{Idaho} Baptism, Babies and Fun!

First stop. . .
Photo-op with Buster Bronco





We had a great trip to Idaho this summer.  Our purpose in going was threefold. 

1.  Claire's Baptism

2.  Meet my new niece Hazel

3.  Family Reunion

Sweet Claire getting ready for the Baptism

The baptism was fabulous.  So many friends and family came and it was great to see everyone.  As a parent you are never really prepared for these "mile marker" moments.  Before I know it this little girl will be a young lady leaving for college.

 

My sister Kira had a sweet little girl a few months ago.  I was so excited to finally meet this little lady.  She really made me wish I lived closer so I could snuggle on her often.

Claire and Hickory

Claire's wishes and dreams were fulfilled.  My mother arranged with a friend for Claire to do a little horseback riding while we were there. 



Cousins



Claire had time to play and visit with my cousins girls and she was in Heaven!!!!  I spied these two out in the grass sharing secrets.  My heart melted!!!!

Cute little diner before we went to the airport

Finally, before we went to the airport my dad took us to this cute little retro diner, close to where Dylan and I had our first apartment.  Wish I would have discovered it 12 years ago.  Great food and cute little old men drinking their coffe!!!

{4th of July}

We spent our first 4th of July in Houston.

It was fun, but definitely was not the same.

Our family was invited to a BBQ and pool party.

A couple from church invited us, and we had fun eating, meeting new friends and swimming.

The host/hostess made the coolest 4th of July cake

that we will have to attempt to make sometime.

That evening we went to Clear Lake Park to watch

several fireworks shows around the lake.

We had a fun day. . .

but we did miss all of our friends and family.

There were plenty of times during the day

that I felt myself longing for Idaho.

Throughout this week I have found myself thinking about how

grateful I am for this country we live in.

Often times we get caught up in politics and politicians and

we forget what an amazing place we live in.

I think we need to be more grateful.

If we were more grateful, more of us would work together

to make this country a better place,

instead fighting against each other.

I was reading Doctrine and Covenants 134 yesterday and it made me realize how thankful I am that we live in a country where we are all free to choose.

This is what our Heavenly Father's plan is. 

That we have a choice. . .

This is what the United States of America is based on. . .

LIBERTY!!!

The freedom to choose who you are and what you want to be.

I am so grateful for this.

This is the reason I teach History.

To teach future generations to be grateful for their freedom

and to teach them to protect and preserve it for future generations.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

A New Adventure

We finally have settled into our new place. The first week was tough, but now Claire has arrived things are starting to feel somewhat normal.
Moving from my nice house to a dinky apartment has been humbling, I just have to keep reminding myself that we are here for a reason. I may not understand what that reason is yet, but I do know I need to be here.
I quickly realized that we were living a very sheltered life in Frisco; living and going to church in a place where everyone is just about the same. There is a certain sense of comfort in that. Here there are so many unknowns. We are adapting and will continue to.
A few positives. . .
The pool is literally 50 steps from our front door.
There is a place to work out almost 55 steps from the front door. (I've worked out more in the last two weeks than I had in the last two years.)
Smaller area to keep clean.
We got rid of a significant amount of debt by moving.
Claire has such a positive attitude about everything . . .
She loves that she has French doors to her bedroom
She loves that we have a balcony
She loves that we live in an apartment and it doesn't even feel small to her.
She loves that primary is so small (14 kids )
My plan is to keep focussing on the positives. . . And enjoy this little adventure.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Yes, today was my first day back to school!!!! :o{

I'm exhausted, but if I weren't I would be making one of these cute

Chalkboard Clipboards.

You can find the tutorial on

Little Birdie Secrets

Maybe next summer.

I did end my summer break with a big crafting bang.

It included, mod podge lettering, table skirts, classroom curtains,

hemming pants, shortening apron straps, a darling nursing cover,

and

the cutest chore chart

EVER MADE

ok, I may be a little biased on that one :0}

Only problem is, I didn't take pics of any of it.

It was a mad dash to get it done and out the door, pics were the last thing from my mind.

If I have a spare moment I might take a pic of my cute chore chart.

But then you would see how desperately insane I am.

Wish me luck for another fabulous year of

Angelic 8th graders :0)

{Wedded Bliss}

It was a beautiful day we will remember for a very long time.

Congrats, Kira and Dave!

More Pics HERE

{Dear Claire}

Dear Claire,
I've missed you more than ever this week while you have been at your grammy's house. Each time you called you sounded so grown up, and like it was no big deal that you were gone.
My week has been empty without you.
You always keep me on my toes and smiling.
Come home your daddy and I miss you.
Love,
Mom

{Grand Canyon}

The weather was

PERFECT

The view was

BREATHTAKING

and

The detour was

WORTH IT!!!

What a beautiful world we've been given.

When It Rains It Pours Blessings

This week has been one of those weeks you just pray will end.

1. Dylan had to go to Oklahoma AGAIN!


2. The day he left our A/C in our house died


3. Dylan's computer crashed when he reached OK City-- forcing him to turn around and come home. He arrived home at 2 a.m. and turned around and left at 5 a.m.-- He had 8 a.m. appointments in OK City he had to make.


4. Homeless for 3 days waiting for the A/C to get fixed.


5. Claire lost my wedding ring


6. Cable went out for 2 days


7. Dylan rear-ended someone in Tulsa


8. Went out to the truck to head to the store and the truck wouldn't start

A lot for one week right, and that's just the big stuff, but because of this I witnessed blessings with each thing that happened.

1. So grateful that my husband has a job, even if he has had to travel a lot. They take good care of him and he even got a bonus this week.


2. I was blessed to find someone who could fix our A/C for basically the same price Dylan could have-- I didn't have to go a whole week w/out it-- how did they do it 100 years ago???


3. Because Dylan had to come home in the middle of the night we had a heart to heart and discussed some feelings that we both had been having--which probably would not have happened had he not come home


4. I was reminded of how blessed I am to have such great friends. Phone calls, emails and invitations to sleep over were in abundance. A big thanks to Janie for letting me cry on her shoulder-- in the middle of her daughters b-day party and a comfortable bed to sleep in, Sara for a yummy dinner, fun evening, and the number of the A/C repairman.


5. We looked for the ring and could not find it anywhere. I prayed and immediately it was found under the bed.


6. After working with AT&T for more than two hours over the phone in my very hot house and accomplishing nothing, I was able to get the cable back on my own-- a process of reboot, reboot, and reboot some more. Claire thought the world was going to end w/out T.V.


7. Dylan's little accident resulted in NOTHING--- thank heavens!!!!


8. The nice neighbor guy was able to jump the truck for me and I was able to go get the battery replaced.

It's amazing to me how each time something came up the blessings came quickly. I feel so blessed.

Last but not least, Claire pulled out her other tooth with NO drama. I wasn't even aware until she came and told me she had pulled it. I have a feeling her school pictures will be lacking two front teeth :D Enjoy your weeked!!!!

GREAT NEWS!!!!!

A million thanks to my good friend Sara.

She gave me the name of a reliable guy

who does A/C work on the side

$160

vs.

the 1st guys

$614

If you want his name and number give me a call or email me.

Now lets hope life can get back to normal

I feel like I've been a homeless person

for three days.

Thanks to all the offers from all of you!!!

Its great to be surrounded by so many good people.

Good New --- Bad News

Good News---- We do not need a new air conditioner, just a blower motor

Bad News---- Dylan is insisting on replacing it himself to save money--- we will be saving A LOT of money

More Bad News------ He is in Oklahoma AGAIN until Saturday evening


It's times like these I hate living so far away from my parents. :) Good thing I am surrounded by great people who might as well be family. :D

So this week will be full of anything we can do to stay out of my HOT HOUSE!

{POO, POO, POO}

We have been working out butts off over here

scrimping and saving

and selling our crap on craigslist

for

our trip to AZ

for the wedding

at the end of this month

only to have our

AC die today.

REALLY!!!!!!!!

PLEASE AC GUY,

please come and tell me its nothing big

PRETTY PLEASE!!!!!!

This Is What I Have Been Up To!!!!

For some crazy reason I wanted to make a quilt for my

sister's wedding

this monthI've made small quilts

but nothing this big

It was definitely a challenge

but I learned a lot!!

The funniest thing I learned was:

disappearing ink

DISAPPEARS!!!

I marked my lines one night

and got up in the morning

to start sewing

and to my surprise

the disappearing ink

didn't last as long as I expected.

Kira, you did a great job picking the colors!!!

I like to call it

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

This is where I got my pattern

♥ this quilt blog

Claire's 1st {Sewing Project}

If you know my kid

you know her favorite phrase is

"What can I do now?"

(I've seriously heard it at least five times while writing this post)

So to keep myself sane this summer

I religiously read

Skip to My Lou

and

steal every single ideaLast week one of the ideas was pillow making

and then the next day was embroidery

two things I ♥ 'd when I was a little girl

I just didn't know if Claire was old enough to do this

While the embroidery was not too hard for her

it did not captivate her attention

(i had to do most of the embroidery--

i think i was around 10 when i started liking this stuff)

but

she did love drawing her own design

and choosing the colors it would be

She also loved choosing her own fabric

whatever she wanted

I think she did a great job matching her room

and the Cat fabric is soooooooo her

She was most excited about getting to use the sewing machine

this was the hardest part for me

there is a reason

five year olds are not allowed to drive

heck, I don't know how she rides a bike

she does not know how to watch where she is going!!!!!

She did love using the sewing machine

and course

she is the BEST pillow stuffer in the world.

Great Job Claire!!!!!

Weeping, Wailing, and Gnashing of Teeth

We enjoyed a lovely dinner on the patio in the rain.

Because it was pouring rain

the yucky humidity had left us

and the temps dropped

{Notice our fine dinnerware compliments of Scotty P's :)}

After dinner Claire was given an ultimatum

regarding that snaggle tooth

It would be gone by 8 pm or

Dylan would pull it.

Needless to say there was lots

of moaning and groaning

weeping and wailing

deals with the devil

and so forth

I can't tell you how many times I heard,

"I just can't do it, its too hard."

or

"I wish I didn't have to loose my baby teeth."

or the most painful one was,

"I don't like you, I don't want to live here."

All over a little tooth that was literally hanging there.

So glad it's gone!!!

For the record she pulled it herself at 8 o'clock on the dot.

Good thing, because I think we would have had to

tie her down and knock her out if we were going to pull it.

{4th of July}

I would have to say that

this is one of the dreariest

Independence Days

I've ever seen Despite the 95% humidity

Mist

and

Rain

(Its 77 but feels like a very wet and sticky 97 degrees)

We managed to

have a nice breakfast at the church
participate in the

neighborhood parade

&

Cookout

All before noon

Do you think there will be any fireworks this weekend???

Or will it be too wet???

Have a great

{4th of July}

Wherever you are!!!

What Would I Do Without This Little Girl?

Dylan is working out of town again :(

Claire makes it bearable.
We've found so much to do together,
I almost feel like a real stay at home mom again.
Wish it would last.

Look at her snaggle tooth.
We can't get her to pull it.
Ahhh, the life of a six year old.
If my only worries were a loose tooth,
life would be grand.

{Oh, What Do You Do In The Summertime}

Bubble Burst Painting

Obviously we are obsessed with bubbles at our house.

While watching Claire entertain herself with our homemade bubbles,

I remembered a bubble burst painting she had done in art at school I wanted to see if we could duplicate it.
The end result was not that great.
If anyone is a pro at this technique we would like to know :D
We definitely had a lot of fun!!!

{Family Home Evening}

I love Skip to My Lou.

She always has the greatest ideas and best tutorials.

Lately she has posted some of the

most ingenious things to do with the kiddos during summer.

Yesterday, this was her post and we decided to try it for FHE.

It was successful and we all had a blast!!!


Claire went to bed saying, "How did that sock make bubbles?"

Who knew so much fun could come from:

an old water bottle,

an old sock,

dish soap.

&

a little water.

Who can make the longest bubble snake at your house?

The Fish Is Back

The pool opened today.

The first words out of Claire's mouth this morning were

Its May 1st.

The pool opens today.

Can we go?

I complied

under one condition,

when her lips turn purple

we were going home.

She agreed to my terms

It was cold and she was shaking and she did not want to leave.

Crazy kid.

More like crazy mom for letting her.

As long as I didn't have to get wet I didn't care.

Summer is right around the corner now.

I can't wait :D