Color me Beautiful

One of my greatest blessings this past year

has been

serving in the Young Women's as a Laurel adviser.

Recently, during a planning meeting

for our upcoming

Young Women's in Excellence night...

I suggested that instead of another "church-like" meeting we do something a little different

to HONOR our amazing young women 

and the amazing

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

they have had this past year.

During my childhood years I had the opportunity to work with some amazing 

YOUNG WOMEN

leaders that I still admire to this day.

It was in 1986 that I had an opportunity to work with

MaryKay Bird

on a planning committee in which we planned the

Young Women in Excellence

program for that year.

MaryKay taught me how to be a leader, how to listen and take direction from others, and how to plan an activity.

That year...

We planned a FASHION SHOW.

It gave the girls an opportunity to shine and show their talents in a unique way.  It was one of the highlights of my childhood.

So in honor of MaryKay...

another FASHION SHOW for the

Cortina 3rd ward young women 

was planned.

Our theme for the night was...

COLOR ME BEAUTIFUL.

The idea behind Color Me Beautiful is that

because each Young Women's value has a color associated with it...

that has each girl lives and incorporates these values into their daily life it will enhance and beautify there life.

Let the SHOW begin.

I love how beautiful our tables turned out...

with each table representing one of the Young Women Values.

I love that I share these amazing experiences with my two daughters!

Then came the FASHION SHOW!

Each girl or leader "wore" the experience or project they had worked on throughout the year...

some thought "outside" the box...

while others could actually "wear" there project.

The Young Women Leaders went first...

to show the girls how to work the 

CATWALK!

Oh yes...

 girls...

we moms can still work it!!!

Our FINAL BOW!

I love these amazing women I have the chance to work with. 

These ladies make me be a better leader and a more loving daughter of God.

I also had the opportunity to

emcee the Laurels as they walked the Catwalk.

 I absolutely love these girls...

 they are beautiful both inside and out!

Rachel wore a "Nephi" costume as she is working on reading the

Book of Mormon

this year.  Her hero is Nephi because of his courage to do what the Lord asked...even when it wasn't easy!

Our sweet Mia-Maids take a final bow!

Katie's project this year was to plan a two-week meal plan for our family, then go grocery shopping for the supplies,

and finally prepare the meals.

I was especially GRATEFUL for this one!

She dressed as a VERY cute chef!

Our talented and FUN beehives!

Hopefully the girls felt honored for all their hard work and dedication to being the

young women God intended them to be!

Nothing gives me greater JOY than being able to

SERVE with these amazing people!

I know this calling has helped

COLOR ME MORE BEAUTIFUL...

just to be with all of you!

Two Parties in ONE

Two parties were held in ONE this last Sunday.
PARTY #1:

Baby Shower--Tom and Britni

My stepdaughter

BRITNI

is having baby number 3!

Recently when Britni and I were at a football game...
 I started to introduce her to a friend of mine.
I couldn't think of the word "stepdaughter",
so I clumsily said "daughter".
She didn't flinch.
I'm so glad she feels that I can care and love her as if she is one of my own daughters...
because I do! 

 I'm grateful that we could celebrate this
GREAT time
in their life with a party!
 I asked Chelsea to be in charge of the games!

They did not disappoint!

Can you guess who won this game?
Since Chelsea spent most of the time laughing her head off...
you can pretty much guess it wasn't her!
I didn't participate,
Chris was in bed,
but everyone else is up for grabs.

PARTY #2

Katie's 13th Birthday Party

We began celebrating Katie's birthday the day before...
with a trip to the lake with
her friends!

I laugh when I see pictures of my family and friends in

UTAH

and see them with snow...

and we are off to the lake enjoying the warm weather!

Ummmm...yep I think I will stay here for now!

And enjoy these two special girls.

 (Cafe Rio Shredded Pork Salad--Cilantro Lime Rice--All the fixings!)

(Leo taking a turn at the Pinata!)

(Katie is going to bust it wide open!)

I'm really grateful to have another teenager in the house.
Sounds crazy but I've always
thought I was a better mom to teenagers than I ever was when they were younger.
Yes...I get stressed.
Because raising children is not easy.
But when you have a beautiful 13 year old daughter named
Katie Lynn
it makes it all worth it!

Whether I am your
MOM,
STEPMOM,
GRANDMA,
OR MOTHER-IN-LAW,
it makes no difference...
I love you all,
to the moon and back!

My Life Today

I love how a day takes shape and form...

and can change on a dime.

For instance, I thought I had a "free" day to get plenty of work done.

That is until I remembered I had to take Jacob to Scottsdale for his weekly counseling appointment.

I'm so proud of him and his HARD work to earn

BEHAVIOR BUCKS!

I dropped him off at school around noon thinking...

now I will get that work done!

After unlocking my door and taking a quick potty break...

 I get a phone call from the school.

"We forgot to mention that 4th grade is on a field trip. Can you come pick up your son?"

Oops...forgot about the field trip.

Jacob just scored a free day at home.

I did manage to get work done before picking Chris up from his after school class.

Which leads me to my next adventure.

Katie's Junior High Volleyball game.

She may be the "smallest" player on the team but you wouldn't know it when she steps onto the court!

This girl has some serious volleyball skills and I'm so proud of how hard she has worked this season.

Just as I arrive to watch the game we find out their "head" coach had just gotten word that their was a death in the family

and wouldn't be able to coach.

So I volunteered!

Here was my chance to give these girls a little instruction and a whole lot of encouragement!

 Despite their loss...

these girls gave it there best and I was so proud to be coaching them and cheering them on.

I've never coached before but I found it kind of FUN!

Ummm...I don't think I need to ADD anything else to my plate but we shall see!

Usually I have to miss ZUMBA on game days but tonight was a 

2-hour ZUMBA event!

NEON DANCE PARTY!

Who does 2 hours of ZUMBA?

These amazing ladies!

I literally get giddy with excitement when I get to go to ZUMBA and tonight was no exception.

 ZUMBA just makes me happier!

I really love how one simple day can change so quickly...

and that I can have so much FUN

doing it all.

Anticipation

Oh my are we getting excited around here!

I got MORE good news this morning when a text came through:

"See You Tuesday"

It was from my neighbors and dear friends the

LAMBSON'S!

They have been gone for three long months and I have missed them.

Marcia and I have been telephoning on and off the whole summer but I could tell when I talked to her a week ago...

that she was ready to come home!

She had all types of ideas for her house (and for mine)

and for projects we could work on when she got home!

Yay...I can't wait to get started and I can't wait to have them home!

Christopher has left my sister's house and is making his way home.

We will see him tomorrow...

and the anticipation of seeing him is making me giddy!

We are planning a party for his return!

It just so happened that Katie and I ended up alone this afternoon!

So we JUMPED in the car

and headed to

ICEBERG

for a cool summer treat!

And we DID a lot of school shopping...

 party planning and shopping...

window shopping...

and I think we stopped for a nice dinner too...

but I don't want to mention it to loud...

cause we were having so much fun...

we sort of ditched everybody else! 

LOL!

Oh well...

we will make it up to them

with some awesome parties coming there way!

I'm heading off to bed now so that the anticipation of the next few days might just go by a little faster!

 

A Girls weekend and exciting news!

When we got the news from friends that we could go to 

MEXICO

this weekend...

we were super ecstatic!
We love to go to Mexico.

However, as the week began to unfold we realized that instead of going to Mexico...

we better take the more responsible route

and participate in the many activities we would be

"skipping" out on!

First of all the boys had the annual

Father and Son campout...

which Ron had been unable to attend the last 3 years.

This was finally his opportunity to take the boys for some much needed

REST and RELAXATION.

All I can say is that it turned out to be perfect timing.

Our boys are really struggling right now

and there is nothing better than spending time in the outdoors with friends 
and on the lake to fish!

Second, Rachel had her BIG cheer tryouts for high school  Thursday, Friday and Saturday!

If we had gone...

she would have been left behind and we didn't want to miss out on her big news!

So while the boys at school told her there was no way she could make cheer with a broken wrist...

she proved them wrong today!

   She made it!!

Further indication that you shouldn't listen to boys!

Rachel I knew you could do it...

I hope now you can believe more in yourself

and know how incredibly talented you are!

Just listen to your mom...

she knows everything!!!  (hee...hee!)

     Third we had our annual

Cortina Spring Carnival

at the school.

My kids look forward to this all year long and my girls didn't want to miss it since they are both leaving

CORTINA

next year for high school  (Rachel)
and for Katie the brand new Junior high school that she will be attending next year.

Let's just say...
this was going to be the FINAL hoorah

for all the kids!

       Rachel had fun with these cuties most of the night...

however, she was always in some BIG group running around all night! I can never keep up with her!

Katie hung out with these cute girls...

again I didn't even try to keep up with all the running around!

I did manage to capture a few more pictures of all the fun things she did!

 A little karate!

This is after one of those spinny rides and I just have to laugh at this picture...

it pretty much sums up who LOVED it and who was a little dizzy after being spun around a few hundred times!

Just watching these rides makes me sick!

We even convinced them to "skip" out for some good restaurant food and they were totally in...

but they wanted Cheesecake Factory!

Good choice girls!!

Meanwhile I got to spend my evening with these amazing women!

Sure do love all these girls!

It is nights like these that I'm so happy that we made the prayerful decision to move to

CORTINA!

In every way the answer to our prayers has been made manifest to us through our associations, our ward, our school and the many blessings that have come from living here!

Now that the boys are back from camping...

I'm off to spend an amazing ANNIVERSARY NIGHT  

with my sweet, loving, kind, generous husband! 

  Can't Wait!!  

Can it be that things are WINDING down?

I am feeling a big weight off my shoulders this week.

As much as I love

watching all my kids in their many activities...

it does get exhausting

and it's always nice to have a break.

Rachel finished her soccer season at school

and at her league play!

 Her CREW of friends!

  Being recognized by her coach!

Katie finished her volleyball season tonight with a 

BIG WIN

against a lot older and taller team!

 Don't let Katie's size fool ya...

she is rockin some serious volleyball skills on the court!

This season she was able to master her

SERVE'S

and her shyness...

taking charge on the court and being aggressive!

This girl reminds me so much of me when I was her age that I swear she is my clone!

I think it is the reason I liked sports so much as a kid and why I think Katie likes it too!

It was the one place I felt like I could be myself...

I didn't like being shy...

but I was.

But when I played volleyball and did well...

it allowed me to build the self-confidence I needed.

That is what volleyball does for my

KATIE!

I am so very proud of my girls

and the strong,

beautiful girls they have become!

Speaking of strong, beautiful girls...

I had lunch with two of them today!

Jamie, Deanna, Me and Rachel 
(Rachel was missing at our lunch...but she is always in our hearts) 

These girls are what having best friends is all about!

Deanna and I have been friends

since our oldest were only 2 months old.

Rachel and I have been friends since she gave birth to Gabe 26 days before I gave birth to Chris.

I named my daughter Rachel after her...

so she must be pretty special! 

Jamie and I became friends later but nonetheless

these girls were my

ROCKS

several years ago.

 Even though we have all gone our separate ways...

they will always

remain dear to my heart.

So glad we got a chance to meet up again before school gets out...

and vacations and camps begin!  

   

   

Can't wait for Girls Camp...and a girls day with boys mixed in!

Can it possibly be 26 years since the last time I went to

GIRLS CAMP?

That is why I was Psyched for today...

at Camp Psych day.

I have forgotten all the silly songs you sing

and games you play...

just to build girls into women of character!

I can't WAIT!! 

 Katie and Briley playing games!

 This was the funniest game to watch!

 Yep...we rocked our cheer at ROLL CALL!

 This is just a small group of girls going from our ward.

It was a BUSY day for most

of them with soccer games, dance, plays, and concerts so quite a few weren't there...

but I can't wait to spend

THREE

full days with these sweet girls and all the other girls from

Cortina 3rd ward!  

  

*********************************

One of my bestest friends in the

WHOLE WORLD

is my friend

Shannon!

When I was REALLY, REALLY sick

with my six surgeries...

she would come to my house 3-4 times a week

showering me with gifts

and then would spend hours rubbing my feet

just to help me 

NOT

think of all the pain and suffering.

There really isn't anything I wouldn't do for this amazing and wonderful friend...

that is why when her sweet daughter

MEGAN

wanted to do a lunch date today with ALL us girls...

I jumped on it!

 Man these girls are CUTE!!!

      These two sweet girls remind me

SOOOOOO

much of each other!

I love that they know who they are...

and that they aren't afraid to show it or to defend it!

So courageous...

so driven and succesful...

so beautiful...

such LEADERS!

I sure do love them both!

    The other night when I was talking to 

KATIE

she was a little sad about her friendship situation and the way one of her friends had been treating her.

After some discussion about what qualities a

TRUE FRIEND

 possessed I asked her if she had that type of friend currently in her life.

She said yes...

she had TWO and Mckenna was one of those friends!

The apple must not fall far from the tree as her mom has taught her how to truly be a friend through example!

I sure love wonderful women who are strong examples to their daughters.

I hope I can continue to learn from my dear friend

Shannon.

I've always felt lucky and blessed that the Lord put someone like her in my life!

As for my sweet Katie,

     how could anyone not be kind to you?

You are beautiful,

fun, kind-hearted, smart, talented

and I absolutely

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

being your mom!

    Jacob does a lot of TAGGING along...

but he doesn't mind,

he has a CRUSH on Megan!