Mini shakes from Iceburg

Ethan was so bummed after the appointment.  I had to run an errand to Iceburg on the Boulevard to ask if they would sponsor the spell-a-thon for the elementary school.  While there I took pity on Ethan and told him and Courtney that they could get mini shakes.  They griped about it and Ethan thought I was being "a cheapskate" but I just smiled and waited.

When the girl put the shakes on the counter you should have seen Ethan's eyes bulge out.  The shakes below are mini shakes and they are huge.  I knew they were big so a mini would still be way too much ice cream for them.  They quickly apologized and thanked me for their mini shakes.

It took Ethan about an hour to finish his shake and Courtney never did finish hers.

The cast comes off

The 3 1/2 weeks was up and it was time to get Ethan's second cast off.  Courtney had an early out day so she was able to go along.  We checked Ethan out early and drove to the dr's office.  Once again Jenny was there to take care of us.  She had Ethan sit on the table and got the saw out to cut the cast off.  It took a while but they got it off ok.  Ethan was really nervous that his ankle would hurt like his knee had but it wasn't too bad.

Jenny had him lay down on the table and I cleaned between his toes for him.  It was pretty gross but someone needed to do it.  I couldn't get over how hairy his leg was!  He kept asking me to itch his foot and I tried but apparently I didn't scratch him hard enough so he took over and did it himself.  You can see how he had scratched off the top of his foot because it's all red in the picture below.

They took Ethan for another xray to see how the break has been healing.  It is healing pretty well.  He has a slight lump on his shin from where it is healing and he still has the blue pen "X" where the EMTs marked the location of the break, but it is looking good.

After the xrays, Ethan sat in a chair to wait for the doctor to let him know what they wanted to do now.  He spent his time scratching off the dead, dry skin from his leg and foot.  It was pretty gross to watch the skin flake off but Ethan loved the way it felt.

After a scratching fit, Ethan moved his heel and found that he had left a flaky skin footprint.  It was so gross that I just had to document it.

You can see the slight "X" that marks his break.

We didn't get to see the doctor but instead saw his PA.  He looked at the xray and said that Ethan still needs to wear a boot for support for another 3 weeks.  This wasn't what we wanted to hear at all.  We were prepared with his tennis shoe so he could walk out on his own.  Ethan had been walking in his cast for 4-5 days so we figured it was healed enough that he would be fine.  But the doctor didn't want to take the chance.  They fitted Ethan with a boot and told him to take it easy on his foot for a while.  They said to lean on his crutches for a few days until he got used to walking.  But once we were out of the office, Ethan handed me his crutches and just started walking.

He said it felt fine for a while but then it started to ache.  The boot had some extra padding that was squeezing his foot and causing some discomfort.  Jenny came over the next day and took it out and helped Ethan learn to adjust it a little better.  She gave him a paper with all kinds of stretches to do so his heel would feel better.  He was really disappointed to still be in a boot and I don't blame him at all.

We have another appointment in 3 weeks to have more xrays and see how things are going.  We are hopeful that he will walk out in a tennis shoe after that appointment.

Captain Bree and the Lady Pirates

There was a play at Snow Canyon High School and Courtney wanted to go really bad.  The boys didn't want to go so Courtney and I went on a date to see it.  We went on opening night and it was actually really empty.  It was the night Snow Canyon's football team was playing a state football game so most of the people were in Salt Lake for the game.  But the play was pretty good and we had a fun time.  We knew some of the kids in it so that was fun to see them.

Evening of Excellence

One of the first things they told us when we were sustained was that the Stake Evening of Excellence was the next week.  The outgoing presidency had everything taken care of so we didn't have to worry.  It was "Ivins Got Talent" and each ward was asked to prepare a talent to share with the Stake.  Because we were new, the outgoing presidency thought it would be "fun" if we did a skit so the girls could learn more about us.  I didn't think it would be "fun" but we went along with it.  We actually made up a song to sing that told about us.  We were all terrified but went first so we got it over with and I think it went well.

Then we got to sit back and watch the talents from the wards.  There were funny ones and serious ones.  It was a great time.  At the end, they asked to take a picture of us with the outgoing presidency.  There were about 4 young women trying to take pictures and we didn't know who was taking a picture and when so I'm surprised they got a picture as good as they did.

Settlers of Catan

We usually play a family game on Sunday mornings to keep the kids occupied.  We especially like to do this when it's Fast Sunday so no one moans about being hungry.  My favorite game is Settlers of Catan,  Courtney uses all her time buying up development cards while the rest of us play that game.

Here is Courtney's development card loot at the end of the game.  She doesn't try to get any other cards except the ones that will buy her development cards and she is really good at it!

Can you tell from the huge smile who won the game?!  Yes, Ethan won Settlers for the first time ever.  He was so excited.  I had to take a picture so we can remember it!

Good job buddy!!

Boundary Changes

Our Stake underwent MAJOR ward boundary realignment.  Only one ward escaped without any changes at all.  We have been hearing since last February that our ward boundaries were going to change but then nothing happened.  Every few months rumors would start again that it was going to be in March...then in May....then in July....then in August....then at the end of September.  It was crazy and really annoying.  But no one knew for sure what was going on.

Our ward was getting really huge and something needed to be done.  We had a new subdivision that was growing fast and it seemed that all of them were members of the Church.  I was having a really hard time keeping up with all the new people.

On October 20th, the Stake executive assistant called.  I assumed he was calling to talk to Bryan, which happens, but he asked if Bryan and I could meet with the Stake President on the 22nd.  I told him we could and assumed Bryan was getting released or a new calling.

When we met with the Stake President he and Bryan talked finances for a bit and it became obvious that we weren't there for Bryan.  Yup, I was extended a new calling as the Stake Young Women's President.  I was a bit shocked because I have only served in young women's once as the camp director.  Other than that, I haven't been in young women's since I was a young woman...eons ago!  I felt very overwhelmed.  The Stake President gave me a 22 page list of the names of women in the Stake between the ages of 18-80 so I could choose my presidency.  We went home and I didn't sleep very well that night.  It took a few times of submitting names but everything finally got figured out with counselors and a secretary.

Through the process of getting counselors I figured a few things out.  The boundary realignment was going to take place on November 1st and I figured out that I wasn't switching wards because the Stake President had spoken to my bishop before extending the call.  I knew a few boundary line changes because of which bishops were being asked to approve my counselors and secretary and I also figured out the bishop of another ward.  I was too worried about my new calling to be worried about the changes to the boundaries of my own ward.

We had regular Church meetings on November 1st.  That evening we had the boundary reorganization meeting.  Courtney and I went up early to get soft seats and so we would be close enough to see the map clearly.  Stake business was conducted first so the old YW presidency was released and the new one was put in.  It was the first time I had seen my 2nd counselor and secretary. They had us sit on the stand for a few minutes so everyone could see us and the outgoing president shared her testimony and then I was asked to share mine.  There were A LOT of people at the meeting.

 Then they showed the map of the various wards.  Ours was first and there was a gasp from a lot of people because our subdivision was left together but the rest of the ward was given to another ward.  We were given another subdivision and part of a trailer park to add to our subdivision,

Here is a map of the new boundaries.  Ignore the blue line because our gps on the laptop thinks we live in Santa Clara instead of Ivins so that is the Santa Clara Stake.  Our ward is the one on the bottom right that has the icon of a church and the purple circle with a 2 in it.  Old Highway 91 goes through our ward boundaries, if that helps.  The boundary line of our stake is 400 East.  There are now 8 wards in our Stake (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10).

When the meeting finished we went to the YW room to be set apart as a new presidency.  Then we stayed and met for a few minutes with the outgoing president.  She told us about some upcoming things we needed to be aware of and then we decided to meet up on Monday so she could train me and give me the binder.

It was a very eventful meeting.

Halloween

Some of the neighbors wanted to do a potluck dinner on Halloween to celebrate and get the kids together so they could go trick-or-treating together.  So I made some clam chowder and corn bread to share.  It was a great turn out and we had a lot of fun sitting around with our friends.  Ethan stayed for a while and then decided to go home to give candy to the trick-or-treaters that came to our door.  Courtney was all about the party.  She stayed for a long time playing and then grabbed Cameron and they went out to get candy.

We had a section of our ward that is older retired people.  One woman mentioned to me that they were afraid no one would trick-or-treat to their subdivision because they didn't know many people so I made sure to pass the info around that there would be great treats in Desert Rose subdivision.  Courtney and Cameron made their way there first and got a lot of loot!

I went home and we watched our annual tradition of "Ghostbusters" while answering the door.  I took over for Ethan after a while because he was getting tired of getting up and down with his crutches.  There were some cute costumes and some creepy ones.

Courtney came home with a ton of candy and started separating it for the Halloween Fairy and for her.  I couldn't believe how much she got!  I love when Halloween is on a Saturday.

Here is her 80's rocker look.  Everything was from her closet. ;)