Good bye Young Women

Being a public blog, I never really post anything personal. But yesterday I was released from my calling and that makes me sad. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in my church there are no paid clergy; Members of the congregation are asked to perform certain duties to make the church run. Whatever duty they are asked to perform is their "calling" and when it is time for that member to move on from that calling they are "released" from it. Ours is a completely volunteer church.

Anyway, my calling was the Second Counselor in the Young Women's organization. I loved it! I got to work with teenage girls planning activities, teaching lessons and just hanging out with our wonderful Young Women. If I could always be involved in the youth program I would be happy :) But, alas, Heavenly Father feels the need for me to grow by being removed from my comfort zone. I am now a Relief Society teacher. I haven't been in Relief Society since I was single so I'm a little nervous. Relief Society is where women 18 and over have 1/3 of their Sunday lessons unless they are working somewhere else. So pray that I'll be a good teacher :)

Before I was released I finished all of the requirements for the Young Women's Personal Progress program. Personal Progress is a program set up to teach teenage girs how to set and achieve goals centered around a Gospel theme; It helps Young Women to come unto Christ. When I was a youth I never finished so I made it a point to work very hard on it so that I could complete it and get my Young Womanhood Medallion. As a leader I only had to do about half of what a Young Woman has to do. I was planning on doing everything a youth had to do but I had finished all of the requirements for leaders so that if I was released before I could finish everything I would still get my medallion.
When you finish Personal Progress you are supposed to write your testimony of Christ and the church in the back of your Personal progress book. I would like to share it with you even though this post is already really long :)

I have a testimony of the Youth Program. I loved it when I was a youth and I loved being able to participate as a leader. I feel that if youth use all the resources available to them there is no reason they can't have great friends in the church and build a testimony centered on Christ. I wish all Young Women could feel the love Christ has for them and the love their leaders have for them. I am convinced that if everyone felt Christ's love and knew that people cared about them there would be no crime, no bad feelings, no hate. I am thankful for Christ's Atonement, for his selfless sacrifice and for loving me enough to go through that. Without Christ there would be no hope. He has given us everything in this life. I hope to one day be worthy to stand by His side. I hope to one day work with the Young Women again :) And I hope the Youth will know how many people love and care for them, especially Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know of their love and it helps me daily. I would like to say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Crystal Came to Town

Dave's sister, Crystal, was able to come visit us for a few days. Being from Idaho, she came at the most perfect time of year to enjoy sunshine and 70 degree weather :) We had a lot of fun having her here. Liam LOVED having a constant and willing playmate (and so did Dave and I...) and would pull Crystal around everywhere. It was very cute :) Anyway, we did lots of fun stuff while she was here:
St. Augustine








Gainesville

Morningside Living History FarmLiam wanted Crystal to hold the monkey tail. I thought that was a nice break... Sorry, Crystal :)

Fort Clinch
I really like the way the pregnancy silhouette turned out :)

The Beach
We had a lot of fun! Thanks for coming down to Florida, Crystal!

Like Magic

Fast Asleep

This is why we put his mattress on the floor...

Bamm-Bamm!

Ok, so I very obviously made Liam's costume. So don't look too closely...
He wouldn't wear the hat.












And I know we couldn't get away with this costume just anywhere, what with the tiny shorts and shirtless thing going on. In my defense we do live in Florida and it was about 90 degrees on Halloween. And he was wearing an undershirt and shoes... I wouldn't make my kid run around half naked :)

Trick or Treat!

Liam was Bamm-Bamm (from the Flintstones) for Halloween. This is the only picture we have of him wearing his little hat--he took it off and wore it around his neck after this :) We actually got to go Trick-or-Treating this year!! I was really excited about it.
The first house! We went to a neighborhood nearby so Liam could Trick or Treat. At first he was all about the caveman club. As soon as the first person put candy in his bag, though...
He threw down his club (that he calls a bat) and held onto his bag for dear life. He was all about the candy :) Sadly, most of what he got was not suitable for toddlers to eat.
The next day Liam was all too happy to wear his costume and kept saying "house", "car" because he wanted to get in the car and go to different houses to get candy. Good times :)

As Requested...

Pictures of Dave on the scooter :) They're late, I know, but I finally got around to it.

Dave didn't want me to post this one but I think it better shows how Dave looks on the scooter because Liam isn't blocking him :)

Happy Halloween!

Liam refuses to wear his costume for pictures so you get to see him in PJs.

This is what happens when I try to make him wear it... that's his costume by his feet. Grr...

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a cute little Pumpkin Patch last Tuesday :)


Liam picked up this little pumpkin, threw it and broke the stem off... so we thought we should probably buy it...

The maze.
Can you see his little head bobbing up and down? He ran from beginning to end without stopping. I was rather impressed, actually. He got through the maze pretty quickly.


Our spoils.
We decorated them for Family Home Evening :) I love the fall! I just wish it were cooler...

UNF Trail Walk

We thought UNF had some nature trails. They just have this one. And it's not very good. Apparently all the woods surrounding this area are a preserve and they have signs up explaining the wildlife that live there but I was really expecting more than a sidewalk. All Liam wanted to do was look down at the water in the pond. And I gotta admit, that's all there really was to do. Sad.

What?!?!

What is this? This was in a public restroom. There was no diaper changing station, just this kid seat to keep kids from running around while moms use the bathroom. I understand its use, I do, and actually think it's a decent idea but not if there's no diaper changing station!! If they took the time to put this in, why didn't they also put in a changing station? It boggles the mind...

Fort Mose

Fort Mose (pronounced moh-say) is a park built on the former site of Fort Mose in St. Augustine. It's not there anymore but there's a small (tiny) museum about the Fort and its bloody history, a cool hut demonstrating what dwellings may have been like, a boardwalk over the marsh where the site of the fort is now buried and a very enthusiastic Ranger with cool stuff.

It was cold that day... Florida cold. That means Dave and Liam wore shorts and jackets and I, the pregnant lady, was actually comfortable to walk around outside in a short-sleeved shirt.

It didn't seem like this guy got too many visitors. We were the only ones there at the time and he seemed really happy to see us. It was nice, though. Liam liked all the cool stuff; snake skin, turtle skull, black-powder musket, furs, etc. Liam growled when he saw the turtle skull :)



It was fun. Not the best park but nice for a lazy morning :)

Two

All numbers and letters are "two". I don't know if he differentiates at all or if he just thinks all symbols are "two". I hope this phase passes soon. It's kind of frustrating.

Savannah, Georgia

Today was Columbus Day so Dave had the day off. While trying to decide what to do this morning with a day off we thought it would be fun to go to Savannah. So we went.
We went to visit a Botanical Garden that said it was 10 acres of gardens. It was more like 1 acre of gardens and 9 acres of trails. It was pretty, though.


We kept hearing splashes in the water and Dave was worried there was an alligator in there. We did see a turtle :)

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Georgia and it is beautiful.






Just check out that stained glass.

Colonial Park Cemetery was just for colonials and had some really interesting monuments and headstones.
We did have fun but here's a tip for anyone traveling to Savannah: Bring cash! We didn't even think about it and realized pretty quickly that no one took cards! What is with that? Anyway, it's a lovely place and I would definitely like to go back. Maybe next time I'll take some pictures of the actual city...