we had a good time and the place was packed! We threw out blankets in the yard and ate picnic style and it worked out well. I wish I had taken a picture of the crowd, it was great!

Sunday we relaxed, Monday was a holiday and we tried to recover from the wild weekend and got the house cleaned up and then got all dressed up for the fancy Marine Corps Birthday Ball. Our decision to attend the ball was last minute so there was no time for me to get a dress. Luckily, I was able to borrow one from a friend and my feet are so small I was able to go to a Japanese shoe store to get some shoes to match. I was going to get my hair done and then decided to save the money and did it myself, I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out given that I have no experience and my hair is fairly short right now. The Ball was nice, the speaker was okay, the food was good and we actually stayed for the dancing. We forced ourselves to get outside our comfort zone and joined in the dancing as though we were in high school again (something neither of us was good at even back then!) Luckily, we had several friends at the ball so that made it a lot more fun. Danica did not want us to leave her that night, she is in this clinging to mom phase and cried for over an hour before we left, just begging me to not go. Once I put my dress on she went and got her Snow White dress on and told me she was ready to go with me. It was so cute I really would have taken her if she were a little older. Fortunately, she survived being with the babysitter. I told her I would come to her bed and give her a massage when I got home so I snuck in there and she rolled over and gave me such a warm, sincere smile.




Tuesday there was no work or school again because of Veterans day so we drove up north to the aquarium. Its the second largest aquarium the world and it’s amazing. Tom had never been there so we had a fun time sharing it with him. We met up with Thomas’s family, Hayden’s best friend in his class at school. They also have a 9 year old daughter. We had a good time with them and enjoyed the day except we got rained out trying to watch the dolphin show.





The rest of the week went well, Thursday I had music class here and the kids enjoyed it. Friday night we had an activity at the church that was a mock iron chef cook off and I was assigned the secret ingredient of cranberries. I made white chocolate, macadamia nut, cranberry cookies and they won first place for cranberry desserts so I was happy! Saturday I did my long run and then we mostly hung out at home. At 9:00pm on Saturday night we got a life changing phone call. They asked to come in this morning to meet with the district (stake) president. Tom was tossing and turning all night. Well, with a mixture of feeling inadequate, overwhelmed and exited, Tom accepted the call to serve as the 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency (Bishopric). I know he will do a fantastic job and he gets to work with and learn from some amazing people. He feels honored to be called but overwhelmed with all he has to learn and inadequate next to the other men. I dread spending Sunday all alone but am excited for the growth and learning this will bring to him and to us and for the blessings that will come from the service and sacrifice. I knew our life was getting too comfortable and easy, something had to come our way and I am grateful it is this. It will be a great new adventure.

Well, that’s about all for now. We are starting to get ready for the holidays and the kids birthdays. Our neighbor’s husband is coming home this week after being deployed for nearly a year so it is very exciting! We have become really good friends with them and it will be so nice to see them a whole family again.

Take care!