HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!!! It's so hard to believe that Hannah is 12!!

Seminary Already???

I can't believe that Sarah is finishing up 8th grade and getting ready for High School! Today was the last day of seminary and they always come and kidnap the future freshman. So bright and early, 5:15 AM, Dakin and Daltin, my sister Michelle's boys, came and picked up Sarah. They so wanted to wake her up. Clyde and I knew that Sarah wouldn't appreciate having her boys cousins in her room waking her up. SO, we caved and told her last night as she went to bed. After picking up Sarah they grabbed our next door neighbor Emily and off they went to get Malcolm, Heather's oldest. I am excited to see how close Sarah has become with her cousins over the past few years.

I hope Sarah enjoys seminary. I know I did. Hopefully, she will follow her parents and get 4 years of 100% attendance when she graduates from seminary! Wow 4 more years and she will be off to college! Man, I'm filling a little old. lol

Sarah's 1st Swim Meet

Sarah had her first swim meet. She did a great job! For the past 8 weeks, Sarah has been at swim practices 3 days a week at 6:30 in the morning. Her hard work has really paid off! She looks great and has found a new talent! Sarah swam the 50 yd freestyle and placed 6th in her heat. She also swam a freestyle relay and her team placed 5th.

Sarah swam the 50yd backstroke and place 2nd! She was only 2 1/2 seconds behind first place.

It looks like this might not be the only swim meet for Sarah. We are checking into JV Swim team for next year! WTG Sarah!!

Georgah's Band Concert!

What can I say?? Georgah loves the drums. All year Georgah has stayed after school on Thursday for band practice. She loves music! She really is good at keeping the beat. I think she might have a future in drum

Family Home Evening

This past Monday we took the advice from President Hansen to be a journal writing people. We talked a little about the importance of keeping a journal. After talking to the girls, or should I say trying to talk to the girls, we made new journals for everyone. I thought this would be a quick and easy FHE. Boy, was I wrong!! What I thought would only take about 30 minutes, it took more like 1 1/2 hours!

We had a great time being creative and wondering when some people would stop putting stuff on their journals. It's so hard to know when to stop, especially when ALL scrapbook stuff was up for grabs! After we finished our journals, we went to Dairy Queen for blizzards, dipped cones, brownie sundaes, and peanut buster parfaits! What a great evening!!

The question was asked from the girls whose journal is the best?? I couldn't answer!

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

Mother's Day has come and gone. It was a nice quiet Sunday. Clyde and I got to sleep in, our meetings had been canceled. Did I ever mention that Clyde is now the Young Men's President. So that means every Sunday we both have to be at church early. Our girls will have to ride with other members of the ward. They are very understanding. I love that they just move right along with changes. The tradition in our family for Mother's Day is that I get breakfast in bed. Since this year church is at 9 the girls asked if they could bring dinner to me in bed?? Of course, because that would mean I would have to take a nap. Oh, how sad for me! hehehe

After church we had our normal Sunday nachos and I was off to bed. It's amazing how just sitting and listening for 3 hours can make you so tired. I think I was in bed by 1:15 and slept until 5:30! Sarah made pancakes from scratch. Each pancake had a strawberry in the middle. I was also served oranges, fresh strawberries, orange juice, and diet coke! They sure love their mom! Rebekah brought me her "Pretty Pretty Princess" crown to wear and a necklace made out of paper clips. I wore them proudly the rest of the evening. They all made me cards. I have a drawer full of cards from over the past 15 years.

I truly have been blessed with 4 wonderful girls and an amazing husband! While I was napping the girls also picked up the house for me. It was a wonderful relaxing day!

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.