Ashley is home!!!

What a day! The day started the night before, or super early that morning, however you want to look at it. Already making this too long, I know!

David showed up a little before 1 A.M Apparently I surprised him because I threatened to meet him at the airport even though he was renting a car. Well, I didn't and I think he was a little disappointed. Good to keep him on his toes!!!

 

 

I probably got three hours of sleep but I think even if I had gone to bed earlier I would still have only gotten three hours of sleep. My girl was coming home!!!

 

Everyone was up and we headed to the store to get balloons. David had to go to the store a few times himself.

(Thank goodness for Caroline!)

We had a lot of fun picking out balloons!

We, of course, left for the airport too early. (I blame my dad!) But before that we picked up McKayla. She came along! It was nice having her there. She and Ash have been friends for as long as both of them can remember! Laura came in from Sacramento to be here too and she stayed with Cortney.

 

 

They met us at the airport. It was so good to see her! Tami and her family met us there too! We made posters the night before with the help of our favorite little Whiting boys! They know how to make a poster!!!

 

 

 

We waited, and waited...

and waited!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then the plane landed.

They were remodeling the airport and outside of the security gate was blocked off so we were a sight! Normal crowds would have a hard time gathering at that end but we did it!

 

 

A week before,  Chyrisse told me she would be coming in for the homecoming. And then she told me she was actually coming in on the same flight as Ashley!!!  I have to admit I was really jealous but then I thought how cool it would be for her to be met in Salt Lake by someone who loves her!

Anyway, Chyrisse came out and by the smile on her face I knew it was just a few moments until we would see her! And five minutes later, there she was!

It was so good to have her in my arms again!

How I missed this girl!!!

 

 

WE cried and hugged and then she moved on to everyone else. She was completely shocked to see Laura and then MaKayla! And even David!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had visited and taken pictures so much that by the time we went to retrieve her luggage, it was locked up so we had to get an authority to let it out of the locker. I have never experienced that before!

Britt and Danni went with David and they were kind of pokey so we had to kill some time before we could go home. We got her our polar pop drink that we had joked about her whole mission and then we drove by Mesa High to show her the new bunny and noticed Quamo's car! She had to see him! And yes, we did interrupt his lesson but I don't think it bugged him too much! And as we were leaving, Mr Brooks pulled up! We got two birds with one stone!

 

We headed back to the house and she got to see Grandma and Grandpa. It was great!

 

We later went to the temple and she held my hand through most of the session. We got to be the witness couple, which is what she wanted. It was a wonderful experience.

And then she was released! She gave me her name badge.

 

I am so proud!!! The Lord has his plans and even crazy moms like me can't change what He has planned, thank goodness!!!

  

 

 

Thanks to my photographers! Are they not the best? 

 

This weekend

It has been awhile, thanks to a certain Texan who says I am too sappy, but I am back! Actually, I have been extremely busy with band stuff and other more important items!!

 Ashley is coming home!

 And I finally put a countdown on my phone and it says she lands in 3 days, 6 hours, and a bunch of minutes and seconds that will change as soon as I type them so I won't bother! How cool!!! We have a few surprises awaiting her and I can't wait to see how this weekend plays out! 

I do know for sure she will be sitting in the way back on the way home from the airport with two young, very spirited, and waay too excited younguns while they talk her ears off with nonsensical stuff! She might be deaf before she even enters the house!!! And funny, that is one thing I am most excited about!!!The love and joy that she will experience as well as the animation those two will express sharing with her whatever is on their minds brings tears to my eyes with anticipation. (Sappy enough for you, dear cousin?) It will definitely be a loud and joyful ride home!!!

Now I just need to get to it. And, of course, I can't sleep!!!

And I am sure I will have more wonderful SAPPY things to share in the next few days!!!

Pioneer Day

It has been almost 28 years since we moved from Sandy, Utah. I really miss the majestic Wasatch mountains, fall leaves, Temple Square, a few malls that are no longer there (a lot of people are missing them too! I was a teenager when we moved, I had my priorities!)  I miss it when the fog would roll into the valley so thick that you could hardly see the house next to you. I miss the smell of Lilacs, apples hanging from the trees begging to be picked, raspberry patches I could crawl into and eat my way out, corn fields tall enough to get lost in (usually on purpose!) and stories of family experiences that could take all day to tell. I sometimes even miss the snow! I miss those who have gone on and the places where their memories still linger. Oh, most of all I miss my brothers!

But one of the things I miss most is Pioneer Day. From the parade in Salt Lake to the fireworks that night, the whole day is a celebration on how we, us Utahns, came to be. The pioneers who traveled from other countries, who went through unspeakable pain and sacrifice to travel by wagons across the plains and to make it to the Salt Lake Valley. And then later moved to other places like Mesa, Arizona!

One of my ancestors, John Pack, was actually the first person to enter the valley on July 22nd. He was a major and a scout for Brigham Young and went ahead looking for it, the place to call home. He turned around and told Brother Brigham of what was ahead and then on July 24th, they all entered the valley. I can't even imagine how they must have felt! I love Salt Lake City and the surrounding area and I am so grateful that this man, and many other pioneer ancestors who came to this place in search of religious freedom. I am grateful for my heritage and for the sacrifices that were placed in their way so I could grow up there and believe without fear. And even though the Days of 47 is not celebrated here in Arizona, I gladly celebrate this holiday in my heart! After all, it really was my favorite holiday. (Christmas and Halloween don't count!) Now, if I could just convince them to do fireworks here, it would be the icing on the cake!!!

Happy Pioneer Day!

Throwback Thursday

Little boys and summer do not mix! Okay, lets face it, big boys and summer don't mix either!
As I was helping my mom with her computer issues, my sweet son came in with a magnifying glass and a not so innocent smile on his face. I looked at him, (okay, most likely glared) and asked what he was up to. 'Nothing', he says. And then that grin gets a little bigger. My kid does not know how to lie! Standing in front of me is a mischievous little man smelling of guilt holding a magnifying glass on a hot summer day. Someone was in trouble!!!

Curse that Bill Nie!

Again, he denyed it. I went outside to make sure there is no crazy fire going on in the front yard. There wasn't but you could smell the burnt leaf.  He admitted to his misbehavior and was given a swift kick in the pants and I made him promise not to do it again! (And I yelled at him too! That was the worst)

I was reminded of growing up in Sandy, in a subdivision with a gully on the north and the field on the northwest. The boys in the neighborhood had a club that met in that field. It was for boys and girls were not allowed, which made me more interested that I normally would have been.
One afternoon, my brother and cousin came running into the basement, a door from the back yard, looking really guilty. You could hear fire engines from a distance. We all went outside, including the unusually quiet boys, to check on what was going on. Summer was boring so anything was entertaining (which was probably the problem in the first place!) and we saw black billows of smoke  coming from the direction of the field. My biggest fear was it was a house fire, but the smell said differently. We all tore off on our bikes to the end of the subdivision, or as close as we could get because of the fire.
It was huge! The fire had to be fought from both sides of the gully. It went into the field. People  living in the surrounding areas were watering down their lawns and houses, just in case. About 45 to an hour later, I was younger so who knows much time it really was, all that was left were the occasional hot spots and a few fire trucks.
It was the talk of the neighborhood. My brother and cousin, normally loud and obnoxious boys, were quiet and disappeared once we reached home. It turns out those two took sparklers down to their club and were lighting them. And that is how the fire started! They never got caught, at least to the best of my knowledge. It was a hot, dry summer so maybe it could have been anything or anyone, but I am pretty sure it was the two of the them!
The gully caught fire a few other times while growing up, but that one was the worst. And, in the end, it made for exciting story to take back to your school teacher at the end of summer!
Hey, I was a kid. I had my priorities!

Service with a smile... And Ice cream!

The recent storm that came in hard and fast cracked a limb on my dad's big tree in the back yard, leaving it dangling precariously over the fence. My dad, bless his heart, tried to cut it down and it brought back way too many memories of a fall he took when I was a kid and it had him laid up for a while (another Throwback Thursday waiting to happen). After he successfully came in and called it a day, I got to thinking about Ashley and how she is serving others and then I got the great idea of having a service project there, for my parents! They needed it and my mom would be so much happier if someone else got up on that ladder!

 

I called Tami and we arranged to spend FHE at my parents and we would clean up the limb and all of it's branches (don't worry, Ash. The tree survived!) We would bring all of our cutting stuff and I would bring my green barrel.

 

My dad did cut the limb all the way down and fixed the fence. And he survived the ladder, even! All we had to do was cut it up and dispose of it.! I don't think my dad fully grasps the idea of getting help!(I think it runs in the family!)

 

Boys working hard!

 

 

 The little girls were too!

 

He's got the POWER!!!

 

 

 The big girls started strong, and then found other ways to amuse themselves. We just worked around them! LOL!!!

 

 

 

We had a lot of fun and had it all done in an hour. I even got a few things that had been there for a while. And my dad fixed his antennae so it was a win/win for him too!

And then we had ice cream! Service can be fun!!!

The Mesa Pool

The mesa pool is open! And as much as I was against it coming in I must admit I love going! The lazy river is my favorite! Maybe that's because with minimal effort, all I have to do is just hang on to the tube and let the water take me to where it wants to go.

 

 The key phrase being minimal effort!

 

 In fact, they need to have a mother's night where they open it up just for moms to be lazy and visit. And even better if they offered babysitting! They could really make a killing off of that if they tried! 

But, of course, my kids get bored really quickly and want more fun! Like the slides at the other pools! And Mackenzie really needs to find a friend to go to the pool with because she makes me go down the slides with her! Me, the beached whale! And it is quite a sight, let me tell you!!!

 

And I have discovered she likes boys and tries to flirt with them! It hurts to watch!! Ash needs to come home soon and show her first hand because she needs help! And who better that Ashley, who doesn't know how to turn her flirt off!

Ahh, summer at the pool! It's been a lot of fun!

Now, if I can just convince them to do the mothers only night, my life would be complete!