Wrestling Sharks

Wow! Where has the last month gone? We went to the Bahamas for a fun family trip in the middle of October and it has been a whirlwind since we got back. I think I'm going to go back and just sit on the beach, listen to the waves crash and watch my boys snorkel for hours.

This is a picture of a shark wrangler we met. He is a very brave but stupid man - he lures the sharks in with a fish head on the end of a rope and then pulls it up to him and wrestles it so tourists can take pictures. We have enough sharks to wrestle in our daily lives - why in the world would you want to do this as an occupation?

Darren was put in as the first counselor in our Bishopric a few days after we got home and the new Bishop asked me to stay on as the young women's president. If this week is any indication of how these two callings are going work together.... we aren't going to have a minute to sit down and relax!

Sunday was full of meetings and trying to finish getting Brayden's Eagle scout paperwork signed. Monday Dar went to Salt Lake for a water association meeting for the cabin while I spent most of the day wiring on the decorations for my tree for the Trees for Charity gala. Tuesday was a presidency meeting, trying to juggle orthodontist appointments, homework, homemaking(or whatever it is called now), planning the ward Christmas party and Bishopric visits.

Yesterday I had to to to the local TV station to have a video made for the Tree's for Charity tree explaining my charity - Koins for Kenya.
Plus, last night we had our Young Women's in Excellence Night so I spent a good portion of the day helping decorate and get ready for the big night. It turned out wonderful - thanks to some very talented ladies that serve with me. I gave a talk about a French painter named George Sueret who came up with a technique called Petite Point. He made amazing masterpieces by placing individual dots of color on a canvas.

Heavenly Father sent us to earth as a blank canvas and each time we do something good we get a dot. The young women value colors help illustrate this. When you pay your tithing you get a white dot for faith. When you read your scriptures you get a gold dot for virtue. If you serve someone else, you get a yellow dot for doing good works. If you choose to go to church on Sunday instead to the lake you get an orange dot for choice and accountability. All of these dots add up and eventually make an amazing person who learns that they are a child of God with a divine purpose in life.
Each person has a great potential to create a masterpiece to present to our Heavenly Father when we return home to him. It went right along with doing personal progress.

Tonight is the Young Women's Stake Axillary training meeting for both Dar and I and then Saturday is an all day event of the World Wide Training for both of us and ward temple night that evening.

AHHHHH! I have had to be creative to do the cooking this week. We have eaten a lot of left overs and Papa Murphy take and bake pizzas.

On Tuesday night at the homemaking night, I ate some yummy chicken chili which was requested by Melissa Holfeltz to post on my blog. I still haven't been able to get the recipe from Julie Stewart but I definitely will get it and share Melissa.! I found this recipe that is similar to her's:

White Chicken Chili

Heat 2T. vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir 1C. chopped onion until tender. Mix in 3 cloves of garlic, crushed, 1 -4oz. can of chopped green chili peppers, 2t. cumin and 1t. cayenne pepper. (You can add
1 -4oz. can of diced jalapeno peppers if you want it spicier.) Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in 2 - 14.5oz. cans of chicken broth, 3C. chopped, cooked chicken breasts and 3 - 15oz. cans of white beans that have been put through the blender with their liquid. Simmer about 15 minutes then add in 1 package of cream cheese that has been chopped into chunks along with 1T. lime juice.
Remove from heat and stir in 1C. shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Serve warm.

It has been so cold and snowy, soup is all I want to eat now.