Tough Day

Today has been a heart wrenching day for me. I cried as I was released from being Primary president after 3 years and 2 months of service. I have felt the huge weight of the calling lifted, but in a way I feel a deep sadness that my time has ended. It has been quite the roller coaster ride. Today we looked at the numbers. We have 140 kids on our rolls for just Primary. Plus we have 60 kids divided between 4 nurseries. It has been a huge job and I am forever grateful for the wonderful counselors and secretaries that I have had over the years. I am also so appreciative of the service given by so many others who bend over backwards in serving the children of our ward whether it be on Sundays, Cub Scouts, Activity Days, etc... I couldn't have done it without all of those who valiantly serve where they are called.

Sister Kimber and Shelley F play
"If The Savior Stood Beside Me."

The silver lining on my cloud is the fact that I was just handed my dream calling. I will be serving as a Ward Missionary!!!!! That has always been where my heart is. I love working with those who are learning about the gospel and with those who recently have joined the church. Plus, I'll be able to go to Peggy Page's Sunday School class and Relief Society! What could be better than that? I will miss Primary though!

Today I recorded my Primary kids in Junior and Senior Primary singing "Called To Serve". We only had a fraction of the kids that we normally do because so many families were gone for Thanksgiving, but watching these clips will help you see why I'm sad to bid farewell to Primary!

Junior Primary

Senior Primary

Happy Thanksgiving!

Alex, Zach, Ivan, Jason, and Jenn (not in picture)
ran the race with the people from Dobbs Honda.

I know this is late, but I wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. We had a great one. We got up at 6 a.m. and headed to Reid Park Zoo with the Mousos. It was pouring down rain almost the whole drive there.

Alex runs up the muddy hill!

Ivan and the Mousos were running a 5K Thanksgiving run with obstacles the whole way. It was pretty amazing. Luckily it stopped raining 5 minutes before the race started and the weather turned nice for the rest of the time there.

Ivan jumps one of the water holes!

I got lots of fun pictures of our runners scaling a muddy hill, jumping over hay bales and water holes, and running through the stream. I think next year I'm going to try to do it. They have the men and women run at different times, so Ivan could watch the kids while I do it with Jenn next year.

Jenn runs through the stream!


Ivan R. and Emma enjoy watching the women's race!

The Mousos, the Zauggs, our family, and Ivan Rodriguez, one of Ivan's co-workers, celebrated Thanksgiving together this year.

Our Thanksgiving Feast

There was lots of great food and good company. We even had a surprise visit from our 3 missionaries. After dinner, we played the games-It Came To Pass and Imaginiff. It was a lot of fun.

Playing games on Thanksgiving

Afterwards, Ivan ran to get the Kimber teenagers who were going to babysit our kids in the morning while we hit the Door Busters. We put together our action plan for the after Thanksgiving sales. I got to bed around 10:45 and got up at 3 a.m. to be able to order as many of the clothing doorbusters from Walmart to be shipped to the store for pickup later. It saved us a lot of time. We got to Sears at 5:04 and got the luggage set (Regularly 99.99 for $19.99) that we were hoping to get and the MP3 player for Lizzie. There were quite a few people out shopping but I thought it was a lot better than previous years. The longest wait in line for a cashier was about 20 minutes at Target. At most of the stores I was able to pay pretty quickly. We didn't get any big ticket items. We mainly stuck to what we needed like the next size up on clothing for Devan and Liz.

I have to give my husband Ivan a huge thanks. He hates crowds. He hates waiting in lines. And he hates shopping. Yet, every year he gets up with me at some unseen hour to help me get the deals I am hoping to find. And he never complained once! He is the best! We went out for breakfast afterwards. It was a lot of fun! I think he actually enjoyed it this year. So, now it's 7:30 p.m., and I am ready to crash. I'm so glad tomorrow is Saturday. Tomorrow we focus on Christmas decorations and the scouting food drive!

Happy Belated 9 year Anniversary, Chrissy!

One of my primary counselors, Chrissy Beach, just celebrated her 9th year anniversary of her baptism this month. On her blog, she shared her following feelings. I loved this and wanted to share it with others as well. Thanks, Chrissy, for your faith, your example, and your friendship!

"I just thought that I would post about my baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was baptized on November 6th, 1999. I was 20 years old. There is not a day that goes by that I am thankful I made this decision and so every anniversary date is special and significant to me. I know without a doubt that my life would be very different had I not chose this step. I am so grateful for my testimony. I am grateful to know this is the Lord's church. I am grateful for the changes I've had to make and continue to make in my life because of this knowledge. As a teenager prior to meeting my husband I know I was searching for something more in my life. I had been to a few various churches as a little girl but nothing really regular or compelling enough for me to know where to turn with my questions. Instead I would often just write down in my journal questions I had about life. Why we were here, what were we supposed to be learning here and what was the purpose? I still have all of my writings in a box. I am glad I saved those papers because a couple of years ago, during a move, I found one that stood out to me. It went about asking the same questions and more specifically what was the importance of being here and was love the only thing we could take to wherever we went next or could we bring our knowledge too? After reading some of my ramblings I turned the paper over and noticed that I had written down answers to myself. They said, your answers will soon be answered, to relax and be happy and enjoy life for now. So my reasons for sharing this is that I feel all of my answers have been answered. I know with all my heart that God lives. That he loves us. That my savior Jesus Christ lives and loves everyone. I know that I will be able to return to my family and loved ones someday in heaven again. And I know everything I learn and all the love I have for everyone will be the same and we will all be together. And that is the JOY that fills my heart. Knowing that I am loved and everything I love is loved too. I am thankful for the support my own family has offered me. I am grateful for my sisters example in accepting the gospel as well. My life is not perfect and I am not either but in Christ I feel I can do all things that are purposeful and good. Which really constantly reminds me of how much I need to work on!! I know my husband was an answer to my questions as well. He came into my life at just about the right time. He reminded and taught me how to pray. He loved and accepted me just the way I was and prayed for me as I transitioned into the person he knew I could become. Through my own conversion I have also really come to appreciate all Christian religions. I love the faith, prayers, good intent, love, and knowledge that all of my friends and family have of all Christian faiths. I know that my redeemer lives... He lives to bless me with His love,He lives to plead for me above.He lives my hungry soul to feed,He lives to help in time of need... I know that my redeemer lives."

Primary Program

The Primary Program is always one of the highlights of the year at our church. The children share what they have learned in Primary through songs and words for the entire congregation. It is always a powerful worship service. The children are always adorable and their testimonies and singing are always so heartfelt.

As president of the Primary, this has been my 4th program. I was called 6 weeks before my 1st program. This program was completely prepared and executed by my amazing Counselor, Karen Cushing, and our wonderful music leader, Tracy Gates. And as much as I love the program, it is always a relief when it is finally over.

This year the children actually brought me to tears. They were so wonderful. The Spirit was so strong. One of my favorite Church songs is "Called To Serve." We had a group of 5 year old boys sing the 1st verse with the missionaries who are serving in our ward. The entire Primary came in for the chorus. The 10-12 year old boys sang verse 2 with the entire primary singing the final chorus. As I watched these children sing this song with all their strength, I could envision the missions they would serve and the good they would each do. Tears started streaming down my face and I could no longer sing. I haven't felt that much power behind that song since I was a missionary in the Missionary Training Center.

The closing song was I am a Child of God, another favorite. The children worked all year to learn the song in English, Spanish, Hawaiian, and in American Sign Language. The message was so strong and a great reminder that we are children of a Heavenly Father who loves us and that he sent us to earth for a purpose.

This year I loved seeing Zach Mouso being a part of the program. Each year the primary children have taken invitations to their friends, neighbors and teachers to attend the program. The last 2 years the Mousos came to watch the program. Several kids from the ward had invited them each year, and being the awesome neighbors and friends they are they came to be supportive. The Mousos were baptized last month, so this year their son was able to be a part of the program. That meant so much to me.

An Amazing Video Clip About People Who Have Found Our Church

I love listening to the stories of people who have joined the church. Each conversion story is a little miracle. I love hearing what drew them to the church.

Inspiring Commercials From Our Church

I want to share some of my favorite church commercials!

What A Week!

This has been a crazy week. I had to prepare to shoot my television segment a day earlier than normal. Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Tuesday morning I'm getting everything ready for the television shoot which is shot each week in my own kitchen. Out of the blue, I hear Elizabeth (8) scream, "EEWWWW!!! Spencer (5) just threw up all over the floor!" Luckily for me, it was over tile. Luckily it isn't a bad flu. He threw up once and just was clingy the rest of the day.

Wednesday I spent the day in final preparations for the Albertsons giveaway on my Savvy Savings Tucson blog, catching up on things I hadn't been able to get to Tuesday, and helping Devan finish a book report I had forgotten about until Tuesday that was due today.

This morning I woke up at 5:20 to finish getting everything ready on the blog for the giveaway and to record the cooking segment. They announced the giveaway and things went crazy. I think I got 1000 hits today before 9 a.m. this morning! I am so thrilled for those 50 people who won the $50 worth of groceries and supplies from Albertsons. I would have loved to win too, but I didn't think I should ethically enter my own giveaway!

As I was posting the winners list, I could hear Devan (my 10 year old) throwing up in the bathroom. And after all that hard work to get his book report ready to present today, he's sick!
Poor kid. I guess he had a test today as well, because he tried telling me that he still needed to go to school because he had a test. I had to assure him that his teacher would let him take it tomorrow! He's my little trooper. Hopefully it's the same strain Spencer had and will pass quickly.

Today I have to finish a recipe project that I have been trying to get finished for the last few weeks. Then, to catch up on my piles of laundry!

Does the To Do List ever end?

Lots of love,

Stephanie