Valencia Ward Hoe-down & I won!

Last night we went to our ward party - it was a western theme with dancing under the stars, held out in the parking lot. It was fun! We enjoyed lots of chili and cornbread and yummy homemade cookies for dessert. We learned the Texas two-step and of course, the Hokey Pokey among others. Reid and Chase were off playing a pick-up game of baseball at the other end of the parking lot and Austin was at the high school playing in the band for the football game so he missed out. Ryan, however, enjoyed the dancing and playing with the sawdust they had thrown down on the dance floor.
When we got home I was checking out some of my favorite blogs-went to Becky Higgins' site and found out I WON HER NEW BOOK! She had a little contest where you could leave her a comment on her blog about a blessing in your life that you had experienced that day and she would pick a few winners. Needless to say I was very surprised to be one of the winners. So very excited about that! So excited to receive that in the mail.

our cub scouts

I took Reid and Chase to pack meeting last night. It is pretty fun having both boys in cub scouts. Reid is a bear and Chase is a wolf scout. Chase really is enjoying it - it is so amazing to see him having such a good time and being just "one of the boys". Reid is such a great helper to Chase also, helping him with the flag ceremony in a sweet, kind way...guiding him along with the love of a brother.

a couple time-outs for Cori

I recently enjoyed attending Deseret Book's Time Out for Women in Phoenix. I got this great bag there! Such great speakers and music! I especially enjoyed the talk given by Merrilee Boyack "Wifehood 101: The Five Things You Need to Know". Here is on quiz she gave during her great presentation.

1. Do your children stay in the main family area after 9:30 at night?

2. Do you go out with your husband without the kids at least 3x a month?

3. Have you taken an overnight without your kids at least once a year?

4. Compare the last time you bought your husband a treat to the last time you bought your kids a treat.

5. When it is just you and your husband talking, is more than 50% of your conversation topics about the kids?

Her talk was wonderful - took lots of great notes. It was a fun day with lots of girlfriends and a trip to the craft store Hobby Lobby.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Tuesday I spent the day in Gilbert and Mesa. Took in a session at the temple and then spent time with the above fabulous ladies so I could give them a scrapbook I made (one for each of us!) with photos from the trip we took together to San Francisco last April. So fun! Such great ladies! Spending a day with friends is a "time-out" of sorts so I can come back and be a better wife and mom.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the kids are on break this week is filled with appointments-dentist for all five kids, eye dr. for Austin, O.T. and speech for Chase, voice/piano lessons for Molly, baseball for Reid. Today is a birthday party at the local rollerskating rink for Reid and Chase and then off to cub scout pack meeting.

busy with bouncing!

Our friend Julie called with a last minute invite to go to a local place called Celebrate! It has large climb-on inflatables such as a large slide, bounce house, obstacle course and basketball. We were the only ones there so we had a private party! The boys really worked up a sweat and enjoyed every minute of it.

sweet treats

I love this little canister - even though it says FLOUR on it, I love the color and style of it. I would never keep flour in it since it is not air tight so what else is there to keep except sweets? I thought I had a good thing going, except recently Ryan has discovered that this is the "sweet treat bucket" and he even knows the routine: get it down, remove the lid quickly, get something out while nobody is looking and then promptly put it away! :)
Where do you keep your sweet treats? Do you have a special hidding place?

Look what I got!

O.K. - So I asked James for clothes for my birthday - a girl can always use new clothes right!?! He told me it wasn't clothes, but I wasn't expecting this! A brand new laptop! WHOOHOO! So excited! And apparently I do not have to share with anyone which makes it even better. :) To top it off he surprised me with a dozen long-stemmed red roses and a chocolate birthday cake. Thanks James for the birthday treats! Love you!

My friend Erin surprised me with this fun family portrait of our family. Don't you LOVE it! I have it displayed in my front room - it is sooooooo fun and cute. I love how she used colors that are in my home and how she really took different characteristics of each of us, especially the kids, and implimented those into the paper people. It is so fun and will be loved for years.

My friend Joanne gave me this darling colorful rubber spatula and FALL SPRINKLES - does she know me or what! Looking forward to the kids and I making some beautiful leaf shaped sugar cookies soon.

Thanks so much for the birthday phone calls! I heard from family: sister Cindy, my mom! my sis-in-law Claire and cards from my sis-in-law Patty and mother-in-law. Still hoping to connect up with friends from WA Anne and Ronda (thanks for trying to catch me as I was in and out all day!) Loved talking with friends from Gilbert: Wendi, Christy and Shari. And friends from here that remembered me: Joanne, Erin, Lucinda, Cori, Cassie, Holly, Sharla.

I am so blessed.

I've been crafting

After being sick for a full week I wanted to make a simple, stress-free craft item...This is what I came up with... I hope these photos turn out o.k. Click on the individual photo and hopefully you will be able to read the journaling. Fall is my most favorite season and I am so gearing up to enjoying cooler temperatures! What are your "fall" memories?

I CAN'T WAIT to show you what I got for my birthday - but you will need to wait until I can get some pictures - trust me, it is worth the wait! So exciting!

Forty Fabulous Favorite Things

These photos were taken when I was a young 39 years old. :)



Since today is the big 40 for me I thought I would list forty of my favorite things:

1. James
2. Austin
3. Molly
4. Reid
5. Chase
6. Ryan
7. my extended family
8. friends
9. the gospel
10. the temple
11. Autumn
12. the color green
13. camping
14. decorating
15. scrapbooking
16. stamping
17. stickers
18. jewelry
19. inspirational quotes
20. paper! notecards and stationery
21. romantic comedy movies
22. traveling
23. sprinkles
24. body powder
25. perfume
26. photography
27. the movie Pride and Prejudice
28. the movie Emma
29. the movie Elf
30. the movie Sleepless in Seattle
31. the movie You've got Mail
32. country music
33. musicals
34. dishes
35. pottery
36. pitchers
37. cake plates
38. Mexican food
39. dark chocolate
40. fresh flowers

I am truly blessed!!! So thankful today for all the people in my life who are so very kind to me and my family.

lettering

Last week a friend of mine (from our old ward) and her sister-in-law spent a night with us while their father-in-law was having surgery at a local hospital. They left me with these gorgeous flowers (top photo). Love them! Thanks Jennifer! They brighten my days so much. My friend Jann taught me to love the color orange. I used to tease her about orange - yuck! but let me say - she really turned me around! Now I find I am drawn to orange-I love it! It is strange because I still don't have it in my decorating or in my wardrobe but I am so drawn to it. Orange is a happy color don't you think? And now I have these beautiful flowers to smile at!
I also loved that my visitors noticed my new "G" - my family didn't notice it for a few days. I love it! And of course I love my wire space needle as it reminds me of Seattle.

Thought I'd also post some of the vinyl lettering we've recently put up.

Did you know you can click on any/all photos of this blog and the photo will get bigger for a better view?

We have the "let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God" - Emerson quote above the window in our loft, which is the kids' playroom. So far no luck in them being a little more quiet however. Next is Molly's room and the bottom photo is the master bedroom. Still love the blue and white plates...

a day at the zoo!

On Sunday Ryan and I decided we would get up on Monday and go to the zoo. On our way there he said he wanted to see "four things: a elephant, a zebra, a giraffe and a turtle." His wish was granted! We had a fun day...Funny how he kept saying "Remember when you got me a hot dog mom..It was delicious!" I haven't purchase hot dogs for our home in maybe a year-guess it's time to get some.

celebrating knowledge

I'm thinking of these thoughts today from a book I love titled

Something Extraordinary, celebrating our relief society sisterhood:

Develop your unique gifts and abilities, remembering that your talents

are some of your best gifts from God.

Seek and find knowledge all around you.

Then teach, so others may learn. And learn, so others may teach.

school conferences

Since our kids attend a modified year-round school schedule we have just finished up our first quarter of classes. I spent the last two days conferencing with the kids' teachers. First yesterday was a meeting with Reid's teacher. He is doing great in fourth grade-got all A's and his teacher reports that he is "very responsible in his work and behavior." Molly had this same teacher when she was in fifth grade and we really like her teaching style. Following my meeting at the elementary school I drove straight over the middle school. They have their conferences on a walk-in basis, lucky for me I was the only parent there at the time, so I got to conference with Molly's teachers all together at the same time. She completed her first quarter of eighth grade with all A's. Her teachers are all real fun and she is having a good year. Next, I headed over the high school - they have their conferences in the dining auditorium with the teachers placed at round tables and the parents make their way around the room stopping at the teachers they would like to talk with. Such a crazy system as it gets really loud in there! Austin has grown so much through his high school experience. He is such a quiet guy but smart and pretty funny. He is doing great with his grades, but truthfully I was more interested to hear if he was participating in class. He struggles a little in English class but is willing to work hard and does care about his grades. He is hoping for a college scholarship and is working toward that goal. Although this is just the beginning of his sophmore year, it is never too early to research scholarships.
Today I had my conference for Chase. We are so blessed that Chase has a exceptional teacher! Reid had this teacher last year and she is magnificent! She totally understands adhd and autism and is so very willing to work with Chase and help him succeed! She takes the little quirks that make Chase, well Chase, and she goes with it...For example she allows him to come right in after recess so he can "cool down" since he so dislikes being hot. She also just seems to understand when a meltdown is coming. And I love that he loves her! Chase is doing great academically , he got all A's except for two B's, one in art and one in penmanship. A lot of schools don't even give a grade for penmanship, but ours does and actually it is a good thing. With boys and penmanship I think a B is just great! :)
I opted out on a conference for Ryan since his preschool teacher and his occupational therapist just did a home visit a few weeks ago. We had a great time: played legos, did a puzzle, went through the therapy tube together. Ryan loved it.
We are so blessed to have great kids. I am continually told to write down these "everyday" moments (such as conferences) because they are fleeting and that the kids grow so quickly.

Nana and Papa's First Phone Call

We got a call from Cori's mom (and dad) last night. They are headed off on their five month excursion! They left last weekend and are now in Western Montana. Nana says they are relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery. They have spotted some wild turkies, a deer, and lots of signs indicating that there are moose in the area - hopefully they can see them! They left from the Seattle area (see above photo) and will travel to the east coast and then come to spend the month of December with us! We are very excited as we have not had a Christmas with them for about eight years! We have five kids who are so excited to spend time with them.

(The above photos were taken June 2007: Seattle skyline and inside the tram at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park)

Miss Molly

Molly was feeling left out that she wasn't in any photos of her so here you go Molly! We love you! These pictures are of her middle school performance last March in School House Rock Jr! She did an amazing job and is already excited for this years show although right now they are doing drama and musical theatre won't begin until after the winter break. Molly just got elected choir president and drama president so she is into all things involving "the theater" right now...

Chase's baptism on Sept. 1, 2007

I'm finally posting a couple pictures of Chase on his baptism day! I can't believe I didn't take more photos of his special day! We don't have any with him and his cousins who came from Utah for the big event and we have not one photo of Molly. Molly ended up playing photographer on our family shot, so sorry Molly! She gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and did a fabulous job, I wish I would have been better about taking more photos...

Here's a cute photo of James' sister Claire and our brother-in-law Terry with their kids Taylor and William. We were able to go bowling during their visit and had a good time. We were so happy they could come spend time with us!

our summer adventures!

Although we didn't really go on a "summer vacation" we did have a few fun adventures. We were able to go camping up on Mt. Lemmon and brought our bb gun and archery set. We took a road trip to Utah to visit James' mom, Edna. The kids love visiting their grandma! While in Utah we spent time with James' sisters riding quads and Ryan loved this great tire swing! We also took a day trip to Apple Annies Orchard. The little boys loved riding the tractor out to pick peaches and of course enjoyed sampling the peaches! Another treat for them was that mom and dad bought them kettle corn and snowcones. Ryan also earned a day with mom at the mini-golf course for being so good during his first week back to preschool. Fun times!

Chase's baptism interview

We took some photos of Chase before his baptism interview with Bishop Clark. He was really excited to go into his interview and mom was thrilled that Bishop invited her to go in too! He did a great job answering all the questions. "Yes, he did want to be baptized. And baptism is important so that we can live with Heavenly Father again." so sweet! I hope to post some baptism photos of him soon!

Chase turns eight!

Chase turned eight years old on Aug. 25 - we celebrated with a bowling party at the local bowling alley! It was our family along with four of his friends from school. We had a great time!

We really want to go bowling more often, everyone had fun.