My heart is full

My heart is so full of thanks right now. I'm thankful for my husband. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for the blessings that the Lord has given me and my husband and the two the things that I am most grateful right now are: our new ward and the gospel.

I don't know how to describe the feelings that I have for our new ward. . .it just feels like home. At first I thought it was just because we had bought our home, so it felt more permanent but I know that's not the case. I just have a feeling of sincere love coming from the members of this ward and from the sisters' that I have had the wonderful opportunity of getting to know. I know that Nic and I were meant to be in this ward right now. I know that there is purpose in the friendships that we are developing and I know that our Bishop, though he is short in stature he is mighty in spirit and he is the one who we needed to help us through our journey of becoming parents.

I'm also so very grateful for the gospel and the guidance it is in my life. I am the Valiant 11 year-old teacher, and I love the opportunity it has provided me of (on a more consistent basis) reading my scriptures. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best at reading my scriptures daily, but with my new calling it's allowing me to become better. When I received my calling I was a little nervous because at this age, these kids are looking for that spiritual example and I wasn't sure that I would be able to provide that for them. But I have learned two things: 1) that I can be that example and 2) they will also be an example to me. Seeing how spiritually hungry they are has forced me to remember that spiritual hunger that I once had and has encouraged me to be hungry again. I think sometimes as we become older, we become comfortable where we are, but how are we growing? What are we gaining? True, we may have a testimony but is it the same one we had five or ten years ago? Do we really feel the strength and sustaining force that the gospel can provide us with? We need to.

I know that the Lord loves me. I know that through my struggles of wanting to be a mother, He never left my side; He just sat patiently waiting for me to turn to Him for strength. I know that He gave me this trial because He knew I could handle it. I know that amazing things can and will happen when we turn our faith over to the Lord. I know this, and I will never forget it.

Can you feel the Burn???

The Boise Burn that is. Last week, a man in our ward was handing out FREE tickets to the Boise Burn which is an arena football team here in town. Knowing that I'm an avid sports fan and had previously mentioned wanting to attend a game, my dear hubby grabbed some tickets-five to be exact (he loves me so much). Well, we had completely forgot about the tickets until the night before when the news was talking about their upcoming game. Nic and I looked at each other and at the same time said "Oh yeah, the game's tomorrow. Who are we going to take?" We decided to invite the wonderful Waters Family.

I love, love, LOVE football games. I love getting pumped by the warm-up music and feeding off the adrenalin of the players. Football games take me to a happy place. Arena football is so different than regular football, and it is my opinion that you need to be in crazy good shape to do it. Since the field is smaller you are sprinting all the time and if you're playing both offensive and defensive roles you have to be on top of your cardio, or I'm sure you would be passing out. In a way I guess arena football is like soccer (another sport that takes me to my happy place)-except in soccer we don't use padding. . .we know how to take a hit! :) So, yesterday we met at the Quest Arena ready to have a jolly good time.

Since the tickets were handed out at church, the game pretty much turned into a ward activity. I had to joke with Nic that I need to be on my best behavior or some of the brethren and sisters might begin to question me teaching their children in Primary. Why you may ask? Well, when it come to sports (mostly football) it brings out a whole different side of Elaine. I have been known to yell out a few things like "Why don't you take a hit like a man," and "Stop being a pansy QB" and "Learn how to throw QB". . . the list could go on and on. When you're in an outdoor stadium it's easy to yell and not be heard, but such is not the case when it comes to arena football. I yelled "Why don't you learn how to hit 34" and I got a couple of stares from people around us. After that I kept it a little more in check.

The game is definitely quick and because it's such a smaller field the scoring is crazy high (but I guess in comparison to most final scores of BSU football games it's not that high). The final score:

It was a fun game and I'm still the Valliant 11 teacher, so I guess I didn't scare the people in my ward to terribly bad. :)

Garage Sale Fun?????

(What the cats did while we were out in the sun)

(Nic working hard)

The one thing I will say is that there are some serious cheapo's out there! I grew up going garage selling with my dad, so I know the type of prices that would fly. I marked them up a little higher knowing in negotiations I would get exactly what I wanted for them, but still people are crazy.

Case in point #1: Over our three years of marriage, Nic and I have collected plenty of gift bags. We never reuse them so I figured we would just sale them. In total there were 2o bags and they weren't just the plain ones, some were the REALLY nice ones (you know the ones that cost like $3-$4). Anyways, we were selling all of these for $2! To me, that's a screaming deal. Some lady wanted to pay $0.50! What the heck?! Nic was negotiating with her (she only spoke Spanish). Nic finally got her to go up to a dollar, but I was so irritated. I felt like telling her to go to the store and buy all these bags for $20 and then let me know if $2 is a screaming deal. . .I like to think it was the heat putting those thoughts in my head, but if I'm honest with myself I know it wasn't.

Case in point #2: Our cousins donated bags upon bags of clothes to us. As we were sorting them, some of them looked like they were hardly worn. Most of them were girl sizes and they were wwaaayyy cute! Since they were in such good condition (and totally adorable), we were asking $2 per item or 3 for $5. I asked my friends (who have kids) if these were reasonably priced (and if they would pay this amount for them) and they said yes. Well, apparently not this one lady she wanted to pay $0.25 for them. . . $0.25. . .I was floored!! I mean, c'mon. At least $0.75 I would have not had too terrible of a problem with. It was near the end of the day so I was just like "whatever."

Over all, we did pretty good. We made $240, which is a good start to our baby fund. We have tons of stuff left over, so it's time to start posting on craigslist. That's the nice thing with craigslist, 90% of the time you get exactly what you ask for. Hopefully we will have better results.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Pappy!! Thank you for the years of waking up early and taking me to my soccer games or tournaments, supporting me thru all my life and encouraging me to be my very best. I'm especially grateful for your decision to join the church and becoming a worthy priesthood holder. Thank you for showing me the blessings that come with being an eternal family. I love you!!

p.s. Yes mom-you'll get this picture back :)

"You're boring!"

We hadn't been in our new ward but over a month and we already have callings. Nic is 1st Counselor in the Sunday School Presidency (his boss told him that it's a step away from Elders Quorum Presidency-the test you to make sure you come every week) and I am the 11 year Primary teacher (me and another sister switch every week). Right now, they have me teaching the 6/7 year olds until they find a permanent teacher, but since I was sick this past Sunday so Nic stepped in. I had the lesson all out-lined and told him he shouldn't have a problem. I guess I was wrong.

On the way home from church Nic called me and said "Yeah, I'm never teaching primary again."

"Why?

"The kids told me I was boring-on more than one occasion. 'You're boring!' 'I thought you said I could teach the lesson.' 'Can we go outside?' 'Can we play a game? 'I'm bored.' 'When is class over, you're boring.'

To help Nic's injured ego feel better, I tried not to laugh but I couldn't help it. He even told me: 'Go ahead, laugh. You know you want to.'

Poor Nic, to all of you who know my dear hubby he's anything BUT boring. Maybe the younger kids just aren't his type of crowd. Maybe it wasn't him at all, but the lesson that I had planned! Who knows, but I guess I'll find out on Sunday. I guess it's a good thing I only have to teach them for another week. Kids. . .the can be the toughest critics!

My Apologies

I've been so busy with Our Journey to Parenthood that I've neglected our "regular" blog. I'm so sorry. I'll be updating with pictures from Warm Lake (over Memorial weekend-I know FOREVER ago) and funny and cute stories-teaching primary is all I have to say. Adios my peeps!

EXCITING NEWS!!!

Almost there. . .CLICK HERE for the exciting news!!

Mi hermano es numbero uno!

TRANSLATION: My brother (Ricky) is number one! Well, tie for first with my older brother Jacob.

Not only is he the best drummer ever (for reals!) he is incredibly AWESOME!! He just celebrated his 25th birthday last Tuesday (the 27th). . . I feel so old! I know we're only two years apart, but I just remember when we were younger and I could get away with teasing him (me and Jacob once convinced him a leprechaun was in the hall closet and locked him in there) and defending him. Then one day-POOF! He had 7 inches on me and didn't need me coming to his rescue any more.

I've always been appreciative of the listening ear he always provided and the example that he was to me. Feliz Cumpleanos mi hermano! I hope this year brings you new and wonderful experiences.