Trip to Phoenix

We had a great time visiting Grandma and Grandpa at the beginning of July. It was just me and my girls that went for the visit. We spend time with Ty and Jerami and the boys while we were there. Colton had a birthday party while we were there and the girls loved it. We had a very restful visit even though it was hot.

We are now trying to get ready for school to start in a couple of weeks. I think I am more excited than the kids but they are ready to see their friends and get into a normal routine. We have had a very productive summer with the house and hope that everyone will be in their rooms by the end of August. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, finally.

On his way to Eagle

We are so proud of Parker. He received his Life Scout Award last night. What a great son we have. Almost an Eagle Scout. What a great accomplishment that will be. The first in our family. He completed his first year of early morning seminary (6:40am start) and never complained one time. He has been working hard on his Scouting merit badges and he never complains about that either. I am grateful to have a 15 year old that is so willing to choose the right and make good friends. He is a great example to his brother and sisters. He never complains about babysitting his siblings either. And he LOVES being taller than his mother. I had 2 inch sandals on in the picture.

Bee Keeper

We are now official bee keepers. We got the bees last night and then we installed them in the beehive this afternoon. It was really cool to see all of the bees. Presley wanted to know if the Queen bee was a girl or a bee. Then she wanted to know if the Queen bee was going to have a crown. What a cute 4 year old! She wanted to be right in the middle of it the whole time.


I also had a great Mother's Day! The kids made hot pads with their hand prints on them at church today. They were so cute! Then I got a new camera because my other camera kept having data damage and I was loosing lots of pictures. I love taking pictures and it makes me so sad and upset when I loose photos that I will never be able to document in the kids scrapbooks.

Canning

I have been on a canning spree since I got my new stove top. I have canned 36 or so pinto beans, which took 1 1/2 days because of the processing time in the pressure cooker. Then today a friend and I canned 36 jars of strawberry jam. YUMMY! I love canning because I feel such a sense of accomplishment. Plus I have only ever bought jam from a store once in my life. So what should I can next? I was thinking about chicken. I have never canned chicken. I need to call my sister because I know she has. Life is good!

16 Years

Joe and I celebrated our 16th year anniversary this weekend. It was really nice to get away and stay in Albuquerque. We got to the hotel saturday afternoon and got ready to attend the musical Legally Blonde at Popejoy. Before we went we decided to go shopping for new outfits. We got to see some old friends from the Westside of Albuquerque at the musical. It was nice to run into Dora Thomas and Brent and Val Gardner. We miss the westside (kind of) mostly just the friends that we have over there. I don't get to that side of town enough to see all my friends. Maybe I should plan a monthly visit over there. But we had a great time in Albuquerque by ourselves. I still can't believe that it has been 16 years already. How time flies when you are having fun!

Mother daughter dinner

Last Saturday night Kailei and I were invited to a Mother Daughter Dinner and program that our church put on. It was lots of fun going and eating dinner together. We went with 2 of her friends from the church and their mothers. The program was about being Loyal to the Royal within you. They talked about modest dressing and remembering that we are princesses and we need to act and treat our bodies like that. We had a good time.

Father Daughter Dance

So last friday night the kids school puts on a Father Daughter Dance. The theme was "50's dance". I had good intentions of making poodle skirts for the girls but I didn't get around to buying the material. I love that our school does this. Every year the girls can't wait to go. Of course, Presley isn't quite old enough so she didn't get to go and she was sad but hopefully next year. Caleb had a basketball game that night and so I had to get the girls ready at the game. Thank goodness there was an outlet so we could use the curling iron on the hair. Joe got out of work early so he got to watch some of the basketball game before he took the girls to eat at DJ's doghouse and then to the dance. (Side note: Caleb's team lost and they didn't play very well either.)