Seventeen Years Goes By So Fast!

Seventeen Years Ago, I Married My Best Friend.

We put each other through school

We graduated together

We vacationed together, just the two of us, to really nice places, like New York, Niagara Falls, England

and Hawaii

and with wonderful friends to not-so-nice places

like camping in Mexico (but having a ton of fun)

The journey has been perfect every step of the way

And will continue to always be perfect

with my best friend by my side.

Happy Anniversary!!!

Still Going . . . and going . . .

Here's just a glimpse . . . more to come.

You know how if you change one thing it creates that domino effect? And you really know that the domino effect will happen, that's why you avoid changing the one thing to begin with.

Well, the still-going-on bathroom project has led to repainting our room, which then led to redecorating it;

needing new carpet has also not only led to the ceilings being retextured, but also the stairwell and upstairs hallway being repainted and if you're going to be repainting things, you might as well repaint the girls' room since you've been talking about doing that for some time now. It's better, you know, to paint a room before the new carpet is installed.

Why take the chance and ruin the new carpet?

Before the carpet can be installed, the stairs have to be built out and retreaded, and of course the wainscoting needs to be done beforehand as well.

Again, why take the chance of ruining new carpet?

In order to paint the girls' room, everything needs to come out of it, except for the beds. They are too big to fit through the door. The carpet installers are going to love that. Having crowded hallways is perfect timing for having house guests, don't you think? Kim and her three boys were here last week and I think they must have thoroughly enjoyed barely being able to reach their room.

Also, the linen cupboards need to be redone - new paint and doors. Heck, why even bother with doors? They're a waste of time. Those fractions of seconds that it takes to open cupboard doors really add up you know. One can get used to having 'naked' linen cupboards.

Or not.

Not only does the girls' room need to be redecorated (OK, need is more like want, I still liked their room. Although it was the original nursery decor and it's been over 11 years and they wanted a change), they need new furniture. Finding a great dresser and armoir on Craig's list was practically miraculous, and full credited is due to John's amazing research skills, but said furniture then needs to be refinished.

So, that bathroom remodel that began 13 months ago is still happening, but currently (like today) is progressing with the painting of a dresser.

Who would've thunk?

BUT . . . the carpet is due to be installed in no less than SIX days! Well, it was scheduled for today, but John's been really busy and needed more time to get the stairs ready.

New carpet seems like a dream!

Will that dream come true?

Youth Conference '10

I got to chaperone Youth Conference again this year. I love doing it - it's so much fun, especially with a great group of youth like we have now. There was not a bad apple in the bunch! It really made my job a whole lot easier.

Youth Conference is a bit abbreviated now, only being one night, but it starts bright and early at 7:00a.m. sharp on Friday morning and goes non-stop all day until midnight when a strict lights-out curfew is expected, then up again reporting at 8:00a.m. the next morning.

We were family Nine - and we rocked!

Friday was spent at Fulcrum Adventures in Malibu which was a ton o'fun. What was even more unique is that the Fulcrum leaders expected all adults to fully participate. They said you never know when a youth will connect with that one person. I fully expected to just be on the look out, but was knee deep in the adventure!

The beautiful wildflowers on the walk back from the beach (where we had our first team building exercise).

The Ropes Course. You had to climb a ladder and walk across the tight rope. The point is that it's much easier to accomplish the feat when you ask for help, and also help your partner. Everyone had to work together and to TRUST. Very important when you're dangling 50 feet in the air.

This was the Giant Ladder. Let me tell you, it's not easy hoisting yourself up on swinging wood beams (that are NOT padded and have sharp corners), but I did make it all the way to the top. I could not have done it without the help of my partner (co-chaperone Susan) and advice from my family down below. It was a team effort!

The descent was fun! But accomplishing something I did not think was possible, especially wearing very restrictive jeans, was quite exhilarating! I was very sore for a couple of days, especially my forearms from utilizing muscles that are often neglected. And let me tell you . . . I have some bruises! I kept finding more two days later. I seriously looked like I went on a honeymoon with Edward.

It was worth it and a very fun adventure. The highlight of course is the testimony meeting at the end of the conference which reaffirms my faith in the future generation. Our youth rock!

No More Elementary School

It happened, it came.

Now I know how fast High School Graduation will come since these last six years just FLEW by! Culmination for elementary school was a nice event.

There were songs, refreshments, and an awesome slide show of all the kids since kindergarten (They were sooo cute!!).

We were so glad to have both sets of grandparents come.

We are proud of you Madison! Now it's time for summer and then it's off to Middle School. Good luck to you!!

Playing Catch Up . . . or Catch Us if You Can

This has been a crazy-busy month with little to no down days. The year has flown by so quickly, and even more so when there's so much going on. I know it's busier than normal when I can usually get 10 days for one tank of gas, but lately I'm filling up every 4-5 days. Crazy!

We've been immersed in Track with practices 4x a week and meets all day every Saturday. This next season, John has been voted in as President (like we have time for that?) but the good thing is that activities will not be happening on Sundays!

Brooke (above) waiting for her turn to do the 100m dash.

Madison (below) starting the 400m.

Track is now officially over - now home projects can resume (remember the bathroom?). The end of season picnic was totally awesome. It was supposed to be on a Sunday, as it had traditionally been in years past. Not going to happen this time (with this man in charge), so we had it on a Tuesday evening, the time that practice normally was and had the BEST attendance in the club's history. We planned for 300 people, and 500 came. We ran out of pizza so I spent the night dashing to and from Tony's Pizza picking up more. It was great fun and we were so glad that it was successful so we can use it to show that things don't have to be on Sundays!

Driving and chaperoning the 3rd grade class to the Satwiwa Field Trip. Luckily, we have a National Park just around the corner, so we just caravanned the kids on over and the park rangers put on a great show.

An "ap".

Trip to Las Vegas

We visited temple grounds,

stayed in a great hotel that upgraded us to a huge suite (it pays to have clout at Marriott).

Christian ran out of the bathroom and yelled, "There's a booby trap in the bathroom!!!" as water is dripping down the front of him; A nice introduction to a bidet.

and the highlight of the trip is Serendipity . . . Frrrozen Hot Chocolate

utterly amazing and well worth every calorie.

We took the Hoover Dam tour - had to be educational since we took a day off school.

Annual birthday portraits

I was involved in two carnivals. First the school carnival, which was awesome and exhausting, then the next week we, as a Stake Primary Presidency, put on a Stake Primary Activity which was a carnival! It was so much fun and so much work! We were exhausted, but it was all good. We had record-breaking attendance and everything worked out smoothly. Lots of non-members came and everyone had a great time.

The kindergarten Peter Rabbit play. Christian was Peter himself - and a super cute one at that! He is quite the performer.

Swim lessons for four weeks. Ashlyn and Christian had two sessions, Brooke had one.

Padres baseball. Lots of games, lots of fun.

Driving and chaperoning the 5th grade field trip to the Maritime Museum and Floating Lab - which is just that: a lab that floats, on a boat, in the ocean.

It was a great experience. They learned how to test the wind and water; smell, feel, and taste mud from the bottom of the sea; hold sea cucumbers, slugs, starfish, and more. Did you know that if you kiss a sea slug you'll have five years of good luck? They examined sea water under a microscope and learned how many creepy crawlies are actually creeping and crawling in each drop of water.

Chaperoning the kindergarten trip to the Strawberry Farms.

We got to ride the tractor and pick fresh, deliciously sweet strawberries. We also got our shoes caked with mud.

The kindergarten songfest.

Mr. Newton, the music teacher, had them perform many fun numbers. they were very cute!

Andrea and Adam moved into their first home - we got to help and play with

baby Taylor!

Madison had to give a demonstration speech at school, so she demonstrated

How to Surf

The same day was the school talent show: Maple's Got Talent

Brooke and Madison played the piano: Heavenly Harp and Away in a Manger

and The First Noel and I Know My Redeemer Lives. The principal came over to me during the show to personally thank us for the selection of music!

Brooke's class also did a dance to THRILLER so she hurriedly changed into a zombie get up and put on an awesome performance!

Here we are, just the week before school gets out. Picnics, class projects and assignments, and culmination coming up. It's a crazy busy time of year - looking forward to summer, but NOT looking forward to the end of summer!