Teton Chamber Orchestra

Last February, my sister Jill and i recieved a phone call from Eric Wenstrom, conductor of the Teton Chamber Orchestra in Idaho Falls. He was desperate for viola's, and since we played for him both in high school and with the Idaho Falls Youth Symphony, he asked if we were interested. I hadn't played in 10 years but jumped at the chance. We usually only reherse 1-2 times before a performance, so it's expected that we do our part before the rehersals. We played for Jim Brickman in February, Sara Hickman in October, and this week we are playing for Kurt Bestor. It's so awesome! Last night was our first Bestor concert and it was down in Pocatello. Considering how unprepared I felt and how lousy our sound check rehersal went in the afternoon, the concert went amazingly well. I only got completely lost a few times, but I'm really good at faking it and pretending i know exactly what I'm doing. My only minor catastrophe was that my black shirt fell off the hanger in our apartment, and i ended up in Idaho Falls with just an empty hanger. Luckily Jill had an extra black shirt that she let me use for the concert....it saved william from having to go shop for one in Pocatello while I was in rehersal. My favorite part is playing with Jill again. We were both in youth Symphony together for 1 or 2 years before she went off to college, so it makes me feel young again. I still idolize her and wish i could play as well as she does. We have two more christmas concerts this week - tonight and tomorrow night in Idaho Falls. I have to give great big kudos to William for last night. He took off from work early so that he could drive us to Pocatello (we had to be there by 4pm). He then hung around Pocatello and the performing arts center until after the concert (which ended a little after 10pm) so that he could drive us home. What a saint to do that for his wife who HATES to drive on winter roads. He was just sitting out in the lobby during the conert, and Wenstrom saw him during the intermission. Wenstrom took him over to the usher and said, "This is a friend of mine. Do you think there's an empty seat he could sit in and enjoy the show?" So William got in free to the concert and was able to enjoy it from inside.

My Soap Box

So I inherited this "soap box" from my dad, and once I get on the subject, I have a hard time quitting. But since it snowed yesterday, it's a good day for my annual rantings about....Rexburg Winter Road Maintenance.....or lack thereof. Yesterday it snowed and blew all day long, and of course, the roads were covered in snow and ice. But guess how many snow plows we saw ALL DAY LONG yesterday? Zero. And guess how many times they were out sanding or salting the roads? I never saw them. For amusement purposes last night William and I watched the cars getting stuck on 7th South as they tried to drive up the icy hill. There would be 2-3 at a time at a stand still or spinning their tires trying to drive up the ice. You would think that the city would be smart enough to plow the roads when there was first snow on them, before it gets packed down by the cars driving on it. You would also think that they would use a little sand or salt near the intersections or on roads where they ALWAYS have problems. Ok, ok. So I have to admit, they do use a LITTLE bit of sand....usually in the middle of the intersection. Heaven forbid if you should be able to stop before you're halfway through the intersection. Rexburg is scary in the winter, anyway, because of all the students who have never even seen snow, let alone learned how to drive in it. It's rediculous to have roads that look like they do. Like I said, it's a tirade I get on every year, and now I'm going to stop....good thing this is a blog, not a Rexburg road.

"Terrible" complex

So yesterday was my follow up visit with Dr. Adam's office, and I thought I was feeling quite a bit "better." (better being relative, of course. I felt better than Monday, at least, but not great.) Anyway, all three of the docs listened to me and each told me I sounded terrible. I'm beginning to get a complex of sorts.....maybe I always sound terrible! So they loaded me up with an IV, gave me an IV antibiotic, an IV steroid, and a breathing treatment. I'm happy to report that after all of that (granted it was 3 hours!) Dr. Harper came in and said "wow, you sound better!" So maybe I'm not terrible after all! We decided that Xopenex inhalers (which are supposed to work just as well as albuterol inhalers but without making your heart race) don't work for me at all. I was telling the Doctor that I'd take the xopenex and wouldn't notice any change. But they gave me albuterol yesterday, and I was amazed that it actually made a drastic improvement. Granted, my heart rate was sky high and i felt a little high after "smoking the peace pipe," but at least I can walk across the room without having to sit down and rest for 10 minutes after. I'm just thankful for the wonders of modern medicine and that last night I got a good night's sleep!

Christmas Letter, 2008

December, 2008

Dear Family and Friends –

Happy Holidays!! Can you believe another year has almost passed? We debated about sending a Christmas letter this year, but we've decided it's been such a wonderful, blessed year that we'd share some of the exciting and not so exciting things that have happened with our family this year.

William is almost done with classes (he'll finish classes in July) and is looking forward to being done with school. He has loved his internship this fall, and has been all over eastern Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana doing Land Surveying. Hard economic times have taken its toll on the construction industry, however, and his hours have been drastically reduced as the months have progressed. He loves it, though, and has considered certifying in land survey when he is done with school. Kylie is still working at the hospital and seems to be spending a majority of her shifts in the ICU. She likes being a nurse but gets frustrated with the politics of the hospital. She's probably told William at least once a month that she's going to quit and go work somewhere else. Seeing how she's usually all talk, though, she's still at Madison Memorial.

This summer we had the opportunity to spend a week camping at Star Hope Creek in the Copper Basin with Kylie's family. Perhaps Kylie's mom should have told us sooner that Star Hope Creek used to be called "Bear Creek" but no one would camp there so they changed the name to Star Hope. Perhaps had we known that we might not have been as surprised at our "adventure" on our first night. We can now say that we've survived a bear attack! We had the unique, terrifying opportunity to be sleeping in our tent when a bear came down to our camp and for some reason decided to take a swipe at our tent, ripping out the portion very near Kylie's head. No, we didn't have any food in our tent or in our camp for that matter – we'd been very careful to lock all food in our cars. We stayed in our tent for way too long before we dared get out and run to our car, where we had foolishly left our gun for the night. We woke up the rest of Kylie's family, explained what had happened, and for the next 3 nights each family took shifts "standing guard" and keeping a fire going just in case the bear came back. Needless to say, we didn't sleep in our tent anymore. Imagine, if you can, William trying to fold his 6'3" frame into the back of our little Ford Escape. We've never been so glad to see a sunrise as we were that first morning, nor have we ever been so glad to be home in our own bed again!

One of the best things to happen to us this year was the opportunity in October we had to start building our house. We are building in Rigby, Idaho, one mile east of the Loft on County Line Road. It's a little subdivision called Pepperwood crossing. We are putting the "sweat equity" into our home by doing all the work ourselves, with the exception of concrete, electrical, and plumbing. It has been a learning experience, but one that has been fun and exciting none the less. Our loan actually comes from USDA Rural Development as part of their Self Help Housing program. We are put into groups, (there are nine families in our group) and we build all nine houses together. It's a great program because we have had the unique opportunity to get to know all of our neighbors before we move in because we work side by side with them. Our group is the fastest group they've ever had, and in the last 2 months of working we are already a month ahead of schedule. Hopefully that pace continues and we're in our house early spring.

The very best part of our year happened at Thanksgiving, when we were able to announce to our families that we are expecting our first baby on June 8^th. It was so much fun to surprise and delight them in such a way. It is something that we have wanted for years and our prayers have been answered. For arguments sake, Kylie bet a ½ gallon of ice cream of her choosing that it's a girl, while William bet his ice cream flavor that it's a boy. Sure hope William likes something chocolate, because that's what Kylie's going to choose on January 15^th when they find out it IS a girl!

We hope this year has been as wonderful for your family as it has been for ours. We can see the hand of the Lord in our lives, and we hope that you can feel His love and compassion this holiday season. May the coming year be full of joy, love and laughter for all!

Love,

William and Kylie Mobley

New Mone Yuh

Well, it's official. I should listen to William more often. He's been saying since saturday "you really should go see Dr. Adams about your cough." So I called in sick to work today, after not sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG, (I even tried sleeping on the couch, to no avail." I was expecting Dr. Adams to say "congratulations kylie, you have a cold and your asthma is flaring up." What he said instead was "Ew, you sound awful, ever had pneumonia before?" I explaine that yes, I've had it a grand total of 4 times, and he told me to make this #5. Official diagnosis - Left Lower Lobe Pneumonia. I now feel like walking pharmacy after a shot of antibiotic in my backside, a prescription for Zithromax for an antibiotic, Prednisone (a steroid for my asthma which has definatly flared with this) and Phenergan with Codeine cough syrup so I can sleep at night. I am grateful for so many things this week - first and foremost a wonderful, sweet husband who does everything he can to help me feel better, including buying me "Puffs with Aloe Vera" tissues for my red, sore nose; cleaning the kitchen, and brining me drinks of water at night when i cough. I'm also thankful for Dr. Adams who doesn't treat me like an idiot or a hypochondriac. And I'm thankful for my mom who poured out the sympathy for me and offered to bring Will and I dinner tomorrow night. I am blessed by so many other people - I couldn't do it without them!

Jon Schmidt Christmas Concert

For as long as I can remember, I have loved the music of Jon Schmidt. He does new age piano music, and he's hillarious to watch! I've seen him in concert probably 8 times now, and loved it every time. We found out in Early November that he was coming to Rexburg this weekend for his annual Christmas concert, but tickets were $10 a piece, and we decided that it was too much money to spend. But yesterday as we were working on our house, we got a phone call from our friend Logan Owen, who knows that I like Jon Schmidt. He had tickets to the show but was unable to attend, so he offered the tickets to us for free! What a blessing! We were able to go to the show and laugh all night long as we were entertained with wonderful music, crazy antics, and yes, he really does play songs while on his back....and with his feet....and with his arms.....and he even did a back flip off the stage. If you ever get the chance to see him perform, I'd encourage you to jump at the chance. Check out his website (www.jonschmidt.com) to watch video of his concerts, listen to songs, etc. You'll be glad you did.

Black Friday....

I realize it's not really friday anymore, but I've finally caught up on my sleep enough to write again! We spent Thanksgiving up in Mackay with my grandpa Lambert and my Aunt LaRue and Uncle John and family. It was a wonderful day, full of laughter, surprises, and all kinds of games (including trivial Pursuit, Bunco, Apples to Apples, and the Wii). We got back to mom and dad's about 7 pm and started making our "battle plan." We are die hard Black Friday shoppers, and it's our tradition thanksgiving night to decide who's going where, for what, and when. We finally got to bed around 11 pm, just in time to catch a few hours of sleep before getting up at 2:45 am to go shopping. William and I were at Shopko by 3:30 and waited in line until 5 when they opened. We were finished there by 5:15 and head to Target, where we waited in line at Target until they opened at 6. It only took us until 6:12 to be finished there. Then it was on to Walgreens (which was already open but the sale didn't start until 7, so I took the opportunity to sit back in the pharmacy in one of their shiatzu massage chairs until 7 - what a blessing!) Then it was on to hastings and finally on to breakfast. Every year as I'm standing in line, freezing and tired, I wonder why I go shopping and I tell William that "next year we're sleeping in". But every year finds me standing in line at unlawful hours just to save a little money. I need to work on my long term memory! It was fun, though, and I'm sure I'll be there again next year!

Happy Plants

I love plants, but plants didn't like our last apartment. I had an african Violet for 2 years and it never bloomed. Grandma Danielson kept telling me "more food, more light." But it still didn't bloom. But since we moved back in September, all of my plants are much happier. Like my african violet, pictured above, that has gone crazy with blooms, and my shamrock that has at least quadrupled in size. I guess that you could say "happy plants make a happy kylie."

learning the hard way

We learned an interesting lesson yesterday while building our house. Our group has always prided itself on how fast we work and how quickly we are getting our houses done. We learned yesterday that just because something is done fast doesn't mean it is done right. We spent ALL DAY yesterday fixing mistakes that had been made on our houses because we did things the fast way, not the right way. Our foreman had told us from the begining that when we are doing walls, we need to put in the studs, make sure it's "square" and then sheet it so that it stays square when we stand it. We did that on the first house, but on the next several, they decided to stand the walls without sheeting because it was "faster to put the sheeting on afterwards." So we resquared walls all day yesterday. It would have taken mere moments longer, perhaps, to sheet the walls before we stood them, and maybe it would have taken a little more muscle to stand the walls. but it wouldn't have taken the hours and effort that it took us yesterday to fix our mistakes.
On a lighter note, We ate dinner last night with William's mom and dad and family, and the missionaries were there as well. I was touched by the comment of one of the missionaries as he gave the lesson. He shared the scripture in 3 Nephi 5:12-13 where it says,

" 12 And behold, I am called Mormon, being called after the ^bland of Mormon, the land in which Alma did establish the church among the people, yea, the first church which was established among them after their transgression.

13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been ^acalled of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

The Elder then asked us to think about how we would leave our introduction for people to remember us by. Would I say, "I am Kylie, being called by my grandmother, and I am a nurse and have been blessed by the best husband in the world?" or would I say "I am Kylie, and I am a disciple of Jesus Christ." I would hope for the latter. It inspired me to think more about who I am and the kind of person I want people to remember me as.

raising the bar...i mean the garage

I finally got a video of work being done on our house instead of still pictures afterwards. So I thought I'd include it. I told William that I had a video and his only comment was, "you mean you let me do all the work and didn't help?" I thought my purpose was best served with the camera. I wouldn't want William to feel wimpy or anything.

We have walls!!!

Our house finally has walls! Ok, so it's had walls for a few days, but it's still exciting. It's great to see such rapid progress on something that took FOREVER to get started. We have to finish the garage still, then we'll be ready for trusses and roofing. I just hope it doesn't snow before we get everything closed in. William and I didn't get to help with exterior walls because we were out of town at a funeral the saturday they were done, but we did the layout for the interior walls by ourselves. It's amazing how much faster the work goes now that we have power at our jobsite (verses a generator) and since we can use nail guns instead of hammers and muscle. We're always looking for volunteers (as long as they're at least 16 years old) to help us....we work every saturday from 8-4 and several times througout the week. (gotta get our 30 hours in somehow!) So if you're ever interested, let us know - i'll let you borrow my tool belt.

Halloween Costumes

My sister and I decided to make Halloween costumes for her girls this year, and she let them pick what they wanted to be. I was sure they would be constantly changing their minds, but they've stuck with their ideas since early October. Ashtyn wanted to be a tiger, and Tayla wanted to be a bumble bee. We decided to make their costumes pajama-able so that they could wear them for halloween and all year long if they wanted. (my momma used to do that for us when we were kids.) So we made their costumes out of fleece and they turned out so very cute! I had to take pictures, even though the girls don't have on their headbands that include either tiger ears or bumble bee antanae.
I miss the excitment of halloween that came with being a child. As an adult, it's not quite as much fun, and i'd just feel silly dressing up in a costume. I have to work tomorrow, and I think I'm going to dress up as a nurse....I do have these awesome scrubs with ghosts that i painted with glow in the dark paint....not that it's that cool during the day time. My other idea was that I'd dress up like William....but i think his shoes that are twice the size of mine would create more hazard than it's worth. Hmmm...I do have a hard hat and a tool belt, and that would be great for holding needles, pens, etc.

I'm glad it's Monday....

Ok, so it's Tuesday. But I meant to write this yesterday but ran out of time. I'll just pretend it's still Monday....
I'm glad it's Monday because that means the funeral is over, the life sketch and musical numbers are over, and the speaking in church is over. This week doesn't seem nearly as daunting as last week did. I guess that's why i chose the picture I did...the rain is past and there is beauty again.
The funeral was beautiful, and although I lost total control over ALL of my emotions during the opening song, my prayers were answered as I felt a blanket of peace envelop me during the opening prayer. i was able to do the life sketch without crying (william says he probably cried more tears than I did) and Lilly (Jill) and I were able to play our Viola's without our hands shaking. My cousin Jake, who is 18 did the closing prayer, and it was probably the most beautiful, eloquent prayer I have ever heard. I realized in an instant that my "little boy cousins"aren't little boys anymore - somehow Jake turned into a man without me even realizing it.
I had to talk in church on Sunday - not William, just me. Totally unfair. My assigned topic was what it means to be converted as a lifetime member of the church. I based my talk around the talk by Elder Oakes - The Challenge To Become. It's a fantastic talk that I highly reccomend to anyone who needs to be converted.
Monday I went back to work, and it was kind of a relief to leave my messy house behind. William didn't have to work, and bless his heart, he cleaned it while I was gone. I'm sorry he puts everyone else to shame at being so wonderful. Work was good, though, and although I hate my job 89% of the time, Monday was one of those 11% good times.
Anyway, I'm glad it's a new week!

Life Sketch

When the Lord told Abraham about the Noble and Great ones, I'm sure he was talking about my grandma, Eva Adams Lambert. She would have been 91 next month, but she passed away on Sunday. My grandpa asked me if to do the life sketch at her funeral tomorrow. I am honored beyond words because I have so very much love and respect for my grandma. I'm also nervous, because i hope i can do her life justice. She never knew how wonderful and beautiful she was, and I hope that I can show everyone else the sweet, funny, kindhearted woman I've been honored to know that last 28 years. She was truly a remarkable woman
It's been kind of fun to talk to my great aunts about their sister and hear stories from her childhood. I have to share my favorite story so far. She was teaching her sister Nita how to drive, and they had to drive through a grove of trees to get to the house. Their old rooster was in the way, and being young and inexperienced, they didn't know what to do. So they drove right over top of it. All my grandma could do was laugh at the poor dead rooster with it's tail feathers sticking up. That was the end of driving lessons.
Anyway, this has been kind of a hard week for me. My mom is the only daughters, and her brother's don't want too much to do with the details of funeral planning. My mom has said many times that I am a strength to her, so this week i've been helping with funeral planning. It is a sacred feeling to do things for my grandma that she can't do for herself, yet it breaks my heart because I will miss her so very much. I spent large portions of my summers on her farm as a child. As a college student, it was her house I would go to when i needed to get away from it all. She will be greatly missed. I am thankful for my testimony that this life is not the end - that death is merely a doorway into eternal life. I"m thankful for the temple and covenants of eternal marriage. And I'm thankful for the righteous influence one soul can have upon another.

hammers and fingers don't mix

For those of you who don't know, William and I started building our house a couple of weeks ago. We only have a floor so far, but we're getting there. We are doing a "self-help housing" program through Rural Development, in which we are building 9 homes with our future neighbors. We build all the houses together in phases, so we don't work just on our house. Anyway, with that said...you'd all be amazed that Kylie can out hammer one of the boys and several of the girls. I never really considered myself to be talented in building like Will is, but at least I can hammer with one hand and hit the nail more than once every 10 swings. We've been putting in floors for the last couple of weeks, which is ok, but not nearly as much fun as what we did monday and tuesday. This week has been great because we started building walls. They are so much better than floors, maybe because you finally see a verticle change to the house. Yesterday wasn't such a great day for William, though. Someone kicked the top plate he was nailing as he was swinging the hammer, and he ended up hitting his pinkie instead of the nail. It looks awful and painful, so I've included a picture for everyone else to see and sympathize with William.

Getting Started

In a world where everyone else tries to "keep up with the Jones'" I decided that Will and I needed to "keep up with the Mobley's" and start blogging. I mostly quit writing in my journal because I decided my life was too boring to record, so the same thing may happen here. It's a good way to keep in touch, though, and share our random thoughts when there's no one around to voice them to.
So here's a little about us. We were married February 4, 2006 in the Idaho Falls Temple. We've been living in Rexburg since then, but that will change next year. Not only does William graduate from BYU-Idaho, but we are building a house in Rigby that will FINALLY get Kylie out of Rexburg! (I came here 10 years ago to go to a 2 year college....and I haven't been able to leave yet!!)
William and I share many similar interests including music, rock climbing, rappelling, spelunking, watching movies, and taking long walks. We're both hopeless romantics and find joy in the little things.
So here's to some happy blogging....what luck for the rest of the world!