Halloween

I borrowed my brother's 4 kids tonight and took them to a spook alley. They were raising money for Friday's Kids and I thought it would be fun to go. The youngest 2 got a little scared and only went through with me once, but the older 2 had a blast and went 4 times. The youngest nephew kept saying "guy scare me". All in all it was a fun night.

Happy Halloween!

This weekend...

my sister and brother-in-law moved into their new house. Yay! It's beautiful and going to be so fun for them.

I got the best job during moving day - I got to play with my 18 month old niece and my 20 month old nephew. When I went to get my niece, I helped my sister with a little packing while we waited for my brother to get there with his son. It's a good thing we got my neice out of her house before too many people got there to move everything. I was folding up her blankets that were in her crib and she threw a fit when I put them in a bag for moving. I'm not sure what she thought I was up to, but those were *her* blankets! (My sister said that she won't sleep unless all 5 of her blankets are in the crib with her. Crazy kid!)

The kids were good and we even went to the grocery store before going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We made "tooties" (cookies), played with lots of toys, read stories and ate noodles. It was a fun day!

Last organ class

I just finished my last organ class. It did get better and although I'm not sure I'll ever be a fantastic organist, I might (with some practicing) be a passable organist. We'll have to see if I can work in the practice time. Let's hope someone who knows how to play moves into the ward in the next 3 months because I noticed on Sunday that the organ playing is messing with my piano playing in Relief Society. Seems I can play one or the other.

Vacation

I just got back from a marvelous vacation. I got to go spend 4 wonderful days with a dear friend and her 4 kids. We did many fun things, but I liked seeing the new "Lincoln Log House" the best! Such a fun home. I can't wait to go back and see it after they've finished remodeling and moving in.

Sam also spent hours sewing a border for my mom's Christmas gift and I can't wait to put it together. I'm going to have it done by Thanksgiving for you to see.

I already miss little Strawberry Shortcake and am counting down the days until I get to see her at Thanksgiving. I miss holding the baby and listening to her 'talk' to me too. And I loved learning about bugs from the boys. There is a whole other world out there if you look through the eyes of little boys.

Thanks again Sam, for letting me visit you and for the greatest vacation I've had in quite awhile.

The cutest niece ever!

I just went to my sisters blog and saw an adorable picture (well 2 cute pictures but the second one is the best!).

My niece in her snowsuit + the first snowstorm = cutest photo I've ever seen!

http://wesandkatrinasouthwick.blogspot.com/2008/10/snow.html

Organ class

I decided to take a community education class on how to play the organ. The organ has always fascinated me and it seemed like the next thing to learn once you can play the piano. Now, I feel that I am a good pianist but I just can not figure out this organ stuff! Our teacher said it best this week. "Take everything you learned in piano [speaking of fingering, posture, playing which notes with which hand, etc.] and throw it out. All you need to remember are the notes."

I'm not sure this is something you can pick up in a 6 week course and I think you have to do a lot more practicing than I am. I'm struggling with having to go to the church to practice and I am embarrassed to practice if others are around.

Today my songs actually sounded like Hymns and I was getting my feet playing on the right notes, so maybe I should give it more than 2 weeks before I give up! :)

But here's the real challenge, the bishop has all but called me to be the organist when my roommate has to leave the ward in January. I'm in his office on Sunday to receive a different calling but in the middle of the conversation he asks me if I know how to play the organ. I tell him no, but then feeling like I can't lie by omission to the bishop in his office, tell him that I am taking a class right now. So he gets really excited and tells me to have her show me everything she knows. I tried telling him that I would only be there 5 months after her, but I think he's thinking I will be the new organist. I'm not sure that I can figure it out that quickly, even if I am starting to pick up on how to play the thing. Let's hope someone moves into the ward that already knows how to play the organ!

My toes again

So I went to the doctor yesterday and I really shouldn't have. He pulled off the toenail on the toe that I smashed since I had a new nail growing underneath the old, or hurt, nail. So that nail looks really funny since it's only about a half a nail.

Then on my other big toe, I had been getting ingrown toenails for most of my life so I had him look at it since it hurt. Because of the way my nail grows he said he could fix it by cutting off part of the toenail and treating it with a chemical so it won't grow back. Sounded like a good idea to me, but now I'm not so sure. It is really raw and tender and I want my ingrown toenail back. Those I can fix by myself, this is going to be awhile until it's better. But I guess I can't undo it now.

Hopefully I can go to the gym tomorrow. I don't think I can do it today. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. :)