Packing, Policeman and Primary Songs

As you all know, Paul was accepted into the DEA Academy and left on Friday. His first few hours in D.C. were a little frustrating as he attempted to get to the hotel he was staying at that night. With my map reading skills and Paul's ability to follow my directions, we spanned the several thousand mile gap between us and got him to his hotel. Saturday, he checked into the Academy and this strange new experience really began. But back in Tucson, it was a little stressful on my own end as I packed the rest of our things and moved out of our apartment. Luckily I had some ward members and some very special friends, Troy and Eevi--and theirbaby, Saku--who saved me and truly were angels as they moved my stuff, helped me clean and enabled me to keep my sanity as I tried to make the move without Paul. I got on the road at about 4:00pm to go to my sister's in Snowflake.

On the way, I experienced something I've only experienced once before: I was pulled over by a policeman. Unfortunately for me, I was speeding 20 over in a work zone. But lest you think I am a terrible driver, here are the facts and you can judge for yourself whether a simple warning was justified, or whether I deserved a ticket. First of all, I thought the speed limit was 10 higher than it actually was (it was 30 and I thought it was 40). Second, I had just started down a steep hill, and so I was picking up the initial speed that you get right as you begin to put on the brakes. Third, James had just woken up and was throwing a royal fit (which, lucky for me, the policeman witnessed first-hand). And finally, I didn't try to make any excuses or beg him not to give me a ticket. I knew that I was in the wrong--sort of--and that it was what it was. Fortunately, the policeman had compassion on a stressed mother (he even noted that it looked as if we were moving and must have known the stress I was dealing with that alone) and let me off with just a warning. Luckily, nothing else happened and I made it to Snowflake with no further incident. And now I've enjoyed several relatively stress-free days in a row, thanks to my sister, Jeanette, her husband, Rhett, and her boys, Kade and Maeser.

As a side note, Paul and I have been singing to James a lot (well, I guess it's just me now) and this video is of James helping to sing his favorite Primary song: I am a child of God. We're still working on the rest of the song, but I'm happy that he is at least recognizing songs enough to know some words.