spookerific

 I've seen lots of cute Halloween treats on pinterest that I've had good intentions of doing for a while now, so in order to ensure that I actually tried some this year, I handed out invites to the kids at FHE last Monday for our first Annual Asay halloween party.  The kids asked about it all week and so I had to pull through. :)  We had mummy-dogs, ghost-bananas, pumpkin oranges, spider-deviled eggs, blood punch and frankenstein salad.

 Here are the kids pulling their "spookiest faces."  Before dinner we made paper pumpkins, put up more halloween decorations, played musical chairs and after dinner Michael gave a lesson and then they watched a halloween movie from the library.  Stetson was concerned that the movie might be "too scary" so he asked me a lot of questions about it before we watched it. :)

 Last Saturday was a beautiful day!  I went to the Y in the morning, came home and stayed with the girls while Michael took Stetson to his flag football game.  When Stetson came home Michael went to study and we played at the park for a minute and then came home and carved pumpkins!  The weather was gorgeous and little did I know our nice green grass would be covered with snow today.  We got our pumpkins from Jan and Stetson's is from his class field trip trip to the pumpkin patch.  The kids drew their faces on their pumpkins and I carved them.  My camera was on the wrong setting so this one is way overexposed.

quick trip to Lovell

I needed to come get Michael from Powell the other day and Jan wanted some pics of her grandkids for her Christmas card so we ran to Lovell quick where Jill hosted a quick cousin fiesta.  The kids loved being together and it was CRRRAZY but good and fun. :)

Today our Sunday school lesson was on family history and keeping a record and I remembered that even though our daily happenings might seem insignificant, someone will be interested to read about it and maybe even be inspired by it one day. :)

A couple months ago I found a note that had been in Stetson's backpack about a PTA mtg that parents were invited to but the mtg had already happened and I was bummed because I'd been wanting to get involved with the school and get to know some moms so I called the PTA pres and asked what I could do to help.  She said they really needed someone to do the Halloween carnival, I explained maybe not a good idea since I'm new here and don't have lots of connections with people/vendors.  She said there were a couple of other moms who had showed interest in possibly co-chairing the event so I got in touch with them, we had a mtg, I delegated everything out (games, silent auction, I put myself in charge of the dinner) and things were going great...about 4 weeks went by and I hadn't heard back from the mom who was in charge of the silent auction.  I'd left text messages, emails, voice messages, nothing. I was seriously wondering if she'd died.  HA.  Lo and behold she shows up to our next mtg out of the blue, she had been getting some donations for the auction but had just been really busy.  This is way too much info but it was stressful to me.  The lady in charge of the games did great, a lot of work and I could tell she was discouraged at times but I'm so thankful she came through.  It ended up being just me and her who threw it all together, really.  I think in bigger schools events like this run a lot smoother and there's more committees/organization for each and every event but not for this school.  Being in charge isn't too bad if you have lots of help, which I did, but I spent a lot of time on the phone.  I'm glad its over and that it was a success (I thought).  I really do it for Stetson.  I was telling Michael just the other day that the only reason I try to get involved wherever he's going to school at is so I can make a good impression and hopefully get a good thing going for Stetson and get my foot in the door.  Don't know if it helps but it sure was good to get to know some more people and see something come together.  We had lots of volunteers from local churches which was neat to watch, we had a balloon guy come for $200 and he was awesome and I was proud of that because that was my idea.  Michael brought the pizzas over and was 15 minutes late and I was a nervous wreck while waiting for him.  Janelle puked in the car. :(  She was sick that night so Michael took the kids to just a couple booths then went home.  They still had a blast though, they did face painting, pepsi wheel and the balloon guy.  One of the scariest things was the fact that we'd be totally in charge of clean up unless we wanted to pay the janitor $100 to come in the next day and clean up.  So the principal sent us a detailed list of what needed to be done.  I was worried about it but it ended up being a lot like church functions where people are generous and stick around until the work is done.  There is a roller derby group of girls who came and helped during the carnival AND stayed after to clean and I thought that was awesome.  So there's a random summary of the Halloween carnival.  I could actually write a novel about it but this will suffice. :)

We've been having some visitors which is fun.  The kids love it.  Matthew (Michael's bro) is in his last year of vet school  and has been working with some vets in Montana so he stayed with us a couple nights.  My favorite is listening to Michael & Matthew re-hash some awesome stories from the O. Harris Asay farm co.  Joel & Kambrie stayed the night a week ago and even took Kandace shopping with them while the rest of us took Stetson to flag football.

Last night me and the kids carved the pumpkins.  We got a bunch from Jan's garden (we love her) and Stetson carved the one he got from his class field trip to a pumpkin patch in Billings.
Last Monday I took the kids to the Billings Studio theater to try out for their upcoming play "The Best Christmas pageant ever" thinking what an awesome opportunity for them.  They rocked it at the audition and we found out on Thursday that they both made it as choir members/angels/shepherds and I was so excited for them but they have lots of rehearsals and 2 productions on Sunday.  I thought about just asking the director if they could still participate if they missed out on some of the Sunday rehearsals but I knew they couldn't miss the Sunday performances.  It was a huge bummer and I was really sad about it and it was hard to decide. They'll never get opportunities like this again but I emailed her and told her they couldn't participate in anything before 2pm on Sundays and she said it wouldn't work out which is what I expected. :(

I still go to bootcamp about 3 days a week.  I love the work-out but my hips are starting to hurt so I might have to switch to something lower impact like cycling or swimming.  I wish I was better at the strokes.

Today was Stetson & Kandace's primary program.  They did great but their parts were the least of my worries.  I was the pianist and even though I'd been practicing and have been accompanying people in public more often, I was really nervous.  Especially with it being the same week as the halloween carnival.  I asked Michael for a blessing this morning and said a prayer myself.  Luckily it went well and was really a good experience for lots of reasons. One is that it is such a spiritual experience to be playing for those kids and hearing their sweet voices and right in the middle of their little choir of angels.  The other reason it was such a good experience for me was knowing that I was fulfilling a calling that was harder for me...I know I've promised Heavenly Father that I would share my talents and even though piano isn't really something I have a "knack" for, i can do it good enough I guess and its scary but I love him so much I will do it and its one way I can show my love for him.

Firestation

 Our friend Jill who trades babysitting with us invited us to her ward's playgroup's visit to the firestation!  Very fascinating and exciting!

 They had a pretend house with fire in it the kids got to spray water on.  how cool is that?

The whole crew of kids that went.  Kandace's good friend Liz is sitting on Kandace's right.

suffering

Last Friday morning was not my favorite...getting all the kids out the door by 8:05 to take Stetson to school was unusually difficult, lots of whining and lack of cooperation.  I was really irritable and to top it off I hit my head on the part of the cooler that sticks outside.  Ugh.  So I got Stetson dropped off, headed to the Y, dropped Kandace off and decided to just come home instead of stay and do my normal bootcamp routine.  I'd been planning on just taking that day off because my back was sore and I didn't feel bad about it at all.  So I come home and see I'd had some missed calls and heard a voice msg from an old friend from HS.  She said she had some questions so I called her back, she didn't answer that time but then called me right back.  She's had post-par tum depression and wanted to talk about it a little since she knew I'd had it too.  I know she was looking for some sort of relief and I wish there was a quick fix, even with meds which take a couple weeks to do anything.  I hurt for her because I know how hard it is but it felt so good to feel needed in a way I guess and to be able to relate with and help someone.  After our conversation I started thinking about suffering and even thought its miserable, I fortunately understand from a gospel perspective that suffering plays a fundamental part in Heavenly Father's plan.  I started thinking about what non-members, specifically my friend, think when they feel like they've been completely abandoned.  I remembered I'd posted a conference talk on my fb page about mental health that Elder Holland gave.  I sent my friend a quick msg and told her to go watch it and she already had.  I was so excited.  I sent her a msg about suffering and how it could easily make someone wonder why a loving Heavenly Father would let his children suffer.  I mentioned that it makes us stronger, more able to empathize with others experiencing similar trials, and it prepares us to meet God.
I'm so thankful to know these things and even though I would never wish my post-par tum days back, its helped me appreciate the happy days and helped me truly empathize with others who suffer.  I told my friend about how when my dad dropped me off for my first semester of college I bawled and was really depressed for like 2 days.  It was so weird looking back, I think my depression is triggered by change a lot of times, but it was indescribably difficult.  Thats the first time I learned first hand that one purpose of trials is to remind us of our reliance on God.  During those 2 days I was constantly praying, reading church books, trying to be so good and begging God to show me some mercy.  Miraculously I woke up the first day of classes literally a new person.  All symptoms of depression gone.  It doesn't always work that way but it did that time.
I'm so grateful for tender mercies and for that Friday morning that strengthened my testimony in a totally unexpected way.

check-up with dad

 Last week Michael needed to practice checking ears, nose and throat and we had some very willing subjects come into his office!  It was way fun to see where Michael spends all his time..  I didn't realize that the campus has several doctor's offices just like the real thing for the students to practice in.  Michael even let me look into that black thing in Stetson's ear...pretty cool.

 Janelle surprised me with how still she sat and patiently let Michael do his thing.  Pretty cooperative 2 year old.  Don't let her fool you though.  She's not usually like this. :)

This is Michael's classroom where he sits.  Someone is trying to steal his seat.