Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Our little Mollie Dog


Mollie is turning out to be a really good doggie. She is doing great! Mollie loves playing in the water. Who ever thought that pugs liked water.. but she does. She loves her baths, showers and especially the sprinklers. She loves her Daddy and loves to snuggle and hog his side of the bed, thank goodness. During the day she is following me around at my feet whether I am sitting at my computer, where she has her bed under the desk, or walking around the house doing chores. She loves PB and Tiger and once in a while they play chase and the kitties are not the only ones who get a turn. All in all shes a keeper.. We love our Mollie Dog!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Newest Member of the National Junior Honor Society

The end of May Emily was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. Of the 200 7th Graders, 30 where chosen to fill the graduating 8th grader spots this upcoming year. The selected students were chosen not only because of their high GPA but also based on their service, leadership, citizenship and character.

The symbol of the torch represents the motto
"Light is the Symbol of Truth"
THE NJHS PLEDGE:
I pledge myself to uphold
The high purpose of the National Honor Society
To which I have been selected.
By word and deed
To make its ideals
The ideals of my school
And of my life.

We are very proud of her and the goals that she sets for herself. She understands that it takes hard work and lots of determination to be the person she want to be and has no problem with that.

Great Job Emily!!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

May Spring Performance


I know I am a little behind in my postings. A month or so ago Emily had her spring recital. Its always fun to watch the kids dance and see how much they have learned over the year. Not much to say about the performance except, WOW, they are getting really good.. Below is a picture of the kids in the group. We have 39 dancers this last term which is fantastic!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

What is Fshion?

I can hardly get over the fact that July is almost here. Where does time go, I mean really.. come on. If I only had a few more hours in a day I could really be accomplished!! Right now my life is consumed with Irish Dance. I don't mind because it is what Emily loves to do. I can never seem to get her to stop "bopping" around.

In May her teacher spent the night for a Saturday workshop. Emily and her new bestest friend Jazmin decided that they were going to have a "fashion show" - mind you, it was very late at night and the girls were extremly silly. Lauren is such a kid at heart and a good sport :)


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Give a little here and Give a little there

Some days I wish to say "Oh, I'm sorry I can't", "No", "Let me check my schedule" or "I'm just way to busy today, Sorry".. I honestly wish I could. I don't mind helping out but I am at my wits end. Between Work, Domestic Engineering, Being Irish Dance President, Teaching on Sunday, trying to keep the house somewhat cleaned and keeping up with the needs of the kids and the husband (nevermind myself) I can not get enough done in the time I want to do it.
I know this too will pass and someday when the kids are out of the house, I will wish that I could do more. So I need to just suck it up and go with the flow... It will all work out just fine. Really it will. Baby Steps...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

MJ Turns 12

MJ turned 12 this year and has been a very special time for him. . Let me tell you, I have never seen someone so excited to turn 12 in my life. I think he is excited for several reasons; MJ is no longer in primary, MJ is in Mutual now with the “big kids”. At 12 MJ has been interviewed and found worthy to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and takes this privilege seriously. He is excited to pass the sacrament and collect fast offerings.
This last Sunday, as a mom, I sat and watched my little boy start his journey as a young man. He has grown so much this past year.
After passing sacrament, he sat back with the family and since it was Fast Sunday I could see it in MJ’s eyes his desire to bear his testimony. And then it started…. Mom I’ll bear my testimony if you go and bear yours... Come on Mom… Come on. I replied, “No, you go first, then I’ll go…” And then the conversation would start over and over again. Being the brave mom I am, I broke down and sat at the front pew for my turn. As I am waiting, MJ came up from behind and said, “The deals off”. I proceeded to go up and bear my testimony and came back and sat by MJ. He says, “I changed my mind”. I could see how nervous he was and wanted so much to go up. So now it was my turn… “Mark, if you go up you can have all the money out of my wallet”. “How much money is in your wallet?” That went around a few times too. Finally I said, “If you’re going to go you better hurry, sacrament is almost over”. He FINALLY went up. My first thought was, on no, he’s going to be silly. But he wasn’t. I was so proud to watch him. His testimony was beautiful. He spoke from his heart of the love he has for the scriptures, the Gospel and his Father in Heaven.
What a wonderful start to growing into a young man. He’s going to be a great missionary. It brings tears to my eyes as I watched. MJ has always been a joy in our lives and is a great example to us and those around him. I am very proud of the young man he is becoming and I am excited for his future. I Love you MJ! You’re the Best!!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Moosie Goosie

The weekend of March 26th we returned Moose to his original owners. Unfortunately, it needed to be done. Moosie was a handful for us and with the busy schedule the last 3 months he was not getting the attention that he needed. Let me tell you, it was hard and I cryed for a week. Out of the two, Moose and Mollie, Moose was my favorite. He is smart and sneeky; a big clown with lots and lots of energy.
Below is a picture of his new family, Caseys sister Debbie. So he's not too far away. She has acreage in the country with grandkids. he has lots of room to run and play and a family who will give him lots and lots of attenton that he deserves. Doesn't he look soo happy!! I'm thankful he has a good home. We Love you Moosie Goosie!!

MARCH 2010

March was another continuation of a busy February.
March 6th & 7th we headed to Seattle for the Pacific NW Championship Feis. Emily’s Irish dancing is going great. She moved several of her dances into Novice despite the fact that she was a bug. She wore her school dress for the first time and looked marvelous. I am proud of the hard work she puts in and is seeing the results.



The following weekend was a blur….Practice, practice, practice, practice……Perform. The 13th we performed at the Desert Thistle Pipe Band concert as one of several guest performers. On the 14th we performed at the Toyota Center. The “Kaleidoscope in Motion 2010”. “More than 700 people attended the second annual Kaleidoscope in Motion show at the Toyota Center in Kennewick on March 14, 2010. The show featured performances from An Daire Academy of Irish Dance, Mid-Columbia Ballet and the Tri-Cities Figure Skating Club” (Tri-City Herald). It was spectacular!! We have such a great group of Irish dancers. Emily you were AWESOME!!

St. Patrick’s Day week was crazy. The Irish dancers performed once Monday, once Tuesday, and 4 times on St. Patty’s Day. Wow, That was a lot!! But fun.

The weekend of the 20th we went into Portland. My Brother, Eric was moving to Colima, Mexico and had a going away party with family and friends. It was fun to meet V’s family and sad to see Eric moving so far away. I will miss the comfort of having him so close. It’s a good thing that we work together because if I need too I can just push a button and he’s right there. Ahh, technology!!

The 28th was Mj’s Birthday but I’ll write more about that later.

Monday, April 12, 2010

FEBRUARY 2010

February was an extremely busy month! In fact the busyness started the middle of January when Stephanie announced that she was getting married and getting married quickly. In fact she was getting married February 27th…THIS YEAR!

So let me tell you … between, wedding planning, Stephanie moving out, wedding showers, Angelas birthday, Dentist appointments, running Emily to dance practice and performances here and there, board meetings AND becoming the President of the Tri-Cities Irish dance, I was just a little stressed out… Just a little... Thank you Lori for making my life easier in February!!

Here are a few highlights…

On the 13th the girls and I, Jordan too, went into Portland. We had a list of things to do… and only a number of hours to get it done including the 8 hours of driving time… My brother was moving to Mexico and had some furniture and a car to sell and sold it to Steph, met with Jimmy to talk about flowers, get the u-haul and attended the bridal shower.

Her Aunts, Stefani and Dana, threw her a beautiful shower.




On the 19th her sisters and Grandma Widing from Portland threw Stephanie a bridal shower for her friends and sisters in the Lakes and Candy Mountain wards. The girls did a great job planning games and decorations. I was so excited. Only 1 person showed. A handful of sisters called or stopped by for a few. We had fun anyways..





The week of the 22nd… Soo much to do! We made Angela and Emily a dress and finished up the flower vases and food planning for the wedding. Friday night Angela had her B-day party at Atomic Bowl. It’s a good thing Lori was here because I plainly lost if Friday. She kept everything in order, Thank you!

On the 27th, Stephanie and Jordan were married. It was a bitter sweet day. Stephanie was beautiful and extremely happy! I am thankful for the time I had with Stephanie and wish I had more time with her. The last few years have been difficult for us and although I am not overjoyed with her getting married I know our Heavenly Father has a plan for my little one and I put my faith and trust in him, that life for her will work out the way they plan. A mother’s job is never easy, especially when giving your daughter away. Mamma loves you June Bug...


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Christmas 2009 ~ Part 1

Christmas 2009, was the best ever for several reasons. For the last few years we have had a tradition of feeding the homeless in Albany, Oregon. It’s something the kids love to do and for the last 4 years they have given up their Christmas to make someone else’s better. We love the people and the shelter. Unfortunately, this last year the shelter had a few changes and a week before we were to leave, things fell through. So, we thought... We will find a new shelter, somewhere closer to home for next year and just go skiing for a few days. Going skiing has also been part of the Christmas tradition, up to Hoodoo for a week in the snow is our Christmas present to the family. Its funneristedly!!

Well… that didn’t work out either, Stephanie couldn’t get time off work and we knew this would be the last Christmas we had with her before she was off doing her own thing. So… we decided the week before Christmas that we would stay home. It was awful. It just didn’t feel like Christmas. We had no tree, no shopping done for the kids, no decorations up, and no shelter to feed, need I say more…

Sunday, Mark and I decided that we would try to make it a Christmas season and Monday, after work, he would stop by and get a tree to surprise the kids, he did, in the pouring down rain (it hardly ever rains here). As the tree stood in the garage overnight, drying out, we put up a few decorations. Tuesday, we put the lights on the tree and by Wednesday, Emily had the tree decorated (to surprise us). The Tree was decorated beautifully.

Tuesday, I had a brilliant idea… I’ll go get a few presents for under the tree on Christmas morning… (We had told the kids since we decided to stay home at the last minute and not go to Albany or Hoodoo, we hadn’t had any time to shop for Christmas so there wouldn’t be presents under the tree). So after the kids were in bed, or off doing their thing, I went shopping Tuesday and Wednesday night in the wee hours of the morning. Shopping was a nightmare! Every great idea I thought of getting for the kids, stores were out. Eventually, I finished and was happy, to my surprise, at the presents I had bought.

Thursday, Christmas Eve, I had told the kids I was sick. I hibernated in my bedroom, watching movies, so they couldn’t hear me wrap presents. Sneaky I was… I was determined not to reveal the real reason I was in my room, all day long. It was a success and wasn’t until 4 in the morning that Angie was awake and heard someone walking around. I told her it must have been Santa!

So here is the great thing about this Christmas… Monday I started calling, the Union Gospel Mission, a homeless shelter here in the area. Sad news was that they had all the helpers they needed and didn’t need any more. I told him the story of how this is the only thing the kids really wanted for Christmas and it wouldn’t be Christmas without helping the shelter. They said they would call me back. I hadn’t heard, so I called again and spoke with the gentleman in charge of the dinners. He said,”be there at 4:30 Christmas Eve.” GREAT!! Now it will feel like Christmas.

So we fed the shelter (see part 2 for details) and headed home. I insisted with much resistance to have the kids help me make Santa his favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies. Did they help? NO. They just laughed at me; they wouldn’t even write Santa a letter. I insisted that Santa was coming tonight. In reply I got the wink, wink sure mom.

So As I am trying to get the kids to bed, I went into Emily’s room to tuck her in and give her a kiss. MJ was hiding in the closet and both were being giggly. I looked into Emily’s closet and found some wrapped presents. “ Ahh, Emily you didn’t need to do that,” I said. “When did you have time to go shopping?” She just smiled. And off to bed I went. Emily on the other had stayed up so she could put her “surprise” presents under the tree so we would have something to unwrap for Christmas (remember, we were not going to have presents this year, mom didn’t have time to shop).

So, at 4am Mark and I filled the stockings and put the “Santa” presents under the tree (not many, but enough), went back to bed and woke up a few hours later. It was kind of sad that the kids didn’t come in to snuggle or jump on the bed and wake us up like they used to. When I walked into the room and saw the presents, I said, in a louder voice than normal…”Santa was here, Santa was here!” “Santa brought us presents.” The kids wondered where the presents came from. Umm, I kept my mouth shut.

Mark Cooked Breakfast and blessed the food. During the prayer Mark asked for Grandma and Grandpa to have a safe drive. So, I told the kids that grandma and grandpa had to get here really early and leave so they could deliver other presents. They bought that for a while and thought no, that’s not the right answer they were looking for. I kept them questioning.
After breakfast we opened presents. Emily wanted us to open hers first. We were all so excited. The funny thing is that she searched around the house finding things to wrap so we would have presents under the tree. As you can see it was quite the entertainment – pictures below.

That day we learned that it’s not what’s in the present that matters, but the excitement of being together as a family and the love we share. We haven’t had Christmas at home for years and it was wonderful. So as Pastor Bailey stated (he was over the shelter in Albany before his stroke), “you don’t always understand why things happen the way they do, but, you may be needed elsewhere, God has a plan, we just need to have faith.” I believe that. Had we followed tradition we would not have had the experiences we did this Christmas of finding joy in service, love and our families. We really needed to be at home. Thank you Heavenly Father for watching out for our family and putting us where we needed.

Christmas 2009 ~ Part 2

So here is the great thing about this Christmas… Monday I started calling, the Union Gospel Mission, a homeless shelter here in the area. Sad news was that they had all the helpers they needed and didn’t need any more. I told him the story of how this is the only thing the kids really wanted for Christmas and it wouldn’t be Christmas without helping the shelter. They said they would call me back. I hadn’t heard, so I called again and spoke with the gentleman in charge of the dinners. He said, “be there at 4:30 Christmas Eve.” GREAT!! Now it will feel like Christmas.

Hoping that we would be able to feed the shelter and not get put in the back washing dishes, we were a little nervous not knowing what to expect. It was awesome!! When we arrived we were given instructions of what we’ll be doing and a prayer was given by Eric, the person in charge. In the prayer he had asked that our hearts would be opened and receptive and that we would see the face of God in those who we were about to serve. Tears came to my eyes; a blessing was given for us, not them. The prayer ended and MJ said, “Now that was a good prayer!” I have never felt so loved, so humbled.

We paired up, two to a table, and fed the homeless. We served them as they sat and waited for us to get them food. We offered coffee, salad, dinner and dessert. At our table (mine and Emily’s) three of the guys took their time eating (I think they just like to be inside where it was warm and dry), we talked to them and knew them by names and after we were done serving, we had the opportunity to eat dinner (rolls, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, scalloped potatoes and I think, smoked turkey or pork) with them. I felt prompted, as other helpers sat by at their own tables, to sit with those I served, Emily was hesitant, but followed the lead. Soon, Mark joined us. I was humbled, over and over, listening to them talk and the stories they had to share.

Maurice was funny. He had a French/Jamaican accent. He received a pair of new jeans and shirt for Christmas and carried a backpack. He had been in the states for 10 years. Very smart and spoke with Mark about engineering details. Alex was quite but loved pumpkin pie.

Derrick was from Kentucky, a drifter since he was 18. He’s lived all over the country. He recently wanted to settle down and get a job. He stopped drinking a while ago and was ready to make a change. He had been trying to get his identification but had been unsuccessful because that took money of which he did not have. It was thanksgiving here at the shelter when a couple met him and gave funds to the director towards getting a birth certificate to get his ID. That had been his saving grace, his new chance at life. I sat there thinking how many others want to get out of the homeless situation but can’t because they have no funds to get ID, or don’t know where they were born. He said he knew of someone who had been trying to get ID for years.

On our way out there was a little old colored lady, probably in her late 70’s. She was so sweet and so happy. She told us that she’s old but is not afraid to die that there was a mansion in the heavens for her. I believe it. She had been coming to the shelter since she was 55. As I watched her put food into her bag, I wondered if she had any family. Who was going to take care of her? Her faith in believing where she was going strengthened my belief and I knew too. For are we not all brothers and sisters she said. You babies have smiles of an angle and we hugged her, smiled and said good-bye.

I held my emotions until I got to the car, and then I cried. I was so blessed that night. I saw the face of God in these people, my brothers and sisters. I saw them in equal conditions and to me they were the angels that night.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Tis the Season

Time to update my blog and profile for 2010.. I have many moods this year. I wonder what it will end up like.. I guess you will have to wait and see. Smiles for now!