Scare

We had such a scare last night. My 15 year old nephew, Harlon, was out in the desert around the town on his dirt bike. He headed out at about 3pm and the bike broke down at around 5pm, I think, and he was quite a ways out, not even entirely sure where he was. Kerry, his mother, had gone out looking for him for a couple of hours, but it started getting dark and she wasn't entirely sure where she was plus she almost got stuck, so she headed back home to her other kids and let the deputy look for him. She couldn't get a hold of Shayne who was out at work on night shift, fortunately when she called Shalum, also on night shift, was right there so she talked to him. He tried getting a hold of Shayne but with no luck. Shalum called me about 9pm telling me a little bit and told me to go wait with Kerry. I was there all night. The deputy would call every once in a while to see if we'd heard from him yet. Harlon had his cell phone but the battery was starting to die at 6pm when he was first talking to Kerry. It finally died at I think about 10 or 11. In fact Harlon at that time actually saw the cop's lights, but the phone died right when he tried to call the cop (they had been talking off and on up until that moment). The cop was some distance away with a ravine between them, so Harlon couldn't get to him. Harlon didn't have any food, water, flashlight, nothing. Fortunately he had a sweater, not a thick sweater, but at least he had it. I finally fell asleep about 6am on Kerry's couch. Woke up when Shalum showed up at 7am. And while we were trying to figure out what to do and Kerry was on the phone with Shayne who had just found out and was on his way home, Harlon called. He had turned the phone off during the night hoping to get some power later on, and fortunately he did. He told her he was on a road near Osino and then his phone died. So Shalum and I headed out (but there are a lot of little roads in Osino), Shayne also headed that way when Kerry called him back. Fortunately the road Shayne had taken took him straight to Harlon. The poor kid was tired, hungry, thirsty, and a bit cold, but alive. That was a long awful night. I am just so grateful he's ok.

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I did this one last year, but I thought it was so funny with Shalum's face I decided to post it again

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New Calling

So I got a new calling yesterday. 2nd Counselor in the Young Women's Presidency! I am so excited! I love love love working with the youth, escpecially the young women. I haven't had a calling with them in almost 2 years. I was really missing them. Just 2 weeks ago at linger longer two of the girls were saying they wished I was still in Young Women's with them, and I agreed with them. Then when I got called I was like Sweet! I had this calling before for two years. I couldn't stop smiling yesterday at church. I didn't get to be in with them during the meetings because they needed me to teach my primary class this last time, which I was fine with. I wanted to say goodbye to my little CTR6 class. I'm going to miss them, but I'm excited to be with the YW. And apparently they're all glad to have me back! It's always nice to know you're loved. :) I love it when I'm put in a calling that I like!

Fortune Cookies

Heavenly Father really has a sense of humor. Of course, I already knew that, but this just confirms it. Shalum and I went to the temple yesterday. Before we go I usually get in really bad moods (all Satan's work, of course, if it weren't for him I would probably be the sweetest person. Just saying :]). So I get in these bad moods and the night before we went, I was in one of those bad moods. I was ranting and raving at Shalum. While I was doing this I opened a fortune cookie that was on our kitchen counter. I read the little paper, and just started laughing. Shalum was all "what, does it describe you perfectly?" I said "I don't want to tell you." It had said 'Be calm and collected, peace is a virtue.' So then, even though I was laughing, I was still a little annoyed at him. I grabbed the other cookie and said "this one's for you" and as I opened it Shalum said "does it say something about putting up with your wife?" When I read it I started laughing again. His read 'Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.' And there was Shalum making his protein drink with this know-it-all look on his face and said "Even the Chinese know." It effectively got me out of a bad mood. So I say, Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. He works in funny ways sometimes. :D

What's been happening this year

Ok, it's been forever since I posted anything. My apologies. Let me tell you what's been going on this year...beginning of April Shalum and I went to Arizona on vacation with Shayne, Kerry, and their kids. When we reached Ely, we hit a blizzard, and of course Shalum and I brought our charger that didn't have 4-wheel drive, or even all terrain tires. So we were snowed in. We thought we would have to stay there til it cleared up and just head back home. I was in much need of a break, so was nearly in tears over it...ok I admit, I did shed a couple tears. But fortunately, or should I say unfortunately :), Shayne and Kerry said we could travel with them. So that's what we did. 9 of us in their excursion for 14 or so hours there and back, yeah that was fun. But we really appreciated them for that, because like I said, I really needed that vacation. And of course a few miles outside of Ely, the roads and weather were great, but according to the weather channel, there was supposed to be another storm the day we were heading back home. Any way we all had a blast, we played miniature golf, went to a couple national parks.

Lets see...in June Jace and Caitlyn got married. woot woot! and Kimi and Matt got married same month. another woot woot! I also had a family reunion in June, down in Ely. Saw some family I hadn't seen in years. In July we went to Delta for the 4th. Saw Shiloh and Joy and their kids. We hadn't seen them in, I think, 4 years. So that was fun. Also saw Tammy and her boys, and also Shawdo and Shalum's parents. That was a fun few days. One of the days a bunch of us went out on the desert, found some old mines and did a little shooting. Towards the end all the teen boys started complaining about how hot it was. They're a bunch of babies. They were constantly using the words epic, legit, intense, and ridiculous. So Tammy and I mocked them the whole day.

And lastly, we bought a new house! I am so excited. It is such a nice house and I love love love the yard! It's 3 bedroom, 1 and 3/4 bath, 2 living rooms, a garage!, and of course there's a place for Alice. We wouldn't have bothered looking at it if it didn't have a place for her. :) And it only took us 3 months to close! Yeah! Let's talk about frustrating! But in the end it finally happened, and I am over joyed!

Pictures and a video of Tammy shooting one of Shalum's guns to follow.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. Spent time with dad during the day and me mum come evening. We had a lot of fun.

Shalum here was posing for the camera.

Here I realized how he was posing and couldn't stop laughing.



Shalum doesn't care too much about getting his picture taken. He'll let you take his picture, but half the time he'll have some goofy look on his face suh as in this picture.

Playing games here.

Me mum made us all aprons for Christmas.

I love this time of year. Especially what Christmas represents. The birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. His life and His atonement are the greatest gifts we have ever gotten. And I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am for Him, for His teachings, His example, His suffering, His very life. I've been thinking about Him a lot more often this past month. One reason was because we celebrate His birth this time of year, but another reason was that earlier this month I was on a jury for a child abuse case. It was really hard on me, for everyone involved. And I thought a lot about how our Savior paid the price for all. He paid for our sins, our pains and our sorrows. And I am eternally indebted to Him.