The Beautiful Outdoors!

I have a new calling in the ward. I was in the Relief Society Presidency for about 9 1/2 months. I loved that calling. I was the secretary. It was a great calling. I really felt like I got to know a lot of the women in our ward. I served with really fun women, in two different presidencies. I was very surprised that we got released, but with change comes new opportunities, right?? Are you ready for my new opportunity/calling???






Bear Cub Scout Leader!!

I was really surprised to receive that calling! I have NEVER done anything with scouting. Easton isn't quite old enough, so I literally know NOTHING! But, I gladly accepted and now I feel a little in over my head. But, I have really good friends to work with in scouts and I know they will help me!

So, last Thursday was my first official scout activity. We went on a hike! Oh, how I LOVE to hike!?!?! But, it was actually a pretty easy and fun hike. There were 3 leaders there and we all have sons who are 7, so we brought them with us even if they weren't quite old enough. So, in all there were 14 boys. Easton was very excited that he was able to go and I could tell that he felt like a "big kid." I left the girls with my friend, Megan, who volunteered to watch them. Thank you SO much, Megan!

Hike day was a little cloudy, but that made it nice because it wasn't hot. It was the perfect temperature for hiking. The boys all did really well. We got through the hike relatively quickly, with a few stops on the way to...

Take a group photo:



Read signs:



Look at the scenery:



and Find lizards! (someone spotted one and they were all around that tree trying to catch it.)



Then, it was on to lunch.



Good ol' sack lunches from home. There is something about being in the beautiful outdoors that makes sack lunches taste really good to me.

Just a few more pictures from our hike:







I had a really great time. I am thankful for this new opportunity. There is SO much I need to learn, but the journey will be great, I am sure!

SOOOO SWEET!!

I have meant to blog about the arrival of our newest little niece for a few days. I am finally getting to it. Dave's brother, Dan, and his wife, Josie, had their first baby May 30th. They named her Brailey Belle. What a sweetie, I tell ya!

Josie went into labor on Saturday morning. Dave and I had planned on going out on a date that night and were going to go up and see them in the hospital. But, unfortunately, we couldn't find a babysitter. That night I was complaining to Dave about how sad I was that we couldn't go up. I had talked to Dan and several members of Josie's family were at the hospital awaiting the arrival, but no one from our family. He so kindly suggested that he stay home with the kids and I go up! I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of that idea myself!! So, I more than happily agreed. I called my sister-in-law, Erin, and we left to the hospital. Thanks Dave!!!!

We got to the hospital right as she was born. We waited in the waiting room with some of Josie's family until it we could go in to see her. She was sooo cute! She weighed 8 lb. 11 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long (I believe). When we saw her she was less than an hour old and so alert. I loved it. It was a neat experience to be there that soon after the birth. I hadn't had that experience except for my own children's births.

We went up with our husbands the next day again. She was even cuter the next day with her hair all done and bows in it. So sweet.

After that I "craved" holding her! It was weird. I think that is a sign, I am a bit baby hungry, I think. I just need to convince Dave that our family needs one more little one! :) (Good luck to me on that!)

Friday night, Dave's mom was in town and we had a little BBQ with all Dave's family at our house. Dan and Josie came with Brailey! I ended up holding her for quite a long time. I loved it. She was so cute and cuddly. I really miss having a newborn!! Paisley and especially Avery could not get enough of her. I had to protect her from Avery! She was trying to be nice to her, just didn't grasp the concept that she was not one of her dolls. But, she just smiled and talked and loved little Brailey.

Here she is...



And here is Paisley holding her...



We had a really nice BBQ. We were almost done eating when some big, black, swirling clouds moved in really quickly. All of a sudden it began to sprinkle. We quickly worked together to bring everything in and managed to get it in as the hail started! It was a downpour!



It was okay, we just moved the party inside. Here is the only other picture I took at the BBQ.


Dan, Erin & Jace, Brandon, Tammy

I tried so hard to get a nice group picture, but Dave's brothers just wouldn't let me! :) It is always interesting! :)

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

I wanted to wish my mom a very happy birthday today!! I won't disclose her age...but let me just say, she is a young grandma! :)



I also wanted to tell some of my favorite memories of my mom.

1. When I was younger, we enjoyed evenings together with just the girls, when my brothers and dad were gone on a camp out or something. One night we were watching a movie and the house was dark. I had to use the bathroom. While I was gone, mom found a clown mask that one of my brothers had made in school. Not scary at all, but in the dark...SCARY!



So, when I came out of the bathroom she jumped out and yelled "BOO" and scared me to death!! She had a good long laugh! A while later, she went to use the bathroom. That's right...pay back's are a you-know-what!! So, I scared her with the clown mask. We had a really good laugh and then promptly threw the mask away!!

2. Doing crafts. We liked to do crafts together. Especially when I was younger and was less busy with kids! She is a really good at painting figurines. We would go buy a ceramic figurine of some kind and paint them. I specifically remember painting really cute Halloween figurines one year. Of course, while letting the paint dry we would usually have a treat of some kind. We both LOVE big cinnamon rolls warmed in the microwave and a cold glass of milk. I definitely think of her when I eat a cinnamon roll.



3. When I was a junior, my parents planned a big family trip to California. We did all of the fun things there is to do in Southern California, Sea World, Disney Land, Universal Studios. So, before we left, my mom had a big talk about how we didn't want any family bickering on this trip. So, she said if anyone got cranky, we had to do the Mork and Mindy (an OLD show on TV) "shake" and say Na-New-Na-New like they did on the show.



Totally weird, and I don't know WHY she came up with it. But, amazingly, it worked. When someone would start to get mad, she would say, "Na-New-Na-New" and we had to do the "shake." It was so dumb, and embarrassed us, as we were all teenagers, that it took our minds off whatever was bugging us. Crazy, but good...and a funny memory.

4. I don't know how old I was, but my mom one time did this really funny and weird dance when no one but me was watching. Her arms were flapping like wings and she was moving her legs. I laughed so hard! My brothers and dad wanted to know what was so funny. So, I told her to repeat it. She acted like she had NO idea what I was talking about! She denied it up and down. Then, when no one else was looking, she would do it again...and then promptly deny it. It was so funny! This when on for quite a while, off and on, she would just break out in her silly dance for my eyes only! :)

5. I have been lucky enough to have my mom by my side at each of the births of my children. She was there through the craziness of Easton's birth, with the emergency C-section. And then at Paisley and Avery's c-sections.


My mom showing me Avery right after she was born.

This is really gross, but after they give me the epidural, I usually get really nauseous. When they were getting prepared for Paisley's C-section, I suddenly had to throw up. I said that, but there were no nurses around. I was laying on my back, unable to move. Dave took off to find something for me to throw up in. But, my sweet sweet mom, came to my bedside and cupped her hands and it is there that I threw up. So gross, but SOOO sweet. Something only a mother would do. It honestly brings tears to my eyes, because I can understand doing that for my child. I HAVE done that for my child. She later said the same. She wouldn't have done it for anyone else. (Who would?) I love her for that! :)

It was really neat to have her at the births. She would always try to watch the C-section. With Avery, she just pulled the curtain down a bit and watched the whole thing! :)



Very brave of her.

My mom is so funny. She has been such a wonderful mother to me in my life. She is such an example to me. I admittedly am just like her. More so each day! :) But, I think of that as a good thing. She is a great woman who loves her family very much. She is a wonderful grandmother. She has dropped everything to be there for me when I have needed her as a mother. She has attended many doctors appointments with me for moral support with my children. When Paisley has been put in the hospital for her asthma, she has taken off work and spent the whole time with me.



I am truly grateful for her in my life. I love you, mom!!

The Ups and Downs of Gardening

We have definitely learned there are ups and downs to this gardening thing. Times that I have been so proud of us and times I wonder why we, two people who know NOTHING about gardening, are bothering to try.

So, here are the ups...



What a difference a week makes when I was photographing our first little sprout. Now almost all the beans, peas, and onions are up.

Okay, here are the DOWNS!!

We planted 12 tomato plants and 8 pepper plants. I lovingly dug holes, put water and fertilizer in and then covered them up. Then, I put hot caps on them and we even covered them that night with blankets. The next day we went and took a hot cap off to water them and THIS is what we found, (basically...this is 4 days later)



AHHHHHHH!!!

This is our LONE survivor! (You can see his dead comrade in the background!)



What?!?! You read right 12 tomatoes and 8 peppers and we have 1 survivor!! I don't know what happened! We are wondering if there was too much fertilizer or something. We have no idea. They looked so great in the house and then they died in one day in the ground! Crazy!

So, here are our new recruits...



I am almost scared to plant them! Let's hope they do better than the last ones!!

Sprinkler!!!

The kids have been begging me the last few days to let them put the sprinkler under the trampoline so they could jump in it. Finally, yesterday, I decided that it would be a good day to do that. So, while Avery was napping, this is what fun Easton and Paisley had...







I love their sheer innocence and joy. They just thought that jumping on the trampoline and getting wet was the best thing ever. Not a care in the world...oh to be that young again!

SCHOOL'S OUT!! Hip hip Hurray!!

Summer is officially here! School ended yesterday for Easton and two days ago for Paisley. We start summer busy right away with T-ball starting Monday. But, I am soooo looking forward to not having to get the kids up for school, or stress about getting them to bed on time at night, or just the whole routine of school days. I am excited to have free days to do with whatever we want/need.

The kids had mixed feelings about school ending. Paisley was really sad to leave her teachers. She wants to try to visit them this summer. Luckily, one of her teacher's families owns an ice cream parlor and she works there on the side. So, we will definitely be in to see her. :) Easton was really sad to leave his best friend from school. I assured him that he would see him when school started again, but he was still pretty upset. I felt bad for him.

Easton and Paisley did well on their report cards for the end of the year. Granted, they don't get letter grades yet, but they got as good as they each could with the grading systems. And, Easton got an award from the principal for 100% attendance. So, that was pretty exciting for him.

On Wednesday, I was able to go help with the 1st grade Field Day. They divided all the kids up into groups and we would go around to stations for about 10 minutes each. It was fun. The kids had a great time. It was pretty hot out that afternoon and the kids drank a lot of water. Afterwards they had root beer floats which they all thought was a GREAT treat!

I took some pictures of Easton at the Field Day festivities...



Dripping with bubble solution at the bubble startion!


Our group




My crazy kid who can't take a picture without a crazy pose!



Look out, summer, here we come! We are READY!!

Memorial Weekend

We had a great weekend Memorial weekend. Friday night, Easton spent the night at my parents' house so he could go fishing with them at 4 a.m. the next morning. My parents are not real big on fishing, but my brother, Jarom, is. So, it is kind of a standing tradition that my dad and brothers go fishing on opening day in my dad's boat. Easton couldn't wait to go fishing. He loves it. He had a great time and got a few fish all by himself!

So, to make it up to Paisley that she couldn't spend the night at her grandparents', we let her have a little sleep over. She had our good friends' little girl spend the night, and a neighborhood girl join in the Friday night festivities. We took them to eat dinner and play and then rented a Bratz movie for them to watch. I let Paisley pick out ANY 3 snacks she wanted for the movie...this is what she picked:





Can you blame her?? I mean, if she is allowed to pick ANYTHING, I think she did a good job! :) Don't worry, they didn't totally go crazy. I gave them a plate with a Hershey bar, a few chips, and 2 oreos. More than the usual, but not too bad.

So, they went to bed pretty well. But, Paisley came in my room a little before 6 a.m., and she already had dress up clothes on. So, who knows how long they had been up! They let us sleep a while longer and then I made pancakes.

Paisley had a soccer game that afternoon, and it was pretty hot. She did a great job. Saturday evening we had some friends, Brook and Nathan, over for a BBQ. Dave and Nathan played baseball with the kids. I think it was more of Dave and Nathan playing baseball, with a side note of children. :) They all had a great time while Brook and I talked. Paisley fell asleep in her room a little after 6 that night and slept all night. I'm not surprised she was tired for as early as they got up!

Sunday was church and then we went to my parents for smores which I already posted about.

Monday, we didn't have a lot going on during the day. So, we went up to the cemetery. When I was in 4th grade, my dad's younger brother died in a motorcycle accident. When I was in 5th grade, my mom's younger brother died in a car accident. It was a rough couple of years in our family. I definitely have a different perspective and understanding now as an adult. My parents were about our age when they went through all that. I can't imagine. But, I do remember both of my uncles and have vivid memories of each. So, we took the kids to the cemetery to visit their graves. Along with those graves, I have several grandparents buried in the same cemetery. We told the kids about each of the family member's graves we would be visiting. We also told them to try to be reverent there. They did pretty well. We just happened to run into my parents there. That was nice, so we visited with them as we walked.

I took a few pictures of the kids while we were there.



They had found a bush with a bunch of ladybugs on it, kept them busy for quite a while!

Sharing their ladybugs with Avery, who we found out inherited my fear of bugs! :)


That evening we went to Dave's brother's house for a BBQ. It is always good to visit with his family. I took my camera...but didn't take one picture!!! :( But, it was a good time, anyway!

So, that was our weekend. Dave also had Tuesday off and so we did yard work that day. I planted another row of onions and the tomatoes and peppers. (That is a story for another post!) Great to spend so much time with family and friends! Loved it!

Too scary...

I just wanted to write a little post about how very much my children mean to me. I take for granted sometimes that they are healthy, smart, beautiful, happy, giggly, crazy, rambunctious, silly, sweet, and innocent. I don't ever want to take that for granted, but it is kind of easy to do when things are going well.

Tonight we went to Easton's soccer game. As soon as we got there Easton got out and ran over to his team. I was parked right up against the school and couldn't see cars coming from the opposite direction. Easton needed me to tie his shoes so I called him to have him come back to the car. He started running to me. All of a sudden a big truck drove right in front of me. I had not been able to see it until it was right there. It was like slow motion...I could see Easton coming and because of parked cars, he couldn't see the truck either. But, I could see him coming and the truck and knew that the timing was exact. He was going to be hit by that truck and there was nothing I could do. I was totally helpless. All I could do was scream. He did run right out in front of that truck. I do not know how it happened, it was a total and complete miracle, but somehow that truck stopped. With not a millisecond to spare. When it stopped, Easton was right in front of it, looking right at the driver. I am so sure that there were angels protecting him tonight. He wasn't meant to be hurt. It was truly a miracle.

I am so thankful that someone was protecting my son tonight. It was probably the absolute most scary moment of my entire life. I am so thankful that the driver of that truck was paying attention and hadn't looked away for a split second. Afterwards, I calmed him down, and just held him for a few minutes. He then ran back to his team. I had to just sit there for about 5 minutes and pull myself together. I was shaking so badly and could hardly think. It was awful.

Tonight I went down to tuck Easton into bed. We talked again about what had happened. I asked him if he thought that we should pray to Heavenly Father to thank Him for protecting him tonight. He thought that was a good idea and asked me to say the prayer. It was a really neat experience kneeling with Easton and thanking the Lord for preserving him. I don't often pray one-on-one with my children. But, I think it is something that I should do. It was so spiritual. Afterwards he gave me the biggest, longest hug. I hope to remember that experience forever.

I pray that I will not take for granted my children and their childhood. I got a glimpse tonight of how quickly that can be taken away from me. I hope to never ever ever experience that, but I am almost grateful that I had this experience to knock some sense back in to me. I needed a bit of a reminder of how very blessed I am and how temporary it can be.

Aren't they sweet?

Our first bean sprout

Here are our first little sprouts in our garden!


Our first onion sprouts

Our first pea sprouts

Aren't they cute? I feel like a proud mom showing off her brand new sweet little baby! :) I know I am going a bit overboard, but we have put so much work into the garden this year that I am ecstatic that we are actually getting sprouts finally!!! Yea for us!