another one mission bound

My young friend Katie has decided to go on a mission! She is a year older than Cortney and she is so looking forward to it! I am so happy for her! She says her life is missing something and she says going away for 18 months and putting your own life aside for a while and loosing yourself in the Lord's work is sounding more and more like the right thing for her to do. I look at Ashley and I think that even though she is not here, not furthering her education, finding a cutie pie to spend forever with, or enjoying the chaos that is our family, she is doing what is right and the Lord will bless her for it. Just like Katie.

She will have to move back home to Arkansas and we will not see her anymore but how exciting! I wish her well!

And Britt has decided this year she is going to attend Mission Prep with some of the other girls in the ward. If nothing else it will teach her how to share the gospel. And our Bishop says everyone should go. I wish I could. Maybe then I would not be afraid to speak what is in my heart!

Joey is 12!

Joey is 12!

He made it! I am so proud of him! And tomorrow he will get the priesthood and then he will be able to pass the sacrament! Yep, it is going to be a great month!

I have faith in him! I know he is a bit overwhelming but he has a heart of gold and is a real sweetie!

And his kisses and hugs warm my heart.

 

For his birthday he got some steel hand cuffs
(don't ask, it is so complicated....),

lots of army men, free food,

 a 1 lb bag of Poore Brothers salt and vinegar potato chips
 (Again, don't ask),

 and a sweet looking Nerf automatic gun, because he can't have a real one.

(Thank goodness!)

And a day at the movies.

(He had to settle for the dollar movies since Ashley can't get him in anymore)

 

So to my little man, Happy Birthday and I hope you have a wonderful day!

I Love you!!!

 

His attempt at a drum harness!!

 

His nerf gun he got for his birthday!!!

Watch out Mackenzie!!!

 

Brittany went to girls camp. It was weird only having three kids at home. Again, I know I need to get used to it but it was still very weird.

She also spoke in Sacrament and did an amazing job! She has grown up so much in the last few years! She has struggled and continues to but I am so proud  of her!

She cried. I cried.

I have never seen her speak with so well and her being touched by the Spirit like she was!

And now she is done with girls camp. Secretly she is excited!!!

A few months back on a Saturday Mackenzie informed me she was going to go jogging with Brittany. I thought that was odd considering the last time I saw Britt was in my room watching TV, but I told her to have fun!

About 5 minutes later Mackenzie had young lady with her. She had blond hair, very thin and pretty, and she was standing at the front door. It turns out the girl was mistakenly thought to be Brittany but was in fact Katie Gutherie, a member of the church from Arkansas who attends church in the Singles ward! Since then she has been very nice to Mackenzie and even Joey. She shares a house with three other girls and they live in our ward boundaries.

Anyway, I received a call about a month ago from her asking if I could help her out. She is an interior designer and was hoping she could redo a room in my house to add to her portfolio. She is cleaning houses right now and looking to get started in interior design. So I agreed, discussing how much money we could spend. And last Saturday we went shopping! And I brought home paint!

Yep, I have spent the first two days painting! It was a lot of work! And I have decided as soon as we rob that bank we are putting in a ceiling fan in the front room!

Everything should be coming into place in the next few weeks and I am very excited to see how things develop. And I am very happy to help a young artist get started!

I am doing something good while getting something good in the process!

I like it!!!

Busy Summer

I was asked this week if my kids were bored with summer yet.

Normally I would say yes but Summer school is keeping us so busy!

Zach failed a class his first semester and has to make it up so he is enjoying his first experience with summer school! 7:30 to noon Monday through Friday for three weeks!  Every day equals a weeks worth of learning! It's a pretty smart idea if it weren't so expensive!

Mackenzie and Joey are taking summer orchestra/band. (you can't call it summer school or you get into trouble!) And, of course, it is not the same time. No, there is an hour in between each of the classes and then we meet up with Zach for lunch at Westwood, where his classes are.

Normally they are at Mesa but there is too much construction going on and classes were moved to Westwood this year. But the cafeteria is pretty cool! Mackenzie has decided she wants to go to Westwood because the have a cool cafeteria.  I am pretty sure that will change as she gets older. If not, then the good old traditional rivalry between the schools might be brought to my own home. Gosh, I hope not!

In the meantime, Joey wants to say 'Mesa High is the Best' at lunch. I have to threaten his life a few times while we are there. Better me than someone else, right?

Rachel Romney eats lunch with us. She is taking a lot of classes so she can take a band class next year. She is an amazing young woman! I know she will go far!

 

So, back to that question. Are my kids bored yet?  Not quite. There is summer school in the morning, chores to do after school (or summer music. Sorry Kenzie!) and then swimming at the local pools, maybe. When it gets to the point where they are driving me crazy!

 

Now, July will be a whole different story!

A Cure for Joey's Nightmare

Joey had a nightmare last night and wanted to hear a funny story to think about when it happened again. I figured it was best for him to hear one about himself. So I thought long and hard of all my Joey stories and found one I knew he would like.

When he was three he did not like to be dressed. In fact, more often than not he would be running around the house with nothing else on but what God gave him. Usually, we would tackle him down, dress him up, and then send him on his way only to find the bugger naked again a few minutes later. He was in the middle of potty training so we had to be careful and not wrap his pants in duct tape so he wouldn't pull them off..

One day, while at my parents house for Sunday dinner, Joey went to play outside with his cousins and siblings. And me being the best, most observant mother I am, was visiting inside when one of the kids came in and told me Joey was naked and up the ladder.

I rushed outside to find, in fact, my naked son had climbed up the tallest ladder. I went up after him and slowly helped him down. (My dad had been adjusting one of his antennae's on the roof the day before) I dressed him, spanked his little butt and told him no more and then went inside.

 

Yeah, that did the trick...not!

Five minutes later that same child came and told me he was doing it again! This time he was higher! I was out the door and saw my little man higher up the ladder, his little butt cheeks working on their summer tan....again.

I went up after him and repeated everything, except I was smarter and put the ladder down and took Joey inside with me. He was done for the day outside.

 

As I told this story to Joey he smiled, of course. Maybe even turned a little red, but I reminded him that this little boy was not afraid of that ladder at all. And if that was not scary for a small child then he could get through the night. He did, but now he keeps reminding me of that time when he was on the ladder naked..... it's going to be a long summer!

A Great Visit from a new Friend

I got a call from a sweet lady named Mary Towne who lives in Gilbert. She wanted me to come and see her. You see, she had just returned from Boise, Idaho and had a few things for me from Sister Clawson.

I was so happy! My mom was with me and said she did not mind waiting as long as she had a drink. So I gave her what she wanted and headed out.

It was such a nice visit. This lady had brain surgery a year ago and cannot drive anymore. And she had nothing but nice things to say about Ashley. She said she is an absolute sweetie and she could  feel the Spirit when she was around her. She is kind, giving, and very friendly. And she said I have every reason to be proud of my wonderful daughter. I, of course, cried. I know this is a wonderful time for her but sometimes her absence is so palpable it hurts. And to be able to talk to a person who was in contact with her less than a week ago was amazing!

The package included things she did not need anymore and pictures. Most of them are on her blog but I kept a few out for mine, too.

14 months left! :)

 

Mary says she is headed back in August and said if I have anything I need to send up to let her know and she can take it. I wonder if I could fit into a box and send myself. But that would mean someone else would have to be over band stuff. And that someone would ring my neck!!!

California 2014

We have been saving for over two years to go to Disneyland but some last minute things came up and we had to dip into that to pay for them so Disney was out of the question. We decided to still go to California but hit another amusement park instead. We wanted to surprise the little ones so we didn't tell them when we were leaving. But, true to form, they were both packed and ready to go before the last week of school even started! (I love my kids!)

We picked up the little ones right after school and headed out. Their reactions were so cute! (Thank you, Mr. Brooks, for not having Zach in 4th hour so we didn't have to go to graduation!!!) We stayed at a nice motel across from Knott's Berry Farm, right on Beach Boulevard that led straight to the beach! It was perfect (except I kept getting lost going to the beach. How hard is it to turn left and go till the land ends?... pretty hard!)

We had two rooms and it was boys against the girls! A lot of fun! I love spending time with the girls. And the boys did boy things that we didn't have to observe! And our room smelled better!

Yep, it was pretty cool!!!

 

 

Knott's Berry Farm was a lot of fun! The lines were great, especially considering not too far away in Disneyland they were probably crazy!

I dragged Joey on to a rollercoaster! The look on his face was as if I were dragging him to his death. But he cooperated and was buckled in. After the ride he turned, looked at me, and screamed yippee! He went on the ride 10 times afterwards. Sat in the front, even. Yep, I cured of him of being afraid of rollercoasters. In fact, I may have created a monster!

I took Britt too. Same thing. She loved it! My girl is not such a pansy anymore!

Zach was brave and went on all of the scary coasters! Mackenzie went on all of the spin-y rides and came back not sick. Yeah, I'm WAY to old for that! But any high rides she freaked! But we did drag her on the log flume. And she screamed while getting into the log. I thought for sure they would kick us out, but they didn't. And guess what? She loved it!

It was a great day! I almost wish I would have bought two days worth of tickets but we spent the other two at the beach.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joey needs to learn to pack better. He did manage to wear shorts to the amusement park, but not to the beach. No, he had to wear levis. And then he had to get wet.

My boy!!!

Apparently common sense does not kick in till they are much, much older.

 

Finally, Sunday afternoon I took Mackenzie's pants (Sorry, sweetie!) and I cut them off with my keys so Joey could actually move around.

Yep! He was the only boy wearing pink cut offs with Hello Kitty on the butt!

Serves him right! Next time I pack for him!

 

 the first day at the beach

 

The second day at the beach

 

Hello Kitty cut offs!

 

On Sunday we did find a temple. It was beautiful!

Newport Beach Temple. It is a small one but the grounds were beautiful! We walked around and enjoyed the Spirit.

All in all, it was a great weekend! We almost didn't want to come home! It was kind of weird not having the whole family with us but I guess this is something I need to get used to.

 

 

 

 

 Two wet boys

 My beautiful girls!

 

 I love that grin! 

 Britt and Zach playing in water 

 

Britt taking selfies again!

And now we get to start saving again. Hopefully this time we will have enough to actually go to Disneyland and maybe in time to drag Ashley with us for one last big vacation! Who knows? If not, we all loved Knott's Berry Farm! Will definitely go back again!!!