07 August 2016

The last week of summer has arrived.  We celebrated by getting sick!  Well, Arlo and Felicity did anyway.  Arlo ended up with a cold and cough and Felicity had strep throat and an ear infection.  We took it easy at home most of the week to say the least.

We had a low-key Family Home Evening this week and learned about the importance of Education from the “For the Strength of Youth” book.  We had S’more trail mix as our treat and played a game together.  We did a road rally as a combined young women and young men this Tuesday which was fun.  Helen and Arlo went to play at Stacy’s house, but Felicity wanted to stay with me, so she came along for the fun.

We were able to attend our back to school teacher meet & greets on Friday.  Both Felicity and Helen will be at Sahuarita Intermediate School this year.  Helen has Ms. Pursel for 3^rd grade who was a familiar name and face as Felicity had her for third grade as well.  Felicity has Mr. Johnson for 5^th grade and he seems like he will be a lot fun.  They were both happy and excited to start school.  Arlo also had his meet and greet and I took him just he and I.  He had such a good time completing the scavenger hunt his teacher had for him.  He’ll be in Ms. Nita’s class and I’m grateful for that.  Both Felicity and Helen had her at ECC and I feel like she’ll be a great fit for Arlo.  I’m hoping this will be a year of maturing and growing for him so that he’ll be ready for kindergarten next year.

I started on preparations for Helen's upcoming birthday party; the kids get to have a party with friends every other year.  She chose a Harry Potter theme and I spent time making invitations which looked like Hogwarts Acceptance Letters.  They turned out so cute!

We did a lot together on Saturday morning, including getting the car vacuumed and washed, cleaning the house together, and making some last minute trips to the store.  We also prepped all our meals and lunches for the week.  We stopped in the evening for a treat, dinner out.  We had a great time and wrapped up the evening by snuggling together to watch The Little Mermaid.  I’m grateful for days when we get to work and play together and when it ends with all of us on one little couch.  I am so grateful for my amazing little tribe.

Sunday morning we enjoyed our church meetings. I felt compelled to bear my testimony during our fast and testimony meeting and feel like I probably just rambled on incoherently.  Oh, well.  I taught the lesson in young women’s third hour and felt it went fairly well.  We talked about the importance of families.  In the evening we went to Melynda’s and Peter very graciously gave the girl’s priesthood blessings for back to school (Arlo declined and I wasn’t going to push him).  I’m so grateful I asked, it was a lovely experience and the girls felt loved and important and received comforting council to help them in the upcoming year.  I’m so grateful to have so many wonderful, willing, worthy priesthood holders who love us enough to do that for us.  I think we are all ready for the new school year in the morning!

31 July 2016

We had a nice week as summer winds down.  Monday we had pizza for dinner and a family home evening lesson on the atonement and watched the video The Shiny Bike to illustrate that we can use the atonement to repent when we make mistakes.  We watched Kung Fu Panda 3 as our activity which was nice and low key for this tired mama, who fell asleep on the couch about 30 minutes into it!

Tuesday the kids got to go play at the ranch, which they loved.  I worked and then got to enjoy dinner out with Lindsey.  Helen went to spend the night with Nana on Wednesday to go birthday shopping.  I can't believe she'll be eight in a couple weeks.  Wednesday evening we tried to take the young women to the cannery for mutual, but the rain in Tucson caused a power outage at the cannery, so we went to ice cream instead! 

The kids went to their dad’s Friday night and I drove to the Gilbert temple.  It was a very nice time and it was raining peacefully when I got done.  The lightning was amazing on my drive home, and luckily was not accompanied by wind and rain, so my trip was safe and uneventful.  Saturday morning I ran some errands, did laundry, cleaned the house and borrowed my dad’s truck.  I took the chicken coop apart and with the help of Melynda hauled it and the hutch and a few other things to the dump.  We went and looked at a house on some property, I’m really starting to itch for my own big space.  In the evening after a nap and a shower I went out with Mindy.  We had a great time and got to watch an incredible storm roll in, I love southern Arizona and monsoon season!

Life is wonderful and beautiful, even when it’s not perfect, let’s face it, it’s never perfect.  I feel hopeful and happy again; I’ve been contemplating the three words from our Girl’s Camp theme a lot: “Faith, Hope, and Trust”.  I have faith that my Father in Heaven will do what He has promised to do, I hope for the outcome that I want, but I trust that His plan and will are what will bring me the most happiness.  Happy last week of summer!