It's always FUN when Grandpa comes to visit!

We were so lucky to have Grandpa come visit for a couple of days, but were bummed that Grandma wasn't able to come too. She was planning on coming with my dad until it got moved up a week. My Grandma moved to Lodi a month ago so my dad was driving the rest of her stuff out for her. The kids loved having him here and we wished he could've stayed longer. He got here Friday afternoon and took us out to dinner that evening. Then we picked up some stuff to make banana splits on our way home.

When my dad got ready for bed that night he came in and found that he had a roomate. Jaxton warmed right up to my dad. He even moved his pillow into the room Grandpa was sleeping in and slept with him the whole night. Grandpa was Jaxton's best friend the whole weekend.Saturday started off with Grandpa's famous maple bars. We hung out at home most of the day. The kids had fun playing with Grandpa and enjoying his attention. They think Grandpa is so much fun!Unfortunately Grandpa had to leave early Sunday morning.

But, he left them this FUN game....Grandpa explaining all the rules...They kissed Grandpa good bye and ran inside to see what was hidden under those pennies!He sent them on a $$$ TREASURE HUNT!!Jaxton had fun finding the first clue and his very own dollar bill.This one was a litte tricky for them...It even took me a little while to figure this one out.They had soooo much fun with this!

THANK YOU GRANDPA!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!

Relay for Life

Since Madison is in student council at her elementary school, she was invited to be part of their Relay for Life team. Despite it being for a serious cause, there was plenty of goofing off and fun to be had by all that attended. We went down to walk a few laps with Madison. It was fun to check out all the booths and see all the stuff they had available.Mr. Eisman even took some time to show Rob some pointers to improve his musical skills.Relay for life is a 24-hour event, so of course Madison wanted to stay over night. I didn't really like the idea, but Rob decided to support Madison by staying with her. They stayed up most of the night and took turns with other team members walking the course throughout the night, partly just to keep warm (it was very cold that night). It was a good experience, and we were happy to support such an important cause, especially since Rob and I have both had experiences with cancer.

I'm a BIG boy!!

Jaxton surprised me this morning when he took off his diaper and wanted to sit on the toilet. He's sat on the toilet one time before, but never actually went. But this morning he went "potty" for the first time! I was so excited!! Then he went three more times right after. Hasn't quite figured out how to empty his whole bladder, but he'll squeeze out a little everytime I put him on. We went right to the store and picked up some big boy underwear. I love these little boxer briefs on him! It's so fun seeing him in little underwear. After his first little accident (which was only a little dribble) I decided I would just start putting him on the toilet every 45 minutes. He went everytime! Hopefully he'll work up to every three hours or so. But hey, this is a start!!

Follow the Yellow Brick road...

We had a really fun Relief Society meeting in our ward recently and thought I'd share it. I found this idea on sugardoodle, but we changed it up a little bit. Our theme for the evening was, There's no place like "a happy" home. My friend Jennifer Poyer wrote up a fun little script for us and my friend Kinda - who played "Glinda" - led us on our journey down the yellow brick road...
Here's how the evening went...


When people arrived Auntie Em and Dorothy greeted everyone at the door and welcomed them to Kansas and to their “very happy home.”

We enjoyed a yummy "picnic" dinner... While everyone was finishing up their dinner we had a big storm start up...I put together a little sound clip of heavy wind and tornado sound effects and had the lights flashing on and off. When the storm stopped, Glinda appeared... Dorothy looking a little concerned asks, "What happened, where are we? Where is our happy home?"..... "I am Glinda the good witch….and I know just what you seek!! Everyone come with me and I will help you get back to your homes…..
It is simple you must follow the yellow brick road….and always remember……There’s no place like a happy home!! Follow me….."

Kinda played her part so well! She would sing and make cute little comments all along the way.

Glinda led us to our first class....”Remember one of the first steps to a happy home is knowledge.”

Now that you have knowledge….you need courage, too!”“Ladies we are almost to our happy home….follow me.”

Our final class was on compassion in the home..."I feel we are so close…..we have one last delight for you….This way….” Glinda then led us to the Emerald City, where the Wizard was at the door greeting and shaking our hands as we came in. We had the song playing from Wicked, "One short day ...in the Emerald City" when they came in. Not really from the Wizard of Oz, but thought it would be fun. Then we had the Wizard close with a few remarks...
“I hear you have come in search of a happy home. On your journey you have discovered it takes knowledge, compassion and great courage. I grant you tonight the strength to find this happy home right where you left it earlier tonight. It is up to you to make the difference…..to bring great knowledge in your home…..bless your home with compassion and stand up with courage as you battle the wicked witches who may seek to destroy your happy homes.
When you have had enough of the sights and sounds of this great Emerald City, click your heals….grab your keys….start your cars….and say 'There’s no place like a happy home' three times…and go home and make it happen.”

We served grasshopper pie for dessert and my sweet friend Jennifer Kerr (who's not even in my ward) dipped strawberries for us to make them green and shimmery. They were delicious! Our wonderful speakers - who made the evening so great with their uplifting messages!

Our wizard, played by our RS President Amy McAndrews.

Kinda Whitemyer as Glinda.

Madison as Dorothy.

Our scarecrow was Talmage Allen, who taught the class on knowledge in the home.

Jeanette Gardner taught our class on compassion, and her daughter-in-law dressed up as the Tin Man for her.

And our lion was Sarah Nelson, who spoke on courage in the home.

It was a wonderful evening. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful committee who helped me put this all together. AND a wonderful ward who comes and supports me in this calling. THANK YOU!!

This was our handout...

Sometimes I wonder why I do the things I do... I thought this would be a simple project and a cute handout. Just pick up some red glitter spray paint, spray them and be done. Well... not the case. It ended up turning into a 4 step project! Maybe a cute idea to make like 6 for a birthday party favor, but not to make for 60+ women. I ended up having to spray paint each of them red, brush them with mod podge, sprinkled glitter on them, then I had to go back and mod podge over the glitter so they didn't flake off glitter every where! It was quite the task! After I did about 20 I thought... What did I get myself into, people are just going to throw these away! But there was no turning back...I had already invested lots of time and money into this. And then I felt bad asking anyone for help because I knew how tedious it was! ...If I were to do this again, which I wouldn't, I would definately ask for help!

Mckinlee's Fancy Nancy Party

Mckinlee's been wanting a birthday party for a long time. But since I 've had so much going on lately, and being in charge of our Relief Society meeting that was coming up in a couple weeks, and the fact that her B-day was only in three days, I thought we could just invite two of her friends over for a little play day and have cupcakes. Then she would be happy and feel like it was a little birthday party, and I wouldn't have to feel bad about giving out last minute invitations to people. BUT... since one of her friends wasn't going to be able to make it on the day we were thinking, we pushed it back a few days which gave me more time to think of ideas (which seriously complicated my "little party"). SO...what started out as being just a simple little play day turned in to be much more of a "party" after all. And since she is my last little girl, I thought it would be fun to do a little girl party and do things that Mckinlee loves to do. She reminds me a lot of Fancy Nancy (I probably love those books more than my kids do!) so I thought we'd go in that direction. After all the time that I ended up putting into planning this party, I was wishing I would've had more time to invite more little girls to join in on the fun. Although she would've loved to have more of her friends there, two ended up being the perfect number. Not too stressful and very easy going.

We started out with a little tea party...
Then, I thought it would be fun for them to go shopping for their own accessories... here they are checking out what they were going to buy... hats, sun glasses, dainty white gloves, jewelry, fake nails, lip gloss, feather boas, etc.

They thought this was so FUN!

They "accessorized" their hats... Made these fancy little purses... Did each other's make up...
Opened presents...
Did their nails...

Added a little BLING to their sunglasses...And lastly they made their very own parfaits... (which is a fancy word for ice cream sundae) I think this was their favorite part!

Here they are showing off their new nails...And looking very POSH!!