2 Sundays in 1

It is amazing to me how much more I have to write about our Sunday's than I did a year ago but because I have so much more to write about I have so much less time.
The above photo was Caroline last Sunday on the way to church, but this week was the same story different dress. I need to start a sleeping on the way to church smugmug gallery. Both little ones seem to fall asleep on the way to church every single Sunday, and many times on the way home.
Our last Sunday was just great and long, and hard and great. We didn't get home until 8:30 pm and we dragged ourselves in the door. We were lucky enough to have some friends in our local congregation invite us over for dinner. We didn't leave church until 5:30 so we had to go straight there. There was a baptism after church and I served the cake, so my black dress was sprinkled (or smothered) with white icing. Good thing our friends didn't care what we looked like - we were all a little hammered.

a common sight on the way to church other churches that have clothes and food out front for the community

I don't think I have ever been so grateful for anyone making me dinner in a long time. It was such a great way to end a long day. I really have noticed lately how lonely I have felt not living near the people we go to church with and not going to church with the people I live by and so it was so nice have some social interaction. We had some great dinner conversation that I can't wait to collect my thoughts about and finally do my "it's my job" post that I have been writing in my head for 8 months.Also she made these INCREDIBLE Southern Living Mississippi Mud brownies.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1 (10.5-ounce) bag miniature marshmallows

Frosting for The Mississippi Mud Cake

Ingredients

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Preparation

Beat all ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

Preparation

Whisk together melted butter and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in flour and chopped pecans. Pour batter into a greased and floured 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan.

Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; top warm cake evenly with marshmallows. Return to oven, and bake 5 minutes. Drizzle Chocolate Frosting over warm cake. Cool completely.

Note: 2 (19.5-ounce) packages brownie mix, prepared according to package directions, may be substituted for first 7 ingredients. Stir in chopped pecans. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Proceed with marshmallows and frosting as directed.

we often park in front of this house on Sunday's if we can't find a parking spot on the street the church is on. I wish I had a close up they have these statues and figures my girls love to look at

This Sunday was like a factory going on in our home before we left for church. I got up at 6:30 am to finish writing the Primary Program for November. I am also in charge of managing the ward website and the Stake has asked that every family have their photos in the directory online - I have kind of put this off for sometime and was trying to cram it in this morning only to find out all the photos files were too large and I need to compress the photos.
Our nursery is in desperate need for new toys or just toys for that matter. So I finally refinished the awesome puppet theatre I got with 20 puppets at a garage sale last spring for $5.00. Annie Kate and I spray painted it pink, sewed pink and white check curtains and topped it off with some polka dot bows. Throughout the week I collected some toys from friends and we were excited to load those up as well. (I can't believe I did not take a photo of the completed puppet theatre - I was in such a rush)
The last thing I had to was finish getting sharing time put together, shower and get the girls ready and pack up our cooler of food and drinks for the ride downtown. We try to always have cold juice or milk for the girls when we drive back. We were in such a hurry I left my hot rollers in my hair for the drive and just took them out before we walked in. We drive past our church right when our regular ward is ending and sometime see people getting in their car. Our friends were getting in their car and we chatted for a minute only to remember I was talking with rollers in my hair. Then after about 20 minutes I turned back to look at the girls who were sick today (so their eyes were already a little droopy) to see that their hair never got brushed and Jeff and I both thought the other had put shoes on Sally Jane. Nope she was barefoot!

When we got to church we made the mistake of going straight into the crying room. Which is new for our building. They knocked out a wall in a room behind the chapel and put in a glass window. Our kids were just out of control and because they knew no one could hear them they seemed to be even worse. So, our kids then became too noisy for the crying room. I kept them down in the basement while I cleaned up for primary. I wish I could get to church earlier to vacuum and clean the rooms but for now during Sacrament meeting with my kids is my option. I also set up the donated books that our local ward has gathered. It is just awesome and fun to see everyone get so excited to take books home. Someone had donated the entire set of Junie B. Jones books and I was excited to put those aside and give the set to two girls in our primary.

We have a new group of BYU interns that come out for 6 months at a time and have 3 of them in primary now and they make such a difference and seem to rejuvenate the rest of us.

I have noticed much of my past Sunday posts seem to list how long everything takes and what we do. I think that is reflective of a few things - we seem to being doing more the more we find out about needs, the time and travel issues seem to be affecting us more than the first 6 months, I seem to be more hesitant to really share too much personal information of this is really blessing our family spiritually, but I will say that it is blessing our family in so many ways. I doubt I will ever be the same after our time in this ward from watching how much everyone serves in this ward. People just give and give. There is one man who wakes up early every Sunday and bakes dozens of cookies or fresh bread and passes them out after church. Another man who will bring fresh fruit, bags of apples or pears and puts the bag on the front of the street for the members to take home on their way to the bus or metro, it is such a blessing because who is not hungry after 3 hours of church. There is a family of 4 boys who come to church every Sunday often without their parents. They take the bus or metro. One of the boys is Caroline's age. This past Sunday he slept in my arms or on the floor for the 2 hours of primary only to get up to take the bus back home. he is the sweetest, patient little boy in the primary.

By the time we got home the little girls were hammered (this would have been a great photo too) I turned and looked at them and thanked them so much for coming to church with us today, I don't know if I ever really thank them for coming each week.

We made Jeff's Tortilla Soup (he has claimed the recipe as his own) in the crock pot today, which I have never done before and it was great! Dinner was funny tonight because Annie Kate had received a coupon in her lunch box this week (thanks to Cristin who sent me this coupon book, it is from Hallmark) that at one dinner we had to tell her all the things we love about her. So she used it for tonight. She was cute asking everyone, "so what do you love about me" I just may be giving myself one of those coupons this week.
The story behind the soup is that Jeff ate it every day for two weeks in Medical School while preparing for his board exams. He studied at the same building, same room, same chair ate the same thing for dinner every night for two weeks to get his mind geared up for the test. It seemed to work but I think the studying paid off more than the soup did.
Try it for dinner this week you will love it. I half the cumin

Medical Board Tortilla Soup

1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. Oil
2 lb chicken
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1 10oz can Ro-tel tomatoes with green chilies
4Cups of chicken stock
2 cup beef stock
1 can tomato soup
1sp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder

I just put all of this in the crock pot and then when I came home I shredded the chicken and put it back in.

To serve: Line each bowls with crispy four tortillas (this can be done by putting them in the toaster) Pour in the soup and top with green onion, shredded Jack cheese and sour cream.

Jeff snuck in a 30 minute nap to then head back downtown for a fireside night with all the youth. The Bishop and youth leaders gave all of the youth blessings for back to school. He said it was a great night. It was a great day and I learned new things today that I didn't know yesterday and this experience is truly "stretching" me in way I didn't know I could stretch.