The Polar Plunge #2

Well for the second year in a row Dave participated in the Oregon Polar Plunge which is a huge fundraiser for the Special Olympics. This year they raised over $130,000!! That is pretty amazing. People can get crazy when given an opportunity to strip and jump in freezing cold water. And it was freezing! The weather outside of the water was 40 degrees and rainy, so I can only imagine how nice and chilly the water was. You kind of had an idea when you saw people's faces as they jumped in the water. Poor Dave (who never gets cold) was shivering for most of the day! He wasn't feeling brave enough this year to do the speedo thing (disappointing). But he did wear his beautiful mustache that he has been growing for a couple of weeks! So that at least kept his upper lip warm.
It was definitely another interesting year of crazy people dressing up. Although I will say I was a little disappointed when I didn't see any men running around in their thongs like I did last year. With everything else frozen I guess they didn't want to freeze the dimples on their bums too.
Dave did a great job of raising money this year. He ended up raising $310.00!! I was very proud of him. Thanks to all of those who donated money. It definitely went to a great cause!

















It ended up being a very busy day yesterday going from one activity to the next. Right after the plunge we had to race home and get ready to go to the temple with Dave's family. (I think it will be the last time I get to the temple before I have this baby). Just a bit uncomfortable...Then after the temple we went to dinner with his siblings and had a great time, as we always do. Then from there we had to go and get cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and buy Legos from the Lego Store. To top off the evening, I went to a girl's night out party at my friend Sofie's house, which was great. It is so nice to have some girl time! I think all mom's need it once in a while.
After our busy day yesterday, it didn't get any less busy today. I mean it's Sunday and Sunday's for both Dave and me are always very busy. Primary Singing time always takes soooooo much energy (especially in Jr. Primary) and already being in short supply of energy, today pretty much deflated me completely! I love being the Primary Music Chorister, but I won't lie, it is a very hard calling for me, and takes A LOT of preparation. Of course Dave is always busy over in YM's too so by the time we got back from church I was so drained, I came home and took a 3 hour nap!! Ahhhh but it was nice! I am still very tired though because I did sleep so long.
It's weird to think that as of tomorrow I can say that I will be having a baby next month....weird! I just hope she is half as good a baby and kid that Sam is. We really lucked out with her. I hear stories from friends of cholicy babies, crying for hours on end, and I think "I don't remember Sam ever being like that." So we will see how this next little girl turns out.

Our Sister Missionary!

Yesterday was my little Sister Al's Farewell. There sure is a lot of work that goes into preparing for a farewell, and not just Al's talk, getting ready to go, but all the food, the cleaning, the organizing, picking up chairs for the millions of people that show up at your house, and did I help with any of that??....hardly. Sorry Mom. The night before I flew to Utah I started getting really sick with a bad cold, and by the next morning it had really attacked me. Perfect timing of course! And that is exactly how I wanted my family, cousins, friends, etc. to see me. With my big pregnant belly (feeling pretty big), red puffy eyes, nose, face, (and hair), bad cough, and hardly able to talk or breathe through my nose. I mean it's already hard enough to breathe when you're pregnant and not sick, but when you are, it's that much harder to keep a conversation up while laughing (because my family makes me laugh), and trying to breathe out of your mouth when you can't from your nose.
So basically I spent the weekend mostly lying on the couch trying to keep my eyes open because I wasn't getting any sleep! I was banned from touching any food in the kitchen, of course, but I got a little dusting and vaccumming in. Kudos to my Mom, Angie, Natalie, Hilary, Ben, Lisa, and my Dad for doing all the work. I'm hoping my Mom is getting some rest now.


And of course yesterday went very well and was super fun. Al of course did great on her talk. She had quite the crowd there. About 415 people!! (And I think most of them showed up at the house too!) Al is a great speaker, and so many people thought it was more of a homecoming talk than a farewell because she was so spiritual and awesome! That's my sis! She actually likes speaking in church! (what?) I wish I could feel that way.


Back at the house it was standing room only, until someone had the genius idea of taking the basement door off the hinges so it was easier to get downstairs. After that we were able to herd the Taylor clan down there which freed up a bit of space. (There are so many of us, and most are as tall as Amazons! My one cousin Patrick who is 18 is 6'7"!) So besides my Mom's side of the family, we had some of my Brewster fam there which was great because I haven't seen them forever either, and then of course Allison's huge group of friends were there too! So....full house to say the least.


Luckily we had enough food, and PLENTY of desserts! What a fun party to celebrate Al's decision to go on a mission! We are all so proud of her! What a great decision she has made to serve the Lord in Panama and teach those Panamanians the Gospel! They are in for a real treat to have Sister Brewster in their midst. (Just be careful Al not to get worms, and lay off the intestines!) :)
It was very hard to say goodbye early this morning but 18 months will fly by. Good luck Al, you will be awesome and I love you!