Stice Family

This was a very busy week! Brace yourself, this post is going to be LONG. I was assigned to be in charge of the food for a semi-formal adult dance for our stake this weekend and spent a lot of time this week doing things in preparation for that.

Monday I borrowed the Stake Relief Society's key to assess platters and table cloths down at the Stake Center. I had assigned about 30 desserts and appetizers to women in my ward to bring to the dance and 9 couples to do kitchen duty at the dance. So I made reminder calls all the rest of that day. For family home eveing we had a lesson on music and how it can be a way of feeling the spirit. We sang every primary song we know and Brielle had a BLAST. Ashton made a few messes with toys in the living room in the meantime.

Tuesday was girls night out! About 18 of us met at Wingers in the back room and chatted for an hour and half. Some women left to go to a movie while others stayed for dessert. I had just seen two movies over the weekend with Todd (our favorite past-time... we saw Forever Strong and Eagle Eye. I highly recommend Forever Strong.) so I opted for staying for dessert. Those Mud Pies are delicious! And huge! Fortunately Maren and I split one of them. I love my friends from church. They are all a great support system with ocassional outs for fun and socializing. And they're all such great examples to me.

Also on Tuesday, Brielle's cousin, Makya, came to stay the night. They are two weeks apart in age and LOVE each other. Todd was home with them the hour and a half or so that I was gone for and they had a pizza party. This was the day Sleeping Beauty came out of the Disney vault for the first time since I have had children. So after my dinner fun with friends, I swung in to Walmart to buy it. Brielle's been dying to watch it since she met Sleeping Beauty at Disneyworld this past Fall. She and Makya about died in excitement that I brought it home. They watched it the next day. The box the movie came in also had a mini make up kit in it and they played princess with that and Brielle's dress up clothes. They were so cute cuddled up together in Brielle's twin sized bed all saying "I love you" to each other before they fell asleep. I loved my cousins, but from a 3000 mile distance- growing up so far away from them all.

Wednesday I took Ashton and Makya to story time at the library while Brielle was at pre-school. After pre-school we had a picnic at the park. It's getting a little chilly for that now, though. We didn't last long. Or rather I didn't since I was just sitting there. They kept warm running all over the play ground.

Todd and I had the assignment to attend a banquet to represent Heart 'N Home Hospice that night. For anyone that did not know, Todd works in hospice. He, his mom, and older brother started Heart 'N Home Hospice coming up on 5 years ago. They are very PASSIONATE about what they do. Anyway, the banquet was for the Health Care Heroes Awards for the state of Idaho and we were given one of the top 3 Health Care Heroes awards for the "Elderly and Hospice" division of health care. It was a very special evening to hear all of the inspiring stories of the 17 or so other awardees in their respective divisions and to hear of their compassion and conviction for what they do.

We sat at a table with a woman who has been a firefighter/EMT for over 2 decades and 2 elderly gentlemen who both volunteer in their professions now that they are retired. One started a volunteer pharmacy which he personally funds with local fundraisers. The other was a volunteer physician. They are close friends and nominated each other and it was neat to feel their synergy of passion for serving their fellow man and their immense respect for each other. Just a very special night and an honor to be in the midst of that crowd.

Thursday was my Dr. apt. I gained 7 pounds in my 4th month (YIKES!!). I GOTTA get back on that treadmill! I was so good at it until morning sickness kicked in! But it's always refreshingly special to hear the baby's heart beat at the Dr's. Nothing else new to report from my apt., which is probably good. After the apt. I made my massive Costco run for all of the food and serving materials I'd need to have at the dance on the weekend. I ended up being overbudget and sadly had to prioritize my list to put some things back. We were expecting 300 or so people at the dance. It all really adds up fast to buy that many plates, cups, utincils, napkins, etc.

That night Todd and I met up with his brother, Kris, and his wife Amber, their mom and step dad, and their new friend and insurance broker for the company's new health insurance policy to take him and his wife to dinner in Nampa. It was starting to wear on me that my kids were being babysat a LOT this week. We never have this much going on: Girls night out, the banquet, the Dr. apt and Costco run, now this. It was fun, but Todd and I hurried home to our kids as soon as we could. They were at Grandpa's house and had a blast. They made cookies with Todd's step mom, Cindy and delivered them to friends in the neighborhood. Brielle and Ashton both had chocolate chip smiles with brown around their grins.

Friday was filled with cooking things for the next night's dance. Katrina, my sister in law, came over and helped me make 4 pumpkin rolls and boil and shred the chicken for the chicken salad sandwiches. I made more reminder calls and found that sickness and forgotten trips out of town had snagged over half of my kitchen duty helpers and several of the people bringing food. But I had assigned plenty more food than we needed knowing that might happen. I called more people for back up for the kitchen duty and everyone was more than willing to help. That night Todd and I were supposed to help decorate at the stake center which meant finding a babysitter for the kids again. But we felt too aweful to leave them AGAIN. Especially knowing we'd have to again at the dance the next night. So we got Wendy's for dinner and brought the kids with us. They ate and played really well in the nursery room while we set up and decorated the food tables and fortunately about the time Ashon got a super poopy diaper, the rest of the large decorating committee had just about finished the decorating in the rest of the gym. So we headed home and spent the rest of the evening as a family.

Saturday was the big day! I cut lots of things up for fruit pizza. I had my good friend, Lisa pick up several things to chop with her husband and two oldest kids too (that day and the night before). They were life savers, really. She helped me TONS throughout the whole planning process, as well as at the dance. We packed up a bunch of foods that my committee made and dropped off, took the kids to the babysitter's, and were off to the church. I was shocked how many people we actually needed to be helping the whole first half of the dance. It started at 8:00 so it was meant to be light refreshments rather than a meal, but the foods people made were tempting enough that people were heaping their plates with one of everything. Luckily, we had just enough to last all night and still had a few items to take home to our kids to eat. It was fun! Todd and I only got two dances in, which was dissappointing, but the lady in charge of the food last year only got one dance in, so.... can't complain. I even had the smarts to bring my slippers along. 6 hours on my feet was a scary thought, being pregnant. Note to all the dancers out there- slippers make excellent dancing shoes, most comfy kind out there! The live band played a style that didn't appeal to my younger kitchen duty friends. So even when they weren't on duty, they often hung out in the kitchen and we had our own party in there much of the time!

The babysitters during our dance said that Ashton got into the conditioner, smothered it into his hair, then gave himself a swirly in the toilet. I forgot to warn them he LOVES LOVES LOVES to put soapy stuff into his hair. It's almost a daily affair. In fact, he did it again TODAY! Brielle left the bathroom door open and he sniffed out the hand soap immediately. He came running down the hall like a mad blind man screaming with his eyes shut and soap all over his hair running down his forehead and face. I keep thinking this time he'll learn, but it hasn't happened yet! And he always goes for my favorite grapefruit scented hand soap that they don't make anymore! This time he nearly used it all up. I'll get some pictures of the dance on here as soon as they are e-mailed to me!