Perm

For Whitney's birthday she wanted a perm.  She had a little friend that got one when and Whit just loved it.  We got the info about where she got it and made an appointment at Echelon Edge Academy. Jeff and I are no strangers to perms- we both had several when we were younger-Yes, Jeff got perms all the time in High School and looked pretty darn hot:)  I'll have to get a picture from his mom and post it on here. The appointment started off slow- we were the first ones in the door, but the last to get called back for our appointment.  In fact we waited a half an hour.  This was to be expected because we had to wait for our stylist to get out of her morning classes.  When they finally took Whitney back, I assumed that I would be able to sit with her during the appointment and they did let me come back, only to discover that there was nowhere for me to sit- so I ended up back in the waiting room.  I could see Whitney so I was fine with that.  I brought my Heaven is Here book by Stephanie Nielson.  I'd already read it once, but it was so good that I couldn't resist reading it again.  SO I read and read and read and pretty soon I was half way through the book.  We ended up being there for five hours.  The student we got had never done a perm and Whitney has really long thick hair so it too a while. It turned out so so cute!  It was well worth the wait.

BEFORE

AFTER



                 
 

2012 Word

Now that the year is half over I thought I would write about my word for 2012- The last few years I have chosen a word to focus on during the year.  This year my word is LOVE-   The word LOVE is often misunderstood.  I think it's under used, but also used too casually.  There are two songs that describe how I feel about LOVE perfectly.  "The Proof of Your Love" by King & Country and "Love is Not a Fight" by Warren Barfield.  The lyrics are below.  LOVE is a choice- but once you make it there is no going back.   When you LOVE someone you don't get to pick and choose the parts of them that you LOVE- you don't get to only LOVE them on their best days- or when they do things you think they should.  I believe we are here on the earth to learn to LOVE like God LOVES us and that kind of LOVE-True, unconditional LOVE is all there is, when everything is said and done.  You can listen to these songs in the video's in the next two posts.

Love is Not a Fight
Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
Then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us
But demand we give our all

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for

The Proof of Your Love
If I sing but don't have love
I waste my breathe with every song
I bring, an empty voice
A hollow noise

If I speak with a silver tongue
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste
With every word I say

(Chorus)
So let my life be the proof
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You
And what You're made of
How you lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof
The proof of Your love

If I give to a needy soul
But don't have love then who is poor
It seems all the poverty
Is found in me

Chorus

Ooh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
When it's all said and done
Ooh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
When we sing our final song
Only love remains
Only love remains

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-7, The Message)

The Proof Of Your Love: For King And Country

Warren Barfield - Love Is Not A Fight

Ethan's Baptism Photo's

Ethan was baptized in May and we just got his pictures taken.  It was a little too sunny for him, so most of the shots were of him squinting- but we did manage to capture a few good ones.  Thanks Collette for taking them!

Miss Whitney

We love our Miss Whitney Faith!  Her birthday was yesterday.  She is such a cool girl.  She is a lover and a friend.  She is one fantastic tumbler.  I always thought it would be so cool to do a back hand spring- but I'm too tall and well not flexible at all.  So to see my daughter do one is the best.  Here are the things we love about Whitney:

1. She is so so so sweet
2. She is gentle
3. She is always willing to share
4. She is so athletic
5. She is curious and loves to learn new things
6. She is beautiful inside and out
7. She is a cuddler
8. She is a loyal friend
9. She loves to read
10. She has a sweet testimony of the gospel

I really can't believe she is ten- she is more than excited to leave the "kid" years behind and begin her new life as a "pre-teen".  She adores shoes and dressing up and having her hair done so I know she's there.  She will be getting a perm in a few weeks.  That's the one thing she wanted.  She got to go out to lunch with Grandma yesterday and to dinner with Dad.  Jeff played in a tournament for work yesterday and got to come home early which was a huge treat.  He got to spend lots of time with her.  We made her pink cupcakes when she got home that night.  We love you Whit!

The End of School

I love being on year round school right up until we go back on track for the last time.  While all the other kids are ending their year and so excited for summer- we go back to school until the end of June.  The end of the year was very crazy!  We had projects galore due.  Programs galore to go to and three little kids that just wanted to run through the sprinklers. 

Ashtyn had to do a state report on the state of New Jersey.  Ashtyn is a perfectionist so we spent(and I mean we- I had to help her way more than I wanted to)days and days working on this.  Their class made an alphabet book where each letter represented something about their state.  Ashtyn went way above and beyond on each letter.  It was so detailed.  The only problem we had was that she fell off the monkey bars at school the week before it was due.  She broke her right wrist- so she could no longer use her right hand very well.  She had a lot of coloring to do so I told her teacher that I was going to be doing a lot of it because there was no way Ashtyn was going to accept turning in an incomplete project.  She had drawn and written everything out already so all that was left was the coloring.  We even got Whitney in on the "fun".  She also had the option of doing a float for extra credit(although she didn't mention to me that it was not required).  She decided to make a cake- since New Jersey is home of The Cake Boss.  This was the first cake she has ever decorated and she did awesome.  We actually made the body our of cereal treats so that it would hold the shape better.  I was very proud of her when all was said and done.  She worked really really hard on this project.

Whitney had to do a county report on Wasatch County(remember we visited the county when my dad was here).  She had to make a poster and a float.  Here is picture of the float.

Ethan had his ugly duckling performance.  He was a mouse.  I tried to film it so Jeff could see it because he couldn't come and my memory card ended up full so I didn't get any pictures of him in his costume- he sure was cute though and he got to hold up the "Y" in the word ugly.  This was a very cute performance.  His teachers are darling and went to so much work. 

Ashtyn's 5th grade did an America Performance that was so amazing.  It had me in a patriotic mood the rest of the day. 

 Ashtyn's the one with the little red shoes.

Here is Ashtyn with Jeff after the performance.

This year really did fly by.  I never did get a picture of any of their teachers- but for future reference Ashtyn completed the 5th grade and had Miss Romans.  Whitney completed the 4th grade and had Mrs. Gregory and Ethan completed the 2nd grade and had Mrs. Chang for Chinese and Mrs. B. Anderson for English.  This is crazy but school already starts again in two weeks. 

Pineview Reservoir

We went camping at Anderson Cove on the shores of Pineview Reservoir this last weekend with Jeff's family- minus Scott and Malia :(.  It was SO fun!  What a gorgeous campsite.  The weather was perfect- even a little hot.  The lake was down far enough this year so that there was a beautiful beach to play on.  There was so much to see and do that the kids never once said- I'm bored.  Here are a few pro's and con's if you are considering this campground:

Pro's
1. Tons of grass and shade for the kids to play on and to keep you cool
2. Two minutes from the beach
3. Paved roads
4. Beautiful surroundings- it's nestled in the hills around Huntsville
5. Perfect water
6. Close to Salt Lake- it's just over an hour away
7. Boat dock- this would have been better if we owned a boat :)

Con's
1. No sink's- this sucked for washing hands and brushing teeth- we had to make one with a bowl
2. Vault toliets- I know that's picky- but they were smelly
3. A little crowded- this didn't bother me at all- but if you are looking for something more secluded- this is not it.  It really wasn't bad- except for at night when we could hear someone blaring their rock music, two drunks discussing vodka, a baby crying, a kid screaming and a dog barking.  This was only at night when we were trying to go do bed and it didn't last all night

We did secret friend gifts and this was one of the favorite things.  Everyone loved trying to be sneaky and waiting to see what their secret friend would leave.  I would go there again in a heart beat and definitely would love to make this a tradition.

 The view from our site.

 The kids playing a game they made up.

 I was a little obsessed with this house that was on the opposite side of the lake-I really wanted to find it but we couldn't.