September

I tried out a half-up do on Olive to practice for doing Payton's hair for homecoming. Tanner wanted a picture of his hair too, haha.

The Friday after Olive's birthday, we were able to have her party! I had spent so much time prepping for it the weeks prior. I bought little favor bags and filled them with rainbow themed items like lip gloss, a twirly sucker, water bottle stickers, etc. I bought a rainbow cake topper and found rainbow cupcakes. I bought felt clouds to hang from the ceiling and made a balloon rainbow to hang from the light fixture over the table. I bought rainbow cups and plates and we made marshmallow cake pops dipped in rainbow sprinkles. I separated out Skittles into their different colors in glass goblets for the snack table. I thought the rainbow fruit platter turned out cute! And we did rainbow hair on Olive again! We did a gathering activity of etching pictures onto bookmarks that were rainbow patterned. Then we played a get to know you game around the table. I rented a cotton candy machine from Kristen's daughter Kate that was a hit. Olive and I had prepped bags of rainbow colored beads with each of the girls names so they could string a bracelet. They each took a turn posing in front of the rainbow backdrop with Olive. We painted faces, played the candy bar game and ended with a rainbow pinata. Olive was ecstatic opening presents. She about bowled Scarlett over with a hug when she saw the purple headband she had gotten her. Camilla was so sweet and stayed to helped me with everything. I was so grateful. At the beginning of the party Trav and I got a text from Bron asking if we were busy because they had just gotten bad news and Megan wasn't taking it well. Bron had been experiencing weird health symptoms the past year and they had finally gone to a neurologist and had testing done. They had left their kids in Gallup to come to Phoenix to get the results. It turns out, he has Multiple Sclerosis. Bron seemed unphased by it, but Megan was understandably a mess. I felt horrible. It was really hard to concentrate on the party when I just wanted to run to Megan. The second the guests left, Travis and I got in the car and drove to see them. They had come to Gilbert and were waiting for us at TJMaxx. Bron was actually in their car on a call. I guess some really sad things were happening in their stake that was taking all his attention. I ran inside and found Megan and just hugged her and we cried. We ended up going to dinner in downtown Gilbert and talked about everything. Seeing Megan so devastated absolutely tore my heart out. I just wanted to be able to fix all of it. I knew this night would be one of those moments we never forgot. Getting life changing news and just limping through every second afterward. We love the Shaheens so much. I'm so glad we were able to be with them. 

From left to right is Lily, Sailor Hill, Livy Evans, Charlotte Arnett, Posey Porter, Lindi Goodman, Scarlett Figureoa, Jacque Conners, Brynn, Livy Law and Mia! 

All of these friends are just from school or the neighborhood or cousins.

The next day, Trav and I had appointments to go to the temple, so we invited Bron and Megan to come with us after his day of getting infusions. Then we got dinner and ended the night at Jeremiahs getting Italian ice. We talked late into the night. I don't think we made anything better but maybe it was at best a distraction from the pain. 

When you see one of your dad's oil trucks on the road!

It's peach season! Woohoo! My kids all look forward to peaches and cream. I never indulge in that, but this year I thought, why the heck not? The calories are worth it. What isn't worth it, is participating in Inspire's peach fundraiser. Geez. I opened it up onto Instagram and just fielding orders and comments and arranging pick up times and going down to the studio to help unload boxes... not worth the little money I made.

Kids for Kindness this month was focused on animals! We made warming, sock bags for animals after surgery, peanut butter tacos for rescue horses, and sparkly wands for entertaining cats!

Trav and I subbed in Collin's Sunday school class, which I loved. I miss teaching. I had them do a domino activity that I know was meant to teach something I just can't remember what, haha. 

Paddleboarding with cousins was an adventure! 

Saturday night adult session of conference. I must have been getting antsy for my Andy's frozen custard. 

Olive had dance pictures with Inspire at the Riparian Preserve. 

This is just the Spark girls. They are the youngest company group.

This is all the Dance Company girls.

This is just Tap Company

She has LOVED the book Posey gave her for her birthday. I was thrilled to see her willingly read so much!

Oh, just another town council meeting. Collin got to go with us so many times because he had football right after at the Desert Park which was right next to the building we were at. The text from Camilla about this whole fiasco really illustrates why her messages are my favorite thing in the world.

Travis had a dental convention in Las Vegas so I decided to tag along and see Shania Twain who has a residency there right now! I love Shania. We flew in early in the morning so our hotel room wasn't ready yet. We were staying at the MGM Grand. I checked our bags with concierge and walked down to one of the hotel restaurants to get breakfast. It was a weird feeling eating alone but I wasn't mad about it. ;)

I walked allll over the hotel, trying to find a place I could wait, but that dumb place only offers seats in front of slot machines or at bars. I finally went outside and found some benches that were in a smoking area and tried to read. After an hour or so, smokers came so it was back inside to wander around. The pool area finally opened up so I got a pina colada and found a table to wait at. That was ok for a couple hours, but my bum fell asleep so I walked the country mile back to the front desks to try and figure out why the room still wasn't ready. FINALLY got our room key. I had just gotten in our room and ordered lunch when I remembered I was supposed to be having a Relief Society meeting over zoom. So spent the next hour doing that while my pizza got cold. I had really been looking forward to catching up on blogging but only had about an hour of that before Travis was done with his day. We got ready and walked down to the strip and rode the monorail over to the Flamingo, where Derek Hough was performing. We weren't super hungry so we got a little sushi before the show. The dancing was incredible. The theater wasn't big, so even though we didn't have great seats, we still felt pretty close. I loved it and was completely entertained. 

After it was over, we noticed the Grand Lux was at this hotel! Score! Caramel chicken for us! We have missed this place. Then we walked back along the strip to Ghirardelli for some hot fudge sundaes. Now, Las Vegas has always been sketchy, but it felt especially base this time. Naked girls walking around, drunk men peeing on buildings as we walked passed, just filth and horrible smells and homeless people everywhere. I was really grossed out. Weston had said he wanted to come to Vegas for his 12 year old trip, and I was considering it, but after this trip, that's a hard no. I can't believe this place hasn't caught fire yet. 

The next day, Travis went back to his meetings and I went to the gym then down to the pool. I found a chair next to a talkative, older lady from Georgia who had a thick accent and was spunky and delightful. So we chatted for an hour and I got very little reading done, which was fine. It's fun to meet interesting people. I got some yummy crepes for lunch then went back to the room to get some blogging done.

Quin and Joy were also on this trip, so we met them for dinner at the Wynn buffet! Mmmm, so many yummy options. I would have come for the desserts alone!

We had invited them to come to Shania with us, so they came! I was so excited! I'd heard lots of good things from other people. It started out OK, but with each song, the male, backup dancers wore less and less clothing. And their dancing was SO LAME. Very Magic Mike-esque. Very cheap. I actually took a few video clips and posted them on Instagram to see if people could guess where I was and I definitely got feedback that people thought I was at Thunder Down Under! It was all very laughable. I think especially after seeing the talent at Derek's show last night, this production fell flat. I was disappointed in Shania! I guess she always used sex to sell her image in her younger days, maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that she was still at it as an older woman. I just think her voice and songs are so incredible. The corny dancers ruined it. And then I was embarrassed to have invited Quin and Joy when it turned out like this. They were good sports about it. I had them pose for a scandalized picture afterward. 

The Queen of England died today. I never thought I'd see the day. Was pretty sure she was half vampire or something. She reigned for 70 years... the longest of any British monarch. Her picture was up on some of the big hotel screens. 

The next morning, we walked to the Cosmopolitan to find a restaurant called Secret Pizza that Shelley had told us about. It really is hard to find, but you go down this long hallway and wahla! I can see why it's popular! We got an Uber to the airport after that and I was not sad to say goodbye to Vegas. I felt like shuddering to shake off all the nasty juju from that hell hole. It's a shame there are so many great shows because wading through the constant cigarette smoke and casinos and sad people is not worth it.  

Weston was spotlighted at the beginning of the year and this was the poster he made. He spelling and handwriting make me cringe a little bit. I feel like I failed him. But I thought it was sweet that he wrote about his baptism and his dad being his hero.

I signed up for Liz Jones' Power Camp for 3 months at Mountainside Fitness with Shelley. It absolutely kicked my butt. I only went twice a week but I dreaded each time. 

Shelley got a rag tag group together for a day at the lake that was super fun! My mom picked up Tanner from school so I could stay a little longer. Camilla and Janae met at my house so we drove out together. I was laughing pretty hard that Casey was willing to take this wild bunch to the lake. All of them are talkers and energetic. It was a ton of fun. Casey was very patient with all of us as we attempted to wake surf. This was my third time and I finally think I got the hang of it! It was just really hard to concentrate and not dance to Nelly blaring from the speakers when I was surfing. Who are we kidding, I danced anyway and then ate it hard. 

Do you think when we're resurrected, we'll get to look like this?!?! Haha.

I took Olive with me to go see Back to the Future to support Kristen and Kim. They had tried to talk me into performing with them, but I was happy to cheer instead. 

Not sad about Krispy Kreme donuts being passed around at Sunday school. These are the blessings we get for going to our meetings.

We inherited a gymnastics bar from the Evans and there are kids on it constantly. Who knew it would be such a hit?!

I always meant to post the vision boards the kids made in January. And now I can only find pictures of Tanner's and Collin's!

This wall needed something. I really like how the ocean and palm tree pictures pair so well with our family picture!

How cute is my little fireman?! They got to pick an outfit for school that represented a career they're interested in.

He has a hard time falling asleep without us so we bribed him with being able to watch TV in our bed until we got home from our date and this is how we found him.

Payton asked if I'd do her hair for homecoming which I was so happy to do! It was fun to get to visit with her while I did it!

More flyers to hand out to all the neighbors about the upcoming meetings dealing with the industrial park. My family is the best and came to help me pass them out!

Another 007 night, but this time we did a nacho bar for dinner. I love having these boys over. And Livy came to hang with Olive so it was nice for her to have a friend too!

It's finally Tanner's turn to try out a sport!! Ahhh! 4 kids in activities. How am I going to manage this??! He played t-ball on the Orioles. Bless his coaches. The kids' favorite thing to do was ALL run after the ball, then dive for it, collapsing on each other in a massive dog pile. Even after you told them not to. Game after game. Maybe half way through the season they started staying on their feet. It's like herding cats. But oh they were so cute! Makes me appreciate when they can get their baseball socks on by themself.

It had been that kind of day. Door locked. Hiding in my room for 20 min. of alone time while chaos ensued. BIG bowl of ice cream.

Tanner loves to go to Costco with me to get "acai". He means samples. Don't know why that word is so hard for him. Sometimes we share a slice of pizza too.

Kristen Arnett had recommended this book to me. It's fiction, which I don't usually read, but she so highly recommended it, I gave it a chance. It is very very very slow. My patience was tested. But by putting in the time, the end lessons came through strongly. It's about a Muslim family and specifically how the parents taught and practiced their religion. Of the three children, two essentially leave the religion. Pain and strained relationships result. I wasn't expecting it at all, but as I read the last couple of pages I was overwhelmed by a passage written by the father. "Of all the mistakes the greatest, the most dangerous, was not emphasizing the mercy of God." The Spirit rushed in and surrounded me. I felt it testify of the truthfulness of those words. GOD'S MERCY. It was SO powerful it overwhelmed me and I cried at the goodness of our loving Heavenly Father. Yes, we teach His law and commandments, but right alongside it, His love and mercy. Because that is why He gives us commandments! They are out of His love for us. And when we mess up, as we all do.... when we walk away or doubt or struggle, he still loves us. He knows our hearts and I believe His mercy runs deep. I'm so grateful the Spirit was able to teach me the importance of this principle. I won't ever forget the strong reassurance that God's mercy is here for us. 

Olive's friend next door, invited her to do the Highland Cheer camp. Holy cow, ever little girl in this area showed up. It was a mad house. I saw Olive at the very beginning and then she disappeared. I think the experience was overwhelming for her and she had to focus on not panicking. Sure looked cute in her outfit though!

Tanner went to a car themed birthday party and came home with his own boxcar! I was cracking up when I came upstairs to check on him and he got distracted from his shower and was driving it naked instead, haha!