Little Kids and Church

So,we moved into a new ward that is flooded with kids. I am telling you I have never seen so many kids in a ward in my life. Now it makes church seriously a little crazy. I am not saying that I don't like kids, but when there are kids surrounding me in every meeting and class, crying, talking, moving, grabbing, and wiping their snot on items near my daughter I get tense and crazy. Every week we choose a new seat in sacrament meeting hoping to avoid the craziness but no matter where we sit there are kids behind us, in front of us always turning around at us, and kids on the side of us taking Anna's toys and books and all of them have snot coming out of their noses. Maybe I get so tense because I work with sick kids at the hospital every week with RSV, pneumonia, and other crazy diagnosis' and I don't want Anna to end up there. Or maybe it is just my expectations, I expect to be able to go to church sit and listen to the speakers or teachers, and feel the spirit; however, that is not happening. I can't concentrate. It is probably having my own toddler on my lap too that is distracting me.

Besides all the craziness, some times it is quite entertaining. This morning the little 3 year old in front of us kept turning around and telling Anna to talk to him. He was getting so frustrated and mad at Anna because she wouldn't talk to him even though I whispered to him that Anna did not know how to talk yet. Anna just stared at him and he scolded back at her, "Talk to me!! Why aren't you talking to me." Kent and I couldn't help up crack up at the scene. Another little girl sitting in front of us asked her sister during the sacrament, "Do you believe in Jesus?"

Anyway, I guess I have just been overwhelmed by distracting kids in my ward and also trying to keep a toddler entertained while sitting in our laps for 3 hours straight while still trying to get something out of church! Almost impossible; it requires faith. And soon I will have 2 babies not yet in nursery.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was nice, I was in charge. Anna and I hung hearts all over the house with qualities that we loved about Kent while he was at school and work so he would be surprised when he got home. We also bought him helium balloon that said we love you on it; I got it mostly for Anna really though. Since I really really did not feel like cooking that day either I planned a surprise date/picnic night for the evening. When Kent got home we went by KFC and got a picnic dinner and took it to a grassy area near down town Mesa. After dinner, with the map I had printed out, we went on a walking, self-guided sculpture tour of all of down town Mesa's s lovely sculptures. It was interesting and enjoyable. After which we came home for some ice cream and a movie.

Racquetball with a toddler

Kent and I used to play racquetball every once and a while. We haven't played for a long time so we decided to hit the outdoor courts near our place. We assumed we would bring a couple of balls for Anna to play with, in the court next to us, and she would be fine while we played a game or two. Well we assumed wrong. The moment we walked into the adjacent court to start playing she followed us over laughing at the sight of us running and leaping around swinging at a flying ball. She thought it was great fun and started running around with us. Fortunately all the courts were empty so we went court hopping to get in a few good hits and swings before the little muchkin would waddle over to our court laughing. After running from court to court wwe took to light swings and a game of dodging Anna while still returning the ball, not the game we were planning on but strategic in and of itself. We finished off with a real game, Kent holding Anna, as the handicap I needed to even score a point against him. Anna found that pretty delightful too. Anyway that was our fun crazy racquetball with a toddler experience.

Dancing Queen

We had a little dance party tonight and Anna put on her groove to the music.

A Crazy Move

This past week we moved from our lovely 1 bedroom, 2nd floor apartment in Scottsdale to a cute ground level 3 bedroom apartment in Mesa. Yea, we are excited to have more space and to be on the ground level, especially with the new baby coming. It would be very challenging to carry a baby and a toddler up and down the stairs every day along with a diaper bag, and whatever else all at the same time. Nope don’t think I could do it. We are also excited about grass in our front yard for Anna to run around on, living next to my cousin Keirsten, more counter space, extra room, and our own washer and dryer.

Having a washer and dryer of our own is my favorite part of this new place. I have been using shared apt complex machines since I moved out of my parents house ten years ago probably spent thousands of dollars worth of quarters in all those machines. It was also getting very difficult carrying Anna, a full laundry basket, and detergent down the stairs and around the back of the building to do laundry only to find that the one washer and dryer of the complex were being used. Don’t think I could have carried two kids and laundry.

Another note to self, it is very difficult to move and take care of a toddler at the same time. I would not recommend it and next time I will definitely get a babysitter. Every time I would back a box there was unpacking it.

While I was distracted packing she would take advantage of being unsupervised and get into mischief. I found her climbing onto boxes, and spilling cheerios all over the kitchen floor right after I had just swept among other things.

And try loading boxes into the car, nope you can’t carry Anna and a box down to the car at the same time. If I left Anna in the apartment while I took a box down to the car she would cry and cry at the door like I abandoned her and if I put her down outside while I carried boxes I would find her climbing the stairs by herself and giving her mother a heart attack. But good thing for a strong husband and good friends who did most of the loading of boxes.

Another side note about moving. I never realized how much random stuff we had and how crazy it is to move everything we own. Also I believe one accumulates about as much stuff as the living space will allow them to have.

So we are in now and unpacking which is another adventure of it’s own, especially with an Anna girl. We were very sad to leave the Eldorado Ward and the great people there and all our amazing neighbors. I was released as Young Women President and Kent was released as counselor in the Elders Quorum this past Sunday. Then Sunday afternoon we were sitting on the couch thinking, “ wow, we don’t have any callings and we have Tuesday and Wednesday nights free now! What are we going to do with ourselves.” :) Anyway we are looking forward to going to our new ward, meeting new people and having new adventures here in Mesa.