Tuesday, July 29, 2008

14 years ago...


The cutest guy on the planet proposed to me and luckily I was smart enough to accept. And here we are today! 5 kids and a few more pounds later, and happy as ever together. He asked me to marry him in the temple and we still like to visit our special loveseat in the Celestial Room whenever we go. Thanks for proposing DH, and for putting up with me all these years. I love you!!

Monday, July 28, 2008

LONG time gone...



But now we're back!! OK, so for an overview of the past 2 weeks, we went to Mexico, came home and went to girl's camp. They were both AWESOME trips!
Mexico was filled family fun. This is probably some repeat info, but here goes. Lovely cool weather, greenery all around, rain, quilting, singing, piano playing, kids jumping on the tramp and swinging, movie watching, eating, and more. My sil C and I also held a little photo session to take some beautiful pregnant belly pictures. And of course the whole reason for the trip, Blondie's baptism.



It's our tradition for DH's mom make our girl's baptism dresses. She makes one for the baptism and one to wear after for the confirmation. She is an incredible seamstress and can make anything! It's amazing. Blondie's dresses were outstanding. Since she was getting baptized in the muddy river, we made sure the baptism dress was very simple and washable. It turned out perfectly, and didn't even show dirt when she got out of the river! The confirmation dress is one of the prettiest dresses I've seen. My MIL found the perfect piece of lace to cover the top of the dress (it was a miracle find! I don't know how she ever found it!) We decided to add a little color with a yellow sash as yellow is Blondie's favorite color. It all came together beautifully. Thanks, mom!

The river was very full from all the rain and we had to scout out a place that we felt was safe because it was running pretty swiftly. We found a sweet spot that worked just fine. First we met at DH's house with all the family in town that could come. We had an opening song and prayer and talk on Baptism by Uncle D. Then we all drove to the river (about a 2 minute drive) and DH performed the baptism. Then everyone came back to the house and visited while we changed and cleaned up. The program then went on with a musical number~Sweet G played her violin (which she has only been playing for one month!! she did great!) and her cousin T sang with Blondie. They did "I want to live the Gospel". Very cute! (I accompanied) Then Grandma gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and DH performed the confirmation. Then Bishop Grandpa called on me and DH to bear our testimonies and we closed and had refreshments. It was a sweet, sweet day and I hope Blondie remembers it forever.

Now, to the girl's camp part. We got home from Mexico on Tues. night and Teeny Bopper and I left for camp early Wed. We just had time to unpack, wash and re-pack. (it was a late night!) I must also add that this was my first time to leave my kids EVER. It all worked out better than I thought. They were fine, I was fine, it was all good.
Camp was so much fun, and a great experience for Teeny Bopper and me. I won't go into every detail, but I learned to love the girls in our ward and the other leaders that went. Hotmama went, as well as a few other ladies in our ward. It was interesting watching the girls interact and see how they got along. Our girls were so good, especially when we heard some of the drama going on among some of the other girls. I would go again in a second!


Well, now it's back to life as we know it and the end of summer. It's now school prep time, which I'm also excited about but I feel like this summer literally flew by!! Time to go through all the clothes, toss out the old small, holey stuff and fill in with a few new things. And then shop for school supplies. That has always been one of my favorite things to do. I'm not sure what the draw is for school supplies, but we all love it. Nothing like a new pack of pencils and notebook paper to get ya psyched for school...

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Viva Mexico!



We are having fun down here in Mexico with the fam. We came down on Monday after stopping in Pima to visit my Grandma G. She has always been one of my very favorite people, hence naming our Sweet G after her. (I always planned to name one of my daughters after her.) Grandma is an ultimate example of strength to me and we all love her very much.
Anyways, here we are enjoying this lovely summer weather. Yes, I just described summer as lovely because we have left 108 type temperatures and entered the 80 degree type weather. (it's 74 or something right now) The kids are loving playing outside and not frying in the process. They have been playing on the swings, trampoline, teeter-totter, and lounging in the hammocks. There is also an ample supply of kittens around that have been keeping them entertained.
Their dad, my wonderful DH, has also been taking the girls for drives around town. And letting THEM do the driving. I do NOT approve of this, but am also not around when he takes them so what does it matter if I approve or not, right? Teeny Bopper got the suburban up to 50 mph aparently and drove on the road with cars passing her and everything. Ay yay yay. Today they went for tractor rides which Dr. Destructo LOVED and did not want to get off. Teeny Bopper, Sweet G and Blondie all got to drive this time. Yes, that news thrilled me.


I have been hanging around with my kids and also spending time with my SIL C. We have been doing our usual activities--playing our piano duets, giving each other pedicures, talking, drinking smoothies, and a little cooking.
We also took Little Miss to Casas today to have DH's brother D test her hearing. She has been failing her hearing tests at school so we needed to see what is going on with her. She has some nerve damage and a moderate hearing loss in the lower ranges. Which isn't that big of a deal, but enough that D said we should make sure she always gets front row seats in class and such. It was kind of sad to hear that she has some hearing issues, probably born with them. Parents always want their children to be as perfect as possible, am I right?

All in all, it has been GREAT and I'm so glad we have 5 more days to enjoy being here.
(Oh, and BTW, DH offered to take a picture of my toes so I could blog about them. Now who's getting addicted...:) He has a day by day account of our trip on his blog for anyone who wants more info.)

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Scientific Nursery Rhymes


My kids checked out a book from the library called "Science Verse". It is full of funny science rhymes. Here are a couple of my favorite:

Mary Had a...
Mary had a little worm.
She thought it was a chigger.
But everything that Mary ate,
Only made it bigger.

It came with her to school one day,
And gave the kids a fright,
Especially when the teacher said,
"Now that's a parasite."

Good Night
Good night, sleep tight,
Don't let the bedbug,
tick, or louse
suck blood from you,
hatch its eggs,
and then develop the larvae on you
...all right?

Jack Be Nimble
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.
Jack jump over the combustion reaction of O2+heat+fuel to form CO2+light+heat+exhaust.

Hope you like these as much as I do! :)

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Ice Cream Social Frock Giveaway!!!!

Ice Cream Social Frock Giveaway!!!!

See this cute dress and enter a contest!

Saturday, July 5, 2008



Summer fun



Swimming is one of my number one top summer favorite things to do. I really wish we had a pool in some ways, except for the cost and maintenance part of it. We are very, very blessed to have neighbors who are super nice and let us swim whenever we want in their pool. DH doesn't usually get to come, but when he does it is tons more fun for me. Today he gave each of the girls a turn to be tossed and they LOVED it! Especially Little Miss. She was by far the easiest to toss, being the tiny little thing she is. Dr. Destructo has been using a little baby float, but he's getting tired of it. A couple days ago I tried him in floaties and he thinks they are pretty cool. He is so cute kicking around the pool on his own, with one of us right next to him at all times, of course. He is at the age of independence, wanting to do everything on his own.
I know it's hot, but summer is still awesome!

Friday, July 4, 2008

Happy Fourth Of July!!


This is my DH's favorite holiday. He is very into all things patriotic. Which is great, because I've always considered myself a patriotic person. He is on the verge of obsessed, but we won't go there today. :) He loves the patriotism, the heritage, and the explosives related to this day. I love the patriotism, watching the fireworks (form a safe distance), the matching shirts, and I even made some hair bows this year.
DH has a very impressive historic flag collection, which he loves to display whenever he can. One of the reasons he has this collection is to use it to teach about the history of our flag. Every year at our ward's Fourth of July pancake breakfast we display all his historic flags. Some years he talks about them, sometimes just a display. I love watching him participate in something he loves doing and seeing him get all excited about the history of our country. Those founding fathers were so RIGHT ON. I wish our politicians these days were as great as they were. Though the candidates may not be ideal for our upcoming election, I am proud to be an American and I love the USA!!
This cute picture is from our ward breakfast this morning. It is my Little Miss and her buddy from across the back fence. I have entitled it "LouLa's" because both of their nicknames is LouLa. They are so cute!! I hope they are lifelong buds.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

get the kleenex

My DH sent this to me in an email, and maybe you've seen it before but it was a first for me. If you are anything like me, aka "crybaby", get the tissues for this one! This is one touching story! One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The ultimate illustration of love.

READ the story, then WATCH the video.

A son asked his father, 'Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?'. The father who, despite having a heart condition, says 'Yes'.

They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying 'Yes' to his son's

request of going through the race together. One day, the son asked his father, 'Dad, let's join the Ironman together.' To which, his father said 'Yes' too.

For those who don't know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever.

The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island . Father and son went on to complete the race together.

View this race at.....

NOW WATCH THIS VIDEO:

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8cf08faca5dd9ea45513