Primary Program weekend

The primary program is now over. It was a whirlwind of a weekend and I know if I don't write it down, I'm not going to remember anything. Surprisingly, I wasn't super stressed going into the weekend. We have some pretty incredible kids in our primary who are amazing little missionaries! They all had their parts memorized, were practicing the songs on their own at home, and invited their teachers, friends, neighbors, and almost every primary kid at Madi's school gave an invite to their principle (36 of our primary kids go to her school)! It was awesome hearing about all their missionary efforts, and I loved seeing the teachers at school with invites in hand when I'd go to pick up or drop off!

On Saturday, Spencer and I were able to go to the temple in the morning (BIG thanks to Mom and Dad Jenkins for watching the kids), and out to a movie (Gravity - my first 3D experience) in the evening. It was nice to have a relaxing day especially since Sunday was so busy.

My Sunday was packed from 9:45am til 7:30pm when I finally got home for the day! From ward council, reserving seats in the chapel, a special prayer meeting with all the primary kids, greeting visitors, sitting in the back overflow at the start of sacrament with ALL the primary kids (we all walked up together singing "I am a Child of God"), our program, doing the entire sharing/singing time 2nd and 3rd hour, clean up afterwards, meeting with young women about taking over 3rd hour next Sunday (for our visiting teaching conference in RS), dinner at mom and dad's, then stake choir practice for Madi and I! I was EXHAUSTED by the time I got home. Spencer and I were in bed by 8:30pm!

The program went well, probably better than I originally thought it went (especially since last minute my 1st counselor had to fill in as the pianist, and we had our Valiant 11 teacher leading the music - since we're still in transition between choristers). It was nice to lay in bed at the end of the day and hear Spencer (who's always 100% truthful with me- one of the many things I love about him) tell me how great the program really was. I appreciated all the kind words at church, but I always look forward to hearing Spencer's honest opinion.

My 2nd counselor emailed me a few pics from the sharing/singing time I did for our "after the program" celebration. We played the "Boppin' Pop" game with the help of some fun dads (and even got a grandpa up there in the Junior primary). Then I gave the kids tootsie pops with a note attached that said, "Thanks for making our Primary Program POP!"

Madi and her buddy Raegan doing the "boppin" in junior primary:

After the program everyone kept commenting about how great I must feel- like a huge weight had just been taken off my shoulders. But sadly, I don't feel a huge relief. All I can think about is how much there is to do before the end of the year - getting teachers and a chorister called (not being fully staffed has been really hard), planning the Christmas music, having only 3 weeks to teach the songs, reorganizing all the classes, and planning for the new year. Primary sure keeps me busy these days!