OCTOBER 1-8:
so this was birthday week. and birthday week is of course one of the most important weeks of the year. BUT on the 3rd and 4th it was also conference weekend which was so so good. conference here is shown a week later because they have to translate it in lithuanian/russian and we didn't want to wait a whole week to see it, so we live streamed it. it was on at 7pm and 11pm our time. we stayed up late and had a conference party. we ate pizza and too much candy. i loved it so much. it was so comforting to watch. not only to hear from our prophet and apostles, but also to know that it was what my family was doing at the exact same time (but of course my family had really good food and they were all probably cuddled up on the couch together). i got to be cuddled up on our bed with my 2 best friends learning more about our savior. i loved it.
the 5th is of course carly's birthday and it hurt my heart a little that i wasn't there to share a birthday cake with her and blow out candles together. but there's always next year, right? s/o to us for being another year older and wiser too!
the 7th: it's clearly the best day of the whole entire year, but this year was a little different. i woke up to a text from my dad saying that my uncle ken had collapsed at work and had suffered from a major heart attack. he was in a coma and at the time we were waiting for results and praying constantly. it was a pretty surreal feeling to get that text and not be home with my family. it was a super comforting feeling knowing my mom and alex were going to be here the next day. the girls i'm here with were so sweet to me on my birthday! mccall and madi hung up a big banner that said "happy birthday!" in our hallway right as you walk out the door. we had lunch and institute at the nuttall's and it is always so nice to be there. at school, my kids sang me happy birthday and one of my sweet girls, maja, remembered it was my birthday and brought me a nice chocolate bar and a cute little cat she made out of clay. after school, the girls bought pizza express (love) and put candles in it that said "happy birthday" for me to blow out. it was such a good day. i love my birthday.
the 8th: my mom and alex got here. and wow, i've never been so happy in my life. i went to their hotel in the morning because they got here late on my birthday. they were staying in old town so i woke up early and got on the bus to go see them. i showed up to the hotel and i could see my moms feet coming down the stairs and i instantly burst in to tears. i ran up and hugged her and i never wanted her to let me go. i love her so much. we sat down and ate breakfast and i waited for alex to come from the room. i was so excited to see his face. mustache and all. my heart was just bursting with happiness. it was kind of a chilly day, but we spent most of the day outside. we went to cathedral square, went in the cathedral (which i had never been in before?), went in to the clock tower (which i had also never been in before?), went up to Gediminas Tower, went to a cute coffee shop and then went to get ice cream. i had to leave to get back to school, but after i left, they went to a couple museums. after school, madi and mccall came back with me and we went to get kebabs with my mom (alex was out skating with his new friends). after kebabs, we went to mcdonalds because my mom had to try a lion mcflurry. VILNIUS DOESN'T HAVE LION MCFLURRIES. like what?? we were so annoyed. alex showed up later and got food. and while we were there we had 4 different homeless people approach us and ask us for money. the first one that approached us, alex asked "dude what drugs are you on?" and it was so funny/awkward. after that, alex's heart couldn't turn the people down so he was buying them all food. he really does have a heart of gold.
one of my fav quotes from conference
"do i look european yet?"
October 9-16:
the 9th: i could of sworn my life was ending. it was a friday night so i was going to have a sleepover at my mom's hotel. i showed up at their hotel and alex was freaking out. we have never gotten in to such a big fight before in my life. he had his reasons, but it was just so upsetting all around. me and alex haven't always gotten along and this was just adding more to it. a positive to this night was that i got to take a bath at the hotel. IT WAS SO NICE. there were two twin beds in the room and so alex and i ended up sharing a twin bed after we had both told eachother we never wanted to talk to eachother again, we hated eachother, and multiple other things. it was kind of funny.
10th: i woke up in the middle of the night to a phone call from my grandma saying that uncle ken had passed away. with it being so late in the night, i had a hard time processing it until i woke up the next morning. i honestly could not wrap my head around the fact that he was actually gone. alex had a late night the night before and came home without his skateboard and phone. so he was on a mission to find those two things. he never found his phone, but later found his skateboard at a bar he was at earlier that night. i have never seen so much joy in that kids face. he was so stoked on life to find his board. we went to a crepe place for breakfast and madi and mccall met us there. after that, we headed to a Dali and Picasso exhibit. it was so cool. it was something that made me think of sophie the whole time, wishing she could be there. we also went to Uzupis because i knew my mom and alex would like the street art and the personality. we went to dinner and then brought my mom and alex back to our apartment. my mom really wanted to see it, because i don't think she actually believed me about how bad it was until she actually saw it. but i still think she was pretty shocked. they stayed for a minute and then had to leave because their flight left early the next morning. it was really hard saying goodbye. i was really sad to say bye to my mom, but almost more sad to say bye to alex. whenever i say bye to him, i never really know when i'm going to see him again. he is planning on entering a two year treatment program, so it could be awhile until i see him next. so that was really hard and i couldn't hug him tight enough or kiss him enough. it was really bittersweet. i was so happy they came, but so sad they had to leave.
the 14th: it was a wednesday, so we had institute at the nuttall's. i was still pretty upset about being away from home during this time. i was struggling. after the lesson and lunch, i asked elder nuttall for a priesthood blessing of comfort. i'm so thankful that i have the gospel in my life and that i have the power of the priesthood. that blessing made me feel so comforted and peaceful. i'm so happy and thankful that i have the nuttall's and the community that the gospel brings while i'm away from home. it is honestly such a blessing.
the rest of the week was kind of crazy because i was away from home and everyone was working on getting stuff ready for the funeral. i was sad that i couldn't be home with everyone because it still doesn't feel totally real to me. so i'm afraid to come home in December and not have him there. it will be really hard.
he found his skate!
uzupis
the a team
October 17-24:
the 16th and 17th: kind of a crazy couple of days. the 16th was the day of ken's viewing and the 17th was the funeral. i was really sad that i didn't get to be there with my whole family. on saturday morning before they shut the casket, carly facetimed me so that i could hear the family prayer. my dad gave a really nice prayer and i was really happy that i was able to hear that. the plan was that she would keep me on facetime audio so that i could hear the whole service, but once they got in to the church i couldn't really hear anything. i could hear someone speaking, but it was very muffled. so i was sad that i couldn't hear it. but once they got to the graveside, carly called me again and i got to hear those services. i also got to see all of my family and talk to everyone. i was super happy about that. i was glad to talk to uncle dave since i had not been able to talk to him since everything happen. it was a very emotional day, but it was nice. i'm still afraid to go home at christmas and have him not be there, because it still doesn't seem real.
the 23rd: the day of our halloween party! we were getting ready to go on our 10 day trip so we weren't going to be at school with our kids over halloween. so we had an early halloween! we had all of our kids dress up and we did different rotations. i did musical chairs, mccall did a sensory bag roation and made them touch gross things, katie and saffron did face painting, rebecca did bingo and madi did a photo booth. it was so fun to see all of our kids dressed up and just be able to play with them.
the rest of the week was basically just a normal week. we spent our days prepping and teaching our littles. we were leaving on our 10 day trip so everyone was pretty ready to be done teaching and our kids were sick of being there. everyone needed the break.
this is lucas. he is a huge ball of energy, loves kisses,
always wants to be held, and loves his teachers
this is masha. she refers to herself as a princess,
so basically we're the same person. she's the russian version of me
cutest dog ever
these were the coolest little arrangements
on the lawn of the kindergarten that we eat at!
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