Beau's Farewell

Beau's farewell was this last weekend in Las Vegas. He leaves for his mission this Wednesday. It was a fun weekend with family as we gathered one last time before he leaves. The spirit was so strong during his talk. He is going to be an amazing missionary! We cant wait to hear of all his fun experiences! Unfortunately we didnt take any pictures of the family, but here are a couple of highlights from the trip.

We stayed at the Silverton Hotel. They have a huge fishtank you can sit and watch. We had such a good time just relaxing and watching all the fish. The stingrays are my favorite, they look like they are smiling!

The biggest adventure we had was at FAO Schwartz. They had 3 stories of toys! Maddox had a wonderful time walking around and looking at all the fun things. He had a blast walking around on a giant keyboard that lit up when you walked on it. It was amazing. We could have spent hours on that thing!

What a fun trip!

Like Father, Like Son

So its no secret that my husband LOVES condemints. Anything! Mustard, Ranch Dressing, Teryaki Sauce, etc. Doesnt matter. Well I didnt realize it until Friday night that Maddox has followed in his father's footsteps.

Drinking the Ranch Dressing at Applebees

Upset because the Ranch Dressing is gone.

Feels Like Christmas

This last weekend we helped Kristen and her husband into thier apartment in Monterey. Austin (her hubby) will be going to school, and Krissy has already started working in a posh salon in Karmel. It was SOOO nice to be in such great weather. Yesterday morning I was all wrapped up in my PJs lookin out the window into the fog. The weather is always like that in Monterey, but I was use to 108 in Fresno in the middle of August. It seriously made me feel like I was suppose to be opening presents for Christmas! We dont get weather like that until December! I loved every minute of it! Here are some pictures of thier new apartment!

Goodbye, My Love. You Will Be Missed...

Yesterday I decided to give up soda. It's a sad day at my house. I've always known I was addicted, and needed to cut back, but lately I haven't been feeling all that great, and I'm starting to think it has something to do with the large amounts of Diet Pepsi I consume daily. I thought at limiting myself to one a day, or just tell myself to cut back. Lets be honest, if I have any at all then I will end up back where I am now, drinking too much! (that kinda sounded like I needed to go to an AA meeting or something). So for now I will be consuming water, which I'm going to have to learn to love, because right now I miss my best friend, good ol' Diet Pepsi. It sure will be missed.

Bang! Bang!

My husband woke me up bright and early this morning to tell me that the driver's rear window on his car had been shot out. I threw on some clothes and headed out, and sure enough, 5 holes in the window. We contemplated calling the cops, but we thought a report needed to be written so we went ahead and made the call. The officer thought it was probably just some dumb kids with a pellet gun, but we couldnt find any pellets, bbs or anything! SOOO weird. Mike's windshield needed to be replaced too, so we went ahead and replaced both windows.

What a morning!

My Litte Picasso

His First Painting

What A Masterpiece!

I Almost Forgot to Tell You......

We are in a new ward now so when I was called Saturday night to set the appointment to meet with one of Bishops counselors Sunday morning, of course I assumed it was for a new calling. Naturally I ran through every calling in the ward wondering if thats where I would be asked to serve. Doesn't everyone do that!?? So I had all night to think... Librarian? nah. Activities Committee? nah. Sacrament Meeting Chorister? nope! Relief Society Teacher? not possible. Not once did I think about PRIMARY WORKER!! But thats where I was asked to serve. I was so shocked at first. I've never really done anything in primary. I don't know how the program works AT ALL! But then I met my class, and I can see myself sitting with them each week, singing and learning and doing all the fun primary stuff together! Im teaching the CTR 8 Class. WHOO HOO!! I have like 6 boys, and a set of twin girls so these next couple of months should be interesting!!! Wish me luck!!

Old Town Farmers Market

Every Friday night the streets of Old Town Clovis are closed off and something MAGICAL happens! Vendors come to sell thier AMAZING fresh fruit and veggies, and on the corner of Polaski and 4th a live band plays. For date night on Friday we decided to participate in the affair. We brought chairs and an ice chest of sandwiches and soda. It was so nice to be able to sit and watch Maddox dance to the band. It was cool and breezy and just perfect for a night in Old Town. What a way to spend a summer night!

Maddox and I Dancing...

Dancing, Dancing, Dancing...

What A Fun Night!

My Husband, My Hero

In consideration of time, let me just say a few words. My husband is my hero. I have had problems with my palm pilot, aka MY LIFE for about 3 months now. I even took the stinkin' thing to Geek Squad with no luck of help from them. I have had many sleepless nights over the stupid thing. I have stressed, almost had a few nervous breakdowns even, over it. My palm pilot is my life. It holds EVERYTHING. Client appts, dr appts, financial info, passwords, work schedules, birthdays, contact info, pictures, etc. You name it, it has it. I feel lost without it. My husband, being the AMAZING man that he is, fixed it. You have no idea the stress relief it is, knowing that it works PERFECTLY again. And for that, my husband is my hero.

If You Can't Stand The Heat....

GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN!!!

Ok so tonight was the SECOND night in a row that I burned dinner. To be honest I have never burned dinner, so doing it twice in a row scares me! I think I must have lost my mind. Last night I cooked Salmon. We didnt have any foil so I used wax paper to put the salmon on. I read on the box that you can use wax paper for baking. Obviously my mind wasnt clear when I put the oven on broil and stuck the sucker in the oven. Needless to say there was flames coming out of the oven. I screamed MULTIPLE times, which made Maddox scream and cry. Fortunately there was a fire only long enough for the wax paper to burn, and then it was fine. Scared me to death though! Then tonight, I put some chicken and potatoes in the oven around 6. Mike was going to be home at 715, and when he arrived I told him to check on dinner and turn off the oven because it was ready. (I was working from 630-830). When I came in from doing nails, at 830, Mike was laying on the bed and smoke was yet again, coming from the oven. He never even looked!! So needless to say the chicken was burned. Sounds like this week I need to just stay out of the kitchen!

Blessings of Motherhood

It happened so quickly, and didnt last long, but it happened. And when it did, tears poured down my cheek. Sometimes I feel like as a mother I have failed. I know Maddy is only 15 months old, but I feel guilty about the things I do and say, or things I dont do and say. Sometimes I wonder to myself if I have taught him anything, anything worthwhile. Do I spend enough quality time with him? Do I tell him that I love him enough? Do I do the things that a "good" mother would do? I know he's still so little, but do I teach him the gospel? The last couple of months Mike and I have been working on prayers with Maddy. The first year of his life we felt it was nearly impossible to make him sit quiet and fold his arms and listen to a prayer, when all he really wanted to do was eat some pretzels and watch Little Einsteins. Lately we have felt like it was important to at least try and have him quiet during prayers, and we would hold his little arms in a folding position hoping he would participate. Of course the quiet and the holding still would last only seconds. Tonight we had him in his high chair, watching a little cartoon and eating his dinner. My husband announced that he was going to quickly bless the food. Maddy started to fuss in chair and so I quietly whispered "Maddy, daddy is saying a prayer, can you listen?" Immediately he quieted down, looked at Mike, and then he folded his little arms. My mother in law stood next to me, watching everything, and her jaw dropped. I whispered to myself "oh. my. gosh." and I began to cry. Its the first time I have really felt like I had taught Maddy something. Something of worth anyways. I was so proud of him! I know it may not seem like a big deal, but this was a HUGE moment for our little family. Maddox is growing up so fast. Its apparent when you have to buy bigger clothes, or his shoes dont fit right anymore, but when your child learns to fold his arms and listen to his father say a prayer there is nothing more evident that your little boy is growing up. What a blessing it is to be a mother. All the daily struggles are DEFINETLY worth little moments like that. I sure love my little boy.