It's about time for an update!

I know it has been forever! I apologize. This will be a doozy of an entry.

Joe and I celebrated our third anniversary on the 8th of August. Wow, it goes by fast! So after three years of marriage, Joe is finishing his last semester of school in December (wahoo!), our baby girl turned 1 on the 15th of July, and we are blessed in so many different ways. Joe is the ward mission leader for our ward (he had the same calling in the Singles Ward when we were dating as well). I am the Primary President. Between being a mom, a wife, having a job, and trying to fulfill my calling, I have stayed pretty busy. I like being busy though. It keeps me focused and gives me less time to waste doing idle, unimportant things.

In short, the month of June was a little bit of insanity. My manager at Eleutian left for the month of June to go to France (who does that? Especially to France…). He was chosen as the director of the French Study Abroad program at UVU. So he went. Guess who they chose to be in charge while he was gone? Yep, that’d be me. Not quite sure why, but they chose me. We had three of our largest accounts starting that month and there were lots of issues that needed to be taken care of. So basically from May 29th to July 2nd I felt like I was running around with my head cut off, my husband turned into Mr. Mom, and my little girl was forgetting who I was. I was working 12-14 hours a day, getting about three hours of sleep a night, the house was a mess, the Primary got 15 new kids and we lost a few teachers (gah!), so, (needless to say) I was feeling a little frazzled. It was the craziest month I’ve had in a really long time. Then, when my manager came back, when I started getting sleep again, and when we took a badly needed vacation to California for the Smalley Family Reunion, things started returning to normal.

The Smalley Family Reunion was a lot of fun. I am so glad that we went. Grandma Smalley was just thrilled to see Clara again. It is weird when you start seeing all your cousins as adults. It still feels like we are all kids really. Some things haven’t changed too much though. Bear Lake was also on the agenda. We didn't go at all last year because I was pregnant. So Joe was thrilled to be there!

We also had a bit of a scare at the beginning of July. I had worked from 4-8am one morning, and so while I was trying to get a little extra sleep Joe fed Clara breakfast. I woke up to the sound of her screaming hysterically. Joe fed her some bread and scrambled eggs. Shortly thereafter she’d thrown up her entire breakfast and was writhing around in pain. After about a minute, her little body went totally limp, her face and lips when sheet white and her whole body got cold and clammy. Then after a couple minutes of that she’d start screaming again. This went on and on for about 30 minutes and I was ready to take her to the ER. Joe and his dad gave her a blessing and then we took her to the doctor. By the time we got to the doctor’s office, she started responding to me and by the time she saw the doctor she was fine. The doctor told us that she’d probably gone into anaphylactic shock (an allergy similar to what happens to people who are allergic to peanuts) because of the eggs Joe had fed her. So we are taking her to see a pediatric allergist to check and see if that is really what happened and also to see if she is allergic to anything else. So for the time being we are keeping Clara away from eggs. Fun stuff!

You know, I think that in the past I’ve felt scared; but I really can’t compare that to the fear that I felt as I was holding Clara, feeling totally helpless, and just wishing I could take her pain away. Being a parent has added so many different levels to my feelings and understanding of the Atonement. It amazes me how well thought out the plan of salvation/plan of happiness really is. We experience relationships from so many different angles. In the parent/child relationship we first get to be the needy partner, the child, the one who receives. Then we take a step and get to be on the other side, the parent, the one who has to give everything willingly. Then he takes it even a step further and lets us observe that relationship on another level as a grandparent, as we try to teach/coach both our children and grandchildren how to make those roles work. I honestly believe that the family is the fundamental unit of the Gospel, central to Heavenly Father’s plan, because that dynamic helps us to learn more about Him and help us to be like Him; to act as he would act in that parental role.

This sounds silly, but I had a scripture make so much more sense to me after Clara’s birthday. That scripture in Matthew 7:9-11 says:
9 …what man is there of you, whom if his son ask abread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, abeing evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

It sounds very silly, but in a small, simple way I have understood a tiny part of how Heavenly Father probably feels toward each one of us. There were so many things I wanted to do for Clara’s birthday; so many things I wish I could’ve given her and done for her. But instead of spoiling her rotten, I decided to give her the gifts that would help her the most developmentally. They probably weren’t the most stellar gifts, but I know they are the ones she needed the most. Which, brings us to Clara’s party…it was so fun!

Other news is that my mom and dad, along with Joey, Erinn, and Spencer moved out here mid-June. They closed on a house in Herriman (about 20-30 minutes from us) July 1st, and moved in shortly after Clara’s birthday (it needed a lot of work!). We are so glad to have them out here. It is weird but awesome to be able to see them whenever I want. Shannon and Travis are living in Sandy now, so all of us live within 20-30 minutes of one another. It is pretty cool. We all really miss McKay though. He has been on his mission since March. It was really tough on him in the beginning, but it is so much fun to see him growing as a missionary. He is a wonderful Elder.

Well that's about it for now! Congrats on surviving through all of that!