May 8th

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you mothers that have influenced us in anyway!!!!! It was 8 years ago I had my last conversation here in this life with my mom and I miss her a lot! My life has since been filled with many other examples, I know she is grateful for your love and support in helping me be the mom that I am today. I was keeping my emotions under control this morning until I got a text from my brother Tod and then I lost it for about 10 minutes and was good the rest of the day. All he said was I miss Mom a lot ... lame I know!!!!!!!

Taylor: went to PEC (Priesthood Executive Counsel) because he is the Elder's Quorum President now (he is over all the men in our ward since we are in a married student ward). Ran home afterward so I could go back to have a chat with the bishop and he bathed and dressed Brennan. then it was off to church. For some reason even though our ward starts at 10 people still don't come on time so as they were getting ready to start there were any men to bless the sacrament so he made eye contact with a few and they filled the spots. Since we have no youth in the ward for deacons to pass, teachers to set up, and priests to bless, the elders get the opportunity and Taylor loves it because it has been awhile and once we go back to a usual family ward he most likely won't because the Aaronic Priesthood will take over those duties. After church he and Brennan went home to take a nap and start the beans for dinner. After talking to Darcie for a bit, we Skyped with Papa and Gigi. Then it was time to eat!!!!!!! We went with our friends, the Millers, Tyler and Lauren, to the Taylor's house to eat. Zach Taylor was the Elder's Quorum President before Taylor was and they lived in our same building. We miss them now that they have moved to a house. He is a BBQ master so we had teri chicken : ) Once we got home he read his book by Terri Brooks, the Shannara series.

Amy: fed Brooke and then jumped in the shower in order to allow time for preparing myself and the kids. I have been late the last few weeks because I was expecting Taylor to come back after his meeting and help a bit but he has to take care of different things up until church starts. I was not going to repeat it again this week so I jumped in as soon as I could : ) While getting ready I got the news that bishop wanted to see me. I got a new calling at church! I am now a Visiting Teaching Supervisor, meaning I over see a group of sisters and their report if the have made their visits, as well as encourage them to do so : ) This is new for me because I am usually a teacher of some sort or since I have been married a ward missionary accompanying Taylor. I am happy to report we made it to church with 10 minutes to spear and Taylor was there to help! It will take some getting used to doing it all on my own. After church I had a meeting with all the Visiting Teaching Supervisors and the Coordinator to get the month going. After I finished up the beans Taylor started as dip and then fell asleep for a bit with Brooke. It was so nice not to have to worry about dinner or the clean up!!!!!

Brennan: woke up and laid with dada for a while as they both tired to wake up fully : ) He has broken the straps on his eating chair (it lasted almost a year after only paying $2 for so I'm not complaining in the least!!!!!) from throwing himself back during a time out (its the only place we have that he will stay ... we tried putting him on 2 stacked buckets but he started climbing off). This now means the chair sits on the floor instead of a chair! After he finished breakfast he got up, yes with the chair still attached, and waddled into our room looking for Taylor but he had left for his meeting already so he sat down in the hall and watched my do my hair. During church he had a melt down during the sacrament hymn, but I was stuck in a position trying to figure out what to do with Brooke while I took him out so people could feel the Spirit (Taylor was blessing the sacrament). I started to stand up with both kids in my arms and our friend Rouie offered to take her (I didn't ask her in the first place because she too had 2 kids sitting by herself as her husband was helping was the sacrament too). All Brennan wanted was his dada! After the sacrament Taylor went to sit down and he didn't see Brooke so he went to find us. Brennan ran with open arms to him and was AMAZING the rest of the time. He loved nursery and was nice this week!!!!! I think his favorite part of the day was getting to play with the Taylor's kids, whom he misses A LOT (Jackson, Alex (a girl) and Donavon). He wouldn't eat his dinner so I tried to have him sit with me and not at the kid table but still nothing, he just wanted to play. I let him go and said he would have to go hungry because he has his chance to eat. As the other kids were eating their brownies, he sat down and ate his dinner. Jackson who is 8 but loves little kids played airplane with his fork and afterward he came to me extremely proud because Brennan had eaten everything on his plate. I saw Brennan eating but I thought he had been given a brownie, nope it was his dinner! It was fun to watch Jackson try to get him to eat after i did the first time. He said Amy, I don't think he understands what I want him to do. He is such a sweetheart and has loved Brennan from day one. He put up no fight tonight when going to bed!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brooke: did her squeal during the announcements at the start of church and the fell asleep after the Brennan fit so I was relieved : ) She did do it again as we sang the opening song in Relief Society which was fun because it was "Called to Serve". She can be a fighter of sleep just like Brennan when there are people so as soon as the closing prayer was over for sacrament meeting she was wake until we got home but needed a longer nap so got fussy the last 10 minutes of Relief Society. At the Taylor's she loved playing with Alex, who is just now starting to play with babies and girls. She has 2 brothers and loves to do what they do, so this was exciting for her mom to see. She was so sweet with Brooke and shared her new blanket she made with her and then played peek a boo with it. For the last 3 nights she fallen asleep at her usual bed time (7:30) but we have been out and about she she gets woken up and it becomes a nap, so she was up until 11 again. I hope this isn't becoming her new habit!!!!!!