Reagan's First Talk

Reagan was super excited last Sunday to tell me that she had been assigned to give a talk in Primary. This will actually be her first talk!!! Well, I guess she recited three Articles of Faith for her parts in the Primary Sacrament Meeting Program last year, so, those may be her official first talks. But, this will be her first talk in Primary. As I was thinking about it, I'm not really sure how, with a Primary of less than 25 children and me in the presidency, she was never asked to speak in her first year of Primary. Maybe the presidency member assigning the talks felt like I didn't need any more stress and so didn't ever ask Reagan. Whatever the reason, we are gearing up for this Sunday.

Her topic is: Heavenly Father Speaks to Us through His Prophets. I typed up her talk on Tuesday and she began working on it Tuesday night. She is amazing - she can memorize words like nobody's business!!! She immediately had the first two paragraphs memorized and we were working on the 3rd.

We have worked on it every day and, although the end is still a bit rough, I think she'll do great. I decided to try to film her on Saturday to let her see how she looked. I told her she should try to smile a little bit because she looks like she's in pain during the first part. We'll practice saying the talk with her visual aid pictures later tonight and hope it all comes together for tomorrow. Here's her little practice run:

Since this blog is our own little family scrapbook, I am including the text of her talk:

Heavenly Father speaks to us through His Prophets.

Sometimes when my brother Cole and I are playing, my mom will ask me to go and tell him it is time for dinner. When I do that, I am speaking for my mom. I am delivering a message from mom to Cole.

Just like that, Heavenly Father asks men to speak for him. These men are the prophets. Heavenly Father asks the prophets to deliver a message from him to us. They teach us what Heavenly Father wants us to know.

The scriptures talk about lots of prophets who spoke for Heavenly Father. Noah warned people about the flood, Nephi and Lehi taught about the iron rod, and Joseph Smith restored the gospel.

President Monson speaks for Heavenly Father today. He tells us to make correct choices, to serve others and to be grateful.

We can pray to Heavenly Father to know if what the prophets have said is true.

I’m so glad that I can listen to the Prophets and learn what Heavenly Father wants me to do. I love President Monson and all of the Prophets and I want to follow what they tell me.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Relief Society Birthday Party

After being released from the Primary presidency, I had about two months to just "be", without a calling. Then, I received a new calling which is to be the Relief Society Night Activity Coordinator. Yeah!!! .... I think.

I'm taking my friend Gayle's place, which means big shoes to fill, but luckily, I've got help. I have a committee of 12 and a budget of "not much". Some of the committee I haven't worked with before, but some are near and dear: there's Kathy whom I visit taught for over a decade. She has rescued me in many "emergencies" and hosted my ward baby shower before I had Reagan. She also ran a cupcakery out of her house - how could you not be friends with someone like that? Next there is Andi who has been my walking buddy since right after Reagan was born. She served with me in YW (when I was camp director) and hosted my bridal shower. Then there is Kimberly who was in the Primary Presidency with me and has a little one just Cole's age. She was also my visiting teacher for the last few years. Finally, there is Judy who also served with me in YW. Her daughter had her wedding reception in our backyard. With friends like these on the committee - how can we go wrong?

We have to plan at least one activity a month for the RS sisters. January's activity had been planned by the committee before I was called, so, we basically just followed through on those plans. Then, because of previous RS commitments, we had no February activity (good thing since we were in Hawaii). March brought the RS Birthday Celebration, which our RS President told me is usually their biggest, most spiritual activity of the year..... great!!!! ..... no pressure at all!

As a committee, we decided to focus on the temple. Our focus was on having the sisters connect with the temple and feel like the Draper Temple was "our" temple. We really wanted to meet in the RS room so it could be more intimate, rather than the cavernous cultural hall. We decided to serve dinner and we would have each member of the committee set one of the tables with her own china. Our decor would be mostly white with a bit of color and we were able to have the sister in charge of housing and accommodations for the Draper Temple Open House come and speak to us.

Cheryl and Stacey, who were both in Primary with me and who both work at Tai Pan Trading, helped me decorate .... wow! Cheryl came up with this great teal ribbon that matched the RS chairs. We had white tablecloths with some tables having ivory candles in glass vases with teal ribbon and white roses on them while other tables had a grey candelabra with votive candles and the teal ribbon and white roses. We were able to totally cover the chalkboard with an ivory fabric and we had a beautiful dessert table. We had ivory wreaths hanging and a beautiful picture of the temple and our Christus statue. The food was great! We served chicken cordon bleu, salads, rolls and dessert.

Best of all was our great speaker. She told us about so many choice experiences that they had as a committee during the Open House. There were flowers ordered in white that came in as red, only to perfectly match a picture of the Savior, a "mana" truck that miraculously contained the food they needed at the time they needed it, and serving platters that they didn't realize contained a symbol that has been used in numerous cultures throughout time to represent heaven meeting earth. She told of special people she met during the course of the Open House and of a special luncheon for rabbis that made strides to improve relations between Jewish leaders and leaders of our Church.

It was a wonderfully inspirational night and I'm SO glad that our committee came together to pull it off. Whew!!! Now we can relax for a while ... oh wait - we have an activity the first week in April.... better get planning!!!

Spa Party

One of Reagan's friends had a birthday party that had a Spa theme. The invitation arrived with a gift certificate for certain "Spa Services" and she was to bring that to the party. Well, it was DARLING!!! We "checked in" at the front desk (the entry way to the friend's home) where Reagan turned in her gift certificate and received a bag with her name on it (containing all sorts of trinkets), a robe and a set of pink flip flops. She donned her robe and flip flops and headed into the dining room where she sat down to a luncheon with the other girls while they waited their turn for their hair to be done and for their nails and toes to be painted. Truly - the table was set with everything pink. The candies were pink, the bread for her sandwich was pink, there were oreos and strawberries dipped in pink chocolate, pink watermelon, pink marshmallows, etc. It was so cute!!! After the girls had been "dolled up", they went into another room to make bracelets. Then, they broke open a pinata and finally, they watched a Barbie movie.

Reagan had SO much fun. She was a little concerned when they were pulling her hair back into the twists. She has a pretty sensitive head and doesn't like ponytails or anything tight in her hair - her pic says it all. Other than that, she was lovin' it! I got such a kick out of all of these robe wearing, flip flop stomping little girls running around. As one of the few boys there, Cole jumped right in. He wanted nothing to do with the makeup and hair, but he loved the pink food and was thrilled to make me a bracelet which he said I could wear "everywhere all the time".

Steve stopped by at the end of the party and joked with the mom that she should be ashamed for introducing all of these little girls to "spa days" at such a young age. He said he thinks they are so cute, but is afraid of the future bills if Reagan gets a taste for these :)

We're so glad that we were included on this guest list - it was such a fun party with a cute theme!

Small World Days

This actually took place before our trip, but I forgot to post about it (and I just found the pics on my phone - sorry for the poor quality).

At Reagan's preschool, they have "Small World Days" every year. They focus on a country each day and learn about that country's customs, clothing, food, etc. Last year, Reagan came home with a passport containing stamps from Mexico, Hawaii, China, Japan, and a few other countries that I can't remember. This year, apparently they have studied the Bahamas, Hawaii, Mexico and China (so far). When I picked Reagan up after her day of learning about China, she told me all about China and she was especially animated when she told me the "China People" eat with sticks! I said "Yes - chopsticks?" She gasped and said "Yes!!!", apparently surprised that I would know anything about that. I told her that Daddy and I eat with chopsticks. Again, the gasp. I reminded her of when we go to Bonsai restaurant (a tepanyaki type restaurant in Sandy) and how Daddy and I eat with chopsticks there. Well, apparently she never noticed that we weren't using forks like she and Cole were. So, I told her that we would go there and that she could use chopsticks - she was so excited.

The next night, we hit Bonsai and both she and Cole used the "kid" chopsticks (with the rubber band told hold them together and the paper towel to hold them apart). They actually did great! I was very surprised. We took a few pics so that she could remember when she used her chopsticks.

On the day that Reagan learned about Hawaii, she made a macaroni and construction paper flower lei. We talked about it and she wore it at home that day and then put it away somewhere (along with her many other treasures). I didn't see it again until we landed on the Big Island and we were waiting in Baggage Claim. She said "Oh - I need my Hawaii necklace" and she got in her carry on bag and pulled out that lei. She had packed it all the way to Hawaii and she wore it proudly at the airport and many times on our trip. Too cute!

Too bad I didn't think ahead more - we could have eaten at a Mexican restaurant the day she learned about Mexico, done something special on the day she learned about the Bahamas, etc. I just didn't even think about that. Maybe I'll have it together more when Cole attends preschool :)

Language Lessons

Cole talks better and better each day, but there is still about 5% of what he says that I can't quite get. Interestingly, he has taken to using synonyms, decibels, and visual aids to help me out :) Of course, this is after he makes the face which says "I'm surrounded by idiots!!"

If I don't understand him, he usually repeats himself (sometimes a few times) and he will slow down his speech and speak louder in order to "help" me understand. As if him saying it louder will actually solve the problem.

Other times, after a few tries, he will just give up and say "et me sho you" and he will drag me off to wherever in order to point to what he is referring to.

My favorite is when he has to think of synonyms or other words to describe what he is talking about.

One day, I was putting him into the bathtub and he said "Mama - I so escited for the warm water - I'm cold from da say." "Da say???" I ask (saying it to myself again and again in different ways to hope to spark my recognition of what he is saying). He leans over to me and says "Da saaaaaaaaay." I apologize profusely and tell him that I just don't know what "da say" is. He sighs and gives that "idiot look" again and says "Shanny's dink". I think for a moment and realize what he is saying. Shannon had made a smoothie from frozen fruit and had shared with Cole - "da say" is actually "the shake" or "Shanny's drink". Got it..... finally.

Another day when he was up earlier than anyone else, he informed me he was going to play in the playroom. I told him to be quiet so as to not wake anyone. He said "I'm not playing with talou toys." I said "talou toys?" He says it slowly... deliberately.....looking me straight in the eye. Again I ask "talou toys?" He says "Ta looooouuuuuuu toys....... ROAR!!" Oh - now I know -"the loud toys." Got it..... finally.

Thank goodness his vocabulary is growing each day - he needs more and more words to help Mom understand him. Way to go Cole - try to be patient with me. I'll get it.....eventually.