The Month of May

It flew by so fast! Last year at this time May seemed to last forever- with packing and moving I couldn't wait for it to be over. But this year's different. Even though we've lived here for almost 4 years, this is only our second summer here in MD! Now that May's over I realized that the majority of my posts for the month were all "catch-up" posts, so I didn't get a chance to record all the other "stuff" that happened. I like lists, so I'm gonna list everything I wanted to document- but it's in no particular order of when it happened or the importance of the event.

1) I first want to note the weather- mostly because it was pretty much perfect. The 21st of May was our first day of the month to reach 80 degrees. We had 20 full days of 70 degree temps!!! I felt so spoiled! Pools don't open out here until the end of May, so when we do get hot, humid, summer weather before then I get super ticked about our pool situation.

2) We finished up our little preschool co-op group on the 26th. I was scheduled to teach, but I thought it'd be more fun to have a pool party and picnic. I'm pretty sure all the kids had a good time!

I didn't get a picture of all the kids (6 girls above plus Troy and Samantha) eating on the beach towels- it only lasted a matter of minutes, but it was super cute while it lasted. Elle loved the cupcakes!

I've had such a good time hanging out with all these girls- Madi, Kate, and Tess were really the only ones in the "official" pre-school group, but many times Brooklyn would come hang out too. And Elle and Abby are always at all the parties! They're just such cute (and super sweet) girls all together. And of course Becky, Krista, and I always have a great time getting together too! :) The next two pics were actually from our Easter party- just had to include so I remember all our fun parties!

Notice Elle eyeing all the eggs hidden in front of her.

3) I spoke in church on the 22nd (it was my third talk given in this ward). I talked about the blessings that come from daily study of the Book of Mormon. I don't think I've ever enjoyed speaking like I did this time- and I didn't get nervous like I usually do. But the best thing about preparing for this talk was that it motivated me to get back into my daily scripture study. We always read with the girls every night, but it's just not the same. Since my talk Spencer and I have read together every night. I love reading with Spencer- he's always able to answer all my questions!

4) I've been loving my primary calling! I've decided it's probably my very favorite calling in the church. I found some great blogs that I'm a regular follower of and idea stealer from. My favorite is: The Ordinary Adventures of a Primary Chorister. She recently posted some fun games for teaching the "Big Words" to "Praise to the Man"- that was the song I taught for the month of May and it's made me even more excited about conducting it next month at Youth Conference in the Kirtland Temple!

5) I'm starting to feel more excited and less nervous about the whole music thing for Youth Conference. It's definitely been a very humbling experience for me. I've put so much time into this- youth choir practices, emails, organizing, practicing, and learning as much as I can from Karlie who's gonna have her baby any day and not be able to hold my hand through it anymore.

6) We had our first "ma and pa" training meeting for Youth Conference on the 26th. Even though Spencer and I are in extreme need of a vacation alone right now, and this weekend is really the only time we'd been able to go (with my mom in town watching the girls and all), we're still excited to be spending it with the youth of our stake and site seeing in Kirtland, Ohio.

7) My allergies were awful this month! And it was my first experience with allergies out here. The worst was this past Friday. I went running in the morning and near the end of my run the wind really picked up (didn't help that I was running against the wind). All of a sudden my eyes started itching like crazy and I began sneezing incessantly! After a good shower, Zaditor eye drops, and Zyrtec, I was feeling better. So then we proceeded to go to the park after dropping Spencer off at the Metro. We even went out one more time that afternoon. I must of totally overdone it because that night I was a mess- I was ready to claw my eyes out! When I woke up Saturday morning my eyes were crusted over- totally thought I had pink eye. Spencer assured me that it's completely normal for that kind of stuff to happen with itchy, watery, allergy infected eyes. Since then I haven't tried running outside and I've kept windows closed, and the AC running. Hopefully allergy season ends soon!

8) Went to Cafe Rio three times this month! SO happy to have it here!

9) Had a wonderfully relaxing Memorial Day weekend. Our pool opened on Saturday, then we went to our wards annual picnic at the Leafty's on Monday (first time we've ever been). It was crazy hot which made Elle even more tired than she already was, but Madi had a blast in the bounce house and Spencer and I had a good time hanging out with friends.

10) And lastly- our pool being open is definitely something to document! It's pretty much my favorite thing about the end of May, and it opened just in time for the scorching heat we've had the past couple days. We'll probably end up going every afternoon- at least for a quick dip! I can already tell that this summer is gonna be a good one. The girls are both at such fun ages for pool fun. Neither know how to swim, but with water wings, Madi doesn't need any help at all- she just walks right in and starts swimming. And Elle's pretty brave. I'll probably be getting her some sort of life vest so she can swim unassisted.

Elle refuses to look at the camera any time I try to take a picture!