Stephenie Meyer!

Quick Highlights:


This is what I put on my T-shirt... it looked cute and Stephenie Meyer really liked it! She told me that herself and told us to get our picture taken by Emily, her cousin. Ticee's shirt said, "Fiesty for a peace-loving body snatcher, aren't you?"

We were late making the T-shirts and we had to drive to Toole to pick up my friends sister! So, we were late and missed Stephenie Meyer's 15-20 minute discussion. : ( But, right when we walked in a man came up to Ticee, who was holding Diedrick, and asked if she had gotten her book signed yet. Come to find out, those with babies got to go first!! Even before the people who had camped out the night before to be in the front rows. We all got to go with Ticee and we sneaked in Sally, some girl who's leg hurt.

We went right up and got our books signed. They had to be opened to the title page... two from the Twilight series and as many Hosts as you had. So, I bought extra Host's and got them all personalized. I was so excited! Stephenie told Ticee that her baby was cute, which he is! And she told me that she loved my shirt.

We were done so fast that we didn't know what to do with ourselves. So, we stayed a few minutes and took some pictures... Ticee got to know Stephenie's extended family, aunts and uncles... they loved Diedrick as well. What would we have done without Diedrick! If we would have waited until "our place" in line... since we came in so late we could have waited until 10 or 11 p.m.!! Good times...

Here is a letter I just wrote to Brandon and Kaber. I think it has a funny story in it so I will post it.

May 13, 2008

Dear Brandon and Kaber,

I have been having a hard time getting letters written so I thought I would try getting a letter out to both of you. Apparently you have both been transferred recently to new areas. It is always fun getting to know a new area and new people… but sometimes it is a little frustrating as well. Trying to remember where the streets are or not knowing which members will help you. I think sometimes it is nice for the members, too. They get to meet a better missionary in both of your cases (wink, wink) and they get a clean slate. Maybe before they weren’t that great at helping the elders or maybe they weren’t really active. But now they are on equal footing. I also think it is great for members to be asked to help, even if they don’t say yes. That way they are given an opportunity to choose to serve the Lord… or, you know, the other guy.

I was thinking about how excited I was for Kaber helping the couple get married and then baptizing the father in Spanish. Yippee! Then I remembered one of my funniest baptisms. When I arrived in Satelite they already had an investigator named Raul Ulizar. He was an older gentleman, about 84 if I remember correctly. His friend, in his twenties, maybe a relative, had been baptized in a different area and was so excited about the gospel. The friend sent the missionaries to Raul and he started receiving the discussions. Raul progressed really well and we set a baptism date. His only request was that his friend would baptize him, which we thought was great. Raul would always have a connection with his friend, his baptism and the church.
The baptism day came and we were set. The interviews were done, the pila (font) was full, we had told the Branch President and our Mission Leader, Raul had come to church, members were involved in the talks and the music etc. The baptism was going well and Raul and his friend entered the font. The friend was so nervous but he said the prayer very well. Right after saying, “…in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen,” the friend crossed himself before he “dunked” Raul. A cross like the Catholics do!

You can imagine the gasp that spread throughout the room. Everyone was looking around, whispering, in shock, wondering which church they were in. The Branch President and our Mission Leader were beside themselves. They kept asking where we had found this friend that did the baptizing and how do we know if he is worthy? Good point! We hadn’t even thought of asking the friend to bring a “recommend” from his Bishop. Ooops. Silly us.

Anywho, they decided to let the baptism stand and hopefully the records of Raul are entered in the heavens. That was embarrassing… Don’t let just anyone baptize, ya hear. I tell you, what they say is really true, “The gospel has to be true, if not missionaries would have ruined it long ago.” I made some pretty crazy mistakes. But now they are just fun memories. I am pretty sure we didn't do any lasting damage, I hope.

Well, we love you so much! Your parents both told me how fantastic it was to talk to you on Mother’s Day. We are so proud of you and pray for you many times a day. If we don’t mention you in our prayers, Brigham really gets after us. : )

Love ya tons!

WIC...

Today was the dreaded WIC visit. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get out the door. If you get there late you must reschedule and the end result is you lose milk and cheese and juice. So, we were only a couple minutes late.

There was the nicest lady there waiting for her appointment. She was put together nicely, pretty and pleasantly smiling. I kept watching her and wondering about what happened to my smile? So, I paid attention and I mostly smile when I am alone. Now I am practising smiling even when I am busy with all of my monsters and their fits.

We got a pretty feisty lady to check our income, address, names, etc. She had a couple of little stuffed teddy bears sitting by a plant. S touched a bear and feisty lady snapped at her, "Don't touch that."

Then L & R joined the party looking at the bears. Another lady walked by and threw out, "Don't play." Crazy women... why on earth would they think that toys were going to call the attention of kids? Of course the children should stay away from toys.

I ended up holding a crying L and keeping R & S away from the toys by blocking them out, using my old basketball skills. I also must admit that I said, "Those aren't for kids. Sorry, they thought they were toys."

The only other travesty was that L didn't gain enough weight so we have to add an additional visit. I am not sure if you can recall that this happens every single time. Last time L didn't gain one pound in six months... so we had to return in two months and she had gained two and a half pounds! I believe that was an error in record keeping or something, I mean come on. Well, this time since she weighed 25 1/2 pounds last time and today she weighed 26.4... they are making her come back! She is supposed to gain one pound, not 0.9 of a pound. I have serious issues with their data collection and lack of accuracy. But, thank you for the milk.... that is me trying to be positive.






Last Saturday E and I got a babysitter from the Spanish Branch and headed off to SL. We met Alina and friends at the Bombay House for dinner. Wow, she is fun to be around. Also part of the party were Reno and Star, Alina's brother and his wife; Brian, husband; Emily and Judy, FoA (Friends of Alina) and Aaron, a cousin. They were all spectacular company and it was refreshing to remember that there are many normal, funny people out in the real world. Oh, and the food! Delicious! I think Susan would like it. : ) Ana told me that it is one of her favorite places to eat as well. Small, small world.

The photo is thanks to Alina... did I mention we saw the Sultan? Jasmine's father?

Oh.. and did I mention that my husband is hot....