Pool Parties up the wazooo.....

If there is one thing we know how to do....its have a pool party! We love it!!! Memorial weekend is when we officially open the pool. This year we had Selena and her family in town. Mandy, Lucas and family came over, Trudi, Tyler & Noah were here from Idaho on their way to Ireland, and Joe, Amy & Lucy. Sam cooked a mean BBQ and we swam all day. The Sunderland kids have grown up with ours and its so fun to get together at least once or twice a year and have the kids get along so well. Our gang is growing.
In years past we've had one big END OF SCHOOL pool party but it gets a little crazy so this year I decided to have a day for each of the kids to invite their friends. It was soooo much better and they could each invite more friends. I didn't take pictures of the boys but here's pictures of Kami and Baili's party!
And alas, the young women pool parties at mi casa.....why stop with just my own kids.

Kicking off Summer

class of 2022 isn't that crazy???

I have seriously almost given up blogging. What the heck? Summer has been busy ever since the kids got outta school and we've been having fun. The first couple of days were tough trying to figure out how to make it three months with no real structure but once we made a weekly schedule and understood that every day WAS NOT going to be party central at our house, we were good to go.
At the end of school, Ryans teacher, Ms Jensen had the cutest little graduation program ever! The kids went through the whole 1st grade year and what they had learned with songs, poems and skits. Ryan went from being a big ham to being "too cool" to do anything, including singing and I found myself snapping my fingers trying to get his attention and warning him, through grinded teeth to participate.......loving as I am.
The parents beside me were falling off their seats, laughing at one of the songs because Ryan was so "street" and "funky" with his "gangster" hand jesters....yeah that's us...so hood! This picture is when he was "bustin a move" and yep those are antennae on his head.......lol
We found out about a great local deal for the month of June at Primm, NV and spent two separate days out there having free fun. They had rides, free movie and the CRAZIEST roller coaster ever created.....I actually lost my voice for two weeks because I screamed so much. The kids had so much fun we went out a second time and each of the kids brought a friend.

KinderGrad

Kami graduated kindergarten this year. They did the CUTEST little play EVER. Kami was the "CAT". Nana came with cousins Tyrone and Niamh. Ryan was so sweet and brought Laes for Kami and her teacher (his old teacher) Mrs Gehring.

At the end they sang "Start spreadin the news....."

Touching the Temple

Our ward challenge this month is to "touch the temple." I think the idea came from the youth TREK TO THE TEMPLE. After our 20 mile walk, the temple president challenged the youth to go up and actually, physically touch the temple, but more importantly to let the temple touch them in their lives.

So the kids and I took a walk around the temple last week. We took these pictures. I told the kids about the tree in the second picture above. When the kids were much younger, actually I think Ryan was the baby, we used to take field trips up to the temple and just sit on the grounds. I remember bringing bubbles for the kids and I would sit them up in that tree and they would blow the bubbles. Its amazing how small the tree looks now, time has flown.

The peace on the temple grounds is almost tangible and I love it there. It brings the important things in life to the front of my mind and all the other things seem less important. It reminds me of family, love and great memories!

Life & Death

The newest addition to our growing family - ISLA MAEVE ABBOTT. She is so precious and beautiful and I satisfy my maternal needs whenever I get to hold her. This is Mandys fourth baby, bring on the meds....just kidding! Mandy is so calm and organized, she is a wonderful Mom. Isla is a very calm and peaceful baby. She always looks like she wants to say something or is in deep thought, with the best expressions!Our dear, beautiful friend MaKenzie Hanover passed away on Memorial Day (May 30th) after a year long battle with brain cancer. We will miss her but her passing strengthened our beliefs in life after death and knowing that she has gone on to do work on the other side. We had some good conversations with the children about life and death. Jacob said the morning after we found out MaKenzie was gone, "its just weird that someone is here and then gone." The sadness that we feel for the loss of our loved ones is human and real but the knowledge that their spirit continues to live is extremely comforting and gives hope to those of us left behind.We took this picture the last time we got to visit with MaKenzie. Our kids really loved her, as I did. I'm so glad we have this picture to remember how great it always was to be around MaKenzie. The picture below is from YW camp two years ago of MaKenzie and her friend McKenna, both girls used to babysit our kids.

Anxiety No More

a little pic from a couple of years ago.....ahhh da beach!
Today is the last day of school (hold applause)!!!! I dont know how I feel about it (Bad Mom)!!!

My kids love school and I love that they love school, because I love them to love school. It creates schedule and a little bit of order in my insane life. Its not bad to want that.
Ok, so Ive had a little anxiety about the whole thing, what am I going to do with them? They get tired of the pool after 3 weeks, everyday is party central with 50, 000 kids in my back yard, the house goes to pot, they eat more, they whine more, they dont want to come the gym *big problem because I teach* ugh, just thinking about it makes me wanna sit in the corner with my thumb in my mouth - back and forth, back and forth - hee hee!

SO the positive person inside of me is thinking.....

1. It'll be fun not to have to rush out the door everymorning, with Jacob stressing out because we are late (didn't he get the memo that were always late)
2. I can actually spend time with the little darlings....no sarcasm, they are little! ...ok and darling.
3. We can go to the YMCA to change things up a bit.
4. Pool parties / playdates are rotating things, so they can go to other peoples houses also...breathe!
5. We are all SUPER excited for family reunions at the end of July into August. Devines here in Vegas, Bainbridge in Florida.
6. Oh, free movies at the theatre - although I think my kids might be getting over that now :(
7. Last but not least - GIRLS CAMP will kill a week and might kill me?

So there you have it, it's going to be GREAT!!!!
You should read THIS blog by my hilarious friend Denae and if all else fails, head to Walmart for Benadryl, Darts and a Happy Meal.
p.s. I'm sooooo far behind with my blogging posts, so much to share......coming soon!

Itching to get into Young Women

The Young Women had a wedding themed mother and daughter activity last week, and look who crashed the party. Baili can hardly stand waiting to turn 12 so she can come to young women activities. Here are pictures of her and her friend, Alexandra in wedding dresses. The guy in the last picture is a life sized board that one of the leaders brought as a joke for the girls to take "wedding" pics with their prince charming....lol

Summers Coming

Jacob and his friends wanted to come jump in the pool after cub scouts the other day. Even though its been warm lately the water is still a chilly 56 degrees but Im convinced kids dont feel it. It was really fun to watch them jumping on the blue floaty thats supposed to only be used by me, but they were having such a good time, I let them go ahead. Kami jumped in there with the boys but after a while got too cold and came and snuggled. The last picture cracks me up!