Catching Up

These are the rolls I made. Man...it makes me want to make another pan. I'm feeding the missionaries tomorrow...why the heck not?

Weslee wouldn't stop eating the rolls. He kept running back to the table after we had started cleaning up and kept grabbing rolls from one of the low tables. He ate and ate until his heart was contented!

At the service project. The kids kept coming up and swiping the candy. Then again, someone else I know kept swiping the candy too...cough cough Kevin!! cough cough. Ahem...what was I saying?

So, it's been a WHILE since I've written and so much has happened. We haven't travelled much...mainly because since Thanksgiving, we've been unpacking and sick. Let's start with the unpacking...

Our stuff came the day before Thanksgiving. We stayed up, joyous to see our stuff again and overwhelmed by boxes, until 2 am, finding places for it all and wondering if it was really all going to fit. You'll recall that we only brought half of our possessions, knowing it would be a tight fit. But, looking at all of the boxes and literally having to crawl over them to get to the bathroom or up the stairs, or into bed at night...we wondered if perhaps we should have left more behind in the United States. We started in the kitchen because, well, the next day was Thanksgiving and Teri had signed up to bake rolls. She did this, knowing full well that all of her stuff would be at her house, in boxes, the day before. But, she did it anyway. Silly girl. However, by the time 2 am rolled around that first night, the kitchen was pretty well cleared away and she was able to bake the rolls afterall.

Since we stayed up so late the night before Thanksgiving, we all slept, made rolls, and relaxed the next day...pretending all the while that our house wasn't really being taken over with rogue boxes. We enjoyed the holiday and even welcomed a guest (from the real estate agent's office) in our jammies in the middle of the day. We had Thanksgiving dinner with the members of our church later in the afternoon. Therefore, there really was no reason to get dressed until much later in the day.

Thanksgiving dinner was lovely. The turkey was good, there were mashed potatoes, and rolls. I did miss family, I won't lie. I did miss Mom's pumpkin pie, and grandma's pink fluff. I missed being able scoop up seconds whenever I wanted instead of waiting in line. But, overall, it was better than expected. We weren't alone. We celebrated the holiday. We made friends. It was a success. We even got to participate in a service project after dinner. We made goodie bags for all of the missionaries in the MTC in London to bring them some holiday cheer during the Christmas season. It was alot of fun...and a lot of candy!

Since Thanksgiving, we pulled it together and really got the house in order. Within a week, the house was organized (except this silly office I'm sitting in, and the bedroom, where at this very moment, I hear Kevin wrestling with the last few boxes of clothing and shoes). I purposely planned our annual Visiting Teaching Brunch the first week in December here at our house to get me to really put everything away in a timely manner. There's something about a deadline that makes you suck it all up and forget how daunting a task is and just well...do it! We got the living room put together just a few days before the party and it looks marvelous. It's my favorite room in the house now...and my favorite living room I've ever had. The fireplace, french doors, large furniture and just the ancient beams on the ceiling and hardwood floors with a big chocolate brown shag rug smack dab in the middle all add a comfortable, warm, and "lived in" feeling to the room that makes you want to snuggle in a chair with a good book...and I've done just that SEVERAL times over the past weeks. I've been in heaven!

Right before the brunch, Weslee began having a hard time sleeping and I stayed awake with him into the wee hours of the morning. We found out that this kid is teething AGAIN. He's cutting his 2 year molars. He's way to anxious about getting teeth and often gets them all at once. It's nice in the sense that once he cuts them, it's over with. But frustrating because since he cuts all of his teeth at once, he's a real booger for a week or so. On top of that, he got sick.

And then, within hours of the brunch, I got sick. Cough. Sore Throat. Fever. I was taking pictures for the Christmas program "surprise" at church when I felt myself starting to get weak and listless. By the time I got home, my fever was in full swing. I didn't go to church the next day, which was a bummer because I got a new calling! I've been called to work with the Young Women again. I'll be the second counsellor. I get to work with the 12 and 13 year olds. I can hardly wait.

The rest of the week was pretty much useless. I had no energy. I couldn't taste food, which meant that I didn't want to cook. We lived on left overs until they were gone...and then our diet consisted of frozen burritos and cereal. I tried to cook one of the nights and made tacos. They were horrible. I couldn't taste them, but Kevin's face looked like he was struggling to make me believe they tasted OK. If Kevin had a problem with the taste, you know they must have been pretty bad. To this day, I don't know what they tasted like...I just know I'll never cook again when I can't taste. Poor man!

During the week, I still attended Young Women's, Enrichment, and our Ward Christmas Party. I've felt pretty ill at all three events...though things got better toward the end of the week. I thought our family was starting to pull out of it all, but Kevin's informed me today that his sore throat has started to move into his chest. He's been sniffling and coughing all day and I worry that he'll get as sick as Weslee and I were. I'm crossing my fingers that he won't since Christmas is next week and we plan to travel around the UK during the two weeks of Christmas and New Year's vacations.