In the Past Month

What a pleasant surprise! We took the girls to the adult session of stake conference last night. Since the Young Women had been at girls camp all week and were all just returning yesterday at around 4pm (which I'm sure is why someone decided to not have them babysit children last night), and since I needed to leave by 4:30, I figured that wasn't enough time to round up a babysitter. Having gotten there an hour early, at 5pm, we ate our picnic dinner, and went inside to save seats in the chapel and then practice with the choir. After practicing we made our way to the chapel, trying to figure out on whom to pawn our kids while we sang. After rounding someone up, we began getting settled in our seats when Jill came over to us and said, "Hey, I just found out Linda Samuels has a nursery going in the back of the church. There aren't many kids, but they could definitely take Allie." Oh, wonderful, sweet Linda. We ended up being able to hand over Sami as well, so both of us sat with the choir in the stands the entire two-hour meeting. Linda is actually the stake Young Women's president, and perhaps she just understood that while her Young Women would be too exhausted from camp to want to babysit a bunch of wild kids, the members of the stake would soon be just as exhausted (not to mention completely missing out on the spiritual edification they were so looking forward to) from trying to keep their children contained-- they expect that in a family meeting, but not in a meeting designed for them. Needless to say, she humbled me-- her willingness to serve and sacrifice without being asked (at least, I don't think she was, but I could be wrong), and without anything in return. And while the topic last night wasn't one considered to be a favorite among church members (Family History), it actually did benefit me, which would have been less likely to happen had we been tending the girls the whole meeting.

Today was the general session of the conference, and I must say the girls did surprisingly well. On any normal Sunday we can't make it through the hour-long Sacrament Meeting without taking both of them out at some point. So, I figured in having to sit there for two hours, we'd probably see our own seats inside the chapel for about ten minutes of the entire meeting-- you know, for the opening and closing hymns. But, you know, we didn't have to take either one of them out once. Not once! That's not to say, though, that I was able to listen intently to the meeting the entire time, but I did catch phrases here and there, as well as overall meaning, and, most importantly, we did get to listen to the last few talks on the importance of temple attendance given by the members of the stake presidency because (get this) the girls both... fell asleep. That's right, folks, they fell asleep in our arms. Oh, glorious day! For those that know our active children, that never happens. Allie hasn't fallen asleep in my arms in, well, I can't remember how long it has been. And since we had to be at the chapel and hour early to practice with the choir, we actually got to sit in the padded benches up near the front, which is a heck of a lot nicer than sitting on the hard fold-out chairs in the cultural hall (a.k.a. gym) with all the other hyper families like us who got there too late for a good seat. So, other than our friends the Terrys who sat right in front of us, we were surrounded by nice, quiet elderly people. Of course maybe they didn't appreciate us invading their territory, but on the other hand, maybe they enjoyed having some wiryness around to keep them awake.

As for other happenings this past month, Allie finished her term of swimming lessons. Unfortunately, I forgot about the registration day for this term, and by the time my brain kicked in gear the toddler classes were full. I felt bad about spacing it, but she hasn't seemed to notice. I think the swimming lessons have helped, though. We went to a Memorial Day ward picnic on, well, Memorial Day. The ward tends to have their two yearly BBQs at Veteran's Park, which, like many other parks in the area, has a swimming hole. Of course, the deeper part of the "lake" is roped off, so the water never got above Allie's shoulders. But she jumped in there with her friends Aura and Jose and never once was nervous. She even seemed to try to swim, and spent a good portion of the time trying to see how long she could keep her face in the water. At the same time, I do believe she's still cautious enough not to jump into a pool of water that looks deep. And to ease my mother's mind, yes, I still watch her intently around water, especially after the incident at the community pool a few months ago when I happened to be there by myself. On that day Sami was sitting outside the pool, since she decided she hated the cold water, and I had been teaching Allie how to tread water. Sami began to cry for some reason, so I put Allie back on the steps, and said I needed to check on Sami, who had been sitting patiently not too far away from the edge of the pool. I said, "Allie, wait right right here." And I stepped out of the pool for not more than five seconds when I had the distinct impression to turn back around. I'm glad I heeded the prompting. There Allie was, struggling to tread water, with her terrified-looking face barely above the water on which she was choking, and her eyes as big as saucers. I jumped back in and pulled her up and hugged her. She was fine, but after that she refused to even allow me to hold her in the deeper water. Can you blame her? So, the swimming lessons have at least helped to undo some of the damage I did that day in the community pool. Although, what would have happened if I hadn't been teaching her how to tread water, since that's what was at least keeping her nose above the water? Food for thought...

As for news on little Sami, she is officially a walker now. While she has been taking steps for the past month, it has only been in the past week or so that she has decided walking would be her main mode of transportation. I think she started to see the benefits-- no rug burns, it beats trying to crawl in a dress, and you look bigger and more intimidating. I must say the tops of her feet have been much cleaner lately. I've also actually been surprised at how much she has been talking as well. I figured since she has a talkative big sister to do the talking for her, that she wouldn't have a reason to say much, but she has loved mimicking people. And really without being taught has caught on to "Thank you" (which sounds like a sing-songy "tay too") and "bless you" (or "bess oo,"and while saying it she imitates your sneeze... which means she basically yells it whenever I sneeze). And from all the counting we do around here to get her sister to hop-to-it when it comes to accomplishing tasks, she has caught on to that, too. The other day I was counting to ten to get Allie to do something, and after I got to five, she said, "sis." Then after I said seven, she said, "aht." Not bad, kid. Not bad at all.

Happy June to all! Oh yeah, and a happy hurricane season, which started with a bang on Thursday with the formation of Barry. Our stake president asked us today to fast for a mild hurricane season, which he thought was funny considering he just asked us a month or two ago to fast for rain. Good times.