Sunday, June 17, 2012

Ramblings of a Hot Mama!

Ok so really you all can blame Ida for this being bi-monthly because I keep going to her house and when I do it throws me off for a few days. So...

Week before last we went to the Ewings for a few days to help them sort through rooms and get things ready to pack. Ida also helped me sew my first quilt. She had left over fabric from Rory's quilt so we made a matching one for Tolson. It was so much fun and we got a lot done too. We did our normal things monday (recover from Sunday, clean up a bit and grocery shopping) then tuesday we had playgroup at the pool again where I discovered that my beings asked to help with girls camp means that I am the District Camp director (more on that later) and Wed Tolson had preschool. Adalee and I packed us up and we left straight from preschool to head to San Antonio. The drive really is not too bad and we can get to Ida's house in about 2 1/2 hours. The kids do great and we are there in no time. We had a great time!

We came home on Saturday afternoon in just enough time to get the kids bathed and into bed. Sunday morning was church where this month I am teaching the song Nephi's courage to the kids. They are having fun with it and I have been trying to work on the piano music for it so that I can play with them (we don't have anyone in our branch that plays, well we do have one senior sister that plays during sacrament meeting but is not available for primary) anyway its fun trying to teach them while using a CD but we get by. Anyway after Church the primary presidency went to go deliver some paperwork for our kids parents to fill out and to give them some information on changes we are making to our primary. We got to go to some interesting parts of town and we were glad that one of us speaks fluent spanish. What an adventure! at one of the houses I could have tripped and fallen into mexico if I wasn't careful.  It was a bit scary being three white, nicely dressed sisters driving a big SUV down to some of these areas but we survived and got most of the families visited.

This week we again recovered from our trip as well as trying to get ready for our trip this next week (be prepared you probably wont hear from me) nothing too exciting. Pool again for playgroup. We probably have about 10 families coming and the kids have such a great time! We also had a branch fathers day potluck thing on friday at the ranch of a member. It is fun to get to know more of the people in our branch. Saturday Jason had a daddy day with Tolson (which is becoming a tradition here) and Adalee and I went out together too! We had a fun day ending at the pool and daddy going to bed early (he started midnights again for the next week). Besides having blond hair and blue eyes people would think my kids are natives because they are soooo dark skinned.  One of these days I will take a picture of them and post it on here so you can see just how dark they really are!!!

Today I got to conduct the primary kids singing in sacrament meeting "My Dad"! I have not been the one teaching them this song and have not even been in the room much while they practice ( I am out begging for subs to help us) so it was a little scary trying to conduct the 10 kids that showed up to sing. They did great although I am not sure you could hear anything but me singing. Oh well it is done and now I can say I have done that!

So on the camp note, a month or two ago when we were speaking in church I mentioned something about camp in my talk and afterwards the district YW president came up to me in the hall and asked if I would be willing to help out with camp. She said it was not an official calling but was wondering it I would be willing. I of course said sure and we left it at that. Well, this week at playgroup we were talking again and she said we need to start thinking about themes for camp. Our camp is in March over spring break since we can't go past the checkpoint and its too hot to do it down here in the summer. Anyway she told me that she is so excited to have me as the District Camp Director!!! I guess after helping with a stake camp of over 200 people, 50 should be no big deal right? Well at least I have 9 months to work on this!!!! Wish me luck though!

We do love it here and are glad for the experiences we are having. I am exited to be going "home" next week to Az and to be with my sisters! What a nice cool break that will be. I hope you all are doing well and that you are having a great summer!

Until next time (whenever that may be),

Love, Wendy

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Another weekend Trip!

This week(s) at the Kemptons....

Soo I guess I should just call this a semi regular posting as I have not been great about getting it done every week. Last weekend we went to Ida's and had a wonderful time so that thru me off for my sunday afternoon of compiling this letter. Two weeks ago Jason worked midnight shift for almost 11 days in a row and then he got three days off and went back to day shift. During the three days off we headed up to Ida's house to add to her chaos and hopefully distract her from it for a while too. We got there thursday night, put the kids to bed and went our for pie. Friday we got up and headed to the zoo. Rory stayed home from school to go with us and we had a great time. We had to take a break in the middle to go deliver meals on wheels with Ida (which was fun) and then went back to the zoo for a few more hours. What a great zoo. I posted a bunch of pictures from our trip on facebook and will probably put them on here too if you want to see them. We sort of skipped lunch so on the way home we stopped a Freddy's. It was GOOD! We had frozen custard sundaes and french fries. We will have to go there again for sure! Friday night we made a quick dinner and then went to the temple. Geoffrey couldn't find his recommend so unfortunately he didn't get to come but we went and had a great time anyway! With Jason being gone for 5 months and then moving and everything we hadn't been in a while so it was nice to go (and to have free babysitters). Saturday we got up and headed to Canyon Lake. It was a great cloudy day for the most part and we rented two boats. A little speed boat and a pontoon boat. We didn't ski but got a big tube to ride on behind the boat and we all had a good time. After returning the boats we let the little ones play on the beach for a bit and the moms sitting on the sand got a bit too much sun. We all had a great time and the kids slept very well that night. Ida, Jason and I of course made a trip to our favorite FroYo place and enjoyed some yummy frozen treats. Sunday we went to church and then after lunch headed out to the Japanese Sunken Gardens. They were built in an old query and had some huge koi fish. We walked around for a bit and then road the train around Brakenridge park. It was a great Sunday afternoon and a wonderful weekend.

After having a weekend like that its hard to remember then little fun things we do during the week. We have started having play group here at our awesome splash pool every week and this week since school got out we started a potluck lunch there too! What fun. I am really loving meeting so many nice people here and having friends for my kids. I still miss seeing Michelle almost everyday and having my close girlfriends back in Tucson (you know who you are) but I am still enjoying our new home. I went to a girls night out on Friday which was very fun but still not the same!  I am sure it will eventually feel like home here but for now I am missing Tucson.

In other news our TV died this week. We bought an old Wii from a friend and had just bought wii sports when it died. Not having a TV is not that big of a deal but when its 105 outside every afternoon its harder without one. So we went TV hunting this weekend but decided we will just take Ida's extra one she offered us and wait to buy a new one until later. We also got some MORE fish. We didn't get gold fish this time and have been treating our tank for the ick that the other fish had. We got some cool zebra dannios and hope they will live longer this time. We are not naming them (since we can't tell them apart and they are too fast to see well) so we wont get too attached in case they die too. (we don't have a great track record). But they are fun and I hope we can get some more cool fish soon.

We love you all and miss you! I am so glad we are close to the Ewing's for a short time and am secretly glad their assignment is only 2 years so they can come back soon. I am VERY excited to see my sisters soon and those I will get to visit while stopping in Tucson. I hope you are all doing well and not melting like we are!~ Thank heavens for the pools here!

Until next time (whenever that may be) - Wendy