Could it really be?

As most of you know I am the Primary President in my ward. I was just reading through the new handbook and it appears that the Primary no longer holds Quarterly activities!!! I went to the church website and it also says we don't hold them.  Could it really be?  Because this would certainly simplify my life!!  It would also go along nicely with the whole idea of "People not Programs" (Elder Bednar) and simplifying things that was mentioned often in the worldwide training.
So I am sure some of you (Michele!) are in Primary Presidencies or have friends who are so I am just asking to see if I am just making it up because I would like it to be true or if they have noticed this too.  Please leave me a comment if you know something I don't. (Well if you know something about this because I am sure all of you know MANY things I don't.) THANKS!

P.S.Coming very soon, pictures of "Light Up the Broadmoor"

Tree Trimmed and Halls Decked!

Today we stayed home and decorated for Christmas.  I love how a house can change with Christmas decorations.  It was super fun to get everything out and find new places for our decorations. We decided to go ahead and put all our ornaments on the tree.  At first we were just going to put balls on it since we aren't that attached to them and they are not quite as breakable as all our glass ornaments from Egypt but we changed our minds once we started decorating.  I know that Jared will want to play with them but we want him to be able to listen when we say NO so here's to hoping for the best. We actually got our tree at Target's "Pre Black Friday Sale".  I thought it was really weird that they were having a sale before Black Friday but it worked out well for us so whatever. We decided that we would go ahead and get an artificial tree.  I think in the long run it's better to spend money once instead of every year and really there are a lot of high quality pine scented candles out there.  Every now and then when our kids are older we will take them to a tree farm or the mountains so they can have that experience but for now this will work great. Also if we do get to do that whole international teaching / state department thing I think it would be very beneficial to have our own tree.

 

 

Yay for decorating banisters.

 

 

A week ago we went to the Christmas Tree Lighting in Old Colorado City.  It was the same weekend as Starbucks buy one get one free deal so we stopped and got some amazing hot chocolate.  I love their peppermint hot chocolate. We are going to the Broadmoor for their Christmas tree(s) lighting and gingerbread village tomorrow.  I am super excited.  I LOVE this time of year.

Creepy!

Last week in church it was announced that there had been a series of robberies at various church building parking lots in the area.  Our building, our old meeting house, and two others had all had cars broken into over the last few weeks.  And it's not like these are scary or questionable parts of town. They told everyone to make sure they did not leave ANYTHING visible in the car.  All of the robberies occurred on a weeknight, not on a Sunday. At first I thought it was really weird because people said things like diaper and gym bags were being taken...  WHAT?  But after talking to a few people it turns out that they are actually getting car registrations and garage door openers!!!  Thus the title of this post.CREEPY!
It is so creepy that people have started taken notice of the hours people are at church regularly and then being so sneaky. *** It's like they take the diaper bag or gym bag to throw off the scent. I would never think to check the glove compartment to see if the registration was there or the garage opener.  You can bet I checked to see if our registration was there today (it is by the way).  But then again who is to say they didn't just write down the address?  But I digress...
So now I have two reasons that I am grateful that we don't have a garage.  (I ♥ our carport it totally keeps the ice/snow off the car window.  Not that garages aren't nice too anywho....)
1.  We will not accumulate as much junk because there is no where to store it
2.  No one can use our own garage or property to break into our home.
Today I went walking with a friend and we were talking about what we would do if our house was broken  into. Do you have an "escape" plan?  The best I have ever come up with was grabbing the phone and blanket and then calling 911 while hiding under it.  I don't think its an amazing plan and now I have Jared so how would I keep him safe?   I really think it's important to also have a fire plan in place. (So I just gave you an excellent idea for Monday's FHE) The first night we stayed in our home we went to bed and then at like 1:00 in the morning we both woke up to a beeping noise.  Since it was a beeping noise I totally woke up thinking the room was filled with smoke.  It was so scary!! I could not believe how much it felt like and smelt like smoke.  Our minds/fears are powerful things. We quickly came to our senses (woke up really) and figured out it wasn't a fire but the alarm battery. SO ANNOYING!! Mark and I were both super paranoid so we set up the pack n play downstairs and brought Jared down and then slept on the couches.  So the first night in our new home we didn't even sleep in our room.  So we do actually have a fire escape plan. I am in charge of Jared! I think I might practice climbing out the upstairs window... and make sure our important documents are easily accessible. It's hard to think about what you would grab if you had a few minutes.  But don't worry our plan was not as elaborate as this one...Really click on it, you'll be glad you did.
Seriously though I really encourage you to make a plan. I didn't write this to freak people out, I have an active enough imagination as it is.  But it really is important to be ready!

Are you ready?

(Here is Jared all ready for church)

*** Right after Mark and I got married we lived in Rexburg for one semseter while I student taught and he finished up the last of his courses.  We never locked our door there (even when I lived with 5 other girls we rarely locked the door) during the day.  Well one day I menitoned this to my sister and she thought I was crazy and proceeded to freak me out talking about how some creepy person could have been watching Mark and mine's habits so they knew when no one was home and when I was home alone and that we were basically setting ourselves up to be robbed. Talk about increasing paranoia.  We always lock our doors now.  It is never unlocked when I am home alone I rarely even open it.  Which leads to another story from Egypt but I don't feel like typing it up. Needless to say we will never live somewhere again that does not have a peep hole even if we have to drill it in ourselves.

Family Photo Shoot

So awhile back I got an email from the Colorado Springs "Groupon" offering an on-site, hour-long, photo shoot for 50$ plus 100$ credit toward buying pictures.  An Amazing deal!  We wanted to get some official pictures done since Jared was turning a year so we went with it.  Here is the online gallery in case you want to check them out.  It was fun.  We were so lucky that we had amazing fall weather and there were still lots of colors.  Too bad buying the pictures are super expensive!!  I am so glad that the deal came with the 100$ credit.

Jonathan Betz
password:  mark-april

How cold is too cold...

To take your 13 month old on a walk?

I love going on morning walks but I don't really want to freeze poor Jared.  So I am just asking if anyone has any opinons on this matter to please leave it on here.

Last night we had our first snow!  I love how pretty snow is.  When you are sitting inside all warm and you look out and see little flakes falling.  It's magical. You can drink hot chocolate and snuggle under a blanket with some Christmas music on in the background if you so choose.  It's wonderful.  I don't find it so magical when I have to drive far but I have been really happy with Colorado Springs snows so far.  The snow comes and then melts away in the next 2 days or so.  Granted last winter was said to be super mild and I really wouldn't have minded even more snow we will see what this year has in store. I just really love seasons. These aren't super cool pictures or anything just a first.

Our house with Snow.

Cool Mormons

I was fortunate to grow up in a Northern California City that had a pretty decent LDS community. I was never the only Mormon at my school or even in my class.  I had a good amount of LDS friends but I was never quite a "Cool Mormon" as I liked to call them.  These are the fun loving Mormons who are super silly and creative and do all  kinds of crazy things on the weekends and every other sentence is some kind of an inside joke. Mark was a "Cool Mormon" growing up.  They really were a fun group but I never quite felt like I fit in. I occasionally hung out with them but just wasn't quite part of the group.  (Not because they shut me out they were really nice people I just didn't try, was doing other things; although at times it did seem like I would have to try really hard to be part of the group.)  Well today I believe that I finally achieved "Cool Mormon" status. 
The missionaries called today to check what time they were coming over for dinner so we agreed on a time and then the Elder said: " I am really glad we are coming over to your house for dinner, it's one of my favorite places to eat."  I immediately thought I did it; without even trying I have become a "Cool Mormon". As I was growing up I always wanted to one day have a home and family that the Missionaries liked to come over to and knew that they could ask us for help and we would do it.  This ward is the first time I feel like we have done it. Well, we did it in Egypt too with the Gerber's but it was a little different since they were the same age as our parents and we were like added children to them. We sure miss the Gerbers!
What is particularly funny about this story is the timing of it.  Last week I went to a Relief Society activity with a friend.  When we got there we went and sat down at a table where no one else was.  I joked to her that we weren't cool enough to sit at the "Cool" table.  But then, three sisters who by my definition would be "Cool Mormons"  you know the ones everybody likes and wants to sit by and talk to who have been in the ward a good while, (maybe Popular is a better word?) came and sat by us!  I was so surprised.  Then I felt sort of bad joking about it to my friend because they are nice people. 
 Anywho, I guess now I will see what it is like to be a "Cool Mormon" and if I was missing anything all those years ago.  But then again the other sisters may have just sat by us because the one "Cool Mormon" was already there... we will just pretend they really did want to sit by us.  Or maybe they just feel sorry for me being the Primary President....We will have to wait and see if I can maintain this status.
In other more exciting news,  Elder Nelson came and spoke to our stake on Sunday. Pretty cool huh?  He spent a lot of time talking about Luke 2.  (a great chapter) It's amazing to me what some individuals can get out of two verses of scripture compared to what I get.  I think the point or goal would be to read a few verses and then stop and think instead of the goal being to finish the chapter. That whole Search Ponder and Pray bit.  I guess I just feel like I really read my scriptures if I can say to myself "Good job Aprillee you read x amount of chapters today."  It's all about perspective. It was really great to have Elder Nelson here.  I am so thankful I could be there.

P.S. I am sure this is funnier to me then anyone else but maybe some of you will have had similar experiences. Are you or were you a "Cool Mormon"?
P.P.S. Sometimes I just really like doing the link options today was one of those days. 

Veterans Day Parade

As I was looking up things to do this weekend I saw that Colorado Springs was having a Veterans Day parade on Saturday and seeing as how every store or apartment building or car dealership or restaurant...(Do you see a trend here?) offers 10 -15 % discounts to military I figured this was a good city to go check out a Veterans Day parade.  Besides the fact that there are 2 Air Force bases, the Air force Academy and an Army base, seriously if you are military this is the place to retire!! So we went over to the parade and cheered on the participants.  As we were standing and watching I couldn't help but overhear people's conversations.  Lots of  "Smile, and we will send this picture to Mommy/Daddy in Iraq" (or elsewhere). Or tons of people yelling "Thank You!" and holding up big Thank You posters.  It made the parade even better.  I am not an incredibly emotional person but seeing those groups march and hearing the people express their gratitude made me really grateful and sort of choked up. For some reason the WW II Veterans always get me the most. Maybe it's just that soon there won't be any and it seems like WW II was such a different type of war.

 

Jared was very attentive. 

I think Veterans Day is sort of an overlooked holiday and am glad that we could attend the parade.

Today

1. I voted!  And it made me feel really good, I felt responsible and like a good person. I love my "I Voted" sticker and am still wearing it.
2. I got my new Colorado Drivers License in the mail which was perfect timing since I would need it to vote.  I am happy to report that I once again have a license from the state that I live in with the correct address.  After we got married I needed a new license so I could have my name changed on it so I got a Utah license.  Well I haven't lived in Utah since 2005 so I was actually really happy that it was expiring this year.  Colorado is way cheaper and I didn't have to take a driving or written test.  In Utah I recall having to take the written test but they let me use the book so maybe they were really testing my ability to read? I was sort of disappointed though because the Colorado License is not too attractive it's pretty boring.  I am happy with my picture which is nice except I look at it and think that's what I look like?  Not in a negative way just sort of hmmm.  It's hard to explain.
3. I bought some cold medicine for Mark. I went up to the register and the cashier asked if I was over 18 and I was sort of confused (then remembered that they check your age on cold medicine too) so before this clicked I said "Yes I'm 27" as I was pulling out my shiny new Colorado license.  Then the cashier really made my day and told me that I look younger then her and she is only 24. So sure that is only a three years difference but it's still nice.
In summary I am really glad that I got my new license today as it proved very useful.  I did some other things  today too but those are what I wanted to talk about.
My name is April Lee Spencer and I approve this message.