Noah's school projects

This kid. I'm so proud of the smile in this picture. He picked out and designed this Minion valentine box himself (with the help of Pinterest). His famous person report impressed me a lot too. Full disclosure: I'm a bad mom. I NEVER help Noah with hardly anything. Not school work. Not piano. Not his chores. and Definitely not with his math... I don't have to. He is self motivated and has always been so successful at his endeavors. he chose George Washington and completed the entire assignment himself including the oral presentation. That said, I did help A LOT with the actual costume. I was so proud of how confident and excited he was to present his knowledge on one of our founding fathers.

April was Star Student this week

April has the BEST Preschool teachers/class ever. We are so lucky. My really good friend Lindsey is an angel  (and an answer to prayers) and picks April up every Thursday from daycare to take her to preschool with her since I'm working every Thursday. April LOVES preschool and asks everyday if it's a preschool day. She got to be STAR student this week and talked about it nonstop. I'm so grateful for the good in my life and April's preschool "Wiggle Worm Preschool" is a large part of that good. April is learning so much and just loves it. I'm so thankful for Ms. Brown and Ms. Lindsey and all they do.

 Her Christmas Program

Ms. Lindsey and Ms. Brown 

This hilarious picture was taken on one particular Thursday where April fell asleep in the car on the way to school with Lindsey... haha. Oh April

April loves to draw. She tells me she wants to be an artist when she grows up. 

 April has recently discovered the movie Lilo and Stitch and she LOVES it. This is her drawing of Stitch. 

Callie speaking at a baptism

Callie's friend Maddi Pear asked her to speak at her baptism this weekend. Maddi's mom told me that when she was asked who she wanted to speak at her baptism with out hesitation and after suggesting "grandma or grandpa, aunt or uncle, or a friend" Maddi responded almost without hesitation "Callie. I want Callie to talk" I was also pleasantly surprised that Callie willingly agreed. She did a fantastic job and I was really proud of her.

Her talk:

Maddi and Tusi do you guys like getting presents? Well President Wilford Woodruff (one of our prophets) has said: “the gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon man.”

How do we use this awesome gift?

Let’s do a demonstration. Can Maddi and Tusi come up here?

I borrowed my brothers walkie talkies. I think having walkie talkies is like having the Holy Ghost with us. Maddi and Tusi stay right here. I’m going to walk out of the room and tell you something really important… (Callie walks out of the room with one of the walkie talkies and says...)…

“Come follow me and walk out of the room to find me” (Her friends walk out and Callie gives them each a giant candy bar. They walk back in and Callie continued with her talk.)

When we follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost we are blessed. 

The Holy Ghost is always there for us. We can always have this walkie talkie with us. But we need to make sure it’s tuned into the right channel so we can hear Him. How do we tune our walkie talkies? Things like reading our scriptures, being kind, having faith in the Savior, saying our prayers. These are all things that help us tune our channel so we can hear. 

The Holy Ghost can help protect us and keep us safe. 

In John 14:26 it says  “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” 

He also helps us when we need guidance. 

**(Toucan story - this is a story Callie shared about losing her favorite stuffed animal and praying about it. then she found it)

Maddie and Tusi you are about to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

I’m excited for you and I know that the Holy Ghost can and will help you just like he does for me. If you make sure you’re tuned into the right channel and if we do like the Primary song says “Listen, Listen. The Holy Ghost will whisper. Listen, Listen to the still small voice.” then we will be blessed. 

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen. 

Best. Birthday. Ever!

Ron surprised me with a 24 hour getaway to Sedona, AZ. Our good friends Jeff and Lindsey were celebrating their 15 anniversary too! We stayed at the Arroyo Pinion Hotel with a hot tub right in the bedroom. It was the perfect combination of fun, laughing, alone time, outdoors, and yummy GF food!!! As long as I’ve lived here in AZ I can’t believe I’ve never made it to Sedona. It’s definitely one of my favs now.  Such beautiful scenery and of course the best company.

I was so impressed with Ron. He planned ahead and got me the sweetest and way too expensive present. He gave me an apple watch. I've wanted one for a while to help track my running. It has some really fun features on it and i'm so happy with his generous thoughtful present.

My little Buddy

These past couple weeks have been a little rough on April. Stomach flu to virus to earache. This first pic at the doctors office she gave a hug and said "Let's hug for a while" She tugs at my heart strings. Today I almost cried registering her for kindergarten She's my side kick, my little buddy, my companion at all appointments, my entertainment, my dance partner and is the perfect little caboose to our crazy family. She's so excited for school but I'm going to be a wreck in the fall. Thank goodness for half day kindergarten.

Phantom of the Opera

About 1-2 years ago I started listening to Phantom of the Opera music frequently and Mason really took a liking to it. He asked his piano teacher for the sheet music and before long was pounding out Phantom music on our poor piano, haha. I love listening to him sing and play. So when Mason's birthday approached I searched and searched for theater tickets. We had to drive to Prescott, AZ but it was worth it and I could tell he really enjoyed the experience. We celebrated my mom's birthday and Mason's as we traveled a couple hours to Yavapai College Performance Center. Next on our wish list is to see WICKED!

Halloween 2019

Halloween this year was a little interesting. As usual Ron was hunting during a lot of the Halloween festivities but he actually scratched his cornea and came home early from the hunt. Poor guy I think it was really painful, Ron never complains and I could tell he was hurting. During the midst of the Halloween chaos I ended up killing a rat in our garage too! BLAH!!!! That was a horrific event and all I could think about as I slammed the shovel down on the poor nasty rodent was "How did Nephi do this?!?! How did Nephi do this!?!?!" haha oh well I lived and thankfully the rat did not, life goes on (no more rat sightings at our home thank goodness).
Halloween is one of my FAVORITE holidays. It's so much fun to be creative and see the kids excitement with picking their costumes. April couldn't decide between a princess and Super girl so of course I let her be both. Callie was Cat woman and Rapunzel, sweet Noah agreed to be Clark Kent to match April. He's a sweetie that way (plus I may or may not have bribed him with $5 haha.) 

Mason got to go hunting this year. Sadly because of Ron's eye injury he didn't get as much hunting time or a deer but he enjoyed his time outdoors.