Who the heck is Patty?

First of all let me correct you......in the kindest way possible.....it is not saint PaTTys Day, its PaDDy and it drives me nuts when I see it printed wrong on T-shirts, mugs, flags or text messages. Haven't you ever heard of a "Paddy Wagon"? Yes its short for Patrick but please don't ever refer to it again as St. Pattys day or I will have to report you to the H.L.K.I. (High Leprechaun King of Ireland).
Now that that is out of the way, take a peek at our pictures from our March 17th Paddys day party. Selena and family visited us from Utah and Mandy, Lucas and family came over and we had a "right shin dig", as they would say back home.
Green everywhere.....not much pinching but a ton of fun, games and of course a performance from the kids. Hilariously entertaining and talented as they all are, we had all kinds of hi jinks, amazing magical bubbles, dancing and wrestling. Lucas was right in the mix trying to coax Mandy to agreeing the boys should wrestle..... Good company, good people, good times!
Erin Go bragh, Up the Irish, Kick up your knickers.......ah 'twas a brilliant party!

Saturday in the park......

nope, its the not fourth of July, but it is getting Springy here in Las Vegas and we love going to Floyd Lamb Park. It seems as though its always around this time of year, when we realize Sam is going to be gone a lot more with his business, that we get the idea of going to the park. This day we took a picnic, bikes, scooters and cousin Lucy with us to hang out for a few hours. We had a good time. I have to record, even though Jacob will probably hate us if he ever reads this, but it was so funny. We were trying to eat our food and bees kept flying around us and near the food. Jacob was TOTALLY freaking out, I mean really out of control. Even when there wasn't a bee by him he was hitting his hands against his head and running away from nothing.....Sam and I were laughing so hard and other people in the park where looking at us wondering if our son needed help? Then Ryan got in on the action and the two decided that it would be much safer if they ate their lunch in the van. We were still laughing at how ridiculous they were being. When the wind would blow past them they would both start running around in circles as if a swarm was on them.
Later on when we coaxed them out of the van to play some ball, Jacob said something to the effect of, "you don't know what its like to have a phobia.....I am scarred for life now because you put me in jeopardy of being stung...." Oh goodness.......you can see the hesitation in their faces when I tried to take a picture of them.
We were saying how entertaining it will be when the boys grow up and go on scout camps and have to deal with squirrels, snakes or bobcats......glad we wont have to try calm them down then. Bless their future leaders hearts, ha ha!

What a great day!

Today I got to be a delegate at the Clark County Republican Convention. I was a little underwhelmed. It was very disorganized and I felt frustrated at the end to find out I only got to vote on a position for a small local committee. I thought I was re-voting on my candidate for the Primary election....that would be MITT ROMNEY!
Being a part of the political process was interesting and some of my fellow delegates were entertaining to say the least. I got to get to know some of the ladies from my ward a little better so that was definitely a highlight.


That evening we had a Relief Society Birthday dinner. The Relief Society is the women's organization in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I'm proud to be a part of this, the largest women's organization in the world. I was in a small singing group performing that night. We sang a song, written by one of the women called "Something Special, Something Extraordinary" about the role of women in the world and in everyday life. The program and the food were amazing. I even felt inspired to possibly give up paper plates for real table wear maybe one night a week...ha!
I was truly touched surrounded by 200 women or so from this immediate area, to know they all, regardless of background, race or age, all believe as I believe and have a desire to help and support other women in their lives. They say there is power in numbers and I felt it that night. The program was a presentation of each of the general relief society presidents that have led this organization since the restoration of the gospel in the 1800's. Each of those women served in a time of need in the world. They understood what women of their particular era in history were going through and they had a deep desire to help. The concluding spotlight was Emma Smith, wife to the prophet of the restoration, Joseph Smith. Her life was so difficult. Many times the prophet was snatched from their home, arrested unjustly and their family persecuted until his martyrdom.
The purpose of the evening was to celebrate women and remind us that we are special, important & extraordinary. What a great day!

Remember Me?

One of my members from the gym offered to take some headshots for me.
There's some more on my other blog The Flying Endorphin

Be My Valentine 2012

Special Breakfast * Family * Chocolate * Valentines * Hearts * Kisses * Roses * Cupcakes * Fondue * Decorating * Pink *
*Love *

It's March already?

I honestly don't know how we've gotten through two months of 2012 already. We've been so busy this year that time has literally passed us by. I haven't had much time to blog and honestly haven't really had the interest until now. I've been working on editing my blog book from 2011 and that's taking forever. Doesn't help that my "newer" computer is acting like it came across the ocean with Noah....so annoying!!! Maybe the thoughts of it taking 2 hours to upload 4 pictures is the cause for my lack of blogging??
So anyway, the family is doing great. The kids are busy and having a lot of fun doing lots of different things.
Baili is doing "Seussical, The Musical" with our stake and just got her part of "Thing 1"
The performance is in May. She also tried out for advanced orchestra today. She's been practicing cello and said she felt good about how it went. She will find out next week if she made it.
If ever anyone LOVED young women, it is Baili. She loves her leaders and volunteered to create a slide show for New Beginnings this week. Sam and I were a bit nervous about how that would go because neither of us know how to do it and couldn't help her. She put so much time into it and the result was fantastic. It made her Young Women leader cry......and brought a great spirit into the program when they played it. I'm so proud of her. She is turning into such a beautiful young lady, inside and out!
Miss Kami & I had a date at Sammys Woodfire Pizza to redeem her super citizen award. I thought it was going to be a mini sundae but instead they brought out this HUMONGOUS sundae. You laugh, but it really wasn't that funny because I had just given up sweets for the new year and was seriously worried about how Kami was going to finish this beast alone. Fortunately Kami knew the three little girls sitting next to us, so they helped her. Kami is doing tumbling at her school and loves to read.
Jacob is immersed in reading the Percy Jackson books. He has pretty much given up T.V. and computer games for his new passion of getting through the series. He's on book three right now and announced today that one other kid in his class is catching up so HE has to finish book three this weekend. I love that he is enjoying reading. I am not a reader - I can read - but don't have any love for sitting down and drowning in a story. Sometimes I wish I did but I would NEVER find the time so I will just encourage Jacob instead. Jacob also started playing basketball with his school. He has practice once a week. He's staying busy with his cub scout den as a Webelo and loves scouts. Last week Jacob was awarded the "BE KIND" award at school.
Ryan has been playing basketball at the YMCA. He had a great season and learned a lot. He is so cute to watch on the court. He takes his coaches advise very seriously and sometimes is so focused on waving his arms in front of the other team, he forgets to watch out for the ball when his team has it. He's funny! Even though they didn't make the finals, we're really proud of how he did this season.
For Nevada Reading week, the kids dressed up each day of the week. Today Ryan was Abraham Lincoln. We threw this costume together in 15 minutes. He looked AWESOME!!!!

ahhaaaaaahhahhaaaahahhahahaaaaaa!!!!!!!

I got this picture mail from Baili as I pulled in from church today.
All I could do was laugh!!!!

NEW YEARS EVE 2011

WHAT A PARTY!!!!
Mandy and the kids came over, we watched movies, BBQ'd lobster and burgers and waited for the ball to drop in New York. The ball dropped at 9p.m. our time, midnight on the East Coast....AND we missed it! The kids were mad but we promised them that we would catch it at 12 o clock. At 12 we couldn't find the NY ball so we watched the local fireworks going off on the strip, drank sparkling apple cider and wished each other happy new year. The kids ran out on the balcony and yelled "HAPPY NEW YEAR" our neighbors were lighting fruit on fire, fireworks were flying in the air and it was all nutty and crazy for about 7 mins. Look at the picture I took of Kami and Niamh....every time the neighbors fruit blew up, the girls started squealing like crazy....it was pretty funny. Finally at about 12:20 the kids started complaining that they didn't get to see the ball drop so we looked for a rerun on CNN and found it. We counted down and wished each other a second happy new year, then Jacob got mad and said "that was dumb, is that all that happens" I asked him what he thought was supposed to happen and he said, "I thought a big ball flew out of the sky...." aha hahaha ahahhahahah!!! I guess they wanted something a little bit more spectacular!