Well, you know how I like 'em!

So, yes, it's me, and we know how I do weekends! I like to pack 'em chock full as many things as possible. It could be argued that I like all of my days that way, but it's true. There are two things that make me very happy: being very busy and reading. So, pretty much I'm either busy running here and there, or I'm reading. It's a very good life!

Well, enough beating around the bush. I'll get to the meat! So, my wonderful weekend began with a baptism of two of our good friends we've made here in Cincinnati: Anayancy and Luis. They have beautiful full names, so I'm going to share those with you: Anayancy Flores Torres and Luis Armando Arellano Coronado. They started out as investigators and have since become our good friends and fellow brother and sister in Christ, and we're so happy to have meet them!

Jeff was one of the witnesses, and I had the opportunity to sing Tan sólo con pensar en Ti, which is the hymn Jesus, the very thought of Thee translated into Spanish. I had a new friend, Sara, play the oboe for me, and another friend, Victoria, play the piano, and I think it went very well. I'm not sure how understandable my Spanish was, and I messed up the rhythm once, but the Spirit was definitely felt, and that was the purpose, so success.

And just because every post needs to have a ridiculously happy or cute picture (or both!),

here you go!

 The baptism was Saturday morning, and that afternoon found Jeff, Jill, and I driving to Indianapolis to surprise my brother for his 30th birthday party. We had told him that we couldn't make it with the other weekend events, but . . . *drum roll* we lied! Hahaha. Liars. Seriously though, it was a lot of fun to surprise him, and I loved getting to see my family!

I will share some of my favorite pictures here on the blog, and you can find the rest on facebook. This first picture is of my sister, myself, and my sister-in-law, Rachel. I didn't get one of the wife of my other brother with me, but I got some cute ones of her and my brother. :) Like . . .

this one! Smoochie time! It looks like Peter got a nice birthday kiss. :)

If you click right here, you can view the scrapbook that I made for Peter. It was my first attempt at digital scrapbooking, and I had fun with it. The family is going to print it off into a hardcover scrapbook for him, but I already showed him the digital version at his party, so the surprise is gone.

And of course, we can't have the whole family together and not take cute pictures of the four granddaughters. This time they're in matching outfits, courtesy of my mother-in-law, Laurie. Thanks, Laurie! :) They're not all smiling, but they're at least not all crying, and that is a feat in and of itself.

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is the most delicious looking chocolate cake you have ever seen. I told Mindee it was almost an insult to call it a cake, because it is so above and beyond what other cakes are like. We decided "heaven on a plate" would be a good name for it. It has four layers of incredibly moist chocolate cake with mousse and frosting in between and then delectable chocolate frosting drizzled on top. Mindee made it, and it was amazing. She's amazing!

The birthday party for Peter at times felt a little bit like preschool or nursery. Let's see . . . there were three babies (under the age of 1) and then five toddlers. There were also two pregnant women. I think I am counting all the little ones. So, that's quite a lot to squeeze into one house. That's not including all of the parents of those tots, too. We were bursting at the seams, but that is how Bolings like their parties to be. (Thank you, by the way, Rachel and Danny for allowing us to party at your house!)

The Boling ended in true Boling style (at least that's what was going on when Jeff, Jill, and I had to leave) with some karaoke action. Amy and I sang a song together for old time's sake. Peter . . . haha. Well, Peter sang a song to make sure that everyone could be comfortable singing and not have anything to use as an excuse. Jami and Jacob Jackson did a heartfelt rendition of My Girl that they dedicated to Peter and almost always said "Peter" instead of "My Girl." It was pretty awesome. :)

I'm not sure what else went down after we left, but it was an awesome party. Lots of cousins, lots of friends, lots of love. Happy birthday, Peachie!

We drove back to Cincinnati that evening and made it in before midnight, so that was good! Sunday brought Jeff participating in the confirmation circle for Anayancy and Luis and then blessing their beautiful baby boy: Luis Santiago Arellano Flores

Arellano/Flores Family

Another reason we needed to be back today is that I substitute taught in Primary today for the Valiant 13 class. (I think that is what it was called. When I was in Primary, it was the Merrie Misses and Blazers, I believe.) They are the kids who have or will turn 12 in 2009. They were a great class. I did not know all of them before, but I knew all of their parents. They got (I hope!) a tickle out of me calling them brother or sister and their last names rather than by their first names.

The evening rounded out tonight in a fantastic manner by attending a fireside at our church building. We had a wonderful speaker: Richard Paul Evans! If you're not sure who he is, then go check out one of his books from the library or watch The Christmas Box. I think some of his other books have been turned into movies, but that's a personal favorite. He's a beautiful author and a great speaker. I believe he said that when his wife is asked what her husband does, she responds, "makes people cry." It's true. He definitely made me cry. He made me laugh a lot as well. And, as I'm sure he would find the greatest compliment, he made me think as well. It was wonderful! I'm so glad we decided to go. I just went to his website, because I assumed that if he is here, he must have a book signing, and he has one tomorrow night at 7:00 at Joseph-Beth Bookstore on Madison. It's in the center of Cincinnati, so it's about half an hour away, but maybe I can convince my mother-in-law to go with me.

That leads me to another exciting thing. Why do you ask would I try to convince my mother-in-law and not my husband? Well, thank you for asking! It's because my husband is starting his big-boy, graduated-from-college, found-a-job-in-my-desired-field job tomorrow! *woot woot* Part of his job is to manage the night managers, so for the first three days, he'll go in from 3:00 pm to midnight or so. Then the rest of the days are 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.