"SWEET SUMMER NIGHT"

And so it went:

Your presence is requested, that's right

For a very fun

"Sweet Summer Night"

At the

Marshall Ranch Promotion Dance

Which is Friday, May 14th, by chance

7:30 to 9:30 in the evening, it's true

There will be great music and candy on the venue

On Friday night the 8th grade dance was again in our backyard. Because the kids did not eat the food at the dance last year, we decided to serve CANDY this year! And there was a TON of it! It was so fun to plan! Everything was bright colors and looked "sweet"!

The dance was a great success! I loved the paper lanterns that were suspended in the air with lots of clear fishing line. A HUGE thank you goes out to Rob Matthews for doing all of that for us - we couldn't have done it without him! And another HUGE thank you goes out to Justin for getting the back yard in tip top shape, and for putting together the poles with lights that squared off the dance floor. I saw the idea at a wedding, and asked him if he could make one of those for me. It was really cool! And thank you, thank you, thank you, to Bethany Matthews for EVERYTHING! She took over while I was down, and made it all happen! And also, a thank you to ALL of the great moms that came and helped put it all together on Friday. I think it was a night that they will all remember!

Girls Camp- Kick Off 2010

With the help of my awesome committee we made these cute cupcakes for camp kick off last week!

Easter Fun!

Saturday we received a special treat from some friends that "egged" our house! The sign in the yard said "You've been Egged (Now go "egg" someone else!) So we did. We headed to the Easter supply section of the store and purchased eggs and candy. It was really fun - we will definitely be carrying this on as an Easter tradition! Thanks Hilkemeier's for a great idea!

Saturday night after the "Easter Bunny" dropped off Easter Baskets full of yummy delights, Amanda and Addy asked me where my basket was. I said, it's ok I don't need one. But when I woke up Sunday morning, to my surprise, there was a basket full of sweet notes, tucked into plastic eggs all for ME! (Way better than candy!!!)



Lining up for the traditional Easter Egg Hunt! It was really fun with 11 kids and 300 eggs. We combined our Easter fun with our great friends the Matthews, 2 of our cousins, one set of grandparents for the King/Farrell kids, and one set of grandparents for the Matthews kids.

Checking each egg for what ever treat they have inside!

A couple of years ago uncle Jason started an egg war with the empty plastic eggs that has now become a yearly tradition!

Proof

Proof that you can be whatever you want to be. I don't know to many other 11 year old girls that will wear a poofy dress, flats, and ringletted hair to school all while running around the bases in a competitive game of kick ball before school! That is my Addybug!

(I drove past the school this morning and watched her steal second, in her poofy dress!)

Happy Birthday Tan Man!

My little man turned 9! Time is going way to fast! I tell Tanner everyday that I am lucky because I have him! He is always so sweet to me, which I totally LOVE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANNER, WE LOVE YOU!

"The Sisters" waited until Tanner was asleep, then they decorated his bedroom with streamers and balloons and taped candy all over the walls and his bed! He thought that was totally cool!

We went to dinner at B J's and Tanner was pretty excited to get a FREE Birthday Pazookie!

We spent the day at Makudu's Island with all of the local cousins!

The 4 boy cousins always have a GREAT time together!

Sometimes you just need an incentive!

About a month ago I read a post on the Apron Stage blog about adopting others holidays. This post talked about things like Lent, Good Friday, and Ash Wednesday. Because I am not Catholic I didn't know much about what these were. I did a little research on on the Internet, and I now know a little more than I did a month ago. The post talked about Easter, and how really it is the most important holiday we observe. If it weren't for Easter and the significance of what Jesus Christ did for us, we wouldn't have or need Christmas.

So while my Catholic friends were coming up with what they could "give up" for 40 days for Lent I decided that I would join them! I have now been SODA free for almost a month now! I have not even messed up once, which is more than any of my Catholic friends can say!

It's been awhile!

I was just thinking I haven't posted anything on my blog in over a month. I can't decide if it is because I haven't found my life to be blog worthy lately or if I just lost the little bit of creativity that I have been trying to cultivate my whole life! I read other blogs and love the way others are able to describe what they are thinking. I have a hard time putting my thoughts into words.

I did however have a GREAT weekend. On Saturday I had the chance to go to the Temple and see one of the girls in my ward, that I love dearly, go through the Temple as she prepares to be sealed for time and all eternity this Friday. The Temple was so peaceful and beautiful, and the smell of all the flowers was heavenly!

Then, on Saturday night we went to the adult session of our Stake Conference. It was double awesome. First I got to see and hear William Joseph play the piano (yes, he is in our stake and played the piano for the rest hymn) it was amazing! He is incredible! I have to admit I got pretty excited when I saw him there! And then after William Joseph played the piano, we got to hear Robert D. Hales, of the Quorm of the Twelve Apostles, speak. He actually came to our stake conference, which is really incredible! He gave a great talk. I was a little sad when he quit talking, I wanted to hear more!

Sunday morning was the main stake conference meeting. My really good friend Bethany gave a GREAT talk on How to make our Home like the Temple. To read the talk she gave go here . Then Elder Hales spoke again. When the meeting was over the kids and I got to shake hands with Elder Hales, which was really a great moment for all of us! We all agreed that he had the softest hands we have ever felt. I think shaking hands with an apostle is one of those memorable experiences that you never forget. I still remember shaking hands with Paul H. Dunn when I about 10 years old. We saw him at the ZCMI mall in Salt Lake. I really wanted to talk to him, so my mom encouraged to do so, and I did. I wonder if my kids will always remember how they felt yesterday, shaking hands with an apostle.

I need Bert (Dick Van Dyke)!

In an effort to save money.

It made me wonder.

Have my kids ever seen Mary Poppins?

Confidence! It's Freaky Friday

How is it that we instill confidence in our children? Are they born with it? Do we as parents create it, or encourage it? Why do some kids take everything other kids say to them, to heart, and let it hurt their self image? Why do some kids not care what others think or say? Are we fighting an up hill battle, while we as moms are trying our best to make our kids feel good about themselves, but meanwhile the siblings and others are sabotaging our efforts? I think about this ALL the time. I was so shy and insecure as a child, and DON'T want my kids to EVER feel that way! Is it part of the growing process? Does it make us who we are? Maybe confidence is a gift. Some of us are given that gift, while others have to work for it. I may never know!

Each morning as the kids are running out the door to school, in an effort to help them, I say-

Bye, I LOVE YOU, have a great day, do your best, be brave, be smart, remember your beautiful, make good choices, choose good friends, and BE HAPPY!

Sometimes I even say it to Alyssa when she is having a rough day, because I know it always makes her smile!

Sometimes I wonder if the others ever think about what I am saying, or maybe they are just thinking, hurry up and say what you always say, so we can go! I may never know!

Maybe they all have enough confidence - because this is how they looked for school today. It is school spirit week, and today was Freaky Friday!

2009 YEAR in REVIEW

JANUARY

2009 began on January 1st at 7:30 am when we headed up the canyon to ski at our favorite ski resort in Utah, ALTA! The snow was in abundance and the lines were short! Perfect ski day! Later in the month the 4 kids earned their third belt in karate.

FEBRUARY

Every year for Justin's birthday we take a trip to Utah to go snow skiing! We love it! It is so much fun to do things that the whole family can do together!

MARCH

Tanner was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! That night after the baptism I was laying down talking to Tanner and he told me "mom, I use to feel dirty inside, but now that I am baptized I don't feel that way anymore, I feel clean." I thought, how sad that he felt that way, he hasn't really ever done anything that wrong. Then he says to me "well, I think it is because I use to eat sand when I was 7."

Tanner and his friend Jacob were baptized the same day

APRIL

We had our first 2009 Family Home Evening at Lake Pleasant. Some Monday nights there would be 6 boats full of people from our ward! Great memories!

MAY

A month of celebrating! I turned 40! We have been married for 18 years! We have lived in "The House of Remodel" for 10 years! Alyssa graduated from 8th grade!

Our house before it became "The House of Remodel" 1999

Our house now! 2009

8th Grade promotion dance in our backyard

40th birthday in Las Vegas. We went and saw LOVE with our friends Scott and Linda Copp

Napa Valley, CA

JUNE

Alyssa spent her first week away from anyone she knew, when she attended Especially for Youth at BYU. She had a great time and loved it! We shopped, shopped, and shopped for food, for both our trip to Lake Powell and Girls Camp! It takes a lot of trips, and car loads of food to feed 300 people for 4 days! We headed up to girls camp on June 29th.

JULY

Started out CRAZY and ended GREAT! Justin and I cooked for girls camp, which was a great experience, minus a small mishap the last 30 min. of camp! We spent the second and fourth week at Lake Powell with great friends and family! And between the 2 lake trips we hosted a going away party for our friends the Belnap's who are now serving a mission in Spain.

AUGUST

I conquered my great fear of breathing underwater, when the girls and I became certified SCUBA divers! School started, and we now have a daughter in High School!

SEPTEMBER

I decided to learn a new skill! I LOVE cupcakes, so I have started learning how to make yummy cupcakes. I would like to practice more, but I have found that I eat too many of them myself! Not a good idea when you are 40! Justin flew to Utah for the weekend and paced a friend of his in the Wasach 100 mile endurance race.

OCTOBER

Finally, a little bit cooler weather! 3 cross country meets, a quick trip to Yuma to see and visit with extended family, Rhino rides to Circle K for Icee's, The Marshall Ranch Family Fun Fest, and Halloween!

Alyssa with my cousin's daughter Hayley. It is crazy how much they look alike, especially when Alyssa isn't wearing blue contacts. They both have brown eyes, same skin color, same height, same teeth, same hair color, and they are the same age!

NOVEMBER

We thought about and remembered all of the things we are grateful for. Our home, our family, the gospel of Jesus Christ in our life, our business, the freedom we enjoy, our health, and so much more!

DECEMBER

The last month of 2009 brought the usual excitement of the Christmas season, and of course the BIGGEST party we have ever thrown! HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

Earlier as I thought about the past year, my first thought was it has been a difficult year. But, as I have reflected today on what has happened each month in our life this past year, I can truly see we have been greatly blessed. Our children are healthy, our business is still in business, we have a home to live in, we have faith, we have hope, and we have love! What more do you need?