The Bishop's Helper

Again, this post is for Ashley. I promised I would tell her all about our new Priesthood holder.

 

Joey was the Bishop's helper yesterday, which meant he was kind of the leader with passing the Sacrament. We sit in that area so he finally was going to be able to pass the Sacrament to us! He did pretty well until someone was done early and they came to our row. Oh my gosh! If looks were daggers! I smiled and he calmed down a bit and finished with the bread. Then the same thing happened with the water but he handled it very well; his looks were less menacing.

Then he got to sit on the stand. And he did very well. Except for when Mackenzie bore her testimony. After she was done, he made faces at her when she sat with us. I had to keep glaring at him to fold his arms. Then Carli got up to bare her testimony. She kept trying to push him out of his seat so he could go to the stand. I don't think she was expecting someone that small to be the Bishop's helper. But Joey was kind and told her he was not going up and she went ahead and bore her testimony. I was impressed with his reverent attitude until he flashed his cheesy grin at me. At least his thumbs didn't go up! I think we still need to work in his reverence, especially when he is the Bishop's helper again!

My boy!

 

A typical Sunday afternoon. He asked for this himself and Mackenzie was happy to oblige.
And tomorrow he gets to spend a whole week with a bunch of boys his age. Those poor, poor leaders! My heart goes out to them!!!

My birthday!!

I had a wonderful birthday! My family was great! I got a smart phone that is smarter than me ( I know Ash, not that hard). Apparently I ought to be jealous that Tami has one! (Silly Britt!)

 I really didn't want one but Britt has had a lot of fun setting it up for me! I can access almost anything on it. (But why would I want to? I mean, it's great exercise racing to the computer every Monday morning checking my email! )

And I can't say no to her, even if I did loose my Jetson's ringtones.
 (But Don't worry, Ash! We found yours!!! I know how attached you are to it!)
 

 I got an awesome pair of band shoes I am afraid to wear because they are so cool! But I promised Rylee I would at band camp! Thanks to Jana and Rylee for these awesome shoes!!! All the other band moms will be so jealous!

Alex sent some interesting voice mails! But everything he does is interesting!!! He always makes me laugh!!!

 And FINALLY I got a call from David in the afternoon- after teasing me relentlessly for two weeks- calling me every day to wish me a Happy Birthday!  He finally got it right!!!  ...Such a tease!!!

 (And Jeremy called too, lol! Just like his dad!!!)

 And at the very end of the day I did get a text from Idaho wishing me a Happy Birthday

 And yes, I cried!

All in all it was a great day! I love my family!!!

The Fourth of July

 

Sister Robie was in charge of looking for volunteers for the Fourth of July celebration and, of course, I can't say no to Toni! So we all volunteered except for Mackenzie. They said she could hang out with us. She kind of did but then hit the bouncies! There were slides, even ones with water so we can't top that! Joey was able to help, but looking back, I think I would not have signed him up. But he tried and that was the best part.

 And don't worry, he still got to go down a few water slides too!

He was happy.

 

 Tanks with big guns. Yep, my boys were in heaven!

 Britt working hard. You can see Joey in the background on the Left. I never did get him!

 He is such a good sport! I dragged him into this and he came out smiling!!! Even though it was so hot!

 

Leave it to Zach to catch up with an old friend from elementary.... a girl! He even got her number!

 

 Mackenzie had a lot of fun and tried out all of the games.

 

 Look, Ashley! It's your Sarah Bell! She wanted to make sure she said hi to you!!!

 

I ran into an old friend, Korilynn Walwrath, and it was so great seeing her! I was her visiting teacher when Ashley was born and we have been in two wards together since! We lost touch about 5 years ago. It was great talking with her! Her kids went to Franklin for a few years and she also attended Academic Accolades with Miss Greta. She looks the same but her kids don't, that's for sure! Time does not stand still!

 

No pictures of me! I was in the sun the whole time and I was not picture worthy, but it was a lot of fun and I hope we can do it again next year!!!

 

Kenzie and I finished the day out going to see the fireworks downtown, except we cheated and went to the temple and watched them from there! We found a sweet family that shared their glowsticks, played in the puddles of water, and had a great time! Loved going to the temple! Going there next year too. And this time we are dragging Britt with us. She ended up going with friends and had an okay time! Next year is going to be different!!!

 

We had sparklers the next day, in between the wind gusts and it was awesome!

I love spending time with my family, especially with a hose and three pyros trying to light fireworks and praying the truck in the street does not catch on fire from a stay spark and go up in smoke along with them!

Yes, there was a little sarcasm in there, but I still love spending time with my family!

Next Week

I am sitting here listening to my two young men sing 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?' from Frozen thinking about what is about to happen this week. Joey will get to experience Scout camp as well as being away from home for the first time. Besides for the fact that he is driving me crazy with his packing abilities, his inability to distinguish the difference between 'get your shoes' and 'get your gameboy', and the need to be right about everything, including those things he really knows nothing about, I really will miss the kid! What is he going to do up there without us? What is he gets into a fight? Will he be easy to calm down? How did I handle this with Zach?

Britt is off to Benson this week to babysit for Girls camp. Her and Danni are going down. I am sure Ashley is honored that two have to replace her as instead of one! Britt is looking forward to it! The peace, the quiet, and Caden! If she thought Joey was the most annoying person on the planet, she is in for a treat!!!

No, he is a sweetie! Just don't fall asleep before him!

I love you, Caden!!!

Yep, it's going to be a great week. But that leaves Zach and Mackenzie. How weird is that going to be? Two kids out of 6? I am really not looking forward to it. If there is not a certain amount of chaos at my house I cannot exist! Thank goodness the Myers come over a lot!

Britt leaves tomorrow morning and I pick her up Saturday. Then she gets to spend Sunday with us but first thing Monday morning she is boarding a plane for Lubbock, Texas to spend the week with her boys, The Whitings! She is so excited! And she will be surrounded by boys who adore her and love her so much! Just what she needs, especially since she has decided she is taking the year off from a boyfriend and I get to help with that!

 Yep, I am screening boys! It's kind of fun except those who pass are few and far between right now. Ironically, we are both pretty happy about it. Besides, her plan is to get through senior year single and then as soon as Ashley gets back they will hit the singles scene together! One year and the single adult ward won't know what hit them!!!

And it's my job to scare away the boys!!! I have a pretty good track record so far so I am not worried. LOL!!!

Alex

This is Alex. As he pointed out very loudly, he is not in my blog so I am going to remedy this. This is my son-in-law and he is quite a character! He is an aid at Mesa High be day and a matchmaker by night. He is a force to be reckoned with!
So if you are single and looking BEWARE! Yep, I am hiding my daughter as we speak!
 

Baptisms for the Dead!

Joey went this morning and did baptisms for the Dead!!! He was so excited! His toes were cold. But he did 5 baptisms and did confirming before he did those. He loved it! He can't wait to go again! He wants to go with his dad and maybe his older brother!

And he took a picture for Ashley so she can see how excited he was to go!

Yep! He is pretty proud!