I'm a new Aunt for the 51st Time!!

Yesterday, my baby sister delivered her first little girl. They named her Ashlyn Shelline. This makes the 51st niece or nephew for me! I couldn't believe that when I added everyone up. Tonight Sarah and I went to visit Tracy and Ashlyn. I love holding brand new babies.

Toilet Paper ANYONE?

I think this is so ironic. Tonight at Enrichment a certain sister, who will remain nameless, mentioned that they have were out of toilet paper. I walked by the guest bathroom and noticed a pile of something on the floor. I thought for a moment that someone had changed in the bathroom and had left their clothes on the floor. To my surprise, it wasn't clothes at all. It was our cat, Bruce. He has never done this before. It looks like he had a great time!




I guess now I AM the one who needs more toilet paper!!

Crater of Diamonds State Park Trip

This past weekend our family traveled with the Lyons (our good friends) to Crater of Diamonds State Park. We left Friday morning and came home yesterday evening. We had a wonderful time. Clyde cooked us wonderful meals. We had ribs, corn on the cob, monkey bread, momma Fletcher's orange bread, and fajitas. I am grateful that Clyde has learned how to do all the cooking on an open fire. I guess that comes from years of being involved in the Boy Scouts program. Sarah brought her best friend MaKayla along with us. We usually don't allow the girls to bring friends. Seeing that there would be no one else there her age, we caved in. It really wasn't bad at all.

Friday we spent the afternoon setting up camp and exploring the park.

Friday evening while we were waiting for our ribs to finish cooking we gave the kids different assignments for skits. Sarah and MaKayla had to do a skit and had to say the words "martian chocolate." Hannah and Emma had to say "use the skillet." Georgah and Ethan had to say "what does that button do?" Rebekah was our MC for the night. She was great! They all were! Rebekah came up with her own jokes saying things like "That was a funny as that guy." Pointing to Clyde. We laughed so hard. We gave out prizes for each skit. Each group received the ingredients to make S'mores.

Saturday we spent most of the day digging for diamonds. It was a lot of fun having a reason to get dirty. We found lots of crystal and quartz, but no diamonds. The weather was freezing cold on Friday night and warm on Saturday.

Sunday morning before we left Teresa and I took Sarah, MaKayla, Hannah and Emma to try and find a diamond. We tried digging and came up with nothing. I think we were all getting a little discouraged. I was wondering off by myself, thinking "ok there has to be a lesson somewhere within our vacation. What could it be?" All of the sudden I heard, "Mom, Steph, Mom" Their voices where happy! I could see their excitement. Hannah came running over to me. "Look what I found." I was ready to say, "Honey, it's just another crystal." But to my amazement. . . It was beautiful! A beautiful yellow clear stone. I told Hannah I think you found a diamond, let's so have it checked out. All of a sudden she had dropped it! Our hearts sunk. She found it! I had Hannah put it in her bag of rocks. I didn't even think to tell her to zip it up.

As we were trying to hurry as fast as we could across a 37 1/2 acre diamond field. Hannah tripped and dropped her bag. She lost some rocks. OH NOOOOO!! She was lucky that it didn't fall out. We finally made it to the certification table. When Hannah placed her stone in the lady's hand, she said, "OH, It's beautiful!" It was a DIAMOND!!!! They rushed the diamond to a closed room slammed the door shut and withing a few minutes they came back. It was alike Hannah had just given birth and they were taking the baby away to make sure everything was ok. HAHAHA

When they came back they said she had found a 1/2 carat yellow diamond. She was so proud! They boxed the diamond for us and gave us a certificate stating how much the diamond weighed. They also took her picture and wrote a statement about her for the bulletin board. The park also sounds a horn when a diamond is found. It was exciting to hear that horn. Hannah had several people ask to see the diamond.

This week we will have the diamond appraised. So, what does an 11 year old girl do with a 1/2 carat yellow diamond?

Hannah has Braces!

Hannah now has BRACES!! She was so excited to get them. However, now she is realizing how much she is having to do without, food wise. Hannah is also learning that braces aren't as easy and painfree as she thought.

Swing Set is Gone!

Last Monday night for FHE we did yard work. Clyde did the mowing, I did the edging, and the girls picked up the mess they always seem to leave when playing in the backyard. After yard work was done, Clyde took apart the swing set that we have had since Georgah was a little baby. It has seen better days and many children have played hours and hours on it. It was an accident waiting to happen. The swing set is now just a pile of poles.

After the swing set was gone, the girls had fun playing with the poles. They played pirates.

After that they played band with brooms and a pooper scooper. Yuck! But hey you have to do with what you have. Right?

I'm confused!

I can't seem to figure out the slide show feature on this site. I thought I did thing the way it said to do. If anyone could help me, I would appreciate it. Just e-mail me or call em how to do this. PLEASEEEE!!!!

Update on the swimsuit

Saturday afternoon we went swimsuit shopping again. This time we were successful!! We went to Dick's Sporting Store. She tried it on and it fit!! I was so happy. We went to pay and they told me it was $45. What??? Sarah said it was on a rack that said $19.98. He asked if all of them were on that rack and Sarah said yes. So without hesitation he priced adjusted it. So for $21 we have a swimsuit!

Swimsuits. . .ARGH!!

Tonight before taking Sarah to her friend Makayla's, we went looking for her a swimsuit. She needs a new one for swim team. Did I say she is trying out for the swim team? She starts Tuesday morning at 6:45 AM! She is so excited. I am happy for her and her desire to try something new. We have gone to Costco, Academy, Target, Wal-mart, and Kohl's. She doesn't need anything flowery. She just wants a simple black or green/black swimsuit. The swimsuit really needs to be those colors, since she will representing her school. She will practice for 8 weeks and only have 1 swim meet. I like that kind of schedule!

Sarah received another letter this week saying she was a finalist . . . AGAIN! She had to write a letter to her favorite author. Anyone wonder who that might be??? You guessed it Stephenie Meyer! Anyways, she wrote a letter to her telling her how much she enjoys her books. She was a finalist out of 3,000. She didn't win a scholarship and she is OK with that. Sarah is happy to receive these honors. She said maybe she should pursue her writing. She at one point talked about writing children's books. Maybe I am raising a future author!

Again?!?!?

So, I went this week for my first mammogram. Who ever said "it's no biggie??" OK, it wasn't too bad, just uncomfortable. That was yesterday, today I got a call. The lady very kindly told me that most (20%) people after having their first mammogram have to come back to do it again. She than continued to tell me that the Dr didn't like what she saw in the left side. She did say that the Dr didn't think that it was anything bad. Probably just a bad picture. So, needless to say, I get to go back to be pressured again! She said, "don't worry, it's probably nothing." To make things a little worse. . . They can't see me until next week! argh!!! It's really no big deal, right??? :)

Ward Boundaries

Sunday has come and gone and I have yet to post about the ward boundaries. I am all for change and change is good. I had no idea that we would lose so many people. I am sad to see so many people leave. I did find out that I will be remaining as the Relief Society President for now. I have been left with a completely empty RS Board. The only people left are Gwen Prickett our chorister, Jennifer Ericson one of our teachers, and Cristina Wurtz our RS Historian. Other than that NOBODY!!! I will miss Robin's lessons and her monthly challenges. Hil, what can I say?? You are AWESOME!! She was the first friend I made in this ward. I have babysat Jordyn since she was a tiny baby. I will miss not seeing or talking to you every week.

I know that everyone will adjust to the change. It might take awhile, but we will all make it. We will make new friends. Our lives will continue and we will be better for the time we have spent together in Arlington 5th ward.