A New Calling

Things were normal enough on Friday. Jenn had just picked me up from school and I was getting a little bit of lunch before work. "Oh, Rick Gardner called" said Jenn as she handed me a note with his number. I don't think that Jenn realized the Brother Gardner is the Executive Secretary to the Stake President. Well I called him and as I was talking Jenn suddenly realized what it was, I could tell by the way her eyes got wide, I nodded my head while still on the phone and she silently mouthed "Oh no!" Sure enough the purpose was to set an appointment for me to meet with the Stake Presidency.

To give some background our Bishop just moved out of the ward so an appointment with the Stake Presidency is not a thing to be taken lightly. To be honest I have been jumping every time the phone rang this week so it felt kind of good to finally have it out of the way.

The appointment was set for Saturday night so I had over 24 hours to stew. As we showed up for the appointment it was a little off putting to find the hallway to the Stake Presidency's office dark like no one was home. We wondered if we were in the right place, was it a joke...? Our fears were soon put to rest as President Farr showed up and took us to his office. With only a little preamble the call was extended for me to serve as the second counselor to Bishop Davis v2.0. We of course accepted and I felt pretty good about it. I received a confirmation that it was inspired and so I left the office in good spirits. At dinner however I suddenly got a really sick nauseous feeling that I carried with me through most of the day. The implications of the call finally began to weigh down on me.

I was sustained as both a high priest and as the second counselor in sacrament today. Just typing the words it seems so unreal. I feel so small and unprepared for this. I am however glad to serve with Bishop Davis. I was his Elders Quorum President during his last tour of duty as Bishop so I am comfortable with him. This will be a new chapter in our lives and I really hope that I can measure up to what has been asked of me. For now, I just need to try not to throw up.

Management Training

Well, I have completed yet another management training for The Men's Wearhouse at the Chaminade resort in Santa Cruz California. You know what I will miss the most? No, it is not the all expense paid trip to Santa Cruz, the all you can eat buffets full of great food at every meal. It isn't the opportunity to reinvent myself and to gain needed skills that will benefit me not only in this job but in my future as well. The camaraderie is great but that isn't it either. No, what I will miss the most is the never ending supply of It's It ice cream sandwiches. Without exaggeration I can boast that I ate no less than three of these bad boys a day, and that was holding back. Picture a generous serving of ice cream served between two deliciously chewy oatmeal cookies and then coated in dark chocolate. I would call it dessert perfection but that would relegate to an end of meal indulgence, no, it is so much more. They make excellent snacks, appetizers even breakfast. Use your imagination. San Francisco has been producing these bad boys since 1928 and I can see why. Farewell, magical ice cream freezer filled with only the best. I will remember you fondly and look forward to when next we meet.

Wow! Are those people models?

As Promised

Picturepalooza

Stay tuned for more. Props to Zinserphoto.com for the great pictures, thanks Evan.

How can you stay mad?

By Jennifer:
So Friday was a little frustrating for me. Bailey took an early nap so no afternoon one and I was exhausted. So she was not my favorite person that afternoon. But as I am grumpily folding laundry in my bedroom I look over to see her picking up every little thing she sees on the floor and piling it on my dresser. "Oh my gosh she is (unsolicited) cleaning up my room!" and then as I am smiling to myself and thinking how lucky I really am I turn to find my stack of folded laundry gone. She had put it away, in a drawer of her choosing of coarse but YAY!!! Score one for Mommy!!
I really do love that girl.

What a Saturday

So we enjoyed an amazing family day yesterday. We started out by driving down to Carson City where our good friends and professional photographers were offering a special for family photos. Evan Zinser met up with us and we cannot wait to see the results. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to catch up with an old friend. This will be the third set of family pictures that he has done for us.

From there we decided to have lunch together at the original Scoopers in Sparks. Their food never disappoints and they have a great patio so you can enjoy your meal outside. There is a whole local bird population that knows about Scooper's. They just bounce around looking cute and innocent but man the second you drop a french fry just say good bye because they are on it like a pack of beady eyed wolves.

Then Bailey and I decided to give mom a break and the two of us headed out for a walk. At one point Bailey totally stood straight up in her stroller and looked back at me saying "eyes, eyes, eyes". She just wanted her sunglasses, upon receiving them she plopped right back down and enjoyed the ride, at least until we came in view of a slide. At that point, all on her own, she hit the button to release her tray and hopped right out of the stroller. She got in a couple of good runs on the slide as well as some quality swing time.

Finally it was time to go home so that daddy could get ready for work, oh, did I mention we did all this before one o'clock?