Gingerbread Men

While mom and dad were here, they had some gingerbread men for the kids to decorate. (Jason was at school so he didn't get to do one.) It is always amazing to see how different they turn out.

SNOW!

Yes, we actually had snow the other morning. I told the kids they only had a couple hours to actually touch snow outside our house because it wouldn't last long. The last time I remember snow here was about 8 years ago.

Lauren's 7th Birthday

Lauren had her 7th birthday which happened to fall right on Thanksgiving this year! She actually had two birthdays- one was celebrated with Grandma Dorothy and Grandpa Gordon. She is loved by so many. I love to watch her try new things and she knows what she wants and likes and is willing to work for it! She is a true sweetheart!

Christmas Choir Concert

Devon and Lexi had their Christmas concert a couple of weeks ago. We have had such fun with our co-op group learning and practicing these songs for the concert. It is a great opportunity for them to get up in front of people and perform. Devon had a couple of solo lines in "California Dreamin" and Lexi did her own solo song singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I was so proud of them and loved being able to be the pianist for the choir. Mom and Dad surprised us by dropping in for a couple of days and were able to come see them sing. It was so fun to have them here!

Jason's B-Ball Team

Jason is on his school basketball team and has loved every minute of it!

The latest...

Maddie couldn't resist the cooling weather by taking a nap on our chair outside.

The girls have managed to turn our trampoline frame into monkey bars. I was very sad to see our trampoline rip knowing the hours of entertainment this brings to our house especially with friends but they have used their imagination to make it fun.

This was our family home evening activity a few weeks ago. It was fun to see them work that doughnut into their mouth.

The fall weather is starting to set in- thank heavens! I realize that means only in the 70's but that is just right for us. I am not mentally able to process a light dusting of snow like our Utah kin has had already. Yes, I turned on the heat today for the first time even though Lance gave me a hard time. The thermostat said 66 degrees and I was very cold!

Devon is doing well in soccer but his team is struggling a bit. He is such a good player I hope he and his team can have some success this season. He is doing well in school and having a good time in his writing and Spanish classes.

Jason has advanced to the rank of Star in Scouts and is progressing nicely towards his eagle. Go Jason!

The girls are enjoying school and have some fun classes. Madison loves preschool and the other girls are taking art, science, history and writing classes.

Lance's work is a little crazy right now but he is handling it well- he is also back on his bike again!

I am trying to keep everyone on track with their schedules and my own as well but it is all good stuff! Working with the Young Women has been so fun and I enjoy them as well as the leaders I work with!

Small blessings

A few events have happened in the past month that have been on my mind so I thought I better get them in writing. The first one is our family visit to the dentist. Now, going to the dentist is a typical, everyday occcurance but it is something that I usually dread. Not the sound of the drills, or the thought of pain but the work of getting the younger ones to even open their mouths and let the dentist look in. Also, their is the inevitable fact that at least one of them will have to come back for some other work to be done. I haven't been happy with our previous dentist but at least they had all the entertainment to entice the children to want to go. We decided to go a cheaper route with our insurance knowing that someone will need orthodontics in the near furture and wanted better coverage on that. Lance found a dentist out of the blue and made our appointments. Lance and the boys went first and they had a good experienced and really liked this new office. So, I took the girls and I couldn't believe how well that appointment went. All three girls walked in and sat and did what they needed to do. Yes, even my 4 year old. I didn't have to do any calming, bribing or restraining! And, on top of that, no one had to go back for any more work! I couldn't believe it! It was one of the best days ever! I know this might seem strange but to me this event was huge!
The next miracle happened last week as I was taking my four youngest to their co-op classes. We were driving along the busy freeway when my front left tire blew. I quickly pulled off, thank heavens, without losing any control. I was, however, stuck on a busy overpass with semi trucks passing on a regular basis. I immediately called Lance to come rescue us. As we were waiting, a nice police woman pulled off behind me and offered to wait there to keep us safe. Lance arrived and spent the next 30 minutes taking the blown tire off and putting the spare on while on the shoulder of this overpass. I was a little nervous watching do this while so close to the lanes of traffic but he managed it well and we made back and now we have 2 new tires!

Jason's 13-Yikes!

I officially have a teenager in the house. It has made me feel like my aging process has accelerated. I am not old enough! He certainly is showing all the signs of being a teen! And I still think he is fabulous and love him to pieces!

Camping in Southern Calfornia

We had a fantastic time camping by the ocean. The weather was perfect and the water was warm. The beach was beautiful and it was great to be with so many members of our family.

Summer fun at Grandpa Gordon's

We played at Grandpa Gordons and the river was the perfect spot to gather!

Utah Fun

We had a great time in Utah but it was not nearly long enough. It was good to connect with cousins that we don't get to see very often and to meet our newest one, Ryan. We played at Morgan and Brady's house on the big blow-up water slide and that was entertainment for all!

Forts

We have had an emphasis on creating forts at our house during the last few months. Jason, Devon and friends have spent hours digging a rather deep and large hole in the back yard and have created a fun fort that is used for their war games. The children have also turned the living room and their bedrooms into forts of various sizes. As long as they clean it up, I love the fact that they are having fun and using their creativity as well as being entertained!

Happy 4th of July

Here are some pictures of our 4th of July. It was really a low key day. We went to the church for the Flag Ceremony. Jason was part of the flag ceremony and Lance sang in the men's chorus. We had red, white and blue pancakes and the children played games and with friends for most of the morning. In the evening we sat out on the driveway and did our sparklers and watched the big fireworks in the sky from the mall.

Nineveh

We just came home from a girls camp meeting which both Lance and myself had to attend. Since Jason is up at scout camp, we took the other four with us and they played happily in the gym. I guess some other children showed up and were not playing very nicely. Lauren, on our way home, was telling me some of the things some little girls were doing. Then she said, "They must be from Nineveh!" And then the girls started talking about the fish slapping- (you have to be a Veggie Tales fan to understand). I had to laugh out loud.

Trek

Trek was absolutely amazing. I can say that so easily now that I am home, fully rested with my nice, soft, bed. We spent 3 days in the mountains while the youth of our stake pushed handcarts up and down hills and learned more about the lives of those pioneers who sacrificed so much. I was so impressed with their ability to be physically exhausted but gave so few complaints. The leaders put on an amazing journey and my only regret is that all of our youth did not go. The scenery was beautiful. As, I was driving home and hit traffic, a little feeling of dread came over me, reminding me of all the things we face here in our day. It was so pleasant to be away completely from the media and so many bad influences that we face. I did miss my bed and the shower.

Field Day

Yea! School is out! NO one is as thrilled as I am! Before we completed the year, we had a fun field day that the children enjoyed. As much as a nice quiet summer reading books was in my plans, Heavenly Father saw fit to add a little more- I have been called as Young Women's President and my life has accelerated in the past 2 weeks rather than calm down. I am absolutely excited to work with the Young Women but I have loads to learn! A lot happened to write about in the past two weeks but I don't remember any of them right now. Here are some pictures of the children at our school's field day that they really enjoyed.

Spring Concert

Jason, Devon and Lexi sang in their spring concert last Thursday night. It was so great! The group has worked hard the past 4 months and it was so fun to see them perform. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. The microphones were not working very well but other than that it went well. I actually learned all the songs in time to play but it was down to the wire for me. I love playing for them but the drawback is that I don't get to watch!

Friday and Saturday, the boys and Lance went to Fathers and Sons. It sounds like they went to a really beautiful location and the boys had a blast judging by how exhausted they were when they came home. The girls and I had pizza and watched movies on Friday and went bike riding on Saturday. Today, we are trying to adjust to the 100 degree heat! Lance spoke today as a final testimony after being released from the bishopric. He gets to speak again next Sunday as the beginning or his high council assignment.

How we entertain ourselves...

Lance had to take out the back seat of the van to load the lawn mower. The children found it and spent the evening rolling down the driveway and pushing it up-over and over again. They were thoroughly entertained.

A co-worker of Lance's gave us this attachment to his bike. Lauren loved riding behind Lance even in the rain.

Sunday

It is a beautiful Sunday evening. I am outside enjoying the quiet as the children ride around. Lance and Jason are at a Stake Priesthood meeting and Maddie is sitting here next to me listening to an IPOD shuffle. As a four year old, she is enjoying it way too much. Lexi is making sure she is listening to church or other appropriate music. I have this vision of a year from now all of my children walking around the house wearing white headphones and speaking very loudly to each other. I was able to do the singing in primary today. I love primary. I can't help but smile in there. Maddie just turned to me and said, "You've got to listen to this! It's a good church one." This is one of those perfect moments that I long for all the time. I need more of them!

Butterflies and Easter

We had been observing caterpillars transform to butterflies over that last few weeks for school. It was such a fascinating process to see them grow, transform and eventually fly out of the cage. The girls started naming them but it was hard to keep track because they looked so much alike. All of them emerged except one which struggled for days. We wanted so badly to help it. Another one had a bad wing and never flew out of the cage so it died. It was a neat experience to release them on Easter. I would love to do that every year!

We had our annual candy hunt on Saturday and the children had plenty of candy. They had a lot of fun searching for the eggs and candy and we hid some king sized candy bars in hard places for them to find. Jason is starting to remember all our good hiding places and finds them too easily. Easter Sunday started with Lauren telling me she was not going to church, or putting her Easter dress on, or giving her scripture in Primary. Seeing as I had to be at church 40 mins early to practice with the choir, I decided I needed her to be at church but it didn't matter what dress she wore or if she gave her scripture. Five minutes before we needed to leave, she still wasn't dressed so I had to threaten her Easter candy. That seemed to give her the incentive she needed. I was already stressed because I had to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting and this was not helping the spirit of the morning. We made it to church, practiced with the choir, and then the organist didn't show up. So, I sat down, tried to push a bunch of buttons and get some sound to come out of the organ. Lance said the ones I pushed were a little odd together but at least we had a little prelude. The thought of having to play the organ was more than I wanted to do that particular meeting. Thank heavens for our Relief Society President who came up and offered to play as the meeting was starting. She saved my day. After that, having to give my talk and play for the choir was no big deal! It has taken me a week to recover from my "spring break."

Yesterday, I planted a few flowers and it had made such a huge difference to me. I love to see color around the house. We had such a beautiful day and the girls were in the sprinklers all afternoon. Lance has been sick a good part of this week. He had to be at church today because the Bishop and first counselor were gone and he needed to hold down the fort. The children have their testing for school this week and it just seems like school should almost be over once their testing is done. Time is going by so quickly!