Our September

September has gone by in a blur. I can't believe it's already almost October!

It was a lot of fun to have Beth and Troy come down to visit. We enjoyed having Troy stay with us, although I still feel bad that all he had was a couch to sleep on!! It was great to spend a weekend doing fun things with family, I feel like we get so busy sometimes and forget to take a break.

Our most exciting news is things are still going well with our little one! We went to the doctor last week and his/her heartbeat is still in the higher range (160's) and everything looked perfect! We get to find out what we're having on October 21st so we are very excited. Everyone will have to put in their guesses before we go :)

We were blessed with a great new job for Andy this month as well. He is still working for Bank of America, but now he is working as a Personal Banker in downtown Mesa. He is really excited to have a job where he can interact with real people instead of a computer screen all day!! We love that he works so much closer to home and that we get more time together in the mornings and afternoons now too.

School is pretty crazy for both of us this semester. If anyone's felt like we've disappeared lately, that's why!! Andy is taking math and public speaking right now, and starts a history class soon. In his last class, his teacher assigned everyone a topic and gave them 2 minutes to prepare a speech. Then they had to get up one by one and give their speech in front of 30 people! It's definitely not my type of class, but Andy is really liking it.

Nursing school continues to surprise me every day! We are studying Labor and Delivery right now, which is sort of freaking me out! I've been doing clinicals in the PICU (Pediatric ICU) and get to do one in the NICU (Neonatal ICU) soon which I am super excited about. I had a patient last week that was diagnosed with "Rabbit Fever" which is a disease that supposedly comes from rodents. The doctor believes a mosquito bit a rodent, and then bit our little guy and transmitted the disease to him. So I guess West Nile isn't the only thing we have to worry about!! It was interesting to get to take care of this little guy because there are only 100 cases of Rabbit Fever diagnosed in the United States every year!

We are really happy that October is coming, hopefully with cooler weather. We're going to try and get out of Mesa on Columbus Day weekend, hopefully to Greer or Sedona.

That's all that is new with us!!!

Love you all,

Annie & Andy

September in Rexburg

WHAT A MONTH!

For Labor Day weekend, Troy and I drove to Arizona.  We've recently found really inexpensive tickets out of Idaho Falls, and will use that venue in the future.  We were able to visit everyone down there, and Troy was able to meet everyone.  Due to an unexpected surprise, Mom, Granny, Megan, Rachel & I went Wedding Dress Shopping.  We ended up finding the one in the picture.

We had lots of fun down there.  We had Megan's famous Sweet Pork Tacos, Annie's Hawaiian French Toast, and everyone's favorite: Birthday Syrup!  We also went swimming, played games, and just spent time with everyone.  Troy, Annie and Andy also played video games, and from what I hear, Annie has some impressive skills!  We also listened to a lot of Dad's

Not so surprisingly, Troy asked Dad for "permission" when we were visiting.  Dad told him yes, but warned him, "She's a handful."  He told me that he had figured this out by my Wedding Dress Meltdown the day before.    Somehow, he decided he still wanted to move forward, because the next weekend, he proposed!

He told me that he would propose within 6 weeks after my birthday.  This meant he had until September 28th.  In my typical, patient manner, I asked him every day to marry me.  It seemed like six weeks was SO LONG, and would never come.  I was positive that he was going to make me wait until 11:59 pm on the 28th to do it.

Troy had broken his phone and needed a new one, and when he got it, I stole it and put on his calendar "Propose to Beth" on September 10th.  I forgot completely about this.

During the week preceding September 10th, he told me that his Grandparents were going to take us to dinner at Henry's Fork Lodge.  I believed it was true, and so on we headed up to Island Park.  The week before, his Dad had been in Island Park and their family went to Yellowstone.   You're able to use the pass again within a week, and so we went to stop by their cabin to pick up the pass that he left behind.  Troy ran in to go grab it while I waited in the car.  He came out a couple minutes later and told me that he couldn't find it, and that he needed my help and ran back in. 

I went in after him, and as I opened the door, there was a candlelit path, with all the lights off.  It was so surreal, and I knew what it meant.  All I could keep saying was, "Are you serious!?" over and over.  Finally I got to the end of the path, where he was on one knee, with the ring.  It said "Marry Me" on the table in candles, and my favorite song, "You Have That Effect On Me" by Brad Paisley was playing.  He asked, "Will you marry me?"  Of course, I said yes.

We have taken our engagement pictures, and the first set is available online.  The next set will be available on Facebook after Wednesday.

Aside from engagement & wedding planning, I've been working with local homeschool kids to put on a play.  Our first full on rehearsal is Wednesday.  We've been doing auditions and introductions the last couple of weeks.  We are doing A Christmas Carol.  We perform December 10th and 11th.

Well, that's about it.  :)

Beth

Stillwater Farm at Ashbrook September

We have had a very busy month. I don't know how life gets so busy. We aren't even doing violin lessons, yet.

I love the look of the blog, Beth. Good job.

Thank you to all of you who posted last month and thank you to those of you who thought about it. Maybe this will be the month.

Dad and I just got our second calling in this ward today. I thought we were going to get to coast now that we were here among so many talented members. We were called as ward missionaries. We are very excited. Our ward is working so hard with the people living in the Orange Grove apartments and lives are being touched in positive ways. Last Monday, before we were called they had a barbecue at the complex and had 143 non-members attend. We are having a Thanksgiving potluck there the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The apartments have some of the very poorest people in Mesa living there, but what big hearts they have.

We served in the kitchen at the temple this week. That was quite interesting. We didn't feel appreciated or even particularly wanted while we worked, but as we left, we overheard the two regular staff comment to each other about what a good job we did. They were impressed with how well Dad did the dishes. He is an old pro from girl's camp. I hear they are closing the kitchen when they remodel -which is happening after the Gilbert temple opens. It was so busy that we had to park at the back of a church parking lot across the street from the temple. We rarely saw that in New England - and never on a week day.

Rachel has settled well into school. Her teachers have high praise for her. She shouldn't be surprised because she comes from a family of really smart people, but it is always fun to hear.

Tawnya arrived yesterday. She is a lady from Maine. Hard to think of her as a lady when she is so short, but she is 23 years old. Granny said that she is going to find her Statue of Liberty and put it in my front hall. She says that her dad, Grandpa Lane, would be impressed because he was always helping people get a step up even when he was dirt poor.

It is almost time for the Bennett FHE again. We will miss those of you who won't be in town. Maybe we can do a speaker phone thing or webcam for any who might be interested. Just let us know.

We love you all.

Mom, Dad and Rachel

Stillwater Farm at Ashbrook

By Pink Mom

We brought our Stillwater Farm rocks from Maine. I just noticed the rebar that they stood on made it as well so maybe we will recruit some help when Troy & Beth come & set them up.

August has been nice. Visit from Vici. Decent weather. Rain. Still unpacking boxes. I did snap the tendon in my right forefinger while mopping the floor when Vici was here. I will be in a splint for at least two more weeks. Not fun.

Rachel started school the 11th. She is in the bridge program at Eagle Ridge. It is a charter school for homeschoolers. They have a program to bridge 9th graders so they are ready for full-time school in a regular classroom in10th grade. She goes on Tues & Thurs 8-4:30. She takes science, algebra I, English, & world history. It is much easier than she thought. She has gotten 90's on all her tests. She goes to seminary at Heritage Academy on Monday & Wednesday afternoons. Lots of running for us. But, Emily & Max go to school just down the road from HA so Monday's Megan picks up Rachel & Wednesday's we pick up Emily & Max.

Work is good. The people don't have these monster ego issues a lot of ICU nurses seem to have - especially "day-bags" (term for the witches that we usually see on dayshift.) So I asked to be put on the list to move to days & got a slot immediately. It is so nice to spend evenings with my family.

Dad & I have a great,new calling. We are the Ward Physical Facilities Representatives. PFR's for short. We coordinate, train, & hopefully, inspire Ward members to care for the building. The Church designs these buildings to last for at least 100 years. Just as Heavenly Father expects us to be good stewards of the earth. - we can show our respect when the members care for the buildings. We only have to coordinate it every three months. We didn't get our training until last Wednesday & August, November, February, & May are our months. So Dad & I got to clean alone yesterday. We did get help the last hour - which was nice.We figure it takes a minimum of 11 man hours to do a decent job, but 14 would be better. It is a great opportunity for families to work hard side -by-side at something that looks like you've accomplished a good thing when you're done. Most families don't have gardens or many work opportunities these days so this is great.

We broke for lunch while we were cleaning & went to Barro's Pizza. Just after we sat down, Andy & Annie showed up. The fun things that happen now we are in the same town. We had a leisurely lunch with them. It made a good day much better.

I will end by seconding Vici's plea. Dad, Rachel, Granny, & Grandpa are out on bikes a lot. Do watch carefully.