Women's Conference, Soccer Trip! BUSY!

I feel like my life has gotten crazy and busy.  Noticed how I didn't write crazy busy, just crazy AND busy.  Let's see where do I start.  Ben left for his soccer trip Friday morning.  I had tons of errands to run trying to get ready for my class for Saturday's Women's Conference.  After 2 hours of Ben being gone, I called him ready for him to come back home.  It felt like he had been gone for forever.  Anyway, Lilli and I played outside for a while that day with our good friends Megan, and her two daughters Abby and Emma (Aaron, the husband also went on this trip).  Then I had to go the stake center and get set up for my class.  We get home and I put frozen pizza in the oven when Megan calls and invites us over for Domino's pizza.  That was fun!  We were there for a little bit then it was time for Lilli to go to bed.  Then I studied and talked to myself and went over my lesson for a long while.  I was so tired, but had to get up at 6:30am to get ready.  My morning wasn't too crazy, like I was expecting.  Thankfully, Ben got a babysitter to watch Lilli, his totally awesome (and brave) cousin, Lex.  She's living here in Augusta and is a lawyer.  Anyway, Megan and I drove to the Conference together.  I seriously was shaking so bad I was nervous!  We had the main speaker and I had to sit up front in the chapel with the other teachers.  I was very intimidated!!! Then it was time for the classes to start.  I was SO NERVOUS the night before, and felt little comfort because Ben was gone.  Of course I talked to him on the phone, but it wasn't the same.  Anyway, I had 11 ladies there (6 were Laurels).  It was nice to have a variety of people, the older women were able to talk about Relief Society from their point of view and let the girls know how much they really do have in common.  Anyway, after the class was over, I was sweating profusely but could finally breathe.  I guess it went okay.  Everyone came up to me and told me I did a good job.  It's over and I know the Lord was with me (Ben said he was praying for me all day, sweet hubby!).  So later that Saturday, we had a Tornado Warning.  The news was telling us to get in a closet and wrap up in blankets and coats.  Megan and he two girls were here.  We were pretty nervous, but made it thru okay.  It would have been nice to have our husbands there with us.  Well, this is getting to be a long blog and I know some of you don't like reading long blogs with no pictures.  Sorry.  I'll post pictures and some cute video of Lilli singing her ABC's later.  And better explain how crazy life has been.  It's wonderful too!!

Ward Easter Activity

I colored mine and Lilli's lips blue with a Robin Egg (my favorite Easter candy)!

Saturday night was our ward's Easter activity.  We were to bring a blanket and a picnic dinner.  I had to go to the church and help decorate so Ben ended up making the dinner.  We had a big ole chef salad with cooked shrimp.  It was really good.  Then the kids made little crafts that were super cute.  You can see the flower Lilli had attached to her wrist.  I helped her make them.  Then they had the Easter egg hunt.  I think that was Lilli's favorite part.  At first she didn't know quite what to do, but once we showed her, she went wild!  She loved it.  Now all she asks for is candy.  We have a really awesome ward and had such a great time!

Sidewalk Chalk

The other day I took Lilli out to do sidewalk chalk. I made sure that she wasn't wearing anything that I would really care about getting chalk all over (as you can see, she was a mess). She had so much fun! It was cute to see her imagination come out (even though all she did was just scribble, but still.......). In a lot of the pictures I've noticed that her hair looks awful, so I actually did it this time. It's so curly, but it's just big curls, so it's really cute when I actually put stuff in it. Anyway, she loves being outside. I do too. Being in the house all day makes me stir crazy. Luckily it's been really nice and so we've been able to get out. It's just been the last day or two that hasn't. We've had some severe weather warnings and tornado warnings. In the middle of the night last night, it was so windy I thought maybe there was a tornado or something. I had to turn on the tv and see (there wasn't). Ben was hoping that yesterday would be a good day so we could make our own kites and go fly them. I guess in Brazil, people would made some really beautiful kites and then have kite fights. Kids and adults would glue glass onto their kite string and try to cut each other's kites down, pretty crazy. But because of the weather, we didn't. I swear I sound like the weather channel. Anyway, I'm getting nervous for next week's Women's Conference. I have to teach a class (one-time only) and I feel so unprepared. If anyone has any ideas for me as far as getting the Laurel's excited about coming in to Relief Society, Please let me know. I've never done a class like this, and it's been a while since I've attended a class like this so I'm not sure how to make it fun and exciting. I'm still excited though. Ben has started another class. Human Anatomy and Physiology. He's pretty stoked about it. We're still waiting to see if he's going up to Washington D.C. or not for that class. We're hoping to find out next week. He and some of his buddies are going out of town next weekend. They're going to Tampa, FL for some soccer games. I guess the U.S. Men's team is playing. They're only staying for a day, which isn't bad, but it's going to be an expensive trip. I'm sure they'll have fun. As for me, well I've joined a Biggest Loser program with some ladies in my church ward. I've only been doing it a week and have only lost 1.4 lbs. I know it's not very much, but at least it's a loss and not a gain. I only have about 48.5 more pounds to go!!!! I know it's a reachable goal, but it's tough to stay motivated to work out every day. But I'm doing it and I feel better doing it. It's fun and we all pretty well motivate each other. Wow, this is a long blog. Sorry everybody! The next one's will be short. I'll try not to wait so long to blog next time.