Recognize her??

Hubby's every waking (and sometimes even sleeping) minute these past months was spent on planning the Celebration of Freedom event in downtown Mesa. It ended up being a great success with 50,000 people in attendance. Quite a party planner isn't he? The kids were lucky enough to get a picture with Mayor Smith and Governor Brewer. Heard of her...she's been in the news a little lately? he,he

FLYBOY

Deacon had the AMAZING opportunity to fly to Williams this weekend in Bishop's plane. He was attending 1/2 day of a neighboring stake's scout camp to get his aviation merit badge. He was the only boy that got to ride in the plane! Here is is before take off.

He got to be the co-pilot. He even got to fly the plane a little!! Do you think this smile is genuine?? What a cool experience.

Girls Camp 2010

These were my roomates this past week. I consider them some of the best women I know...Not too bad for 4 days with no shower..don't you think??

And here are the 17 girls we worked so hard for...

BE STRONG Joshua 1:9

Busy little Bee.....hive

In my last post I eluded to some upcoming achievements...well, here is a big one:
Shay received her Young Womanhood Recognition Award this past Sunday. She had to be quite a dedicated young woman to earn her award in just 2 years. Here are just a few of the things she did to earn this award...

*Read the Book of Mormon twice! Once for the value Faith and once for the Virtue value.

*volunteered 40 hours last summer as a junior lifeguard-learning 1st aid and CPR skills

*took a few sewing lessons and completed a pair of pajama bottoms along with 2 quillows(a blanket that folds into a pillow)

*watched all sessions of conference, including the YW general broadcast-and took notes on them.

*taught younger siblings a skill-Kinsey learned to make crocheted hats and Derek learned made a quillow

Shay's next goal is to earn the Bee. This can be done by helping another girl earn her award OR by reading the Book of Mormon again. She already asked for a new Personal Progress book and is contemplating earning a second award.

We're proud of you sis!!

My favorite 14 year old!

14 years ago, 2 days before Mother's Day..this girl gave me my most prized title of motherhood. I still remember how overwhelmed with love I was for this little girl. Now she's 4 inches taller than me and 14 years old! I have come to not only love, but admire this girl. She is a responsible, kind, smart, helpful, talented, beautiful girl. I feel so lucky that I got her.

We started the morning with our traditional birthday music blasting from the stereo to wake her up. Then she had her favorite...mickey mouse waffles w/ strawberries and whipcream.

It was her year for a friend b-day party. We planned a ward treasure hunt. They got a clue that led them to a ward members house and then had to accomplish a task before they could receive the next clue. Here they are bobbing for apples in ice water! They had to do things like...make a certain # of baskets, get 30 marbles out of icewater with their toes, 100 jumps on a pogo stick, guess 6 pictionary words, get so many points in wii bowling, pass of 4 DDR songs with a grade of at least a B and bob for apples.

We ended up back at our house for a cookout, presents, cake, and more fun. She's got a good group of girl friends. Her surprise was a baby bunny, and 2 baby chicks..we ended the evening playing oo7. The girls had a great time and got lots of exercise.

Stay tuned for more accomplishments from this girl...she's AMAZING:)

Just like the pioneers!

-Fresh eggs
-garden grown crook neck squash, zucchini, tomatoes, strawberries, chives, and white onions
-still waiting on corn and watermelon

that's about as pioneer as we get..

I'm Worried...

Steve and I have exercised pretty much our entire married life. Which btw is now 18 years (I actually had to use my computer calculator to make sure) BUT..we have never really incorporated running into our workouts. I mean, only the crazies enjoy running. I've always felt like it was a form of body torture. My feet, hips, knees, back, heart and lungs seemed to hurt after every attempt. A few years ago our stake challenged everyone to run in a 5K they were hosting. Steve and I decided we could make the effort, train for 12 weeks (I know you runners are laughing) and join this run. We did it. I felt good about it. Didn't run again for over a year. Fast forward....Saturday's are the day we get to workout together. We had been walking, then walking with weights, then walk/jogging, and finally progressed to jogging the complete 3 mile loop. As we started jogging it wasn't taking us long enough-so..we added a little to the route and bumped it up to a 4.2 mile loop. After sometime of doing this we started getting this CRAZY itch to see how much we could do--and still be somewhat comfortable. We bumped it up to 5 miles. That's when Steve started to scare me. He began talking about his runs, looking forward to the next run. He even started running on his weight days!! What the...This morning he came home from his workout and said 7.5 miles baby! " This 50 year old man can run 7.5 miles." What is happening...he swears he's not going to go marathon crazy on me...but I'm starting to get nervous...