Kelsey's First Prayer

     Last night Kelsey said her very first solo prayer.  She often says "My turn!" when I ask whose turn it is to say the prayer at night.  But every time we let her and I try to help her by whispering what she should say, she just stays quiet and then finally turns to me and says, "You do it."  So last night, when she shouted, "My turn!" I decided to let her have a go at it and I didn't say a thing to her.  (I also had to instruct the girls to back away since I could immediately see them closing in on her to be the ones to help her with her prayer.)  This is what she said:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you day,
Have fun,
Amen!
     We all said "amen" and then she got lots of snuggles and cheers, and I could tell she was so proud of herself.  Their first prayer is always so sweet and precious.

Dinner at Denny's

     We don't go out to eat very often.  First of all, it costs a lot of money to feed 6 people at a sit down restaurant.  Second of all, it's far more embarrassing to have dinner fights in public.  Fights at dinner are very common at our house.  They used to be about who got to sit by Daren (I think I've mentioned how they're all daddy's girls), but now they are about who gets to sit by Kelsey.  And of course a few other random fights during dinner.  And the usual, "Ewwww, this is gross, what else can I have for dinner?"  Well, we decided to combine some lessons about fasting with some lessons about good manners.  We told the girls if they could behave properly at the dinner table, in public AND at home (that would be the hard part), then we could go to a real sit down restaurant once a month.  We would go out the day before fast Sunday as a good start to fasting.  Fasting has been the hardest part for Natalee now that she's 8 years old.  We only have her fast for one meal so far.  But we thought that this could help her look more forward to fast Sundays.
     I took a few pictures of our first pre-Fast Sunday sit down dinner.  It was June 5, 2010.  We chose Denny's because it seems to be pretty kid-friendly.  Although it was painful to have Haylee order macaroni and cheese.  It even brags in the menu that it's Kraft.  We tried to talk her out of it by telling her it was the exact same stuff we make at home for 75 cents, but she was determined.  The girls had great manners.  They all liked what they ordered.  Haylee even had some leftover ranch dressing from some carrots she decided she didn't want and she gave it to Mackenzie.  Mackenzie ordered chicken nuggets and of course used all the ranch dressing that came with them.  I thought it was very thoughtful of Haylee.  Poor Natalee was still a little hungry after dinner.  I think it's time for her to stop ordering from the children's menu.  But all in all, we had a great time and we're looking forward to making it a family tradition.

Haylee and Mackenzie-it's always nice to get a picture of them cuddling up together.

Somehow Kelsey figured out she could make the spoon hang from her nose without anyone even showing her.  I know, not good manners, but so stinkin' cute from a 2 year old.

Random Cuteness

Kelsey, June 20, 2010

Haylee, June 21, 2010

     Kelsey was being so cute on Father's Day while my dad was opening his present.  I already had the camera out so I had to snap some pictures of her.  Yesterday, the girls got Natalee's makeup out to entertain themselves.  Haylee decided to put some "blush" on her cheeks.  I told her she looked like Raggedy Ann. :)  She said it looked cute.

     We have been working on getting Kelsey to sleep in her own bed lately.  She was doing really well at staying in her bed all night, but she wouldn't start in her own bed.  So I started by putting her in her own bed and sitting in a chair by her.  She did really well after a couple of days, but the other night, she had kind of a bad night again.  She was really crying about having to be in her bed.  I was sitting right there so she thought that maybe she could sneak out of her bed as long as she held her hands over her eyes.  It was so hard not to laugh even though she was so sad.  I kept telling her, "I can see you Kelsey," but she just kept walking towards me with her hands over her eyes, crying.  Poor baby.  The last couple of days she has stayed in her own bed without me even having to sit with her.  That part is great.  But she has come in to our bedroom the last couple of nights.  Not good.  We need her to be entirely in her own bed before the baby is born.  Probably only a couple of weeks to go!

Happy Father's Day!

     Sunday (June 20, 2010) was Father's Day, and for once, I was SO prepared!  I bought Daren's gift weeks ago.  I actually had a really good idea for something that he would like, yet wouldn't be expecting.  It's rare that I can surprise Daren and actually have him excited about the gift. :)  We bought him a fishing license, and really nice Maglite flashlight.  He really needed a good flashlight for going out and checking on the animals at night.  When Andromeda tangled herself in the fence, all he had was a dinky little light to go out and check on her.  But his highlight was the fishing license.  We already have plans to go use it in a few days.  A trip to the lake for some swimming and fishing.

     During church, the primary kids sang to the dads.  They sang "My Dad" and "Daddy's Homecoming."  After church, we had dinner at our house.  Daren and my dad picked Cindy's cashew chicken.  Yummy!  Then my dad opened his gift.  I wasn't as prepared for his.  I didn't come up with an idea until the very last minute.  I decided to blow up an old picture of my mom into a poster for him.  I really wanted to use this old one he had of my mom in a swimsuit.  But it was kind of small and the people at the photo desk didn't think it would work to blow it up to poster size.  They said it "might" work as an 11x14.  So I decided to go ahead and stick to the 11x14 size and get a frame to go with it.  And just in case it turned out horribly blurry, I brought my mom's senior picture, which was bigger, and I know my dad loves that one too.  It was a lot of fun watching my dad open his gift.  His eyes got very big.  It would have been more fun to watch my mom while my dad opened his gift if she hadn't known what it was, but unfortunately I didn't think I could find the pictures without her help.  It was a fun gift to give and I hope he enjoyes it.

     I truly have been blessed with the most wonderful men in my life-my five brothers, my dad, and my sweetheart.  My dad guided me to make good choices throughout my life and helped me to develop my own testimony.  He got me through the teenage years, helped me through college and a mission, and was an example of the kind of man I wanted to marry.

     I am so grateful that I married Daren.  He is an adoring husband and father.  He provides well for our family's physical needs by working hard every day as a school psychologist.  He takes care of us emotionally by loving us so much and planning fun things for us to do as a family.  He takes care of us spiritually by being committed to taking us to church, family home evening, family prayer and family scripture study.  He is such a good example to the kids and I'm grateful that he is the priesthood leader in our home.  I love you Daren!

Game Night at the Loughmiller's

     Friday night (June 18, 2010) we were able to espcape the kiddos (thanks Mom and Dad!) for a fun game night at the Loughmiller's.  Apparently there is this new game show on TV called "Minute to Win It" where you have to complete a silly task in one minute or less.  You can go online to get the game instructions and play at home.  Erin went to a lot of work preparing all the silly tasks for us and it was so much fun.  We drew numbers to decide who would go first and Daren was the lucky one.  His task-strap a pedometer to his forehead and make it register 125 steps in less than a minute.  The picture of this isn't nearly as good as the video.  But unfortunately, videos won't work in blog books so I'm just sticking with pictures for this blog.      Some of the next tasks:  Taryn Tree had to put together a puzzle made out of the front of a cereal box cut into like 30 or more pieces of the exact same shape.  Then Brent Cannon had to stack 3 golf balls, one on top of the other.  Erin Loughmiller had to keep THREE balloons airborne for an entire minute.  Wendy Okerlund had to move 2 cookies from her forehead to her mouth using nothing but her facial muscles.  At this point in the game, Daren was the only one who had completed his task in the minute time period.  Then Brandon Okerlund had to shake 8 ping pong balls out of an empty tissue box strapped to his behind by shaking and dancing.  Finally, another success!  I almost had to do that one but was saved by pregnancy.  Instead, I had to move a cup in a stack of 39 cups back to it's original position by moving one cup at a time, alternating hands.  I was SO close but missed it by like a second or two.  Next, Stan Loughmiller had to move 5 cottonballs from one table to a bowl on another table using his nose dabbed in Vaseline.  Then Ronelle Cannon had to empty an entire tissue box (160 tissues) in a minute.  Another success!  Go Ronelle!  We didn't have time to go through the whole rotation again, but there were some other fun tasks.  Daren got to stack 8 nuts (metal nuts) on top of each other using a chopstick, Taryn had to try to get a penny out of the bottom of each foot of a pair of nylons without using the other hand to scoot her arms down.  Daren made me try the cookie one and mocked me, so I made him try next.  He did get the closest to getting a cookie to his mouth, but still didn't succeed at getting even one.  We ended the night with Ronelle shaking ping pong balls out of the tissue box on her rear.  It was so hilarious watching everyone complete their tasks.  Thank you Loughmiller's for a fun night out!

Brent was SO close!

Wendy going for the cookie

Me and my 39 stacked cups

Stan moving the cottonballs with his nose

Ronelle says she's a pro at emptying tissue boxes due to her horrible allergies

Daren easily stacking the nuts

It was really fun to watch Taryn go for those pennies.  The name of this task was Penny Hose.

Daren showing us how it's done in the cookie game. :)

Ronelle shaking that last ball out.  I have a really cute video of this one! :)

Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

June 13, 1970

June 13, 2010

     Sunday, June 13, 2010 was my parent's 40th wedding anniversary.  I know I give them a hard time about parent PDA, but I am very happy that they are more in love after 40 years than they were the day they got married.  For their 40th anniversary gift, Amy had the idea to write 40 memories about Mom and Dad and make a book of it.  At first it was going to be 40 memories total, but then we decided to try for 40 memories each.  We didn't all make it to 40, but altogether it was still a lot of memories.  Mom and Dad said they had so much fun reading them and they had forgotten about a lot of the things we came up with.  I know it's long, but I thought it would be worth including everyone's memories here.  But first, a few pictures of Mom and Dad opening the cards the girls made for them.

A special card made by Kelsey

Haylee's card

Natalee's card

Mackenzie's card

The girls were so excited to watch Grandma and Grandpa read their cards.

Mom and Dad opening their memory book.  I put it in one of those old report folders from when we were kids that Mom has been trying to get rid of. :)

Michael's Memories

1. Mom making a follow-the-yarn obstacle course to lead me to my first Book of Mormon

2. Showing mom that I could ride the little yellow bike without training wheels

3. Taking a motorcycle ride to picnic in the desert with Dad - wearing my read toy football helmet, and holding on as tight as I could!

4. Playing in the hole where the septic tank was while Dad and Mom were on a date and I was being watched by a babysitter

5. Dad punishing me for #4 because he had told me not to play there

6. Mom helping me clean my room with the bunk bed where I would make forts and stuff

7. Taking family trips in the evening to Der Weinerschnitzel and then to the property where Dad and Jim were putting a fence up (and Bobby and I were catching horny toads).

8. Sitting on the old green couch in the new house - and being excited to be there.

9. Dad and I taking stray cats (that were looking for homes) and plates of food a few blocks away to see if we could get rid of them. They came back - and I named the first one that Mom and Dad let me have - Susan.

10. Mom and Sister Page taking me and Marc to Groves Elementary at the beginning of first grade - the playground seemed so big!

11. Mom and Dad buying their first NEW car - the Mazda GLC.

12. Taking family trips to Anaheim in the GLC - fully loaded, and with that car-top carrier with the snail logo on top. Didn't that thing break on Lisa and Darren a while later?

13. Mom and Grandma taking us to Provo to look and look and look and look for an apartment, while Dad stayed home for work.

14. Mom patiently picking me up at Westmore Elementary because I was scared to walk home sometimes.

15. Going with Dad and Ron to the arcade once a week for several weeks.

16. Mom picking me up at school, and going to the store to buy an Atari game for the system Dad had just bought. Dad and I used to stay up late playing Space Invaders and Missile Command. I finally got so much better than Dad that he took me to the Arcade so he could win on the Arcade version!

17. Going to a BYU football game with Dad (Air Force was the opponent, Jim McMahon our QB).

18. Mom getting me a Jim McMahon jersey for Christmas.

19. Reading Old Testament with Mom in the evenings - until Lot left S&G.

20. Dad baptizing me in the church building down the street, then confirming me the next day in Sacrament Meeting.

21. Mom crying when she saw the condition of the house when we got back from Utah.

22. Watching TV (like Fantasy Island) with Mom while she worked on church lessons.

23. Playing board games with mom, and not being a very good loser -- it's funny now, right Mom?

24. Mom and Dad going to a high school reunion (Grandma watched us) and getting their picture taken in the orange dress and the brown suit - Mom still had long hair.

25. Mom taking me to sell Scout-o-rama tickets in front of Albertsons all the time so that I could earn points for prizes.

26. Mom and Dad taking us to the O-club pool all summer

27. Dad and Mom motivating me to work on Scouting requirements, Dad helping me with my Eagle project, and being thrilled for me when I got my Eagle.

28. Dad and Mom making it possible for me to get to BYU, when I know it was hard for the family and they were concerned.

29. Mom sending me letters during my mission EVERY week!

30. Mom driving with me out to OH in a car that barely made it!

31. Mom and Dad warmly receiving Cindy when I brought her out to CA in Aug 1999...

32. ...and loving her so much when we married in December!

33. Mom making Mervyn's trips and making sure the kids have plenty to wear/play with.

34. Mom and Dad serving faithfully in their callings and setting an example that I wish I could emulate better. I remember fondly the HT visit with Dad, and the good we were able to do when I was his companion.

35. Dad: "That's what they call a Bocci-ouchy!" Josh: "It's not funny - you naked mole rat." Me (embarrased, and trying not to laugh at the same time): "Josh, we don't call Grandpa a naked mole rat."

36. Mom watching the kids for a week at a time so that my Cindy can spend time seeing her family.

37. Mom and Dad buying Disney passes so that they can spend time with the kids.

38. Dad getting the go-kart so that the grandkids can have fun riding it during Ridgecrest trips.

39. Working with Dad - still: brakes on the cars, cutting down the tree on the side of the house, burying the basketball pole, etc.

40. Mom and Dad's example going to the temple so often, and staying to visit with me, Cindy, and the kids on most of those trips.

Lisa's Memories

 

1. Mom being my Laurel advisor and giving everyone a picture of the temple when they moved up to Relief Society, but I got the biggest.

2. Staying up late and talking with Mom and Dad about the gospel.

3. Letting Mike and I stay up late to talk to each other because we were actually getting along.

4. Going to the O Club to swim in the summers and getting our deep end patches.

5. Mom coming to help when Natalee, Haylee, and Mackenzie were born and Dad letting her, because I know it’s always hard for him when she leaves.

6. Dad coming over to stay with the girls when I went to the hospital to have Kelsey and helping Daren give me a blessing before I left.

7. When Dad gave me blessings when I was sick.

8. Mom taking me to the ER because I cut my leg with the scissors when we were cutting out patterns to sew clothes for my mission.

9. Dad cooking stroganoff when was in the hospital after having a baby.

10. I’ve always noticed that both of you truly magnify your callings. You always give 110%.

11. Playing the reverence game after church. We use that at our house now.

12. Reading the Book of Mormon as a family so we could go to Disneyland.

13. Mom and Dad asking us if we were willing to sacrifice the money they had been setting aside for Disneyland for a humanitarian aid cause (maybe the famine in Ethiopia?).

14. Teaching us to pay our tithing.

15. Dad telling us on the way to school that he’d “sure be starving if it weren’t for this cold” followed by a big snort and gulp.

16. Dad driving me to the ACT and then when I went in the back of the van trying to scare me by “gently” swerving the van, except it made me fall into the window and did a big spider web crack. I thought he might be mad at me but he said he was just so relieved I didn’t fly through the window and out the car to my death.

17. Dad scaring me by making me think he was a coyote when I went out one night to raise the garage door to get my cat off the roof.

18. Dad scaring me by making faces at my bedroom window when there were no blinds in the house yet (I was probably 2 or 3).

19. Watching Press Your Luck in the mornings in the summer.

20. Mom always making sure my birthday was special even though it was right before Christmas.

21. Dad taking us for rides on his motorcycle when we were little.

22. Helping me go on my mission even though it was during the “prime marrying years.”

23. Letting us live with them while our house in Lancaster was being built and while we looked for a place to rent when we first moved back to Ridgecrest.

24. Teaching us how to stay out of debt and live within a budget.

25. Letting the kids come over all the time so I don’t have to take them to doctor appointments, hair appointments, dentist appointments, or even just shopping sometimes.

26. Being completely in love with each other, even though sometimes it can be a little gross.

27. Dad not letting us go to the bathroom on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa’s house and then making water sounds and trying to make us laugh.

28. Letting me take piano lessons and making me stick with it even when I wanted to quit. And coming up with clever ways to make me practice like paying me for my practice time but making me pay for my own lessons with that money.

29. Mom coming with me to the midnight showing of New Moon and the party beforehand.

30. Dad helping me with my physics homework without complaining even though I always asked him last minute and probably would have understood if I didn’t talk in that class so much.

31. Paying us very well for good grades. And making us pay you for bad ones.

32. Paying us to read the Book of Mormon, knowing that we would gain a testimony by doing it.

33. Coming over to give Mackenzie a blessing and stay with the other kids so Daren and I could go together to take her to the emergency room when she had the purpura rash and was in so much pain.

34. Buying me a Cabbage Patch kid for my birthday even though they were ridiculously expensive.

35. Always coming to everything important-awards assemblies, basketball games, piano recitals.

36. Mom being a room mother. I can’t even imagine now how you did it with all those little kids. I still haven’t had the nerve to sign up for that job in one of my kids’ classes.

37. Mom working so hard to make so many new clothes for my mission, even though it was right during the “prime marrying years.”

38. Mom’s patience with us. She says she yelled sometimes but I can’t remember it ever happening.

39. Dad and I going for a walk and him sharing his experience about how he became truly converted to the gospel.

40. Daddy-daughter dates to the ice cream shop and getting bubblegum ice cream.


Congratulations on 40 years of marriage. Because you taught us so well and have been such a good example to us kids, I believe we’ll all be blessed to reach 40 years and eternity with our spouses. I am so grateful to have been born to such good parents and for all my wonderful siblings too. I am so grateful for our eternal family. Thank you for everything!


 

Jonathan's Memories

 
-When Dad didn’t believe me that I had to go to the bathroom at the father and sons outing at Lake Diaz. Okay, I just had to get that one out of the way :)
-Mom (and others) driving all night to be with us when Tyler had his first surgery

-On a related note, Dad coming out on very short notice for Tyler’s blessing

-Dad taking me out to Baskin Robbins when I scored enough points in basketball games

-Mom coming out to Inglewood to watch Paul Pierce eat me alive

-Mom and Dad both coming to all those baseball and basketball games, even the out of town ones.

-Mom and Dad helping me out when I needed braces/glasses

-Dad taking the time to play baseball/basketball with me (until he knew I could beat him at basketball :) ) Also playing "bump out" all those nights with mom, dad and the family was a blast.

-Mom staying on me to get my Eagle Scout/Dad staying at the project by himself to make sure nobody messed up the work that had been done/Being able to pin the Eagle on mom – she deserved it!

-Mom coming down to the tournament at Damien high school and then taking me to go see Blair at the hospital.

-Dad baptizing me and ordaining me to the Priesthood

-Dad blessing the sacrament with me my first time

-Mom and Dad going to the temple with me the first time

-Being sealed to my wonderful wife in the same room that Mom and Dad were sealed in.

-Going to Education Week with Mom and Dad

-Coming home from my mission and being with you guys for the first time in two years.

Matthew's Memories

 
     Mom and Dad have always said that their accomplishments are demonstrated in their kids. Here are a few things they have accomplished in the last 40 years. Seven pretty good kids, Seven pretty good kid-in-laws...19 grandkids and counting. Seven temple weddings, five Melchizedek priesthood holders. Six return missionaries. Six seminary graduates. One Veteran of the Iraq War. Six bachelors degrees. A couple of masters degrees. A lawyer. Almost two PhD's. Five Eagle Scouts, which equals over a hundred merit badges, hundreds of campouts, service projects, courts of honor. Two young womanhood recognition awards, four varsity high school athletes, one former athlete still holds several scoring records at said high school. One BYU Presidential Scholar. Countless other awards and recognitions. And to top it off zero convicted felons probably due to the hours and hours of digging weeds each summer. I mean think of it, six kids digging weeds (we all know Amy didn't have to dig weeds), 10 weeks a year, half hour a day, for twelve years, minus summer camps and the fortunate two who had summer birthday's (again, I recognize Amy's birthday is in the summer but she did not dig weeds in the first place), I figure that comes to at least 1500 hours of weed digging and I believe that this forced labor was a major deterrent for committing crimes.
This was all accomplished over years of long nights of building science fair projects, writing state reports, mission reports, parent teacher conferences, driving to away games, activity night at the church, EFY, Scout Camp, Fifty-milers, pet dogs and cats and snakes and fish, trips to see grandparents and to Disneyland. Reading scriptures as a family, family home evening, Kevin doing push-ups for disrupting family home evening. Birthday parties, baptisms, ordinations, callings, church dances, and the list goes on and on. We all love you Mom and Dad and wish you a happy 40th anniversary.


Matt&Ami


 

Kevin's Memories

 
Some of my memorable memories of Mom and Dad
• Dad calling Mom his nymph (scarred for life)

• Mom and Dad never arguing in front of the kids

• Dad dressing up like a skeleton

• Dad buying and feeding cereal to us kids when Mom was out of town

• Mom's dancing (scarred for life)

• Me and Dad playing online checkers. I would chat with the people and tell them I was 16 while he would destroy them.

• Doctrinal discussions in the home with Dad

• Mom's singing (scarred for life)

• Mom's dog food, homemade pizza, and burocks (sp?)

• Mom bending over backwards for me even when my requests were, in hindsight, pretty ridiculous and inconvenient

• Mom and Dad catching me and Sony ditching school

• Mom and Dad not punishing me for ditching school to see Puff Daddy because I earned money doing it and I was able to pay off all my financial debts to them with that money

• Dad traveling to Tucson during my formative teenage years

• Dad keeping food on the table

• Drinking powdered milk

• Dad holding a meeting when he paid off the house and telling us not to let any relatives know

• Mom sticking up for me when I spelled a three letter word for a 'gay' on the chalkboard in class

• Mom sticking up for me when I told my P.E. teacher to 'be quiet' and then she (the P.E. teacher) forced me to write a ridiculously long sentence 50 times so I wrote it very small on one or two sheets of paper and then she got mad because I wrote so small and she made me redo it so I used a full sheet of paper to write each sentence the next time and she didn't say anything


 

Jeffrey's Memories

 
Things I love about Mom and Dad, written as if I were writing to them:


1. I can't remember ever seeing or hearing you argue over anything, (except how long to cook the brownies).

2. I never heard you complain about helping us kids with anything when we asked for it.

3. You are very supportive of me and my family and have always been willing to help us.

Good memories of Mom and Dad:
1. Seeing you in the celestial room for the first time at the LA temple.

2. When Dad got called to the Stake Presidency, Mom looked prouder than I ever have seen her.

3. FHE games with the whole family like Spoons and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves when we did those types of things.

4. Took me to church every week even though I'm sure it wasn't easy with so many kids and taught me the gospel in our home.

5. Taking us to Disneyland after reading the Book of Mormon. I specifically remember going on the Star Wars ride and seeing the 3-D Michael Jackson movie.

6. Mom patiently waking me up for seminary most mornings.

7. I chose my favorite cereals for my birthday dinner one year, I'm kinda surprised now that you let me have that but I remember it was delicious and I think everyone else liked it pretty good too.

8. When Jurassic Park came out I really wanted to see it. I don't remember telling anyone but we went to see it at the theater. Maybe you just wanted to see it and decided to take me along but it was fun.

9. You always put each other first.

10. Gave me the best example of how to treat my spouse and children.


 

Amy's Memories

 
1. Dad taking me out to ice cream whenever Mom went out of town.
2. Mom letting me sleep in their bed whenever Dad scared me.

3. When we went to Disneyland after Tim and I got engaged and Dad wouldn’t let him sleep on the floor because he wouldn’t get a good night’s rest and wouldn’t have any fun if he was tired so Dad made Tim sleep in bed with him. Of course they had different layers of sheets so no leg intertwining would occur

4. Dad teaching me how to park in the church parking lot.

5. Dad playing catch with us in the house and Mom being scared that we would break something.

6. Dad being the tickle monster.

7. Mom would always rent cheap movies for me from Albertsons whenever I got sick and usually there was a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie in the bunch.

8. Mom and I having family prayer in the driveway before seminary. Then we started waking Dad up to join us :)

9. Mom being a great seminary teacher and trying to keep the peace between Kenny and me. Especially when we would play that pencil game that I think Mom eventually banned until we graduated.

10. Mom and Dad taking me to Yellowstone before my first year of college and the picture of us in front of the waterfall.

11. The time that Mom realized my legs were smooth and not hairy and I told her that Lisa said I could do it:)

12. Taking Sunday walks

13. Playing basketball with Dad

14. Mom and Dad visiting us a lot after we got married
15. Dad bribing me to tell him Mom bought a coat
16. Going to Arizona while Dad was on travel and seeing that woman with hairy armpits
17. Working HARD and digging weeds no matter what Matt says :)

18. Mom traveling to my out of town basketball games so I didn't have to take the bus

19. Dad's In-N-Out joke after I threw up at In-N-Out

20. Mom taking me to the Hannah Montana movie and it was just us and another mom and daughter in the theater

Week 2: Basketball Camp!

Basketball camp girls

Natalee and Kelsey entertaining themselves during the camp.

     This week it was Haylee's and Mackenzie's turn for their camp.  They both chose basketball camp.  (Yay!)  The head coach was none other than Robert Campbell and his helpers were girls from the Burroughs Varsity team, I'm sure.

     Mackenzie has been excited that she is old enough to play basketball this winter and so she was eager to do the camp to work on her skillz. :)  Well, that was before camp started.  It turned out that an hour and a half was a little bit long for her.  She is also not very fond of competition because she really hates to lose.  So she just prefers to avoid any and all competition unless she is guaranteed to win.  The first dribble relay race didn't go so well.  It didn't help that Mackenzie was the last to go on her team, so when the team next to them finished first, she felt like she lost the race, not understanding the relay concept.  Then came the dribble wars.  Mackenzie just preferred to come sit by us and watch all the other kids.  In her defense, she was one of the youngest kids there.  The ages were 5-7 and when they divided up by age, there were only five 5 year olds.  So she was still struggling to to dribble and other kids were much more advanced.  By the end of the week, Mackenzie had wormed her way into the hearts of the Burroughs girls and she didn't need to come over to us during dribble relays and dribble wars.  I watched as Mackenzie's turn came for the relay and she had one girl on each side of her dribbling down and back with her.  They also stood and dribbled next to her during the dribble wars.  And after camp today (it was the last day), I was chatting with a friend and looked over to see Mackenzie between two of the Burros girls while a 3rd took their picture.  So I think they kind of adored her, and I can see why. :)

     Haylee absolutely LOVED basketball camp.  She enjoyed the dribbling, shooting, passing, games, and making lots of new friends.  Today during the scrimmage she made a basket and was so excited.  I can see that she has really improved after the end of the week.  They both got to keep their basketball and camp shirt and they have been practicing a lot at home.  A little too much practicing in the house since they can't seem to remember not to dribble inside! :)  It is really fun to see how much Haylee is loving basketball.

Coaching the 2nd generation of Moffitts, Robert was Jonathan's, I think Kevin's, and also Amy's coach.  He was never my team coach, but I was looking at my basketball book and saw that he was a coach at basketball camps I went to.

     Today, the last day of camp, was the first day that Daren and I were both able to go together.  So while I watched the girls do camp and played with Kelsey, Daren and Natalee rented a racquetball court for an hour.  Natalee and Daren have gotten to do some fun things lately.  Last Saturday night (June 12) they went to a play together so Natalee could pass off a cultural event for her Faith in God award.  They went and saw "Star-Spangled Girl," a Neil Simon play put on by some local people.  Daren said it was an entertaining story, but the best part was watching how much Natalee was enjoying it.  He said she was laughing so hard sometimes and everyone there could hear how much she was enjoying it.  There was a couple from our ward that also went and he said they told him afterward how much they enjoyed hearing Natalee's laughter.

Kelsey thought she should try out Natalee's gear while Natalee went to get a drink.  I hate to say it but she looks like a total nerd in this picture!  A very cute nerd though.

Kelsey and her doll made a great audience for Daren and Natalee.  She even helped the doll clap sometimes.

     And last of all from this week, I am 35 weeks pregnant now with our little boy.  I went to the doctor on Tuesday and I am already dilated about 2.5 cm.  I think I still have at least a couple of weeks to go.  But I admit to being anxious to see him.  Doctor Miller also did an ultrasound to measure him and said the estimate is 6 lbs. 13 oz. plus or minus a pound.  He took a very cute picture of his face.  I can't wait!

First Week of Summer

     One week down, only 10 to go!  We survived the first week of summer with less fighting than I had anticipated.  The girls even seem to be enjoying playing with each other.  It is nice that they like a lot of the same things.
     This week Natalee did her riding camp.  She went from 6-8pm Monday-Friday and of course she was in heaven.  All she can think about again is how great it would be to have her own horse.  She said the thing she liked most about riding camp was....wait for it....Riding!  :)  They did have part of the camp be things like learning the names of the parts of the saddle, learning the parts of a horse and colors of a horse.  During those learning times they were not on a horse.  So I can see what she means about riding being her favorite part.  They did do a couple of trail rides.  For the last day they all went on a trail ride and then had a BBQ.
     On Tuesday, June 8, the library started their summer reading program with a magician named Michael Kennedy.  The girls and I went to the library to watch the magic show and sign up for the library's summer reading program.  They get some fun things if they each read at least 10 books.  They've been reading a lot (Natalee has already finished 2 of next year's Battle of the Books books) so I think they might already have 10 each.  We'll keep going though.
     On Wednesday the 9th, Natalee had her orthodontist consultation.  She thinks it's really great that she's getting braces.  I'm glad that's the attitude these days instead of it being a horrible, nerdy thing.  We were a little worried about her having to have head gear, but luckily it didn't turn out that she needed that.  She does need some appliance to space her teeth further apart to make some room for some adult teeth that haven't come in yet and don't have any place to come in right now.  She was excited about the cute colors she was going to pick for her braces, but she's got to do the spacing first, so the braces will have to wait for now.  My immaturity got the better of me and I told her that her orthodontic work was going to cost as much as a horse shelter.  But I did repent and I apologized and told her I wasn't ever planning to spend the money on a horse shelter.  She's still excited to get braces.
     We ended the week with a primary activity water party.  Considering it's June 12, it was a little chilly outside.  The weather has been unusually cool this summer and it was a tad breezy.  But other than the wind freezing the kids a little bit, it was very comfortable.  We had 3 groups and the groups rotated every 20 minutes.  We brought our water slide and blow up pool for the first area.  The second area was relay games.  We did the sponge relay and a dress up relay.  We were going to make them soak sweatpants in water and then run in them for the dress up relay, but since it was kind of chilly, we just added some extra clothes and let them stay dry.  The third area was games.  We played some different games based on which age group was at the game area at the time.  The one that they really seemed to like (except for the youngest group, 5 and under) was the hot potato/water balloon game.  They had to pass around a balloon full of water after we poked a pin in it.  The idea was to not be the person holding the balloon when the water ran out.  All in all, the kids seemed to have a great time and that was what mattered most.
     Here are some pictures of our first week of summer.  Next week, basketball camp!

Natalee at Riding Camp

Mackenzie's friend Mallory Cosner got to be an assistant

The magician kept taking his "locked" hands out of the bag before he freed himself.  The kids were laughing hysterically!

To finish off, the magician made a special hat for our children's librarian to wear.

Mackenzie racing to fill the bucket

Haylee's group playing a new game

Natalee, Katie Cannon, and Zeik Grover

Natalee getting dressed up

Haylee and friends in the pool

Kelsey giving some cute smiles

Natalee passing the leaky balloon to Zeik

Haylee getting dressed up