The FINAL Countdown!

Bada-bum-bum!...........Bada-bum-bum-bum!........ (You know you're singing it too...)

So it's the FINAL FIVE!! I can't believe it. So this afternoon I decided it was a great time to drive downtown to the temple...because we got about 4-5" of snow that morning... Yeah. But I made the trek and drove downtown.... it only took 45 minutes to get there.. :)

Well anyway, a funny thing happened. When I was getting back into my car later, I opened the passenger door to put my bag in, and my phone, which was left in the car was ringing. I looked and it was a really wierd number AND wierd area code. I decided to answer it anyway. I said "Hello?" and a strangely familiar voice returned with a "Hi! How are you?" It was then I realized that it was BLEU! Calling on a Saturday. :) So I said "good, how are you?"

And we got cut off. Neat, huh?? I tried to call back and it was busy, then I called again and we talked for another 45 seconds and got cut off again..... They were allowed to use a payphone for some reason I didn't get. We did get to talk for about 4 minutes, and he told me that there was a long line of people waiting to use the phone. So we said our goodbyes untill tomorrow. It was pretty neat that I was getting out of the temple at just the right time! The funny thing is that it took me so long to get there that I almost didn't make it into the session. So I'm super glad that I made it or I wouldn't have been able to talk to him!!

Tonight was our Ward Christmas Party. Ryan Dent called (Home Teacher, Thanksgiving) and asked if I would give Jenny and the kids a ride over because he needed to come later. So I went over and Jenny and I packed the carseats over to my car, buckled everyone in and they were my family for tonight. The Primary was asked to do a Nativity and a Song for the Program so the Primary Presidency and I rounded the kids up and put them into costumes. One of the teachers read the Christmas Story out of the Scriptures and then we sang The Nativity Song. It was pretty cute. It's funny how they are so loud in the Primary Room and then in the Chapel and the Gym they get scared and sing quiet. But they did a good job.

So that's all for now, I will probably be updating soon. Love you all, and enjoy the Season!

Thanksgiving with the Dent's

Well, I guess I should put some pictures on here, huh? I was able to spend Thanksgiving Day with the Dent Family in my Ward. Jenny (mom) is my visiting teacher and is the sweetest person I know and Ryan (dad) is my home teacher and would do anything for anyone. Brielle (daughter) is one of my two Sunbeams in Primary-that girl knows all of the songs better than most of my kids! Daniel (son) is in nursery and started going while I was working in the nursery. Jenny tells me that he has a little bit of a hard time without me there to console him and play with him. It's so cute. Bleu and I have babysat for them a number of times and we both just love the family. We sit next to them sometimes and give the kids attention or I watch the kids when Jenny needs to get up for something... Etc. We are all good friends.

So Ryan and Jenny invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner with them and Jenny and I split up the meal. I was so proud of my Pecan Pie that I just had to take a picture. This is my first pie made totally by myself with no supervision - crust and all! TADA!! I was So very proud of it.... even though it spilled in the oven and was a little crunchy on top, but I thought it was beautiful, mostly because I was so relieved that it actually worked! I even rolled the crust with a glass because I don't have a rolling pin. LOL....

And here are the children. Jenny is funny and she wanted everything set on a table all fancy and take a picture, because she was also very proud of all of her hard work. ( I don't blame her... the turkey looked Amazing! ) And so Ryan and Jenny were going back and forth "I want to take a picture" "but Jenny, we are all starving" "oh, this needs to be a little higher so we can see it. Make sure you get everything in the picture" I thought it was funny. But the Kids and I sat at the table and I entertained them by showing them the pictures on my cell phone of Bleu. It was so cute, every picture of Bleu I showed Daniel he would say "Boooo?" So cute! They loved getting thier pictures taken, too.

So we ate and sat for a while. For some reason I was absolutely hilarious to Daniel. I would "walk" my fingers up his arm, and then tickle his neck or face, or whatever and he would laugh and squirm, and then put his arm out for me and say "gen?" We went on like that for at least 10 minutes. It was so funny.

Well we timed dinner / lunch so that when we were done it would be time for the kids' naps so Jenny could clean up, and get some rest, herself. She's about 6 or 7 months pregnant. So we cleaned up and then I headed off to Preston and visited Nan and Katie over night. Katie and I went shopping in Logan on Friday and had a lot of fun. I was planning on going home to see mom and dad, but I was so tired of traveling ( since that's what I had done three weekends in a row) that I had to skip out on that part and just went home Friday night. It was a good weekend, though. It was nice to have a Saturday at home for once and get ready for Primary and work.

I was able to talk to Bleu on the phone a lot on Thanksgiving and the day after. I was spoiled but it made the next week hard waiting so long for the next Sunday to get to talk to him again. I was happy for the opportunity to spend a little bit of Thanksgiving with him over the miles. All in all it turned out to be a pretty good Holiday.

Merry Christmas TAG-aroo

Who says you can stop being greatful as soon as the Turkey leftovers go bad?? I have been paying closer attention to all of my wonderful blessings this year and I think it's great to share those things that help us learn and grow. So- follow my lead. Name off the things that you have been greatful for particularly this past year. It's eye-opening!!

My Husband
Enthusiasm in Primary
Relief Society
Random memories that keep me going
Yesterday (is done and today is fresh-with no mistakes)

Children and the love and faith that they have
Home Teachers
Righteous Desires
I Love You-the three most powerful words I know
Siblings-we really did grow up to be best friends!
Time- sometimes it flies, other times it crawls.
Mothers-and learning all of the things she said were right.
Acedemics-and being done with them.
Sickness-the morning kind that lasts all day, a constant reminder that I am still pregnant.

People I'm tagging, EVERYONE-EVEN HUSBANDS AND KIDS!

Merry Christmas, everyone. I love you all so much!

It's a lot of Work!

Hey family, I spent most of the day (5 hours) at my friend Stephanie's house. And you'll never guess what we did!! We had our very own little recording session! Yippee!

I got a CD with some Christmas music on it yesterday and went through and found out what lyrics I needed and how many verses I had to find on the various lyric websites.. I did all that last night, and some of the music I didn't even get to listen to the whole way through before I started recording> YIKES! I was a little unprepared, but you know, that's how I roll! : ) Haha.

So I went over-Stephanie and her sister, Jacqueline, have transformed a closet into a recording studio. It's pretty hillarious. I'll have to take pictures next time I go over. They have eggshell padding on all of the walls and ceiling and door, but the door doesn't close because of the cords and a table sticks out into the doorway...... But it works! LOL. So here I am with my headphones and a very scary microphone and screen in front of me thinking, "woah, this is almost official!" So that's scary in itself, but because the door doesn't close, out of the corner of my eye I can see Stephanie sitting on her chair right outside the door with her laptop and headphones and wires set up on a TV tray. So I can't really just pretend that I'm alone, because she's right there. AND, if I look the other way, across the room, the wall has full length mirrors so I see myself with all of this scary equipment. So......... I stared at the Eggshell Foam, which is surprisingly comforting. LOL....

Well my first song was rough. First off I was nervous, and it was a "nice song" and not just a carol. So I wanted it to be pretty good. That one took a long time. When we finally finished, we looked at the time and it had taken about 1 1/2 hours maybe more. I thought "holy crap! that was forever!" And Stephanie said that we made GREAT time! So in total we got through 4 songs in 4 hours because the others were just carols that didn't need tons of work. So I just sang them pretty straight. But we were excited at how fast we got them done, judging from the first one.

It was really tiring singing the same two lines over and over and over again and still hating it. It was an interesting process to see, though. I was really tired by the end but it was pretty fun to get to do something that has been on my little "I wish I could" list. I think I might do it again with other music, but maybe later.

News From the Hawkley's

It's been a while since I updated everyone on how Bleu is doing. I've been able to talk to him on the phone every Sunday after church for about an hour. It's been interesting talking to him and read his letters through Basic Training. The first few weeks were pretty tough on him. Bleu is really smart and experienced in alot of things, so everything that they are learning......he already knows how to do. Climb, repell, shoot, physical fitness, running, wrestling, etc. He says that they break everything down step-by-step and he already knows how to do it. So it's hard for him to be patient with the others that are having a hard time because they have never done these things before. I think it's good for him to be patient. He has already passed his PT score, and right now is the Squad Leader. He's doing much better at his situps, pushups and 2 mile than he was at drill (I thought he was doing great at Drill!)
We exchange letters often, but the mail is so slow getting here. He gets my letters in about two days and his take a little less than two weeks to get to me. So I try and write to him about every other day. He still asks me to tell other people to write to him. The only thing that keeps him going is to know that people care about him. They don't get alot of time to write, so if anyone writes him (please do) he might not be able to write back to you. But please do write.
He has a friend there that is from Lehi, and his wife's Parents live in South Carolina. So she (Grace-Ann) is flying out for Christmas and staying for graduation. So they have offered to give me a place to stay during graduation so we can save a couple hundred bucks. Grace-Ann has offered to pick me up and drop me off at the airport. She also gave me a tip-that if I fly into Charlotte, NC instead of Columbia, SC it would be cheaper. It was and I bought my Ticket today.
We are both really excited for Christmas and to spend as much time together as we can before he leaves. I have a countdown chain at work :)

As for me, I do pretty good. It's week #12 and I'm feeling the sickness more now. I try to stick to an eating schedule to keep it mild, and get plenty of sleep. I'm loving the Primary right now-we have alot of fun together and for some reasong the overall favorite song is Head Shoulders Kneed and Toes. Who knew? Maybe because I make everyone in the room perticipate.
I am usually pretty tired when I come home from work so if I go anywhere it's not for long and usually involves groceries and gas. I'm using the ol' rubber band trick on my jeans for now and I notice a few people at work keeping thier eyes on me. I was asking to our Receptionist, Gloria about how far along another gilr at work is and she said "And when are you going to tell me?" :) She said that she had noticed in the last little while and was waiting for me to speak up but couldn't wait anymore. She's a funny lady. But I am starting to show; if I wear a baggy shirt it's not so noticable. I think that after my appointment next Monday I will feel even more secure about the pregnancy and will be more comfortable telling people about it. Bleu and I have pretty much decided that we will be surprized about the sex of the baby because we want Bleu to be here for that. Well, because I will be around 15 or 16 weeks while he's home for Christmas. And since they usually do that ultrasound at 20 weeks we decided to just have a surprize.

So that's the news for us right now. I will try and keep up to date often so that everyone can hear how we are doing. So.... stay tuned, we love you all and thank you so much for all of the love and support that you give us.