Family History, I Am Doing It........

I really don't have much to blog about today. Life has been fairly calm, which is alright with me. It has given me a chance to start working on family history again. I have to thank Becky for getting me re-inspired. Unfortunately, my children seem to get neglected while I am digging up names. For those of you who have never entered the realm of family history, it is soooooo addictive. Especially now that I have access to ancestry.com again I can do it for hours. Right now I am working on Mark's mothers line and I am hitting major snags. I am only back to about 1850, and things are a mess and there is very limited information. HELP!

Everyone is getting excited for our little jaunt out to Utah. The kids and I did some shopping today for some road trip supplies. I had to buy a new cooler, and if you want to know what happened to our old one....just know that story involves Mark and shrimping. That should say enough! Anyway, we are excited to see everyone and to celebrate all the fun stuff that will be happening while we are there. Wish us luck with 4 kids on a 2100 mile road trip!

Fathers

I hope all you dads out there had a terrific Father's Day! We had a good day here. Mark got home from church at about 3:30 and we immediately headed over to my in-laws house. We had dinner at Aunt Dianne's house with the whole gang and then headed back to Mark and Susan's to visit. The kids had a great time playing foosball with their daddy, and McKenna tried her best to keep Grandpa awake while she read to him, but to no avail. Joseph walked across the room all by himself and was very proud, and Kaitlyn spent most of the evening running around in her underwear with a Scooby-Doo sticker on her chest. We gave Dad his presents the evening before because we knew we wouldn't get to see him at home much on Sunday, and we were right. But I just wanted to take this opportunity really quickly to say thanks to all the "dads" in my life. I have been blessed with great men in my life--my father, my father-in-law, grandaddy, and my husband. Each has helped me differently, but all very importantly. Thanks, I love you all!

Change, growing up, and the like

It's funny where life finds you sometimes. Just when you think you've got everything figured out, something inevitably changes. And I have found that change is one of the few constant things in life. Mark and I had tentatively planned on him finishing his Master's degree next March and then finding a job out West and let them pay for his PhD. Our second choice was to stay here and just barrel right through his PhD. Now, a random change of subject........I don't often feel very grown-up. In fact, I usually don't feel much older than my YW at church even though I will be 30 this year. I still can't say I feel OLDER, but lately I have been feeling a lot more grown up. The Lord has a way of helping us grow and change in unexpected ways. Now to tie all of these thoughts together; here is a picture of our ward's new 29 year-old bishop.........

Weekend Wrap-up

Jacob (in yellow) dancing with his class at their musical program

Mark and Daniel power-washing our house

McKenna at field day Kaitlyn watching McKenna--she prefers the basket to the actual seat.

Glad we spent all that extra money on a double stroller! :)
Mark with Sam

Joseph after he found the bag of oreo's.

We had a busy weekend as usual, but filled with different things for a change. McKenna doesn't get out of school until next Friday, but her field day was this past Friday. Mark and I and Katy and Joseph were able to go and watch. She was really glad we were able to come, especially because there were probably only about a dozen other parents there from the entire K-2 grades. Anyway, McKenna had a blast and is really excited for the last day of school when they have the water slide party! Later that same evening, we all went for a light dinner at a ward member's home. The kids had wanted to stay for a while, but I had promised Miss Sheri (Jacob's teacher and another ward member) that we would puppy-sit for her. I was trying to use this puppy as a tool to convince Mark that he doesn't want a dog and they are a lot of hard work. He grew up with yellow labs (which is what this puppy was) and is dying to get one for the kids. Well my plan backfired--the dog was a complete angel and Mark didn't even have to get up in the middle of the night to take her out. He still wants a dog!

We worked outside ALL day on Saturday. We mowed, weeded, cleaned up, watered and even power-washed our house and our neighbors house. Our neighbor Daniel rented the power-washer and he and Mark scrubbed the house down to keep that blasted HOA happy. In between all that we managed to help a member family unload 2 truckloads of their stuff into their new home not 2 miles from here. They have a daughter who is McKenna's age so they are both thrilled about that. It's nice to have members of the church living close. (Please no derogatory remarks from you folks in Utah.)

Mark and I were crazy busy at church on Sunday as we both had to teach--Mark to the Elders and High Priests and me to the YW and still had to watch Joseph because he won't go to anyone. I even had to leave in the middle of my lesson to wipe Kaitlyn's behind because there is only 1 nursery leader and she couldn't leave the other kids. Craziness! Then Mark went out with the missionaries for a couple of hours and when they got back I fed them a roast and we then took the leftovers to my in-laws house. I will have to say that one of the things I love the most about living here is the fact that I get to have the missionaries in my home A LOT! I remember only having them once or twice growing up in Utah, so we really enjoy having them over now.

The best part of the weekend for me though was Miss Sheri telling me she is going to teach again in the fall!!!!! For those of you I have whined to about Jacob and school, you understand just how wonderful that is. For those of you who have no clue what i'm talking about--just know that it is an answer to a prayer!

Memorial Day Fun

This Memorial Day weekend found our family at the beach. Lora and Joe came down from NC for a visit and invited us to go to the beach on Hilton Head with them. They took Zach and Cassandra and got there a few hours before we did. As we were driving through pouring rain in Bluffton on our way to the beach, we called Lora who informed us that it was still clear and sunny at the beach. Sure enough, as soon as we came to the foot of the Hilton Head bridge, the weather was beautiful. We somehow found Lora and Joe (or rather they spotted us coming off the boardwalk and flagged us down) amongst the masses there and went straight way to the water. Joseph did not like it at all. He cried the first time we put him in the water and then wouldn't let go of Mark or I. The other kids were so excited to be there and we had a great time....for about 30 minutes. Then came the wind and the rain. Poor Joseph was shivering and crying at the sand that was pelting him so I wrapped him up in towels. Kaitlyn was turning purple, and McKenna and Jacob could have cared less. They ran back out to the tide pool and then back to the ocean while some kind people let me and the 2 younger kids huddle under their canopy. But we knew if we held out a few minutes, the storm would blow over. And that's exactly what it did and it took about 95% of the beach-goers with it. Man did that place clear out fast! So after the rain, the beach was pretty much ours and the weather was great despite the wind (which I hate). We finally convinced Joseph to get in the water after Mark dug a little personal spot for him in the tide pool. He started crawling around and splashing and eating sand. He had a blast. Kaitlyn wouldn't leave Lora alone and I know her arms had to have been sore helping Kaitlyn jump over the waves for like 40 minutes or so. McKenna and Jacob found the boogie boards Cassandra brought and were hitting everybody up to pull them on the boards while they rode. It was a great trip and we can't wait to go again!

Happy Birthday Mark!

We sure have had a lot of birthdays lately, but I love it! Mark turned 29 yesterday and informed me the entire day that we would only be 29 together for 2 months and then I will turn 30. I think my turning 30 bothers him more than me! Oh well! Mark seemed to have a great day and the kids loved helping him open all of his gifts. He was hard to shop for this year for some reason, but I think he was pleased with all that he got. Thanks to everyone who helped make his day special! Mark, we love you. You are the best husband and daddy in the world. Thanks for all of your help and your great example!

Cinco de Mayo Fun

Well McKenna decided we needed a Pinata for our Cinco de Mayo FHE on Monday. So we hopped in the car and tried to find a pinata. We couldn't find a Spanish one, so we ended up with High School Musical. Whatever works I guess! Each of the kids picked out a bag of candy from the store and we filled the pinata with their choices. I decided to let the kids use a foam bat instead of a stick so they could have more hits on it. After about 5 minutes, Jacob was the one to hit the jackpot first. The kids went crazy as the candy went flying and they each filled up their own bag with goodies. Joseph didn't get a bag of treats like the others did, but while we were cleaning up, he crawled off with McKenna's bag. He wanted to be one of the big kids! The kids had a blast and Mark and I loved watching them!