Mums Day Out

Friday was "Moms eat lunch with student" day at Logan and Lily's school. I loved it.

They both begged me to bring them Subway, so I did.

 Lily and I sat alone, and she chatted with me the whole time. She is so sweet. I love that little girl. Then I watched her play, and do her flip-D-do's on the monkey bars.

Then 4th graders came out for lunch. Logan & I ate with his buddy Calvin & Laura. (We love them, see Laura trying to sneak out of the picture below, ha ha) These silly boys and their glasses. ha ha. Logan is such a hipster. It cracks us all up.

Then the boys went to play, Alisa came over, and us moms talked. 

*Favorite Moment: As the kids were lining up to go back to class, Logan stole off and ran over to me to give me a hug before going in. aaaw. Love that 4th grade boy who still loves his mum.

Sophie's Besties

Sophie's been doing the cutest little playgroup with these girlies (and Blakely). Love them.

♥♥♥

And thursday was her last day of preschool with Mrs. Leavitt, who is wonderful! 

 The kiddos sang us moms some darling 
"Mother's Day Songs". 
And Sophie actually sang a little this time!

Shout Out to Chick-Fil-A/Embarrassing Moment:

I don't know why I am so forgetful!! I hate it. We were suppose to bring in $4 to help pay for the little preschool graduation party. I forgot. So when I picked Sophie up thursday I said to Mrs. Leavitt... would you rather me bring you back $5 OR let me run grab you lunch. She had another class in 30 minutes. She chose lunch... and I headed off to Chick-Fil-A. I ordered in the drive-thru then realized when my car was about up to the counter that I took my credit card out of my wallet to order Ashlin's graduation announcements the night before. I had NO cash. There were cars in front and behind me... but if I had to go home for money it would take another 25 minutes and we would miss Mrs. Leavitt's lunch break. I was SO embarrassed to just not bring her lunch like I said, AFTER I never brought the money I was suppose to. So I pulled up to the drive thru and so humbly explained my lame situation and begged them to let me take the lunch and bring the cash back in like 30 minutes. I LOVE CHICK-FIL-A... because they let me!! I brought Jenae and her husband a yummy lunch... then went straight to the bank... and brought chick-fil-a their funds... and cried when I told the manager and drive thru girl thank you!

Some day I am going to pull it together.

Women's Conference

I just got back last night from 

BYU Womens Conference.

I have never been before.

I flew up with my good friend Alisa and we stayed with my best friend growing up Tanya. They separately had both invited me to go, and I am SO glad they did. I would have never gone otherwise. They had never met before, but it was great fun hanging with both of them.

 I had such a rough few weeks over here in parenting land. I was ready and really needing to go for some inspiration on how to do better! It was 2 days of trying to make it to as many parenting classes as I could. I came home with pages of ideas and goals (some below).... and some famous BYU mint brownies. Yum. 

Alisa flew home friday night, but I stayed until saturday with Tanya. I have to admit, it was a little depressing to see how beautiful Utah is. Tanya lives in a farming community with lots of open fields, no street lights, no traffic, just Gods beautiful earth surrounded by mountains, dotted with small farms and homes. Breath taking. I went on a long walk friday night and saturday morning... pictures below.

But I am blessed too. And even though Arizona is different, its my home.

I love that Tanya, how lucky I was to have such a wonderful person as my best friend growing up. Her husband has been bishop the last few years. We talked for hours about the challenges of motherhood and all our responsibilities... it was emotional, and fun, and inspiring. A wonderful needed break.

My walk:

I am home now, and today was a good day. I am so inspired to be a better mom. I wasn't as perfect already as I wanted to be... but I am determined to continue working on the things that inspired me.

Some thoughts I wrote down from the classes I took:

-How does my presence effect the atmosphere in my home?

-Don't assume others know you love them, you have to show them.

-We need to realize anger is a choice. Acknowledge we have power to respond lovingly.

-We cannot make children behave better by making them feel worse. When they feel better, they will behave better.

-There is no discipline in all the world like the magic of love.

-I know that "the most important work I will do is within the walls of my own home"... so what can I cut out to spend more time with my children?

5 Ways to communicate Love:

Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Gift Giving, Quality Time

-Teenagers will probably most want to talk and open up at night. Take the opportunity when they come.

-As adults we still need encouragement, acknowledgement, validation. So do our children.

-The most effective words our teenager can hear, "I love you"

-Children should not feel they need to earn our love

-Every teenager alive is insecure. 

-Positive reinforcement ALWAYS goes farther than criticism.

-Simple words of encouragement build self esteem

-Look for the good

-Tell them you love them every day

-Teenage boys have more anger suddenly, getting too big to be pointing your finger down at them, "He just needs you to hug him"

-On our own, we can change our mind. But we need the Lord to help change our heart.

-Peace and happiness come from within, it is a choice.

Campfire Songs

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For Pack Meeting this weekend we went to a camp site at the Riparian Preserve and had a camp fire program. It really feels like a campsite back there, with vegetation all around.

They asked me if Dallin could play a few songs on the guitar for everyone to sing along with. It was a busy week, and we didn't have time to look up songs/practice... so the day of I told Dana we might just sings songs without the guitar. 

But luckily football practice was cancelled that day, so Dallin got home early, which gave us an hour. I was really impressed with his guitar skills. He didn't need any time to learn the songs, but could play them as soon as we found the chords. It more took an hour to decide songs/find chords on line and make sure I could lead on the right pitch. I was so proud of how he has progressed recently and impressed by his guitar skills tuesday. Way to go Dallin!

Warning: Red eye edit gone bad below on Logan

ha ha.

Infidel

If you are looking for a good book to read, here it is:

I just finished this book. Even though it was sad, it was so eye opening that I couldn't put it down. It was so powerful. My cousin Emily lent it to me. I was wishing I was in a book club, because as soon as I finished, I just wanted to talk about it! 

Summary:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West.

I knew so little about the Muslim Faith before. 

It made me realize again just how lucky I am to be born in this country. Whatever trials I think I have gone through, 
are nothing in comparison.

If you read this, tell me!!

Then lets talk.

Senior Prom

Waiting with her brother for the date to arrive...

 (FYI- this dress use to be sleeveless, but Sis. Webb cut length off the bottom to add sleeves to the dress. Genius)

If those pictures looked really classy...

this is what was actually going on out front as the date arrived...

Bouncy Basketball court!

ha ha ha

An Adult

Last week Ashlin turned 18.

How do I even parent an adult?

She wants to know if she still has a curfew. Aaaah.

 Homemade belgium waffles for breakfast...

then Bruce and I took her out to Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

So many emotions go through my mind as I see my first little baby grown up. One of the most difficult is this:
I AM NOT BETTER YET!

What I mean by that is, every year I think I am going to do better at this or that, I think I am going to handle situations better, I have all these goals for myself.... but then somehow she is an adult now before I ever became the mother I dreamed in my mind I would be.

 But I am so proud of who she has become! If you could hear the spiritual insights she shares every Family Home Evening, you'd know why I am so thankful for this daughter.

--HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLIN--

Friday night she had a party here.

Because of the dreamy client Bruce has with the inflatable toys business... we got a bouncy basketball bungee thing. It got here friday night... and our awesome buddy left it here until sunday. 

The kids loved it... all... day.... saturday....

They begged to sleep out on it.

Don't think I am that awesome. Since it was in the front yard, I didn't feel safe leaving them out there. We laid out there forever on it (Dallin, Logan, Emma, Lily & I all snuggled together) The boys bugged us while Emma and I laid there singing songs until almost midnight. Then when they all feel asleep, I went inside (to read my fascinating book "Infidel") and wait for Ashlin to get back from prom. At 2am I woke the kids, and sent them to their own beds.