THANK YOU

I wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you for all your prayers and thoughts for our family as we have gone through this time in our life.  I want all of you to know that those prayers have been heard, and we are now on the end of Paying things forward.

HE PASSED ALL HIS BOARDS!!!  HE IS NOW OFFICIALLY A PRACTICING PHARMACIST!!!

Again my many thanks and much appreciation for all the love and support we have received from all of you during the last 7 years of this journey.  We are so excited to look forward and start our new life, and see where it will take us.

Again many thanks.  Words can not express how happy and grateful I am to belong to such a great family.

New Phone Number

Sorry it took me a little bit to get this posted.  I have been very pre-occupied with other things right now.  But I did change our phone number, since it is cheaper to have this.  So our new number is as follows.  Please make a note of it.  Thanks.

928-247-9413

Thanks.  I also have no information yet as to if Will passed or not.  I will let you all know as soon as I know.

Thank you for all your love and support.  We miss you all.

The hope of things to come...

I just got another phone call today letting me know some good news.  I am really praying that this is the start of a trend, and that Will will pass both exams this week, and then we can move on with our life and our plans.  All three kids...Sabrina, Vanessa and now Isaac will all be attending the Charter School "Desert View Academy".  This school according to the Bishop and First Counselor and other parents in our ward have all said it is an awesome school, and that their kids love it.  So here we go into the world of uniforms, and strict school attendance, and such.  We will be missing the first two and a half weeks of school to attend Tyler's wedding and then go to Lake Powell, after that we are not allowed to miss any more school unless accompanied by a Dr. note, or the kids will be kicked out of the school.  Because there is such a long waiting list (my kids have been on it since April, they are very strict on policies. However my children will now get a really good education.  Probably the BEST here in AZ that they can get.  I am so thankful that they were able to get in.  I just hope and pray now that the good news keeps coming, and that the next time I blog I will have some good news to share with everyone.

Bats and Wrinkles!!!

Well, lastnight we were in the pool late since daddy didn't get home till about 7 pm.  So we get into the pool after we eat dinner, and the sun went down and it got dark.  Then we lit the tikis on fire by the pool, and continued to swim.  After a few minutes we started to see bats swooping down to eat the insects that were attracted to the fire. The kids thought it was so cool to see the bats swooping down.  So we watched them for a while, and listened to them make chirping noises. Then Nessie piped up and said "Mom, Grandma and Grandpa can come watch the bats flying too while they swim in our pool huh." I said "sure hon, when they come to visit they can come in and watch the bats too." Nessie then said, as she held up her fingers "But then Grandma and Grandpa will get all pruny and wrinkly like me." Nessie paused for a min and then just so innocently said "it's OK though mom, cause they are already pruny and wrinkled".  Will and I couldn't stop laughing it was so funny.

Isn't it cute how kids think like that, and then just say what's on their mind.  I love my kids.  They keep me laughing all the time.

On a side note, Will takes his exams this week on Friday and Saturday the 23rd and 24th of July.  Keep him in your prayers if you would please.  My thanks!!

These Little Piggys have BLING!!'

Woot Woot!  Thanks to my savy shopping sister, I was able to have so much fun with my girls.  They absolutely love going to the nail salon (it's only happened three times) to get their nails painted and such, but it is so darned expensive.  Especially when I can do just as good of a job as they can, and it's free.  But I saw my sweet sisters post about her "bling" for her toenails, and since we wear sandals here year round, I have had to make sure my little piggy's are nice and manicured.  I went the second week we were here to get the manicure done, and then after that I have maintained them myself.  But I loved what my sister had done with her tootsies.  So I had a few dollars in my pocket, and I waddled myself on over to our Sally Beauty Supply place, and bought the same stuff as she did, and voila!!  All our piggy's are "blingy".  Sabrina wanted to try the hot pink, I went with the good old silver, and Nessie went with gold.  Now we have three colors of glitter to exchange between us all, and our toes have never looked better.  Now if only I could get a complete body makeover for 7$ I'd be even more ecstatic.

Thanks and Kudos go out to my sister for sharing this fun idea with us.  We really like it.  One of these day I'm going to buy one of those Sally Hansen Nail Art pens and try my hand at flowers and cute stripes.  Then there will be no need to go to the salon (well lets not get too hasty...I love the foot rubs, and water treatments during a manicure).

So here ya go...I hope you can see all the sparkly...They really are WOWIE!!!

Sorry for the fuzzy picture, I forgot to change the settings, and then my batteries died in my camera.  However, you get the idea.  They are WAY sparkly and fun!!

So for those of you who don't have access to my sister's website, here is how she did it, and consequently we did it.....

Step One, go to your Sally's Beauty Supply store and purchase the items below.

Step Two, Paint your nails one at a time with this product...$4.25

Step Three, immediately after painting one toe, then sprinkle this onto the wet gel polish...$0.94 per bottle

Step Four, continue this process till all your little piggy's are done.

Step Five, Put two more coats of the Gelous nail gel over the top of your nails AFTER you have blown away the excess glitter (this is best done over a piece of paper or a sink)

Then VOILA...Sexy, Fun, and Glittery Piggy's.

ENJOY!!!

AAAHHHHHHH

OK, now that you have ready the title, you know how I am feeling.  We just set the dates and times for Will's exams.  He will be driving to Phoenix AZ (about three hours away) on Thursday night July 22nd, he will then stay in a hotel that evening and take the MPJE (the AZ law exam) on Friday morning July 23rd.  He will then go back to the hotel and sleep that evening and then Saturday morning July 24th, at 8am he will be taking the NAPLEX exam (the national Pharmacy boards).  He will then come home that evening and we will wait to see what our future holds next.

I am asking...er shall I say pleading with much sincerity that if you find time, to please pray for him, and pray that he passes both exams the first time, and that he has great recollection skills to be able to recall everything he has learned the last 7 years.  That he will have clarity of thought, and that he will do well and get the passing score that he needs to come home and continue his job and move on with his life in a better position.

I can tell you this, I will be fasting and praying like I have never done before.  This is everything we have worked for, all of what we can have is riding on these two exams.  I don't ask for much, but I am asking this.  I appreciate all the prayers and fasting on behalf of our family in past years, I really do,but I just need these last two things to go well for him, and then he is home free.

Thank you for all your love and support throughout the years.  I truly do appreciate it.

Updates...and Goals...

Wow, the last week has gone by so quickly.  I am trying to keep up better on this blog so that all our family can see what we have been up to.  Now that I have set up a new home in a new city, and state, and have gotten us "mostly" unpacked...I say mostly because I still have all my holiday stuff packed up and stacked up in a closet, I figured it is time for me to set up my home and family and "my time".  I figure if I write it down, then I have to do it.

Anyway, I was put in as the Primary Chorister last week, and yesterday was the first Sunday I did my calling.  It was a lot of fun getting all prepared to sing, and I was paid a great compliment too...I was told that this was the first time "all" the kids were singing.  I felt good to know that my hard work and preparation paid off.  However I was a little concerned that most of the kids don't know the old classics like Book of Mormon Stories, or Give Said the Little Stream, or Teach me to Walk in the Light.  I was told however by the Bishop that I am totally in charge of all music the primary kids learn...along with only "suggestions" from the primary presidency, but that if I want to teach them the classics, I may do so, and he even said it would be a good idea to do so.  So on top of me having to learn all these new songs that I have never heard before, I will be teaching them the oldies and goodies.  Now I have to make all the flip charts a little easier for the kids to read and learn. 

So that is what I have been up to.  I have also been trying to think of things to do with the kids I came across this awesome website.  She has some really great activities to do with kids.  So I will try to start doing some fun things like that with the kids.  They love the pool, and want to spend every waking hour in it, but there has to be more to their summer than staying in the pool.  It is a little too hot this month to do much else though, unless you are in an air conditioned place.  As everyone here tells us..."just make it through till the end of August, and this place turns into the garden of Eden"  I hope they are right.  Its so stinking hot here.  Last week the high of three days were 117, this week than goodness we get a break and it will only be a high of 107.  Hopefully it will go down even more, and then settle into the high to mid 80's for the rest of the year and winter.  Then we will really be having some fun.

I know for sure we will be getting the kids something fun at the end of this week.  I'm thinking of throwing them a fun little party on Saturday, and giving them their gifts then.  We haven't been able to get the kids hardly anything since we have been trying to get caught up on the Van issues, and Rent and utilities, and all that goes along with moving into a new home.  So now that we will have a little bit of extra money, we will be getting them a little gift.  We bough them the little snorkel, and masks at the dollar store for them when we first got here.  Those things have been used to death.  They have helped these kids not be so afraid of swimming in the deep end without floaties.  So as part of their party and my duty as a mother to teach them the value of saving and looking forward to something, I have set forth this plan. 

We will have a fun beach party.  We will have a pic nick outside next to the pool, and have lots of fun.  I will then present them with their "gifts" a nice "semi=pro" set of scuba mask and snorkel. (Ones you can use when going snorkeling somewhere) and then I will introduce the "pickle" jar.  I will have a cute label on it and we will be saving up for our first vacation as a family.  We are hoping to be able to do this one "before" grandma and grandpa go on a mission so that they can come with us...but if not we will save this vacation for when they come back.  We will be saving up all our change in the pickle jar for a vacation to somewhere nice where the kids can go snorkeling.  My parents have gone to some cool places, and I would love their input on the best snorkeling places to go...or any ones input.  If you have gone somewhere that you think would be good for the kids to go snorkeling at then please let me know.  But we will be having a fun party to give them their gifts, and help introduce our "savings" jar for our family vacation.  I will be putting some things on the bottom of the pool for them to "snorkel" and dive for.  It should be really fun.  I will post some pics after this weekend.

Some other things I want to do this summer is have some of the primary kids over to the house for a swim party, and sort of a "get to know you" party for the kids to play with, and for me to get to know more mommies. This should be fun.  I know some of them, but would really like to get to know more of them.  Also we are going to be feeding the missionaries on Sunday so that we can get to know them better as well.  This will be a monthly thing for our family so that we can show the kids how to be loving and generous to the missionaries, and hopefully instill in them the importance of missionary work.  Also to help encourage them to want to go on a mission when they get older.

I also want to spend a lot less time here on the computer.  I have notices that I spend a lot of time that I could be doing other things, here on this computer.  I will be updating the blog, so that you all know what I am up to, but as far as getting onto face book and all that, I find that I am spending way too much valuable time on here reading stuff, and not attending to my children.  I'm not saying that the Internet is bad, but for me I find that it is addicting, and that I should cut down on my usage time.  SO I am allotting myself two hours a day on the Internet only AFTER the kids have gone to bed.  Hopefully this will help me become more organized with my time, and help me spend more quality time with my kids.

Well, I better get going, I will update you in a little while on how the party went with the kids, and how we are doing.  Hope all of you are well.  Please know that we love you all and think of you often.