All Trey Wants For Christmas...

Trey's front tooth hung on for a while, but we finally convinced him to just take ahold of it and give it a good yank. It came right out...it was beyond ready!!! Now, all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth...(ya, right!! Don't I wish that were true!!)

Children

I've been in the Primary Presidency in my ward for two years, and I can say, with great enthusiasm, that I have now put my second Primary Program under my belt and can breathe easy for another year...as far as Primary goes. It ended up being really good, if I do say so myself, but I always lose sleep the night after our program practice, wondering if it's all going to pull together and work out.
It's a truly harrowing experience...the primary program practice. It's one of those experiences, for me, that makes me think that pulling out my own fingernails, or poking my eyes out would be a less painful experience. Sorry for the graphic description, but I didn't know how to express in any other way how much I truly dread that practice. There were kids running around the church, laughing and loud, my president was trying to re-arrange the seating that I had spent 30 minutes arranging, the 1st counselor was yelling at the top of her lungs at the children--"stop", "sit down", "be quiet", "shut up", "listen", "sing louder"...well, you get the idea. Most of my teachers didn't show up, which I kind of expected, but was still ticked about. My pianist didn't show up...yep, you heard me right...no pianist, and I was ready to just sit down and cry. Luckily, however, we made it through our 2 hour practice and then I went home and cried. I shut myself in my bathroom and poured my heart out to my Heavenly Father. I asked for strength, patience, and guidance. A calm came over me, and I was able to put it all from my mind for a few hours.
Well, Sunday came...and the program went off without a hitch--as it always does. It was wonderful. I felt the Spirit so strongly. I was truly touched. As I was reading through a friends' blog today I was reminded of this scripture:
Mosiah Chapter 4 verse 15: But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
There is a lot of expectation in that scripture. There's so many times when I feel like my calling is a burden. I complain a lot. I sometimes take out my primary frustration on my family. I feel a lot of guilt when I think that what I'm teaching in my sharing time in Primary isn't good enough for the children there. And then there are those days when you wonder if they're even listening at all. But then I have a wonderful experience like I had on Sunday. It was crystal clear that they are learning what they are being taught in primary. It strengthened my testimony of my Heavenly Father and His Son. It strengthened my testimony of Joseph Smith and the restoration. I know that even when I don't think the children are listening, they are...and they hear everything. I'm thankful that the program reminded me that my calling isn't a burden, but a privilege and a blessing.

How I Became A Lewis

1. Where did you meet your spouse? Well, Kevin and I noticed each other in the 5th grade. He asked me to "go with him", and I said, "ok". That's about it. Fast forward 11 years...we were at a homecoming-type party at Chad Parrish's house. It was a get-together of all the guys who had recently returned from their missions. I really didn't want to go because I was sure that I was in love with someone else (who probably didn't feel the same) and was waiting for him to get back from an internship in Europe. After a lot of convincing I went and that's where I re-met Kevin.

2. What was the first thing you said to your spouse? I think it was something like, "What did you just say?". Understand...he'd only been home from England for a few days, and the accent was still really thick. I kept asking him to say words that sounded really funny in American english!!

3. Where was your first date? We took motorcycles up American Fork Canyon and rode around for a few hours.

4. Where was your first kiss? I can't really even call it a kiss because it was more like a crash. We had just gotten home from going out to dinner one night, and as I went to close the door of my apartment he kind of lunged forward and crashed one on me. It was weird, unexpected, and a little awkward. I closed the door, waited a few seconds to make sure he had walked away from the door, and then died laughing. My roommates thought I had lost it!! I do have to cut him a little slack, though...I mean, it had been over two years since he'd kissed a girl!!

5. Did you have a long or short courtship/engagement? It was a pretty long engagement for an LDS couple, but pretty short in the "world's" view. We re-met at the end of July, and were engaged 6 weeks later. We got married 6 months later.

6. Where did you get engaged? He asked me to marry him in the front room of his parents house. It was so funny because his sisters were in the bathroom doing their hair and heard everything. He didn't have a ring or anything...and I knew it was coming when I walked through the front door and he was ready to explode. He was giddy and hilarious, and I said "yes"!!! Then, a couple of weeks later, we went up to Temple Square in SLC and he proposed again...with a ring, down on one knee. It was sweet.

7. Where were you married? Salt Lake LDS Temple. February 17, 1995.

8. How did your reception go? Great! It was absolutely beautiful.

9. Where was the Honeymoon? Well, that's another story. I don't remember much about the honeymoon, because I was too busy heaving my guts out over the porcelain throne. I was told that we went to Portland, Oregon, but the only thing I remember is the moldy, mildew-y smell of the rental car mixed with the seafood and vinegar that Kevin stopped and bought at a road side stand, and the bathroom in our hotel room.

10. If you could have changed anything about your day what would it have been? I wouldn't have gotten sick...but I guess I couldn't control that. All around, it was a great day!

Cousins

For my kids, there's nothing better than spending a day with their cousins. While we were in Utah during our Fall Break we were able to spend a day at the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point with a few of our favorite people.

Here's a great big hug and a "thank you" to Grandma Lewis for making this day possible!!

We love and miss you all!

Home On The Range??

Why is it that no matter how I cook hot dogs in the house my kids still dry heave at the thought of having to eat one??? But...if I stoke up a fire, and give them a dangerous pointy stick to roast it on it's the best meal they've ever eaten...

Even Grandma and Grandpa got in on the roasting action...

Notice the double dangerously-pointy-roasting stick method used by my mom...
Don't try this at home. She's a professional.






Here's dad demonstrating the correct technique for roasting the perfect marshmellow...

You'll notice it's not the flame and blow-out technique that most of us use.



Grandpa smiles for the camera...

I'm sure he was just thinking that we had all lost our minds...

Maybe I have, but I can't speak for the rest of them.