Missionaries, Fasting and Other News.

Yesterday, I had a funny experience. There was a knock at my door and I answered it only to find the missionaries. We talked for a brief moment and I mentioned that we were LDS because I thought that they were out just tracting and happened to be in my neighborhood. One the missionaries said "So are you very active?" "Yes" I responded. He then asked "So you go to church every Sunday?" I said "Yes, almost every Sunday, why?" (I was kind of confused by their line of questioning.) The missionaries looked at each other and then said, "Oh, we must of got some wrong information." I said "Well, we just moved into the ward in the middle of October, and we have missed several Sundays going to different wards for family functions and then the holidays were here and family was in town and a couple of times we have been sick...but we go." Then I realized that we were REFERRED to the missionaries as an inactive family!!! My first instinct was to run and grab my wallet so I could show them I was a current temple recommend holder. But I refrained, instead I smiled sweetly and said "Oh, someone must be worried about us? How nice." They said yes, that someone had been worried about us. Then I told them we were getting ready to move back to Washington, and I quickly threw in that before we left Washington we helped baptize an entire family. They thanked me an asked me to pray last night to have a missionary experience (which I did) and they were on their way. I guess I should try and stick out a little more at church. That way I will get noticed and people won't "worry" about us. The only problem with that is that when you get noticed, you get assignments and callings! I guess there will be no more flying under the wire for me! Oh, well.

Moving on....

For the past little while, I have not felt as spiritual as I thought I should (I wonder why?). I realized that I wasn't looking toward my Heavenly Father as much as I should be, that I was trying to do it all on my own. So, this past weekend, I actually set some New Years Goals for once in my life, one of which was to fast every fast Sunday. Sounds pretty simple, huh! Well, I have always been terrible at fasting and I was glad to know that I was exempt from fasting while I was pregnant and nursing. I milked (no pun intended) this excuse for way to long considering Toni is 8 1/2 now. So this past Sunday was my first go at it. I was preparing for this to be a very difficult day but, surprisingly, it wasn't. I truly felt that my Father in Heaven was blessing me to have a positive experience. I had fasted for 2 specific things, one of which was that the house in Vancouver would sell. I am happy to report that last night we got an offer on the house. Even if this offer doesn't go through I have been taught an important lesson in faith and reliance on our Lord. I was once again reminded that even I can be acknowledged by the Lord and he does look out for me each and every day. All I have to do is ask and he will provide (maybe not always exactly what I ask for) and he will comfort me.

Other news:

• Business is doing great!
• My landlord agreed to let us out of lease early. He said we could leave at the end of February or when ever we got a new renter, which ever one came first. So, I have put a For Rent sign in the window and have advertised on Craig's List and KSL. Hopefully we will get results soon!
• All of our kids are on antibiotics! (Toni just has an antibiotic cream)
• Our kids have another swim meet on Saturday in Orem.
• I have not yet been flipped off, cut off or honked at this week by one of these crazy Utah drivers.
• But I did hit a cat ... that made me very sad.
• I found out I really don't need new tires for my car for another 10,000-20,000 miles! And I got new windshield wipers for my car. YEAH!!

Well, that's it for me today. Have a great day....I am off to vacuum, again!

Funny video you might like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJpAMXXGZ9o

SWIM MEET RESULTS UPDATE

Ok, we just got back the official results of the kids first swim meet here in Utah! There was about 5-7 different teams competing at this meet from across the Wasatch front area.

Zac swam in a 200 yard freestyle event and took 7th place overall with a time of 3:48.12. Then he swam a 50 yard breaststroke event and took 4th place overall with a time of 53.45.

Toni swam a 100 yard freestyle event and took 4th place overall with a time of 1:48.45 (which was only .98 of a second from the 3rd place time and 2.51 seconds from the 2nd place time). Then she swam a 50 yard backstroke event and again took 4th place overall with a time of 57.72 (which was only 2.31 seconds away from the 3rd place time). It turns out they didn't DQ her after all!

Way to go kids!! I am so proud of them.....now they (and I) can't wait for the next meet.

Hunting Trip

Here we are the second day of the new year! I love new beginnings. We just finished up our year 2006 with a bang like always. Dan & I celebrated our 14Th year of marriage and Zac turned 11! He is so big!

Dan took him with him to Washington to go do some business but also to go goose hunting. Zac was so excited. He said this was his best birthday ever! They have done a lot to get prepared to go hunting....taken classes, tests on identifying birds, getting licenses, equipment and etc. Zac went pheasant hunting in Oct and got both a hen and a rooster. He was very excited, so this time he was even more excited to see what he could do. They got up at 4am to get out there early to get a good blind. By the time they got there they were already taken. After a while they finally got what they thought was a goose. No, not a goose. Instead it was a sea bird called a Cormorant (see picture on the left). Turns out it is a protected bird and you aren't supposed to "get" them. Just to be clear, Dan was the one who shot it. They said it was the ugliest thing they had ever seen. Just to think about it makes Zac sick. I think he is done hunting for a little while. Mean while we are waiting for word as to if we will be fined or not. Keep your fingers crossed.

Something else that happened before the year was over is that Dan & I decided that our family's home truly is the northwest. We decided that we are going to move our family back to Camas Washington. This is our home and we have been away for too long. We anticipate moving back within the next 1-3 months. We have enjoyed being close to our family here in Utah and spending time with all of you. I have especially enjoyed getting to know Adam, Nate and those 2 beautiful girls of Ciria's. We love them all as well as the rest of our family... although I am partial to my side of the family. This is an important move for our kids. We have drug them around quite enough...with our gypsy spirits...they need to be settled. Especially our Zac he getting to an age where this is more important to his growth as he is about to enter middle school. We will continue doing business in both areas, so this means Dan will be traveling back and forth so I am sure we will be back to visit often. Again, wish us luck!

Happy 2007! I have a feeling it will be a great year!