Date night, pullups, A new job, Nora's 12th birthday

Scott and I try to attend the temple together most weekends. I'd say 3/4 in a month, that way we have a chance to do initiatory, sealings and endowment. That's been a change this past year. Before that we'd usually go together once or twice a month. We always try to have an appointment or two made and in our calendar which helps us to make sure we meet that goal. Without planning ahead, our weekends get filled with other things and it seems we're too busy. But that's not really the case, we just need to prioritize it and get it in the calendar. The trees are in full bloom and it's beautiful! We'll often go out to dinner before or after a temple night and this week we went to Muchcart which is an Indian place.  

I have been working on my pullups over the past year or so, but a lot more consistently over the past 3-4 months. I can do three in a row unassisted now! Every Tuesday and Thursday I do 5 sets of 5 pullups. Right now I use bands, and I'll usually use the blue band for two sets (it uses less resistance so it's harder) and then I'll use the orange set for 2 sets. It's very hard and I always feel a little bit of dread that morning and right before I'm about to do it, but the consistency of doing it has paid off! I'm so excited that I can do a few without bands now! I've also been eating more protein over the past couple of years and counting macros, which I feel like has helped my muscles to become stronger. 

They have convert baptisms every month in Ecuador, usually several, and when they have a baptism day, they have to go to the church by 4am to fill up the font because it takes something like 6 hours. 

This is Elisabeth with her two companions in Lago Agrio. She loved having the three of them together. 

Annabelle got a job at Zulu Grill! Her friend works there and put in a good word. Scott and I love their food so we're excited to have an excuse to go more often. They have amazing salads, burgers(says Scott) and sweet potato fries. 

Nora was turning 12 on a Saturday, and she didn't think it was fair that it fell on a Saturday and that she wouldn't get checked out of school to go out to lunch; although I told her I can only usually check kids out on a Friday because of my work schedule. But when we realized that I had a couple of days in a week where kids were being tested and so I didn't have them in reading groups with me, but had more flexibility in my schedule, we planned a lunch date. I checked her out at noon and we grabbed Chick-Fil-A and met Scott down at his Thanksgiving Point office and ate lunch in their cafeteria. 

On her actual birthday, she opened gifts in the morning and requested stuffed french toast for breakfast which I happily made for her. I normally don't make breakfast for anyone, they are on their own for that, but I'm always happy to do it for a special occassion. She got clothes and a soccer bag, plus some other little things. She'll also be getting her ears pierced as soon as she has her last soccer game of this season (so in a couple of weeks). She brought treats to her soccer game (hostess birthday cupcakes and tampico) and then an hour later she had a birthday party with her school friends. There were about 12 girls there. We played a game I borrowed from my coworker Charilyn, called 'In the bag'. It was pretty fun and is like a combination of catch phrase and charades. 

We had cupcakes and icecream for dessert, plus treats and snacks throughout the party (which all got eaten up! I guess I should've gotten more! We had salt and vinegar chips, nerd clusters, popcorn, peanut butter popcorn, & hot cheetos. After cake and icecream the girls watched disney Zombies until they got picked up (party was from 7-10pm). Happy 12th Birthday to our sweet Nora!! We sure love you!