Only Two Days Left

Well, the dreaded days are just about here. School starts for the oldest two on Thursday and the youngest two on Monday. I've decided on the worst part of school - it's how your schedule becomes very busy. School hasn't even started yet and my calendar is full this week. I will admit that school will be nice for one reason. Once my house is cleaned (or at least one area) maybe it will stay clean longer than a few minutes now that all my girls will be in school.

Church Fireside

One of these days I'll post pictures, but for now I wanted to tell you of an amazing guy who spoke to the youth in our church. He had received a mission call and was working to earn more money for his mission when some large boards fell on him and paralyzed him. He can move his arms and a little of his hands, but not his legs. What is so amazing to me is his positive attitude. Instead of feeling sorry for himself he had such a great outlook and strong testimony of the church within just a day or so after the accident. Eventually he was able to go on a mission through connections to the mission president in North Carolina even though he was told he wouldn't be able to go on a mission. He really impressed me with his attitude of his affliction being minor compared to others' afflictions we can't see and his testimony of Joseph Smith and the awe he has for Joseph Smith and the trials he went through.

We've Got One!

One of our Red Star chickens laid our first egg yesterday. Isn't it such a beautiful brown color? It is about the size of a medium egg. Can't wait to eat it, but you can't eat much when you have to split it six ways so our other chickens better start laying soon:)

Family Trip

We were gone this last week on a family trip. We headed to Utah with a stop near St. George so we could visit Zions on Monday. It was of course awesome to see such beautiful creations. On Tuesday we went rock hounding with My Love's brother at Topaz Mountain near Delta. The first three days I couldn't understand why I couldn't get very much energy to climb the mountains and go rock hounding. I attributed it to the heat, but on Wednesday I came down with a terrible sore throat, so I must have been sick, because when it was gone a couple of days later my energy was back. On Wednesday I was able to see my friend that I've known since I was two. She lives in Washington and we were both visiting family this month. It was great to see her and her cute 3 1/2 month baby. We visited My Love's other brother and his family that evening. Thursday we visited the Oquirrh Mountain temple and the girls were thrilled to be able to see inside it. It's a beautiful temple, but aren't they all? Thursday through Saturday we went camping with my family. We left for home this morning. It was strange having only two kids in the back of our Explorer. AC is staying in Utah for Especially For Youth a church program that she'll attend for a week and then she's staying with cousins for an extra week. AR talked us into letting her stay an extra few days too. We have a travel voucher she is using and she'll be home on Wednesday. The girls had fun playing with and "hanging out" with cousins from both sides of the family this trip. Camping was fun, except my least favorite part of sleeping on the ground. I'll post pictures of the trip soon if they turn out okay. I accidentally dropped our camera in the lake. After drying it out, it now turns on and works, but the screen is a little damaged. M was saying our family prayer tonight and she said something cute that almost made me burst out laughing, "Thank you that no one was eaten by a bear." I say amen to that.

Sweet 16!

My oldest baby turns 16 today! Now she can begin dating! She's at girls camp this week, but we're going to surprise her with a visit tonight and take her cupcakes, flowers and a balloon. My beautiful girl.

Notice that you can see her cell phone through her pocket. A common sight. She now has one of those that makes it easier to text.

Gotta love this picture. She had a joke with her uncle about tree-hugging so she had me take this picture last year.

Dress she wore for a choir concert for the song "Masquerade".

Did anyone notice that she likes to wear a lot of green? It's her favorite color.

More Pictures from Our Visit to South Dakota

I thought this was a sweet picture.

K shows the dress-up she designed and G'ma made for her.

Putting flower pedals on a spider's web.

Fun at the Beach

We visited a beach along the Missouri river when we visited G'ma and G'pa. The girls had fun swimming, building a sandcastle with me, and skipping rocks.

Digging a hole.

K as a mermaid.

Dad and Mom L.

Sitting in the shade to cool off. M is burying G'ma's feet.

AC attempts to skip a rock.

I love My Love! Everywhere we go he's checking out the rocks. Here he's showing one to his mom.

Since I posted a picture of everyone else, I decided I should post one of myself.

Trip Up To South Dakota on 6/26

We visited G'ma and G'pa in South Dakota last weekend. I'll be posting some more pictures, but here are some from on the way up at a stop at Fort Cody in North Platte, Nebraska. M wouldn't get her picture taken on the pony.

K unaware of her sister being eaten by a bear.

Such interesting things to see, like this two headed calf that only lived for two days.

A Thief Strikes Again

I don't know what it is about special days in my life, but they must be jinxed. Some idiot person decided to steal my bank card information and used it for some purchases. Thankfully my bank caught it, declined a larger purchase and notified me. I had the hassle of putting claims in at a couple of places and canceling my bank card today. Such fun!

17 Years!

Today marks 17 years since My Love and I were married. Our marriage gets better and better all the time! I am so grateful to my husband for putting up with me and making me feel good about myself. He's a wonderful husband and father and I am so glad I married him! My Love I'm looking forward to spending eternity with you! Love Ya!

Happy Birthday!

My Love turns 39 today! I'm not going to post any pics, because I'm not sure if he'll appreciate it or not. Anyway, even though you're not thrilled about your birthdays I hope you have a wonderful day My Love! LOVE YA!!!

Last Day of School!

Yay!!!! Today is the last day of school. No more running kids to and from school. No more worrying about homework, getting kids ready for school, and getting to school on time. Now I don't have to worry about getting to various school activities and volunteering. I can spend more time on getting my house organized, because the kids will be helping with the cleaning. I can also spend more time with them.
Okay, maybe this is wishful thinking. The kids will be home, so there will be more messes. I may have to play referee a few times, and yes in a couple of months I may be ready for them to return to school (All of them will be in school next year! My babies are growing up!) I usually, but not always dread the first day of school, because I usually love having my kids home; even if it gets chaotic, noisy and messy at times. Anyway, I'll let you know in a couple of months if my feelings have changed. For now, I'm going to enjoy a less stressful schedule and spending more time with my family.

Roxborough Park with Grandma and Grandpa

I'm finally posting pictures of when my parents visited on May 1st through the 3rd. We visited a state park that is about 20 minutes away from our house while they were here.
We saw five deer just sitting in a meadow. We also saw a beautiful black fox.

Neat rock formations.

The girls posing for their dad to take pictures of them.

More Pics from Africa

My Love did have a couple of pictures on his camera. Here's another beautiful sunrise.
He was lucky to see a lioness with four cubs.

He says there are lots of baboons lining the side of the road. This one is scratching his head with his back leg.

South Africa Continued

I found out that the backpack was most likely stolen when My Love was at a gas station. The person he was with did not completely close the back door of the car when they stopped, even though My Love locked the door (Can I slap the guy for his stupidity?). When they came out of the station a guy was standing next to their car and said "Oh, sorry." My Love now believes the thief was going back for another bag or two or his camera and other stuff that was in the front seat.
My poor husband is feeling pretty low right now. He had to travel one and a half hours to go to the consulate, because the person at the embassy near him was on vacation. He did file a report at the police station, so that insurance will hopefully cover some of the stuff.
I'm still hopeful that the thief will not be able to access information on the laptop. This whole thing is frustrating. On the bright side, at least My Love was not mugged.
Edited to add - He got a temporary passport so he can come home this weekend! I think he's feeling a little better.

More of South Africa

I really wanted to post some more of My Loves African wild reserve pictures. Unfortunately I will not be able to. Some South African now has them. I was very angry with this person for taking them, but I am slowly finding forgiveness and peace over the situation.
I knew that South Africa has a high crime rate, but I guess I really didn't think that it would happen to My Love and especially to the extent that it did. His whole back pack was taken from the back of his car. It held his laptop, ipod, passport and some souvenirs. He wasn't aware of it being gone until his rental car broke down and he looked for it in the back seat to get some paperwork from it.
The worse part is not being sure of the situation. We do not know if his computer will be hacked into and get some important information. I'm not sure how or when he'll get home without a passport, although I'm sure it will be fine, he just needs to contact the embassy. This is the second ipod to go missing and I know he's frustrated to lose all of his music. Like I said before, it's frustrating to lose the pictures he took, because I'm sure they were awesome. I just hope he had put all of the family pictures he had onto our computer.
Sometimes life is not fun!

South Africa

My Love is in South Africa. He left on the 8th and will return on the 23rd. It's more difficult having him gone this time, because he can't skype or call as much as he usually does. I'm envious that he gets to see all the animals in their natural habitat. I think maybe if he goes back I may go with him. Beautiful Sunrise

Exciting encounter with three bulls.

Hippos cause Africa's most deaths from animals.

Happy 14th Birthday!

AR turns 14 today and will start high school soon! We went on a walk today and I enjoyed talking to her and remembering when she was born and when she was a baby. I hope I don't get in trouble for posting any of these pictures. She did approve some of them.

Building a snowman with M.

Pie eating contest with other young women from our church.

Laser tag.

Doesn't she look spooky? She took this picture of herself in the mirror on Halloween.



Also on Halloween.

Feeding the geese at the park.

With Louise our French foreign exchange student.

Again with Louise on a hike.

Another picture she took of herself and changed the color. Maybe she could be a model?