So much to say!

The Community Partners Event was awesome. We had 120 non-profit organizations, field reps from a bunch of Assemblyman, Congressman and CA senate offices. We even had Lou Correa, Congressman, attend the event. I was exhausted afterward, but I have received so many emails about how well it went.

My Ph.D. orientation day 1 was last Friday. I felt a little overwhelmed by everything that must be completed before the dissertation. I think the anxiety was because they told me everything I needed to do for 3 years in about 30 minutes. I am very excited to start researching and writing articles.

It is still a race to September 1, 2009 when everything will be pretty much be done. Right now I am frantically working on a project for Chapman University's Extension Services. I have been hired to teach an extension course on personal financial management. I was able to get CCCS-OC tied into it, so it really isn't anymore additional hours during the day. It is just a lot of work right now since I have to write the curriculum by THURSDAY. I have a meeting with the Dean of the Finance department at 2:00. After Savannah's is in bed, at about 8pm, I have been going back to work to write.

This last Sunday I gave a talk on Provident Living. It was such a great experience since I really learned a lot about the Church Welfare Services and the 6 areas of Provident Living. We also had our Ward Beach Party on Saturday. I was in charge of the Sandcastle competition. Every team had a 4X4 plot of sand. Brian and I made a mermaid and the winning team made the most perfect Egyptian pyramids and sphinx!

Matt is in a Fantasy Football league and invited my Dad and Brian to play. It sounds like a lot of fun and, honestly, I am surprised it has taken Brian this long to get into it since he loves football. Brian teaches the 13-year old boys at church and told them about the fantasy football league. There was so much interest that Brian set up a league for the boys and some Dads too.

Today, Savannah and I played, sang songs and watched Sesame Street. She is really finding her range of voice. A couple weeks ago it was all low grunts and now she is hitting these high pitch "Mariah Carey" notes. When I picked her up from her nap she looked a lot longer in the torso. Her new trick is me holding her arms while she walks. It is really cute seeing her focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Some people have told me that their children walked before they crawled, and I think that is what Savannah will do. Honestly, with a condo without carpet I wouldn't crawl either!