My Wonderful Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day. It actually started the day two days before on Friday when I got flowers delivered. I was surprised to find out that the names on the card were Machella and Elyssa. I thought that was so sweet that I got flowers from my two favorite girls.

Saturday we all went out to eat for a lunch. The food was great and Joshua and Elyssa actually were pretty well behaved. Sunday morning I woke up to many more surprises. I received some very pretty yellow flowers and a beautiful corsage that I wore to church. I also got lots of chocolate, a shirt and a gift card to get a massage. On the wall in our eating area were four posters that Donnie and the kids had decorated and put pictures of themselves on.

Sunday evening we had Donnie's family come over for dinner and it was lots of fun.
It was a great Mother's Day and I am so grateful for my great husband and wonderful children for making my day so special.

Happy Mother's Day Amy

You're the best!!! We hope you had the best Mother's Day ever!!!

A Lazy Day in the Pool

It's May and the temperatures are already soaring to triple digits. I know that there is a reason we love the desert over the snow we experienced in Iowa and Utah. I'll take 100+ degree temperatures over 20 below any day. We DO miss the California coast and the ocean ... so one of the requests of the kids was to get a house with a pool when we moved here to Arizona. Yesterday we spent a few hours just lounging around in the pool ... what a GREAT way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

The twins like getting in the pool ... they like the little wading area by the stairs. They're still reluctant to go out into the middle of the pool with anyone even with a life vest or floaties. They love splashing around and throwing things for the older kids to dive after.

Joshua's favorite place is on the pool chairs OUTSIDE the pool. Go figure?!

Desert Willow Fair

Today was the school fair at the kids' elementary school sponsored by the PTA. They had some really cool activities that all the kids could participate in.

David and Kella tackled the climbing wall. As you can see they are true "spider" kids.

The twins liked the fishing pond. They won little prizes. Joshua's favorite prize was a little purple plastic ruler that he's carried around all evening. Lyssie just went for the candy ... go figure.

Another big hit was the inflatable slide and obstacle courses. The twins wanted to go on them over and over again. Thank goodness that the lines weren't that long and the guys watching the rides let the twins cut in front of the big kids. Joshua threw a fit when we tried to move on to other things.

We wrapped up the afternoon with popsicles and sticky hands ... and a few "vogue" poses.

Our Day at the Mesa Arizona Temple

Amy and I had a great opportunity to spend Saturday morning at the temple in Mesa. My sister Jenn came over and watched the kids (thanks a million Jenn). It's such a blessing having family close to watch the kids so that we can go to the temple together. It was nice to sit in the chapel and Celestial Room together. There is such a feeling of peace that makes the stresses of the outside world seem so insignificant when we're there. It is so easy to forget this if too much time lapses between visits. We look forward to going back soon ... not just by ourselves, but with other family here in town.

Bowling With The Boy Scouts

I bet you didn't know that we had a "semi-pro" bowler in the family. This past Thursday the Scouts went bowling as a fun activity to recognize all the hard work they've been doing on merit badges and rank advancements.

Look at David's laser focus and super intense concentration ... you can cut the tension in the air ...

He sets up for the spin off the wrist ...

Look at his follow-through as he "wills" the ball down the lane ...

AND ... all the pins are still standing. I guess he won't be going pro anytime soon. He still had fun.

The Twins Just Doing Their Thing

Elyssa and Joshua love hanging out in the backyard. One of their favorite things to do is walk on the brick border around the grass. When one of them is on there ... the other one is usually not far behind. Follow the leader??? It's hard to tell who is leading and who is following at times with those two. One thing is sure ... they both can instigate and get into things equally.

They love saying "cheese" and posing for the camera most of the time. They move so fast that it's often hard to get close ups like these even when we can get them to stand still for 1 second. Their personalities shine through more and more each day. They are tons of fun.