Got Mud!

Jeff and I had the amazing experience of being a Ma and Pa for our Stake's pioneer trek last week. (I'm finally caught up!) Anyway, we throughly enjoyed it, and felt very uplifted from the experience. Talk about a testimony builder. As a Ma and Pa we were assigned eight youth to be in our family. The youth came from both our stake and another one from NE. This was neat because our youth got to know more young men and women who shared their same values. As a family, we treked twenty miles to end up in Genoa, NE, a little town that was actually settled by Mormon pioneers. Along the way, we stopped to listen to different pioneer stories acted out by some of the leaders. These were the things that impressed me the most. Hearing about what the real pioneers endured helped me gain a greater appreciation for their faith and strength. I know that the Lord was with them as they traveled, because they would never have survived alone on what they had. Before going, we were warned that the trek might be hard so we exercized and walked to prepare for it. We also figured it was going to be really hot being in June, so we prepared for the heat. Well, it turned out to be rainy and chilly instead. We were actually grateful for the rain and mud because it gave the youth a better experience. The youth also noted that even though we had a lot of rain, whenever we stopped to eat the rain stopped. We never had to set up camp or make meals in the rain. I know that I gained a better appreciation for all that the pioneers went through because of the weather. We had mud, but they experienced snow and ice.

Though the trek was hard, the hardest part for me came before we actually left. Leaving the kids for three days was a challenge to me, especially since the girls were still recoving from their surgery. I knew they were in good hands with our friends the Maginots, but I still worried. Everything went fine, and it helped me appreciate them more. This also gave me an appreciation for what the pioneers went through as they sometimes had to leave family members who died along the path. They truly had great faith. Anyway, Jeff and I are both very grateful for the experience. I know that I was changed by it.

Tonsils begone!

After seven months of constant strep infections, Ashley and Emily finally got their tonsils out! It couldn't have been soon enough. It was scheduled for June 1st, but then got changed to the third at the last minute due to insurance complications. Talk about frustrating. It is done now though, and the girls recovered very well. I did feel bad for them when they came out of the anesthesia(sp?)because they were so sad. I think they were wondering where the ice cream and popsicles were. They did get plenty of those later that day, but when they first came out of the surgery they both threw up, and did not feel like eating. Poor things. They are real troopers though.

Summer Heat

It's always really hot here during the Spring/Summer. Playing outside is often unbearable unless you are in the water. Well, since our first real week of summer was stuck in our house due to our lovely, reliable Hondo Odessey deciding it needed a new transmission, we had to stay cool on our own. Here are the kids playing in our little kid pool.

Beautiful Ballerinas

After a year of dance lessons, the girls finally had their recital. It's nice that they only have one recital since the costumes aren't free. Their teacher does actually try to keep the cost down, and usually picks cute costumes. Anyway, the girls did great. I'm biased, but I thought Emily did the best for her age group and she started mid-year. It was sure fun seeing them up there on stage. They were so proud of themselves. Parker got in on the picture taking at the end too. This is his latest "super" pose. He has been way into super heros lately.

Vroom, Vroom!

Another pinewood derby has successfully passed. Having only a few cub scouts, we invited the 11 yr olds to join us. It was a fun evening for all. Taylor decided to go for the "natural" look this year for his car.

Cruisin' with Dad

With school out, we have to find fun things to do. Our school got out mid-May, so we've been trying to be creative for a while now. Anyway, one fun thing the kids love to do it go riding around the neighborhood with Jeff. He's such a good dad.

Bike Day

Near the end of preschool, Emily got to participate in bike day. All the kids took their bikes to the school and rode around for the last 45 minutes. The school sets up a little bank where the kids pick up money, and a little gas station where the kids pay the money for gas. It's cute. Here is Emily and Alexi her friend.

Recital Time

Spring always brings so many activities. This is why I think I stopped blogging. I was too busy and too tired to do it amongst everything elso going on. Anyway, in May we did our Spring piano recital. I combined with a friend of mine who also teaches piano since I only teach three other kids besides my own three. All of the kids did great. I was really proud of them.

Flag Football

Taylor decided to try his hand at flag football this Spring instead of soccer. I honestly like soccer better, but the place we normally play was fixing their field for the season, so the decision was easy. Unfortunately the girls didn't get to play anything because there wasn't any soccer, but I didn't mind having fewer practices to run to. Anyway, I won't let Taylor play tackle football yet because I think it's dangerous, but he did love playing flag football. He was actually disappointed when the season was done.

Playing with Grandparents

In April we were blessed to have Jeff's parents come out and play with us for a week. One of the fun things we got to do was go to the Great Wolf Lodge. The kids had talked about wanting to go forever, so we decided to make it a fun adventure with Grandma and Grandpa. Even though a couple of the kids were kind of sick, we still had a lot of fun. Grandma was even willing to go on the farm fieldtrip with Emily's class. Go Grandma!

Zoo Fun!

We love our city zoo because it's not very big and we can walk through the whole thing in about an hour. This allows us to get out and have fun, but not have to wear ourselves out doing it. Here are a few pics of the kids with the Christensen's the last time we went to the zoo.

Easter Fun!

Easter was a fun time of year for the kids as usual. We always seem to go to two or three easter egg hunts. I don't remember having that many when I was a kid, but we do now. The mom's group I'm part of did one hunt, and then our ward had a really fun Easter breakfast/easter egg hunt the saturday before Easter We had to skip the community easter egg hunt because of Taylor's football. Anyway, I think the kids had a great time. One of their favorite parts is coloring eggs at home though. Here are a few pictures.

Five Dollar Flowers

So my posting has gone to the way-side lately, but I'm now determined to catch up. Here are a few of the things we have done during the last few weeks. First I wanted to tell a funny story about these beautiful toes. Jeff got me this great Valentine's gift of a pedicure for me and a friend. Well, with schedules as they are, my friend Traci and I weren't able to actually go get the pedicures until April. Having never really paid for pedicures before on our own, Traci and I were unprepared for the questions of "Do you want a french pedicure" and "do you want a flower". We decided, why not, and didn't think anything of it. Well, when it came time to pay, our bill was $15 dollar more than we'd imagined. Those flowers weren't part of the deal apparently. At first we were just going to pay and be done with it, but my friend decided to stand up to them, and we were able to get $10 back. Yeah Traci! Apparently, the workers are supposed to tell us that they cost more, but they never did. It was slightly embarrassing, but we got our money back. I guess you live and learn. Now we know what to do the next time we have to pay for a pedicure.