This Table is magic

Today we went swimming with Reese and Kiran and then grabbed Lunch and came home to eat. I know we've been running on empty this week....with Mutual, Mason's football and us not getting home until late each night - we are definitely needing sleep. But our table seems to have an effect on Clayton...he fell asleep AGAIN...notice the chicken nugget still in his hand :)

Clayton & Reese

Clayton has a new friend. She moved into the ward a while ago but they hit it off during Book of Mormon camp and now he is always wanting to check and see what Reese is up to...or can she play. It helps that her older sister is friends with Tristen..they get on great and play real well together...he calls her Baybay...thanks Big T!! She is a cutie and we love having Reese around. She went swimming with Clayton and I yesterday.

School has started

Today was the first day of school..Oh Happy Day!!!! The kids were all up before me...I figured I'd have to wake them, but I guess they were secretly excited. They leave at 7am and I wake them normally at 6am..I got up at 5:45 and they were already dressed and downstairs eating breakfast. We had time to make sure legs were lotioned and hair was pretty and we snapped pics before they left. Tristen started 1st Grade and had a great day..although Sami didn't talk to her cause mean Brother Robinson told her they couldn't talk to each other in class - ha ha. Ashlen had a great day and was excited to get an organizer/notebook which keeps track of homework etc...I don't know why - she is now accountable for way more stuff and if she gets 2 "no stamps" gets detention!! ha ha (Is that mean of me??) And Mason said school sucked...are we surprised? Apparently he has no friends in his classes...sorry Wyatt - you aren't a friend..I said "Doesn't Wyatt have PE with you?"...oh yeah - that's right. I said "no Friends" is a good thing...maybe you'll concentrate and do good things this year!!!!!! I LOVE the 1st day of school :)


Mason with the usual facial expression

Tristens HUGE backpack

Little T with her HUGE water jug

Ash ready to go

the 3 goobers :) I saw that with love!!!!

Clayton was pooped

Clayton had a big day at Church yesterday...He spoke during Primary about strengthening his family and did a superb job, he spoke loud into the microphone and was very clear...(last time Tristen had to fill in at the last minute cause he got stage fright) but I guess the bribe of mentos paid off........anyways..when we get home from church the kids normally grab a bite to eat and then either nap or read...guess what Clayton decided to do?!!

We caught them

Ok - so it was a little too late..but we had a couple spies who were not happy with going to bed early in preparation for school starting. The can sit upstairs and look over at the TV from this angle without us knowing!!! Ashlen let this trick out of the bag a while ago but I guess I wasn't really paying attention..and they were super quiet so Stevan and I only saw them as we were going to bed...not that we stay up late anyways..I think we hit the sack by 9 or 10 each night.

Salt River Canyon

So yesterday I went to Salt River Canyon with some friends. The day started out crappy...I should have known things would be bad..but I guess I need that hit across the head in order to listen sometimes. We woke up with not only Clayton having a fever, but Tristen too..they didn't feel well and said their throats hurt, so I figured we'd load them up on fever reducer and let them rest by the water. So we met the Winsors, Robinsons, Hills and Hunsakers at Circle K, gassed up and got our sodas and started out..we hadn't been on the road for 15 minutes when I heard a weird noise..sounded like something hit the side of my car..then it started pulling to the side and sure enough something crazy had torn up the tire. Luckily we are your typical mormons, traveling in a caravan, lots of big vehicles, so I was able to pull over to the side of Hwy 79, stuff kids in each persons car and jump in Nettie's car with Tristen and Clayton. Nettie's boys were awesome and volunteered to jump in the back of her truck to make room for us. So after that 20 minute unplanned stop we got back on the road. It took a while to get there...we stopped for potty breaks, pick up some dramamine, Tristen was carsick and had thrown up in a bag, we grabbed some pizza, had a little traffic stop due to road works..but made it and it was worth it. The place was beautiful - see from the pictures!?! Actually when I pulled out my camera the batteries were dead!!! So Michelle took some pics...I'll post them when I get them...but we set up the awning, our chairs and snacks, the kids took off and we saw them periodically when grabbing a slice of pizza or drink. The water was perfect, nice and refreshing...picture a larger slide rock with way warmer water, some smaller pools to sit in and larger pools at the end of each slide section. There was also a larger pool area with a place for the big kids to jump - Mason wore out his shorts - there are holes in the seat of them!!!. We stayed for a few hours and packed up just as huge drops started plopping down..we got caught in a downpour but it felt nice. We started home where the poor missionaries were waiting for us to teach a discussion. Stevan was supposed to try get the tire fixed but got stuck at work so my mom went to get my car towed back to our house..but couldn't find it..I told her the wrong name of the road..so she panicked and called the sherrif's dept. to see if it got towed. I had no service in Globe where we were so when I got in touch with her she got the right place and was waiting for a tow truck which was going to take almost 2 hours!! They were going to dispatch one from Tucson!! So we stopped on our way home, Nettie volunteered to stay and wait for the tow truck so I could get home with Tristen and Clayton who were feeling crappy... bless her heart...She and the kids watched movies and waited. I got home to find the missionaries next door waiting for me....the boys pulled up with Kelly after a few minutes then hung out with the missionaries trying to get a location for their discussions as I didn't have a priesthood holder over 18 at my house...and Kelly sat with me so they could hang! Poor Nettie finally got to my house with the tow truck driver at 8pm....I have the BEST FRIENDS EVER!!!! I have a hard time accepting service - but was glad they were there offering. I am also glad the day was pull of fun and we are planning another trip soon where we get up earlier and spend way more time there, without car troubles and with a working camera. The day could have been a real disaster ( especially since I am a pessimist ), but with good friends it wasn't and I had a great time despite the problems of the day.

They say the funniest things.....

So I know everyone's kids say the funniest things...but mine come up with strange things all the time..normally when chatting with Stevan, so I wanted to share these two stories.

Tristen and Stevan were watching "the most venomous creatures" on discovery channel together the other night when Tristen asked Stevan if the water snails could eat humans. Stevan told her they could not - they were too small. She then announced that she did not want Stevan to scuba dive with Robbie..there were sharks in the water and she would worry about him if he were to go. So Stevan asked "what about Robbie, aren't you worried about him?" to which she replied "I worry about him too but he already does it and I don't think I can get him to stop!!"

So tonight Stevan and Clayton are sitting watching baseball when I walk by and Stevan says "look at your Mom - isn't she so pretty" Clayton says "Yes she is and Big T and Heather". So Stevan says "oh yeah - are they hot" then Clayton says "No - they are just pretty....pause.....and HOT" It is safe to say Clayton loves his Big T and Heather...and he thinks they are hot!!! I am just glad he thinks I am pretty like them :)

I don't know where they come up with these things!!!

Book of Mormon Camp

As some of you may know, I am in the Primary Presidency, and as our quarterly activity we decided to do a "Book of Mormon" camp for our kids. We planned to have this over three days and just had the activity last week - which was a HUGE success. The idea was for our kids to come and focus on one of the stories for 3 days. We split up our kids into jnr & snr and had about 7-8 kids in each group. We did the story of Nephi, Abinidi, Ammon, 2000 Stripling Warriors, Alma the Younger and the Brother of Jared. The older kids went to workshops the first day to immerse themselves in the story (we had great teachers) and then on the second day they put together a skit to present to the parents on Thursday night. On the third day they worked on their skits and put together their costumes - they were also able to make a journal and write in it their feelings about what they were learning. The younger kids got to watch the animated story depending on their group and also learned a song which went with their story that they performed on their parents on Thursday night (we were their teachers). The younger kids got to make folders with pictures of their stories and other Book of Mormon heros. We had a camp atmosphere and gathered at the start of each day to sing our theme song "Scripture Power" and then disperse to their classes. We ended each day with "game time" and a treat and then sang Book of Mormon stories. The presentation Thursday night went great, we had tremendous parent support and the kids all did an amazing job. We actually had a little over 100 kids for this activity - which is great when you consider this is Summer. My kids still to this day play the CD over and over with the songs they learned. Clayton walks around singing the song he learned "Faith" which goes with the Brother of Jared skit Ashlen performed in. They all grab their scriptures and hoist them in the air when we sing Scripture Power, which is what they did for their parents. These kids were sponges and the experience we had to participate in this amazing "camp" was awesome. I think that they truly felt the spirit as did we as a presidency while we were planning the activity. We wanted to be sure the children understood how important the scriptures are and what wonderful stories and lessons we can learn when we take the time to read them. We also wanted them to realize that they have power when they read, that knowing these things will bring them closer to their Heavenly Father and I believe that they took that away from camp. We are sooo looking forward to next year and the feedback we are hearing from the parents is positive too...we have kids walking around Queen Creek singing loudly and proudly. Clayton reminds me that he went to Book of Mormon camp everytime he hears the words "Book of Mormon".


Clayton & Tristen with Sister Cartright and Sister Sanchez..they learned about the Brother of Jared


Me in the Cultural Hall with the jnr kids playing games..thankfully the snr kids were in the other cultural hall


Brother Borba teaching Ashlen's class on the Brother of Jared


Ashlen, Sarah & Anna in their costumes for their skit.