Mormon Miracle Pageant 2010

We were able to do the Manti Pageant this year. We had planned to do it before we knew we were going to move here, but it ended up being a bonus so we could get house plans done, start sub-dividing, and the kids could become familiar with everything and meet new friends. It was a great experience for all of us. A great spirit is felt while doing the pageant and being at the temple. Nathan said his testimony grew. (even a bigger bonus!)

Addy LOVED wearing her ID badge. Every night we went up, she asked for her badge and said, "Yay! We going to temple!"


Two cutie-pies all dressed up and reading for their acting debut for an audience of 5,000 to 15,000!

Posing with the guy portraying Jesus before we go on...The kids LOVED the Christ in America scene. What a spiritual experience we all had understanding a little of how the people would have felt seeing the Savior coming down from the clouds and teaching them and blessing them. Beautiful scene! Addy was a bit scared of Jesus, that's why I had to jump in the picture before I even had my costume...But she talked about Jesus and was a bit confused when we kept trying to explain it was a "pretend Jesus", someone dressed up. She liked it when he gave her a high-5!



McKenzie in her angel costume:


Nathan as a Nephite:
He loved being a sword boy and swinging his sword following Captain Moroni down the hill with other little boys. Fun times!
The crew: All the Cousins with Mike and Jen. Bradley is 2nd from left, playing a lamanite warrior (yes, he gets killed every night), McKenzie is in the middle in her Nephite costume. We were supposed to be there, but thought we were late, so we were running down the hill to not miss our part.


Me with the younger 3. I love Addy's face in this one, and Nathan is a bit goofy!

Looks like we have a new family tradition! Now to get Mike involved next year...stay tuned!

It takes a village...

One thing I've noticed about coming back home is that we have lots of help to raise our children. Everyone is busy raising their own families, but you see people everywhere and they all seem to look out for our family...some examples:

A good friend's mom told me that she's at the high school often and she'll watch out for McKenzie and if she sees her hanging around the wrong kids, she said, "I'll just pull her aside and tell her that she's too good for that. And she shouldn't be hanging around them".

Then I finally convinced Bradley to get his haircut (It looked like clown hair), and he told the hairdresser that has known me all my life that he wants a mullet and long in the back. She winked at me as she found a compromise between what he wanted and what mom wanted. Then the little older lady waiting to get her hair done asked why he wanted it long. He told her his friends in California have their hair that way. She said, "Oh- you should want to be different- to be an example and a leader to those kids!". He got a kick out of her.

The bishop of the ward we'll be in when we build has been great to get to know the kids and watch out for them.

Bradley got lost at Temple hill the other night after practice, and I was very worried. I went back up to find him after I checked my mom's house, and while I was gone, a former teacher of mine had brought him home. He had a good chat with him. He'll be his shop teacher and will look out for him.

The secretaries at the middle school gave the 2 kids a tour of the school and told them they could always go to the office if they needed ANYTHING!

People call my mom when they hear of a rental home. They are all looking out for us.


My parents have been a great influence where needed with my kids. My dad has taken Bradley to work on the farm with him for 6-8 hours a day and Bradley has loved it. My mom has chatted with the kids and given them lots of attention. Addison only wanted grandma, not mom, yesterday. She rocked her for about 2 hours!

Gotta love this village!

Small town life

No pictures on this one, since I can't download the pics on my parents computer. I'll just have to catch up and post pictures when I get back to California.
It's fun to be back "home", although California has become my home for the past 8 years. The kids are adjusting, but will take some more time to adjust. Right now it seems as if we are on a long vacation, but everyone in town knows we are moving here. We have seen some interesting things while her: Ratfink convention, tractors driving down the highway, kids running 4-wheelers down the street, 5 year olds riding bikes down main street, and some interesting homes...nothing new to me, but watching through the kids' eyes, it is a little different than where they have been growing up.
The other day, I wondered if I left my phone in Walmart, so I stopped my car in the middle of the parking lot to look in my purse, (you know- a small-town thing to do), when someone honked at me. I drove off and waved. I then went to pick up my mom at the doctor's office and she said, "I heard you got honked at in the Walmart parking lot". WOW!
Then I looked at a small house to rent on main street, the one that I remembered my 11yr old Sunday School teachers lived in when they were first married and we had a pizza movie night in and other activities in that home. I think the house is too small, but I looked at it. Soon when I went to the county building or the grocery store, I'd hear, "You're going to rent that little house on main, huh?" or..."I heard you will be in our ward- the First ward". Mom thinks people saw me go in to look at it. I had to stop that rumor, since we don't think we may be able to fit in that small of a house. Pretty funny.
My kids are cracking up that wherever they go, they get people saying, "Your mom was my daughter's friend", or "I used to teach your mom in shop class in middle school." or "I was a cheerleader with your mom". They didn't realize people would know who they are this quick...but that's how it is in a small-town, you know... Funny.

I thought it may take some getting used to, being gone 18 years, but so far, I'm loving coming "home". I've realized how many people want to come back here. Some cannot get work here, and they are not able to be here, so I feel blessed. Some retire and come "home" after being gone longer than I was. I know I will always miss the weather in California and mostly the wonderful people I have met along the way, but am happy to be here.

Dancing Queen~

 

Uncle Doug asked Addy to dance...so dance she did!
Double click to make bigger.

"UNCLE"/Casey Graduation

The kids were all surprised to have Uncle Doug and Tyson at our home when they got back from school this Wed. Doug had come for Casey's graduation from college. The kids all love Uncle Doug, and soon Addy was following him around the house saying, "Uncle...tell me strry" or "My Uncle!", which sounded really close to "Michael" which really confused Doug.

When Uncle Doug read them books in his animated voices, Addy kept looking up at him and saying, "Uncle- you're nice!" It was so cute!

Doug, Misty, Casey and Mike at the graduation:




Tyson with the kiddos:

Congrats Casey and Misty! We are proud of you and glad we were there to see your accomplishment!


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Girl's Tahoe Getaway...

My friend Trisha invited 4 of our friends (Institute director's wives) to Tahoe to stay in a time share and get away. We went for 3 days and 2 nights and had the BEST time. We each had a meal we were in charge of and had Eggplant lasagna, crepes, chicken rolls, chicken salad crossants, and cereal/fruit. I think the favorite was Susie's hot lava cakes...YUM! It was a welcome respite with 4 forever friends. Wish we could go every year. Nice to have our own therapist (Trisha) there on hand to discuss all our issues...lol.

We didn't get much sleep, since we enjoyed talking so much. We also played tennis (go girls!) and laughed as we tried to dodge the ball coming at our heads in raquetball. We enjoyed some hot tub time and eucalyptus steam bath. Most of all we enjoyed our faith-filled gospel chats for hours that really uplifted us. What some incredible ladies I am fortunate to associate with! Thanks girls! I needed that! It will be one of my favorite California memories!

Sydney's 11th birthday...

Usually we have a friend birthday party every OTHER year on my kids' even birthdays, but since we are moving, Sydney asked for a party with her friends. So we threw together a Luau. She had a great time!
Sydney and friends:

Decorating flip flops...

The finished flip flops:

Opening presents:

Hawaiian haystacks for dinner...

Then we had hula lessons from a lady in the ward who used to do the hula with a polynesian dance troupe. That was a highlight of the party. Thanks Jackie! She really did great and taught the girls some hawaiian words as well.

Happy Birthday sweet Sydney! I can't ask for a better little 11 year old to raise. You are my little angel!

New house plan

Mike and I finally agreed on a house plan with a few changes. The breakfast nook will be bigger, and the laundry room will be a rectangle so there will only be a 3 car garage...What other changes would you make?

Addison's new haircut:

I swore my kids never did this kind of thing. McKenzie did it when she was Addy's age but I caught her in the kitchen with a pair of scissors saying to herself, "I'm making it so pretty!" But I caught her in time and not too much damage. Then on this 5th child, I NEVER imagined that she would do this:


I had just done a quick cut for Nathan and Sydney because I noticed that evening at the piano recital they looked a little ragged. So I ran home, did a quick clean of the house, laundry, dishes, etc.. then quick cut Nathan's and Syd's hair. Then Addy asked for her haircut. So I trimmed the edges- all in the fun. And boy, I was thinking that her hair is getting so pretty. Then I left the cutting kit out on the table on the deck outside, ran in to get Bradley to pin him down to cut his hair, and while I was trying to convince him how desperately he needed his hair cut, Addy did a number on her hair. She has just learned how to cut with scissors and practiced all week on paper, having such a great time. Well, when I found her, she was standing on the toiled lid looking in the mirror with scissors in her hand. I had only found a little peice of hair on the floor, so thought, "Oh good- caught her in time"- but then I looked at her head more closely. I couldn't believe it. Then I found this outside on the deck:



First I screamed, then cried...we had been to busy to watch her closely that time. I ran her up to show Mike and he laughed his head off, then told her, "I love your haircut- it's so pretty!" Didn't make me too happy after I had been telling her "You don't cut your own hair- it looks weird now!" Talk about mixed signals. Well, hopefully she won't do it again, since we keep reiterating, "Who cuts Addy's hair?- ONLY MOMMY right?" Guess we'll be wearing headbands, hats and ponytails all sunmmer...ADDYs hair- please grow...I beg you!

LOVE MY YARD...

This is the time of year I enjoy our yard the most. You can see why...We are all going to miss the yard and the adventures my children had here. They spend hours out here. We have enjoyed it for 8 years... Goodbye wonderful yard- we'll miss you!

My baby is 16!!!

While in Utah, McKenzie had her 16th birthday and we couldn't let the day go without partying with family. So we had a cupcake cake and opened presents in the evening after all the Easter festivities. Her cousins all came and she got hair bows, money, manicure set, and a little California car and lip gloss.




Her funny gift was the Dating kit we made up for her with help from ideas from the internet. A couple things embarrassed her like we were hoping it would do, and she laughed at the rest, especially when we had Uncle Greg read the form, "Application to date my daughter". Then she asked me if it was serious! That gave us a laugh as well!




Then she came back and a week later had her friend party. We did a Glow in the dark/black light dance party. Loud music and colored highlighters to draw on arms, faces and shirts that showed up with the black lights, chocolate fountain, fire in the firepit, and glowsticks and we had ourselves a party! The kids loved it! It was CRAZY FUN! I couldn't get pictures with my camera because of the lighting, but it was hilarious how they decorated their faces and arms and even drew flip-flops on their bare feet with the highlighters and it all showed up with the black light. Definately a birthday to remember!