April fools

 I always love to pull pranks on my kiddos for April fools.  This year it just snuck up on me and I was not ready.  I did manage to do some fun things with food though.

It's supposed to be eyes, nose mouth and then an arm pointing to the other banana on who to eat.  My kids LOVE bananas and this was fun for them.

For dinner they got a side of ice cream with Carmel, aka mashed potatoes and gravy.  

Although they were a little disappointed to not be eating ice cream for dinner they all laughed and thought it was pretty clever.  I sure love this mommy job of mine.   

Our Artist!

A few weeks ago {B} came home from school with a letter saying that her art work had been selected to be on display at the district art show.  It was very exciting.  

 We got to dress up and go down town to see her work.  

 I love that she has developed a true love for creating. She sure is good, and my favorite craft buddy ever.  

After wards Dad treated us all do dinner at Joes BBQ.  It was the perfect end to the perfect night.  Sure am proud of my sweet, crazy talented little lady.  

double surprise

I decided this year I wanted to throw J Frog a surprise party.  

I have never done one, and it was so fun.

After I sent out all the invites my good friend Sara asked what I would think about doing a combined party for her son whose birthday is right after J's.  

I thought it was a great idea.  

She had already told Wayne about J's party so we told him he was going to be 

our decoy to help throw J off track.  

Little did he know he was part of the surprise.  

hahaha it was so fun.  

We told the boys we were going to the Riparian preserve 

to work on the bird watching merit badge for scouts, 

while the guest arrived and hung up the decorations and such.  

We walked around the preserve a little bit looking for our troop.  

Then they called when they were ready for us 

and I told them there was a miscommunication 

and they were waiting for us at the Dunns house.  

 It was hilarious when we got back.  

J thought it was for Wayne and Wayne thought is was for J.  

They both were totally surprised when we told them it was for each other.  

The Dunn's have the best back yard ever.  

It was perfect for the party.  

I was in charge of the games

We did a water relay, donut off a string contest, and a water balloon catch game.  

Next I brought out 300 water balloons, 

each guest got their own water gun, 

the birthday boys each got a HUGE water soaker gun, 

and some of those stick water shooters.  

Then we let them go to town with a water fight.  

It was hilarious to watch and I ended up soaked all the way through.  haha

Sara was in charge of all the food and it was just perfect.  

She bought Costco take and bake pizzas and cooked them on the grill.  

Yum!!!  

There was also chips and ricecrispy treats.  

 She made two seperate cakes for the boys.  

 We are so blessed to have such amazing friends next door. 

Both boys are such great kids.  

I'm so excited they will get to grow up together.  

Happy Happy birthday!

 Not quite sure when it happened, but our J frog is already 12!  

We started the day out with bowls made out of bacon filled with scrambled eggs.  J is absolutely obsessed with BACON, so he was in heaven.  haha  He got to open one gift before school (that's all we had time for) and it was a new shirt to wear for the day.  

Little Love and I picked him  up from school and took him to lunch.  

He picked Red Robin, Yum!  

The workers sang to him and brought him a huge ice cream.  

It was fun! 

After school we had a small little family party.  He opened all his gifts.  

He loved all the thoughtful gifts.  Thank everyone!  Grandma/pa Mitchell sent an extra special one for him to open after he is ordained.  He was soooo excited!  

He picked chicken pillows for dinner.  I think this is the first year he didn't pick poppy seed chicken.  It was a hard choice and he went back and forth on his decision.  hahaha 

J frog is still obsessed with anything Dr. Who, so I made him a tardis cake.  The tardis is a phone booth thing that travels through time.  It was tricky, and def. not professional looking by any means but he loved it.  

I used a bread pan to get the right shape, and was able to incorporate his favorite kind of candy (Cookies and cream hershey bar) for the window.  

 We laid it down for the candles since it was so wobbly.  

Make a wish!  

 Our very dear friends have a tradition of having a smash cake.  

We have seen them do it, but never tried it ourselves.  

J Frog wanted to try it so bad so I made him his own smash cake.  haha I have a feeling this is going to be a new tradtion.  All the kids loved it.  

 He is so funny.  J Frog has a heart of gold.  He is kind to everyone he meets.  Little Love absolutely adores him and often walks around the house looking just for him.  He is a good student and incredible guitar player.  He is our little pack rat and holds on to every little thing for sentimental reasons just like his momma.  He is our family peace maker and just brings so much joy and happiness into our home.  Happy Birthday, We Love YOU!!!!

let you light so shine!

Last night Ry and I were invited to a Fireside about the Cultural Celebration that Ky was in.
It was really cool.  They had put together a neat video of the behind the scene practices and such.  It was really neat and did an awesome job portraying what the kids actually went though.  It was so hot and dusty the first full day practice.  Kids got sick, dehydrated and suffered from allergies.  They gave up a lot of free time and homework time.  It was not just a small task that was asked of them.  Its really quite amazing, they did dance, sang songs and learned sign language, and they did it well. After the video they had a testimony meeting.  Those are always just so great.  I loved it.  
The Young Women's President talked about how they were not only doing it for the Prophet but they were doing it for their Heavenly Father.  She talked about how in the temple we promise to give up our time, energy and service to the Lord.  She pointed out how these kids have already done that in their effort to celebrate the new temple before they have even covenanted to do so.  How cool is that?  She talked about the promises Elder Eyring made them.  How he told them they would bring their children back here some day and get to say they helped in the dedicating programs.  He also challenged them to go home and write about it in their journals.  She said she hoped that all of the kids did that.  Then she said I went home and wrote about the awesome youth that you are.  The sacrefice and love for the Prophet and Lord you gave.  I don't typically call someone out, but I just have to this time.  Then she said Ky Moody could you please come up here.  (GULP!)  When he got up there by her she got teary eyed and said I wrote about this kid in my journal.  What an amazing guy he is!  She said that when it was all said and done kids got to the dry spot and were able to take off their wet shirts.  She said do you know how heavy wet clothes are???  Its very heavy!!!  She threw the wet clothes on a big tarp to help her carry them and started dragging them to the car.  She was far from the car. She said she went back and clocked it and it was just over a mile.  Ky saw her tugging and pulling and struggling with the tarp and he said "hey, here, let me get that"  and together the pulled it.  She wasn't even half way through and it started to fall apart.  She was DONE...she was so tired and ready to be finished.  Ky said let me re wrap the tarp so the clothes will stay in. He got right in their and came up with a clever way to keep it all together and then they drug it some more.  They were going thru mud since that's all there was out there and it got stuck a couple times and one time on a tire.  But every time Ky just went and fixed the problem.  Never complaing.  She asked him if it was heavy and he kinda shrugged and said not really.  (it was so cute)  She went on to say how impressed she was with Ky.  He wasn't there for the glory, he never went and told people how awesome he was or the good deed that he did.  But he lifted her when she was at her breaking point.  He was such a light when she felt defeated.  She said You are awesome Ky.  I appreciate you and am so grateful to you!

It was so sweet and did my heart good to hear this.  Ry and I both got teary eyed.  We have such amazing kids.  I loved hearing about this story and think that is so neat that she recognized him.  He clearly felt embaresed and it made me love it all that more.  Ky really is a great kid. Always very much aware of the needs of others.  He too has been a light in my life on many different occasions.  I adore the relationship we have right now and I just feel so lucky and humbled to me the mom of such an amazing young man!  

Spring Break

Spring break this year turned out to be a fun, productive week.
I started the week off with a big family meeting.  

I told them we were going to use this week to get some good spring cleaning done.  

Our goal was to get up early, get our spring clean project done and then 

go out on a family adventure together before Ry had to leave for work.  

We had talked about going away somewhere, but it just didn't feel like the right time so I was worried the kids would be disappointed, but they were awesome.  I loved how they asked me every morning what the adventure was.  I never told, I just said "you'll have to see"!  :)  

 The first day we did some yard work.  The boys mowed the lawn, Becca cleaned up the yard toys and swept the patio.  For the adventure we went to this cool skate park.  It has hills and turns and is just perfect for skateboards, scooters and bikes.  They all loved it and it didn't cost a dime, other than the fruit and trail mix we brought along.  We did stop at McDonalds on our way home for a .50 ice cream cone.  (can't believe its this hot for spring already)  When we got home the kids were free to play and have fun.  It was a win win for everyone.

 Day two: We organized the kitchen pantry and cupboards.  It's so interesting to me how the kitchen can be clean but knowing that my cupboards are unorganized can just nag at me and help me not enjoy the clean kitchen.  We had this junk drawer that just felt so good to organize.
For the adventrue we envited friends over and had a pizza/night games party.  Anyone who had nerf guns brought them and they had a pretty intense game of ghost in the graveyard with a nerf twist.  These kids are so hilarious and such a great bunch.  After a few games outside, they came in and played some board games.  The older kids played some x-box as well.

 Day three:  We went through our closets and got rid of clothes we don't need anymore.  All of my kids have grown sooo much this year.  Can't believe how big they are getting.  crazy.  For fun we went to Peter Piper Pizza.  Miss B won a ball from the Claw game all by herself.  I was so impressed.  Those are so hard.  Little Miss thought it was for her.  {B} was so sweet with her and let her have it.  The boys all had fun playing and competeing against each other.  They earned a ton of tickets and had fun picking their prizes.  Little Miss got her very first sucker and boy did she love it.

 Day Four: We cleaned out the cars.  Its amazing how fast they get trashed.  Ry's work had a special show for all Phoenix PD families.  They brought in animals from the San Diego zoo.  It was really cool to get to be up so close and personal with them.  Miss {B} really loved it and asked some of the best questions.  Wonder if she'll end up working with animals?!  

 Day Five:  The kids went over to a ward members home and pulled weeds for him.  I was so proud of them and their hard work.  Afterwards we rented a big huge blow up slide.  I wanted a water slide, but they don't let you use water on them til may.  Oh well, they still had fun.  We had lots of friends over and I loved watching them do all kinds of flips and tricks.

Needless to say I was super sad to have them go back to school.  They were such great helpers.  I LOVE having fun things planned so they have fun.  I hate hearing we're bored so I made sure I had plenty planned to avoid that.  It makes me excited for summer.  I went in to the school tuesday and talked with the principal about the 2nd grade curriculum.  I am excited to plan out our summer school, adventures and vacations.  Only 44 schools days left!!!

Wedding Day

What a sweet tender week and a half this has been for me.  

One of my very sweet Young Women from when I served as President of Riverview ward got married.  I am so thankful to have gotten to get to know her fiance (now husband) before they got married.  What an amazing man he is.  He is the only member of the church in his family and has sacrificed so much.  He truly has a heart of gold, darling personality and is absolutely smitten with Jessica.  I am just so thrilled for my Jess!  

Ry and I had to opportunity to be there when they both went through the temple for the first time.   

WOW...What a sweet experience for me to get to be there.

I have always had a very special unique bond with Jessica and   

I am so happy for her and the beautiful faithful girl she has always been.  

Kalli was Jessica's maid of honor and it was just so sweet for me to watch Kalli be there for her and serve her, making sure everything was just right and that Jessica had everything she needed at the wedding and reception.  They have been very best friends for over 20 years and I just admire the relationship they share and the effort they both give, even now after all these years.  Truly something special and extremely rare.  These girls have a way of lifting and blessing the lives of all they are around.  I am blessed to have been their leader.  I am ever so grateful they still include me and want me in their lives.  It means the world to me.  What beautiful girls they are.    

 The wedding day was beautiful and full of so much laughter.  My stomach seriously hurt from laughing.  It was also full of tears.  I was actually quite surprised at how emotional I was.  At one point I said to Ry, I don't understand why I can't stop crying.  He said "I do, Kalli and Jessica were your pride and joy.  You love them as much as they love you"  awwww.....more tears fell at that point.  :) We slipped away to a quiet corner of the reception and had a really good really long heart to heart over other feelings I had that day.  It was at a beautiful reception hall (owned by Jessica's family) and the setting was just so peaceful and romantic.  I just have to say, I never thought it would be possible to love this man more than I already did, but I could literally feel my love for him increase as we talked.  He gets me!  He knows me!  He Loves me with his whole being, and best of all he forces me to see that I AM a good person with a kind heart and helps me to love myself!  
This was hands down one of my very favorite dates.
What a perfect weekend with the perfect bride, brides maid and husband. I am blessed!