Contacts and new church callings

On our walk tonight Paul commented to me that it was time for a new post.  "After all," he said with mock affrontery, "I got contacts last week and you haven't even mentioned that yet!"  Which is true.  Nine years ago when Paul and I were engaged, Paul decided to try out contacts.  He only got glasses for the first time shortly after we started dating but he thought he might as well give contacts a go. 

It was a fiasco.  I remember him struggling with those suckers to get them in and out of his eyes and I recall breaking the rule about "no girls allowed past the living room" to go back and help Paul in front of the bathroom mirror as he got more and more upset when one of the flimsy lenses got stuck in the crevice of his upper eyelid and he panicked while trying to get it out.  His brief stint with contacts is one of the reasons we have only one picture from our honeymoon - his manual film camera had been calibrated to his diminished eyesight and everytime he looked through the lense while we were in Costa Rica he thought that the high humidity was causing the blurriiness in the frame so he just put the camera away out of frustration.  Needless to say, he has worn glasses for the vast majority of our marriage and it is a little weird for me still to see him without them and I miss them.

There is one reason Pablo decided to try out contacts again of his own volition:  trout.  Paul is planning on fishing in Yellowstone next week and has a big fishing trip planned with his dad for September and he can't wear his polarized sunglasses and still have the clarity of vision that he needs to land the coveted trout that he has been dreaming about unless he is sporting contact lenses.  It tickles my funny bone that Paul would brave contacts again (especially when I remember how traumatizing contacts were for him the first go-around) for a little fly-fishing but that is one of the quirks that I love about him.

Another change that has happened in the last week is that Paul and I were both released from our callings and asked to take on new responsibilities in our ward.  I am sad that I don't get to work with the Beehives any more but am strangely looking forward to being a gospel doctrine teacher.  When I told my mom she said that she would have been in tears to be given that calling, but I sort of like being in front of a group of people imparting knowledge to them.  Besides, I always want to have more in depth, meaningful scripture study and this calling will certainly require that of me. 

My new calling and release were actually occasioned by both the fact that the entire Young Women's presidency was being reorganized and due to Paul being called to be the ward executive secretary, which is a much more demanding calling than ward employment specialist, which was his previous calling.  As ward executive secretary, Paul is now a member of the bishopric and has more demands on his time than he had before, including early morning planning meetings on Sunday before our regular three-hour block, ward council meetings after the three-hour block on Sunday, and Tuesday evening bishopric meetings in addition to his other responsibilities like scheduling, etc.  I still don't know what all his calling entails but I think that Paul, while a little intimidated, is looking forward to the working with the bishop and his counselors.

Disneyland Journal - Day 2

On our second day at Disneyland, we met the Mad Hatter just as we were entering the park.  He was very odd and Clara did not like him.  Paul and Bob headed straight for Space Mountain to nab fast passes while Donna and I meandered down Main Street on our way to Fantasyland.

Goofy was just walking out in front of the Mr. Lincoln theater so we didn't have to wait in line at all to meet him. 

Is it just me or does it look like Goofy is trying to freak Clara out in this photo?

Snow White was my favorite character that we took pictures with though.  She was SO sweet and so perfect.  There is a little courtyard just to the right of Sleeping Beauty's castle and Donna noticed that Snow White was standing there with just a couple of people since it was still so early so again, we were able to take a picture without any waiting. 

My very favorite little kid ride at Disneyland is the Peter Pan ride.  It is AMAZING.  So beautiful, so perfect.  I felt transported.  I honestly could ride that ride all day long.  Clara looked a little freaked out by the flying pirate ships but she really enjoyed this ride.

After Peter Pan's Flight, we went on the Snow White Ride, then the Pinnochio ride.  Both of those were very scary actually.  Especially the Snow White Ride.  Paul and I wanted to cover Clara's eyes because we were worried she would end up having nightmares about the evil queen from Snow White.  So we went on Dumbo next since it was outside and didn't have any wicked surprises that would pop out of a dark wall and cackle at us. 

Paul played with Clara while waiting for Bob & Donna who were riding Space Mountain.

The next ride we went on was Matterhorn.  It has been renovated recently too so you no longer have to sit in the lap of the person you are riding with.  I didn't get a picture in front of it but Paul took these quick photos of me and Clara in front of the teacups (which we didn't go on because it makes us both feel queasy).

I was most excited for Clara to ride It's a Small World though because there is an app on my phone that plays the song and has the different dolls from the different countries that Clara has played with for a couple of months now.  She really enjoyed it and bounced up and down on the seat in between me and Paul and oohed and ahhed and pointed as we floated along.  It was darling.  I wish we had gone on it twice just for her but the line wasn't the shortest and it is completely unshaded.

We were feeding Clara raspberries in line to keep her happy since she was getting tired and was about ready for a nap.  She kept trying to feed them to me instead of putting them in her own mouth.

We waited in a 20 minute line to take photos with more of the Disney princesses.  I have to admit that I am not a huge princess fan.  It is not that I dislike them, I just don't like all of the obsession that so many women and girls have with them.  But a little bit of princess stuff is fun, I think.  The princesses available for photos change all day long.  I was really hoping for Belle and Cinderella, but Jasmine and Princess Minnie were fun.  I am not familiar with Tiana from the Princess and the Frog but she was very sweet with Clara.  Clara has an obsession with jewelry (especially earrings) and she yanked one of Jasmine's clip-on earrings off.  Jasmine just laughed.

Clara also really enjoyed riding the train with her daddy.

I wanted to buy one of these caramel apples SO BADLY.  They look so yummy to me and I am obsessed with their cuteness.  But at $9.99 an apple, I just couldn't do it. 

We spent Saturday afternoon back at the hotel for some time in the pool.  There was a shallow kiddie area that Clara had a blast in.  Paul and I let her walk around as much as she wanted and Clara had a great time "jumping" so that Paul would toss her up in the air. 

We went back to Disneyland in the evening for more rides and the Fantasmic show on the Rivers of America.  Clara fell asleep around 8:00 and slept soundly right until the show started, then she sat straight up and watched the whole thing with fascination.  It was probably too scary of a show for her but she didn't seem to mind at all and she loved the fireworks afterwards.

It was such a great trip and I already cannot wait to go back again.