The Gales: January 2013

Grandma Bobbie traditionally buys Christmas dresses for the girls. We already had "Christmasy" dresses that we had inherited as hand-me-downs from my sister's daughters, so my mom bought the girls other dresses. Allie was really excited because her dress came with a necklace.

The girls in dresses from Grandma Bobbie

We've been blessed by others' generosity so many times. I know that I couldn't even begin to count them. This time, someone in our ward was getting rid of a twin bed (mattress, box spring, and metal frame). We knew that we would need one for Allie at some point, so we jumped on the opportunity. Allie was truly thrilled with her new bed and sheets. She got to pick out her own sheets, and she chose pink, her favorite color. Rachel was also very excited about Allie's bed, as well as disappointed when she didn't get to sleep on it.

I mentioned that the girls took an interest in my working out. They also took an interest in my workout equipment. I was mostly okay with them playing with my resistance bands, though Allie did put a hole in the wall with one. I was not so happy about that.

We had a sister move into our ward at church who was a single mother of a little girl between the ages of Allie and Rachel. She needed someone to help watch her little girl while she was at work. It was only supposed to be for a short (maybe a few weeks?) period, so I told her I could help, except for on Tuesdays and Thursdays since Allie went to playschool on those days. After being the recipient of other people's good will, I wanted to help out. It definitely stretched me, but I felt good about doing it for the time that I could.

Little K

Little K, Rachel, and Allie blowing bubbles in the shower.

Another endeavor that I undertook in January was throwing a bridal shower for my good friend, Emily. I had never hosted a bridal shower before. I was excited about the opportunity to help make her feel special. I forgot to take a picture of the spread, but there was a lot of yummy, nice-looking food for people to enjoy. I was finishing up as people showed up, but it worked out because they could talk to each other. It's funny that the fact that she's sitting in a camping chair makes it seem like it was really classy, but I'd have to say that it was pretty nice. I think I did a pretty good job. We just don't have a ton of chairs or furniture, yet, so we had our couch, which is actually pretty large, our four dining chairs, a computer chair, and two camping chairs. If anyone else would have shown up, we would have pulled out the wheat buckets from food storage. It was a great turnout, though, and Emily seemed very happy with everything she got. Several ladies who came told me they had a good time, too, so that is always good.