Best part of Sundays? Funny 4-year-old friends

We look forward to Sunday afternoons all week. Why? We teach the 4- and 5-year-old Primary class. Cute and candid, they've won us over - we LOVE spending time with them, chaos and all.

Anywhere from five to 11 kids show up depending on the Sunday, and every week we get HILARIOUS quotes to tide us over 'til we see our little rascals again. Some favorites so far:

Everyone coloring pictures, and Ryan uses a purple crayon.Disobeying "color gender laws" at their age is apparently cause for ridicule and quick correction.
Summer: (emphatically) You can't use that color, teacher.
Ryan: Why not?
Summer: That's GIRLISS, not BOYISS.
Danielle: Yeah, that's too GIRLISS for you.

Preston, sitting by darling Maddy, looks up at me innocently:
Preston: I'm not gonna kiss her, cause I'm not allowed to.
Crystalee: That's good, Preston. Let's not do that.
Preston: But when I grow up, I can marry her. (Maddy blushes profusely)


To act out examples of how to CTR, I brought props. I gave one boy a box of tissues.
Crystalee: Ok, class, we're pretending James is sick. How could we help if he's sick?
Preston: Give him medicine.
Crystalee: That's a good idea. What's something nice we could say to him?
Preston: (thinking about it, then confident) Do you want some medicine?

In the big Primary group, the Sharing Time teacher holds up a picture of President Thomas S. Monson.
Teacher: Who is this?
Thomas: (shouts out) THOMAS the PROPHET! (mumbles to himself) And there's Thomas the TRAIN, too.

Another Meaning for 'CTR'

In our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we're apparently huge fans of acronyms. If you're a Mormon, you'll recognize these. If not, here's a 101:

BYC = Bishop's Youth Council

D&C = Doctrine & Covenants

CTR = Choose the Right

EFY = Especially for Youth

LDS = Latter-day Saint

MTC = Missionary Training Center

RM = Return Missionary

VT = Visiting Teacher

YM/YW = Young Men/Young Women

YSA = Young Single Adult

It seems every English-speaking Mormon kid, from the time they recognize letters is taught that "CTR" stands for "Choose the Right."

This year, we're teaching a group of rowdy (but adorable) 4-5 year olds in Primary, and started off the new year giving them CTR rings. They were a hit, and a better enticement to sit still than anything else we could come up with. It will be interesting to see how many of them actually still have their rings a week later...

In our home, there's an extra meaning for "CTR." Ryan told me when we were dating it stands for CHOOSE THE RYAN. Obviously, I believed him.

Missing New Year's - Part 3 of 3

Best for last! Our first day in Sydney, we went to church, where we met the most amazing family and cutest kids EVER. When we think of this trip, they come to mind first; they made it special. You'll soon see why.

January 2, 2011

We enjoyed the ward, full of Australian accents and multi-cultural backgrounds. Only one American family in the bunch, the Swintons were quick to introduce themselves. They went to BYU and were glad to see us. It was so nice of them to invite us over for dinner. We were both famished and happy to accept a home-cooked meal. The three Swinton kids were so adorable, we were sad to say goodbye. Stan drove us to our hostel and offered for us to stay with them this weekend. How NICE!!

We did stay with them, and they were godsends as our hosts, friends and tour guides. Their generosity and kindness still amaze us - they treated us like family.

They took us to Featherdale Park, where we got to pet/feed kangaroos and koala bears (I was flipping out, I was so excited).

They also took us on a day trip to the Blue Mountains, a national park. Although quite foggy that day, we really enjoyed the company of the Stan and the darling Swinton girls. (Ryan couldn't help but hold their hands and give them shoulder rides...he's a sucker for cute little kids.)

With their insiders expertise on Sydney, they took us to a little-known beach, a lovely place with a magical little bridge leading to an island. We played in the sand until it got dark, wishing we lived within babysitting distance of our rad new friends.

They showed us around the Sydney Aquatic Centre, now a family fun water park, where the Olympic events were held in 2000. Ryan, naturally, did his swimmer thing and swam lengths. I got in a length, just to say I did it.

We want the Swintons to know we feel so blessed we met you and still talk about memories with you. We hope to have a rad family like yours someday. You really were the best part of Australia, and totally made it worth missing New Year's Eve. Stan and Eish - you're such great parents. Kiddos - we miss you guys. Happy New Year!