Swimming with a friend

My friend, Nancy, came into town last week for a Doctor appt (yep, she is prego! YAY!) and I got to watch the kids. I love it when she stops by. Nancy has family in the area, so I get to see her rarely but I love it when I do.
She is an amazing person.
LOVE HER!


Nancy and her 2nd oldest - Brinlee.
Brinlee recently got a hair cut from her older sister. She is still beautiful.Agent J played with Sweetie and Nancy's youngest, Makoa. Agent J was the best and the kids fought over him. TOO CUTE! It was the first time that Sweetie was actually wanting to swim. She was jealous of Makoa and Agent J together.


Afton - the hair cutter of Brinlee and a great swimmer (but every picture I have she is holding a noodle). My Sweetie.
Helping with the little kids. I love my son.

Afton jumping...CANON BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sidenote - Nancy is at the beach this week. I can't wait to be at the exact same beach at the end of the month. I love the beach.

Hmm? Does my 5 year old have a crush on a girl from his class?

Look close at the chalk name I found outside on our shed. No other names, just this one. Interesting? I might read more into it, IF it was inside a heart. BUT... it is not.

Sunday Sharing Time in Primary

Our ward recently changed and our Primary is smaller. SO...every child got to play a part in our re-enactment of Joseph being sold in Egypt and a lesson in forgiveness.
Joseph's brothers selling Joseph to Ismalites into Egypt. Genesis 37
Joseph dreams of the day his brother's will bow down and worship him.
Joseph being presented with the coat of many colors and being favored among his father (story and pictures not in order - computer problem - forgive me).
Bringing the "blood soaked" coat of colors back to Jacob, to prove that Joseph was dead - but he wasn't. Remember, they sold him into Egypt.
Joseph forgiving his brothers' with a little encouragement from my stern and surprised look on my face. Genesis 45

All in all, I prepared WAY TO MUCH and we ran out of time. It was fun to get to work with the kids, but mostly I learned more doing the research for this lesson.

I LOVED that 2 out of 3 of my Primary girls were able to help me make the "coat of colors" while their friends were at Girls Camp. Although I REALLY missed my 3rd girl, schedule conflicts. It was wonderful to get to know these girls in a casual setting. Plus, they know more about sewing than I do. Seriously!

SINGING TIME - followed our lesson.
Zach needed to feel the love of Primary and he helped in singing time TOO! I will miss him when he leaves on his mission in August. He is going to Jersey, baby!

AFTER CHURCH -
I drove the kids most of the way home, but then they decided to walk. Cute picture of Agent J and Sweetie, but it is 107*. CRAZY AZ KIDS!

Saturday is a Special Day

One of the girl's in my Sunday School Class got baptized.

SO PROUD of her decision to learn more about the church and ask the missionaries to teach her.
The baptism was filled with the Spirit of God.

I am lucky to be her teacher.

Cute girls who I am excited to get to know.

LATER...(changing subjects, so keep up)
Then Saturday night I had one more job to do as Madame President of VAPO.
My good friend, Laura, came and helped me with her hubbie's truck. Laura is my secret weapon in the friend department. She is loyal, dependable and the hardest worker I know. She hates attention, but she has dial-up Internet, so she doesn't read my blog - too long to upload.


We ran to Scottie's old house and grabbed these painted cutouts for the school. Scottie made them for the Spring Festival and she moved this weekend. Scottie is AMAZING and so talented at so many things. Now these cutouts will sit in my garage till July 20th, when we can move them into the NEW VAPO room. I am LOVING our new campus and the way our school is growing with excitement about the new building. YEAH! Soon, very soon, my garage will be free of VAPO items. My husband will be happy about his clean and clear garage in less then a month!! I love my patient honey.

my birthday - a day in the life of a mom

5:30 AM HIKE

This is a great way to start the day. Also, looking back on my day - this was the highlight. There is nothing like watching the sun come up and the day dawn breaking.

Now, I don't love the way I look when hiking, but I will make this sacrifice to truly show you about my day. Notice how much shorter Pam is than me. I am standing downhill compared to her. (She knows she is short and she LIKES IT! Weird.)

After the hike, I showered (and dressed in 15 minutes) and drove the kids to 3 hours of swim practice (one kid, each hour) .

We are normally rushing a little bit at this point in the day. After we park and rush the boys into the pool area, this is us getting ready to go for a walk, but one more thing...

LAST PTO PRESIDENT JOB
Before we left for the walk, I met Donald, the treasurer, in the pool parking lot to sign my LAST check to the school. Our parent organization was able to donate $11,500 toward the purchase of 27 new computers for the computer lab for THIS FALL! SO EXCITING! The school actually needed $16,000 for the computers, but the school plans on making up the difference. I am so excited to see the changes going on at the school. This fall is going to be the best to have a REAL BUILDING and now NEW COMPUTERS!
SWIM and WALK
OK. Back to my morning - it is a little after 7 AM and here we go...

We (Janet and me and our kids - but Janet hates her picture taken) went for our usual walk. 7-8 AM Agent J swims and we walk 3.6 miles. (Speaking of Janet, she gave me my first gift of the day! THANKS Janet and fam!)

8-9 AM Princess swims and I eat breakfast and grease up(sunscreen) RHM for his swim practice.

9-10 AM RHM swims and Agent J plays cards with his friend and I chase after Sweetie, while Princess showers and gets ready for the day.

MOVIE TIME
On Thursdays we have to leave a little early from swim practice...
to go to Summer Fun Movie, like we do every week! Very fun - for the kids. We saw Madagascar 2 for the first time. It was cute. Click on the video below to see the song RHM sings ALL THE TIME now!

I like 'em BIG!

LUNCH TIME

So my good friend, Andrea wanted to take me to lunch - but she already took me to get a pedicure earlier in the week(btw, my toes still look GREAT). We both knew we would have the kids after the movie, so we decided to make the best of it and take them to Peter Piper. Not my favorite place for a birthday lunch, but the best place to have a birthday lunch with kids. They all just played and left me alone! It was fun to watch them have fun, while I got to hang out with a friend.
Agent J made my day, by challenging me to a game of air hockey. He was very honest and we got to play an extra long game. I think he let me win. Isn't that SWEET? He really is better than me.
This is Andrea's youngest (below). So scary, but really kind in person.
After Peter Piper, I had a few friends stop by and some friendly phone calls. I even had a surprise at my door. Thanks, Darc, Trev,Julia and Laura. It is wonderful to be so loved on my birthday. My Dad, Mom, sister,brother, sister-in-laws and in-laws all called at some point in the day.
NAP TIME
THEN it was time for a nap. I laid Sweetie down and then it was my turn. I had been up since 2:30 AM, because Sweetie is having night terrors so I was tired. Then we grabbed the cupcakes that Travis made and headed to the swim meet. We planned on sharing the cupcakes at the swim meet and that was fun!
SWIM MEET

The kids swam all 4 races at this meet. Travis brought pizza and subs for dinner, so I didn't have to cook. He also brought my present to the meet! Sweet, isn't he? Too bad Sweetie can't be sweet the whole meet. She is a handful, but at least she stays away from the pool and just wants to run everywhere else. Silly monkey!

This week the older 3 kids did the following races at the meet:

1. medley relay (Backstroke, breast stroke, butterfly, freestyle) - RHM and Princess swam butterfly in their relays and Agent J swam freestyle,
2. individual free style,
3. individual butterfly
   
4. and finally the freestyle relay.

This is a picture of our friend, we will call "N", holding his 1st place ribbon. He is 13 and raced against Agent J in the 11 - 12 year old division. Needless to say Agent J got a 4 th place, but knows deep down he earned a 3rd place. Come on "N" go race someone your own age! JK

Princess swam a great race and so did the boys. It is fun to watch them swim every week in the meets. The season will be over soon and that is sad.

Did I mention that is was sprinkling and raining on and off the whole meet?
Well, it was.

After the swim meet, Travis got all the kids ready for bed and went to play softball for 2 hours. I watched SYTYCD and hoped for a better day (more about me) on Friday. That may sound selfish, but I love birthdays and this day was more about the kids. Here is hoping for a better day tomorrow and a better birthday next year!

My blog's birthday

Happy birthday blog. You are 2 years old.

My blog makes me happy. I just wish I could tell my blog and its readers EVERYTHING and not just the easy stuff to share. My mom always says that if you don't want your posterity to read about it, don't write it. I think that is a fair statement, but I am OK with my kids and grand kids knowing that I am human.

I whine.

I complain.

I have trials.

I have tests.

I fail.

I swear. Oops! I wasn't supposed to admit that. Damn! It is something I am working on, along with a long list of others things.

I recently learned that someone (I look up to and respect) doesn't like me. She is holding something against me that I said or did a long time ago. It makes me sad. What can I do? Do I approach her and say,

• "Hey, I hear you don't like me. Want to get together and talk about it?"

Nope. I'm thinking that would NOT go over well. I just need to do my best to be a good person in the future. I will try to not make the same mistake twice (although, that is hard, too). Mostly, it is heart breaking to learn that someone doesn't like me and I didn't even know it. I wish I could change her feelings toward me, but...I think it is out of my hands. I like her, so is there anything, really for me to do?

I hope to learn and grow and reflect on this growth in my blog over the 3rd blogging year.

Wish me luck that I can become a better person and not offend more people this year than last. (I think I am off to a shaky start, but here's to trying!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG!

My Daddy is my favorite Pal

My Dad is a communicator, business man (and a good one), reader, history buff and friend. He is the Dad that taught me how to relate to people. He taught me how to make others feel important. He taught me to have a plan. And he taught me how to make wise choices. He gave me confidence and always told me how beautiful I was (even during the rotten teenage years). I love my Dad. He really is my favorite pal.

Summer Is...

I was reading a magazine that said, " ...strolling the Saturday morning farmers' market, handing my husband the grilling tongs and laughing with neighbors through long, warm evenings I wish would never end."

Isn't that beautiful? (I am sure a writer wrote this advertisement, but I loved it and had to share.)

So...

WHAT IS SUMMER TO YOU?

Summer to me is early mornings drives with the kids to swim team practice, road trips with the family, camping at the beach and listening to books on CD as we travel. I love summer. (I know I keep saying that, but I do.)

Please tell me, what is summer to you?

1st class/ 2nd class/ Scouting Brag Ribbon for Mom

Agent J had a Court of Honor and earned his 2nd class and 1st class in the Boy Scout program.

This is him with a fellow scout, Agent "A".
Agent J is pinning the mom pin on my Scouting Brag Ribbon. (more about this later)

Princess is the photographer and things are turning more and more blurry, but at least we caught the moment! Right? I am so proud of the young man my oldest child is turning out to be. He loves to go to scouts and is mad that I made him miss Scout Camp to go to Uncle Luke's wedding. Oh well. I can take it. I am a mean Mom that made him spend time with family we rarely see. (The funny thing is he never mentioned Scout Camp till we got home, which tells me he had fun on our 2 week trip. I kept him busy enough that he didn't miss it.) I do wish he could have done both, but there is always next year.

This is a close up of the Scouting Brag Ribbon that I purchased when Agent J was a cub. It is hard to find now, so I make them for friends and scouting stuff. As you can see the yellow and blue side is for Cub Scouts and the olive green and red side is for Boy Scouts. This brag ribbon is long enough that it will fit Agent J's and RHM's scouting pins.

PROJECT TIME:

Find the ribbon at any craft or fabric store. (It is hard to find a Cub Scout gold color, but maybe you will have better luck than I.) I have 1 inch ribbon for the olive green and blue and 5/8" ribbon for the red and yellow. I cut each piece about 16 - 18" long. Then I sew them together. My mom figured out this next little trick. When you sew them HAVE the top stitch be the color of the top ribbon and the bobbin thread be the color the bottom ribbon. It make for a nice finished product. After you sew the 2 side together, don't forget the Fray Block. Put this on the ends of the ribbon where you cut and it will last a lot longer.

Every Scouting Mom I know loves this Brag Ribbon. Enjoy!

NOW back to the Court of Honor...

Time for refreshments.

Muffins and cupcakes and milk were for dessert. YUM! What I love about this picture is the two scouts in the background talking. You can tell one of these Scouts is much older and has his Eagle and the other is working toward that goal of Eagle. I love Scouting. This Eagle Scout will never know what a great example he is to this boy and all of the younger Scouts and my 5 year old sitting near his feet.