It was a very happy birthday!

Tonight Chase had his 'friend' party- five friends came to our home for a couple hours to help him celebrate turning nine years old! He didn't want a theme for his party, but did want green and blue as the colors of the decorations and he wanted a simple white cake with white frosting and chocolate ice cream. Easy enough!
We played a game that I grew up with called "How well do you know _______" (fill in the birthday persons name) It was fun to see how well his friends knew his favorite things and if they didn't know the answer they got to know a little more about him. Chase loved reading his answers to everyone as they each corrected their own paper and Reid even asked if we could play it when it is his birthday!
Each of the boys ran the length of the house with a balloon between their knees and then had to come back to the chair and sit on the balloon to try to pop it! Chase is covering his ears because the balloons were l-o-u-d when they popped!
Happy Birthday to you! Cake (above) was served with chocolate and/or vanilla ice cream but we started the party (photo below) with pepperoni and cheese pizza's!
It is hard to believe that this blog was started one year ago. The first entry covered Chase's eighth birthday party at the bowling alley and then his baptism. wow... now we are celebrating his ninth birthday! Time flies. Although the internet can be a scary place I am thankful our family has this documentation of the last year.

cub pack meeting

Congratulations to Chase for receiving his wolf badge last night at cub scout pack meeting! Some of the things he did to earn this badge are: picking up garbage along the roadside, placing emergency telephone numbers next to all our phones, participate in a flag ceremony, reading about individuals who make a difference in our world: he read about someone saving trees, someone promoting recycling and someone who promotes kindness towards others and lots of other things. The badge took an entire year to complete and he has learned a lot.

Normally the cub scout will place a pin on the mother's collar but I insisted that James go up and receive the pin because truthfully he was the one the helped Chase with his requirements. James has been great getting the boys to meet all the requirements for each rank advancement. Sorry for the dark photos - we had pack meeting outside last night. Luckily the rain stopped just in time for Chase to get his award!
Congratulations Chase!

a celebration

We had a fantastic time celebrating Chase's birthday on Monday! We had a dinner of spaghetti (his choice!), rolls, corn and fruit salad with chocolate birthday cupcakes and chocolate ice cream for dessert.

Thank you for the birthday wishes that were sent Chase's way! There were such kind words shared!


The photo of Chase on the phone was taken when he was listening to the birthday message left by Geoffrey the Toys R Us Giraffe wishing him a happy birthday!

We all had a good day giving Chase lots of love. This Friday we will be hosting his "friend party". He has invited six little boys to come spend a couple hours at our home to celebrate some more. They will play games, eat pizza and I suppose we will have more birthday cake and more ice cream!

Happy 9th Birthday Chase!

Today is Chase's ninth birthday - Happy birthday buddy!
He got a big birthday hug this morning and opened his present from Grandma Gubler, and his Utah cousins, the Brackens and Sullivans. They got him Lego StarWars, The Complete Saga for the Wii! He loves it. He gave Ryan specific instructions not to open it while he is at school because he gets to play it first. James drove Chase and Reid to school today since Chase brought in fruit popcicles to share with the class since it is his birthday. I hope he has a good day!

We asked him where he wanted to go eat for his birthday dinner, but he wants to stay home and have spaghetti and then have 'brown' cupcakes and chocolate ice cream for dessert. He is very easy to please.

Chase is such a joy in our lives! He is smart (a whiz at math), funny (loves to make Ryan laugh with his jokes), happy (always has a big, huge smile on his face), and kind (willing to help others). He has a special place in his heart for babies and has a genuine love for teenagers. He recognizes others that may have a disability and immediately will become a friend.
He always tries his best at new things: yoga, cub scouts, soccer. He has taught us, his parents, so very much about love, kindness, acceptance, patience, and being joyous. He freely gives hugs and kisses and lots and lots of love.
Happy, Happy Birthday to you! You are so very loved - today on your birthday and everyday!

my week...

It has been awhile since I posted - everything is fine, just living life. On Saturday I got to attend a card club I joined with my friend who is a Close to my Heart consultant. I LOVE going to Angela's home - I really enjoy paper crafting. I am not great at it, but it is very relaxing to me.
On Sunday evening (Aug. 17) Ryan lost his very first tooth! We didn't even know it was loose until Sunday morning and it was really loose. We figured right that it would come out that day. The tooth fairy brought him four quarters for his tooth, a lucky boy!

Monday afternoon I was scheduled to volunteer in Ryan's class for their 5 Senses Day, but when I got to the school Reid was in the office calling home for someone to come get him. He was playing frisbee at recess and got hit in his front tooth again so he only had 3/4 a tooth. I jokingly said to the dental assistant, "I think he's under warranty" She checked when he had it fixed the first time (when his tooth met the sidewalk) and found out it was Dec. 2007 so since it hasn't been a year yet they didn't charge us! Whew! Reid is good as new now. I told Ryan he lost a tooth and so did Reid.


The Laurels and Mia Maids did this flip flop craft on Wednesday. The girls were so creative - they each used their own color combinations for their flip flops. I enjoyed making mine pink, I still need to trim my fabric a little more before they will be complete. I don't know that I will actually wear them (they are cute, but just not my thing) but I loved the process of cutting the fabric! It sounds silly, but it was my first time using a cutting blade - man, how great are those!!! It was a great craft to do while talking with all the girls too so that makes it a winner in my book.

On Thursday I had an appointment across town with a new orthopedic surgeon. Since I had my artificial hip placed in 2001 I am supposed to have an appointment yearly but I have put it off a few years because I just was not happy with the surgeon I first found when I moved here to Tucson. I must say I am so pleased with this new doctor. He was very personable and kind and reassuring. (My hip is looking good, he gave me some pain pills for the bad days and a shoe lift for my leg length difference...I need to do more strengthen exercises and I was cleared that I don't need to see him again for two more years - hurray!) The appointment was a long one and is always somewhat emotional when discussing the possiblity of surgery so afterwards I treated myself to some alone time shopping. Since my dr. appt. was about 45 minutes away I was in a completely different part of town so there was new stores to explore.
In Gilbert, AZ and in St. George, Utah I have been to a store that sells home decor called Real Deals. Well, Tucson got one in October but I hadn't made it there until yesterday. I'm in love!

I purchased this yellow platter (I even bought a second one for a gift) and the easel. Should I admit the plate was only $8.76 and it is totally food safe, and the easel was $4.29!
I also bought these topiary ball for my Ikea holders. I normally have live plants in them but these are much easier to keep looking nice! I went for the first time to Foothills Mall and I discovered that Tucson has a Kirkland's Home! Why didn't anyone ever tell me? LOL! I got these red canisters for my kitchen. I like how they look but also that they seal air-tight.

Since I was at the mall I stopped in to Bath & Body Work and found my new favorite thing!
Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy Stress Relief Hand Soap. I can't tell you how many times I unscrew the top to get a whiff - ahhhh. My favorite scent is Eucalyptus Spearmint. The label states "Think clearly. Eucalyptus Essential Oil clears the mind to improve concentration. Spearmint Essential Oil is uplifting and helps the mind to focus." I say it is heaven in a bottle. I love it! It is normally $6 each but you can get it now for less than $3 since they have there 7 for $20 sale happening.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. One of the Young Women in our ward is getting baptized tomorrow - we are all very excited for her special day. I'm to give the talk on the Holy Ghost, need to get preparing for that. Chase has his ninth birthday Monday, we will have a family party then and a friend party later in the week. I hope your weekend is wonderful!

Weekend happenings

James brought home his new toy Friday - a BMW motorcycle. (My mother is cringing right now as she reads this I know!) He purchased it from a friend at work who is moving his family to Japan and needed to sell it before he moved. I will need to get some pictures of James on the monster but for now the kids are having fun ooohing and aaahing over it.
This morning we enjoyed breakfast out to celebrate the birthday of our friend, Cori. It is always so nice to be with these sweet ladies. Each of them bring so much joy into my life.
After breakfast I attended card club which is always enjoyeable, and then took Molly to Target to redeem her gift cards from the orthodontist and then on a date with my husband. A nice relaxing day.

YM/YW etiquette dinner

Tonight we had our Young Men/Young Women etiquette dinner. The evening turned out so well. The above picture is of the welcome table. It had a frame with a paper featuring our evening meal: green salad with choice of ranch or italian dressing, spaghetti, corn and rolls with sherbet cake with creme wafer cookies for dessert. The table also held roses, mints and candles. Also on the welcome table was a plate of nice sized brownies that was awarded to the most 'well-mannered' table. All the leaders wore black bottoms and white tops and served as waitstaff. I used the magnet board I made at 'Super Saturday' for a welcome sign.
A couple in our ward, the Nelsons, put up this fabulous lighting for our event! The youth were all so appreciative of the way the room turned out.
We placed questions on the table to encourage quality and appropriate dinner conversation. We had a 'black and white' theme so all of the decorations went together. The single red rose at each table really complimented the classiness of the black and white.
Here a picture of Julia and I as we were going through some last minute details. Don't mind the pearl necklace with the t-shirt, I changed before the start of the evening! The etiquette dinner was put on by the laurel class and well, you're looking at it above - she is the only Laurel! Julia did an amazing job with this activity. It was really fun working with her.
Sister Campbell, Molly, Julia, Sister Nichols and me before the evening began.

The Eddingtons (Julia's parents) were our guest speakers and they were terrific! The kids were so interested in all they had to teach them. They spoke on dining etiquette for about fifteen minutes and then we served them salad followed by dinner. The Eddingtons then spoke again on other forms of etiquette during dessert. They were great speakers!
The above picture is of our amazing cooks! Sister Boerup made all the rolls homemade and all homemade pasta! Everything was so delicious. We had just the youth eat and then the leaders joined them for dessert, but they made enough extra food that many of the leaders enjoyed a plate in the kitchen.
Here is a picture of the table that Austin and Molly sat at. All of the youth were so well behaved and seemed to have had a great time. This was my first time during an etiquette dinner - I really enjoyed working on it.

I received these stamps in the mail the other day (I pre-ordered them months and months ago!). I just LOVE them! They are a 'kit of the month' from Lisa Bearnson. It was my first time buying one of her kits. I have purchased a couple of the Heidi Swapp kits in the past and liked those too.
The above photo is just a small portion of all the stamps that were included. They are foam stamps so will well with ink or paint. I wish I had these while making goodies for young women camp. I think they will work well on paper and fabric.

Great news!

Austin got his drivers license Saturday morning on his first try taking the test! Great job Austin! He turned 16 on April 15 and was a good sport about us taking three and a half months to find time to get him to the DMV. He is a very good driver and we are excited for him.
Ryan (enjoying his Sunday dinner of a grilled cheese sandwich which Chase helped prepare for a cub scout requirement) had great behavior and "stayed on green" all week at school last week. Yoo Hoo! It was a fantastic week. Good job Ryan!

Pizza party and bike ride

We attended our ward's pizza party Friday night. There was a good selection of different pizzas and dessert pizza's along with green salad and rootbeer - yummy! The kids loved the coloring pages and bean bag toss onto pizza boxes. They also had a taste test of pizza's from different restaurants around town. They decorated the cultural hall very cute with red, green and white streamers and tablecloths with fun music in the background. We had a fun time there before coming home to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
This morning we had a Young Women bike ride. Molly and I had to dust off our bikes and find the helmets as we just do not bike at all! We only had four young women come (maybe because we left at 6:30 a.m., but I was glad to beat the heat!) The others really missed out as we all had a good time. I was by far the s-l-o-w-e-s-t of us all, but had a great time and hope to use my bike more often. A wonderful morning.

A teacher visits...

Ryan's teacher, Mrs. Jung, came for a home visit on Monday. Ryan had an entire agenda of things he wanted to do with her and things he wanted to show her!
They played play-doh, pirates (above photo) and tossed a ball together. He showed her his bedroom and his puppy birthday party scrapbook. It was fun because some of the kids that came to his party last year are in his class this year so his teacher now knows them too.
They had a great time together!

journal entry

We are settling into the new school year.
Molly has made a smooth transition to high school. Tonight is the open house at the high school, I'm excited to meet some of her and Austin's teachers. She is a little worried that she is not cut out for honors history. She talked with her teacher who encouraged her to remain in the class. I think things will even out as she gets a handle on the changes of high school. She joined the thespian club which meets during lunch once a week and seems to really enjoy that. She likes the new choir teacher - yeah.
Molly seems to be enjoying early-morning seminary. She has been called to be the president of the freshman class. The bishop told her that her teachers see her as a leader as the class is fairly large - what a compliment. She seems very excited and I think the call is just what she needed to get out of bed and get to seminary on time. :)
Austin continues to amaze me with his calm, quiet personality. Nothing seems to shake him. He is doing great with his grades and seems to enjoy his classes more this year than last. He is really wanting to get his driving license. He even asked if we would take him on Saturday - hmmm...Our insurance may double in just a few days.
Austin seems to enjoy being on the seminary council, although he won't admit it. He went the first day prepared with getting-to-know you games and he seems to like the theme they have chosen this year.
I volunteered for the first time this school year at the elementary school yesterday. I worked in Reid's class first for just over an hour. Grading papers, cutting, separating book orders. I actually really enjoyed the busy work. Reid seemed happy to see me. I then went to Chase's classroom and did things for his teacher. Chase knew I was coming but he thought I was going to actually teach the class (like I did last Spring with Junior Achievement) so he told me when we got home he was a little disappointed but fine with it.
Reid, Chase and Ryan all have teachers who I am unfamiliar with. I had heard wonderful things about each of them and requested all three and am so pleased so far. They are fabulous people and the boys love them.
Ryan is doing o.k. He stayed on green Monday and Tuesday...hopefully the report will be well when he gets home today. I have been working at home with him on writing his letters. He continues to think he needs to write them absolutely perfectly. I explained to him that if he could do that he would not need to be in kindergarten. I think a lightbulb went off in his head with that knowledge. Now I just need to continue to remind him that he does not need to be perfect until he really knows it is true. His teacher came for a home visit Monday and he really enjoyed having her here, showing her his toys and playing with her.
Ryan has three other friends who are in his class who live in our neighborhood and also go to our church! I think this really helps him feel more comfortable. The four of us have been switching watching kids in the a.m. and then we walk all four kids to the bus so when it is not our day we have a couple additional hours to get things done. It has been very nice for Ryan to have playmates and work on his social skills and nice for me to get errands done.

I have been a little lost into the Twilight book series lately. I know...I'm a couple years behing the rest of society. I read Twilight last week and borrowed new moon from a friend on Sunday. I about finished it last night but waited and read the last chapter this morning. Now just to find someone who has book three I could borrow.

I am currently working on a combined ym/yw activity for one week from tonight - the laurels are in charge. (We have one laurel!) We are doing an etiquette dinner. A big undertaking but it is coming along nicely. We have assigned out a cook, speakers, a give-away prize for the best mannered table, a friend is making table squares, and a couple has offered to put up beautiful ceiling lights for atmosphere! WHEW! So really all that is left is purchasing plastic tablecloths (we are serving spaghetti and hated to stain the ward's linens) and centerpieces along with making the invitations and the name place cards. We are going with a black and white theme and I so hope the youth respond positively.

I made myself an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. I do not know if it is because it is monsoon season (which brings drastic changes in the weather) but my hips have been bothering me pretty severely lately. I am supposed to have a yearly check since my artificial hip was placed and I have not gone for over two years so it is time. James is secretly hoping I'll get a handicap placard - I just want some relief from the pain.

Tomorrow night is our post camp evaluation meeting to wrap it all up. It will be great to see camp friends and discuss things we can do to make next year even better. I'm looking forward to it.

Super Saturday

The Desert Willow and Valencia wards combined for our craft day - Super Saturday! It was a wonderful day and was especially nice to see everyone since our ward got split into two. There was such a great assortment of crafts offered. The above, faith, hope, charity blocks were fun and easy.
A 'happy everything' sign - the picture doesn't show but on the end of the sign is a small piece of velcro that hangs a wooden shape which represents that month. For example there is a Christmas tree for December, a sun for August, etc. I'm planning on displaying mine outside my front door since it is a covered area.
My good friend Lucinda and I attended together. She is a fast crafter! I must say she works at least three times faster than I. She was kind enough to basically finish all my projects - ha! Here she is sanding the edges of our magnets boards...
And here are our finished projects. I really like the look of them and think they will also be very useful.
We also signed up for a paperbag scrapbook. I am looking forward to sitting down and working on completing it. They also provided a delicious lunch of salads, bread and desserts. We had a great day together - it went by so fast!

Court of Honor, Raingutter Regatta

Wednesday night was a Court of Honor for Austins scout pack. I had mutual so was unable to attend but James and the little boys were there to cheer for his accomplishments. He earned a whole stack of merit badges as well as a patch for attending Aaronic Priesthood camp in May. Good job Austin!
Thursday night was cub scout pack meeting/raingutter regatta. Chase, Ryan and I attended a fun family evening.
Ryan wore his Clifford slippers - they go many places with us, the bottoms are getting holes in them, but he just loves them. I think new ones will need to be purchased soon. This year the pack made their boats out of strofoam instead of using the kits. Chase enjoyed painting his with a jungle theme. He even painted a monkey on the inside of the sail.
I love this picture of Ryan cheering the cub scouts on. He and his friend had a perfect watching spot right at the end of the race. They jumped up and down and cheered for every single scout as the boys blew their boats down the raingutters. A fun evening.