November 2017
November was memorable! Here are a few highlights and entertaining stories I never want to forget. :)
 |
| Daddy snuggling kids |
 |
| Mommy swinging with Hyrum and Audrianne |
Ok, so if you haven't had the privilege to meet James, here is a fun story to help you get to know him just a bit better. And me probably. It's a two part story:
Part 1... Saturday, November 5 was day three of Thor Ragnarok being in theaters and we went to see it. We were late getting out of the house which made James so anxious about getting good seats that on the way to the theater he drove like a maniac while coaching me all the way on what seats to pick. He planned to drop me off at the door and then park the car and run in to join me. I tried to convince him that we were going to be fine because although it was day three, it was also the earlier showing and not as many people would be at that one. He didn't believe me, swerved out of traffic into the parking lot, slammed to a stop, basically kicked me out and zoomed away to park. I wandered in, in no particular hurry because quite frankly I was more concerned about using the restroom before the show. Wouldn't you know that before I even passed the restrooms, James came running past me on the way to the theater. I figured since he was beating me to the theater anyway, I'd hit up the restrooms and then join him. When I caught up to him, he was standing at the end of the tunnel looking at the seats and my heart sank a little because I feared he was right after all - all the seats were full and he was debating on which were the least bad of the bad seats. Turns out that he was actually taking this picture which is terribly lit. But it clearly shows a COMPLETELY empty theater. I just cracked up laughing at his sheepish grin. We had our first choice pick of seats and thoroughly enjoyed the almost empty theater, in spite of the wasted adrenaline.
 |
| The "sold out" movie theater |
Part 2... Sunday morning was an area wide church conference being broadcast from Salt Lake City. Our building has four separate congregations who meet at various times on Sunday but for this meeting, all four congregations would need to gather at the same time to view the broadcast. Parking was going to be sparse as was seating and we knew if we didn't get just the right seats, our kids would be nuts and we may as well not have come. It was also daylight savings Sunday. Well, we got up and rushed out the door to the church an hour early because we know that is when you have to arrive to get your choice of seat. We were also careful to note Daylight Savings and the change in time so that was not an issue. James was a bit upset and frustrated at how difficult it is to get two practically immobile babies, a bus of a stroller, a bag of entertainment, a bag of baby essentials, and a snack-motivated 4-year-old into the car as well as a mom who probably put make-up on in the car. It is tough. He deserves to feel frustrated. At any rate, we finally pull into the parking lot to find the sight pictured below. That's right! That's when I cracked up because seriously. Only James could make this happen twice in a weekend. We had gotten the time wrong and it started an hour later than we thought. So we were two hours early. It was ridiculous but we did have fun walking around exploring the grounds as a family and getting the wiggles out while we waited for the person with the key to arrive. Haha!
 |
| The "full lot" at the church |
 |
| Eating pizza with Daddy |
This was a fun experience! Abi's play group does a field trip of sorts once a month which we enjoy. This month, we went to tour the temple grounds. Sounds sort of weird because if you know much about LDS culture, you don't really receive tours of temples or temple grounds except for a couple weeks right before they open after construction. However, the lady who set it up happened to know one of the building coordinators who works there (a facilities guy) and he offered to show the kids and moms around and in particular, show us a spare statue of the Angel Moroni they have in storage. Sayeth what?! It was really neat. He knew lots of stories about the construction of the temple and unique facts about this particular building. Example, this temple has the most stained glass of any of our temples in the world. That's cool! And they really are beautiful!
 |
| Meeting the Angel Moroni |
For those who don't know, the Angel Moroni is the man who finished writing The Book of Mormon in about 400AD and then appeared to Joseph Smith to show him where the record was hidden. He is basically the angel who is ushering in the last days before Jesus Christ comes back to earth so Moroni is placed on top of our temples blowing a trumpet-type instrument to herald the Savior's arrival. He is a comforting and glorious sight for me because I know when I see him on top of a building that there is a place of peace and worship, a House of the Lord, nearby.
 |
| There he is! |
And so with all of that goodness and peace, must come some angst and embarrassment. So here's my story to go with this picture which I took, solely for the purpose of telling this story. When we arrived to the play group temple tour, we were a little early and Abi and another kiddo took off up the stairs that you see pictured below and ran to the front entrance of the temple where there is a huge fountain I knew she would be playing in. Well, this is November, I have only lived in this place with these friends for 2.5 months. I had to leave my twins in the stroller with ladies I barely knew so I could chase Abi up the stairs and drag her back. Dragging her was not my plan, but she refused to come and by this point, everyone had arrived and was waiting at the bottom of the stairs in the parking lot for us to come back so we could start the tour. Ohhhhh, so I calmly walked my screaming and kicking daughter down the stairs with everyone watching, feeling much like I was on a catwalk of sorts because of the exposure and attention but absolutely reeling from embarrassment in front of these new people who I desperately wanted to be my and Abi's friends... It was quite humbling. Parenting is humbling. And yet, these wonderful women didn't mention a thing, and when I talked about it months later in church, no one even remembered! I love these new people I get to call friends! And my wonderful sister Katie made me feel better about it too as she said when she sees people in this situation, she thinks, "Wow! Look at that mom holding it all together! She's great!" And so I'm just going to believe that that is what they were all thinking. Haha!
 |
| The San Antonio Temple |
 |
| Loving their high chairs |
 |
| Audrianne |
 |
| Hyrum |
 |
| Getting in the pantry |
James took the girls grocery shopping and let them sit in the shopping cart together. First time for Audrianne! She loved it and hated being in the stroller again for a few trips after this. He spoiled her! Oh well, the girls loved sitting together! And aren't they adorable??
 |
| Riding in the shopping cart |
No comments:
Post a Comment