For the First Time in Forever

For the first time, this week we attended the temple as an entire family.  Seven years ago, Maddie received her limited use recommend for the temple.  Jayd quickly followed.  Over the years, we have made it a point to take them to the temple as often as possible.  Most of the time, Jeff would take them since he was a priesthood holder and could participate in the ordinances as well.  It was a special time for the older two to spend with Jeff.  It was also a special time for me to spend with the younger two children.  While on vacation, we would often choose a few temples to do baptisms.  There were many occasions while traveling where we sat on the temple grounds, talking about the temple, and the work that was performed inside while we waited.  Allie and Gabe eagerly anticipated the day when they would be old enough to go inside the temple instead of waiting outside with me.
That day has finally come.  We attended the temple this week as a complete family.  It was a very sweet experience.  We were able to do some family file names.  We baptized a dad and his four children, two sons and two daughters.  It just felt symbolic to begin the process of reuniting that family while bringing our own family closer to heaven.  It was a great day at the temple, and a
fulfillment of one of my lifelong dreams, to be with all of my children in the temple.

Jayd's graduation

 We aren't done with graduations this year.  Jayd also graduated from highschool.  It is so hard to believe that four years have just flown by.  Then I look up at him, and while straining my neck, it doesn't seem quite so hard to believe.  Jayd has done so well through school.  He has done well in his classes,and taken some different and interesting classes through the years.  He has made some great friends that will last him for many more years.  I was quite proud of my graduate.  Now he is on to better and greater things.

Allie's graduation

 This week, Allie graduated from Middle School.  I remember all the anxiety and fear of starting middle school just two years ago.  I thought they would be very long years.  But as things turned out, they have been much better than I ever anticipated.  Allie has done very well in middle school.  She made many new friends, successfully negotiated dealing with multiple teachers and classrooms, and embraced a new skill as she learned to play the flute.  She earned the presidential award as well as several excellence awards at the graduation.  We are very proud of her and looking forward to beginning her high school years.

A little tooshie love

After way too many years, yes, years of saying that we were going to get a new couch, and sitting on boards in between the cushions.  We all had our "positions" where we could lay just right so that all of the squishy parts of your body went over the boards.  Another long loved solution was the correct amount and positions of the pillows to prop up the deficient areas.  It was a great family joke for way too long.  But at long last, it is over.  We have purchased a brand spanking new couch for our family room.  It is a chocolate brown color, and is a very soft material.  It is a little bigger than our old couch.  We are able to comfortably seat 3 watching the small TV, and 5 watching the monstriTV.  It is quite an improvement.  We are still adjusting to the size, pillow arrangement, etc, but our tooshies are grateful to be rid of the awful boards!

A little RCC

Jayd and I played in the 3rd annual RCC (Ramon Calderon Cup) sand volleyball tournament.  For this tournament, you sign up as an individual, and then they put together the teams.  Luckily for me, Jayd and I were placed on the same team along with my good friend, Vicki and another player that we didn't know previous to the tournament.  Despite a rainstorm on Thursday, and a cloudy, overcast day at home, the weather at the beach was picture perfect.  It was sunny and eighty degrees.  Our team worked together well.  With the boys doing most of the hitting and blocking, Vicki and I split the setting and digging in the backcourt duties.  Our team did well, we only lost 1 game during pool play by one point, then lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament play by just 2 points.  It was a very fun and relaxing day.

Primary no More

This week Gabe turned 12. So this week was my first week without a child in primary in 16 years.  It was a very sad for me.  I am still in primary (15 years and counting!), but my children are not, they have moved on to better things!
We had a grand celebration.  On his birthday, Allie invited two of his friends over to ambush him when he came home from scouts.  I think she had more fun planning the ambush than Gabe did being ambushed, but it was all done with love.  He certainly enjoyed having his friends over for the afternoon.
Since 12 is a super birthday, we also had a grand party for Gabe on Friday afternoon.  Twenty boys came to the park to play Capture the Flag with Gabe.  It was quite the party.  They had a great time running all over the park, attacking and retreating, and imprisoning each other.  It was very fun.

Mormon Prom

Last night was the Mormon Prom.  Each year, our stake sponsors a prom event for the youth.  It is for the youth that are 16-18 years old.  They provide a dinner and dancing for the evening at a very reasonable cost.  They do require that the youth come as couples.  Jayd was able to escort a very lovely young lady to the prom last night.  He went with a bunch of his friends in an enormous van.  I was told that he and his date raced to the van to get the back seats, then climbed out the back upon arrival.  Sounds just like Jayd!  They had a nice evening and topped it off with a trip to McDonald's.  All of the couples looked so nice and fancy.