October 31st-November 6th

{just had to include these pictures of my mom & Kels & Lance's family on Halloween.  I thought they were all so cute! }

31st:  Today was our fifth Sunday at church and there was a special meeting during third hour of church where the bishopric spoke to all the families.  Brother Bowns spoke on the importance of personal & family scripture study, Brother Nielson spoke on the importance of family home evening, and Bishop Hartley spoke on the importance of temple attendance.  They were all amazing talks & totally inspired us to do & be better with our families...but most of all, we felt totally convicted by the talk on FHE.  We have NOT been good at this or emphasized this in our home as of yet.  One of his suggestions was to schedule it on the calendar and know that it's not a negotiable thing.  Just like an appointment that we wouldn't miss, FHE should be just as important if not more, because we're investing in our family's health & closeness.  So, we decided to plunge in and take that challenge.  I use google calendar (which I absolutely love & is a whole other post for another day!), and when we got home, I scheduled FHE at 6:00 on Monday's for the rest of our lives... (:   It won't be perfect, long, or highly spiritual, I'm sure, but we're determined to start a tradition that will hopefully help our family stay close in a world where everything/one is destined to tear us apart.

1st: Had a primary presidency meeting this morning-again so grateful for the women I work with.  They are so willing and capable & make my calling so enjoyable.  Love them.  Worked with clients & on TSFL stuff most the day and then at 6:00 we had our first official FHE.  Went super good.  The lesson was on the Good Samaritan and we had an opening prayer, song, and then told & acted out the story.  It must have stuck because even three weeks later, Grayson remembers the story & that he was the good Samaritan.  That kid has a seriously good memory.  We talked about helping others & had a closing song & prayer and colored a page for an activity.  It went well and Grayson seemed excited.  The guys built a fort afterward (their latest obsession-two days worth of fort building-they get better each time) and hung out there for a while reading books with the flashlight.

2nd: Zac and I went to the temple this morning which was so nice.  We hadn't been in too long and I missed it.  Love going with him and the peace that we experience there.  Afterward, we picked up lunch at Qdoba's (my recent obsession-they have an awesome lean & green meal) and headed to have a lunch meeting with Matt & Jen.  It's been so busy lately for all of us that we haven't connected too much lately & I've totally missed them.  Love those guys so much.  They have made our business back-office/tax stuff so much less of a headache and have become valued friends as well.  They were getting ready for their 12 day cruise which made us just a teensy bit jealous. (:  Took around a couple more caramel apple kits too...totally love those.  So good to spend the day with Zac and know the boys were safely taken care of and having fun with Grami at home. 

3rd: Had a lunch at the chamber of commerce today for TSFL and guess what?  I won the free lunch for next month's lunch.  Woot woot! (:  Really though, it was quite interesting to be there and a good networking opportunity.  Zac kept the boys & then we traded when I got home and he headed to the stores for work and me and the boys played & played the rest of the day. We got to have Mr. Max over that night while Courtney went to mutual and that was fun.  He and Grayson really play pretty well together and love a lot of the same things.  He was mesmerized when Grayson did his treatment and asked if he could have some too.  Cute cute boys & fun to watch them growing up together. 

4th: Home & working day.  Deep cleaned & worked on payroll while boys rested.  Needed to get out today-feeling a little cooped up. (:  But as a side note, wouldn't we make cute little girls?!

5th: Zac had a Boise day all day, so the boys and I headed over to Amber's to visit her and Ella.  In super exciting news, Amber & Todd recently bought their first house-and it's beautiful-so the boys and I were really there to help her pack.  Unfortunately with three littles we didn't get much packing done, but we did get lots of good chatting in and the kids had a fun time playing together.  We are so excited for this new stage in A&T's lives and Zac has let them know up front that we'll be having many more xbox sleepovers now.  Haha! 

6th: Three weeks till Taylor's wedding and I'm not quite fitting into my dress.  Can I do it?  I don't have a choice, so I better get my butt in gear!  Seriously spent all day in my jammies with my disgusting three-days-ago-washed-hair up in a messy bun working on work stuff.  Trying to juggle 2 businesses, 2 boys, 1 husband, 1 primary, many family & friend engagements, and my personal spiritual/health/emotional issues is a big job, I've decided.  This too is another post that's up & coming, so stay tuned...I know you're just dying to hear what I'm thinking, right?  About 30 minutes before it started, I was reminded that tonight was the night adult session of stake conference.  Yeah.  So I hurriedly through my gross self into the shower, got ready in record time, took Gray to stay with Doll, and headed in with Zac and Bex to the meeting.  I wasn't in the greatest or most spiritual mood going in because of our hastened leaving experience...needless to say, I'm so glad we went anyway.  My mood was totally turned around because all the talks were incredible.  Besides the fact that my dad's talk was one of my favorite & so tender because he based it on lessons he'd learned from his parents (and they were sitting where I could see them), I have to say he is the cutest stake president I've ever seen.  And I love him. We went to get Grayson and L&K picked up Mexican food for dinner so we stayed to eat with everyone.  So grateful for our fun families and that they are all close to us.