{week of apr. 27 - may 3}

sunday, may 3, 2009

Chase had tried to fish a little yesterday with no luck. He tried again this morning with no luck still. I've noticed for myself that fishing isn't always about catching fish. You put in the work and the effort with HOPE that you will catch a fish. Sometimes we have to go back again and again before we catch one. And the joy when we do catch one is thrilling. The best thing about this day was waking up to the beauty, peace and stillness of nature and then following that up with the beauty, peace and stillness of the spirit. Correlation = aren't we supposed to be "fishers of men?" Don't we need/want to keep trying again and again never giving up HOPE that we will bring someone to the truth and light of the gospel. Just Thinking.

saturday, may 2, 2009

Went camping for a quick over-nighter at Lynx Lake in Prescott, AZ. Ate yummy steaks and potato salad. Went for a night hike around the lake. Taunted some poor lake birds. Sat by the fire. Roasted marshmallows. Had such a fun and relaxing time.

friday, may 1, 2009

Tonight Doug and I went to celebrate the birthday of our friend Emily. When we arrived at their house for a BBQ we were introduced to the newest members of their family. Hailey and Comet (left to right, girl and boy.) They were the sweetest little things. So new. They were shy, but curious at the same time. Our friends have only been married a few months. I hope adding puppies is a good thing. They already seemed like lots of work while we were there. Of course it made me "puppy hungry," but as I watched them spend so much time taking care of them, I also remembered why I don't want a dog. My poor kids - they suffer because of me.

thursday, april 30, 2009

Isn't he cute? No really, isn't he beautiful. I saw him from my upstairs window. Darting from a large Purple Lantana, across the driveway and up toward the front door. I grabbed my camera and raced downstairs. I couldn't believe my luck when I opened the door and there he sat emerging from the Yellow Lantana near my front door. I literally had seconds to snap this picture before he was gone.

wednesday, april 29, 2009

Seriously????? We've already gone through two nesting's on the vent from our fireplace of presumably the same pair of morning doves. There was a picture of the first nest back in March when the babies where only days from leaving the nest. On the 14th of April I have another picture of the pair on a nest on the vent. When the second set of babies had flown I took down the nesting materials and pulled up the chicken wire so it wasn't a nice little scooped out place to build a nest. Now anyone who knows me, knows that I love wildlife and nature and watching this miracle is fun and educational, but the mess right in the middle of my back porch is not my favorite, thus the attempt at deterring another nest on the vent. Well I succeeded in preventing that location, so they moved just a few feet down the porch onto my nice soft towels on the rack near the pool. Lovely. Third time in 3 months!? Maybe, hopefully, this is not the same couple. Oh well, we'll be the proud family of two more baby morning doves in a few weeks time.

tuesday, april 28, 2009

Tess and I had a "date night" tonight. We went to one of those places where you pick out a ceramic piece of your choice and paint it, leave it for a few days for them to fire it and then whaalaa - how do you spell that ? - you pick up a glossy finished absolutely beautiful work of art to take home. We painted it together and had such a nice night together. Someday, this incredible daughter of mine, will be wanting to spend her free time going on dates with boys instead of her old mom. I'm so grateful for a few more years.

monday, april 27, 2009

Sometimes I'm grasping for a POTD. This would be one of those, and yet it's the cute simple pictures and happenings that we so easily forget. Lucas really wanted me to get a picture of what's inside his mouth, and as soon as I took it, he wanted to see it. He's fascinated with pictures of himself. Therefore, he still wants to have his picture taken. This phenomenon might not last too much longer, so I take full advantage of it.

{week of apr. 20 - apr. 26}

sunday, april 26, 2009

Look at this beautiful daughter of mine. I can't believe how lucky I am to have her in my life. She is thoughtful, giving, happy and really beautiful. I realize over the next few years her teen attitude might take over and things could be more stressful between us as mother and daughter, so I wanted to document how wonderful she is and how blessed I am right this moment.

saturday, april 25, 2009

This was our view from the bedroom suite we had. Rachel has some connections so we were in a really nice room. I haven't been to Vegas {in a hotel/casino} for a very long time. I realized I haven't missed anything. Although I love the fun shows available, I don't love the overall feeling and atmosphere, and SERIOUSLY????, why on earth is this the only place where a non-smoker must inhale a pack of cigarettes just to get from the hotel entrance to hotel room? Let me share a joke I read once. "A non-smoking section in a restaurant, is like having a non-peeing section in a swimming pool." Think about it...funny huh!?

friday, april 24, 2009

Rachel, Mom, Diane and I left my house at about 1pm and drove to Vegas to attend Brit's bridal shower. Her mom Sheryl is in the middle. Brit is marrying my nephew Michael. I'm not going to make the wedding, so I was really excited to take a girls road trip out for the shower. It was a blast, and then we went over to Brit's house and chatted for awhile. Great memories.

thursday, april 23, 2009

My sweet sister and her husband Jim are so good to us. They always have us over for dinner. Today was their anniversary. I meant to call all day, but I never did get around to it, I'm pathetic. I know.

wednesday, april 22, 2009

Chase was in a "One-act" play written and directed by a senior in his drama class. He had a big part and he has to kiss the girl in this scene four different times. Poor guy. He did a really great job, and the premise of the play was four different pairs of people - one engaged couple, two sisters, two scam artists and two buddies moving out for school (that's what Chase was) - are trying to see who can last the longest in the apartment. Whoever does gets to stay in the apartment for free.

tuesday, april 21, 2009

I've been wanting to get a picture of gas prices before they go back up. When we moved down to AZ last August, the price was $4 something. I think it got close to $5, but then it dropped. I can't remember when, but I keep hearing it's inevitable that it will go back up again. So here's proof that it was under $2.00 once.

monday, april 20, 2009

See the cute little tie on Lucas? Well I bought it for Easter. He wore it for Easter, and now we haven't seen it since. How does a tie just disappear? Oh well, it looked cute for the day and who knows, maybe it will turn up somewhere...sometime.

{week of apr. 13 - apr. 19}

sunday, april 19, 2009

This is a watershed lake up in Prescott called Goldwater Lake. After church and some hamburgers on the grill, we went up just to enjoy nature. It really was beautiful. I had so many beautiful pictures of the sun on the water and some with the ducks and geese, but I chose this picture. The simple joys. Looking for the perfect flat rock and the attempt at skipping it. Chase loves it and I swear I can't almost 12 skips on one of his throws today. A friend was telling me about a lake in Montana where the beach is covered in smooth flat stones. I'm going to have to make it there someday.

saturday, april 18, 2009

Late at night...scrappin' away. We have so much fun. We laugh and talk about all kinds of crazy things. We give each other help when we're stuck in a creative rut. I'm often cold, so it's perfectly fitting that I'm in my sweatshirt. Can't say I got a whole lot of scrapbook pages done. Will say I bought a lot, even though I promised myself I wouldn't. It's all good.

friday, april 17. 2009

So anyone who scrapbooks will know that someone famous is in this picture with me, my sister, my mom and our friends. We took her class at the convention and she came back and chatted with our group. She thought it was way fun and cool that we were all there together. We took this picture with her. {She is so skinny, tiny and sweet} I was so excited when I went to her blog and saw that she had posted the same picture....does this mean I'm kinda famous?

thursday, april 16, 2009

I love this picture, and do you want to know why? My mom is amazing at journaling. Seriously...she keeps track of everything. We went to a scrap book convention this weekend; my mom, my sister and I. We started in the year 2000. I think I've only missed one year. We have such a fun time. Sometimes our friends come. Sometimes my sister-in-laws come. We laugh and buy and scrap. But this picture depicts what it's all about. Journaling. Sharing the stories of what, when, why, where and how.

wednesday, april 15, 2009

Do you know what my insane, perfectionist mind just did...I went looking (10 minutes) for this stupid cactus' name. I drive myself crazy. All I wanted to say was "LOOK AT THE BEAUTY OF THESE FLOWERS." How can a prickly scary looking thing called a cactus produce something this amazing? Well, it's happening all over right now. I've never seen so many colors and varieties. It's fantastic. There really is beauty in everything. Sometimes you just have to be patient to see it.

tuesday, april 14, 2009

We literally had two full pool days, yesterday and today. Luckily the weather cooperated great on Monday and wasn't too bad today. Most of the Giles got a little red. I felt bad. I tried to heat up the pool so we could actually enjoy it. Even though we can have toasty days. The nights still get cold enough to keep the water cold. We had so much fun.

monday, april 13, 2009

Yeah!!! We had more visitors. The Giles came to stay for a few days during their Spring Break time. The kids were so excited. The kids hadn't seen each other since October for some and July for the others. It was really great to catch up and hang out. We took them to one of our favorite places for dinner down at Desert Ridge. It's a yummy place called "Islands." I told Kelly about the "Yaki" tacos, and she was very happy with them. I'm not sure what I was thinking. I tried something different and it just wasn't as satisfying. :(

{week of apr. 6 - apr. 12}

sunday, april 12, 2009

Easter - When I think, on this day specifically, just what the Savior did for me, I feel humbled at His grace, mercy and love for me. I look at my children's faces and realize that no matter what choices they make in life I love them with every inch of my being. If I have that kind of love for them, I can't even begin to imagine the depth of love our Father in Heaven and elder brother Jesus Christ have for us. I wish I could remember this point every second of every day, because then I'm sure I wouldn't make so many mistakes. The beauty of it all is knowing that because of Christ's atonement I can always repent for my mistakes - big or small.

saturday, april 11, 2009

We had two Easter Egg Hunts today. One at the church with a Break-the-fast breakfast for our wards 40 day fast. The other we had later at our house while there was a small break in the rain. We had brat's and burgers. It was a really fun day.

friday, april 10, 2009

Lot's of just thinking going on this week in pictures. It's been almost two years since I made one of the most difficult decisions in my life. I knew then and I still know that it was the right decision. I know that both Patrick and myself have learned a great deal about ourselves and grown in many ways. I know that I was able to be a better mother to the other three than I otherwise would have been. I know that our relationship, mine and Patrick's, is so much stronger than it might have been. It's hard to think that I basically had to turn over the responsibilities as a parent, but I know without a doubt that I did the best thing I could do for Patrick, Me and the other kids. I am positive that we as an entire family would not be in as good a place emotionally if I hadn't made the choice I made two years ago. Here's to HOPE - hope for an amazing future ahead for our family.

thursday, april 9, 2009

A huge group of us (about 24) met on the lawn in front of the Visitor's Center for the Mesa LDS Temple. Every year hundreds of volunteers put on this wonderful pageant before Easter called Jesus the Christ. Before the pageant starts the actors come out and meet and talk with the audience. When Lucas saw this particular actor (who was John the Baptist,) he pointed and said, "Mom, it's Jesus."

wednesday, april 8, 2009

This is a problem...and I don't know what to do? Oh yeah, call a sprinkler expert to come and fix the whole system for a bucket load of money. I know this is part of being a home owner, but can I just give a primal yell of aggravation anyway?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

At least now it's all fixed, and I'll soon forget the pain to my pocket book.

tuesday, april 7, 2009

This is a funny story. A year ago I had to replace my windshield, and about one week later a rock hit my brand new windshield. Funny...right? The crack stayed small and contained in the upper right corner, without growing, for ten months. One day when Doug was with me, he said, "I can force the end of that crack to go up to the top so it won't continue across the front of the whole windshield." So he proceeded by putting just the right amount of pressure in the right spot so the crack would head straight to the top. Guess what the crack did instead? It zoomed straight left across the middle. He tried one more time because it wasn't in front of the driver's side yet, but it just leaped right past the new pressure point and well now you see why I have a new windshield. I think it's hilarious. We hadn't been dating very long when this happened, so he felt awful, but I just laughed.

monday, april 6, 2009

I took this picture, because it still never ceases to amaze me that both of these two boys are my sons. One older, ready to take on the world and become his own man. He graduates in a little over a month and will be off to college next fall. The other other one, young and still needing his mama in many ways to help him along the way even though he often tells me, "I tan do it." Then you put the two other children in the middle with their varying needs, and WOW! What an amazing and varied life I'm blessed to lead. I see Patrick and think, "I've come so far, and grown and changed." But then I look at Lucas and think, "I've got so far to go; so many improvements to make and lessons to learn." It's strange how it seems like just yesterday that Patrick, our first little toddler, learning and growing and needing us so much; in the blink of an eye, has grown up and is going off to find his own way in the world. He is still learning and growing and, yes, in many ways still needs us; but it is different now. Good, but different. I'm so excited for what lies ahead for Patrick. There's so much self discovery during this time in his life. My prayers for his success and happiness will never change. I guess this specific picture got me just thinking.