meanwhile in the 11th ward...

Hey all, it's been a while. Today I am very grateful for Sundays. I get to spend all day with Justin, and we don't have to do any homework. It's the best!

Relief Society...for the past several weeks that I've been serving every week we have new girls moving in and other girls moving out.. It is so hard to stay on top of! It makes visiting teaching a nightmare. On top of that, ward council...not my favorite. I got called in the beginning of January and had tentative VT assignments by the end of the month. Turns out that report got in super late at only 15% while the Elder's Quorum "killed it" with 62% in January.

Mmmk. Hold up. Before I listen to everyone start to council me at ward council, can we remember for a tiny sec that I got this calling, like, yesterday, and people didn't even get their assignments until the end of the month? I'm shocked we even got 15% to do their teaching. I was expecting more like, I dunno, zero. In the meantime, everyone's telling me how Elder's Quorum is "killing it" and Relief Society needs to step it up. K guys...we'll do that.

And can we also remember....I've done this before. I know how to do this job... so before everyone goes around the room and tells me, "You know, as president you really should..." and "One thing you should really consider..." yadayadayada can we all just...not? In the mean time, I want to extend a calling to two sisters who are new. Let's get them involved in the ward pronto! ...not. Idea shut down. Needless to say...I won't say it.

Justin and I got to see some family in Boise a while back. Gabe invited everyone to go ice fishing. Justin let me know he's never been. As much as ice fishing is very "hit 'n' miss" we decided he needed to have the experience! We drove over with Chase and Rachel and stayed Friday night with Gabe and Christy. We played a few rounds of "Saboteur" where I enjoyed being the "Saboteur" with Christy and Rachel the last round. Take that men! Gabe and Christy's kids are as cute as ever, and Brigitte now refers to me as 'Keaton's girl.'

Brigitte: "Where's Keaton's girl?"
Christy: "You mean Kelsey?"
Brigitte: "Yeah...Keaton's girl."

Ha.

Ice fishing was as fun as it can get when you're not actually catching fish. We had beautiful weather and great company. Lance and Kaleb joined Gabe, Chase, Justin and me for some cornbread and beef stew on the lake. The ice was crrrracking like crazy. There was one time Justin, Gabe, and I literally jumped out of our chairs because I swear the ice dropped an inch after we heard a huge crack right under us! If you've never heard ice crack beneath your feet while 20+ yards away from the shore, you can never quite understand the fear felt in that moment. Good times. We caught a whopping two fish (both from Kaleb's hole--nice work kiddo!) after setting 15+ ice fishing poles out. Not even Chase's A capella hymn solos could make the fish bite.

We hit a sweet outdoor hot springs after fishing. Hot water came springing out of the beautiful granite full of hornblende, quartz, and micas. Poor Chase caught a norovirus and felt sick from 9 that night until the middle of the next week. Justin and I stayed at Mitzi's that night. We had a fun visit. I miss hanging out with her all the time. We played tripole which I was surprisingly good at. Who accidentally gets a straight? Awesome. I was killing, but then Justin snuck up on me. No worries; I still beat him by four points. Score!

Justin and I played in our last floor hockey game Friday night. They had a guy who hit the small, rubber ball extremely hard and he hit me with that small, rubber ball three times and hit me with his hockey stick. Lame. I have the bruise of my life from that event! Thanks dude.

This week my 2nd block New Testament class starts (online). I am so not excited. Who would be when your professor emails you a week before and says, "If you can't commit 15 hours per week on this class alone this is not the semester to take this course." Really dude? Whatever.

Justin and I are going to Las Vegas this weekend.  We will be playing in a frisbee tournament wooo! I have two offers to student teach in Las Vegas. One is a high school, one is a middle school. After fasting and praying about it I've chosen the middle school. I figure that's when most schools have their students learn earth science so I better take advantage of having a mentor help me get it right. I love the power of fasting. We were able to go to the temple Saturday night with fasting and prayer in our hearts and we both felt very good about things we've been praying about. It definitely helps us grow together as a couple.

Well that's our update. On a funny note, Justin bought some spicy Doritos that were on sale, and after eating some before bed the other day I woke up the next morning with a swollen face! This exact thing happened over Christmas break...so weird. Beware of spicy enchilada Doritos!