Pool Up

We had such a beautiful sunny Saturday!!!.......and best of all we were all home, well most of the time. Rebecca had a birthday party to go to and Melodie went to work for a few hours but other than that we were all home and we opened the pool!!! It was lots of work as Don can attest to! We have to skim off all the leaves and then pump all the water off. Then we have to take off all the water bags and boards holding the cover down and then pull the whole cover off, most years this is a huge task that takes all 6 or 7 of us because there is usually still water on it and it is so big and cumbersome and we don't want any of it in the pool beneath.......but this year the new cover was so light and had so little water that that part took about 5 minutes, couldn't believe it!
It was so wonderful to be out soaking up the sun! I am so happy to see the blue pool out of my kitchen window, it is usually grey for 6 months of the year so I sure like to see it blue.
Mitchell as you can see is pretty anxious to try it out but it still needs work, chemicals, cleaning, etc.........and its a touch cold, not that that would stop him.

Rebecca's Swim Meet

Rebecca has been swimming once a week getting ready for the district school swim meet, she had to be in the pool by 7 in the morning on Tuesdays, luckily Don was willing to drive her! That little bit of preparation helped though because she won the heat she was in and Parkcrest came in third for the relay team she was on. I was asked to help time the heats by one of the parents, Patti Hoffman........new experience for me. I went and watched her last year, they must have 300-400 kids there all swimming, so this year was a little more challenging trying to keep up with them. We had to record names and times....... and try to do a little encouraging when their paddling was taking them quite a while to get to the edge! They ranged in age from 9-12, quite a diffence in size and ability in every age. Some were almost competitive swimmers and some were barely able to make it across.

To be honest....my biggest advice was please tell the girls they would shave seconds off their time by wearing a one piece bathing suit and by at least putting their hair in a ponytail if they won't do the cap......some of those girls were having to adjust bikinis and couldn't see where they were going. Oh well........I think they all had lots of fun.........getting out of school is always the big treat!

Easter Pictures

Thought I would include some Easter pictures even though it was a few weeks ago....... well truthfully its because I am on my laptop and I haven't updated the pictures on here yet, lol. I'm happy today, got my mouse set up on my notebook computer and it makes it soooooo much easier.......I know, I know, doesn't take much to keep me happy, but seriously you don't realize what a difference it makes.
Here we are colouring eggs on Easter Monday...... I sometimes get too busy to think about it before and yet the kids like doing it so much. Maybe I'll have to make it a tradition to do it Easter day, seems like we're more relaxed and have more time.

Keep trying to remember to get pictures of me......but I'm usually behind the camera so here's one with my cutie Vanessa!

Stake Conference Weekend

A wonderful spiritual weekend! We went to Vernon for Stake Conference, Don and I both had leadership meetings and then we had the Saturday night session and Sunday morning session. Our Vernon stake is so big that they now have a session in Vernon and one in Kelowna on Sunday afternoon.

We usually stay in a hotel but opted to stay with Dave and Roxane Smith and family this time. They are such a warm and friendly couple and it gives us a little time to visit. Here is a picture of Rebecca and Mitchell with their two girls Kayla and Jenna. Our big girls came down later on Saturday with Mary Smith. Dave is the Bishop of the Vernon Ward and so he and Don can trade stories and learn from each other! I went with Roxane to Women's Conference last year and we had so much fun! I love the colours in their house......lots of gorgeous reds and yellows!.... and I also love the built in bookcases. The kids were trying to persuade me that we needed one of their brand new kittens....... I wasn't persuaded!

Sarah Duncan's Bridal Shower

Vanessa and I went to Sarah Duncan's bridal shower on Wednesday night and had fun. Sarah's sister's Emma and Tamara were asking her questions about Vale and if she answered any wrong she had to chew a piece of gum.......but some of them were pretty tough, I don't think I could have answered some about Don and we've been married for 20 some years! So Sarah was chewing quite the wad after awhile. As you can see we had a real cowboy wedding theme.....Sarah's marrying into a cowboy family!

Sarah's little sister Leah was so cute! She was right in there helping big sister open all her presents. So Sarah looked pretty cute in the bonnet her sisters made from all the bows. I am including pictures because I know Danielle was so disappointed she couldn't be there.........we missed her too...........

Wacky Wednesday

Wednesday.......and I'm hoping I can get some of my list done today! I desperately have to go grocery shopping, I hate having to hunt and be creative for lunches! Today I had to make some microwave popcorn for a snack because all we have are two bruised apples and a couple of celery sticks in the fridge. I was supposed to go yesterday but Mitchell was home all day.....with a sore, cricked neck so no outside stuff was done, but I did get lots of paperwork, and tax info done so that's a relief.

So now yesterday's errands are todays........and I am carrying a cell phone because I promised Mitchell I would come get him if he couldn't make it through the day. I also do lunch duty (here I am with him and his friend Brayden) this week so I can check on him then.

We are also going to try and make it to Vanessa's rugby game from 4:30 to 6 which means I have to think of supper some time this morning, arghhhh.........at least the fridge was cleaned yesterday, yeah........

Vanessa's games are a lot more fun if we bring lots of snacks!!!! Rebecca and Mitchell pretty much have supper out here, I don't know why I worry about making anything at home because they're just filling themselves up.

So if you haven't seen a rugby game, its quite an experience! The first time I watched Vanessa this year I thought maybe she had won because our team cheered twice!!!! other than that, I had no clue what they were doing other than tackling and trying to kill each other. Bruises and broken bones are the badges of courage out here and I have this fear that she's going to spit out her mouth guard one of these days and a couple of teeth will come with it. Vanessa is right in there shoving and tackling with the best of them.......I think she's taking out her aggression on the field which is a good thing! She is #12.......

Danielle has another family!

Danielle and Tim came by with Tim's Dad Len and his wife Barb on Friday, the 6th.......they were heading down to Langley for Tim's brothers wedding. I drove down Saturday morning with them and had Rebecca and Mitchell, Melodie really wanted to come but sacrificed to stay home and study! Don and Vanessa were in Seattle on a youth temple trip, but were heading back Saturday so I met them and picked them up. It was a beautiful wedding and right after Don's wife Laura was baptized with her two daughters.

Tim has a large family as you can see here....... the bittersweet moment for me was when the photographer asked all of Don's family to join them for the picture........Danielle started walking over and I remember thinking, "Just a minute, she's in our family!!" and it hit home to me that she's now part of another family. She seems to be fitting in well with them and they seem to be enjoying her so I was glad to see that but the mother in me wasn't quite ready for that yet. It was one thing to know she was Tim's wife, but she is now a daughter-in-law, a sister-in-law and an aunt!

We went over to Don and Laura Pederson's house after and had a nice visit with the family before we headed home. I was so glad to have Don with me to do the driving home, we were pretty tired that Saturday night.

Just as an aside, if you are reading this please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom!, just so I know you've been here...lol........

Letter Fairy

Well, Melodie may not get many visits from the clean fairy, but the letter fairy sure visits her! Here she is with a letter from Elder Joel Carter and Elder Trevor Smith........ she is really good about writing letters to missionaries, of course they're on fun papers with all kinds of sticky sweet stickers......but they must like them because they keep writing back! (Funny how she has time to write letters but not clean rooms...... maybe if her room was as cute as these boys!!! She's going to kill me.......)

The only letters I get are the ones that say, this money is due!! But then again, I don't write many either......... email is so my thing!

Shouldn't complain tooooo much, we do have a parcel fairy named Aunt Kathy James who we hear from regularly, so I'm off to the post office to see what she has sent!

The Clean Fairy

I've been wanting to share this for awhile......magic happened in our house about 3 weeks ago! The clean fairy decided to visit!!

She told my kids if their beds were made and their floors clean she would leave a treat on their pillows......... well believe it or not, I have not had to nag my kids in 3 weeks! They have been making their beds and picking up their floors every morning and lo and behold when they get home from school there is usually a little chocolate on their pillow. I think......no I know the clean fairy feels it is worth the 10 cents a day......lol......... The only one she occasionally misses is the oldest child in our house right now (naming no names Mel) because she is in the middle of finals and is up all hours of the day and night studying.....

The reason there are no pictures of dressers and closets is because the clean fairy hasn't looked there yet, but one of these days, she'll be putting her glasses on!!!!!!

For now beds and floor are making a heck of a difference!

Haircuts and Pita Bread

As you can see Mitchell NEEDED a haircut.........
I don't usually like to cut hair on Sunday but it's one of those things that I have to absolutely be in the mood to do and as you can see I haven't been in the mood for a long time! So last night was the night.......Rebecca was first, I cut some off the bottom and gave her more bangs. Then it was Mitchell's turn, he's pretty good at sitting but this was a little long, there was lots of hair to cut........the snow coming down outside helped keep him busy for awhile. Now don't they both look much cuter........
Unfortunately I was attempting to make pita bread for the first time! I got a new Kitchen Aid for Christmas and love it, especially the not having to knead bread. So since we love pita bread with hummus and tzatziki, I decided that I want to try making my own. While I was in the middle of it, Don came down with Mitchell for the haircut........ so I asked Don to finish them up. Just want to point out the round ones are MINE.........the wierd shaped ones are Don's, like he'll care........this is a man who used to scrape the bottom off my burnt cookies and eat them anyway!! It looks like they're going to need a little more work.........

General Conference Spring 2007

It was General Conference this weekend and Rebecca took a picture of Don and I heading out the door with the family. This is one of the few times we get to sit together since Don is usually sitting on the stand so it was nice to be with him.

We both love Conference, funny I don't remember if we were as dedicated about making every session when we were first married....I think we would just watch what we could but now we just absolutely try not to miss anything. We're always disappointed when Don has to work, but we don't schedule anything else Conference weekend.



On Saturday, the little ones and I watched it on the computer..... they love to do it this way because they get out their blankets, colouring books and drawing paper and we all hang out in the study to watch it. Don takes the older girls, Melodie and Vanessa to the chapel to watch it ( he likes to make sure its all set up right.....) and then on Sunday we all head to the chapel for both sessions.


I think we have so many favourite speakers we just can't bear to miss any of them! Always love to hear from President Gordon B. Hinckley, he is 96 and still going strong, his sense of humour is still so sharp. One of my favourites is Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and he spoke about the tongue and how it is a force of good or bad, it was such a wonderful talk..... then there's Elder Bednar with his way with words, Elder Eyring who just touches your heart...... Elder Oaks spoke today on divorce and it was such an amazing talk on marriage as well......Elder Faust spoke right to my heart on forgiveness!! So we just can't miss any of it. I later find when I read the Conference issue of the Ensign I can hear their voice in my head as they were speaking! What's also neat about this time, is that Don and the girls were trying to be the first one to guess the scripture references when the apostles were quoting a scripture........good practice!

We want our children to love listening to the prophets and have wonderful memories of Conference.....so we talk about it lots and try to make it fun and stress its importance! I'll never forget being in the tabernacle when I was a student at Ricks and President Kimball walked in.......everyone was on their feet and there was this awesome silence.........a tangible Spirit filled that place and I knew I was in the presence of the Lord's prophet. I have never forgotten that feeling. Another amazing moment for me was listening to Elder Bruce R. McConkie's last testimony in April 1985 just before he passed away! His voice held such passion as he testified of the Saviour. So General Conference for me is a world time out, an amazing testimony builder and a time of learning and growing spiritually stronger.......





Next.......here's Vanessa looking thrilled by our freak snow storm....

Tonight.....it started to snow big fat flakes.......ughhhhhh..........we want spring, we were just raking the lawn yesterday! I don't think it will last long, just enough to put more water in our pool liner that we have to pump out in the next few weeks, hopefully it hasn't frozen the buds on our cherry trees...........