Saturday, June 30, 2012

Elder Lee's Surprise Party

Elder Lee is finishing up his mission and we will truly miss him!  He has grown so much while he was here and has given so much wonderful service in our area!  Tonight we had a surprise party for him.  It was funny because we were planning on throwing him a surprise party all along and so when he suggested to my husband that we have a party for him before he left, Rick wasn't sure what to say.  So he ended up telling him that we already had a branch picnic planned for this night.  So Elder Lee knew that we were having a Branch Party -- he just didn't know that it was for him.  So he was a little confused at first when he walked in and we all yelled, "Surprise!!" Then we explained that we had planned the party to be a surprise for him all along.  He loved it and was very touched by the wonderful response.  Rick had taken Elder Lee to the temple and did a photo shoot of him with the temple as the focus with Elder Lee in the background doing different poses such as reading his scriptures of looking at the temple.  Then he had one of the pictures enlarged and had everyone in the branch sign the frame.  We had Mexican food (Elder Lee's favorite) and let him be the first person to swing at the pinata.  I told him to hit it very softly so that all of the kids could have a turn!  We wish Elder Lee the best as he continues on with his "life after mission!"  We love you, Elder Lee! 











Janika: Girls' Camp

Janika just got back from girls' camp!  They went to Jacob's Lake again (near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon).  She said this is the funnest one she has been to -- mostly because she was a 5th year this year and could hang with friends her own age.  But she said that when she had free time she hung out with her ward too and also made a big effort to be a positive examples to the younger girls. They heart attacked them and went about singing merrily about how fun it was to use porta potties and pick up trash.  She said it was cute because the younger girls really looked up to them.  Janika also had a solo in their musical program and said it went really well.  At one point in the program she was in a circle of girls and she had the only flashlight on and sang a little song (something along the lines of "This little light of mine") and then pretended to light the flashlight of the girl next to her and so on until the whole circle was lit up.  She shared some funny stories about duck faces, horny toads, and the priesthood leader who stole all the fifth year girls' sleeping bags with a ransom note saying they would be returned upon the receipt of a plate of cinnamon rolls...
Janika the tree hugger...















Thursday, June 28, 2012

Naylor Riley Sabey

Our nephew, Naylor, was born Thursday (June 28th) seven weeks early to Kallie and Riley Sabey!   He  weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces and was 18.5 inches long.  We are grateful that everything went okay!    Congratulations Kallie and Riley!
 


This Week

Events this week:

Monday 25:  We started back up with our early scripture study this morning.  We started off the summer doing really well with our family scripture study every morning at 7:15. But then once the vacations started that went out the window.  But now we are home again and ready to get back on to our early scripture reading schedule.

This morning I hosted playgroup.  I had all of the kids bring their swimming suits and go swimming.  I was grateful for my older kids for their help in watching the kids both in and out of the pool.  Janika even brought cute little Audrey (18 months old) swimming and she loved it!   After playgroup and lunch I dropped Jase off to the Orthodontist and did a little shopping.  I only went to one store but took a little longer than anticipated and so Jase thought that I had deserted him. Janika dropped her camp stuff off at her leader's house.  It is SO nice having her be able to drive herself to and from things like that!

Jaiden went to dance and then Elder Lee came over for his last FHE/Dinner at our house.  I prepared his favorite -- Mexican Food.  He gave the lesson and told about his experience about driving with the Perkins on a narrow road next to a cliff and how scared they all were.  His car wasn't acting right and then they got a flat tire and had to flag down help with their cell phones.  They were grateful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost in helping them in their experience and for the help they received through prayer.  It was a little emotional saying goodbye to him even though he doesn't actually leave for another week.  He are so grateful for him.  He will be missed! 

Tuesday 26:  This morning was piano lessons and then my interpreting appointment. After lunch I dropped Janika off at the Stake Center to send her off to girls' camp.  Then Jase and I went to the City Hall to meet with Brad Hays, the director of parks and trails, to get some Eagle Scout project ideas.  There were a few projects available in the Fall but Jase wants to get started right away in order to use his summer hours and so he decided on a research type project at the historical section of the city cemetery where he will find out the dates of the graves in order of age to see which headstones need to be replaced.  There has been money already donated to the city to be used for this purpose but he will need to do the research in order to make a list of which ones will receive headstones according to age and condition.  Brad walked us through the cemetery in the sweltering afternoon heat to get a feel for what needed to be done.  Many of the graves are not marked and others are completely ineligible and others only have initials and others have readable dates (at least for now).  He will need to write up the proposal and get all of the required signatures in order to get started but at least we have a plan! I did a couple more piano lesson pick up and drop offs and then went back to City Hall to vote in the primary elections and then took Jaiden to tumbling. I went and saw   "Hairspray" at Tuacahn with Andrea to prepare for interpreting it.  It is awesome -- I can't wait to bring my whole family later!

Wednesday 27:  Rick and I attended a Seminary breakfast/inservice for his faculty and spouses.  He transferred schools this year to Pineview on the other side of town.  It will be a 15-20 minute commute compared to the two minute (half mile) commute he had to Snow Canyon.  I will miss having him so close to home.  Some years I even walked him to work everyday.  I loved the fact he was at the same school as Janika and could drive her when needed.  I loved how he would often come home for lunch.  He will miss the wonderful teachers and the beautiful facilities at S.C.H.S.  But Rick is the one who instigated a transfer since he has been at Snow Canyon Middle and High School for ten years now.  He is the kind of person who thrives on change and he has struggled with some of the attitudes of the kids in our area.

Rick has taught at Pineview before -- it was our first assignment after moving to St. George 15 years ago.  He really liked the school and kids and was impressed with how "balanced" the student body seemed to be in a variety of areas -- music, drama, sports and so forth, whereas some schools place a huge emphasis on only one area (sports for example) and give little attention and support to other wonderful programs.   Demographics have changed some since then so it will be interesting to see how this school compares to our nearby school.  Jaiden missed dance tonight in order to attend a birthday party of one of her school friends, Keira Howard.  Tonight Andrea and I prepped for the show tomorrow night. 


Thurs. 28:  Rick took the older kids to the orchard to pick apricots this morning.  These are the ones we get to keep.  They came home with three big boxes of them and they are delicious!  I just hope that we are able to go through so many so that they don't get wasted!    I interpreted again this morning and Jared went to a birthday party for Chance Barney at Anti-Gravity.  I spent the rest of the day preparing to interpret for "Hairspray" tonight.  I've been listening to the music over and over, reading the script, looking up words and phrases I don't know, and watching youtube videos of the music while I practice.  Interpreting for plays is a lot of fun and really rewarding but also a TON of work as they require SO MUCH preparation!  Everything went smoothly though and for the most part I think it went really well!



My niece, Kallie Sabey, had her baby today!  Her baby wasn't due for seven weeks but Kallie started having some complications and after being hospitalized for a few days the doctors decided to do an emergency C-section and take the baby early.  Scary!  But everything went okay and baby Naylor seems to be doing well.  He is actually remarkably big for being seven weeks early!


Friday 29:  Happy 50th Anniversary to my Mom and Dad today!!!!!!!  Rick got Janelle and Jaiden up early and took them to work with him for the day so that they could help him with some sorting in his new office/room.  He took them out to lunch at the Olive Garden -- pretty pricey for kids but he said he had a gift certificate and a coupon.  I brought Jared in to the doctor to get his Scout Camp Health form signed.   Jase and Jared went to Ky Phillips birthday party tonight.  Jase was grateful that Ky waited a couple of weeks to have his party so that he could attend (since we were out of town during his party).


Saturday 30:   The kids and I spent a couple of hours pulling weeds this morning.  Jase went to Mark Magnesen's house this morning to help him with his eagle scout project.  This afternoon we had a surprise party for Elder Lee.  More details and pictures later...

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Chocolate Face

Jaiden had a great time at Keira Howard's birthday party tonight.  They did all sorts of fun facials with natural ingredients such as chocolate.   Jaiden came home with several little containers of their concoctions and insisted that I try the brown sugar hand scrub.  I had to admit that it worked really well!

 

Monday, June 25, 2012

Elder Lee and the St. George Temple














Playgroup

For playgroup this morning I had all of the kids come swimming.  The water was a little cold but they still had a great time.  Here are some pictures of the younger kids (and Janika)!