Cousin Kati

It was a special treat this year at the Easter Pageant. My cousin Kati was one of the ten virgins. We called her to tell her that we were coming on Friday so that she could be looking for us when the cast walks around before the pageant starts. We found her while looking for Aunt Bev and Grandma. There were no words to express the look on Lollys face from seeing her in her sparkly costume. Lolly had a grin from ear to ear the whole time she was with us. She asked Kati if she could walk around with her the whole time. Thankfully we found Bev and Granny and got some pictures so that Kati could get back to the pageant without Lolly being sad. During the time when the virgins dance, all my kids were pointing out Kati and watching her the whole time. She did an awesome job and is such an amazing dancer. Thanks Kati, we ♥ you!

Me and the kids with Kati and her good friend. Her friend played Mary. She was the Mary who went to the tomb and found the Resurected Christ and then danced to the song "He Lives". It is one of my favorite parts. That was also neat for my kids to meet her too.


Lolly, Kati and Cara.


I am not sure what is up with Cara and her funny lips? She was being silly for me when I was wanting a nice picture. Isn't how it always goes?


Kati and Aunt Bev (Mother and daughter)


Grandma Payne, Kati and Aunt Bev (Kati's mom)


Lolly wanted to be in all the pictures. She was mesmerized by how beautiful her costume was.

Easter Pageant

Last night we went to the Easter Pageant. It is a family tradition that do as a family every Easter. We get there really early to get a good spot on the grass, set up our blankets, (this year we finally got smart and brought chairs too) and enjoy our KFC (a tradition too) and watch as the thousands of people gather to watch the pageant. As we were sitting there, a familiar voice was talking close by me. It was Mona Starks from the 6th ward who we did a ton of fun things with. Boy did the fun memories flash back. That group of friends (there were 7 couples who always did things together) had the best times together!! I told Mona to sit right by us so that we could chat for the next two hours and catch up. It was so fun! Our next door neighbors were also sitting close by us too. Lolly and Hanna played and giggled for a bit till it got dark. Me and the kids also went looking for Grandma and Aunt Bev who were also there. As we were walking down the front row, I hear someone call my name. It was Carol Griner and Janie Mason from 6th ward and their kids. We visited for a bit, and they didn't know I had another baby. Boy the time has gone by fast from when we moved. I miss that ward tremendously!! Great people and great memories! The Pageant was so good! I forget how moving it is and what a strong spirit comes from watching it. My kids did not move the entire time. They watched it like it was their first time. We did miss last year (I don't remember why) but it was good to see that they enjoyed it as much as Kris and I did. Afterwards, we went to Mesa Frozen Yogurt to get a treat. We walked in and guess who we saw......Grandpa Driggs! The kids were so excited to see him. We got to visit with him a bit, then home to get ready for the fun day we had planned at the Driggs's for Easter Dinner.

Is there any other food to eat at the Easter Pageant? Other that Petes? NO!! The Driggs regular standby, good ol' KFC!


Lolly and Cara eatin' away


Ty is an animal that needs to be contained in a barn when he eats!!


The kids always want to take pictures of me after I take ones of them. I don't know how I didn't get a picture with Grant in it. In the picture of Lolly and Cara, you can see him sitting right next to Kris. Sorry Grant, I still love pictures of you just as much as the other kids!


Me and Mona


Lolly and Hanna

O.C.D.

My dear sweet Cara has a little obsession.......BANDAIDS!!! Not a single one of my other children has even cared about them. Lolly occasionally would need one here and there, but the boys....never. Along comes Cara and the same boxes of bandaids that I have had for years...GONE! I buy more...GONE! She was hillarious today. I was off doing something when she found me and turned around and told me to look at her back. I could see the little red spot. It looked like she has brushed up against something, nothing major, just a little red spot. I kissed it better and she looked at me funny, and off she went. Not even five minutes later, she comes and finds me again, turns around, and shows me her back again. She was so proud of herself. I laughed my head off after I saw what she did. She is hillarious! The HUGE bandaid she had managed to put on her back was not even close to the red spot. She did a good job at putting it on though. I had to compose myself because she was getting upset that I was laughing at her. I told her I was so proud of her and we needed a picture of it. She was all over that! I am sooo glad that she is my little buddy all day long while the kids are at school. She entertains me and I love her to pieces!

She held so still for me, which she usually doesn't when I want a picture


She was giggling cuz she thought she was so big doing it all by herself (again notice the self haircut job)


Look at the grin on her face.....NAUGHTY but so proud! (and the no hair on her right side! gone are the curls forever!!)


Not even close to the "little red spot"....HILLARIOUS!

My body is whacked!

It is amazing what my body can do on NOOOOO sleep! On Tuesday night, I got to bed around midnight. Cara crawled into my bed around three. I can sleep through a tornado, so I just scooted over and she nestled on in. I absolultely LOVE snuggling with my kids in bed, and having them sleep next to me. Cara, she killed all those happy thoughts and fond memories of past nights. She has to be literally breathing the same air you are in bed. She sleeps "all jacked up", not normal like my three others. She has to be RIGHT NEXT to your face, and touching you with all parts of her body......until she goes to sleep. So, in the mean time, I am still half asleep, and not in a comfortable postition, and KNOW I will wake up with a stiff neck, sore back, and feeling like I got absolutely NO SLEEP!! Lazy bones, on the other hand, will still be sleeping like a log till I wake her up long after the kids have gone to bed. (if she wasn't so darn cute, I would be more prone to not have as much compassion on her!) Well, this morning Kris really needed me to come to work with him and help him with a couple of things. So, that means that I had to wake up earlier than normal (7am) and get myself and Cara ready so that we could be out the door and on the road when the three others left at 7:40am. Do I need to remind you that my nights sleep was disturbed! Any other day, I would have just crawled right back into my snuggly, comfy, cold, soft covers and resnuggled up next to lazy bones and drifted off into a wonderful slumber for a couple more hours. NOT THIS MORNING!! We were out the door as scheduled, all dressed and put together (I wanted to go no makeup/no hair done, but thought that might not be good for Kris's job standing! DANG!) Kris, me and Cara were off to the other side of Arizona (Glendale, just felt like it). We got all the things done that he needed me to help him with, grabbed some lunch, and he had me back home by 1:30. I was absolutely beat! Cara napped in the car on the drive home, so I knew she was good to go, and the possibility of a quick hour nap before the kids came home from school was definately not happening. Wednesdays I am a single parent because Kris goes from work to school. His class gets out at 10pm, so I see him when he walks in the door exhausted, and he chats for a couple of minutes, then off to bed. Needless to say, all day I was exhausted. I still had to run the boys to baseball, which we dont get home till 7pm, and then do dinner, showers, and get them to bed. I was soooo wiped out!! Let me just entertain you for a little bit.......on the way home from baseball, Grant tells me that his "Arizona project" was due TOMORROW!! I had not heard a thing about this till then. Having allready done one with Ty when he was in 4th grade, I knew that this was a huge part of their grade, and could not be just something that I quickly threw together!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? I tried to talk myself into every feasable excuse to just put it off and do it tomorrow with him (letting him stay home from school). After saying family prayers, Grant asks if we are going to do his project. I tell him my plan to just do it in the morning, with him staying home from school. I was thinking that he would be totally happy, especially the staying home from school part. The look on his face told me different. He started to get all upset and out of his mouth comes, "but then I will miss the thing in the morning for the PARENTS where everyone shows thier projects." My head was throbbing at the thought of having to do this ALL NIGHT by myself. I assured him that I would stay up and do all that I could so that he could get up early and help my finish it in the morning so he could be to school with his finished project. AND that I would happily be there to see him for the parent part. Soooooo, another night of NO SLEEP! When Kris called on his way home from school, I told him what my evening turned in to. When he came home, I was on the computer, searching away for unique things and pictures about Arizona. Of course my computer has not been working right STILL and the darn printer told me (as I was copying my first of 13 pages of pictures and blurbs) that it was low on ink!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME AGAIN?? I was NOT running to Wally World to get ink! Not saying I have not run there this late, but I was totally exhausted, and frankly not in the mood. So I did what I could, and the last of the pics were a little red tinged, but whatever, its a 4th grade thing, not his college thesis paper. Off to the family room for assembly. Did I mention the time by now? 1:30 in the morning. I started cutting and taping and glueing pictures and quotes together. At 3:34 I finally crawled into bed. I remembered to set my alarm for 6am so I could get Grant up and have him help me glue the things on the posterboard. He also had to draw an Arizona flag. Of course it could not be copied!! That would have been tooo easy for me. He was so pleased with my efforts all night long. It made the 2 1/2 hours of sleep seem like nothing when he gave me the hugest hug and told me how much he loved me and appreciated my help with it. He was off to school at 7:30, with the project in tow. Man could I have crawled right back into bed for the rest of the day. NOPE!! Off to get myself and Cara dressed and ready for a day of things to do. We made it in time to see Grant at the school. He really loves it that I make an effort to come to everything that goes on at school. It is a small sacrifice on my part when I know it means the world to my kids. Now I am off to see my Granny Grunt. Then on the way home I have to stop and get Easter candy and a couple dozen eggs to dye. I am truely amazed that my body is still functioning............

I went down for the parent showing (I was one of the few parents there, how sad!)


I told Grant to hold it up closer so I could get a good picture of it and Cara stood right in the middle in front of it. Grant was giggling and told me to take the picture anyways. She is hillarious!


We finally got the stinker to move to the side so we could get a picture. Doesn't look like it would take me ALL NIGHT LONG huh? It did!

Ty's 2nd Campout

I cannot tell you how excited Ty has been to finally be in mutual. Scouts is a whole new ballgame for him. He has been anxious to get to do all the things that the "big boys" do. He was only in mutual three weeks when he went on his first campout. They went up on the rim past Strawberry. It was the weekend in January when we got all the rain in the valley, and snow in the high country. Boy was he not even prepared for that! He came home beyond tired and HATING the snow! He was absolutely miserable and cold up there. He did have a fun time tubing with the boys though. Last night he headed out on his second campout. He was looking forward to this one.......not up in the snow! They were going to Queen Valley, and then head up that road till it ends somewhere in the Superstitions. They were hiking in a few miles, setting up camp, and sleeping under the stars. The next day they were doing some hiking in the Superstition Mountains WITH their packs on. We borrowed Grandpa Driggs's pack (it was one Kris used to use when he was in scouts, hence the bright orange color!) and packed it as light as we could. He had to bring all his own food and water with him. He came home really tired, but had such a good time. He told us that he swore they hiked more than the couple of miles that they did. Kris and I just laughed becuase he had no idea what it would be like with a backpack on. I am so thankful for the experiences that he is having and especially for his leaders who do such a GREAT JOB with the boys they are over. Ty is such a good boy, and I am proud of the young man he is becoming.

Doesn't he look so little with that big pack on? It is STILL hard for me to let go and allow him to grow up.


The smile on his face show how excited he was to be going again. He has such a love of life and all the experiences that he gets to partake of. He puts a smile on my face just seeing him enjoying the journey!

3rd Quarter Honor Roll Assembly

Grant and Laurel both made the honor roll again this quarter. Kris and I are so proud of them and their desire to do good in school. Grant is even in the gifted program and excels at that too. Laurel was tested for it this year, but missed the scores by only 3 percent. Her teacher said that she was really nervous about taking the tests becuase they were timed and she hurried way too fast. She definately thinks she will make it next year. (sorry about the quality of the pics. The lighting in school gyms is horrible, and I was standing way at the back too)

Getting his certificate from Mr. Hamm, the Dean of Students


He just caught saw me out in the audience. Can't you tell by the grin?


Two of Grants friend are on both side of him...Jordan and Natasha


I waved to him and he did the cheesy "okay I will smile for you mom so you can take pictures!"


Cara HAS TO be in all the pictures. Don't ask me what she was doing though


He is such a great kid! We are so proud of him!


Laurel getting her certificate from Mr. Hamm


Don't they look so little? I think they are all so cute!


She gets so embarrassed, but is so proud of herself.


Such a cutie making sure I can see her certificate


My other great kid! We are so proud of you Lolly! Makes me think I am doing something right in this hard job of parenting.

Hairbows!!

Aunt Brookie came over yesterday and had a surprise for Lolly. She had a HUGE laundry basket full of scrapbooking stuff and miscelaneous craft things for her. She was in absolute HEAVEN!! She also brought a big tote of all sorts of hair bows that she had made for a lady when she worked at Micheals, and the lady never came and picked them up. She gave them to my girls. Lolly took every single one of them out and matched them up in pairs and was in awe that they were for her. I thought they were so cute! This morning Lolly woke up and matched her outfit to the hairbow she wanted to wear. I totally remember doing that when I was a little girl. The honors assembly is today and so she wanted to look especially cute for it. She told me exactly how she wanted me to do her hair. It was so funny, yet she was sooo excited. Cara is going to have to wait quite a few years before she ever gets to have these in her hair. That poor girl was blessed with her mothers hair genes.....thin, fine and none of it!! She is three and I have never cut her hair except her bangs....TWICE!! How pathetic huh? All you hair hogs stood in the hair line in Heaven and hogged it all up while I was standing in the white skin line. Man did I pick the wrong line!!

Timewarp back to the 80's huh? She loves them though!


She looks so cute! I love the freckles on her nose and across her cheeks.


She wanted a picture at every angle. Just look at the look on her face, she KNEW she looked "all that".


THIRTY sets of bows!!! The girls are in heaven!

Dr. Suess Week at School

Lolly came home with this adorable hat from school today. Evidentally it was Dr. Suess week at school (I had NO clue). She has an amazing talent at art (thanks Grandpa). All of her things that she does come home from school looking so good. I love looking through each one and have a hard time deciding what to hang on to and what to throw out. This adorable hat was way too big to hang on to, but definately cute enough to take a picture of.

my 1st pedicure

I guess that I just didn't ever think about it. I just always put some sort of polish on during the summer flip flops months. I have never thought that my feet were remotely pretty, but I did like that my toes all went down in shortness order, and didn't have the dreaded "second toe" syndrome. (when you have a long ol' second toe that is longer than your big toe) As a matter of fact, my OB called my toes "little sausages" all the time when I went in for my appts. What a nice compliment huh? NOT!! When we moved out here to good ol' Queen Crick, all the young girls got fancy shmancy thingies on thier toes throughout the summer. All my girlfriends got then too. I was seriously missin' out! So, for this past birthday, my sweet friend Melissa told me she would take me to get my first. All the other girls said they were in to come too. FUN! Well, my birthday is right before Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and then the past months have been crazy to say the least. It worked out today that some of us could go get one. I was in total heaven! I just thought that a pedicure was when they took off your old polish and put new on, and with the cute designs too. I was totally not up with what goes on in the pedi world. The fact that they rub your legs and feet alone was worth every minute of it! I could have ditched the polish for more of the rubbing. That is one of my favorite things.....to have my feet rubbed! This is definately not going to be the last one I ever experience.

Kris, Molly and Me gettin' "the treatment"


Clockwise from the top: Melissa's toes, Molly's toes, Kris's toes, and Cathy's toes.....Identical quadruplets!


my "snausage toes" that Cara keeps telling me "I like your pretty toes mom. Who did that to them?"

Take me out to the balllllllllgame..........

I absolutely LOVE my boys playing baseball! Yesterday the boys started the season again with their first practices. Ty is on the Phillies in the Major league and Grant is on the Tigers in the Minor league. Grant lucked out and got the same coach he had two years ago when he was on the Coach pitch Thunder team. We really like him and look forward to having a great season again with him. When I talked to Tys coach on the phone, I felt like it was going to be a good season for Ty playing on his team. Heres to another fun baseball season!

Ty


Grant