Visiting Teaching

I never knew visiting teaching could be so.... difficult. Of the 6 people my partner and I teach, only 2 of them are active. Out of those 2, we were able to make an appointment with one and have had a very interesting time trying to talk to the other. She has done her best evading us. She said she does not want to make an appointment with us, but that we should just call her when we want to come. Of course when we call, then she is busy that day. It is possible that it is just a different culture and people don't make appointments. At Dr. offices they don't make appointments because if they did people just wouldn't show up. So maybe that is what it is all about, or maybe she just doesn't want us to visit with her. Whatever it is, I am glad I have a diligent partner because I probably would have given up already.

Today we were able to visit teach the one person we were able to make an appointment with. It was a good experience and good to get out and see a little bit more of Greenville that I hadn't yet seen. At the end of our lesson we told her that we were going to just drop cookies off to the inactive members and say hi. Sounds like a reasonable enough idea, right? Wrong. This woman strongly warned us NOT to go to these peoples houses. In the last 22 years that she has lived in Greenville, she has never even heard of any of the women that we are supposed to teach. We were able to look up their addresses. Apparently their houses are in a part of town that you just don't go to, especially without a male escort. And here we were, two young girls with two babies, ready to drop off cookies to their homes. I am so used to Utah culture and not having to worry about going anywhere that I forget that it is not quite like that here. I am grateful that I was warned and not led somewhere dangerous without knowing. I guess notes are going to be the way to contact our sisters. If nothing else, I am learning a lot about culture and life outside of Utah.

Well, we are doing great and having a good time learning and living. Here are some recent pictures of Brinley. She is growing up so fast!

Brinley now has 6 teeth! 4 on top and 2 on bottom. Here she is showing them off.


She loves my cell phone. The only problem is she loves putting it in her mouth.



Brinley has learned how to drink out of my water bottle. If I leave it any where she does anything she can to get to it.

Tradition, Spirit, Honor

So this week has been a big one for BYU Athletics. If you haven't heard the news, BYU has declared its independence...in football. Starting fall 2011 BYU Football will be an independent, or not tied to any conference (one of 4 in the country - Notre Dame, Army, Navy being the others). They made this decision for several reasons, number 1 being exposure. BYU and the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints wish for BYU sports to be seen around the country. The Mtn TV network was simply not getting it done. BYU's other sports will play in the WCC (West Coast Conference) which contains other private religious universities. There have been many articles written about it. Here is just one.

The press conference was pretty cool for a BYU sports geek like me. ESPN (who BYU signed a big contract with) had the Vice President of Programming there explaining why they would reach out and sign a big contract to televise BYU's home football games.

My sister posted a video that was shown before the conference and I think you should take a look at it if you haven't seen it. You can find it HERE.

There are a few amazing videos that I have seen on BYUtv.org. I thought I'd link to a few of them. These 3 are my favorite: Click on the sports extras tab.

WE ARE BYU

FOOTBALL 2010

BYU FOOTBALL HISTORY

Some of the shots in the first and last video overlap but honestly, I could (and did) hook these up to our new TV and watch them over and again.

Also, BYU won a hard-fought game against the University of Washington on Saturday in Provo. I really wish I could have been there but was cheering hard for the Cougars here in Mississippi.

Bargain Shopping

I love bargain shopping. Getting something for pennies at a garage sale or from a thrift store can be so satisfying. Unfortunately in Greenville bargain shopping means getting something in poor condition for the same price as the same thing brand new. Really people? Somehow they can get away with it here. However, the other day I finally found a salvation army. It was a pretty sorry excuse for a store but I did happen to find a few things that worked. I got 3 outfits for Brinley for a total of 75 cents and they are all cute and in good condition. Add a book to that and the total came to $1.34. THAT is the type of bargain shopping I like.

Here is Brinley in her Ralph Lauren tennis outfit. She even wore it when I went to play tennis. haha.

Brinley has recently learned that she can stand up in her crib. The problem with this is that once she stands up she can't really get herself back down. So, although she used to be able to put herself back to sleep if she woke up in the night, she now can't because she is standing up.

This girl has been keeping me on my toes lately. She climbed up on these boxes under our end table. Keep in mind that we put those boxes there for the sole purpose of keeping her away from the wires that are behind them. Well I guess that idea didn't work too well. Anybody have any ideas on how to baby proof an apartment? I can't seem to figure it out.