Be careful what you wsh for!! :)

Yeah, I know. I hardly blog anymore. A) I realized I was spending WAY too much time on the computer and not enough time getting things done around the house or not spending enough time with my kids. And B) I've been insanely busy. Seriously.

So what have I been so busy with lately? Let me tell you. Weekend trips back and forth to family weddings in Utah, summer activities with the kids, cleaning, laundry, more cleaning, more laundry, some more cleaning, and you guessed it! Some more laundry.

And another reason I've been so busy? Remember this post here? Ha! Turns out I absolutely ADORED every second of teaching my sweet CTR8 class. I think those five kids were the absolute best in the primary. Literally. Everyone was jealous of my class. :)

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago the bishop called me into his office. They had just reorganized the RS Presidency and the YW presidencies. I assumed calling. And I hadn't been in the primary long so I thought it would just be something that I could do on top of my primary calling. The bishop asked me how I was doing and how my testimony was and then said, "Well, thanks. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Huh. That was weird. I figured that must just be something the bishop here did to keep in touch with members of the ward. Well, a week later on Sunday afternoon the ward clerk called and asked if I could meet with the bishop that Tuesday. The bishop called Tuesday night and asked me if Jason was available to come along with him. Luckily he was off that week.

I sat across from the bishop thinking, "So it must be what I thought before. Calling. Maybe he was just...testing the waters at that last interview?"

Then the bishop asked me if I would accept a call to be the ward Primary President. Ha! I literally laughed in his face. Quite irreverently. After a moment I composed myself and just shook my head. "Okay. What do you want me to do first?"

INSANE!! I have gone through so many thoughts in the last few weeks. First, just wondering WHAT ON EARTH the Lord is thinking!! Then feeling humbled and realizing that there is much I need to learn from this experience. Overwhelming stress jumped in somewhere realizing all the work I had to do in the upcoming few weeks.

But most prevalently I have had an overwhelming knowledge that my Heavenly Father knows me. Each of us. He has given me an incredible opportunity to draw near to Him, something I had been praying for. (Obviously I didn't think THIS would be the answer!)

As I have knelt in prayer, attended the temple, and had hands laid on my head as worthy men who hold His priesthood pronounced profound blessings upon me, as well as each member of my new presidency, I have had witness born to me of my Heavenly Father's love for His children. Those in the Green River 5th Ward Primary as well as each of us.

I hope to never forget these feelings. I hope that the testimony I have now will only continue to be strengthened and that I will have continuous opportunities to share it with His children.

I know the Lord lives and loves us. I know that without the tiniest doubt. I know that he answers prayers in ways that are better than what we want for ourselves. He hears us and listens to us and comforts us. He wants us to grow near to Him. I know that the way to do this is through studying His word, praying diligently, and serving His children.

These are the things I want my children to know more than anything else. I hope that as they watch me try to do these things, imperfectly, that they will come to know and love their Savior and Father in Heaven. I hope that they will learn to search, ponder, pray, and serve. I hope that they will love. Love themselves, love their neighbors, and love their Father in Heaven and older brother, Jesus Christ. I hope they will know what I know. I hope they will feel these truths so deeply in their souls that they can never deny it.

I can never deny it.

RIP Eo.

Really, how can I put into words how I feel about his music? Billie Jean. PYT. Thriller. The Free Willy theme song. And his dancing! The moon walk. Thriller. The crotch grabbing. Who cares about this guys' alleged child abuse and financial history and his kids' odd names and his outrageous...face...issues?! He's an icon!! A legend!! He's the Prince of Pop. And above all....he was Captain Eo.

"Turn the others into...Trash Cans!!"

Happy 5 Years To US!!

On May 20th, 2004 around 4:30 in the afternoon, Jason and I walked into the Rexburg, Idaho mayor's office and asked Mayor Larson to marry us. We had just decided to elope that morning. Two secretaries were our witnesses. Instead of a beautiful white wedding gown I wore boots, jeans, a t-shirt and my jacket. I think we were both shaking. But I can honestly say I knew it was right.

Exactly one year later, with our beautiful 4 month old daughter, we were sealed as a family forever in the Mount Timpanogos LDS Temple. We spent the afternoon celebrating with family and friends.

Five years later, we finally had our first getaway. Just US! No babies allowed!!

My completely awesome mom (Dad was out of town on business) let us drop the kiddos off for the weekend. We spent the day shopping and just laughing and having fun together. Later that night Jason said, "It was so nice to hold your hand all day!" Normally when we go shopping we're chasing kids or keeping them from grabbing anything and everything. :)

That evening we went to Heber to the Snake Creek Grill, which had been recommended earlier. The place looked...interesting, but we decided to go in anyway. It turned out to be pretty formal and super delicious!! In the horrible picture of the two of us we were both laughing pretty hard. That was about the hundredth attempt by Jason. Unfortunately, he deleted the others. They were hysterical!! (Or maybe you had to be there).

After a yummy dinner we grabbed some dessert and drove out to Woodland (outside of Park City, near Kamas) to the cutest little B&B ever!! It was built just before 1900 and used as the post office. Then the owner turned in into a B&B in 2003. It was so comfortable and beautiful!! The grounds were gorgeous! We checked in and then went for a walk. The river was so pretty. And it was nice to just hold hands some more.

After our walk we went back to our super comfy bed and...well, did more than hold hands, if you really must know!! ;)

The owner's dog, Anchor, was so friendly!! They said when he was a pup they took him out to the lake and he wouldn't swim. He just sank. So they named him Anchor. I thought it was cute. :)

Breakfast was French Toast Creme Brule. SO YUMMY!!

We had planned on heading out after breakfast for a canoe ride on a nearby lake, but it was rainy so we headed to Park City and hit the outlet malls. After shopping we grabbed lunch and then went to the Park City Resort. We hoped to ride the Alpine Slide, but it was closed due to weather. So we opted for the ridiculously overpriced Alpine Coaster. It turned out to be hysterically fun!!

We grabbed some Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory treats and then did a little more shopping. :) Then headed home to our babies. Grandma reported that the kids were angels...which stopped the second we walked in the door. :) But we didn't care at all!! It was an absolutely perfect weekend! We've vowed to do it every year. At least once.

Any favorite getaway locations you'd like to share??

If you don't laugh as hard as I did at this, there's something seriously wrong with you.

And the winner is...........

..............a couple of days late. Oops!! Life just got crazy this week. Sorry to anyone who's been anxiously waiting!!

Just so you know, there were a total of 134 entries in my little drawing. 134!! That's a lot! I was crossing my fingers for each and every one of you! Promise!

So I tallied up the entries and typed of the names, many of them multiple times :), cut them up, and tossed them in a bowl. I put a lid on it, shook it up like crazy, and then let my darling little four-year-old pick the name. So as to assure no bias. :)

Are you ready? I'm so excited!! Okay, I'll just get to it then.

********* Drum roll please! *********

And the winner is:

Hilary L.

Yay!! Hilary, I'm so excited to make this for you!! Send me an email { mckennaralls (at) gmail (dot) com } and let me know what you want yours to say, what colors you'd like, and send me your shipping address. Can't wait to get this out to you!! I hope you love it!

And just for fun, I'm giving a second and third place prize to the two players with the most entries! Ruth A. and Susie D. each had 11 entries! Thanks for playing guys! And for wanting to win so bad. :) Send me an email as well with your shipping address and you'll be getting a secret surprise in the mail from yours truly!!

So sad for all of you who didn't win. I honestly wish I could just send you all a little something. But, alas. I'm poor. :) But we'll definitely have to do this again some time. So try again then!!

What's for dinner??

I know I haven't posted in a while. A while back a friend of mine posted this. I had been thinking along the same lines as well. So this last week I've cut back on computer-play-time. A lot. I've only allowed myself to get on once a day (unless I needed to pay bills or something) and only in he evenings when everything was done and the kids were in bed. But by then I didn't have a whole lot of time before I needed to go to bed. I got a ton done this week but I was exhausted!

I have missed posting more often and reading everyone's blogs. I finally caught up on reading (from our little anniversary trip, which I'll be posting about soon). But I found myself leaving fewer comments for the sake of time. Sorry if I neglected you!!

Anyway, as much as I miss checking blogs and facebook and all that more often, I feel much more balanced. It's been nice. Sorry to those of you who missed me so much. But you'll just have to get used to it. :)

And on to the title of this post: I'm trying to come up with some new dinner ideas. I'm a little bored with what I've been doing lately. So please share a few of your favorites with me!! I am a vegetarian and am trying to eat healthy (fell off the wagon for a while there, but I'm back at it again! you can expect a post on that soon as well:) but I've found that I can adjust most recipes to be both healthy and meatless. So please share anything and everything that you or your family love!!

Mommy, you're a loser!

The kids (Payson, mostly) have randomly been asking to go bowling lately. The only thing I can think of is that they were inspired by Grandma and Grandpa's Wii.

So this afternoon we went! We weren't sure how it would go because of how young they are, but I'm pretty sure it was a big hit!!

My freaking adorable kids, waiting for their balls to S.L.O.W.L.Y. reach the pins.

Final Scores:



Jack 98
Payson 69
Mommy 106 (with bumpers, mind you)
Daddy 179

Um, did anyone notice that my not-quite-two-year-old bowled a mere 8 points under his mother?? The boy got a spare!! Actually, I believe he got multiple spares!!

And in case you're wondering about the title, any time I didn't bowl a strike or spare, Payson would casually say to me, "Mommy, you're a loser." I swear I try to teach my kids manners!