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So there was a big football game on Saturday night! TCU vs BYU! Both of which are in the top 25 and are fighting for the conference championship! Well, we also had Stake Conference and the adult session was scheduled during the game. Bummerola! There really wasn't a decision to be made. We knew exactly where we needed to be, but what made it even less of a decision was that Elder Robert D. Hales would be there! An apostle!
We were able to sit on the second row with my in-laws, who are in our stake. The spirit was amazing! Elder Hales had no notes with him. He just spoke, told stories, and shared the doctrine for an hour! His little alarm went off, letting him know he needed to be done. He turned to our stake president, and asked it he could keep going... Of course! He said he didn't want to stop, the Spirit was so strong. He said as a member of the Church he would NEVER miss this meeting (the adult session of stake conference) because it is here you can learn the most. It is here he can teach the most! I am excited to go through my notes again. There are so many things I starred, things I need to do or work on! When the meeting was over, we stood, watching and observing, still filled with the Spirit. We weren't really waiting for him to shake our hands, but as he was leaving, he leaned over, looked Nic and I in the eyes, said hello and shook our hands. The Spirit radiated from him! It was amazing and a moment I will not forget.
I know we have prophets and apostles on the earth today! I know Elder Hales is one of them. I know the Spirit is real and testifies of truth. I know we have that truth along with modern day revelation in the Church! Wow! Wow! Wow!
P.S. BYU lost 38 to 7.
I've been thinking... And I need your help. So here are some random, unconnected questions for you all. What do you think:
1. Hannah had the Swine Flu... Do you know if she can get it again? Also we've obviously all be exposed to it here in our house... Would Bryson (or Nic and I) need to get the vaccine?!
2. I feel like I need to get my YW into the scriptures! I've thought about starting some kind of scripture program at the beginning of the year. I know it needs to be very well organized and fun... so that it works and doesn't fizzle out. HOW? Have you as a leader or a youth done something like this? Help please.
3. So I'm wanting to do a photo wall downstairs. I want all different styles, sizes and colors of frames. Has anyone seen one like this? Could you send pictures or links?! I don't want it to look all out of place or just thrown together. Any suggestions?
Okay, now here is when you leave your comments!
Last week a friend and I were lucky enough to be taught how to make caramels by another friend! She helped us step by step, sharing her secret tips along the way! It was fun making the caramels but even better being with these two great women. (Both of whom I had to call and apologize to for bringing Hannah a couple days before we found out she had swine flu. Both were great about it!)
I brought my pan of caramels home and wrapped some (above) then later made some fun candies (below). They have a pecan in the middle, wrapped with caramel, dipped in yummy chocolate, with white chocolate drizzled on top! I feel so talented! Ha Ha! Now I've got to try making the caramels on my own! We'll see how that goes!
... by the H1N1 virus, aka SWINE FLU! Hannah has it. So far none of the rest of us do... but it may just be inevitable at this point. We are trying to keep Hannah away from Bryson, unsuccessfully. Nic even set a TV and DVD player up in her room!
It has been going around quite a bit in our neighborhood. In fact our stake has even put in a "no hand shake" policy. Hannah and Bryson got a runny noses starting Tuesday night. It seemed harmless, clear and minor (unless they sneezed) and I even took them to a friend's on Wednesday morning. (In hindsight, I feel awful about that!) Wednesday they both started coughing. Then Thursday and on Hannah has had a fever as high as 104. She has also been fatigued (naps 4 days in a row now!) and has had a lose of appetite (thankfully no vomiting!). I took her into the doctor Friday afternoon, not wanting to go the weekend if it got really bad. After a nose swab, it was confirmed... she has swine flu! Hannah was subscribed tamaflu and we need to keep her in for awhile. He said we would probably notice a significant difference soon and she may be better within 48 hours (we have medicine for 5 days). I've heard of some doctors subscribing tamaflu to the entire household, as a precautionary measure. But that wasn't our case. The doc said to call right away though for anyone else in the family and they could call in a perscription. I asked if our whole family needed to quarantine ourselves and he said no. Nic and I would be fine. He seemed very sure about that; however I know you can have the virus without showing any symptoms for 24 hours. So I figured I'd stay in for 48 hours as well.
So there you have it. We are part of the "pandemic!" It's hard to find the balance between being careful, aware and living our life, without being overly anxious about it all. We are living now with Lysol spray, Clorox wipes, and "hanatizer" (as Hannah calls it) close at hand. The "swine flu" is highly contagious, but it doesn't seem to be the huge scare that it once seemed. (But I sure hope Bryson, Nic and I stay clear!) What are your thoughts on the whole thing?!
Bryson is signing "more." He's been doing it for a week or so now, but never for the camera and never when Nic is around! So I finally captured it this morning! (Nic thinks I'm making it up! But Hannah will even say, "Bryson knows how to say two words, 'hi' and 'more.'") Bryson signs "more" with his thumb and index finger. So cute. He is starting to get "all done"... I think... but its usually just one arm that is flailing about, so I'm not quite sure when he's just waving!
I signed with Hannah and LOVED it! She was able to tell me so much before she could really talk. I am excited Bryson is picking it up and hope it will continue. Love you, little guy! So see... I'm not making it up!
I was thinking the other day how I need to sit down and write thank you notes to all my young women leaders. As a youth I took them and the time they spent with us for granted. I am loving working with the young women of our ward. They are amazing! The calling is so consuming, not just for the activities, planning and preparing, meetings... and more meetings, but these girls are always on my mind! I worry about them, love them, think about how to reach them, cry over them and pray for them. I hope they know that I love them and even more important, that their Heavenly Father loves them. He worries about them, rejoices over them, and cries for them too!
Because they are such a huge part of my life, I wanted to share a few pictures and recent activities. At the beginning of September we went to the Provo temple and took pictures. Our focus as a ward and stake has been on the temple this year. As discussed in General Conference in the spring and in our Stake Conference, we wanted the girls to have a picture of themselves in front of the temple to put in their rooms as a constant reminder. For our next activity we made (decorated) super cute 5x7 picture frames for their picture.
We were missing quite a few girls but here are some of my fabulous, faithful young women!
The Beehives:
The Mia Maids:
The Laurels:
Last week we had a Modesty Fashion Show. The Laurels were in charge. (I have to make a special shout out to Jenny and Miquel for all their help! And Elizabeth too, whose talk was perfect!) Everyone wore modest clothes... so it was a success! Whew! I really do think it was a lot of fun. We did a funny little spoof at the beginning, where the girls wore spaghetti straps (spaghetti hanging on one of the girl's shoulders), a plunging neck line (a plunger hanging around her neck), tight clothes (plastic wrap wrapped around a young women's body), etc. There was a peom that went along with it and it got some good laughs. Then we had 5 different categories: school clothes, exercise, Sunday dress. fancy or dance dresses, and wedding dresses. The girls wore there own clothing (mostly approved beforehand). I emceed the evening, describing the clothing and sharing (according to the YW) why their outfit was modest, why they thought modesty was important, and any experiences with modesty. To conclude, the laurel advisor, Elizabeth, gave a wonderful talk.
I wish I had a picture with all the YW together. I had to just pick a few. Here are some of my modest fabulous, fashionable young women:
Silly:
School Clothes:
Exercise Clothes:
Church Dresses:
Dance Dresses:
Wedding Dress:
We are starting to plan and budget for next year! What are some of your favorite YW activities and memories, either from when you were a youth or serving as a leader?Again, I am grateful for these young women, for how they lift me up, strengthen me, and stretch me!
So we were at a store Saturday evening, when Hannah fell, hitting her head on the corner of a glass display table. Immediately Hannah starts crying and we see blood gushing! Nic crouched down right away then, I picked up Hannah and started heading towards where I hoped a bathroom may be. The employees were very nice, helping us to the bathroom, getting band-aids and ointment, and even looking up where the closest insta-care was located. I propped Hannah on the sink while I held paper towels to her cut and cleaned the blood away from her face. Hannah could see herself in the mirror, which I'm sure didn't help the crying. With all the blood, it looked a lot worse than it really was. After getting the blood stopped and a band-aid on, we headed to get stitches.
Unfortunately the insta-care was closed, so we had to go to the ER. We went to Orem Community Hospital, where we were the only ones in the waiting room. Hannah was able to be seen fairly quickly, which was so nice. They call us back, Nic holding Hannah and I'm following behind, holding Bryson. Then I hear, "Wait! You can't go back there!" Aaa, what?! "No one under 14 can go back, so we can keep the Swine Flu down." Oh... I wish they would have prepped us for that a little earlier. So Bry and I stayed out in the waiting room, while Nic and Hannah headed back.
I was able to nurse Bryson and feed him some rice cereal (I was so glad I had that in bag!)... all the while hoping Hannah was doing alright. But before long I hear Hannah bouncing out, quite happy, with a pink stuffed mouse for her and excited to give Bryson a frog puppet. She didn't end up having stitches. The doctor glued her cut! How fabulous is that! It was so much less traumatic: no shot for numbing, no stitches, needle or thread... The glue and wound site needs to stay dry for about 10 days. It sure was expensive glue! I need to get me some of that! But Hannah's face sure is worth it! Whew... we made it through our first trip to the ER!
Hannah:
"You aren't Sister Roach. I am Bryson's sister, so I'm Sister Roach. You are Mom Roach."
One of the special things about Conference weekend is watching for my dad, who sings in The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I thought it would be fun to post a picture of him so you could all watch for him too! What an exciting couple days we have ahead of us. What an honor and a privilege it is to hear the words of our prophets and apostles! The music always brings such an amazing spirit as well! Enjoy!
I wanted to share more of Bryson's tricks! He has his first word! See if you can hear it at the beginning of the video. He says 'hi'... Okay, so its not real consistent yet, but its there! He is also clapping! Its so fun to be a mom! ... most of the time!
On Saturday we were able to go to the sand dunes with some friends in the ward. The other 3 families were pretty hard core dirt bikers and "quad" riders. They had the outfits for it and all, even the kids. I wish I would have gotten a picture with everyone! We were a bit out of place, but since we have a four-wheeler we were able to crash the party and come along. We had a wonderful time.
Hannah and Bryson LOVED the sand! Bryson thought it was the coolest thing ever. He ate plenty of sand and seemed to find every single little rock. Our friends brought a grill. We cooked up some hot dogs for lunch and made a day of it. I went out on a ride and was really enjoying myself... until I got stuck! Come to find out, I was in 2-wheel drive, not 4! I was grateful when Nic finally came looking for me. Usually I'm pretty adventurous (I've even driven a dirt bike before), but not wanting to make a fool of myself anymore with our experienced friends, I didn't try too much. Hannah rode with Nic. She was so excited she got to have "four turns!"
Thanks guys for the fun day. We loved being apart of the adventure!
