A small catch-up

I just added 4 new posts.  I've been writing my missionaries the last couple months and I think that using their letters on here is the best way to stay caught up.  I love that it gets me writing in my journal!  I tried uploading pictures, but it is having issues, so I'll have to do a picture catch-up maybe later.  But here is one of my favorite places here on post.  It's Lusk Reservoir and every single time I drive past it I get nostalgic for my childhood spent on a lake in Wisconsin.  This place makes me happy every single time I see it!  I just had to stop and take a photo of it yesterday.

10-27-13

Another busy week at the Elgan household!

Steve’s Ultimate Frisbee season is nearing its end.  This past Friday was their semi-final game, where they played Math.  That was one of the only teams they had lost to during the regular season, so it was bound to be a good match.  It was cold and windy, so I brought a little kiddie pop-up tent for the boys (Anna of course runs free) and was able to enjoy the game.  It certainly did not disappoint.  It was a fast and tiring game for the guys.  In the end, CME won!  Hooray!  So, the final game is scheduled for Wednesday against a team that they’ve beat twice (DPE).  Here’s hoping!  It’s been a lot of fun to be able to go out and support Steve in this endeavor of his.  I don’t know how much it means to him, but it has been thoroughly enjoyable to me and I’ve gotten to know more of the other people in his department, which has been nice.  

Steve’s birthday is the 30th (Wednesday) so we’re hoping for a good win.  But also, (did I mention this?) since he turns 37 this year he has put off his APFT to get the “easier” standards.  He may be running on Halloween this year!  The kids are really looking forward to doing some trick-or-treating.  We’ve invited the Hohoshes to come spend the evening with us, which should be a ton of fun.  

Speaking of Hohoshes… Thursday I convinced Sister Hohosh to come spend the day with me, so she showed up at 9 and hung out until after 3, when the girls got home from school.  She was awesome and helped me put some finishing touches on the girls’ costumes.  I found out that she actually was a costume designer for a little while, so she was a huge help for me.  

Friday was an insane day for me.  I bit the bullet and took the three kids shopping with me.  Lately I’ve wimped out and waited to go until Saturday, when I can shop alone.  Unfortunately, food was scarce in the house and I had to get ingredients for the food I was taking to the branch chili cook-off.   We survived Walmart and the commissary with minimal screaming from Anna.  We attended the Frisbee game, rushed home to get Anna a nap and I made chili, cornbread, salad, and finished costumes just in time for Steve to get home and leave again for the trunk-or-treat.  Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures, as we were running very short on time.  This week I will for sure get some great pictures to share.  The chili cook-off was fun, as usual.  There was a great turn-out and my chili won :)

Sister Echeverria and I have been going to PWOC (Protestant Women of the Church) for Bible study the last couple months.  Yes, I realize we are not Protestant!  We just thought it would be a good diversion and a great way to be examples of “Christian Mormons”.  It has mostly been a great experience.  I am learning a lot about other faiths and it has been eye-opening to 1) how many great, Christian women there are out there and 2) just how amazing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in its full, restored form.  I am even more appreciative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.   There was a “Retreat” on Saturday that Sparkle and I attended (supposed to go from 9-3).  We lasted 2 hours and then we snuck out and went out to lunch.  Hehe… Sometimes it’s hard to sit and sift through truth and half-truths.  I decided that I would wait until the adult session of Stake conference that night to be fully uplifted spiritually.  And I was.  The theme across the world for Stake conference is “The Work of Salvation.”  All of conference was devoted to missionary work.  It was an amazing theme and I came home with some great insight and drive to be a better member missionary.  I’ll let you know how that goes.  

And to finish off, here are some funnies that I caught…

Funny Ryan moment of the week:

“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” is Tommy and Ryan’s favorite song, so they sing it all the time.  Ryan therefore likes “The Lion King” music.  I don’t know if you can hear it in your mind, but do you know the very beginning music of the movie- as the sun is cresting the hill on the African Landscape?   Hopefully you can, because here is Ryan’s version of how it goes… (I’ll give it phonetically then I’ll spell it out)  “Haaaaaaaa-la-pennn-yo baba beee ba-ba-ba”  (jalapeno baba be bababa).  Who knew he could speak African?

Then tonight we got Sarah’s definition of: To disappear:  To poof out of the planet

10-20-13

I had a very fun weekend this weekend.  My oldest brother, Brad, was in NYC for a conference.  He works at BYU in the sound and lighting department and professionally he is a sound designer.  Anyway, since he was in town with his wife we decided to meet up and do something fun.  

Friday afternoon we drove into the city and took the subway down to the 911 memorial.  I don’t know if you ever went down there, but it was a little bit of a let-down for me.  I guess I was hoping for something inspiring, but instead it was a bit depressing.  Two big holes where there used to be the Twin Towers.  I appreciate that they want to remember those that died during that tragic event, but I suppose I wish they celebrated their lives, instead of their deaths.  Regardless, it was a beautiful day and spending time with family is never a waste of time!  

After our visit to the memorial we went back to Midtown to stand in line for the lottery for “Newsies.”  In case you don’t know, the lottery for a Broadway show entails putting your name in a bucket then waiting to see if they pick yours to get discounted seats.  Typically these seats are ones that while close, have some sort of disturbance in the line of sight of the stage.  We went to try the lottery for my brother and sister-in-law.  We figured 4 people had a greater chance than 2 to win tickets.  Steve was the 4th name they pulled out of the bucket (he could choose 1 or 2 tickets).  But why stop there?  We decided that if another of our names was called, I would stay and send Steve home to relieve our babysitter.  (He’s not nearly as big a fan of Broadway as I am.)   It got down to the very last name with just one ticket left… and boo- no luck.  The gal thought about it and decided she really wanted 2 tickets, so she was about to refuse it when my SIL Brandalee called out, “I’ll buy if from you!”  And the girl agreed!  So hooray!!!!  A ticket for me!  We went to Junior’s for some amazing burgers then with a big kiss I sent Steve home and we went to the theater.  I was raised listening to live music, so being in a theater with extremely talented actors/singers was heavenly.  The show was awesome, my seat was close (with a speaker only partly blocking part of my side view) and it was wonderful.  I love Broadway!  

I just barely missed the earlier train, so didn’t get back to Garrison until after 1am, but it was all completely worth it.  Plus, it was my first time at Grand Central Station and that was pretty cool.  Such an enjoyable day with Steve, Brad and Brandalee.   

Saturday we watched the Army and BYU games.  As I was looking for goodies to pull out, I realized that I didn’t have any Oreo cookies on hand.  That NEVER would have happened last year with my band of cadets!  I really, really miss those boys. But I'm also extremely proud of them for going out and serving the Lord for the next two years.  My kids keep asking if we’ll see them again, and I assure them that somehow or some way we’ll make it happen.  

10-13-13

Here are some of the Elgan happenings:

We are doing great.  Steve is still enjoying his teaching.  He is working on a patent for an iPhone case idea that he has and hopes to market and make his millions on :-)  Then he has also started ILE (or whatever it's called now... the training for Majors) and that is extremely time-consuming and just tons of busy-work.  So he's pretty swamped with everything.  It's still ultimate-Frisbee season, so we go to all his games still.  They've lost only 2 games, and the last game was when Steve couldn't show up because he was sick (he's a pretty important part of that team). 

Steve and I went up to Boston a couple weeks ago to see a Michael Buble concert.  It was such a fun trip with just the two of us.  And the concert was amazing.  I am a huge fan of live music, so I was as happy as can be.  

Things are just the usual crazy busy for me.  We went with the Hohoshes and picked apples last Saturday, so I processed a ton of apples to make applesauce.  It smelled great in my house all week long.  I’m also working on Halloween costumes for the girls.  Ellie has decided she wants to be Hermione (she’s fully immersed in Harry Potter right now).  Her costume was just ordered.  But Katie wants to be Rapunzel and Sarah wants to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  I’m working on sewing their costumes now.  Ryan has decided to be Captain America and Tommy is going to be Spider-Man.  Anna will get some sort of hand-me-down from the costume bin. :)  This is actually the first year I have let them just pick their costumes.  In the past I always did a theme and everyone was part of it.  Ellie is getting a bit too old for my ideas, I suppose.  It actually makes me a bit sad.  

Ellie and Katie are really enjoying gymnastics.  I can see significant improvement each week, which is neat to watch.  They're still working on the basics like headstands, handstands and cartwheels, but they're getting more balanced on the balance beam and learning new tricks on the bars.   

Sarah and Katie started tap class this week and so far are very excited about it.  There is a new dance teacher and I am thinking she will do a great job with the girls.  The last dance teacher loved the kids, but there wasn’t a whole lot of actual dancing happening.  

Now, since everyone needs a Ryan, here are a couple more stories from him...

He was doing something rather naughty and said, "I couldn't help it.  Satan was talking to me too loud and I had to listen to him."

 He really, really wanted Steve to play video games with him, but Steve had to go to work.  Ryan was not going to be deterred.  He said, "Are you going to play with me?  Yes, or yes?"

We were driving home from a baptism tonight and Tommy asked if we were going to “Dick Donald’s?”  Steve and I got a chuckle out of that one- it was a McD’s…

So Anna has become quite the stinker lately.  She can climb on anything and everything and so she does.  For example, right now she is sitting on the dining room table playing with crayons because she pulled out the dining room chair, climbed on that, then climbed onto the table.  That's actually her favorite place to play, much to my chagrin.  Not exactly the safest place to be!  She is still as opinionated about life as ever.  And we hear about it.  She has a very tenacious personality and can be frustrating, but also extremely adorable and fun to be around as well.  We love that little girl. 

Things are a bit nutty politically here.  I don't know if you heard that there's a government shutdown right now?  We haven't been very affected, besides the commissary being closed for a week, but there are others that haven't been paid and sometimes it's just frustrating to watch the country act so wickedly.  If only everyone understood the Gospel and gospel living, we would all be a much happier people!

I've been reading about Moses and how the Lord blessed them over and over and still they just whined and complained when things weren't handed to them right when they wanted them.  Makes me think about how the world is these days.  We want to be blessed and we want it in our own time!  We all fall into that trap, that's for sure.  

This year we just have two new cadets that we sponsor.  There weren't any LDS ones left, so we have 2 non-LDS that we sponsor.  We've had them over only a couple times, but they're nice kids and we enjoy them.  We also have one return missionary that we have over as well.  Otherwise all the cadets in the branch are really well taken care of.  We can never find anyone last-minute to have over on Sundays like we could last year.  That's a good thing- having them all so well taken care of, but it makes it hard for us to have people over.  

10-4-13

So, the happenings at the Elgan household…

School has started back up as of almost 2 weeks ago and the kids are really getting into a groove.  Sarah has the same teacher as Katie last year and she’s excited to be learning.  Sarah always has a positive attitude, though.  Katie likes her new teacher and seems to be doing very well.  It’s hard to get too much information out of that kid!  And Ellie loves her teacher again.  She was lamenting all the homework she had today, but 4th grade was inevitably going to be harder.  She’ll excel and do just fine.  

Katie and Ellie started up gymnastics 2 weeks ago and are loving it.  Katie is a natural, and since she’s done gymnastics in the past she’s picking right up where she left off.  Ellie is still figuring things out and last week was a bit discouraged that she’s a little behind Katie, but I think she’ll do awesome once she gets into the groove.  

Ryan is having fun being the big man on campus again with the girls gone.  I’ll give you a few Ryan stories to brighten your day:

• We were at BJ’s getting groceries and he saw an older gentleman walking out.  Ryan walked right up to the man and asked, “are you old?”  To which the man replied- “I don’t feel old”.  Ryan, “well, you have gray hair, so you must be old”
• Steve had made a lemon meringue pie and accidentally burnt some of the meringue.  He tasted it and mentioned it tasted kind of like burnt marshmallows.  To which, Ryan replied, “I LOVE burnt marshmallows!”  A bit later we were getting ready for dinner and Ryan asked what we were having.  I let him know we were just doing leftovers- pasta, chicken, beans,… to which Ryan interjected (in the same tone of voice I was using to list the food) - “and burnt marshmallows….”
• Ryan was looking at pictures of him as a baby.  He looked over at me and asked, “Mom, what are we naming the next baby?”  To which I responded that first of all, there was not another baby!  But if we were to come up with a good name, how about George?  Ryan looked at me with a very thoughtful expression for a few moments, then stated, “George is a monkey name.  But I guess it could be a human name, too.”  

Tommy is finally potty-training and we’re making strides there.  He’s also a master at his little balance bike now.  He rides up to the top of the hill, turns around gains as much speed as possible and just flies back down.  Steve put him on a pedal bike today and while he pretty well, he just likes his balance bike.

Anna started walking 2 weeks before her birthday.  And as is par for the course, she doesn’t do anything halfway.  She was pretty much running a couple days later.  She loves to climb on everything and has been caught climbing stairs, chairs, tables, and even up the ladder in the girls’ room.  Her curiosity got the better of her 2 weeks ago, though.  Katie had put her up in the top bunk with her to play.  Katie turned around for a second and Anna decided to take a look down the ladder and rolled right down.  I was at the Musick’s house for a YW meeting when Steve called and told me Anna couldn’t move her left arm.  I rushed her to the ER and 3 hours later discovered she had broken her arm right at the inside, top of the humerus.  It was on just one side of the bone, and was not causing her any pain at all.  The diagnosis was to just let it go and heal on its own.  For a week she basically didn’t use the left arm, and after 2 weeks you’d never know anything had happened.  With her adventurous spirit I think that will not be our only visit to the ER!  She is still a screamer, but the episodes are becoming less frequent, thankfully.  We have decided it is that little bit of red in her hair that is manifesting itself in her personality   She has become a very fun little girl and we are enjoying her more and more each day.  

Work is going great for Steve.  He’s course directing two classes, so his work load is a bit heavier, but he still loved what he does.  Ultimate Frisbee is going on right now as well, so I take the kids a couple days a week to watch some Frisbee.  The kids like it because they know they’ll get a juice box and ring pop for being good and not running away.  

We have had a lot of great families move into the branch, which is nice.  Tons of new little kids to keep the Primary on their toes!  Sacrament meeting feels almost full with everyone now.  Young Women’s is going well and I’m starting to get a hang of the calling.  It’s interesting being on the leader side of it, that’s for sure!  Our lesson on Sunday was on virtue and the importance of guarding that virtue.  I know that I appreciated the example the cadets shared with my kids about living a virtuous life and how happy you can be by living clean and pure.   I want my girls to marry an “Eric” someday! We all adore him!!!