first day of school...again

It's official!  They are ALL back in school again.  As always, they were up  bright and early ready to go!  I, on the other hand, not so much.  Glade worked all night, so what was supposed to be our first day of regular routine was me doing all of it (driving, etc).  In the end, they all got where they needed to be and my first day a lone was beginning.  Sort of.  I had scheduled two visits for this morning, so I went straight from sending them off to driving into town for the visits.  I was done about 10:30, picked up some things I needed, met Jenny for lunch (haven't seen her in two whole weeks!) and got home about 2pm.  I tried unsuccessfully to take a quick nap, but the pressure of having to be up in time kept me from sleeping.  

They all had a great day, except Dalin who hates his English teacher.  She gave homework on the FIRST day!  Unbelievable.  Tonight is just as busy with scouts and mutual, so it certainly wasn't the organized, settled first day I would have hoped for.  Tomorrow is my Temple day so that won't be a stay at home day either.  I guess we'll have to wait for next week to get some order going. Ü

Bo - 4th grade

Katy - 2nd grade

Dalin - 8th grade

(he scraped his face on the bottom of the pool so got to start the year off with a bit of a mess on his face )

Last Day of Summer

 Today was our last day of summer.  Bo and Katy had meet the teacher this morning and then we decided we should go SOMEWHERE on the last day of school.  We finally settled on The dinosaur museum in Mesa.  It was a good choice too because in two days, they are no longer with the pogopass.  Grandma even changed her plans so she could go with us.  So we spent a little over an hour seeing what they had and then off to lunch.  We were in town so I decided we were going to eat somewhere the kids hadn't ever been.  They were all shouting things like Taco Bell, Subway, etc.  We ended up at Pizza Mart!  This is a little dump that's been around since I was in high school.  Glade grew up right around the corner and spent a lot of time here playing video games.  They always had $5 pizza.  The still do, only it doesn't actually fill up the pan like it used to.  Pretty comparable to Little Caesars.  They also had all the old games from the 80's.  It was fun watching my kids try to figure them out.  It was a fun day of things we don't normally do and NOT sitting around the house.

Eating pizza while watching cartoon network.  Very exciting conversation.

The museum had lots of "old time" stuff including a telephone booth

the old Mesa jail

More Random Stuff

We love having the missionaries in our home.  Some we love and some we like.  We loved Elder Mills.♥  We were sad to see him go, but are glad for him at the same time.  He had a tough companion and was a saint through it all.  We are planning to go see his family when we go to conference in October.

Sometimes kids get things in their head and just can't get past it.  These are the shoes Rhett just HAD to have.  We couldn't find them for a decent price anywhere but he really really wanted them.  So after several trips looking, some Kohl's cash along with a discount and him paying for half, he's the owner of the much desired new shoes.  I think he'll hate them, but far be it from the Mother to know anything. 

Sunsplash!  We used our pogopasses to spend a day at Sunsplash for free.  We stayed for 7 hours.  The kids had a great time, they did all the slides multiple times, didn't really have any serious sunburns or accidents.  I call success!  Chelsey and  Brynlee joined us for a few hours as well.  I have no real pics cuz you can't have your phone/camera in the water!  

This is just a little something that touched my heart.  I didn't get a pic the first time they all went up together which was a sweeter picture (they were all in a little bunch), but I just immediately saw all these little future missionaries standing up there singing.  Made me smile. 

We finally have baby chicks!  After 3 tries, we finally had six baby chicks hatch.  Unfortunately the mama had already left the nest when a couple of them hatched so she didn't claim them.  The other chickens weren't bothering them so we hoped they could make it anyway.  Nope.  My stupid dog dug under the fence and got the two that the mama wasn't taking care of.  I yelled at her pretty good, the rooster got a few good pecks on her and I tossed her butt out of the coop in a not very nice manner.  Hopefully that will be the last of that.  Now we have four babies.  

Super Saturday/ Birthday party/First Day

This last month I've been trying to get our Super Saturday Christmas in July activity together.  I'm really a cub scout leader, but was asked to help get this thing going.  Of course, I love Christmas so I was happy to oblige.  It really wasn't even a lot of work other than actually making the crafts we were offering.  I do NOT craft.  I'm sure there were much easier ways to get things done than the way I did them, but they got done and we had a great turn out.  We had a few mini classes, did the crafts, a light lunch and lots of visiting.  We even played Christmas music the whole time and no one even threw a fit!  (that I could hear).

That night we had Brynlee's first Birthday party at Chelsey's pool.  It was so stinkin hot!  This is the time of year I start to get grouchy.  I'm just done sweating.  But anyway, it was fun and she was adorable and she loved our gift.  Chelsey did some super cute things, the kids swam and ate pizza and Popsicles and in the end it was a huge success!

Sunday was the day before school starts for a couple of our kids so we didn't have the family over for dinner and just kept it us.  We had dinner altogether, talked about friends and how to be a good one and why it's important to stay within bounds.  Then Glade gave Brooklyn and Rhett a father's blessing.  It was a really enjoyable evening together.  I'm going to try to get better at having FHEs that are more purposeful.


Today I sent Rhett and Brooklyn out the door.  The other three are still here until Wednesday.  I like having a staggered start, makes it a little less stressful.  So the rest of us went to summer movies, the bread store, Costco and Walmart.  I've designed a new dinner menu kind of thing.  I'm hoping we can stick to it so I can be more organized and make shopping easier.  Both kids had a great first day!

                                     Junior                                                                        Sophomore

I Miss him!

Look at that face!  I can't hardly take it!  It's been about 6 weeks and mostly I do really well.  Then out of the blue, the tears flow.  It's not just about missing him, or wanting to hear his voice say "love you Mama"....it's so much more than that.  I've known LOTS of people who have served missions.  I mean LOTS.  And, yah, it's cool and good job and all that, but NEVER have I had the admiration and respect for a missionary like I now do for my son.  It's so different!  I know this boy...like KNOW him.  And LOVE him.  I know what he was before and what he gave up and what was in his heart.  I know his weaknesses and his strengths and fears and insecurities.  And I know his love for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I remember this wee little one who would talk about "when I go on my mission".  I see pictures of this grown up boy who is out serving the Lord because he WANTS to, because he believes it with everything in him and I'm overwhelmed with love and pride and awe and wonder at MY baby.  My baby who is really far away, doing hard things... with no Mommy to make it better.  Who trusts in his Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ.  That same loving Father in Heaven gave me this special kid, to be such a blessing to me.  Yes, with all the pride and love and admiration also comes the heartbreak of not being able to give him a big hug.  Some days are harder than others.  But I'm truly so happy that he is so GOOD and so HAPPY.   For whatever reason, the last couple days have been hard.  I heard this song twice this week and both times it put me in tears.  It goes like this:

My time to give, my will to learn.
My story as the pages turn,
My time to live by every Word.
My day to love, my call to serve.
My urge to move as my heart stirs,
my work to do, it's my turn!
My day to let the truth be heard.
My time to give, My call to serve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1b1idn2sRU   (That's the link if you want to hear it.)

Proud doesn't even begin to describe it and it's one of those things that I don't think words will ever do it justice and unless you have FELT it, you just can't know.  I'm glad there are more good days than weepy ones and I definitely need to NOT watch all the sweet "coming home" youtube videos!  Oy.

Fourth of July

I have barely any pictures!  Yep, this was during my "phone drama" and nothing to take pics with but a barely working windows phone Stephen left behind.  So I was able to take a few pics.

We left on Thursday afternoon, taking the Smith's RV since our camper is, ummm, crappy.  We made it up there safely with our friends the Kettrings and Johnsons.  It was sprinkling a little, but beautiful.  Put a jacket on even!  The first night was uneventful other than Katy getting her tooth knocked out by a runaway Frisbee.  Whitley and Nick joined us as well.  Rhett got scheduled to work two of those days, so he didn't get to camp, but came  up with Grandma Green to Payson.  He stayed with a few different people while we were gone.  It was weird to only camp with four kids!

The next day was fourth of July so we packed up and went in to Payson.  Got subway for lunch while the boys got "camp" set up.  For the first time in like 11 years, we had to move spots because they had so many bouncies and booths in our spot. I was not happy, but it turned out fine.  We had a big group and the day was beautiful!  Overcast and cool, just perfect.  The kids did all the organized games, we sat and chatted and enjoyed being outside.  Joe and Kathy had done tons of games and activities for our group which were awesome.  We fired up the grill and did our traditional cookout.  I can't think of a single thing I would have changed.  When it was about to be time for fireworks, the clouds came and the rain started to come down.  We retreated under our canopy and waited.  It wasn't long before we heard they were cancelled.  Many people hurried to their cars to get a head start to go home.  We stayed put knowing we still had a lot of work to do to pack up.  I loved sitting watching the rain, cuddled under the canopy.  By ten pm, those that left 45 min prior were still sitting in their cars in a grid lock.  AND, they decided to do the fireworks now that the rain had stopped.  We got back to camp about 11:30 pm.

From then on, it was either cloudy or raining.  We spent a lot of time under our canopy and loving every minute of it.  There was a small pond close by so the kids spent a majority of time catching crawdads.  The second day, Robin taught them how to clean them, boil them and eat them.  Eww, but they all tried it.  It was great fun!  I just enjoyed being away from responsibilities and wearing a jacket for four days.  On Sunday, we went to church at a small branch in Christopher Creek.  Cute little building and saw several people we knew.  The drive home was very slow and backed up and it rained most of the way down the mountain.  It was a great trip and just what I needed.

Brooklyn and  Becca dressed the same every single day

Taking a nature hike

Bo, Kimball and Tanner came back from a walk with animal bones on sticks.  Quite the warriors.

Food table at the park

Crawdads

Robin about to suck the brains out.  Teaching the kids the "process"

Random Stuff

The little things.  First, I have had severe phone issues for the past month or so and now the one they've sent me has a terrible camera.  So all my pictures suck.  That's when I was even able to take pictures.  Quite a bummer.  But anyway, here's a few summer things.

Cow day!  We can't let Chick Fil A's Cow Appreciation day go unnoticed.  So the kids all made their costumes and after  Rhett and I went to get his emissions tested, we headed for our free meals.  We like to go about 10:45 before they get too busy.  By the time we left at 11:30 ish, it was packed with "cows".  I love that my kids still love to do that.  Dalin looks like he is praying because he attached wings and was "holy cow".  Brooklyn was "super cow", Katy "princess cow", Bo "Video Game Cow" and Rhett was "gangster cow".  I of course was "boring cow".  

In their free time, Whitley and Nick like to make maps.  Weird, I know.  But they did this really cool map that is actually a Risk game.  They love playing Risk when they come here so they made a personalized map using the names of family members.  Pretty stinkin cool.

A week or so ago, a boy in our ward had his farewell, Addison  Cox.  He was one of Stephen's friends, so lots of other friends were there as well.  It was so fun to see them all again.  I thought I would be really emotional, but I did really well. Until....I was talking to his friends.  They mentioned that he looked so different.  One said he looked like he lost weight and the other said he didn't think that was it, just that he looked HAPPY.  Yes!  He seriously looks happy.  That made me cry.  I love that others can see that.  So we took some pictures.

Jordan Benham, Elder Petty, Seth Miller, our favorite Elder Mills, and Boston Essary

Katie Cooper, Carlie Phelps, Bro Clayton, Addison Cox, Boston Essary, Seth Miller and Jordan Benham

Sunday fun!  I don't let the kids play video games on Sunday or watch regular TV.  This can lead to some serious boredom and rowdiness!  So this is what Bo and Katy came up with. Ninjas!

I've joined a FB page called Missionary Mommas.  It's just a page where Mom's of missionaries can commiserate, celebrate, and connect with other mom's from same areas.  It's been pretty cool to talk to people in Hawaii and find out things I may not know otherwise.  Like that I knew he was in Honolulu before I ever got a letter from him.  Anyway, it has good things and bad things about it, but I bought this shirt to make me happy. ♥

We've used our pogo passes quite a bit this past week and the kids have one more week before school starts.  We will be going to Sunsplash tomorrow.  Two meet the teachers, summer movies  and Bunko!  Summer is coming to an end.

Katy Got her Ears Pierced

Katy has been asking to get her ears pierced for a couple of months now.  I told her it was her decision and explained to her what it would entail; cleaning, being careful with putting clothes on, hair, etc.  At that time, she decided maybe she wasn't ready.  I was so proud of her for making wise decisions.  She has always been like that.  At this rate, there's not much I won't let her do in her future because she is so responsible.  She's still wearing the CTR ring we got her for her 7th birthday in  February.  

So now she decided she was ready.  After she announced that, I made her wait another two weeks because of the play and going camping.  She was fine with it and was still anxious when the time came.  We went to the mall, she picked out some little turquoise flowers and BAM, she's done.  The girl surprised her with the first one, made her jump a bit.  She didn't even tear up!  She has been completely diligent in cleaning them and spinning them.  Just as I knew she would be. ♥

8 Rows!!

Glade was given some tickets to a DBacks game for Saturday night. I like going to the games, but this was different.  All we knew about our seats were that they were labeled "home plate box".  AND that they came with valet parking.  We took our Bishop and his wife, Dixie.  We pulled right up to valet, they opened our doors and away we went. Down a short sidewalk and through a private entrance that was right in front of our seats.  We were seriously 8 rows from the field!  Since it was free, we decided to splurge and eat at the ball park.  We got dinner and went to our seats where we were personally escorted and even with a smile!  She informed us that down these little stairs to the left was a bathroom and bar and grill.  Sweet!  

The game seemed to go really quickly.  I'm thinking it's because we could actually get into the game since we were right there and could actually see the batters faces.  It's different from the third level, lol.  But anyway, it was lots of fun and super cool and to top if off.. We Won!!

Skateland

Pogo pass fun!  Katy has been bugging me to go to Skateland all Summer.  It's really far away and not my favorite thing. Today we had absolutely nothing, so I told them we would do something.  They begged, I caved.  It was worse than I imagined.  In the beginning, it was funny.  Well, let me begin with....as I was putting on my skates I had the thought "I should have gone to the bathroom first".  No biggie, we'll all get our skates on and go together.  Ha!  Katy and Bo could not even stand up.  Seriously.  And Brooklyn, barely.  By the time we got to the bathroom, I was crying from laughing so hard as Bo and Katy struggled and flailed and fell in every strange position you could imagine.  I went in the stall with Katy, had to pull her pants down for her and back up cuz she couldn't stay standing.  Really funny.  

We slowly made our way out to the floor (we've been on carpet thus far) and it was hysterical.  Legs flying everywhere.  Arms flailing and all my children splatted on the ground.  Except Rhett, of course.  He was pro right from the start.  When I realized there would be no skating at this rate, I rented the "skate mate".  It's basically a walker on wheels.  I got one for Bo and for Katy.  It was helpful, but they were still all over the place.  We hadn't even made it around one time and Katy was crying...hard.  Bo was still slipping and falling around happily.  Brooklyn was falling every few feet trying hard not to cry.  I though "sweet, we'll never have to come back here again!"  Wrong.  I suggested we just go home and they all gave a big NO.  

Katy would take herself off and then come back on and try again.  She never gave up!  I was so proud of her.  She finally got to where she could go slowly around with the walker and not fall down.  Bo on the other hand would not listen to any direction and just kept falling every where.  Finally I pulled him off and tried to help him and of course, he sat down and cried.  He stayed there a bit while I went back out with Katy.  She was ready to do this herself.  Mind you, we've been here over an hour at this point.  She did great!  Finally kind of got the hang of it and could do it on her own.  Still a lot of falls, but she got it!  I went back to help Bo and he decided he would listen.  Once he listened, he caught on really quick.  At one point, he very smartly said "mom, I just figured out that you have to have your weight on your heels."  Yep, I hadn't noticed that, but it's true.  He finally ditched the walker and could sort of do it on his own.  He fell A LOT but kept getting back up.  Brooklyn had fallen and hurt her ankle and was now in tears.  She said it wasn't broken and when I suggested she stop for the day, she said NO.  Everyone was very sweet as my children recklessly slammed themselves into the ground over and over.  Offering a hand up, asking if they were Ok.  Brooklyn was a little miffed at being helped up by 6 year old girls all day, lol.  

Fun details of the day.  Bo initially fell many times because he would insist on letting go of the walker to do some sort of dance move.  I finally let the kids do their own thing and skated like I wanted to.  Awesomely, of course.  Well, a song that reminded me of Stephen came on so I went a few circles thinking of him, then the song A Thousand Years came on right after.  I hear "Mom!" from across the rink and I see Rhett holding out his arm to me. I love him.  I said the words "did you break...." about a hundred times as I watched them crash to the ground holding different body parts.  As we were taking our skates off, Katy says "Are you going to take a nap when we get home, cuz I really need a nap!"  Yes, darling so do I!

We stopped for thirstbusters cuz we were all sweaty after that two hours of torture.  When asked if they ever wanted to do that again, they all yelled YES.  Crazy people.  I had a blast, didn't fall once.  But my ankles were tired.. they never even switched directions!  And within an hour of quitting, my booty is seriously aching.  I thought I still had it, but apparently not so much.  Katy made these couple of statements afterward: "I really hate that old 80's music.  Every time one comes on, you do some weird kind of dance."  Awesome!  Then as we got in bed to take a nap, she told me how much she loved my bed.  It would only be better if it were made out of that stuff that's under our Christmas tree (fuzzy Tree skirt).  She said "That would be the life!"  Besides all the bruises, I think everyone looks back as having a great day.  I look back and think "holy cow I  can't believe nothing got broken!"

I wannnnaaa...

I wanna blog, I really do.  I do it all the time in my head.  Then I sit to do it and I just can't get myself to.  Sometimes it's like there's just too much and then again, there's absolutely nothing.  Go figure.  For now...It's raining a lot ♥, I eat too much, I'm trying to run again, summer is almost over (well kids go back to school anyway), we're busy and bored and lazy and exhausted.  We go to movies and the kids go to track and  Rhett works and Brooklyn talks on the phone.  Bo and Dalin play Minecraft WAY too much and Katy is where ever her interest takes her.  I'm dying to go on a vacation.  Like a real one, away from everything, but that's not in the cards.  Lots of birthdays and emails and lunch dates.  I'm happy and sad and tired and content.  That's my life right now.  Not exactly blog worthy and yet so many little things being swept to the side.  Must.  Commit.  to.  Blogging.

 Later, another day....