I taught YW today and I used a talk by Elder Worthlin, "Come what may and love it". I think this was more for me than the girls. Funny how often that is the case. I've been trying super hard lately to be more patient with my children. Really, I've just been trying not to yell as much. This really helped to put things into perspective and I'm really going to try to make this my new thing. We can't control what happens, but we can control how we react to what happens. This is also good since we've really been trying to reinforce this concept for Sam.
I've thought on this a lot the last few weeks. I'm no longer teaching pre-school. They called me one day and said they didn't need me anymore. I've never been let go from a job, so this was a little hard for me to come to terms with. It was because I had done anything, I just became a victim of "restructuring". I've gotten used to having more free time and am trying to use it for good things. Oddly enough, I got a call last week from the bank where I used to work with an offer to work a little through the holidays. What a blessing and I can truly see God's hand in this. It's much more money than I would have made at pre-school and had a been working there still, I would not have been available for it. And, I'm getting used to slowing down a bit and having more time for myself. It was very weird the first day Sam and Abby were both gone, but I am quickly getting used to it!
Anyway, on to our recent activities. We were so fortunate to be able to spend a weekend in Johnson City, TN over Halloween weekend to attend a reception for my cousin, Matt who recently married a really sweet girl from that area. It was a beautiful drive up there through the mountains with all the fall colors. We stayed in Johnson City at the Carnegie Hotel. This was our first time in a hotel with our children. They did well except for waking up at the crack of dawn. Sam, in fact, cried when we got home because he missed the hotel and wished we lived there! It was a really pretty area. Most of our time was spent in Jonesborough. It was such a cute little town. They had the little main street all decorated for fall with huge pots of mums, hay bales, and scarecrows lining the streets. The reception was lovely with a delicious dinner and dancing. Most of all we had a great time visiting with family we haven't seen in a while. My aunt & uncle and cousins as well as my brother and his wife. Sam and Abby thoroughly enjoyed their time with Uncle Caleb and Aunt Taylee. All in all a very fun weekend.
I've thought on this a lot the last few weeks. I'm no longer teaching pre-school. They called me one day and said they didn't need me anymore. I've never been let go from a job, so this was a little hard for me to come to terms with. It was because I had done anything, I just became a victim of "restructuring". I've gotten used to having more free time and am trying to use it for good things. Oddly enough, I got a call last week from the bank where I used to work with an offer to work a little through the holidays. What a blessing and I can truly see God's hand in this. It's much more money than I would have made at pre-school and had a been working there still, I would not have been available for it. And, I'm getting used to slowing down a bit and having more time for myself. It was very weird the first day Sam and Abby were both gone, but I am quickly getting used to it!
Anyway, on to our recent activities. We were so fortunate to be able to spend a weekend in Johnson City, TN over Halloween weekend to attend a reception for my cousin, Matt who recently married a really sweet girl from that area. It was a beautiful drive up there through the mountains with all the fall colors. We stayed in Johnson City at the Carnegie Hotel. This was our first time in a hotel with our children. They did well except for waking up at the crack of dawn. Sam, in fact, cried when we got home because he missed the hotel and wished we lived there! It was a really pretty area. Most of our time was spent in Jonesborough. It was such a cute little town. They had the little main street all decorated for fall with huge pots of mums, hay bales, and scarecrows lining the streets. The reception was lovely with a delicious dinner and dancing. Most of all we had a great time visiting with family we haven't seen in a while. My aunt & uncle and cousins as well as my brother and his wife. Sam and Abby thoroughly enjoyed their time with Uncle Caleb and Aunt Taylee. All in all a very fun weekend.
We also took a trip to Charleston in October to spend the weekend with Mike's mom while he went to some Phish concerts with his buddies. We went to Boone Hall Plantation to pick out pumpkins and then spent some time on the Battery in Charleston and had lunch at Hymans. We even took a quick ride over to The Citadel to show the kids where Mike went to college. It was so nice to spend a day together as a family.
We also hosted our first ever Halloween party. Since we weren't home for Halloween & trick or treating, I told Sam and Abby we would have a party at the house so they could wear their costumes. They each got to invite a few friends and we had the party in the back yard. We had two pinatas, mummy dogs for dinner, a giant spider web cookie, eyeball donuts, and fun games like pin the nose on the pumpkin and mummy wrap, where you wrap yourself like a mummy with toilet paper. Of course, the pinatas were the highlight. And also very hard to break. So much so, that Mike finally had to pick it up and toss it in the air and hit with the bat like you would a baseball. That finally did the trick. I think the kids all had a fun time. Maybe we'll do it again next year. Maybe. :)
Yesterday we spent the day cooking a pig. One of Mike's customers was kind enough to shoot a pig last weekend and gave it to us! It was almost like having a 3rd child this week! Since we didn't have the freezer or fridge space for such a huge amount of meat, we had to keep it in a cooler on ice all week. We borrowed one of those gigantic barrel grill cooker things and Mike spent the day cooking it. We invited several of our neighbors and some family and had a big ol' tasty pig pickin'. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun, and we managed to get rid of most of it.
The highlight of the day was, of course, South Carolina's win over the Florida Gators to win the SEC East. Two things which the Gamecocks hadn't ever done. As you can imagine, we are most excited about this and Mike is working to get tickets to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta. Go Gamecocks!
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