Journal

Just a little update about things here. Yesterday was Stake Conference and it is OVER!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole experience was a complete nightmare. We held four practices, five if you count the 1/2 hour we met before the meetings yesterday. And every practice felt like I was getting metaphorically 'stoned' by the people who came. (Stoned like they were throwing rocks at me. Not the other 'stoned'. I've never been metaphorically 'high', but that might be kind of fun. :)) Many who came to the choir have served as directors before, and they could not help but give me a trillion suggestions or tell me what to do. It was very hard and very draining. I had some friends who came to give me support, and that was very nice. And after every practice, there was a line of people waiting to talk to me. Some to give me further advice and instructions. Others to pat me on the back and tell me with sympathetic eyes, "You're doing a great job. Hang in there." It was hard.

If callings are supposed to help you progress, this one has. It really has brought me to a whole new level of 'hard-skined-ness'. And maybe that's going to prepare me for other things in life. The performances went well. It was kind of sad watching Jakob wrestle the boys through two hours of Stake Conference by himself while I sat on the stand. Kind of sad...and kind of not. Kind of funny. Really funny. He made at least five exits with Jude. And he'd tell Kobe and Luke to stay and color, but they would follow him right out. Or wait a few minutes and then exit by themselves. He's a trouper. We both slept better last night knowing that day was done.

Stake Conference was also a big deal because they announced some major changes in many ward boundaries, so now we are in a different ward. It will be sad to leave a lot of our friends in our old ward, but also exciting to shake it up and meet new people. I was hoping that the changes would lead to a possible release in my calling, but no such luck. Maybe another time!

Now an update on my angels:

Kobe is tracked off of school right now and it has been so nice! I love not having to rush to get him ready in the morning and drop off and pick up. His knee is still in stitches, but starting to heal. We'll get the stitches taken off tomorrow. He's been a real big helper to me since he's been home, and has been in a good mood lately. He has started to keep a blog, and loves to write in it. If he could, he'd write in it every day. But I've limited it to one blog a week. We don't have the boys in any sports this fall, but Kobe has been watching some BYU football with dad and is excited to some day play football. I have dreams that the York boys will dominate BYU sports someday and turn their luck around. Only 11 more years or so of disappointment till Kobe makes his mark there.

Yesterday at Stake Conference, Kobe was laying down on the pew (something that is not allowed when Jake and I are both there, but was out of our hands yesterday). A speaker was talking about the media and how it can be used in a positive way, but also waste a lot of our time. While he was talking about how it can take time away from other things, he rhetorically asked, "How many of us spend a significant amount of time watching TV?" And I see Kobe's little arm shoot up from the pew. Then he asked, "How many of you spend much of your time playing video games?" And Kobe's hand shoots up again. "How many of you eat meals in front of the television?" Kobe raises his hand again. This went on for two or three more questions concerning computers and such. Jakob caught on at about the third question and we were both hysterically laughing. We are exposed.

SIDE NOTE: When Kobe cut his cheek on the side table, we took him to the ER and they used Dermabond or something like that to glue it up. They said it would scar less than stitches. They were wrong. Kobe has a pretty deep scar on his cheek now. It's like a big crease that's especially apparent when he smiles. He's still the cutest ever, but those ER people basically scarred him for life by not treating him properly. Fortunately Jake has a scar on his chin, and my dad has a bunch of scars around his eye from childhood, so Kobe only feels more cool now.

One unexpected side effect of Luke starting preschool again has been an increase in lying. Don't know why. His lies aren't, "I didn't break the vase," or anything like that. They are elaborate stories about people or events that never happened. On the Disney Channel they have a mini-show about 'Emily Yeung' or 'Daniel Cook' who are little kids who go places to learn things. Luke told Kobe that Emily and Daniel are in his preschool. Why does he do this? I think he hears other people telling stories about things they know or things that have happened, and he believes that everyone is just making up these things. He doesn't realize that they actually happened to these people. He also is talking NON-STOP lately. Just excited to be alive and share it with everyone. Non-stop. Usually around 6am Luke will wake-up. He really needs more sleep, but he will fall out of bed, still delirious, and force himself to walk into our room, rubbing his eyes heavily, and begin his all-day monologue. "I'm really excited today mom. You know why? Because I'm going to preschool. And you know what? Miss Tara said that today we're learning how to fly. Yeah. I'm not jokin......".

Jude and I are not on the best terms right now. He also awakens too early for me. Today he started crying for me at 5:40am. No way. I went into his room, laid him back down in his crib, and told him to go back asleep. I went back to bed and listened to him cry for a few minutes. Then I heard him knocking on his door and wiggling the door knob. You've got to be kidding me. He climbed out of his crib!!!!!! None of my other boys even attempted this, and they were in their cribs till they were three! What am I going to do now? He still needs to cry it out at night because he's gotten into some bad night-waking habits, but now he'll try and climb out of his crib and possibly get injured. He's still a cuddler, but to a tiring extreme. He's become very attached to me and likes to lay ON TOP of me. Not sit on my lap or hold hands, but lay directly on top of me. He also likes to climb all over me. He's wearing me down. He's still as cute as can be. He has learned so much from his brothers and it's funny to watch such a little squirt wrestle or sword fight. Someone from Stake Choir said that she has three sons, too, but hers are older now. She said that my stage really is the hardest. "Promise?"