A Scorpion, a Devil & a Christmas Tree...among other things

Another one bites the dust. Yep, I just killed another scorpion right inside the laundry room door coming in from the garage. One of our "hot spots." Chances are that all six of us stepped right over the miserable creature as we walked in the door from our family dinner tonight. I went back in the laundry room just a few minutes later to lock up, and there she was. Lying in wait. Unfortunately, the bottom of my Roxy flip flop did the honors, so I washed it off in the sink. Barrett laughed at me as I smirked and gave the creepy body shutter. I'm not a big fan of the scorpion hunt. Ryan is our designated hunter, manned with a killer blacklight and that "I can kill bugs cause I'm a man" attitude. Thank heaven for him. I hate scorpions! Not that he likes them any more, that's for sure, but at least he can hunt them like a good husband should and not be scared like me. The last one I killed was 2 weeks ago while Ryan was out of town in Ohio. I went out to the food storage room to put something in the fridge, and BAM! There she was. Right in front of the freezer. So glad I was wearing shoes. Not that I ever really go out there barefoot after living in this house for 5+ years. I know better.

On a lighter note, I registered Ryan, Barrett & Afton for the Turkey Trot just now. It's going to be a family affair. Ryan and I are running the 10K, and the girls are doing the 1 mile fun run with Jessie and her girls. Should be fun! I think 5 or 6 of my cousins are running the 10k too along with a few thousand of our closest Mesa friends. That event is always packed!

Barrett missed church today as she was claiming a stomach ache and near vomitting. Turns out that she started feeling better this afternoon and now seems fine. While I truthfully don't think she was faking it at all, I'm sure a lack of sleep and being super tired added to her "sickness" this morning at 7:00 am. Amazing what a little rest will do to help you recover :) It was so weird being there without her. She never misses. And we missed her. Church was good. Talks by the Hollands on honesty and service. Good messages for this Thanksgiving season for sure. I substituted in primary again today too, although today I was teaching Afty's class. Holy moly. It was crazy. There were only 6 kids (3 girls and 3 boys) - all 8 and 9 years old. But the contrast couldn't have been more vivid. The girls were angels and boys were...well...not so much.  And I'm being kind.  One in particular was pretty much a little devil.  I'm not sure if the total lack of respect and talking out and unbelievable wiggles and inappropriate comments were a result of sugar highs, sassiness, ADHD, or just the fact that he's a 9 year old boy, but I was frustrated! I kinda want do-overs so I can start fresh and see if some different tactics would have made an impact. All my Love and Logic skills that I've read about and been practicing at home were lost somewhere in my memory banks.  I should have taken the same approach as I do with my kids and finally given him the choice to participate with our class in a respectful way, or choose to go to Relief Society.  I took him out once for a talking to, and later in class asked him twice if he wanted to go to Relief Society.  He declined.  But I failed...I should have held firm, stopped the warnings and given the old, "Well, by the way you are choosing to act, it appears that you have chosen Relief Society.  Let's go."  And then escorted him out.  Maybe next time... 

And finally, the highlight of our afternoon...WE PUT UP OUR CHRISTMAS TREE TODAY! Hooray, hooray, hooray! No, it's not decorated yet, but all 12 feet of our tree is up and lit and beautiful. Just begging for decor. Either tomorrow night or Tuesday night we'll hopefully get to the decorating. The kids are super excited to help! That's one tradition we always look forward to. While we were putting the top section on the tree, Ryan asked if we'd ever had our tree up so early in the season before. Nope. This is a first for us, but I am really excited about it. It makes me feel on top of things a bit more. Like I'm ahead of schedule or something. We'll see how long that feeling lasts...