Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was very eventful. Scott and I were to church early as he was the ward organist today. Although Scott isn't an organ player (piano skills really aren't all that transferable) and he played the piano while the primary children sang for the mothers. Also at church today we were both released from our callings in primary. It is nice being in primary and serving in the ward but we are glad to have some "time off" to go to Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society before we move.

After our hour at church we drove to Springville for Parker's blessing! Parker is the newest addition to the Combest family (Misty and Zach). It was a nice meeting - very different to be sitting with the whole family (including five small children) rather than just Scott and myself.

After the blessing we all went to visit Grandma Eastland and she was able to meet Parker for the first time. Below is a nice picture of her holding the baby. We had some light snacks before making our way to my mom's house for dinner. I got to play mommy today by watching Misty's two older children Gage and Hailie for most of the day as well - fun for me, and a break for her! I even got to deal with Hailie not making it to the potty in time...not too bad when you love the kid. :)

Des Moines, Iowa!

As you may know, Scott will be attending Des Moines University for medical school! He starts school the first week of August and we are excited for our new adventure. We will be moving out of our apartment by the end of June and staying with my parents for a few weeks before driving to Des Moines.

I have also been looking for things that we can stop and see/do on the way to Des Moines, although there isn't much when you're driving through Nebraska. I think we'll stop to see the Winter Quarters Temple, especially because that will be our temple district when we move! It will be strange not having a temple only ten minutes away, but I know that we are still very fortunate to have one only a few hours away. We will also be living only three and a half hours from Nauvoo and I am excited to be so close!

Now I feel like I am rambling, but I just want to tell the world all about our upcoming adventure!

Manti!

On Saturday I didn't have to work and Scott got off early, so we did something spontaneous! We packed a bag and drove to Manti! We grabbed dinner when we got there, then went to the temple. Instead of driving home at night in the rain, we stayed the night in a motel and stayed up late watching TV (we forgot what it's like to have cable and a TV). Overall, it was the best temple date ever! I have never been through a live session before and it was wonderful. The temple is the most beautiful I have seen and I can't wait to go back. Sometimes I forget how peaceful it is to be in the temple and have time away from the world. Here are some pictures from our overnight adventure.

Busy Week, Fun Trip

After a very busy week at work Scott and I were able to escape! Monday and Tuesday were regular work/school days for us, then we ramped it up with 10 work hours on Wednesday and 13 work hours on Thursday. We put in the extra hours because it was so busy this week, and it sure didn't hurt to make up lost hours from the weekend! Friday morning Janelle, Scott, and I jumped in the car and made the drive to Boise. I was the driver (I love to drive) and we only stopped once because we can't quite make it on one tank.

We arrived home (Boise) around three in the afternoon and spent some time relaxing with the parents before going to the high school talent show that Melanie was in charge of. Most of the acts were fun to watch, but being in the atmosphere made me realize how glad I am to be out of high school. Don't get me wrong, I loved high school, but I am glad to never go back. After the show we went to IHOP. So delicious.

Saturday we spent time relaxing and doing some homework, made a trip to Costco and went to Melanie's soccer game (her team won!). After the game we hustled home to change for the adult session of Stake Conference. It was a nice session, and I enjoyed the messages shared. After the session ended we had a late dinner at Applebee's. So great! We even ordered a dessert to share, then we home for a Star Wars movie party. We only made it through the first movie before going to bed for Stake Conference in the morning.

This morning's conference session was nice - I love to hear my father-in-law speak. After eating lunch we'll head home so we can all get to class tomorrow. A quick trip, but totally worth it. Overall, it was an enjoyable trip.

Summer Time!

I know that it isn't summer yet but as our boss says, "it is vastly approaching". Scott and I are both Data Entry Supervisors at APX Alarm in Provo and the summer season is a big deal to our department since the company has been built on a summer sales program.

In the past our department has been run by one manager, six supervisors, and twelve team leaders but this summer we are trying something completely different. We now have five supervisors managing the department as a group, and instead of reporting to the manager we go straight to the director. Each supervisor is going to be responsible for a personal area of the department (hiring, staffing, morale, etc.) as well as roughly 20 employees through the summer. I am very excited for this new opportunity as I will be able to take on some bigger responsibilities and have the chance to have a greater impact on the people, department and company.

My personal area is hiring employees and staffing our department accordingly. I have never been directly involved with hiring, so I am excited to be able to add this to my resume. Over the past few weeks I have been constantly preparing for our recruiting open house meetings - so far, the work has paid off! Our first meeting was on March 18 and everything was great! Our call floor was incredibly busy all week because it was Spring Break for UVU and a lot of salespeople went out for the week, but we were able to keep a few people off the phones to help interview and direct people at our meeting.

Things will only get busier at work as the semester comes to an end, but I am so excited for sunny days and warm weather!

Staycation!

I have been itching to go on a vacation, especially while looking through photos of our trip to Nauvoo. It was so great to spend a few days in a new place - it made us feel really grown up. :) Well a few weeks ago our close friends asked us to house sit over the weekend, and we couldn't help but say yes! They only live down the street from us, so it's not far and we decided to call it a Staycation since we were staying so close.

We had a great time living the high life. We had a second car and a garage to park in, not to mention a house (with an awesome APX security system) and a sweet little dog! Needless to say, we now want a Scion (the "second car") because it was amazing to drive, and we want a cuddly little dog too! Neither of these things will join us for a while (if ever) but it's fun to live a different life for a few days.

Kid Quotes

I'm sure this will be the first of many posts to come, but kids really do say the darndest things! Here is last Sunday's highlight:

Teacher: I'm almost an old lady.
Child: I'm almost an old lady too!
Teacher: You are?
Child: Yeah, I just turned four!

Life

Life is good! Here is a short update of life in the past few weeks:

• I interviewed for a supervisor position at work a few weeks ago, and on Wednesday I was offered the position! I have been anxiously awaiting this for months and I am very excited to take on new obstacles at work!
• Scott took his first BioChem test of the semester and is feeling pretty good about it! All the questions were free response which makes things tricky, but Scott is great at handling tricky situations.
• I took my first test of the semester for my Food & Beverage Controls class. It was all multiple choice, which is the best kind of test!
• I competed against other ballroom students at UVU in our dance lab and took fifth place in the samba! At all the labs I have danced in this was the first that I was even called back from the first round, and I had so much fun!
• Scott and I went to the Institute Date Dance for Valentine's and it was semi-formal. We went with Glen and Nicole and saw a ton of friends while we were there. It was fun to dress up, eat free food, and attempt to dance with the brass band music.
• Scott and I also went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Provo, Los 3 Amigos. It is very inexpensive and absolutely delicious! At the end of our meal our server gave me a flower while he gave Scott the check.
• Scott played a piano solo (A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief - one of my favorites!) at church on Valentine's Day and was also called to be the Assistant Ward Organist in addition to his current calling as the Primary Pianist.
• We have also watched a few different movies together including The Lord of The Rings Trilogy Extended Editions. So much time sitting on the couch, but so worth it.
• I made Scott a fun Valentine out of construction paper. :)
  

Medical School!

Scott has been accepted to Des Moines University in Des Moines, Iowa for medical school! As long as all goes according to plan, we'll be heading there at the beginning of August. So exciting!

The Circus!

Some of our friends had some tickets to the circus that was in town, so we made it a double date! Here is a picture of us and a couple of fun videos. I don't know how the sounds it, so you may want to mute it. The first video is of two motorcycles riding in circles in a little cage - so neat! The second video is of two elephants performing. The elephants are my absolute favorite!