Pack Rat!

My husband is a pack rat! I seriously thought that was a woman thing, but I am wondering if it is just genetic...When we got married we were planning on moving into a basement apartment, and then didn't end up moving there and came to this apartment instead. The weekend we got home from our honeymoon Luke had to be out of his old apartment so in effort to help us, his brothers threw all his stuff in boxes and moved it to the basement. When that didn't work out those same boxes were moved to our apartment, thrown in storage and basically forgotten about for the last year. I don't know if I am in nesting mode already or just trying to get ready for our next move, OR just sick of stuff falling out at me when we need something out of storage... Regardless of the readon why, I made it our project this week to clean the storage. Luke had stuff he had never gone through when he moved out of his parents house four years ago! We ended up having 4 boxes full of trash, 2 for DI and 2 boxes of shredding! This result was only after I convinced him to get rid of things he didn't need- broken wires, cases to games he doesn't even have, clothes he hasn't worn since high school, etc. It honestly became a week long project and was hilarious as we went back and forth over whether to keep things or not, but the good news is our storage is now clean and we are officially de-junked...at least in that area of the apartment...

Meeting Grandpa Doyle

Luke's grandpa passed away about two years ago, before I was even in the picture so I never met him. Luke grew up next to him and was very close. He often talks about lessons that he learned from grandpa Doyle and things they did together. This year for Memorial Day he wanted to go decorate his grave and have me "meet" grandpa. It was a tender moment that we were able to share with his grandma as well.

The flag in the Memorial Cemetery

Luke & Grandma

30 Weeks!

We are getting down to the final weeks of pregnancy! I had my 30-week check up today and all is well. I have only gained 18 pounds, and Logan is growing as he should. We are growing anxious for his arrival!

Other updates on us... Since last time I posted I started and quit a job and got a new one! I was working for Discover Card, but it was too much pressure on sales and they want aggressiveness on the phones. This is not who I am so I was not doing well. I also got written up for taking too many bathroom breaks--Hello I am 7.5 months pregnant-- what do you expect?? I recently found an at-home position that I start training for next week. I will train on site for 6 weeks, and then will be at home after that. I am very excited as this will be a good opportunity for us so that I can be home with the baby!

We are still planning on moving, but probably not until after the baby comes. I have been called to be primary president in our ward, and I really want to be in our ward for our primary program! We are working so hard to get the kids prepared that I would hate to miss it! So, we will probably stay where we are at until mid-September.

Luke is doing well coping with a pregnant wife. He is so good to me--He will rub my feet when they are achy and swollen, rub my back or shoulders and always makes sure I am comfortable and have what I need. He is also looking for a part time job for the summer to help us get ahead even more before our baby is here. He loves his new car, and spent last weekend making it more "his"- He and his brothers installed the stereo I bought him for Christmas. He was such a little boy when the project was done, but I was excited to see him so happy to show it off!

Updates from Leslie

Leslie sounds like she is doing really well--she is a trainer already! Here is her letter from this week:

Hey you! It was so good to hear from you! Wow it does sound like some crazy times these last few weeks! A lot going on. I'm so sorry about Discover and the Census place! I can't believe they didn't pay you at all or give you a schedule. So odd!! But that's great about this new job and that it will be from home. That will be a huge blessing being able to stay home with Logan. That is super exciting that Luke will be starting school in August. Last I had heard you weren't positive about him being able to start! Yay! Good luck with that. I hope it goes well. I can't believe only ten more weeks and you'll have a baby! Dah! That's so crazy. Are you still moving soon? Things here are going well. I can't believe it's June the weather here has been pretty nice for the most part. A few days of unbareable humidity, but for the most part not to bad, but it is only the beginning of summer. =( We did have a pretty big storm Saturday night while we were at President Erickson's house and had to go take cover in the basement during the Tornado warning. It touched down but didn't get to close to us which was good. That was my second one! There was I think three that touched down that day! Scary! I don't understand how people live here, and it doesn't even bother them. Odd to me! I agree time goes fast, I can't believe it's June either! We have a couple of new investigators we are working with which is exciting. One is this lady Lynn who is in her 60's and so funny! I love her. She is reading from the Book of Mormon and loving it. We watched the Testaments with her this week and she loved that too. She talked about how it made the Book of Mormon come to life a little bit more and neat to see how the effects of Christ's birth and death did reach all around the world. She is amazing and hopefully we can get her to come to church this next week. She doesn't like dressing up for church however. We talked with her about why we do and the importance of it and she said that made more sense. Another girl we are working with is Kristina. I think I've told you a little bit about her. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation a few weeks ago and she was so excited. She loved that there was a plan so organized and how it shows how merciful and loving our Heavenly Father is. She loved how there are three Kingdoms of Glory in Heaven so that there is a place for everyone. She said she always wondered what if your not good enough to go to Heaven, but not bad enough to go to Hell. She said "now it makes sense!!" So that was exciting. This week we taught her about the Restoration and she was so excited we have a prophet on the earth today. We are going to go over there this week and watch part of General Conference with her when President Monson speaks. She's only 18 so she was asking, "what's his name? What does he look like? How old is he? Does he wear robes like Moses and Jesus?" It was so funny. It was really powerful though. So hopefully that goes well this week! I got a new companion this week too. She is brand new straight from the MTC so I'm training. I kind of feel like the blind leading the blind, but it has been a good experience. A lot of growing already so I can only imagine how much I will learn and grow by the end of this transfer. I am going to be staying in the mission with Nauvoo and so it will be the Des Moines Iowa mission now. I'm so sad this week will be our last Zone Conference with President Erickson. It is going to be so hard. I have really come to love him and appreciate him so much, it will be sad to see him leave. But I know the Mission President in Iowa will be great as well. It will be interesting to see what changes will be made. But time will tell! Anyway, it was so great to hear from you! I love you so much! I hope you have a great week! Love, Leslie