Fall Break 2010

Today was the last day of fall break for my kids and their friends who attend the local school district. I decided that I wanted to invite my friends and their children over to make sugar cookies and frost them. It was a wonderful day. My friend Julie and her 3 kids, Kylee, Megan, and Tyler came over as well as my other friend Cami and her 4 kids, Dallin, Hannah, Sarah, and Addean. My sister-in-law also came over with her 2 kids, Alexa, and Zach. Also my niece Kiana came over. I had so much fun and the kids all did great. I am glad that all our kids are old enough to play nice, and follow directions. My kids all grew up with my friends kids and of coarse hangin with the cousin are always fun. I am looking forward to doing this again next year and for many years to come. Thank you all that came and had fun with me and my kids.

L: Lea, Kylee holding Addeon, Alexa. Sitting down: Dallin. Right: Hannah, Chayanne, and Kiana. This is the big kids table.

Left standing: Nathaniel and Zach. Right standing: Sarah, Ella, Elijah, and Tyler. Megan is behind Nathaniel. This is the little kids table

Yummy Cookies waiting to be frosted.

Elijah was eating the cookies after he cut them out. But we found some for him to frost. He was so excited to have all his friends, big and small over at his house. I think he frosted those cookies really well.

Some of the finished product. All the kids had their own plates to put their cookies on.

FHE

Nathaniel & Ella showing off the flowers

Lea planting flowers

Chayanne planting flowers

Dan pulled out the dead bush so we can plant flowers

I am was getting fustrated with posting the pictures after writing my post. I kept cutting my pictures out. That is why they are first and out of order.

For Family Home Evening we planted flowers in the front of the house. I have never ever planted flowers in my entire life. When my husband and I were at Home Depot to pick out the flowers I felt so overwhelmed. I love to look at the flowers wherever I go, Home Depot, Wal Mart, Lowes, etc. but to pick them out was hard. I kept asking my husband if this color would match this color or should I just get the same flowers. Well this is what I picked out with the help of my wonderful husband. We had a blast planting. I t was great to get everyone (except Elijah because he fell asleep) involved. They look great and I love watering them every day.

Microburst 2010

We had a few days of storms here in Mesa AZ... We had a micro burst that gave us hail and wind and rain. It was the most beautiful storm I have ever seen. I only say that because I have never really seen this type of storm. Sure I have seen hail storms and rain and wind, but this storm was different. The wind was blowing the rain sideways. Boy did the rain blow hard. I think the wind was blowing at the speed of 75 miles. Because of the wind, my dead evergreen lost most of its needles. It sure did make a mess of my back yard. The wind also broke the side of my gate. Also due to the wind all my pretty flowers were blown off of my oleanders that line the back of my yard.
It rained hard. After the rain my street was flooded to the sidewalk. It was great. My back yard was also flooded. It also hailed and some were the size of golf balls. When it was hailing, it was so loud on my roof I could hear a thing. Elijah was taking a nap and slept threw the whole storm.
This storm moved to the north where it was reported as tornadoes that touched down. I think they counted six tornadoes. Amazing weather for a place like Arizona where we usually don't see this type of weather.
Here are some pictures.

Sacrament Meeting

I love to attend sacrament meeting especially when it is fast and testimony meeting. I love the warm feeling I get in my heart when I hear others bear their testimony. This week was real special for me because I was able to hear everyone who talked. This is the first Sunday in a very long time that I am able to do that. I sat with my family and the children were so well behaved. It was wonderful. Since we moved into this new ward, my children have been really good. I can't even believe it and I sit with them every week. I was thinking about how grateful I was to hear everyone bear their testimony even if I don't know them. I was thinking that my children are getting older and they can sit and be quite for most of sacrament meeting. I was also thinking that if I could feel the spirit so strongly, so can my children. that could of been why they were so well behaved.
This day in church was an answer to my prayers. We are still a little knew to this ward and it amazes me how every ward is different. I really loved my old ward. I had a great calling and great friends. I know it will take me a few months to get use to this ward and to make new friends.

Memories in the new house

I finally took a picture of our new house. Even though we are just renting this house, we have started making memories here. Memories that will stay with our family forever. These memories are both spiritual and physical.

One of the memories is of Nathaniel. When we lived in the apartments he broke the training wheels off of Ella's bike. Dan took the training wheels off and told Nathaniel he would teach him to ride a bike. Learning to ride a bike in an apartment complex is quite dangerous especially when the tenants don't slow down even if there are kids playing.

If you know my Nathaniel, he is a little scared to try knew things. He is very careful so he doesn't get hurt. Nathaniel is scared of heights and fast things. He did not like to swing. He would scream bloody murder if you dared to push him just a hair. Yeah. Can you believe that!!! He is scared to go fast because he feels out of control. Anyways, Nathaniel taught himself how to ride a bike. We kind of showed him the basic and he would fall. He kept falling so he decided he didn't have to learn to ride a bike, after all he is a super hero who can fly.

A few days ago I looked out the window and saw him riding the bike. He keeps going faster and faster and he says he likes the wind in his hair. I am so proud of him for being brave enough to learn to ride his bike. I think now my super hero can finally hang up his cape and ride like the wind.

Familiar Smells

Do you have a familiar smell that reminds you of something from your past? I sure do. A few weeks ago my dear husband was preparing for his business trip to New York. He bought some shoe polish. Yes shoe polish. When he opened it to polish his shoes, it brought me back to when I was a little girl and my dad was polishing his work boots. My dad was always some sort of policeman during my 21 yrs. When I graduated from high school, he was a deputy sheriff. He always polished his shoes. I think this was a monthly ritual. When my dad would polish his shoes, I would sit on the floor and watched him and he concentrated on polishing his shoes. I would look at how strong my dad's hands were. I would look at his handsome face and think that I would marry a man as handsome as he is. I loved the smell of the polish and I also loved the sound of the shoe brush brushing against his shoes. When my dad was done with his polishing, I was so excited to see his sparkly shoes. As far as I was concerned, my dad had the sparkliest boots in the county. When Dan, my husband, opened the shoe polish, I had no idea I had these memories. I love when I have memories flowing from my mind. Tell me of a familiar smell that brings a happy memory to your heart. Thanks for sharing.

Still Alive

I am still alive. I have been either to busy to write or I have had nothing to write about. We had a nice Thanksgiving and Christmas. We went to our friends house for New Years. We also moved last month.
I will post pictures of our house later when I can find my camera. We moved the week before Valentines Day. We found a 4 bedroom house to rent right by our children's school. I found the house on Craig's list and I drove by it on accident. We love all the room we have in this house. We are slowing putting all the pictures up on the walls. We love the fact that our older girls can have friends over and we don't have to hear them giggling or screaming. They can also have more than two friends over each. We have a huge backyard. There is also poles for a volleyball net. I can pitcure v-ball games through out the summer. We can also have parties. We love to entertain and living in an apartment we were not able to do that. So we are excitied to host several summer parties at this house.
That is what we have been doing since my last post. I will try to post more.