I thought price gouging was illegal...

Fortunately, Garrett and I filled our cars with gas on Wednesday night (for a cool $3.50 a gallon, which was pretty good for our area). Thanks to Hurricane Ike, by Thursday night gas prices had shot up to $4.50 a gallon. Now, it's $4.99 a gallon, but that's only if gas is available. Half the gas stations in our area are closed because they ran out! Today Garrett was looking at a "temperature map" online, but instead of temperatures it was showing gas prices around the country. Most states were still green (cheapest) and yellow (just above green), and there were a few red counties around the country, but our state was COMPLETELY maroon, which is the most expensive. California (which always seems to have the priciest gas) didn't even have any maroon counties! So frustrating! Thankfully, I don't have many obligations away home, so I can cut down my driving, and Garrett's car gets the best gas mileage of the two, so we'll get by ok.

It couldn't have come at a worse time for many people in our area, though, because Stake Conference was this weekend, and lots of people have to travel pretty far. In the Saturday evening session our Stake President told everyone to do whatever we could to come to our Sunday session, even if it meant having to buy gas on a Sunday (if gas stations were to reopen). Thankfully, we didn't have to do that, but we did probably use almost half a tank with all the traveling we did (Priesthood session, adult session, babysitters, Sunday morning session, etc).

But of course, Stake Conference was worth it - I loved both sessions, and I got more experience with ASL, so that was great. I interpreted for 3 or 4 talks, which I don't normally do, but it went well. Except for the time I signed "thief" instead of "Shepherd". That was embarassing...

All About Abby

At just over 14 months old, Abby babbles all the time, but only recently has she begun to say words we can actually understand. She doesn't say nearly as many words as Chris, but here's what she does say:

baby
banana
Dada
dog
Mama
up
who's that? (she says this whenever she sees a picture of anyone, especially herself or other kids)
yes (she doesn't really say this in the right context... I think she just likes saying it)

She also does sign language for "more", "milk", "eat", and "please". I have loved having her learn signs because she can tell us what she wants even though she can't say the words yet. When she was eating she used to whine and cry out whenever she was ready for another bite, and it was getting on our nerves! So we taught her to sign "more" when she was ready for a new bite, and that has made eating so much more pleasant. It took her longer to learn the signs than we thought it would, and we gave up trying to teach her around 9 or 10 months, but then around her birthday we started it up again and she has done so well.

She is also walking a lot more now. She loves to climb onto her rocking chair and sit in it for a minute, and then she shimmies off it and walks around the living room or into the kitchen. She can even stand up on her own in the middle of a room, without the help of furniture. In a few weeks she'll probably be walking like a pro!

Abby loves being outside. Sometimes we meet up with my friend and her kids at the park up the road, which is fun. We also have picnics in the backyard whenever it's nice outside. She also loves her teddy bear. She has a small 6-in Classic Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animal, and she loves to give him hugs. It's so cute because when she hugs him, she puts him up on her shoulder and sways back and forth, and pats and rubs his back. Sometimes she'll even give him a kiss.

And last but not least, Abby has 8 (that's right, EIGHT) teeth! They're not all completely grown in yet, but they will be soon. She has three on top, four on the bottom and a molar coming in on the top, on the right side. I can't believe she's getting a molar!

So, that's Abby right now! I'm going to try to post something at the beginning of each month with her progression, mostly so that it can be recorded somewhere! It's so fun to see my baby growing up! (but it's also really sad!)

Homework

Every week during Sunday School I go to an ASL class. There is one deaf woman in our ward, and only a few interpreters, so the Sunday School class is to teach ASL to anyone who wants to learn. Now, realistically, most people in the class will probably never feel comfortable enough with the language to actually interpret. I have been learning ASL for 4 years and I still feel very underqualified for it. In fact, I don't really interpret as much as I probably should. I do the hymns (mostly because I can practice many of them beforehand with a DVD I have), and I feel very comfortable interpreting prayers (especially the sacrament prayers). However, I would really like to improve. The ASL teacher in our ward (she just happened to be the best at ASL out of any of us, so she became the main interpreter) has told me that I have improved a lot since last fall, so that has really boosted my confidence. So... now I'm going to start co-teaching the Sunday School class with her! She let me borrow some of her materials, and she even gave me a homework assignment with instructions of what I should prepare to teach on Sunday. I'm nervous because the things I'm supposed to teach (some ASL grammar rules) are things even I haven't learned yet, but it's exciting. Hopefully this will really jumpstart my abilities. The signing isn't really an issue for me - I know most signs, I think - but the grammar is difficult. Like any other language, ASL has it's own unique grammar... it's similar to how Yoda on Star Wars speaks, actually! It's one thing to sign in a conversation with someone, but interpreting is a whole other difficulty. Especially in Sacrament Meeting, people tend to speak quickly, so you have to really be on your toes to listen to what they say, turn it all around in your head to make it fit with ASL grammar, and then sign it! And you still have to be concentrating on what the speaker is saying next, so you can sign that next. Whew, it's a challenge. But I enjoy it and hopefully someday I'll be really comfortable with it all. Also in our Sunday School class we are watching the short Joseph Smith movie (the one that came out in the Ensign a couple years ago) with the ASL interpreter on it, and that has been really interesting and helpful.

A Day of Rest

I know that the Sabbath is supposed to be the day of rest, but sometimes it feels like the busiest day of the week! Thankfully, it's usually a really good kind of busy - serving the Lord and doing the things we're supposed to be doing. Tonight Garrett was especially worn out - Church is always a little tough for him because he usually has Abby for all 3 hours, because I interpret (ASL) in Sacrament Meeting, then go to an ASL Sunday School class, and then I usually teach the Laurels during the third hour. But he and Abby both seem to love the "daddy/daughter time" since Garrett is at school all week, and he does a great job with her during Church. Anyway, then this afternoon right after we got home, Garrett went Home Teaching with a friend whose companion was unavailable to go. It's a busy day, but certainly rewarding!

Sign Language

Well, I have a new assignment at Church. It's not exactly a calling, because I haven't been set apart. I've just been helping out.
There is a new member of our Ward who is going deaf. She was born "hard of hearing" and recently received a cochlear implant, but it didn't work, so within a year she will be completely deaf. There is a woman in the ward who is very good at Sign Language, so she has been interpreting for her. Now, I am by no means great at Sign Language, but I did take 5 semesters of it at BYU, so I SHOULD be very good. However, it's been over 2 years since any of my classes, and let's just say I'm a bit rusty. I thought about not saying anything and just letting this one girl interpret forever, but it's a very demanding job, plus I would really like to get better at it.
So, I've been interpreting! One week I did the entire Sacrament Meeting, which was SO hard! I knew I didn't do a very good job, but thankfully the woman didn't miss too much because she can still hear a little bit, plus she can lipread, so I didn't feel TOO bad when I messed up. I figure I have to start somewhere. Thankfully it was a fast and testimony meeting, so the doctrine wasn't too deep, so I was able to remember most of the signs I needed.
Now I mostly interpret for the hymns and the prayers, including the Sacrament prayers. The sacrament prayers are hard because they say them so quickly, so I still need to practice those. But every week I'm a little more confident and I'm really happy that I'm practicing this skill. There is also a Sunday School class every week taught by the interpreter where we just learn Sign Language, so that more people will be able to eventually help out. That has helped a lot too, and I'm really enjoying it.
A lot of people don't consider Sign Language to be a "real" language because it isn't spoken. People also tend to think that it's just English, but using your hands. It's not! It has it's own grammar rules and everything. For example, if someone said in English "I can go to the store for you", it would not be signed "I can go to the store for you." ASL's grammar rules make it so that I would sign "For you, store I go can". It's a challenge to remember! It's especially difficult to interpret because you get so focused on translating a certain sentence or idea that I completely miss the next part because I'm still signing the previous thing they said. But that's a problem that all interpreters face, I think.
Anyway, so that's my new assignment. I'm still serving in YW, which I LOVE. As it happens, we are camping this weekend because that's what the Laurels really want to do. Granted, it will be in the YW president's back yard, but still... it will be great because I like sleeping outside and everything, but I also love clean bathrooms... so this is a perfect medium.