A lot of endings

Yesterday I was released from my calling as Primary President. I really enjoyed working with the children in the ward. I'm still going to make an effort to know their names and say hi to them at church, but it won't be the same.
This is also my last week at work. It feels like the right time to leave. I've worked there for 3 1/2 years, and it's been a big part of my life. I met Jeff through my boss at La Europa. I earned my Level 2 teaching license this past year. I have been part of a close knit faculty that has felt like extended family. I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with a variety of students. I feel like I've really had an impact on many of their lives, as they've had an impact on mine.
As Jeff and I prepare for Cosette's arrival, a lot of chapters of my life are ending. But I know I'm about to begin the most important chapter of my life: motherhood.
When my students asked me today why I'm not coming back to work after having the baby, I told them that it's because I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. That's what I've always wanted to be "when I grow up." (So, I guess I'm officially grown up now.)
I know that I don't really understand what I'm in store for. But I'm looking forward to the mixture of challenges and joys that I know motherhood will bring.

Crib

I was really excited when Jeff put the crib together a few weeks ago (it was a very thoughtful Christmas gift for me). But after we bought the bedding, it feels more official. Here's a picture of what the bedding looks like. I love it because it's cute but not too girly.

Sometimes I like to go into the nursery at night and stroke the comfortor, imagining Cosette sleeping in the crib. It won't be too long now!

New Car!

We are now the proud owners of a 2009 Ford Focus. It has about 13,500 miles on it.
At first we were fairly set on a Kia Forte - it looked great on paper - but decided against it after test driving it. It just didn't fit.
We went downtown in Salt Lake on Wednesday afternoon (the day our rental coverage ended) to test drive our future car. It's fuel efficient, reliable, and I LOVE the color. I have always secretly wanted a subtle metallic color. This shade is called light ice blue metallic. Jeff calls it Tinker Bell Blue, but I'm pretty sure he likes it, too. It's not too girly, right?
We thought it was kinda cool that the name of the place we bought it from was called Anderson Motor Co. We wondered if they'd give us an extra discount for having the same name... but no such luck. It was a small, family owned car lot that had good reviews online (we checked before we went), and I was very pleased with the service.
It started snowing while we were signing the papers, so we got to drive home on slippery roads. Fortunately, the car did just fine.
Here are some of our likes and dislikes. A lot of the dislikes stem from differences between our new car and our old car, so they're really just things we'll have to get used to.

Likes

• color
• how it handles - more "get up and go," wheel placement
  
• two sets of keys with remotes - the Toyota only had one
  
• has a button on the remotes for the trunk - our last car didn't have this
• driver's seat height is adjustable
• size of the trunk - a little larger than our last car, but the car length overall is shorter... how does that work?

Dislikes (Things we'll have to get used to)

• lights are not automatic - we actually didn't realize this until after we'd bought it... we got pretty used to having automatic lights in our last car
• no good storage space to put our sunglasses
• windshield wiper control - it's on the left instead of the right side of the steering wheel, you can't flick it to spray the windshield (if you flick it, it's the turn signal)