Carter's last primary program

Today the boys took part in our ward's primary program. Carter gave his talk with accuracy, poise and articulated every word. He also sang Called to Serve with a group of 11 year old boys. As Carter turns 12 next summer this was his last program. I remember his first primary program 8 years ago here in Perry. After the first song he ran down to the pew I was sitting in and asked quite loudly, "How was that, Mom?" He did it after the second song. So I told him to stay up there and I would give him the "thumbs up" sign. It is a tradition we continued even today.

Ethan likewise, delivered his part with clarity. They seem to have inherited what I call my "teacher voice." They do well in front of an audience. He too has given me the thumbs up after every song every year.

You would think that with both boys in the choir seats and now that JaDee can sit with me in the congregation that Olivia would not be a problem. Oh no. She dashed up to the front declaring she "Wanted to be baptized" like this was some tent revival (which it most certainly was not)! I had to pry her off the bench where the priests administer the sacrament and took her screaming out the side door. She had a hold of my hair so tight that I seriously almost passed out.

And as I was surfing my various blog links I read c jane to check on what The Mighty Hunter calls my "Burn Victim Friends." The sisters of NieNie were featured in the Arizona Republic today. Check it out here. Beautiful. I know that bond I have with my sister. I see it with JaDee's sisters. I see it with sisters everywhere. Definitely worth a read.

My sister Courtney with Olivia 2 years ago.



And now that the whole world knows about our move to Alaska, I am starting to wrap my brain around the permanence of it all and as my 8 month pregnant sister and her husband took all my baby stuff to their house I was hit with the realization that I might miss the birth of this baby! I need to be there for my baby sister. To get her through the challenges of breast feeding. Tell her how to set up the pack n play. To swaddle and rock her while Courtney naps. To help her adjust to life at work to life at home. This is what breaks my heart right now. My sister and I need to be mothers together.

Courtney and Her Mighty hunter (yes, we each married a Jim Bridger wannabe)


Love you little sis!

Cousins

This past weekend we were in Vail Valley CO with 14 children ages 1-12. We piled into EmRee's town house and enjoyed each other immensely. Here it is in photos.
This was our biggest obstacle in deciding to move to Alaska (see post below). We are a tight family. Our kids are each others best friends. We will drive 8 hours in any direction, pile in the smallest house, share every scooter, and love every minute of it. We won't be close enough to dash off for a weekend which we do every spare minute. We play hard and love even harder. We cry, pray, support and watch out for each other. The cousins are thick and we know distance wont' cut through it. And I bet they each make it up to the Great White North to see us at least once these next 3 years. In fact, we are counting on it!
Love you!

Mykelle, Zac, Carter and Porter poor Scotty is in school!



TAAE: The cousin club of Tyler Anna Allie Ethan



The Nichols clan: Or as CaMee may say, "Who are all of these kids and why do they keep calling me Mom?!!"



The next group to watch: Olivia and her boys, Grant Preston and Benjamin get each other dizzy on this spinning thing!



The kids tackled Uncle JaDee



Silly faces are made sillier with fruit by the foot sticking out of your mouth



Olivia and one of her boys...with two sets of Identical Twins in this family who can be sure who anyone is!



Again more spinning with Uncle JaDee at the helm



Ice cream and a movie in the living room...oh the freedom!

Alaska

Well folks, I have some good news for the little (OK GIGANTIC) state of Alaska! It is getting 5 new residents, 1 dog and 2 cats. Yes the Moncurs are moving to Alaska.

Here's how it all went down.

The Mighty Hunter works for the Army Corps of Engineers. And like many companies it is best to move for promotions and raises. However I love where I live and places like Indiana (sorry residents of our Midwest) did nothing for me to get excited about. So I told The Mighty Hunter that unless it was overseas or maybe Alaska (note to self: be careful what you say!) I was not uprooting my children for more experiences in ho hum America. We have great friends and family close by and don't tell anyone I ever admitted this, but, I actually started to like living in Utah (gasp)!

About a month ago JaDee called me up and said, "Hey, there is a job position in Alaska. Should I put in for it?" Now remember we only go for the adventurous jobs. There were countless jobs in Japan, Italy, Germany and even Alaska that he had put in for and nothing came out of it. I wasn't to worried and had come to terms with my phobia iof living in Utah. In fact, I was very content with my "meant to be in Utah" lot in life. So I said "Sure, honey. You do that." thinking that all the while I was safe.

Fast forward 10 days and The Mighty Hunter calls again to tell me he had an interesting phone call from HR in Alaska. He had made the "shortlist" for the job he applied for. "Oh!" I am surprised but still not worried.

Four days later the Stake presidency calls to release JaDee from the Bishopric.

2 days after that Emotional Day (See October 1 Post) he gets a call from AK again saying they want to fly him up for an interview. Immediatly.

Whoa. I am strting to get nervous now.

Now I am not as stupid as I sounded earlier in this post by believing i was guarenteed to be safe. JaDee is very good at what he does and he is a very likeable person too. He has had a standing job offer in Alabama (do I have to spell out why I won't move there). I know he always has a very good chance of getting any of the jobs he applies for. But I also know AK is very expensive and there is no way we can afford to move up there.

So I send The Mighty Hunter on a free trip to Alaska with a huge list topics to research. These included a realtor to tour the area. 3 towns to check out besides Anchorage as possible areas to live. Visit an elementary school. get reports on high schools. A complete list of a months worth of groceries to price at both Costco and local stores. Time your potential commute. find churches and flight information. How dark does it really get. Etc...

The interview goes great. he completes all his research including some of his own. For example, a complete resident hunting license for everything from salmon to duck to caribou and elk only costs $48 a year. there is also a river on the Air Force base with prime salmon fishing that you can catch (WITH A NET!) on your lunch break. You can shoot 50 ptarmigan a day and 20 chukkars (these are birds apparently that Mighty Hunter and Faithful Pooch can hunt together). He is stoked, to use a phrase from his bachelor days that he is thinking of re-living in the great white North.

Ahh but bachelor now comes with 3 kids and a wife already taking her daily dose of Lexapro. Months of cold and darkness are not that appealing especially when she sees the 1970s houses sporting red shag carpet and brown colored toilets are the only options in our speculated price range. Or we could by a lovely home on a rural dirt (read mud in spring) road next to the Uni-bomber in his converted school bus. Kid you not JaDee saw him.

I become the bad guy as I paint a rosy picture of me rocking myself in a corner with covers over my head as the children and dog run amok in the house. Soon I start babbling incoherently and begin to gain excessive amounts of weight as I eat my way into happiness on the Island of Chocolate Chip Cookies. Not a pretty picture I tell him. It will not work unless I get a promotion too.

In my position as CEO of Moncur Household United, I look after everyone's welfare. That includes my own. If the CEO goes AWOL (love all those acronyms) then our attempt at adventure becomes fodder for counselling sessions down the road. Bottom Line: I need to be able to double my mortgage and double my food budget to maintain my family's current standard of living.

The Mighty Hunter gets silent. He averts his eyes and sets his jaw. I have shattered a dream. I feel bad. Maybe we could learn to love shag carpet, a dirt (mud)road and I bet the Uni-bomber has great recipes for squirrel.

But no. I stand firm and stick to my conditions.

The message gets relayed to the job offerers in AK. I told JaDee to lay it all on me. Tell him I am a snot from upstate NY (I didn't tell him to lie for heavens sake) and refuse to live in a hovel in Alaska. The powers that be agree...with me.

To the shock and delight of The Mighty Hunter the offer comes through at the EXACT number I had come up with for our living enjoyment. They will also move us, buy our house if it doesn't sell, and give us return rights in case we hate it. I have every safety net in place that makes an adventure do-able for me, the not exactly adventurous type.

And so on or around December 15 we will be headed to the Great White North. I may even blog about it!

What!! I want to be Rosalie!

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

New Quote

“There is in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.” -Washington Irving


Love to all the women in my life that help me carry on each and every day, set an example for me and tell me what to do!

All alone

JaDee has been gone all week. First it was off to Alaska for work stuff. Maybe even a job offer! More on that as it develops...but it has occupied my free brain cells so I haven't blogged lately. I have a hard time wrapping my brain about a job offer in ALASKA and all that would mean... moving :(

Then he came home for a day and proceeded on to his scheduled elk hunting trip with next-door-neighbor Randy. They are off being men in the Uintah's somewhere although Sherie and I really wouldn't have a clue where to send a search and rescue.

So I have been flying solo. that means I haven't ran all week, I eat because I am bored and the kids tear the house apart because it is all I can do to keep us alive. It always makes me appreciate JaDee when he is gone. I don't function well without him. I don't sleep well and I get nothing done. The laundry is in piles. there are dishes in the sink. We have only used paperplates and added to the landfills and thus destroying the world. My bathrooms are awful and my bed didn't get made.

But I also appreciate myself for how much I do get done without him. Like Olivia's art projects from the blog of the last post. I joined forces with the neighborhood moms as we all try to make it to Parent/Teacher conferences without our pre-schoolers and pre-teens. I got the doctor, dentist and orthodontist paid off. I helped out at the book fair. I wore out two phone batteries talking to friends and sisters. Tonight we are going to either a corn maze or storybook walk depending on the weather. I also found awesome deals on ebay for groovy girls, running tights, and a winter coat for Ethan. And I went shopping at American Eagle...shhhhh! and bought shoes for the boys. I have to coach the soccer team tomorrow and then Carter and I are going to the Utah Symphony to fulfill an extra credit in band.

And then JaDee will get home and my life will feel balanced as my other more sensible half returns. THe laundry will disappear from teh hallway. The bathrooms will shine. I will run fast as the wind and eat right not randomly. Paper plates will return to the picnic basket and the world will be saved!

Check this out

I was blog stalking and came across this wonderful blog called "no time for flashcards." Check it out here
It had the most amazing ideas for pre-schoolers. From books to crafts to everyday activities. It was really fun to get some ideas.

An Emotinal Day

Sorry this update is long overdue. Our life has been a little crazy but I thought I would let you all know that JaDee was released from 2nd counselor in the bishopric. He and the 1st counselor have served for 3 years with Bishop Johnson. For those of you reading this Mormon Talk I'll explain a little bit more below and check out the link to our church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, on the right for more information.

Anyway it was a very emotional time for all of us but of course more so for JaDee. He has served and loved the people in our ward. He also had the unique opportunity to serve Young men, Young Women and Primary and got to know the children and teens in our ward individually. There are very few callings in our church were the men get to serve with the Young Women. They were good for him and prepared him for his daughter.

He was conducting and it was fast Sunday. When the Stake presidency released them JaDee had to get up to announce the sacrament portion of the meeting. He stood up and no words came out. I have never seen him that emotional. I was crying, the boys were crying; all 3 kids were piled on my lap as close as possible to me as they could get. We were a little pile of Moncurs in the middle of the chapel.

We made it through the meeting, each bearing our testimonies. We do know that our callings our called of God and that the Bishop was inspired to make these changes. Bishop Johnson was sad to change out his counselors and thanked them warmly. He said he could not have made it these past 3 years and set up our ward without them.

So it will be off to new ways to serve. I still teach Gospel Doctrine and love love love my calling. We have so much fun in Sunday School and I have to say that is unheard of in most cases! We sure are looking forward to General Conference this weekend. The boys because I make cinnamon roles for breakfast every Sunday Conference morning.

Now for those of you wondering what the heck I have been talking about...Mormon congregations are called wards and organized geographically which in Utah means that every few blocks is organized into a ward. Typically a ward is 300-500 people. A group of several wards makes up a Stake. The leader of each stake is a stake president. He has 2 counselors and they serve everyone in the various wards of their stake with the help of 12 High Councilmen. Each ward is lead by a Bishop and he has 2 counselors as well. They run the day to day affairs of each individual ward. It is a tremendous amount of work and Mormon clergy is unpaid. We are a very service oriented religion and that philosophy starts first with family, which is the reason I stay home. Second with the ward; everyone has a job from the bishopric, presidencies of the organizations within the ward, teachers (I teach adult Sunday School) and music leaders etc… and third with our communities and the world. Hope this helps!