Good Sundays and Randomness

Today was such a fun day. I really do enjoy Sundays. We were really busy at church today, but we were prepared, so it wasn't stressful. Amazing how that works out. Jason had to give a talk and I had to teach Relief Society and Britton also had to give a talk in Primary. Yesterday I took the kids to Waterworld in the afternoon/evening, so Jason could just get his talk finished. He had been working on it all week and just needed to put it all together. So, he was prepared and ready to go which made everything go smoother this morning.
The last time Britton had to give a talk (a few weeks ago), he got really shy and refused to do it, so I ended up saying it for him. This week we had helped him more and prepared him for it, so it turned out a lot better. I think everyone was amazed that he actually did it.
Jason even ended up having to teach Elder's Quorum because the guy he asked to do it just didn't show up. But, that didn't even seem to stress him out. We both came away from church saying how much fun it was and how much we love this branch. I really enjoy the days that I have to teach because I feel like I learn so much preparing my lesson and then hearing all the comments from everyone else. Today I really felt like we all bonded even more. There were only about 5 or 6 woman in R.S., so it just felt like more of me leading a good discussion. I was a lot more relaxed and just told a lot of stories and personal experiences than I normally would. It was nice. I felt a lot more myself.
After church, we had the Chow family over for dinner. They are the family that Jason and I visit every month. The parents work in Hong Kong during the week and then come here on the weekends. Their two boys stay with their grandma here during the week and go to Clifford school. My kids were so excited all week long knowing that they were going to be able to come over. Their boys are older (11 and 14), but they are really good about playing with my kids. And my kids love the attention. We had tacos for dinner which I was a little worried about whether or not they would like it. It was the first time their kids had tried tacos and they loved them! So, that was good. Afterwards we just chatted and the kids played. We set up a new game thing that we got called the MiWi2. It's a cheap Chinese knock off of the Nintendo Wii. It's not nearly as good as the Wii, but it was still quite entertaining. The kids tried out ping pong and baseball and boxing then some of the arcade games. I showed Sis. Chow some of our vacation pictures and we just talked for a long time. They ended up staying for about 3 hours. It was so much fun just having people to hang out with. Haley even gave them all hugs as they were leaving (and several other times throughout the evening). That's really saying something because she's normally quite standoffish towards people.
After they left, we watched the season finale of the Office. It had finally finished downloading. It was hilarious. I loved every bit of it. I have to say that my favorite part was when Dwight told the new girl that Kevin was "special". Genius. So funny.
I am really going to miss this branch so much. I have liked it since the very first day, but it always takes me about a year to really get to know people and feel at home. Today I realized how much I am actually going to miss some of the people. I wish it didn't take me so long to get to know people. I feel like I am at the brink of some friendships right when I am about to leave and go home. There are some days when I really wish we were coming back next year.
It's been a while since I have had to time to just sit down and write about nothing and everything. So, here is some randomness.
*I really love hearing my students pronounce certain words in English. R's and L's are really hard for them to say, so I love it when I have vocabulary words with lots of R's and L's. At the beginning of each period, we have pronunciation practice. Lately, some of their vocabulary words are "parallelogram" and "quadrilateral". I love hearing them try to pronounce them. It brings back memories of geometry with Dr. N and the way she would pronounce "parallelogram".
*My 7th graders are doing a project where they are designing their own dreamhouses. It's so much fun to watch them and see all the things they come up with. It's quite an elaborate project so they have spent a lot of time in class on it which leaves me just to wander and observe their work or sit there and design my own dreamhouse. Lately, I've been drawing the floorplan of my house in Utah trying to figure out how I will arrange everything when I get home. I've been thinking about what I would include in my dreamhouse. I'm really not someone who needs or wants a huge, elaborate house. But, I guess if I really could have ANYTHING I wanted, I might NEED a rollercoaster in my backyard. :)
*Our weekends are already pretty much packed until we leave. So little time, so much to do.
*Our pool has been open since the beginning of May. It's nice to have a free activity that is fun for our family that we can do everyday if we want. My kids love going to the pool. Most of our evenings/lunch breaks are spent there.
*I wish the Jazz would have beaten the Lakers. I don't like the Lakers. But, I did draw them in our office pool, so I guess I'll have start cheering for them to win it all so that I can win the 200 RMB. Go Lakers!
*I really like the people that I work with. At the beginning of the year, I thought our office was such a funny bunch of people. I found our office dynamics very amusing, but didn't really feel too friendly with anyone. But, now, I have to say that I am good friends with all of them. I will miss being around these people everyday. I will miss our inside jokes, hating Fridays with Ginger, top 10 lists, talking sports with the guys, doing contests, googling everything, our awkward team meetings, trying to avoid monthly staff lunches, the airconditioner wars, working in the dark, and all the other funny things that make our office so quirky.
*We got a scooter a few weeks ago from my friend Nancy. Jason loves having it and I love that he has it. Now, he doesn't mind going shopping or picking up Britton or all the other things he has to do everyday. Everything's so much easier when you have a vehicle. I also finally got my bike tire fixed. It's had a flat for the last 2 weeks or so. I really don't mind walking to school, but I like my bike a lot too.
*Our neighbors are moving today. They have to move out of our building and into a town house because they have a dog. They're making everyone get rid of their pets or move because of the lice incident. Even though pets don't have lice. It's ridiculous. At least they aren't making everyone get rid of their kids (who are the real lice carriers). Anyway, we will miss them. I'm sure we'll still see them a lot, but it just won't be the same as having them right next door. It'll be a lot quieter and lonelier around here, that's for sure.
*I really will finish posting our pictures of Yangshuo one day.