What's the Third?

When Spence and I got married he introduced me to the Law of Threes – Which states that bad things happen in groups of three. Our family has tested this Law out over the years and I have become a believer.

Last Friday – I was picking the kids up from school and the breaks went totally “soft” (this is a term that I have since learned). I had to push the brakes all the way to the floor to stop and even then it took a long time. I waited for Spencer to get home from work and then mentioned there was something wrong with the brakes in the Van. Spencer went out to take the van for a test drive and as he was backing out of the drive way the brakes completely failed and he rolled into the fence behind our house. The top of the fence post hit our back windshield totally shattering it. There is a nice dent in the van gate and a ding in the bumper. We got the brakes fixed on Saturday and I dropped the van off at the body shop on Thursday.

All things Considered I feel very blessed. I was just so thankful that nothing happened while my kids were in the van that the rest didn’t really seem to matter.

Tuesday I went up stairs to brush my teeth and discovered the bathroom sink cracked with chip in it and a puddle of water on the floor. Now I don’t know exactly what happed, but I do have my theories.

I will soon be the owner of a new windshield, van gate, bumper and bathroom sink- Lucky me.

Jarom

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The end of the school year seems to be coming at a rapid pace. This is Jarom’s last week of pre-school. Last week they had concert and here is just a little snippet for you to enjoy. I especially love it when Jarom and his friend start to break-dance. I had no idea he had such talent. I missed filming the best part, but there is a bit of him mov’in and grov’in.

Since this is for the most part my Journal I just wanted to add some of Jaroms favorite things – so I can remember when I am old and grey!

Favorite Food: squishy potatoes and gravy

Favorite Color: all the colors, but green is the most loved

Life’s aspirations: To be the Yellow Wiggle. If that does work Jarom would like to be a Jedi and if for some reason that doesn’t work out he would like to be a fireman.

The Immovables

The Mutual theme this year is “Be steadfast and immovable always abounding in good works” (Mosiah 5:15). For our New Beginning this year, as a presidency – I am serious blessed with awesome counsellors, we decided that the 3rd Thursday of every month would be our “abounding in good works activity” and we would perform service. We had T-shirts made for all the girls, brainstormed a team name; called ourselves the “Immovables”, had it printed on the back of the shirts and then we wear them to each of our service activities.

We’ve done different service activities; provided babysitting at the church so couples could go out with there significant other on Valentines day, cleaned the church, made sandwiches and took them to homeless shelters. Some activities have been more successful than others. Teaching girls why we do service and having them experience the true meaning of service has always been a bit of a struggle.

Tonight we went to a nursing home; our main purpose in going was to visit with the people and sing to them. We brought music from their era and one of the girls brought her dog and another leader brought her guitar. When we arrived I could tell that the girls were nervous. The people living in the home were at different stages health wise and mentally, which can be a little scary when you're young; I was a little nervous about how the girls would react.

At first the girls huddled together at the side, but people started to notice the dog and wanted to pet her. We gave the girls a push and told them to mingle around. At first they timidly approached a person and inquired as to their name and politely asked questions about their lives. It was so fun to watch the people light up when the dog would come near them or how their demeanor would change as the girls talked to them and held their hand. After we had been there about an hour I was having a lovely chat with a man named Bill and two of my girls were visiting with a woman just behind Bill. One of the girls looked at me and said, “I like coming here, it makes me feel good. I want to come back”.

I’ve learned so many things as yw’s president. I’ve learned that we try and try and try and then suddenly it happens, the girls have an experience that helps them to understand a principle or gain a testimony of what we have been trying to teach them. I was so proud to be a part of these outstanding girls.

Yum!

I have brownies...with icing. Want to come over?

Catching Up

I have a lot of catching up to do as I have been neglecting my blog site for the last couple of months. It seems we are a busy little family always up to something, although I feel as though our lives are starting to repeat on a yearly cycle. Depending on the season, you could look up a blog posting for the same month the pervious year and it would pretty much be accurate as to what we are all up to right now. There have been some highlights that I did want to touch on. Hopefully you have a while to read or I guess you’ll have to read in small sections.

MY BIRTHDAY
Yes it’s sad, but true, I am indeed a year older. I have officially reached the age where I no longer wish to acknowledge the fact that I have celebrated another birthday- yet I'm doing a blog post so that says other wise. I had lots of birthday wishes and kisses from the 3 amazing guys in my life. Lots of my family and friends called to help me celebrate(not really the word I want to use but it seems the most commonly used word to describe birthdays).

There seemed to be an overwhelming theme that I needed some new clothes as everyone treated me to an amazing summer wardrobe. I am all set for the summer and will be looking good. Spencer got our good friend Tricia to come and watch the kids and he took me shopping. Although it was very hard for me to accept such a gift, I will say that I am thankful to have a friend that loves me so much that she wanted me to have something she loves so much and treated me to a pair of LuLulemon pants. All I can say is – they really are as comfortable as everyone says, I’m hooked. If you don’t own a pair yet, grit your teeth and get yourself a pair.

KAYE COMES TO WINNIPEG
We look forward to Kaye’s (Aka Spencer’s mom, playdough grandma, grandma Kaye) every year. It is so fun to have her here. Kaye brought lots of fun activities to do with the kids - balloon tying being at the top of the list, they also did puzzles, sidewalk chalking, stories, singing to Raffi and so many other fun things I could go on and on. We of course made our daily (although it seems a little more like hourly) trips for ice-cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, more gelato, more ice-cream, you get the idea. Next year I am going to bring my camera so I can take pictures of all the places we consume a frozen dairy treat.

I pulled Nolan out of school for an afternoon and we all went to the Zoo, followed by a trip to the BDI(ice-cream). Friday night being Kaye’s last night we decided to go to Horton Hears a Who. Totally fun and cute- take your kids. We arrived at the airport bright and early Saturday morning only to discover that due to a terrible snowstorm in Calgary her flight had been cancelled and she would be spending another day with us. We were all delighted as we had planned a bonfire and never had time to roast some wiennies. We went to a park by our house and fulfilled our roasting plans and had wonderful afternoon.

To be continuted as I have to put Jarom to bed.

Apostle Song

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A Wife’s Prerogative

I have lots to share! The last couple of weeks have been busy with Kaye and my mom visiting, not to mention the great lumpia roll, but I wanted to brag about my amazing ultra talented husband.

We had lots of good news last week. After an agonizing month (for Spencer) we learned that Spencer did indeed pass another exam. Yippee!!! He left the exam feeling like he had failed, but I’ve learned after 13 yrs of marriage that this is probably not the case and remained optimistic. This means 3 exams down and 6 more to go.

On a huger note, Spencer has finally, after 5 yrs of working, completed his intern hours. 5600 hours total spread across 16 categories of professional experience. This means that, after he passes his last 6 exams he will officially be an architect.

Spencer has worked on many projects, gaining the respect and admiration of all those he works with. His bosses love him and I happen to think he is an architectural genius.

Spence was a design architect and contract administrator on the Seven Oaks Emergency redevelopment project and the architecture is mainly his design. All those who have seen the designs are thoroughly impressed. Because the design and planning was approached in a modern new way, doctors from all over the city are vying for the opportunity to work in such a remarkable new facility. He is also assisting with the design of renovations to Victoria General Hospital Emergency.