Balloons and Telephones

Anna and Emma were blowing up balloons today and one of them popped while Anna was blowing it up. It was early in the morning so the alarm had not been disarmed yet,so it set off the glass break sensors and the alarm went off.  Before Vanessa and I could disarm it, the monitoring company called to make sure everything is ok.  This happened to us the other day too.

So a little later, Anna looks at me and says, "Daddy, there's a telephone lady who lives in our House.  But I don't know where she is hiding."  A bit confused, I asked Anna what she meant.  Anna explained that the telephone lady always knows what is happening in our house, so she was convinced she must be hiding somewhere inside watching us.

I smiled, and taught Anna how security alarms and monitoring work today.  But just in case anyone is wondering, you should know that the telephone lady lives in our house.  She hides.  You will never find her!  But she is our friend and helps us keep safe.

Renaissance Festival

I've been meaning to blog about our fun excursion to the Arizona Renaissance Festival in Apache Junction.  We went the day before Easter, and I don't know when was the last time we had so much fun at a family outing.  This appealed to all of us, since we all have different levels of nerdiness that we embrace.  It was great!  Here goes a ton of great pictures of our fun day!

Emma was really excited about all the awesome people we met at the festival.  This wizard had these cool eyes and beard, and taught us about some magic he could do.  Anna was a little intimidated by all the characters, so she chose to not take any pictures.

We ran into this couple and Emma had to have a picture with them as well.  She wondered if this elf was friends with Link.  He told us he was, and promised us to tell Link how much we like him at our house.

Cute family ready to enjoy a show

These acrobats were amazing! We had lots of fun with their presentation.

One of the highlights of the trip was the "knighting" of the children by the king and queen.  There's Emma's ponytail, listening to her duties and requirements and promises if she was to become a knight.

Here all the knights turned to the audience to be recognized as brand new knights!  Emma even got an official certificate signed by the king and queen.  It's currently hanging over her bed.

A personal picture with the royalty.  She was so excited and extremely impressed

Lunch time.  Russ enjoys a huge turkey leg.  Yum.

How do you like this?  Anna and Emma ready to joust!  

My pretty renaissance girls!  So cute.

We got to enjoy a jousting tournament.  That was really cool.  

My cute family.  We had just made it out of a maze. That was really exciting!

Check out my ears!  Russ gave me these really cool earings/ear wraps that make you look like elf ears!  I loved it! 

Get this!  These three got to go for a ride on an elephant!  That was a major highlight of our day.  It was so exciting!  Anna and Emma were laughing and enjoying themselves.

Emma ran into Merida!  She loved talking to her, she even had the same accent as the one we watch at home on tv! 

At the end of our adventure we ran into some more performers who picked Anna and Emma to come and learn how to do a few tricks with them.  This was really fun.

I do believe we have found our very first Arizona tradition.  We will definitely be coming back next year, we had a lot of fun!  It was great to spend the entire day in a magical world full of kings, queens, princesses, knights, wizards, fairies, witches, and great imagination.  We loved it!

Emma vs. Scorpion

So yesterday we had the craziest experience.  It started out like a regular Saturday, we were all doing chores and getting things done around the house.  Russ was cleaning the pool, and Emma loves following him around outside, except this time she decided to explore what was under some bricks against the wall.  Well, we heard the screaming, and the first reaction was to tell her to calm down and tell us what happened.  But the screaming didn't stop.  We asked Emma to come tell us what happened, and the screaming still didn't stop.  Russ and I ran to her, he reached her and figured out what happened.

This is what happened next: Russ yelled for me to get the girls in the car, I grabbed keys and kids and ran to the garage.  Russ grabbed the dead scorpion, which Emma killed, by the way, and put it in a plastic bag.  I called a dear friend who probably thought I was losing it and had her tell me where the nearest hospital was.  Emma was so very brave!  We could tell she was in a lot of pain, but she managed to calm down and let us help her.

When we arrived at the ER, we felt extremely blessed, because it was empty.  What are the odds?  By now Emma was telling everyone what happened to her, and asked the nurse, "is this where the best scorpion doctors in the world work?  Cause that's what I need!"

That fist she is making is where she was stung.  Right in between her ring finger and pinky finger.  She was very cooperative and brave the entire time.  We ended up getting some ice, some tylenol, and a looooong time checking her breathing.  We learned more about scorpions than I'd ever care to know.  Let's just say we were extremely blessed.  Apparently scorpions don't always release venom when they sting.  You can't know for sure though, it can hit you up to two hours after the sting, so we were watching her for almost four.

Emma found a way to charm the nurses into finding her a sucker.  They were loving her, let me tell you!  

Here is the culprit.  We named it "Grossy".  We hate Grossy.  Emma smashed him with the brick she picked up, that's why he's missing an arm.  There are "bark scorpions".  If you really want to freak out, google it.  

We are very blessed.

Nothing like a major event to remind you how much a loving Father in Heaven is mindful of us.  We are so grateful for his hand guiding and protecting us.  

Emma was fine, and we couldn't be happier to see her try to climb the hospital equipment and push buttons she wasn't supposed to.

Do we still love Arizona?  You bet.  We are even going to invest in a new hobby.  Hunting.  Scorpion hunting.   It's on.

The story of a dream coming true - Kenny Rogers

Let me start by saying that I was young, very young, when Kenny Rogers came into my life.  This was the first album I ever heard. I didn't speak English at all, and had no clue what he sang about, but back in the early 80s my parents played this cassette in the car.  A lot.  Because I begged them to.  My parents enjoyed Kenny Rogers, and I just fell in love with his raspy, harmonious voice.    Through the years (which is the title of one of his most popular songs, by the way) I kept following his music and wishing that someday I could actually hear him sing to me, live.

As a clueless teenager, already living in this country and speaking the language, I still couldn't deny my love of Kenny Rogers.  It gave classmates an easy target to pick on.  More than once I stood by Kenny while other kids would tease me as they sang "you gotta know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em..."  Instead of feeling upset, I would feel bad for them that this was the only song they could think of when it came to Kenny Rogers.  I was nerdy anyway, one more reason to get picked on didn't really matter.  I was one of those proud nerdy kids. :)

Forward a few more years to the mid 90s.  I'm attending BYU, and I have a super cute boyfriend called Russ.  We hadn't been dating for long, so we didn't know each other that well yet.  One day in the fall semester of 98 Kenny Rogers was singing at what was then called UVSC, now UVU.  I was ecstatic!  I finally had the chance to see him live!  So I decided to ask my boyfriend on a date to go to the Kenny Rogers concert with me.  I still remember where we were standing on campus, between the library and the Smith Family Living Center.  I made the invitation, and my boyfriend started chuckling.  He said "you're so funny!  Let's go on a date to see "The Gambler"!".  And then he did it... he sang "you gotta know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em..."  Imagine, if you will, my heart dropping to my toes, my shoulders slump down, and I swallow hard and... laughed right along with him.  Yeah, it was not going to happen. :(

Years later I married that cute boyfriend, and what was his became mine, and what was mine became his.  Including an extensive collection of Kenny Rogers' cassettes and CDs.  My new husband was surprised by his discovery, and must have gone back to that moment when I asked him to the concert, and realized that I was serious.  :)  He has felt badly ever since.  It was fine, though.  I still wished to see Kenny Rogers, and now he knew how badly.

Now we're in 2013, and for Valentine's Day, my adorable husband surprised me with this:

BEST.  GIFT.  EVER.

Here I am!  Of course I bought a t-shirt!  This was the best day ever!  The little kid in my was jumping up and down!  Unbelievable!  

We waited for the show to start while looking at all those cool 80s album covers.  It was awesome.

Here he is.  My cute Russ, who made my dream come true!!!!

Our start stamps.  We're here!!!  It's happening!  My cheeks were hurting from smiling so hard and the show hadn't even started yet!

Then he appeared.  And sang.  To me.  Live.  And the waterworks began. :)  I cried, and laughed, and jumped, and screamed.  Russ held my hand through all of it! :)  I thought at one point he'd pretend not to know me, I was that hysterical, but no, he put his arm around me and let me enjoy this moment.  

I LOVE KENNY ROGERS!  He sang all the favorites.  He joked around with the audience.  He talked about the background of some songs.  It was better than I had ever imagined it would be.  

I'm even more in love with Kenny Rogers than ever.

This has seriously been one of those highlights of my life moments.  I love that I can go back in my mind to that memory, and that night.  

And I'm so glad I married that cute boyfriend who teased me 15 years a go about wanting to see "The Gambler". I might be a huge fan of Kenny Rogers, but I'm Russell Sperry's number one fan.

Girl Scouts at the Animal Shelter

Here is another fun Girl Scout moment.  On Saturday, March 23rd, our troop went to a local animal shelter, and made a donation of lots of supplies that they purchased with their cookie money.  This shelter takes care of cats only, and they were happy and grateful for having these girls show an interest in these kitties waiting to be adopted.

Anna had a wonderful time playing with all the different cats.  They have a room at the shelter where you can come and play and get to know the kitties.  It was a lot of fun.

The girls also got to meet the youngest little kitty that was at the shelter.  I believe this one was only 3 weeks old.  

Of course we had to hold and cuddle that cute little kitty.  This was so adorable.  It was great to see all the girls there together and excited about helping our community, and how generous they were with their hard earned cookie money!

So to all of you dear friends who supported Anna as she knocked on your door the last few weeks, just know that your support not only made a difference to Anna, but to the Sun Cities 4 Paws Rescue.  Thank you so much!

We only have 3 more meetings before we break for the summer, but if you or anyone you know would like to join us for Girl Scouts, we will be starting again in September.  I will be the new troop leader, meetings will be held in my home, and we will be welcoming kindergartners to third graders.  We'd love to have more friends!

Beautification

Saturday night.  Curlers in.

Sunday morning.  Ta da!  Curls. :)

Visiting the Mesa Temple

This last week we got to enjoy Spring Break together, and we decided to make a trip to see the beautiful Mesa Temple!  It just pops out at you.  You're driving around in this residential area, very simple, common place, and then all of a sudden you see this beautiful building!

This is such an exciting moment, for us to see how different temples can be, and yet they are all the same, they are all the House of the Lord.  

Beautiful weather, it was a great day to run around and just enjoy the grounds.  The girls had so much fun!

So pretty!  It sure feels nice out here.  It smelled so beautifully here, all those pretty flowers everywhere.

We had a great time seeing the temple in Arizona.  We're so blessed that soon we'll have a few more temples even closer to go and visit here.  It was a great outing for us during spring break, and it's always a great opportunity to talk about temples and the gospel and the blessings we have in our lives.

I take too many pictures

Sometimes I take a picture just because that moment made me smile.  This was one of them.  These two are my happy thought.  They are my reason for getting up in the morning and smile.  

I saw these words of Facebook, on a family's page who just lost their 10 year old son.  I've been following their journey as they said goodbye to this little boy, as his life slipped away while no one could do anything about it but love him.  The day after his passing they posted this:

"As you grow up, you will learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it will get harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin." ~Unknown

So grateful for the ordinary, every day, silly fun we get to share in our home.  Time does go by way too fast. So grateful for the example of so many friends and family who know how to live their life, enjoy their moments, and know what really matters.  So grateful that we can all be so silly in this house, and laugh and play together.  So grateful for hearts that have healed, for forgiveness, for looking ahead, for leaving the past behind, where it belongs.  So grateful for the knowledge that a loving Heavenly Father is mindful of all of us.  

Get your cookies!

Here are some of our girls in front of a local supermarket.  They are so cute!  I just can't say enough about the Girl Scout program.  It's great to see Anna conquer her inhibitions and learn about her talents.  She's actually great at sales!  She's been goal oriented, and ready to work hard to earn her badges.  She's approached people and spoke to them very confidently, and has learned to deal with rejection very gracefully.  (Not everyone wants cookies from these cute girls, can you believe it?)  Learning to deal with rejection without discouragement has helped her in all other areas of her everyday life.

She's also celebrated her successes, and she's had lots of that.  We've had a chance to meet our neighbors, our church community, and school friends.  She's learned to show how grateful she is for everyone's kindness, their time and generosity.

One of my favorite cookie selling moments was yesterday.  The girls watched this HUGE Escalade stretch limo drive slowly and park right across from our table.  We all stared.  Anna asked us what kind of car that was, and her leader said, "A very rich person's car!".  Anna then says, "Rich?  So they have money to buy cookies!"  She grabbed her sign and started saying, "Get your Girl Scout Cookies, they're delicious, you know you want some!  What's your favorite?"  After doing that for a while, and putting on her cutest little girl smile, we saw the driver lower the partition between him and the back of the limo.  We saw a hand giving him money.  He walked out, came over and asked Anna which cookies were her favorite.   She pulled up four different kinds, and the driver purchased all of them, thanked her, and took it back to the limo.  It was so funny!  We still have no idea who the person in the limo was, all the windows were tinted.  We sure had a fun time coming up with ideas of who we had just sold cookies to. :)  Way to go, Anna!

So cookie season is almost over.  Just a few more weeks.  This has seriously been so much fun!

It never gets old

It seems that as much as I try, cushions are just not meant to stay on couches here.  Anna and Emma decided to build the best forts ever, and Russ decided to lend a hand to their endeavors.

Emma decided to call this masterpiece, "Blue Castle".  Daddy was very helpful, and even helped her have the laptop under there so she could play games.

Anna decided to build hers in the front room, and with daddy's help, they managed to get a lamp under it so she could read books inside.  She called it "Golden Green Dream".

Building forts seems to always be one of the best forms of entertainment for these two.  Actually these three! :)

Something else that was really cool last night:

Check out this moon!  It was huge, this picture really doesn't do it justice.  It was incredible how amazing it looked.  So while the kids had fun with daddy and the forts, I enjoyed this gorgeous gift.

 "I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world, Heavenly Father created for me!" :)

Fun times in February

Here are some of the latest things our family has been up to:

We received lots of love for Valentine's Day from our family in Utah:

Thanks to our cute cousins for sending us their love!  We miss you Kate and Madi!

Thanks to our cousins Jack and Lily for sending us their love.  We miss you so much!

Emma and her "BFF Forever" Madi, at their field trip to a chocolate factory!  It was so much fun!  These two very smart kids realized that they could keep going round and round in line to keep getting chocolate dipped pretzel samples.  

Emma working very hard on her chocolate pizza.  This was really cute.  

Emma and Anna had their first Shine Your Light Singers performance at the Peoria Farmer's Market.  They are great little singers!

Anna got all dressed up as Cleopatra and her balloon snake, just for fun.  You never know what characters you'll find over at our house at any time.  We pretend and dress up a lot around here.

I also managed to be in a car accident this month.  I'm very sad that my gray car is no longer on the road, he would have been 10 years old next year.  A moment of silence for the car that drove both my babies home from the hospital.

So sad.  The driver's side got the most impact, you can't tell from this, but the driver's side door can't even open.  We are still dealing with trying to get this figured out.  No one was hurt, this is more of a really big frustration...  Fortunately I was not at fault in this little ordeal... :)  I'm a good driver, I promise! :)

Anna has been busy with Girl Scout Cookie season lately as well, we sure have enjoyed encouraging her as she earns badges and reaches goals and makes new friends. 

All in all February has been very fun.  Fun and a lot warmer than February 2012.  :)  We love Arizona winters!