gifts

Molly recently went to the orthodontist to pick up her retainer. Since her visits will now be less often she turned in all the tokens she was given during her treatment. (The orthodontist would give tokens when she showed up on time, wore the t-shirt he gave her, when she demonstrated proper flossing and brushing, etc.) She had saved up 89 tokens! She turned them in for these six Target gift certificates, each worth $5 for a total of $30! I think she should share with those great parents of hers who paid for her braces, but she thinks otherwise! LOL! She thinks she wants to take a look at the Target clothing department...
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Look what my sister gave me before she left...

I love these silver sea shells and sand dollars! I think they will look so cute in a glass container with some real sand.

And my mom sent along this for her to give to me...

A Seattle picture frame! I need to find just the right photograph to place inside. I really like different items that represent Seattle and was so happy my mom thought of me when she saw this. I love it! Thanks Cindy and Mom - you're the best!

A great Saturday!

I had a most relaxing Saturday.
I was invited to go with a group of ladies to breakfast to celebrate a friends birthday - so fun. It was nice to get out of the house early on a Sat. and spend time just chatting and enjoying good conversation.
I came home and Ryan was waiting to teach me how to play Age of Mythology. I feel bad that computer games do not interest me but did want to spend one on one time with him. The 30 minute teaching session went pretty quickly, I added questions and oohs and aahs at the appropriate time. :)
I then got to go to a quilt store with two friends, although I do not sew or quilt even I could recognize that they had beautiful fabrics there. Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious lunch. Two meals out in one day, both with good friends = a fantastic day.
Once I got home James and I headed off to the tire store, waiting for a couple hours to get tires on our car, but you know what - I was o.k. with it because I started the book, Twilight. I know, I know, I'm way behind everyone in the world who read this book forever ago. Molly has read it. My sister read it when she was here visiting. Now it's my turn. I'm enjoying it - I'm only half way through though...I'll let you know.
Since James' high council assignment is over the Young Women he gets to go to all the stake youth dances so I got to go with him. They had a Christmas in July theme. It was a pants dance. About 125 youth attended. It was fun. My favorite part (aside from dancing the slow dances with my husband) was seeing all the YCL's from camp. I just had to give them a hug as they entered. I'm looking forward to seeing if there is a difference when it is a 'Sunday dress' dance-next time.
It was a fun day.

Thinking good thoughts

Good news! Ryan stayed on green yesterday and I got the most wonderful call from his kindergarten teacher after school saying 'he was a different child". He went with the speech teacher, he sat on the carpet for singing time, he completed all his work...a all-around most wonderful day! The call came in on my cell phone and you can bet I'm saving it. I will refer to it often. :) So - I'm waiting to see how today goes. He will not be getting treasure box today so we'll see how that goes. But I did tell him if he stays on green today I will take him swimming after school. Reid and Chase are both going to a birthday party after school until 6 so Ryan and I will have a lot of one on one time which will be good.

I LOVE the above photo of Ryan taken when he was about 2 1/2 or 3 years old. We were part of a playgroup back then and the day of the photo, playgroup was at our home. The number of the day was 8 so I had the kids make and wear these fun pipe cleaner glasses. Ryan did not want to wear them, he did not like how they felt on his face. When everyone left he finally put them on and let me take a picture of him wearing them. I like this photo because it reminds me of how far we have come with some of his sensory issues.

Anyway - we are hoping for what I'm calling a "green" day! He knows what it means.

My thoughts today are trying to be positive.

I'm thinking about this place...

So wish I could just hop on a plane and go but don't think that will happen anytime soon.

Somplace much more realistic right now and also where I'm really wanting to go...

This place would do mean a lot of good right now. But they are closed for awhile, darn.

So - I'll keep the positive thoughts. Thanks so much to the couple of you that left comments on the blog and the couple of you that called and the couple of you that emailed me privately. I so appreciate the love you sent my way. Sincerely, thank you.

it had to happen at some point...

Well, I should have known it would happen at some point. Although it still makes me very sad. Ryan - the youngest of five - got on 'red' today. RED! It hurts to say it out loud. The kindergarten he attends has a green (go = great day) yellow (stop behavior = warning) and red (stop!) system in the classroom. Red results in a phone call home from the teacher to the parent. We have raised four other children through elementary school and none of them have ever gotten on red. Getting on red also means he will not get a treat from the treasure box on Friday. The treasure box treat is huge for a five year old!
Man, that will be a tough day.
I'm still not exactly sure which behavior he demonstrated got him moved to red. It could be that he doesn't want to join the group at singing time and is not singing (too loud!) or that he often hides under the tables (too shy!), or that he refused to go with the speech teacher for his speech session (a stranger!) or that he refused to complete his schoolwork (it might not be perfect!) We so love this boy but this behavior can be very trying on a parent. We had to have a good long talk, have taken away his computer privileges (he loves to play on Nick Jr.), had him complete the unfinished schoolwork and put back in his backpack for his teacher to see, and had him promise both his teacher and us that he will go to speech tomorrow.
We'll see...I did have to tell his teacher that actually we are pleased with all he is doing though and these things are important for us to remember. He is getting on the bus happy (transitions are huge and it's hard to separate from mom) and he is coming home happy (not grumpy from being at school too long) and he is sitting nicely on the big, hot, no air-conditioned bus! He is also being friendly to classmates, is smart, and is enjoying his recess time. So - it will take time! I see better things in the future when he gets more used to his routine. I keep telling myself that it is only the second week of school and it will all work out.

In other "so today just wasn't a good day" news: I got a phone call today from a neighbor who (get this!) heard from our mutual hairdresser, who heard from another client who has kids who go to the same school that our kids go too, that one of my boys was being bullied at school!
What? Nobody told me!
So of course immediately after getting off the phone I asked my son if he was having any problems at school and he said no. Well, I went to another son's curriculum night and the teacher tells me the son in her classroom had a problem with a bully. So the neighbor-hairdresser-other client who has kids who go to the same school as our kids- did have the story right but with the wrong kid. UGH! The teacher told me complete story. I talked with other son tonight. Yes, it's been settled. But it is unsettling. I think I may need to talk to the parent but I haven't thought that through yet. Any suggestions? I suppose I may need to just let them work it out on their own.

Also tonight was the post-camp fireside. Good times! Fun slide show and awards. Beautiful music, camp experiences shared, and lots of tears. The stake camp director and her assistants were called for three years and this past year was their third year so they will not be coming back next year. I'm so very sad about this. These are good ladies who have blessed my life so very much. I was called as the YCL Leader for two years and so will return again next year. Next year will be different and I guess I'm a little scared for the change.

Well, just keeping it 'real'. Sorry if this is a little too much for you, but I do know that it all will pass and I do think it important to remember these times. Hopefully even tomorrow I will look back and smile at these moments. Tomorrow will be better!

more fun

My sister, her family and I went to the International Wildlife Museum. I had never visited this museum before. We were excited to hear they have a movie about sea turtles as they are a favorite of one of my nephews.
The museum has actual 'stuffed' animals - it was pretty interesting. I don't know if I will take my kids back, but maybe...
They did have a beautiful display of butterflies and it was interesting to learn and actually see the different bugs that are native to Arizona.
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Here is a photo of the boys enjoying a game of Monopoly, more on that later:

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We took a trip to Trail Dust Town and it was a favorite! SO FUN!

We saw the show:

The boys got 'locked' in jail:
We took the train ride:
We also got candy in the old fashioned candy store and a favorite was quarters spent in the shooting gallery. I will be taking my kids back here again!
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Well, my sister and her family left to return home last night. Here's a recap of some of the fun we had:

*Toured Cienega High School
*Saw downtown Tucson and U of A
*drove by the house my parents were interested in buying last Winter and saw it had burned down! (the neighboring house had a accidental fire and the sparks quickly spread to the for sale home and it went up in flames too)
*Scoops Ice Cream for snow cones
*Colossal Cave
*Mt. Lemmon picnic
*International Wildlife Museum
*Trail Dust Town
*Ate out at Texas Roadhouse and Chuy's (neither of which they have in WA state)
*Played lots of board games (monopoly, chess, army guys) and too many computer games (star wars and age of mythology) and Wii (bowling and Super Smash Brothers Brawl)
*Lots of visiting among the adults and playing among the cousins

On their own they:
*Saw a movie (Nim's Island)
*went swimming at a pool that earned high marks thanks to its water slide (Clements Center)
*Pima Air museum

We will miss them and are so thankful they came for a visit (even though it was too HOT for them!)

Colossal Cave and Mt. Lemmon

We went to Colossal Cave on Saturday. It was so beautiful to look out over the mountain. Ryan enjoyed a mini photo shoot.
The kids all enjoyed the beauty of the caves' interior.
Me and James. Yes, it was hot outside!
After the cave we went to look at the parks' museum and bought some bags of hidden treasures from the gift shop. The kids got to discover different gemstones among the sandy dirt - they felt like they were panning for gold. So fun!
After our time at Colossal Cave we drove up to Mt. Lemmon for a picnic. The boys had a fantastic time just tossing rocks down the hill. Cousins are so fun!

Our family, all but Molly! She decided to stay home to work on the high school homework she got from her first day.
My sister and me.

lot's going on...

The little boys are finishing their first week of school today! Here's a picture of Ryan and Reid after day one. Ryan's O.T. had him bring his puppy, Rosie, to school the first day so he would always have a friend with him. Molly and Austin started high school today!Molly got her braces off yesterday - the day before high school! She was very excited. The orthodontist gave her a cute bag filled with all the things she wasn't allowed to eat while her braces were on: popcorn, caramels, hard and sticky candy. Molly has been busy the last two days visiting old teachers at the middle school and helping them correct papers. Yesterday she volunteered for about five hours!

OUR COUSINS ARE HERE! We took them to a local ice cream shop for snow cones!
I had a surprise visit! The four head YCL's surprised me with a visit and this giant cookie that said, "TANKS MUCH!" I loved their creativity to say 'tanks' rather than 'thanks' since we had a military theme at camp. These young ladies have a special place in my heart, I am so touched they came by for a visit. As you can tell from the picture I was still in the camp mood of absolutely no make-up (ugh!).
My sister and her family ate out at Texas Roadhouse after they arrived at the airport - the boys loved these balloons hats! The photo quality is horrible but they do recall good memories for me.


Below is a picture of my sister and her sweet family. We are so lucky that they are visiting us for a full week! My brother in law is a athletic trainer/vice principal at a high school in WA state so he requested a tour of our high school here.

We found the right man for the job! The gentlemen in the background of the below photo is a coach at the local high school and had all the keys to let us tour all the behind the scenes room in the high school athletic department. I really enjoyed the tour because I got to see things I never would have seen as a parent - it was really interesting.

The boys were thrilled with the complimentary Gator-Ade!
The school is getting ready for football season - here are the piles of pads, ready for the players to be sized.
Here is a photo of me and my nephews - they are intrigued by the cactus...

B.O.O.T. Camp 2008!

We had a fabulous week Building Our Own Testimonies! These pictures are of the four young women who served as the Head YCL's (Youth Camp Leaders) - they were 100% awesome!
Hannah, Allison, Christina and Sara = powerful leadership!
Sara and I. There is no make-up allowed at camp. Also, no cell phones, i-pods, radios...we leave the 'world' behind for a week on the mountain. On Monday night the stake staff and all 30 ycl's go to camp to get it set up for the rest of the campers to arrive early Tuesday morning. We had all the ycl's decorate a small banner in their year color. This way the campers could learn more about their ycl. The girls did a good job showing their interests on their banner. They were all very creative.
Sister McBride (she's in our ward and also the stake yw presidency member over camp) with Marissa, Molly and Natalia.

The girls loved the camp songs! Here they are 'peeling the banana...peel, peel the banana!"
Molly and I! It rained pretty much every day at camp but it would break enough for us to still do all of our planned activities. Some we had to do inside but it all worked out.

Girls from our ward and the ward we broke off since the split goofing around!
A entire camp picture! Lots of fun!

The entire camp participates in a secret sister program. We receive a name at the beginning of camp and secretly give three gifts to that person. Adults exchange with other adults. The above picture is at the 'reveal' where we find out who had our name. Susan Kramer, our ward camp director had my name - I had no idea she had my name. She is also my visiting teacher.
Here is one thing I did for my secret sister - a place mat and some some fun things at her place to eat lunch. I think she really enjoyed it.
Lindsey (YCL assistant), Mia (stake camp assistant) and me before the leader skit - fun times!
For our high adventure at camp we had an obstacle course and a zip line. Here I am getting harnessed in so I could ride the zip line - very fun!
James is the high counselor over the stake young women and he was invited to be a speaker at camp also. He did a terrific job! He brought lots of pictures for the girls to see and even brought everyone chocolate.

The week was amazing. The stake staff did a compass activity Tuesday night were the girls had to use a compass to find different stations. At each station there was a speaker who talked about one of the different young women values. All of the girls got to attend each of the seven stations. There were inspiring words shared.

The entire camp did a service project of making cards and writing letters for our military. We will send them to soldiers who do not receive mail. I think the girls really enjoyed this activity.

Another night we had an organized fair of sorts. Each ward planned a different activity and the girls could go around to the activities of their choice. Our ward did finger painting which was a big hit. Other things were hillbilly golf, volleyball, donuts on a string, fishing pond, fruit basket...

The girls all loved singing trees again this year. Our ward sang Arise and Shine Forth with the Valencia ward.

Bishop Boerup came for bishops night and gave the girls a wonderful talk for bishop's hour. He and his wife also came for testimony meeting. It is great to have his support - he truly loves the young women.

All of our girls shared their testimony at testimony meeting - it was a very special time! The spirit was so strong.

I really enjoyed my first year as the YCL Leader. I stayed very busy at camp which I like. I especially loved the relationships that I was able to make with the ycl's. There were 30 of them but I learned a little about each and every one and by the end of the week each had blessed my life in some way. I am thankful for them.

On a sadder note: I received a message on Friday night just before testimony meeting that James would not be coming. (He had planned on coming Friday for testimony meeting and stay the night so he could help break camp on Saturday). The message did not tell me why - I thought it was odd that he wasn't coming but just figured he thought he should be home with the boys so didn't think much of it. Well, it turns out he was in the ER with kidney stones. I didn't find out until I called him when I was almost home. He has never had kidney stones before but this hit him fast and hard. He didn't want to tell me because he wanted me to be able to attend testimony meeting - can you believe that! He is so very supportive of me and my calling. I told him if it was me in that much pain I would have wanted him by my side. Of course, yes, it would depend upon where he was and what his responsibilities were but I admit I would feel more comfortable having him near me. He is doing much better now, but can tell if he goes too long between pain pills. I am thankful he is o.k. I know he is excited to attend a week of camp next year. I am especially grateful to a good man in our ward, Bart Peterson, who drove James to the ER and stayed with him for six hours. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. I had to call Bart personally to thank him for taking such good care of James. I know James had to have been hurting if he was at the point of calling someone for help. Good friends are precious.

Sorry this has been such a long post, lots of great memories (and sad ones too regarding the ER visit)!

Today the little boys started school and my sister comes tomorrow so there is lots happening.

Let me know if you stopped by with a comment - I've left the world behind for a week and would love to hear from you and know you stopped by the blog. Love ya' - Have a good Monday.

Camp Zion here we come!

I'm leaving in about an hour for girls camp. I think I'm ready...let's hope so because there is no more room in my van. I do need to stop at the church bookstore to purchase another journal as I only have about four pages left in the one I have and camp is a time where I do like to write.
I'm meeting the stake staff and YCL's this afternoon and we will go to camp and get ready for everyone else to come Tuesday morning. I hope to make lots of good memories this week. I'll "talk" with you in a week!

Happy 4th of July!

I'm still working on finishing camp goodies...here are the finished wands to give out at the end of the week. Today I worked a little on gifts for my secret sister.
Our family spent the day at Camp Zion on Mt. Lemmon preparing an obstacle course for our stake B.O.O.T. camp next week. The men and young men did an outstanding job building something from nothing - it was fun to watch them in action. The above photo is Josh and Austin lashing logs together. Tanner, James, Bryce, Josh and Rob working together...This was the beginning of a ladder.
Chase and all the little boys enjoyed going off to 'explore' the mountain. The fresh air did them a lot of good!
All the men (and young men) did a fabulous job building a 10 foot tall 'ladder' that the girls will climb up on side and down the other. I went through the obstacle course twice, so I could go at my own pace (nice and slow!) just in case I don't get the chance to experience it during the week of camp. The priestood are also going to have a zip-line that I am excited to try at camp as I've never done that before.
I hope you had a happy fourth of July!

Young Women Camp Treats

Here are some of things I've been working on for Young Women camp. We have 31 Youth Camp Leaders and I have been having fun making camp goodies for them. I'm sure they have been having fun making goodies for the campers that are in their groups.
I made bags of pom poms for 'warm fuzzies'. This promotes kindness. The attached poem reads:
"Put these warm fuzzies in your pocket, so they are easy to give away.
When you see someone who needs a friend, a warm fuzzy will brighten their day!
Sharing makes us feel so good and warm inside, making others happy brings joy into our lives. These are just small party picks shaped like a wand with a note attached that says, "Thanks for your 'wand'erful service this week. You are amazing!"

Our theme is B.O.O.T. (Building Our Own Testimonies) Camp so of course we are doing a lot with an army theme... Here's some army soldiers with a note that says, "We Want You! B.O.O.T. Camp 2008!" I will be using them with the devotional I'm presenting the first evening of camp to the YCL's.

My sweet friend Jo-Anne painted these stars for me. She painted almost 40 of them for me, did a fabulous job and I am so thankful. I followed her advice to hot glue a plug-in cover on the back so they can be plugged into a socket and look cute on a wall. I love them - I need to save one for myself!
Another camp leader is making table squares for the dining hall out of lime green and hot pink camo fabric. The green on these centerpieces actually matches that fabric so I think when they are all put together it will be o.k. Because a boot camp theme has lots of green and brown we are bringing in lots of pink as an accent color - and well, because we are girls!
All of the 31 YCL's are assigned to work with a particular age group of girls. My good friend Joanne cut out this fabric for me for small banners. She also sewed a small pocket that we can use to put cording through for hanging. Orange=first years, Purple=second years, green=third years, silver=fourth years, yellow=stake staff. The YCL's will personalize their own banner and we will use them for decoration in the ramada. I plan on bringing puff paint, pom poms, 3-D flowers, sequins and jewels, yarn, foam shapes and letters, yarn, paint, decorative buttons...I think they will have fun having showing their personalities on their banner.
I've found some fun things at the 99 cent store. They had both the shoelaces and the hats there. I am going to give out the shoelaces to be used as a camp necklace that we can put fun camp trinkets on that we get and the hats we will decorate with pink puffy paint and pink ribbon (and make so ugly they will be fun!)
So - it's all a process...Still lots more to do! As you can tell I am not at jury duty today. I was postponed so I had to call and be released. The gentlemen I spoke with was very kind. Someday I will be able to fulfill that assignment, but right now my most important assignment is to be a mother.

fun...

Last Saturday we had the honor of attending the Eagle Court of Honor for our friend Josh Hendrix. There was a fabulous turnout for this young man, the room was packed! It was a nice ceremony.
We enjoyed hosting our family friend, Amy, for a few days. Her and Molly had a great time together -- she even helped Molly start her own blog. These two girls were a great help to me with girls camp projects. They sorted secret sister clothespins, beaded necklaces and pom poms and they stuffed baggies with goodies...I am very appreciative of all they helped me with. They were good sports with all I asked them to do. They took my camera and enjoyed a little photo shoot one afternoon while I was off at a meeting - I'm glad they did since I haven't been good lately of getting pictures of all we are doing.Yesterday and today I spent a lot of time shopping for school clothes for Molly. We found her a lot of fun things thanks to my friend Lucinda and her daughter Ashley. When Molly and I go shopping we find one or two things but with these two looking for her we felt very successful with our purchases. She got three pairs of jeans, two capris, three shirts, two sweaters, and two pairs of shoes. Plus we had a lot of fun together!

We have been busy with the countdown for camp...six more days and still lots to do! I do however feel that I am on top of it all. I ran a few more errands today and just need to put some final touches on some things I'm working on for devotionals. However I am a little stressed out that I'm called to jury duty for Thursday. I am glad for the opportunity to serve but it didn't come at a very good time (I'm sure jury duty is never "convenient" though huh!) All will work out.

I took myself, Reid and Chase to the eye dr. recently and we are all doing good. I'm still 20/20 -hurray! Reid does not need glasses (not sure how it skipped this child, but I'm thankful) and Chase's prescription has remained the same.

Molly is still scheduled to get her braces off the day before high school - we're keeping our fingers crossed as we know things can change.

Today I enjoyed a yummy lunch at Olive Garden with Susan - thanks for your listening ear today.