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Hey everyone, it's Chris. One of the main challenges for me in primary is to keep from laughing when the kids are misbehaving. Today during sharing time the teacher prefaced a section with, "Now I want to tell you a story! Some of you may have heard it before--"

"--and some of us may not like it!" one of our boys immediately chimed in. I know I shouldn't find this as funny as I do, and from a kid any older I certainly wouldn't, but with this boy it just kills me because he is completely being himself. It's also especially hard to hide fact that I'm laughing since this kid loves to sit on my lap.

The other choice moment today came from one of the sunbeams. A few weeks ago, the new primary presidency instituted three basic rules that they hope the children can keep in mind. They began the meeting today by asking if any of the kids could remember what those rules are. One of our boys quietly raised his hand and correctly stated, "Raise your hand." When the primary president asked for another volunteer, one of the sunbeams jumped up with unrestrained enthusiasm and yelled, "BE QUIET!" Apparently aware of the contradictory nature of his announcement, he immediately clapped his hands over his mouth and whispered, "be quiet?"

I get more thankful for our calling each week!

Late Post-Easter 2010

I am loving it here in North Carolina, but still get pretty homesick for family, particularly around holidays. So on Easter this year, Christopher and I took special care to plan a great day. I find that planning big dinners, pretty decorations, and fun things to do helps distract me from missing the usual traditions.

Maybe some of the things I do to celebrate seem a little over-the-top. And maybe it isn't very grown-up or practical to have "birthday weeks" and elaborate celebrations for two people. But I love it!

For our Easter brunch we had a sausage egg tart using this recipe for the crust, roasted asparagus, fresh strawberries and pineapple, and pretty chocolates from Whole Foods bakery. It was so fun to listen to General Conference and have a feast in between sessions.

This picture is a little fuzzy, but they turned out really cute this year. I did the pink ones, and Chris did blue/green

I made bunting! It looked so pretty we kept it up all week.

Christopher hid candy for me all over the apartment. It took over an hour to find it all. He couldn't stop giggling. Some of the candy had letters on the back. When I (finally) unscrambled it with plenty of hints, this is what it said. Yay for new music!

Something Therapeutic

Want to know something that can help you when meanies are getting you down?

Here's a suggestion. When I'm at work and someone calls, usually they are really nice. But sometimes they aren't. I just hung up with a very important person who was inconsiderate and made me feel bad. When I passed along the message to my boss by email, I wrote...

"Dr. ____ just called and would like you to give him a call back when you get a chance. His number is 555.5555 and I don't like him."

Then, right before I send it, I delete the last part, and I'm good to go. The idea of actually sending one of the uncensored emails makes me laugh, and usually I feel a little bit better.

Another email, uncut.

"The reason there is no orange juice left over from Bagel Tuesday is because I forgot to put the OJ away so a few of the residents drank all 48 remaining bottles of it last night. I think we should be glad because this means that they weren't drinking coffee, and let's be honest--they could all use a breather on the coffee."

And finally, an email to everyone in the office.

"I don't know who ordered the caffeine free pepsi. Please stop bugging me about it because it wasn't me. I know it looks suspicious because I don't drink alcohol or coffee, but trust me, if I had ordered a favorite beverage, it would be diet, and coke. And it isn't hilarious when you see me in the breakroom and joke about how I have my own personal stash. I do have a personal stash and it is under my desk. And it isn't even caffeine free so I guess the joke is on you.

Thanks!

Melissa"

Wahoo!

This picture says it all. The beach getaway was so much fun!

Hitting the Books

Our plans for the weekend are a little unbalanced. I'm leaving work early today, driving to the ocean with a big group of awesome ladies, and spending the entire weekend in a beautiful beach house reading good books and eating chocolate.

Christopher is staying behind, studying up for his terrifying end of year exam on Monday. Poor guy.

Happy Mother's Day Weekend!

Reader, I marrried him....

Sometime, when you feel bad because your family visited you and then left, and then you had to work on a Saturday morning, and your job is hard, and you are in a bad mood, and....

You should watch this. I LOVE Jane Eyre and the BBC did a great job with the film adaptation. Plus, I always felt like the Bronte sisters had one over Jane Austen anyway. I missed my sister Jessica while we watched it, since she's a big fan of lengthy movies. Me too, Jess!

Since Netflix only sent us disc one out of two, I was horrified when I realized that we would have to leave Jane hanging at her dying Aunt's house, far from Thornfield until we could get the second DVD. Thankfully, after Christopher called all the Blockbusters in the area, he went to Barnes and Noble where he bought disc 1 and 2. For $30. Yes, I am that pathetic, and he is that awesome. Full confession: he did all of this while I was getting a pedicure.

So on Saturday, we watched four hours of Jane Eyre, and had cookie dough for dinner. Hip hip!

Done!

lomography

So I'm learning how to be a ghostwriter at work.

Last week, I was given the task of writing a congratulations letter from the Dr. I work for. It was supposed to go to a resident who recently had a (sadly) not so cute baby....

All it had to say was something like:

Dear Dr.____

Thank you for sending us the picture of your beautiful baby. The Dept. wishes you all the best

Sincerely,

Dr. _____


But you know what? It took me multiple drafts to finally get an approved letter. And then it took 4 days of spending every spare moment trying to print the letter and address on the custom sized paper and envelope. The printer ate almost everything I fed it. On the off tries when it worked, it would print the words upside down. Then it ran out of ink. Since the printer is located down the hall from my desk, I was forced to trek back and forth, alternately pressing "print," then running down the hall to watch it jam again.

This does not help me to have a good attitude about things.

But now I have fantastic news. The letter is finished. I put it in the mailbox this afternoon and it is perfect.

I am prouder of that stupid letter than the mother is of her (not that cute) baby. Seriously.