Lucy's Unbirthday

Lucy's teacher lets the kids that have summer birthdays celebrate on another day during the school year. Lucy was really excited to have her day come this week. We made her birthday poster filled with pictures of things she loves. We were a little limited in the picture department, but we made it work. I went with her to school and explained the poster to her class. She got a little shy all of a sudden. She had pictures of her family, Mom, Dad, Graham, Grandma and Grandpa, tumbling, dressing up, the ocean, ice cream, chocolate and riding her bike. She had a soccer picture put up there, too. I showed and told the class all the things she loves and when we got to the soccer picture she stopped me and said, "I LIKE soccer." Meaning, she doesn't LOVE it. I thought that was funny.

Here she is with her teacher after getting 6 birthday spanks and a hug to grow on.

Memorial Day

We had a nice and relaxing holiday. I was finally able to go for a long walk after not being able to exercise for 5 weeks. (All is well with the pregnancy and now I can move a little more). After my walk we took the kids to the park.

That evening, my Uncle Rob and his family came to roast some hot dogs and s'mores for dinner in the back yard.

Here's Jason, Beth, Aunt Melissa and Christine by the firepit

Uncle Jason assisting Graham in roasting a marshmallow

Oliver, Abby, Sam and Lucy
Grandpa, Abby, Lucy and Sam coming pack from seeing the "waterfall"

Random Cute Pics

We are lucky enough to see our friends, Tanna and Jed, along with their kids quite a bit. Last week we spent the night with them up in Logan. This is Lucy and Peter enjoying a brownie on their back porch.
Lucy, Peter, Graham and Abby hanging on a fence outside of Cafe Sabor. We've made that restaurant a tradition it seems. We go there almost every time we visit and we love it!

I bought 4 or 5 butterfly nets at the grocery store a few weeks ago. Lucy had been asking for nets for a while and I was happy to see they were only $1. The kids have had a blast searching the area for creatures of any kind that they can trap.

Lucy, Graham and George watching for butterflies.

Halfway there!

It's true. We are officially half way through this stinkin' deployment. Those words should bring me comfort, but they really don't. Thinking about going another 13 weeks without my guy is just plain crummy. Doesn't he look super hard core? It seems like he should be scowling, not smiling. (Although, I do like to see that grin)
Here's some pics of a project he's managing. Looks fun, eh?

Isn't Afghanistan a sight? Just like you were picturing, right?


In all honesty, the kids and I are doing well. We feel very blessed to have so much help with the day to day things as well as emotional support from my family. There are good days and bad. At least once a week there is a pretty awful day and I wonder how I'm going to keep truckin' through. But, those are the times I'm very grateful I moved home and have people to fill in for my kids when I simply need to just cry for a little bit.


Jason is doing well, too. He stays very busy and has a lot of responsibilities that keep him moving. The living conditions aren't so great. He lives in a tent with a dozen other men. Good times! As always, though, he keeps a very good attitude and seldom complains.

We're both hoping and praying that the next 13 weeks go faster than the last. Please keep Jason in your prayers!

Trouble

I went in the backyard to check on the kids. I found Graham sitting in the firepit.

Women's Conference

I had the pleasure of attending Women's Conference this year for the first time. It was fabulous and I enjoyed it very much. I went with my buddy, Lichelle, along with two friends from her ward and their two friends. (Did you follow that?) We went out to eat, went shopping and by the end of the two days, we were all friends. I really loved getting to know everyone. Leslie, Lichelle, Kim, Kathie, Carissa, and Me

There were so many talks that really hit home for me and helped to give me perspective. I don't want to go through all the talks, but I'll just highlight a few things I took home from the experience.

One specific quote from Merilee Webb that she had heard earlier in life was, "When you walk into a room you either add to it or take away from it." This really struck me because I feel like I tend to be more of a "take-awayer". I'm workin' on it.

From Sister Elaine Dalton's talk I learned that our temple covenants refine and define us and there is protecting power for our families when we keep those covenants.

Also, along with that, my children will see me spending my time in the temple and recognize that it is a priority to me. Their testimony of it's importance will be strengthened through my attendance.

My favorite talk was titled "Doing Your Best vs. Being the Best. As soon as I read this title in the pamphlet, I wanted to attend this workshop. Here's some ideas that struck me.

• God knows that we have limitations. He gave them to us. But he doesn't want those to diminish our greatness.
• There is no shadow in having a different path from other people. As long as it's a righteous path. Be all that I can be and don't waste time comparing.
• I need to cultivate a good opinion of myself and play to my own talents and gifts the Lord has given me.
• The direction of my progress in this life is more important than my speed.
• Act as you want to become.

Lastly, during one of the last classes I attended, I was given a thought that didn't necessarily have anything to do with what the teacher was talking about. It was that I cannot expect kindness from my children if I don't show it to them. I need to show them how they should treat others, by how I treat them.

That may seem like a no-brainer to most, but I was grateful for the conference even just for that revelation I received. I am WAY too impatient with my kids and I find myself criticizing more than praising. As I have tried to treat them with more respect and kindness, I have seen a difference in how they treat one another and others they deal with during the day. I have a LONG way to go, but it's the direction....not the speed, remember?

Hilary Weeks performed at a concert they had one evening and I fell in love with her music! I bought her newest CD and I am so touched by one particular song, "If I Only Had Today". It has certainly changed my perspective and has also helped me in improving my daily relationship with my kids.

I am so grateful for my wonderful family that took care of my kids while I got a break. I left with a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ and felt strengthened by the reminder I received of His love for me. Life is pretty lonesome sometimes without Jason. I can be surrounded by people, but my heart still aches for him. Christ truly knows that pain and is aware of my challenges, big and small. Through Him, I can face anything.

Mother's Day

Our Mother's Day weekend was eventful. It was a little bittersweet with Jason being gone, but being surrounded by family helped that a lot.

Reagan, Shellie, Lori, Sarah, Lucy, Daniel, Jamie

On Saturday, the kids and I went with Jason's sisters to visit their Mom's grave. Lucy and Graham had never seen it and it was nice having a group to go with. The cemetery is located just south of the Bountiful temple and I had forgotten how beautiful it is.

I didn't get a chance to get to know Judy very well. She was sick with Parkinson's disease before I met Jason and she passed away a year and a half after we were married. Although, I didn't meet the woman that Jason remembers growing up, I did get to witness her compassion and love for her kids and grand kids. She also had a pretty good sense of humor. She taught her kids well and I'm grateful for the man I have in my life because of her.

Here's me and the kids next to her headstone.

Sunday morning, my sister, Beth, and her husband, Jason, came over around 6:30 and made me breakfast in bed. I had already gotten up to shower (9:00 church makes for a rushed morning) and Beth promptly came up and told me to go back to bed. They got the kids up for me and Lucy and Graham made me some cards. I didn't have to worry about getting the kids ready for church. Beth, Jason, and Mom took care of it all.

After church, we went to see Grandma Ray. She is actually Jason's grandmother. She lives in South Jordan in a nice assisted living center. She was very happy to see us and we enjoyed visiting with her for a while.

When we got back, the kids and I had the house to ourselves for about 4 hours. This never happens! Most of the time I'm very glad that we're not alone because I get to lonesome for Jason, but it was nice for a little break. Lucy and I played games while Graham napped and then we made pizza for dinner.

All in all it was a nice weekend. I am very grateful for my family and all they do to serve me and try to make this time less hard. I can't imagine what sort of state I'd be in if I was back in California without Jason.

I hope you all had a nice day and were able to get pampered a little bit.

Graham Cracker

This little guy is as crazy as ever and keeps me hoppin'. Here's some of his recent funny antics....Graham likes to have yogurt every once in a while, but he doesn't like to use a spoon. He likes to drink it. So, I have to scoop it to the edge of the container and then let him slurp for a bit until he asks for help. I then have to scoop more to the edge. It's quite the process and he usually only makes it through about half of it. Key Lime Pie is his favorite flavor.

Notice the yogurt face this creates. He gets it all the way from his chin to his eyebrows.
Ever since Graham got his sunglasses, we see him like this quite often. He calls them his "Kwasses". He puts them on his head like this and says, "Look, Mom! Wobble gobbles!" The kids watch a lot of Disney's Imagination Movers and one of the characters wears Wobble Goggles to help him see through walls.
Here's Graham at the school carnival. He looked for the dragon and said hi to him over and over. My sister, Beth, helped me keep track of him while we were there.

Some other quotes as of late:

• "I gwopp it!" (I dropped it)

• "Shoe-flops" (flip-flops)

• "WOW! That's gwait!" --(Wow, that's great!) He says this one a lot, but one particular time, he was in the bathroom looking in the drawer and found an alligator clip that I use when I pull my hair back to straighten it. He's been playing with it for days.

• "A scoop." He yells this one when he needs us to "scoot" his chair or stool in closer to the table.

• "Poop snack" (fruit snack) He was yelling this at me in the car today for like 10 minutes.
  

This guy always keeps us laughing.

Mother's Day Program

Lucy's kindergarten class put on an adorable Mother's Day program on Friday. It was so cute! This song was my favorite.

Lately for Lucy

Lucy has been as busy as can be lately. She is really enjoying being here so close to her cousins and surrounded by so many friends. There seems to always be someone to play with and fun to be had. She's at the age where it seems she must be doing something all the time or I hear, "I'm SOO BORED!"

A couple weeks ago her school had an Arts Festival night. Her class put on a cute little play. Lucy's part was a zebra along with her friend, Jain. She was nervous the days leading up to the program because she was afraid she wasn't going to be loud enough. On the way to the school that night, she said, "I sure wish Dad was here." She asked me over and over if I had my video camera so Dad would be able to see it when he got back.

A few weeks back, we had an incident at the park that was a little traumatic. We were there with my sister and her kids. Oliver was climbing on the outside of a big tube slide. He's a pretty good climber, so we weren't worried.

Lucy decided to join him. Heidi turned to me a couple times and said, "Is she okay up there?" I didn't think anything of it and allowed her to continue to climb. I looked over a minute later to see her trying to maneuver a rather tricky part of the slide and watched as she fell from the very top and landed flat on her stomach ten feet below. It looked so horrible! I was sure that she had broken a rib or something. It knocked the wind out of her pretty good, but the only wounds she had were these scratches on her chin. Her jaw was sore for a couple days.

Later that week our ward had an activity that we attended. It was an airband concert. They let the kids get up on stage at the end and dance. I just love this picture because Lucy looks so happy up there with two of her best buds, Abby and Oliver.

Here she is again at the school carnival last week. Earlier that afternoon she participated in a mile walk with her school.

Lucy has poured on the sass lately, too. The other day we were saying our morning prayer before she left for school. I had told her we were going to the park after she got out of class and she wanted Abby to come. I told her that we were going before Abby was out of school. She was not happy. Moving on to the prayer, she said her usual things, "Bless we will have fun today. Bless Dad that he'll be safe. Bless that we will be kind" and then she stopped for a second and whispered something and then closed the prayer. I asked her what she had whispered and she didn't want to tell me. Finally she did. This is what she had said, "Please bless that Abby can come to the park with us." I told her that Abby wasn't going to be able to come and she said, "Well, Jesus will make it happen!" We've had similar conversations where she has said, "Jesus made me do it!" after pinching her cousin, George. Seems we have some teaching to do in the Jesus department.

It's crazy to me how the same child can be so sweet one minute and then super snotty and sassy the next. I thought I had 7 or 8 years before this!

We sure love our Lucy and all the adventures that come with her.