Life!! Whew!!

I have been terrible at responding to texts, e-mails and phone calls lately.

The last 3 weeks have been much busier than expected, and to keep up I've focused all spare time on my little family.  They need me most.  I promise I'll catch up to the rest of you soon. :)

I can't believe Anderson is already 3 weeks!  It has literally flown by!

We had Standards Night when Anders was 5 days old.  It was an amazing night, and I know the girls got a lot out of it, I know I did!  Girls camp is coming up, and we've been having fun planning and preparing!  I love love love the Young Women.  I will be released the Sunday following Girl's Camp, and I will miss spending so much time with them.

Jared's grandfather who lived in Pocatello passed away last Sunday morning.  He was in the hospital at the same time as I was, then went to a care and rehab center for a couple of weeks before passing away.  He is who Jared (John) is named after as well as Anderson (John).  He is an amazing man, and we are lucky to have him as part of our family.  This past week has been filled with lots of family time, as all of John's children and grandchildren traveled to be with Jared's Grandma and with each other.  He loves when everyone gets together, and I'm sure he was there, too.

We survived a little flu bug the first part of last week.  It was short, but miserable.  For a couple of hours, I really wasn't sure I would survive it, but I pulled through. :)  Luckily, Anders seemed unaffected by it.

Our house in Twin Falls needed new tenants this week, too.  So I spent several days taking phone calls, texts, e-mails, etc.  We had over 70 calls!!  We held an open house Saturday and found some great applicants.  It was actually difficult to decide, and we feel very blessed.

Sunday morning, I received a phone call and was asked to be to church early to meet with the 1st counselor in the Bishopric.  I literally laughed when he asked if I could come 20 minutes early.  Not very nice of me, I know, but with no husband on Sunday mornings, I just cross my fingers that no one has a melt down, diaper blow out or a missing shoe as we head out the door.  We did get there in time, and it wasn't even that crazy.  A result of many tender mercies that occurred that morning.  Anyway, I was called, sustained and set apart as 1st Counselor in the Primary.  However, I will continue as 2nd Counselor in Young Women's for the next 3 weeks until Girl's Camp is over.

Anderson is SO sweet.  He just kind of goes with the flow.  Day 4 of his life, he slept a 5 hour stretch at night.  He consistently does that at least once a night, so I am usually only up with him twice at the most.  Friday night he slept from 10:30pm to 6:30am.  His circumcision is healed, and umbilical cord has fallen off, and he had his first "real" bath yesterday.  He LOVED it.  Curled up in the warm water and acted like he could have stayed all day.  All 3 of the other kids screamed for months when they took baths, so it was fun that he enjoyed it so much!  His eyes are still blue-ish, but I keep expecting them to start changing since all of our kids have such dark brown eyes.  He loves being held, but also loves to stretch out, and sleeps best with his arms and legs sprawled.  He doesn't like to be held facing in, but out looking around.

He is so loved.  The kids can't help but caress his face or arms or kiss him when they walk past.  He just sleeps through it, though!  I have to admit that I do the same thing to him. :)  He came when he did to help so many in the family who needed a tangible piece of heaven to hold, and I'm glad Heavenly Father trusted him with us.

I promise I'll post more pictures soon!