Week in Review...

Haley got her permit on Tuesday! She was so excited!! She has a lot to learn, but she will be a great driver with lots of practice:) I can't believe that I have a daughter old enough to have her permit, so crazy!

Our garden is doing really good! We have about 3 cucumbers ready to pick everyday, and our broccoli is starting to sprout and watermelon and zucchini!

Rick and the kids have done a really good job in keeping the garden healthy and weed free.

Rick took Jacob out to the lake yesterday to go kayaking and on the road they saw a ton of wild horses, that was pretty cool. As soon as they got the kayak into the lake, it started leaking so they had to come back home. There was about a 4 inch slit in the top of the kayak:( We need to repair it before it will be lake ready again, so he will take his other kayak out on Monday and hopefully it will be leak free.

The last day of school was on Thursday and my last day of daycare was on Wednesday so we had a slip n' slide party! We even invited over Abby's best friend Lexi to have some fun with us, they had a great time yelling, "Cannonball!!" and then sliding across the slip 'n slide, it was hilarious! In the background you can glimpse our green garden! We also have oranges growing on our orange tree and our lemon and tangerine tree are growing good too. We have discovered that you can grow things in Arizona with the right kind of soil:)

I was so bummed to find out that Jacob had an end of the year program on Tuesday, because I had daycare and couldn't attend. Luckily Ashlyn was able to head over to his class and watch him and I had a friend take a pic of them:) It was a great school year, but now we are ready for our pool time and we even got the summer movie pass, so we'll be seeing a movie every Friday (I'm nervous about how Abby will do, but I'm hoping for the best) we also have swim team bright and early at 7 and 8 a.m., so our lives will stay busy! I start 3 classes next Monday, so I'll be trying to squeeze that in with all of the summer fun:) Haley goes to Girls Camp on Tuesday-Saturday of this week and then the next week she's going to EFY in Mesa and then the next week her cousin Kaylee is coming to stay for the week. Busy, but fun!

Week in Review...

Last Sunday I had a wonderful mothers day, and received many homemade gifts. They are my favorite. I also got a lot of chocolate, which is also my favorite!

The kids had their soccer tournaments this week, they both lost but Ashlyns went into overtime and then down to penalty kicks. That was pretty cool.

For Mothers Day the primary printed out these cute papers with each childs profile pic on it and questions answered about their mom. It was cute to read their answers to the questions.

We also had a big combined Activity Days Talent show this week. The girls were really cute and very talented! Ashlyn played the piano and did great.

Abby is normally very clingy to me in public places but this week at Jacobs last soccer practice she came out of her shell. This little boy was playing soccer with his dad and she kept stealing the ball away from them and dribbling it across the field. It was so funny! Luckily the dad used to be a preschool teacher and I had had a conversation with him about how shy Abby is and so he thought it was great. Luckily the little boy thought she was a great playmate and played with her. Abby might be our next little soccer star!

Do you remember how I was saying how hard Sundays have been? Well, last week and the week before were pretty good but Rick was finally able to convince corporate that it was a waste for him to work on Sundays instead of Fridays and they let him change back to M-F!!! This was truly a miracle!! He still has to be on call 100% on Sundays, but at least he doesn't have to go into work if nothing comes up!! Hallelujah, prayers are answered!!

Week in Review...

Last Sunday we took the bunny and the dog on a walk. The bunny just wanted to hop into the nearest bush! It was pretty funny to watch. Last week I learned that I had won a scholarship that I applied for, which really surprised me! They usually award this scholarship to teachers going into the Math, Science or Technology fields but I guess my essay won them over:) So grateful!!

On Monday I made homemade play dough for the kids and they loved it. One of the girls requested pink play dough and I couldn't get the food coloring just right so it kept turning out orange. Ugh!

Ashlyn had her orchestra concert on Tuesday night, she did a great job! She loves playing the violin. Her class was selected to play with the 6th grade orchestra during the concert because they were so far ahead of the rest of the 5th grade orchestra. That was pretty cool!

Jacob had an invention convention where he made a prototype of the watch and he did research about how the watch came into fruition.

On Saturday we took the kids swimming to a community pool and I completely forgot Abby's life jacket! I was a nervous wreck, luckily they had a 1 ft depth baby pool that we spend a lot of time in and then she started swimming with this noodle. I was always within about a foot of her and she kept saying, why are you chasing me? She thought it was funny that I was always within reach of her. Rick and I tried teaching her how to swim but she would just get terrified and start sinking. As soon as we got home I threw her life jacket into the van so that it won't be forgotten next time. She loves swimming, and I don't want her to lose that love and become terrified of the water. 

Rick and I got these awesome sun hats at Home Depot, they completely shade our faces from the bright sun. I don't think the sun is any brighter anywhere than Arizona!

It was a gorgeous day for a swim!

Today Rick made me a huge breakfast and had dinner ready in the crock pot before we left for church. What a guy! I'm so blessed to be a mother, it was always my dearest wish to become a mother. My mom made it look so easy to be a great mom and I've since come to realize that it isn't easy at all. Most of the time I'm just scrambling like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to figure out how to be the best mom to these kids. It's never been an easy job, but at the end of each day I count my blessings that Heavenly Father sent me these 4 special spirits. I'm so thankful to my mom for being an amazing mom and showing me how to be a mom and a wife through her example. The number 1 lesson that I learned from my mom was to be selfless, she always served others before herself. I really feel like the luckiest girl in the world that I have my mom and I hope that she knows how much all of us kids love her!! I'll never know how she did it all, it exhausts me to think of all that she did and still does for us. Love you momma!

Week in Review...

On Friday Rick took Jacob to the Father and Sons camp out, it was great for Rick because he doesn't get to sit and socialize with men from the ward very often anymore. Jacob loved being outdoors and with his friends. They slept in the van and didn't get much sleep, but they made lots of great memories!

On Wednesday we had Activity Days and we all wore pink in remembrance of a little girl that's Abby's age who was hit by a father in our stake who was moving his truck. He couldn't see her and she was killed. This really hit me hard because she was Abby's age, looked just like Abby and it could easily happen to us. The day was called, Hugs from Holly day and everyone was encouraged to wear pink and do acts of service or give hugs because she was a great hugger. Abby received some lemonade from one of her friends and we all gave a big group hug after our activity was over in remembrance of this sweet little girl.

On Friday Ashlyn went to Salk Elementary to experience their flight simulation. Here she is flying to New York! She said it was really fun!

I felt like today's Sunday school lesson was just for me today. We talked about activities that are appropriate for Sunday and how we should look forward to Sunday and all of the activities that we can do together as a family. Ever since Rick started working on Sunday's I've been dreading Sundays because the kids have really been acting out on Sunday and it's the end of the week and I have 0 patience left to deal with it all. So it's been disastrous for the last couple of months and every Sunday I break down into tears because I feel overwhelmed with this trial. After church today though I feel very uplifted and have several ideas of what we can do on Sunday to help keep everyone happy and excited that it's Sunday. Right now the kids are planning meals for the month and watercolor painting. I'm so grateful for the gospel and the upliftment and advice that I gain on raising my family from the principles of the gospel.