Talking in church tomorrow....

Tomorrow is the big Sunday! We are talking in Sacrament Meeting tomorrow. (11:30 for those that wish to attend.) I finished my talk a little bit ago and Bryan is working very hard on his right now. It is a tough subject for us right now, but I think we will do pretty good. I love listening to Bryan, he does amazingly well and I love to hear his thoughts. I think he is very smart and insightful and I love hearing him open up. I know this is so hard for him, tho! I hope we don't lose our places or stutter, choke, sneeze, bawl or anyother embarrassing things! Wish us luck!

I did it!

I completed 4 pages for my scrapbook today! And I hardly felt sorry for myself. There was a brief ten or fifteen minutes, but overall not bad! If I had any clue where my camera is and how to get the pics off my camera right now (the move still has us a bit disorganized) I would post pics of my pages. I think they turned out great!

Now, I need to make dinner before Connor's curriculum night!

Bye!

I just don't feel like pretending.

I was reading others blogs today and I thought I would post something, but I just don't feel like pretending that everything is great and I don't want to be overly dark today either. I am somewhere in between. Does anyone ever feel like this? That you know things could be worse and they are pretty bad right now, but you know it could be worse. I know that there will be a time that everything will be good again, or at least good enough to not freak out in my head anymore. I just don't know how much longer I will have to wait for that time. Maybe that is my problem, I am waiting. I just realized that is exactly my problem. I can't wait for my life to get better. Even though it hurts, sometimes a lot- like today, I still have a family that needs me. When I wait, I get so little accomplished and I am just passing the time of my day. I am not enjoying the little pieces of it, the funny moments or the sound of the birds, or the rain clouds blocking the hot sun. I did take Alex to the park yesterday morning, and I really enjoyed getting out with him. But when we got home, I didn't do much of anything except worry and stress out. That needs to stop. Maybe I will scrapbook some today. I like doing that and Alex can work at the table with me and create a masterpiece of his own.

So, I will try really hard to stop feeling sorry for myself, at least for today. and maybe tomorrow too!

Surprise!

I just got an email from Bro. Murset (Bishopbric member who asked us to speak). They are changing topics on us. Bryan doesn't even know. We are now speaking on adversity and why we have it and how we can overcome it. I was already getting into the saving part, now adversity. I guess the Lord wanted me to learn more than one thing this week! Now I have to reshift my thinking. I had already gotten my talk half together in my head! Oh well, I truly don't mind. This is a good subject, but I am sure I will have to try really hard not to cry in the middle of it!

I get to go to scrapbook night tonight! I am looking forward to it. I love to run away for some girl time once in a while! Have a good night everyone!

Thanks Everyone!

I just wanted to say Thank You to everyone who left comments about my talk in church. It is always helpfull to see the perspectives of others. Sometimes I cant see past my own nose! Anyway, I hope it will be a good talk and that I won't embarrass Bryan or my kids! Thanks everyone!

It's happened! And I thought I could avoid it!

We have been asked to speak in church. I was gonna screen my calls, okay maybe not really, but I felt like it. Instead of that, they asked Bryan when he was at Young Mens. That's not fair! The real kicker is the topic. They want Bryan to talk on tithing and me to talk on tithing also, with a little twist thrown in to torment and humiliate me. They want me to talk about saving for a rainy day!!!!!!!!!! Do they know anything about me at all?!?!?!?!?!? No, of course not, or they would have never asked me to talk about saving. Hmmm, lets see, couldn't they just kick a girl when she is down? No, they have to put me up there for public humiliation. I am not a good example of someone who can save, you have to actually have money to save it! I can do it if I absolutely must, but I am certainly not one to go and speak to others about it. So, they just ruined the rest of my week, and then some.

Yes, I am ornery and annoyed and feeling stupid to have been assigned this topic, but I can't help but to feel that the Lord isn't assigning me this topic to have His own personal laugh at my expense. Obviously I need to learn to live within the new budget we have and maybe some research into the subject will help. I don't know how to budget when there is just not enough to even pay the basic bills, let alone save. I do know that I never want to be in this position again, and that we won't always be like this. The only way to prevent the utter loss of everything I have again is to save. I know this and will be the first one to admit it, but I am feeling so embarrassed to have to go and speak about it. It is a topic that is to raw right now. So, thanks to my new ward for making me feel soooo comfortable! I will shut up now and stop complaining, at least out loud. I am still whining in my head!

Happy Birthday, Alex!!!!!

Happy Third Birthday, Alexander Cook Hooper!!

The next 2 pictures are when Alex was a few days old and we had to go to Desert Sam and treat Alex for jaundice. He was such a yellow peanut!

Alex turned 1 and LOVED opening the presents!Alex was such a happy, but VERY mischievous child!
Alex turned 2!

Happy Birthday, Little Man!! We love you!

Day Care

Hey everybody, I need your help! I am trying to find kids to babysit in my home. I have an ad on Craig's list and was going to put an ad in the newspaper until I found out it costs over $100!!! So, I am hoping that someone out there knows someone who needs a babysitter! I have 2 possibly 3 openings (I won't watch more than 4 children at a time). I have a lot of experience and we will have a lot of fun every day. We will have activities, story time, preschool activities, etc. I charge $125 per week for full time, $50 per week for after school (my kids attend Red Mountain Ranch Elementary in Mesa). I am located at Power and McDowell. If anyone knows anyone, please pass on my number or just leave a comment! Thanks!

Messy House

We were on our way Saturday to finish cleaning out the old house when our realtor, Greg Askins, called and told us not to. I was like, Huh?!? Well, he explained that the bank was sending someone over to roughly appraise what the house is worth to see if the offers we have recieved are around fair market value. He said the worse the house looks the better. I said that is no problem as the kids rooms look terrible! The carpet looks like something exploded all over it and the walls are horrible. We also never finished the base boards, but the wood floors did look nice. Oh yeah, the pool was growing algae all over the sides. We were actually at walmart buying shock and trying to buy acid (which Walmart does not sale!!!) to fix that problem. Greg said to do nothing today. I said, "All right, lets go to the lake!!"

So instead of working, we picked up our kids and Jon's friend Darrin and went to the lake. At first the kids were crying cuz they were scared when we were giving Jon and Darrin a wild ride, but then they got over it and we had a great time! It was fun to take an afternoon off and have a mini vacation. Many thanks to Gerry for allowing us the opportunity to use his boat! We loved it! The kids want him to go next time, they think it is more fun when he is there. Anyway, you will have to check out Jon's blog later for some fun clips of the boys in the tube. They were a riot!

Have a good Sunday!

Good News!

Yeah, we finally have some good news!! Bryan has gotten a bit of a promotion and a small raise to go with it. I wish it was more, but I will take it! I am excited about the promotion because it gives him a chance to get hired on permanently!! It is in a better division, but I will leave all the details for him to share. He also got a new calling in the ward, he just can't be sustained until the records arrive! I don't know if we are supposed to even blog about that yet then. Oh well! I will leave those details to Bryan also, I don't want to steal ALL his thunder.

We are getting settled in here, my mom and my sisters have been so helpful in this move. They are spending a lot of time and effort here and you can see it. The place is really coming together and we are feeling like we belong. It is a nice feeling. Sweet little Alex is still asking to go home and seems a bit confused/upset by it all. Leslie took them swimming at their house today and afterwards, Alex asked to go swimming in my pool. Poor kid just doesn't understand that we are not moving back. This move has been so hard on the youngest ones and the oldest one. Fortunately for Jon, he is finding his place in YM's and also on his football team, so he is excited about that.

One of the saddest moments of all this mess was on Sunday during Sacrament Meeting, little Connor looked a little pale and not quite right and I asked him if he was okay, and he started to cry. Seeing that, I could hardly hold it together, in fact I am tearing up now! He was so scared and missing his last ward. He was trying so hard to be strong and keep it all inside, he is not usually one to share his feelings much. I was so worried about him and was hoping he would find a friend. He did! There was only one boy in his class and he is 2 weeks older than Connor and they really seemed to hit it off! And little Jenna was also so frightened but has 2 really cute girls in her class that are very close to her age, too. But her favorite surprise was finding out that her cousin, Tyler (Todd and Julie's son) was in her class at school. That just made everything okay! We are so glad for that! He is such a cute kid, too!

Anyway, it is so nice to have some good things happening! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have had enough of the hard stuff and was good and ready for something positive! I hope you can find your happy place today, too!