Special Stake Conference

Elder Patrick Kearon

Today we had a special Stake Conference and got a new Stake Presidency.  President Hatch and President Holladay have been struggling with major health issues for the last few years.  So, today, they got released, along with President (Uncle) Martinez.  They each spoke and hearing President Holladay speak was such a blessing.  His body may be failing, but his mind and spirit are so strong.  Cali was so touched by his words, she made him a card and was able to give it to him at the end of conference.  A new Presidency was called.  Mark Baliff is our new Stake President.  Brothers Vongswad and Penrod are his counselors.  It was such a spiritual meeting and we got to hear from 2 General Authorities.
We heard from Elder W. Mark Bassett and Elder Patrick Kearon.  Elder Kearon was the concluding speaker.  I loved his talk and his English accent.  Following the meeting.  We lined up to shake his hand.  Our whole family got to shake his hand and talk to him a little.  He is awesome!  My kids were so excited (so was I), that we shook the hand of someone who (probably) has shaken the Prophet's hand.  It was an incredible experience!

Lynds' Graduation

The Arrow!  We could find her amongst the hundreds of graduates!  She's so smart!

 Yesterday, Little Lyndsey graduated FROM COLLEGE!  Jeremy and I kept talking about how little she was at our wedding and how we used to pretend her and Sean were our kids.  Now, she's all grown up and on her way to becoming a teacher!  We got up early yesterday morning and sat threw 3 hours of hard chairs, hot weather and lots of names...but it was so worth it to support this amazing Young Lady!  She got her BS in Liberal Studies Magna Cum Laude- Oh Yeah!

 After graduation, it was time to PARTY!  Auntie Julie offered up her home and off we went.  It was fun hangin' with the Adams Family.  Here I am with my Uncle Rick, trying to get a picture with him with his eyes OPEN!

 This is the only one we could get with his eyes open....kind of!

 The kids had a blast swimmin' and Luke and Brody FINALLY went down Auntie Julie's slide for the first time!  AND loved it .... and kept doing it all day long!

 Proud Uncles- Mark & Don....BBQing some yummy goodness!

 The Guest of Honor-

I love this Dork!

 It was a special day for a special girl!  Congratulations Lynds!  We love you so much!

For all the pictures of the day, Click HERE.

Wax Museum

All ready to go....

Meet Francis Scott Key-

He did such a great job and looked so good!  He really enjoyed this project and learning about someone from History.  I am so proud of him!  Here's some more shots:

Open House 2012

 Thursday was Open House at Monte Vista.  1st stop-Mrs. Robinson's Kindergarten class.  Brody had fun showing us all he has worked on this year.  Take a close look at his self portrait (up top).  I think he looks like Sloth from Goonies!

Then it was off to Ms. McElliott's 3rd grade class.  Lukey was so proud of all his work.  Here are some of my favorites:

Photoshop project-

 "I am" Poem-

 "Me"-

 "Woodward" modernized-

 Last stop:  Ms. DeFrench's 4th Grade Class!  Cali has done really well and her teacher is very grateful that Cali has been in her class.  ****Brag Alert****  Her teacher says she's top of the class!

 She's also #1 on the AR chart:

 Here's her topography project:

 And a pic with the class snake- Lucy!

It's been a good year!  I am so proud of my kids and all that they have accomplished.  Can't wait for 1st, 4th and 5th Grades! (WHAT???????)

Cali's Mission-San Luis Rey

 We are a family of procrastinators.  I like to think we work better under pressure!  But, yes, Cali has known about her Mission Project for a month.  It was due on Monday.  So, this past weekend, Jeremy finally took her to see her mission, Mission San Luis Rey (Oceanside, CA) and then they went to Michael's to get the supplies needed to build her model.  Except, that Cali was afraid her teacher would give her less of a grade if she used a kit.  So, they just bought stuff they thought they would need and came home to figure it out.  On Sunday, (while I was being lazy), these 2 cut out pieces of foam and Cali spent hours cutting out the arches and windows.  

 They struggled with keeping it together.  The glue Jeremy had bought (foam glue), was not holding.  I kept offering to help and use my glue gun, but he kept turning me down.  Finally, he gave up and let me help.  I had that thing glued together in 30 minutes or less with my glue gun!

 Here is the finished project!

 Yay!  It's all done!  And Cali's Pepper Trees (Truffula Trees), made it extra special!  Oh!  And the top of my Pepsi bottle worked great as the dome :-)!

Mothers Day!

Cali's book-it made me cry!

 It just gets better and better!  I think this day is truly my favorite day of the year!  I had told the kids and Jeremy that they didn't have to make me breakfast, because we have 9 AM church.  They freaked!  NOOOOOOOO!  We have to!  So, at 7:30 AM on Mothers Day Morning.  My beautiful family came in singing "Happy Mothers Day to you" (with Luke playing the kazoo...) and brought me a lovely breakfast that we all shared on my bed!  Everyone had made me a card, and brought me little presents they made at school.  

 Then they gave me a box with a bracelet in it.  It had my birth stone bead on it and then I was told I had to go on a scavenger hunt to find the rest of the beads.  Each bead was the birth stone of everyone in the family.  The clue was that each bead would be where that person spends the most time.  So, of course, Brody's was near the Wii, Gavin's was on the computer chair, Luke's was next to the laptop, Cali's on top of a book in the futon room, and Jeremy's was on the seat of his car.  Here it is:

I love my bracelet!

 Then it was off to church, where 3 of my favorite former YW (Chanel, Karissa and Emily) were the speakers.  All of my kids and Jeremy sang Mothers Day songs and Primary was full of fun, as always!  After church, Cali could not wait to present me with another gift-Chocolate Covered Strawberries (Oh Yeah!).

Soooooooo Goooooooood!

 AND JEREMY SURPRISED ME WITH AN IPAD!!!!!

OK-he didn't actually buy me an IPad.  He won a contest and this was his prize....but it's MINE!

RAD

 I was not allowed to lift a finger the whole day.  It was weird.  I actually felt lazy and kind of bored.  But Jeremy kept telling me that's what I'm supposed to be doing!  I spent the whole afternoon eating chips and avocadoes and playing with the IPad. I got to talk to my mommy.  She is in Utah visiting her moms (I miss her...).  I also got to talk to my grandma Gerry! Jer BBQ'ed ribs for dinner w/ beans and a salad.  It was delicious!  We ended the day with Chocolate/Caramel covered apple slices and watching our favorite show- "Once Upon A Time".

 I LOVE BEING A MOM!  I LOVE THIS DAY!  I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for sending these blessings to me!  YAY for Mothers Day!

...p.s.... My MIL was getting home from Greece on Mothers Day, so we had a little (late) celebration of our own yesterday.  She came over and I was able to give her the cards we had for her and a pretty plant and some flowers.  I took a picture of what she brought me because it is so special to me.  I love this talk given by President Uchtdorf...and she got me the book and some forget-me-not seeds to plant. 

 She knows me so well and I am so thankful to have her in my life!

FNL Coach Jackson

Last night was Gav's last Flag Football Game.  We had a team party on Thursday and we learned that his coach is LDS!  He used to be in Jeremy's Family Ward in Escondido and now lives in Carlsbad.  He has been such a great coach.  He was so fun and positive with all the boys.  Gavin had so much fun this season and wants to play again in the Fall.  Coach Jackson wants to be his coach again! After their game last night, the Coach's wife got all the boys squirt guns and they chased the Coach all over the field and had so much fun ending their season.  I'm so grateful that Gav had such a great experience and has gained a lot of confidence and is excited to play again!

Maya Date Night

For Maya's birthday in March, I got us tickets to "Chicago" the Musical.  Last night we got to finally go and see it!  We don't get to see each other as much as we used to and I loved hanging out with her last night.  We started our night with dinner at Panera and then got to enjoy the show from some great seats.  Christie Brinkley played Roxy Hart and John O'Hurley played Mr. Flynn.  It was really fun!  I love my Maya and am so glad that even though we go months without seeing each other, its like no time has passed when we get together.  I'm very blessed to have her as a friend and for so long!

Cinco de Mayo/Free Comic Book Day!

the kids & their comics-Invincible Ink-San Marcos

The 5th of May was full of festivities this year.  As always, we called Mikey and wished him a Happy Cinco de Michael....but since the boys were at the Father/Sons camp out until the afternoon, Cali and I did some shopping and had a little Cinco de Mayo celebration lunch at Rubio's!

But once the boys got home, we headed over to the Comic Book Store and scored some free comics.  Every year, the first Saturday of May is Free Comic Book Day!  Yay!

A REALLY Good Day!

Today was just one of those REALLY good days!  And it isn't done yet!  I'm sitting on the couch right now with my Angel and we are watching 'The Sound of Music'.  We are so tired, yet so happy!
So, I had the day off today.  It felt good because I've been working some over-time and watching extra kids the last 2 weeks.  I was able to have a slow morning and enjoy STAR WARS DAY (May the 4th be with you!).  Gavin had a half day, so I picked him up around 1:00 and then also picked up Luke & Cali early from school and we all headed to the movie theater to see:

AMAZING!  AND SO MUCH FUN!

Gammy & Papa came too and we all LOVED it!  It was everything it was hyped up to be.  This was the last of Lukey's birthday requests.  And we got to go to Lamppost Pizza afterwards and have some yummy pizza for dinner.  We had to race off to Gavin's last football game, where he had a completion, 2 flags and got hit in the face a couple times and was spitting out blood!  So Tough!  They lost, but then I took all the boys to meet daddy in Carlsbad for the Father/Son Camp out.  Cali and I grabbed some yummy sodas from BevMo, and some yogurt from Frutto's and now we are having a nice ladies night at home!

Like I posted in the title....it's just been a REALLY good day.

Lukey's 9th Birthday!

 Luke is now 9 YEARS OLD!  Wow-time really does fly by.  We celebrated a little early Sunday evening with a little family pre-bday partay!  He was so excited to open his gifts and had fun running around and thanking everyone:

 He ran and gave hugs so fast, I only got the back of him or him running away!  He really loved all his gifts...

Avengers Legos!

Thanks Papa!

A Nerf Vortex Gun!

 But he seemed to most excited about the food!

Milky Ways!  Woo Hoo!

 As with my other children, Luke does not like cake.  But he LOVES Aunt Meish's brownies and chocolate chip cookies.  She was nice enough to make some for the birthday boy!  It was a great night!

 BUT - Tuesday was the Big Day - May 1st - His Real Birthday!  I had set out a new t-shirt and a NEW HAT for him when he came down for breakfast.  He's been wanting a new hat.  The Route 66 Hat is starting to fall apart.  But we just haven't been able to find just the right one.  But I took a chance, and picked this one out without him and HE LOVES IT!  It's his favorite colors too.  Here he is with the shirt and hat enjoying his cinnamon roll breakfast:

9 years old!

 He went to school and when I picked him up, he said it was the "greatest" day!  I had to work, so he came home and played with the kids and with his new toys until daddy got home.  Then it was family present time!

A new sleeping bag from Gavin-just in time for Father/Son Campout

The Muppet Show Season 2 DVD's from Brody

A new Wii game from Cali

A Subscription to the Lego Master Builder Academy

For dinner, Luke wanted to go to Islands and have some of their Mac N Cheese!  It's Kids Eat Free on Tuesday nights...so off we went!  Except, after we ordered, the server came and told us that they ran out of Mac N Cheese.  He was devastated.  He just laid his head on the table and was so sad.  Poor Guy!  But never fear, there was a Chili's right down the street....so daddy called and ordered their Mac N Cheese kids meal to go and saved the day!  Our happy boy was happy again and then we got some DQ for dessert!

Happy Birthday Luke!  We Love You So Much!!!