Charlotte's Web

Today we went with the summer program kids to Broadway Palm to see Charlotte's Web. It was very cute and the kids loved it! Pictured are Dallin, Abby and Eliza with Mr. and Mrs. Homer Zuckerman and Lurvy, Fern and Templeton, Wilbur and Charlotte and the goose and gander. The kids collected autographs (and pictures) after the play. Such a fun time!!!

Another Exciting Week!

Eliza came to stay with us on Sunday evening after their trek fireside. The first night, Grandpa slept on the couch and Eliza and I shared the bed. On Monday, we went to the summer program. We were going to eat lunch at the school, but the menu was less than desirable, so I went and picked up KFC for both of us. The afternoon activity was stargazing. Tony and Carol LaConte brought their indoor planetarium and the kids (and Mark) went inside for the show. I guess it was fabulous. They saw several star formations, their teeth all glowed, and they learned many things about the sky and space. That night we prepared steak, salad and hash browned potatoes for dinner. Eliza was a great help! MMMMMM!!!!!!


That night for Family Home Evening we paid a visit to the temple. We walked around and took a few pictures and we went inside the visitor's center to see some beautiful artwork and a presentation about families and God's plan for us. It was very good!!
On Tuesday morning we returned to the summer program. Eliza participated in the Yo Yo class and the desert animals class. She was "chosen" as a helper in the Yo Yo class. She got a top spun on her hand and on her head. She also received a Yo Yo and she learned how to use it. She's pretty good. The teacher, Julius, is a professional Yo Yo-er and he travels the world teaching classes. He's REALLY good. His website is www.allyoyo.com.

In the desert animal class, Eliza touched a gopher snake and a desert tortoise. While we were in the class, their scorpion keeled over and died. Weird. Eliza had lunch at the school.....a corn dog. Yum! NOT!! Then we ran an errand and came home to work on her track album. She was getting a touch of homesickness, so we went to her house for a short visit last night.
She's been listening to my book group book with me. It's called The City of Ember. She can hardly wait to get back in the car to listen to more! I'm sure we'll finish today and she's looking forward to watching the movie....maybe tonight!!
Today we're off to The Broadway Palm dinner theater to see Charlotte's Web. Should be fun.

OUCH!!

Yesterday was an interesting day. We (meaning most of my siblings and I) met at my Dad's house. Our mission was to clean out, sort and divide up the contents of his two sheds, as well as some of his possessions inside the house. Thankfully, Mother Nature was most cooperative and the weather was beautiful....very odd for June in AZ. Everything was very dusty and dirty from the sheds, but there were a lot of us working and we were able to make quick work of the cleaning out and sorting. One very full truckload went to the dump. Another truckload is headed to DI. And many other items were divided amongst us kids. There were some items (pictures/books/etc.) that were returned to the shed to be looked at another time and divided up then. We then headed into the house and began the process of dividing up my parents' things. I think it went pretty well, considering, and I think everyone was happy with what they got. Some items went home with us yesterday, while other items will stay with my Dad as long as he's alive. All in all, it went well.
Then the real fun began. I've been fighting allergies/bad cough/sore throat for two weeks now. I went to the Dr. last Monday and he believed my problem was either allergies or a virus. He put me on prednisone for five days. The ended on Friday. But I still had a bad sore throat. And yesterday it kept getting worse and worse. It was to the point that it was more pain than I've ever had. So Mark "suggested" I go to urgent care. The Dr. there was great. Very thorough. He found that I have thrush....caused by a combination of the Advair inhaler that I use for my asthma and the prednisone. It hurt so bad I thought I'd die...and I probably would have rather died than swallow again. He gave me a mouthwash that should take care of the problem, and he also gave me tylenol w/codeine. What a wonderful medicine! I took two right away and within about 10 minutes, I began to finally fell some measure of relief. Within an hour, I was in heaven!! I've never been to grateful for a medicine in my life...Thank you codeine. Currently, that is my saving grace. I am looking forward to feeling better soon. Problem is, I was supposed to teach RS today. That won't be happening. It's too painful to even talk, without drugs, and when I take them, I'm a bit loopy. Not a good combination for teaching!!! Thanks, Heather, for taking over.
Hopefully, I'll be well enough to take Eliza for her sleepover/vacation this week. It's her turn!!!

Horse Ranch

Today was the day we went to the horse ranch with Dallin. He was apprehensive at first. Didn't want to get close at all. He wouldn't pet them or anything. Stood back and watched from afar. But then Mark said he'd ride first and let Dallin "lead" the horse, which they did. After that, Dallin was all over those horses. He didn't want to get off when he was riding. I couldn't count how many times he rode around the pen. Then he found some carrot chunks the owners had that they kids could feed to the horses. Once he got the hang of it, he filled his shirt with carrots and fed every horse several times! What a fun time! He also tried his hand at lassoing the plastic steer head that was attached to the hay bale. He didn't do too bad. He's once again changed his future career choice from being a police officer to being a horse trainer. It's a good thing he has a while before he has to really decide. It's sure been a fun week having Dallin here with us. We'll miss his happy smile and his spunky personality. We love him!!

Fun Day!

Dallin and I sure had a fun day today. We started out the morning making snickerdoodles. He LOVES them and wanted to learn how to make them. He's really good at rolling the dough into balls and rolling them in the cinnamon and sugar. He was very proud to share with everyone he saw today. I have to say, he did a wonderful job and they're very tasty!
Then we went to Peter Piper Pizza and had lunch. Brian and Luke met us for lunch. After that we went to the movies to see Marmaduke. Other that some adult humor and some undesirable language (especially for kids!), it was a cute movie. We hung out here for a while and Dallin did some artwork and watched Stuart Little 2 for the third time!!
Tonight we took a "field trip" to the police station. He got to sit on a police motorcycle and we looked at many items in the police museum. He then got to see Grandpa's office....and wondered why it was just a cubicle and not a "real" office. LOL! Then he totally scored some GREAT/DARE goodies for himself, Luke and Abby. They'll be pleased, I'm sure. Tonight is bath night and then tomorrow is the horse adventure. Then he goes back home. I'm not sure he'll want to. But it will be Eliza's turn next week. Another adventure in the making!!

Let the Fun Begin!

Last night's Relief Society meeting went well. There were about 30 or so ladies there. I did my "thing" about personal histories and journals. Then Amy Harris took about an hour talking about the new Family Search. It was VERY informative and makes me want to get back into our genealogy. I just need to push myself and make it happen!!
This morning I picked up Dallin for his mini-vacation with us. We started our the morning at the summer program. He made a cute puppet and we had lunch at the school. We made a quick stop at The Creative Quest so I could verify the dates of the nativity classes I'm teaching in September and October. I'll have to take pictures and post....maybe you'll want to sign up!! I will be fun.
He's now watching his favorite movie, Duma. Not my favorite, but he likes it and since it's his week, he gets to watch!! I'll try to stay busy nearby so he doesn't think I've abandoned him!! LOL! Tonight we're planning a trip to Hobby Lobby to find a model car for him to assemble. He also wants to make another puppet. We'll see how serious he is about that.
Tomorrow morning we're making cookies, then meeting Mark for lunch with the summer program kids. In the afternoon we're going to go see Marmaduke. Should be fun!! Then on Friday we're going to a horse ranch. He says he wants to ride....but we'll see. It should be a very fun week.....this is the first week of six with grandkids. Let the fun begin!!!

Amazingly....an update!!

I'm back. It's been a busy month. What can I say?
In May, I taught a class at Scrap Happy Sisters...it was a little travel journal that fit nicely in a tiny little suitcase. Very cute. I used Scooter's Vacation papers from Imaginese. I wish I had photos, but about the time we switched computers, my external hard drive died...totally. I've tried three different computer people to recover the data, but to no avail. There were over 11,000 pictures....lost forever. I can try Data Drs., but their estimate is $1,000-2,000 with no guarantees. And since I'm not independently wealthy, I will have to pass. So sad. Anyway, I don't have a picture at the moment of the project, but it turned out very cute. Every other page was a 7gypsies small tag to provide a journaling spot.
Ellen (one of my sisters) was in town for a few days, along with her two boys. One of them, Kyle, is married and he and his wife came with their twin girls, Jane and Eliza. It was really fun to catch up with them and spend a day visiting.
We've made several trips to watch Matthew play baseball. He's really getting to be quite a good ball player. His positions are pitcher and first base. And he's pretty good at hitting, too! It's always fun to watch him play and to visit with Dan, Chris and Emma.

Dallin graduated from kindergarten! Yea! Now he's a first grader. He's such a cute character. He's smart and has lots of ideas. His mom and dad don't always agree with his ideas, but he's a good thinker! And sometimes a little stinker!!!



Erin's girls have been busy taking swimming lessons. Ellie invited me to come because she wanted me to take pictures and make her a book!! Funny girl. She did really well. She's a good little swimmer. She even learned how to do to the breast stroke. Hattie, on the other hand....I'll just say that she cried the entire time she was in the water. The rest of the time she sat on either my lap or Erin's lap. The highlight (really, lowlight) of her lessons was the first day....she swallowed a ton of water and what went down, came right back up....in the pool! Poor Jenny! Had to quickly scoop out her pool!!! Poor Hattie. It was totally unexpected and not fun. All in all, she is able to get to the side of the pool and out should she fall in. I guess that's what it's all about!!
We were grateful to be able to watch the dedication of the Gila Valley Temple. That temple has special meaning to me because it's in the general vicinity where my mom grew up. She would have been thrilled to be able to see it! We went to the open house, too. What a beautiful temple!!!
I've also been busy creating a couple of projects for 7gypsies to use at CHA summer in Chicago. I'm not at liberty yet to share the new products nor pictures, but I will when the "cat's out of the bag"!! I'll just say....there is one paper line I LOVE LOVE LOVE...the other one is okay, but not my style particularly.
On Memorial Day, we met Brian and his family and Erin and her girls at the Veteran's Memorial Cemetery. We cleaned Mom's headstone and decorated her grave with flowers. It's pretty impressive to see a flag at the headstone of every grave in the cemetery. It makes you grateful to be an American and for the many freedoms and liberties that we enjoy, thanks to veterans.
Last week Erin and Brian (Trimble) were Ma and Pa on their stake trek. They had a good time, but it was dirty and hard! We met them when they came home, along with the girls. It was HOT, but fun!
Tonight is Relief Society. Roxann and I are "in charge". It's a Family History evening. We'll be learning about Family Search, personal histories and journals. There will also be a display table of various ways to preserve your family history....recipe books, scrapbooks, etc. And for refreshments, we're having cookies from Grandma's house (really, just their recipes!) and Boston Cooler punch. It's a mixture of vanilla ice cream and Vernors. Yummy!
Oh....and another thing. Mark has less that one year left before he retires! But who's counting? This picture is of his current squad....Community Relations.