Ice Skating

Thursday night Bruce's office had an Ice-Skate/Pizza Party for employees and families. It was fun to see all Bruce's employees there. Poor Dallin had to miss it for football. (He wasn't sad, ha ha) Ashlin brought Macy in his place.  It was Lily's first time ever ice skating. She took one step on the ice and skated off like a pro. I loved watching her... cruising all over the place like she was born to.

We got the cutest little skates for Sophie. She looked darling in them. She took one step on that ice... and hated it. Half way around Ashlin had to carry her. Half a lap was all we got out of her cute skates. ha ha. As I watched Ashlin and Macy skate around with a crying screaming  Sophie I thought it was funny that Macy is still willing to go places with us. ha ha.

But at least Sophie and I had fun in the audience watching all the skaters, just imagining how bad their feet hurt. ha ha.

Outing!

Since our elementary school kids hadn't started school (3 day delay since their new school wasn't finished)... Alisa and I took our 6 little ones to the PHOENIX CHILDRENS MUSEUM while our jr. high/high school kids were in school thursday.

Such a CreatiVe place.

 The girls loved the mock grocery store and restaurant. They couldn't get enough of preparing and serving me food! So cute... Ice Cream Kiosk!

 Car Wash!

I had to peel Lily away from painting the above BIG Rocket when it was time to leave. {She saw this post and was sad I didn't get a picture of the fort she built there too. oops}

*On Sunday Emma spoke in Sacrament Meeting. It was such a sweet moment for me. Emma was so excited to prepare her talk. She worked on it multiple days right after she was asked. She had it printed and ready 5 days beforehand. I didn't help her at all, it was all her. I never even had her read it to me. So as I was sitting there in Sacrament meeting I got a little nervous wondering what she was going to say. I knew she was speaking on service. It made me so happy to hear her talk. She shared multiple scriptures, and wonderful quotes from modern day prophets. She bore her testimony about Jesus Christ, the ultimate example of service. And one of my favorite things she said in the end was, "I can't wait until I get older and can have a church calling". Because I knew she meant it. And I know that there is nothing more important she could do with her life than give it in service to the Lord. Somebody told me its like a "payday" for me when my child can prepare a church talk on their own, sharing their own insights and feelings. It was. I realize that to anyone else it was just a normal talk. But I cried.  Because we have worked her whole life to help guide her hoping that one day she would have her own testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And as I listened to her I could tell she does.

1/3 Back to School!

This year my kids back to school days are all scattered. 

But TWO of them started last week.

Miss Emma in 8th grade

Mr. Dallin, a Sophomore.

School starting also means lots more of this:

Dallin in his practice jersey #55 below.

Last friday night to start off the season was their first official scrimmage game. Parents had to come and pick up their sons game jerseys and present them in the ceremony after the scrimmage. They had professional photographers there taking pictures of each of the boys with his parents.

This fall for Dallin means he leaves for A hour by 6:10am, and gets home between 6-7pm every night. Some times later. Bless his heart. 

PS- Bruce did our back to school "Fathers Blessings" last night. Sophie had fallen asleep early (6:30pm) so was already in bed. Which means it was really reverent and quiet. The kids were all so sweet about it. And one by one as Bruce prayed for them, I felt the spirit so strong. Everyone was reverent. It reminded me of the scripture, “Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved” (D&C 87:8) Our family room was a holy place last night. 

Dates

With school starting the next week, I did some shopping trips with a few kids at a time. Which meant some fun lunch dates. Even though I grump on my blog a lot about how sad it is for kids to get older... GOOD NEWS, they are also so much fun to hang out with.

I never realized how much Ashlin and Dallin look alike. In the above picture, if Dallin had eye make up on and longer hair... I think they would almost look like twins. (Minus the sore on Dallin's nose... which is thankfully gone now)

All SIX kids were excited to get new VANS, because Ashlin works at the mall and 1 day last week the VANS store did 30% off for mall employees. Thank you Ashlin!

And guess what... I even found someone who was willing to do hair cuts for all 6 of my kids at the same time! ha ha. (Ashlin has bangs again)

BACK TO SCHOOL HAIR CUTS:

Date with these 2 silly girlies. 

Can you tell Sophie did her own hair? ha ha.

Volunteers

The week before school started I signed up to volunteer at Deseret Industries for 4 hours. (It's just like a Goodwill store, but owned and operated by the church) Melissa brought her 2 kids and I brought my boys. 

You can see the boys beyond the "employees only" doors in their volunteer aprons... getting a "behind the scenes" tour, and orientation.

 We sorted clothes and color arranged racks for 4 hours. Quite honestly, I was exhausted. It was hot, didn't smell so great, and I was SO ready for the 4 hours to be over when we left. I told the boys, "this is why you go to college. So you don't have to do manual labor like this all your life". It made me thankful for all we've been blessed with.

It would have been easier to go with out the kids (isn't it always) as it took much effort to keep the boys focused on what they were suppose to be doing. They were easily side tracked begging me to buy everything cool they found. {Dallin did get a couple sweet suit coats for church though} But I was thankful for 2 sons who didn't even complain when I told them what they were doing that summer day. 

But the best service was the day before.

We FINALLY made it to the temple with our 3 oldest kids to help with baptisms!! It was my goal all summer. (We strategically went early in the morning JUST so we could go to Kneaders for breakfast afterwards. Homemade cinnamon french toast, Yum.) It was Ashlin and Bruce's only day off that week, so bless their hearts for being willing to give up their only day to sleep in... love them!

What a beautiful morning. 

I love my family and the temple.

Just Around the Riverbend

On Sunday morning we lounged at the cabin for a while before cleaning and packing up. We went to Blue Ridge Reservoir and spent the day kayaking as a family. It was heavenly. The prettiest place we have kayaked in Arizona thus far. I called dibs on Sophie in my kayak... because she is a hoot.

This time we had the right number of kayaks so everyone had one and we could just spend hours exploring the lake together.

The 12 second birthday message the kids did for me:

And for my birthday... even I jumped off that cliff. It felt A LOT higher than it looks. Chubby mom takes flight! ha ha. 

I kept singing...
♫♪"Just around the riverbend" ♪♬
from Pocahantas. Because that's what it felt like.
Blue Ridge is a 2 mile long winding river shaped lake. 

This was probably in all my years, honestly, my favorite birthday I can remember. Everyone was happy and got a long. The weather was perfect. The activity was perfect. I prayed constantly thanking God for such a beautiful day as a family. 

The kids were even happy in the car the whole drive home. 

*This was the first time I had been to my Uncle's cabin since he or my mother passed away. I thought of them both constantly. One night when praying I just cried. I am so thankful for his example of generosity in his life. 

*Bruce also commented that it was the first time in a long time that he could remember missing church as a family. When we go on trips we still go to church, always. But we were far from a building, and we made an exception this one sunday because it was the only day that worked. I am thankful we did it.

*Thank you to my wonderful father for lending us the kayaks!