Spring Break--California

I am extremely behind on the blog. My kids have been asking me when I am going to update it with all the events and things we have done. I guess I have been too busy living life to record it.

We went to Disneyland for one day (give a day get a day). We arrived at 7:30am and left at 12:30am. We had a fabulous time and were ready to relax at the beach the next day. Rick and Gemina were so nice to let us stay with them for a couple of days. We felt very pampered with the delicious food and cozy beds. THANKS Gemina and Rick!!!!! Natalie loved spending time with her cousin Madeline.

Prom

Last Saturday both Josh and Natalie went to Prom. Josh really liked wearing a tuxedo and he looked really handsome. Natalie looked beautiful too. I think her date was really nervous because he only said two words when he came to pick her up and continued to shake his head or laugh. Natalie said that she had never talked to him before at school so she decided to treat it like a blind date. hahaha She said that during all the slow dances she just taught him how to waltz so it wasn't awkward.

Her dress we bought at DI and I added the sleeves from the material of the slip underneath. They did not turn out exactly how I wanted them to and I envisioned her a little more covered, but she was thrilled with the dress. They both had a nice time and had fun getting all dressed up.

Happy BIRTHDAY Caroline!!!

Caroline's birthday picnic lunch on the kitchen floor.
Caroline is 12!!!! Wow, my little girl is getting so old. Caroline is so excited to now be in the Young Women's program. She went with Natalie and I a few weeks ago to the Young Women's broadcast. It was so fun to go with both of my girls. We all loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk.

Caroline is such a darling girl and has so many talents and interests. She is always busy baking, singing, dancing, doing a craft or playing with friends. I really appreciate it when she helps me with dinner. It will be exciting to see what new interest or activities she will be involved in the future. Her birthday presents this year demonstrate some of her varied interests.

1. Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"

2. new ballet shoes and tights

3. piano music to the "Pride and Prejudice" soundtrack

4. Lyrics and piano music to Prince of Egypt "When you believe"

5. clothes

6. gum

7. Animal Crossing Wii game

WE LOVE YOU CAROLINE!!!!!

What Brothers Do on Sundays

So my boys decided to make a brothers' summer blog. They plan on putting random things, ideas, pictures, jokes, and stories on it. Check it out here and you will see how random this blog will be. It was fun to watch them put this together today even though their movie really has no point. Joseph dance makes me laugh.

Jake--Forever Strong

Jake and Friends--after their first rugby game

An example of how random this sport is.

Jake getting tackled illegally--that guy got a penalty for an upper body tackle.

Jake catching the ball

Jake and a few friends have joined the local Rugby team. They have been practicing since February and even went to a tournament in St. George. It is the most random sport. John andI still have not figured out all of the rules and terms of the game. To me it looks like they all make it up as they play. One minute they are passing the ball and kicking it and the next they tackling, scrumming, and jumping on top of each other. Jake absolutely loves it. I am still undecided how I feel about it because it looks so dangerous when the boys play and someone usually is scraped up or badly bruised each game. Jake position is wing.

Happy Birthday JOSH!!!

Josh turned 19 on Saturday. He invited a lot of his friends over for a party. Everyone had a great time and we had to eventually kick people out around 12:15 am. Josh is a great person and we are very proud of him. I can't believe he is this old--where does time go!?! We are going to miss him when he goes off to college next fall and on a mission in the winter. We love you Josh--HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

You Can't Take It With You

This video is of a few clips of Natalie's part in the High School Play, You Can't Take it With You. She played Gay Wellington, the drunk actress. This was a huge stretch for her because she has never seen or been around anyone drunk. I thought she did great, even though, it did make me uncomfortable watching her be "drunk".

Give a Day, Get a Disney Day

This is a picture of the ticket vouchers I printed off for Disneyland. Our family did the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day program. We made birthday bags for the juvenile justice Services and a quilt. The kids decorated each paper bag and put in a candy bar, drink, chips and a homemade card. We made 60 bags and Joseph tied a fleece quilt. We had a fun time doing this for family night. I was surprised at all the different opportunities for the children to serve as I browsed through the different options, I think I also found a Eagle project idea for Jake . This was a great way to serve as a family with the added perk of a free visit Disneyland.

Dresses for Less......formals on a Budget

A stag dance.

Her other dresses

Last summer I was on a mission to find some formals for Natalie as I garage sale shopped. I ended up with finding 6. I then found 4 at a thrift store. A manufacturer had donated their old inventory and all the dresses still had the tags on them. Some of these had original price tags of $200. The thrift store sold each of them for $35.00. It was always a risk when I purchased these at the yard sale, because Natalie usually was not with me, but I figured I could always alter them or or resale them. I think only two of the dresses will not work. One, Natalie does not like and the other requires too many complicated alterations to make it work. Here is what I spent;

garage sales:

black dress 8.00

red dress with shawl 15.00

short green dress 5.00

light blue dress 8.00

light blue dress (one she doesn't like) 3.00

red dress (too many alterations) 40.00

thrift store

light blue sparkly 35.00

royal blue 35.00

magenta 35.00

princess blue one 35.00

TOTAL: 196.00

That seems like a lot, but I figured she has 8 dresses she will wear and it works out to be about $26 a dress. I told her earlier that I would buy her one dress a year, so this year for the price of one she has 8. I do need to work on my sewing ability, though. The top light blue dress, she is wearing above, I had to take in and altered the sleeves. When she gave her date a hug goodnight her right sleeve ripped off. hahahah :)

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

On New Years day I shared this wonderful story with the children (it actually is about Natalie's friend's grandfather). I then also reminded them of President Monson's recent talk on service. After reading the story and talking about service, I gave each of them their own notebooks. I told them as a family we will try to do an extra service for someone else each day and record it.

Well, we have been doing this for over a month now and I must report that some children are better than others in recording their good deeds. I keep most the notebooks in a basket by the table and some of the kids have their notebooks by their beds. Tomorrow we may pull out these notebooks to review how we are doing after family night. This video below would be good to show if you are doing this for family night.

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?