Party With The Youth

We challenged the youth in Andy's Sunday School class to find 50 names to take to the temple. We told them that if they could find 50 names that we would have them over for a party. The youth not only met their goal, they exceeded it. We were so proud of them!

The temple trip was amazing! The spirit there was so strong. Definitely a neat experience and something we look forward to doing again in the future with the kids.

As promised we had the kids over for a party. Good food, good kids, games, and a good time made for a great evening!

The night looked a little something like this...

Extending Forgiveness

Something I have been trying to learn more about and work on in my own life is extending forgiveness. I picked up this cute little book (by little I mean like 50 pages long) called Extending Forgiveness. I probably could have read the entire book in about an hour but in reality I spent several days pouring over its pages. I wanted to take my time with this book and learn as much as I could about forgiveness. This book was so good! I feel like I really learned a lot!

* This makes 16 books for me this year.

Roller Skating

We went roller skating with the Young Men and Young Women yesterday. Roller skating is something I had been wanting to do for awhile so I was super excited to go!  I was a little surprised when we got to the rink to see that the floor was cement rather than wood. I was also surprised to learn that you couldn't rent roller blades.

Roller skates it was for me.  This was my first time on skates since I was 5 years old! I think I did pretty well, I didn't fall. Maybe that's because I didn't get going fast because I didn't want to fall on the cement floor.

Andy did pretty well on his skates. He got going a little too fast and fell a couple of times, he said it was painful.

I enjoyed watching the Young Men chance our Young Women's President around the rink-- it was quite comical. She brought her own roller blades and those boys just couldn't keep up with her.

During our skating session they played a game involving dice that hang from the ceiling. I won myself a snow cone but decided to give it to one of the Young Women, snow cones aren't really my thing.

I had a lot of fun skating! Not sure I would go to this particular rink again, I like my wooden floors. But I am looking forward to going skating again.

Date Night: Mocking Jay

Most of our dates have been indoor dates as of late. With winter upon us it's harder to get outside and have fun especially when there is a lack of snow in the land. So much for dog sledding, snow shoeing, ice fishing and skiing. We are hoping next winter is better.

We went to the movies on Friday night to see The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 1. Andy and I have both read the books so it was fun to see how the directors made the book come to life on the big screen. We loved the movie and can't wait for part two to come out! Date nights are the BEST!

Decorating For Christmas

The missionaries happened to stop by the night we had set aside to decorate the house for Christmas. We asked them if they wanted to help us decorate and they were more than willing. Elder Watson tackled the nativity set and Elder Fernelius went to town our Christmas tree. One of the Elders made a time lapse video of the lights being strung-- it was really fun to watch! I think the missionaries had a blast! We sure enjoyed their help and their company.

Sunshine for the Latter-Day Saint Teenager's Soul

Andy and I like to end each night with a short spiritual thought or spiritual story. For awhile our days ended with stories out of Sunshine for the Latter-Day Saint Teenager's Soul. We both really enjoyed the stories we read. I have a feeling that we will revisit this book again sometime in the future.

If you are looking for a spiritual pick me up each day, I recommend reading this book.

*This makes 15 books for me this year.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving in Washington with my Mom and my siblings. I think this was the first Thanksgiving I've had with my Mom since high school, where has the time gone?

We started the day off with the Turkey Trot in Tacoma-- it sure feels good to exercise before eating a big meal. Sadie, Megan, Andy and I ran and Mom did the walk. At the race we ran into a few of my high school classmates, it was good to catch up with them.

This was the first time Andy was able to complete a 5k without walking, he was so proud of himself. I was really proud of him too! Unfortunately, the chip that timed him didn't work properly so we don't know what his time was. This race was my slowest race ever-- that happens when you go out and run a race without training. Oops! I'm sure there will be more fun runs in our future.
 

Megan, Andy & I being turkeys.

Mom, Andy & I.

After our run we headed home to shower and prepare for our feast. We had turkey, ham and prime rib. All of the food was really good!

The rest of the weekend was spent shopping, eating, playing games, and going on walks. We really enjoyed ourselves.