End of {sniff-sniff} Summer

Today as I sit and write this post, the weather is stormy and blustery outside, and looking at these pictures, I'm already missing the warm sunny days! Hopefully we'll get a few more before it's really cold!

About 2 weeks ago, the weather was warm enough to fill up the little pool. So out we went to fill it up. As it was filling up, we walked down to the mailbox to find that our neighbors were having a popsicle/ice-cream sandwich/otter-pop/lemonade stand! This was a new concept for Carissa, so of course she wanted something (something that we had in our very freezer...and for NO money) So we came home to get our money, and as we were heading back home with our little frozen treat, a couple of the neighbor kids followed us home.

Well it soon became obvious that hot kids with a little pool filled with refreshingly cool water was just too much of a temptation!

Yup....clothes and all! It started out with "you can get your feet wet"....but then it became the process of looking the other way, pretending to not see what was really happening. (Sorry Aislinn....we really did try to keep them dry) But when Owen started going down head first, we had to put a stop to it! (even though it was really funny)



Goodbye summer....we'll miss you!!!

Donavan's Senior Photos {Part ONE}

I took Donavan out the other night to get some senior photos. I'm still in DEEP denial that he is a senior...but seeing as how I never made it out with him last year for a photo shoot, I figured I better get some of him anyway! There is something that happens when I take pictures of my kids...they won't cooperate for me, so I brought a friend with me (thanks Teresa) and I think between the two of us, we may have got some "ungrumpy" looking shots! MAYBE!

So here you go, the first part of his senior photos. I'm planning on taking him out for more since he wants to have some with his trumpet, but his good one was at school. So we had the guitar as his prop this time. But he had a hard time understanding the word "prop"...he just wanted to jam!











Here's the same one with a different processing. Can't decide which one I like better.










He really liked this silhoette.


And Mom...this one is for you...since I know you love his eyes!


And here's a shot of the grafitti building as the sun was setting.


Now I need to go through the 563 (NOT KIDDING) photos I took on Labor Day! And preschool starts tomorrow. Wish us luck. She's been clingy this week. Hopefully it will go smoothly.

Back to school series

Decided I better scrap all the back to school pictures before another year is over and gone! So here are the pictures from last year compared to the ones from this year. And even though they both have grown up and changed in the past year....I still get the attitude from Donavan! I just hope someday that changes!

Back to School, and NEW stuff!

Well as the summer wraps up and the kids get ready to go back to school, I feel like I need to wrap up some recent highlights!

Here's this little cutie who wanted to bird watch on one of our night walks.


I like to get {or try to get} pictures of the kids in the morning before they head off for their first day, and this year was EXACTLY like last year. Nikelle was all excited for school and wide awake and happy. Then there was Donavan who was ULTRA grumpy, and even told me he's NOT a morning person. (Um...really???) And Nikelle is just trying to cooperate and get a good picture. I'll put one up, but just know that the whole series will be a layout....ya, the pictures are THAT funny!


Then I got to go out the other night with my friend Jen and her cute little sister Cynthia for a quick photo shoot! Isn't she adorable?




We decided to get Carissa a new bike, when her friend Kassidy got a bike and we realized that she was indeed big enough to ride a 2 wheeler with training wheels. Then the girls began fighting over it, and we knew we'd have to get something for her soon. I took her to the store to pick out a bike, and was surprised that she picked a Barbie one instead of the Disney Princess one. So it was a good thing that I took her with me to pick it out. She really enjoys it, but still has a tough time turning around, but she's getting the hang of it!


We were at the park for a friends party the other night, and I just had to take advantage of some yummy afternoon light in the park. Isn't Kelle just looking so grown up? I can't believe how big she's gotten these past couple of years!





And the last part of my VERY random post is about something that was LONG overdue, but I just wasn't ready to do it until now.

Over the past couple of months, I've found a couple of friends on facebook that I went to school with. This one in particular, we were very close but she was younger than me, so we lost each other after high school. Turns out she lives right here, and is in the process of fostering kids. She's been able to adopt 2 others through the program, and has been fostering another for the past 8 months. She got a call a couple of weeks ago asking if she would be interested in taking in a 17 month old boy. Well of course she jumped at the chance, even though it would mean that the little boys were only 2 months apart. And over the next week alot of things happened that allowed her to adopt this little guy right off the bat. And because she needed a crib to put him in, I offered her Carissa's crib. Which of course meant that I needed to admit that my "baby" was no longer a baby and was capable of sleeping in a big girl bed!

So when we got home from church, we started to disassemble the crib. And suddenly Carissa got EXTREMELY attached to it, and I started to panic! But once we got the new bed opened up and assembled, she was BEYOND excited to have a new bed!

See the excitement on her face!!!

When it was time to get ready for bed, she put on her jammies and climbed into bed even before finishing the rest of her nightime routine! But look how tired she looks here! AND it was 30 minutes BEFORE her bedtime!

And here's what it looks like all finished in the morning light! Now I just need to finish the room by putting up her shelf and curtains, and then it will be DONE!


That's it for right now. Carissa will go back to preschool in 2 weeks, so we are gearing up for that! Hopefully she will be independent enough to not need me to stay at school with her. Seriously....I hope she has outgrown that!

My {Gee..there's NO way I'm this old!} Reunion!

Thanks to the many lost connections that I've made thanks to Facebook, I was contacted about my high school reunion. I wasn't sure if I would be "allowed" to come, since my family moved my senior year and I didn't officially graduate with the school that held my loyalties. But they assured me that I wasn't the only one that hadn't graduated that would be attending. So we made plans to make the 10 hour trip. Having never travelled with Carissa outside of the valley, and never any farther than 40 minutes, we were a bit apprehensive about the trip, but decided we can only be prisoners in our house for so long (and 4.5 years was TOO long!) So we purchased every new DVD and coloring book that we didn't previously own, and packed up the van!

It took a few more minutes (more like 45) to get everything loaded up and out the door, and of course Carissa was getting impatient with not leaving. Little did she know how long she would really be expected to sit...but she was still anxious! After we had made it all of around 8 miles...we heard the infamous "are we there yet"??? We all got a HUGE giggle out of that one! She did really well in the van. Thank goodness for the wireless headphones so I didn't have to listen to Kai-Lan all the way there! We took the drive up in two days, thinking it would space it out and not overwhelm her, but on the way back, she did just fabulous!

When we got there, we went to my BFF's house and hung out there for a bit. There was a meet and mingle dinner planned at a restaurant/bar. I wasn't prepared for how BAD the food is when they expect patrons to be drinking and not notice how awful the food was. Certainly not food prepared with taste taken into consideration! It was fun to see everyone that first night, but with the loud music it made it really difficult to really interact too much. So when we felt that we would lose our voices if we stayed much longer (and it was becoming uncomfortable to be sober and watching some of them....I'll leave it at that!) so we took off.

The next day they had a BBQ picnic set up at a park. It was a much more relaxed atmosphere, and I was able to visit with several people and have a little fun too.


This is my BFF Michelle. It's funny cause we didn't really hang out too much in HS, mostly after we had kids and we lived around the corner from each other. And our X's were good friends so we ended up together alot. But she is the one that I have stayed in contact with over the years. She's fantastic.


Here's a group of us all laughing and having a great time when someone (my hubby) comes up with the camera and tells us he's taking our picture! The one in the white shirt is Stephanie (Clark...mostly for my mom). She is the daughter of my seminary teacher, and we had several classed together. She is hilarious and is now a music/movement teacher in an elementary school. I won't bore you (and mom you wouldn't remember anyone else)


Here's Stephanie again demonstrating how she teaches the kids! (and no she wasn't on drill with me...she was a choir girl)


Here I am with one of my middle school BFF's. This is Becky (Beecroft) and she and I had almost every class together. We hung out on the weekends. And she lived close to a little store, and we would go down there and blow our babysitting money on candy. This obviously was before we discovered boys, clothes and makeup. But we still had lots of fun on those outings! The next one over is Lisa. She was in the Student body council and on the planning committee for the reunion. The gal on the end is Eileen (Cantrell). She was on drill with me. We had TONS of fun at practices and trips. LOTS of memories there!


And just to prove that teenage boys love their mothers too (only cause they wanted to leave the BBQ) Becky got a hug from her second of four boys! She told me this would be the ONLY picture she has of him giving her a hug. And after Nikelle saw these cute boys, and I was talking to their mother.....she had an instant crush on them. YuP...both of them. One is 16, the other is 15. She's open to either option. They are tall...and have curly hair....AND blue eyes! And I LOVE their mother...so I'm OK. The bad part is that we live a BIT far away!

When the BBQ was over, it was time to prep ourselves for the main dinner event that evening. We started off with a class picture. Not everyone who came to some of the events are in the picture. We actually had over 100 people come. But this is a picture of the ones that could make it early enough for the picture.



This is a cute girl that was the homecoming queen and was just the sweetest thing ever. And that hasn't even changed. She made "popular" seem so much more desirable, but unfortunately not all of them were like that.


Here's Michelle with her very recent "fiance". In fact I still haven't gotten the whole story on them yet! She wanted a picture of the two of them, but Andrew was making them laugh so hard I'm not sure she can use them...but it shows pretty much what we did for 2 straight days....LAUGH hysterically!


Here's a picture of me with Kristine (Crook). We hung out a bunch in 9-10th grade. I'd like to admit to all the crazy things we did together, but I don't think I should admit half the stuff or incriminate myself too much. But in our defense, her dad was bishop at the time and we never did anything too crazy! The other gal in the picture is Holly (Hatch). She and I were in the same ward together. So we had lots of activities together, but hardly any classes. So we only really saw each other at church things. She now has 2 teenage daughters that are adorable, but are just as sassy as mine is!

It took me months to decide to go to the reunion, but I have not regretted going for one single moment. I wanted to scan some REALLY old pictures to compare to, but I can't seem to get my scanner working, so I'll just have to do that later!

It's so weird to me that it seems like just yesterday I was sitting in the bleachers freezing my keester off in my drill uniform, cheering for my team to win! And yet the last 20 years has just flown by. Not all the years were great, but I was always blessed and had a great life. And looking back, I don't think I would have changed anything!

Farewell Old Friend

Last week, I got a phone call from Donavan around 6:30, telling me he had been in an accident. My first reaction was to be angry at him for not being careful. He then tried to explain to me that he would need to be picked up. Of course it was right during dinner prep time, so I just told him to drive the car home. And then he had to explain to me that the car was completely demolished, and was undriveable. After he told me that I started to panic a bit.

So I called Andrew and found out he was a few minutes from home. So as soon as he got here, I left to go get Donavan. All the way down to the accident site, I was so grateful that he was fine. Yes, it was a HUGE inconvenience to loose the car. Not to mention needing to replace it so the kids have something to drive them to school every day.

As I approached the site, I had to pull over on the shoulder and park a ways back and walk up to it, since the traffic was still quite heavy, even though they had blocked off 2 lanes of traffic. As I walked up, 2 officers approached me and asked if I was Donavan's mom. They took me over to him across the street. He was sitting on the curb with the EMT. The EMT went over all the injuries with me, but to be honest I was too distracted by looking at the car(s). I couldn't believe how much damage had occurred. Once I had talked to the EMT, and he advised me to take him to the ER after we left the site. He had some cuts on his fingers on his right hand, and a pretty nasty bump on his right flank from being bumped into the center console. But considering all the damage done, we are SO lucky it wasn't much worse.



So then I met with the officer on the scene who told me how the accident happened. Donavan was in the left turn lane, waiting for it to be safe to make the left. He saw some cars approaching the light, and the yellow light was turning red, so it looked like the cars were stopping, so he proceeded through the intersection. Well it turned out that a 19 year old driving a red mustang, decided to speed up to make it through the light. He admitted to the officer that he had been traveling at 52 MPH (how convenient that he wasn't really "speeding" right??? 52 my eye!!! I went back out and measured where his skid marks started, and they were 75 feet back, he might have been doing 52 when he made impact!)



So basically the mustang hit the front passenger tire area and spun Donavan around, causing our back end to smash the driver side of the mustang. And then Donavan's car hit a car waiting at the stop line for the light to turn green, and the mustang hit another car. So 4 cars involved...totaled. I feel really bad for the people that were just sitting there. Now we are just waiting for the insurance to determine who's fault it is. Unfortunately Donavan received a citation for "failure to yield", but the other driver wasn't cited for speeding. But one of the witnesses, who was in the same lane as Donavan and waiting to turn left also, said that the light was red before Donavan proceeded to clear the intersection. So hopefully it will end up that the mustang ran a red light, and then it shouldn't affect Donavan's insurance too much at all.



This car has been a very good friend to our family. I bought it when Nikelle was just 2 months old, and it was my main car up until almost 2 years ago when we bought the van. She has been so reliable, and hardly had any problems. It still had the original engine and transmission in it. Of course I don't really know how long it would have made it, but it was still going strong! When the kids were little, we took lots of road trips in it, and have alot of good memories! We are gonna miss her! In fact when I was cleaning out the glove box, I found the receipt from when I paid it off almost 9 years ago!


When I bought it, it had 34,000 miles on it! Look at all those fun miles!



Saying goodbye! We'll miss you!

The 2 most glorious days of my life!

Over the past 2 weeks, I have debated with myself about how I want to describe these 2 events. Since they are so personal, and emotional for me. When I sat down to write about it, it ended up being over 11 pages of written material! So I've decided to give you the short version with ALOT of pictures! (Thanks Jen....you're the BEST!!)

Getting me to the temple was a LONG process. And I was so blessed to have so many bishops who were patient with me, and were willing to work with me! After I began my preparations, my dad started to have some health problems, and we felt an urgent push to make this happen, as we weren't sure what he was dealing with. I really wanted my dad to see me go through the temple, so I got everything in order as quickly as I could. Once I had everything in order, it became a waiting game. His doctors told him it would be about a month before he would get test results back, so we decided that the time was as good as any and made plans for them to fly down. I made my appointments, and then prepared myself for the absolute hardest part of this whole process. I had to write a letter to my X-husband asking his permission to have the kids sealed to Andrew and I. I knew that it was something that I would have to do someday, and I'd been avoiding thinking about it for years!

Well we managed to write the letter, and I waited anxiously to hear anything back. In the meantime, I went and did my endowment on the 3rd of July. It was the most wonderful experience! Having so many gals (and some husbands!) and of course my family come to support me on my special day was purely awesome! Spending a few precious moments with each of them in the temple was so special! Something I will treasure always! Thanks to each of you! (Wish I had pictures...but you all took off!)


Twelve days total went by until I heard anything from him. He had some questions and had tried contacting our bishop, but the number I gave him was wrong. So it took a couple of days for them to connect. After the first phone call, he was convinced that he wouldn't sign the letter. I was disappointed, but I figured that we still had a few days to try and change his mind. Well he called our bishop again the next night, and followed that with a phone call to us. He spoke to Donavan, and was told some pretty brutal things that really needed to be said. Unfortunately he still hadn't changed his mind, but said that he would think about it some more.

The next day, I was truly distraught! I felt so defeated. After all this was a "good" thing, and I was going to be denied this experience because someone was so selfish and didn't understand anything about his children or what they wanted. It was extremely difficult to keep my emotions under control. I'd have to say, it truly was the darkest day of my life. And I've been through LOTS of them in the past 15 years!

The next morning, I woke knowing that it was the LAST day to make him change his mind, and I would eventually need to call him. Another thing I'd been avoiding for years. But I knew that if I didn't try, I would never forgive myself! So while out running errands, I pulled the car into a parking lot, and made the call. I expected to get his voice mail, and was planning on leaving a short message. I was completely prepared to "fight" for this. But instead of "fighting" he answered the call, and we spoke for about 2 minutes before he told me that he was 99.9% sure he was going to sign the letter. I reminded him that we were running out of time and it needed to be mailed TODAY! He promised me that it would be mailed that evening when he got off work. I was still ALOT skeptical, but I was finally finding some hope!

When I got home, I told my parents what had happened, and my dad suggested I call the temple to find out if they would take a faxed copy. They said they would, so I called him back, and asked if he could fax it to me, as well as mail it. So the letter was faxed to the temple and mailed out on Friday! (Nothing like last minute!!) And once the temple received the fax, I knew that it was finally going to happen. I can't even begin to try and describe the amount of prayers that were answered to make this happen! I am truly grateful for everyone who spent time talking to him and helped to soften his heart! Some of them I'm aware of, and a few that I've never met. But I have so much gratitude for them! They truly worked a miracle!

(Trust me.....this IS the short version! But I figured most of you would want to hear the details of the kids getting permission!)


We arrived at the temple, and got the kids settled into the children's center. We were SO worried about how Carissa would behave. But she walked right up to one of the little tables and started coloring. We had told her several times what she would need to do to get ready, and we felt MUCH better knowing that Nikelle would be there to help her get dressed! And I also believe that she felt the spirit and was more reverent than I've EVER seen her!

(I'm getting to the pictures....hang in there!)

When it was time to enter the sealing room, I was so excited! So surreal that it was finally happening! Truly was the luckiest person alive right at that moment!! When we walked in and saw a room full of smiling faces (some already crying....myself included!) Every one of them helped us to get there and made it possible! I am truly grateful for all their wonderful examples and friendships! I am so grateful that they took the time out of their busy summer to come and spend an hour with my family! Such awesome friends! I know some of you were unable to come, but I didn't forget that you also helped me get there, and you were there in spirit!

It was so wonderful to look at my husband and know that we can now be together forever! And all my children too! It was pretty emotional when they brought the kids in! There were a few people that didn't know the kids had received permission, so they were pretty surprised!

When I turned around and looked at my kids for the first time all dressed in white, I was so taken over emotionally. (not that I wasn't already!) But Donavan was holding Carissa and he gave her a quick kiss and put her down so they could get in position. Then it was time for Carissa to join us, and she walked right up to the alter, put her little hand on top of ours and looked right at the sealer, and never took her eyes off him! She was truly angelic! I've never seen her so quiet and peaceful! And it may be a LONG time before I see it again!!!

I'd like to say that I remember everything the sealer said, but I just don't! I think I was doing fairly well until after the kids came in, then I was just enjoying them being there with me! Such a powerful realization that they will all be with me for eternity!

Then we got to spend some precious moments with those that attended and those will also be treasured memories! I am so thankful for all their words of encouragement and love! But the crowning moment for me, was when I went over to my dad and got to hug him! Without his love and example, I'm not sure this would have been possible! I know it was extremely difficult for him to travel here, and his body was not cooperating. There were times that I felt completely selfish for making him come here instead of traveling to Seattle. But when I hugged him, I knew that we'd both made the best decisions, and it was truly a beautiful moment! Thanks dad! I love you so much!

Coming out of the temple

The group shot. (There were a few that snuck away to avoid pictures...boohoo!)

Me and Kassie (I visit teach her, and we served on the enrichment committee together)

Tiffany and Ryan (She's my visiting teaching companion and Nikelle's young women's leader, and Ryan was Donavan's young men's leader when we first moved here)

Our awesome bishop Nate and his wife Melanie. (Melanie had also been at camp with Nikelle all week, and she was told that the letter had been signed, but she had to keep it a secret from Nikelle. That was a tough secret to keep....THANKS!)

Andrew with his brother Tom! Now you may know where he gets it from!

This is Darla. I could do an entire post about how much this gal means to me! She is my visiting teacher, and we also served on enrichment together!

Chris and Teresa. Chris served in one of the many bishoprics we had, and Teresa was one of Nikelle's YW's leaders....and the only friends that we LOVE to chaperon youth dances with! (It's time for another one soon!)

This is Matt and Julie. They used to live down the street, but have now moved to Vegas.(Boo-hoo)! Matt was our home teacher....the best EVER! He may not believe me when I say that, but you truly are inspired! Thanks for driving up early to be there for us. You guys are awesome!

These are our neighbors Pat and Alissa. They have girls the same ages as my girls, and they love to play together! And we love to hang out all together!

This is the Lenz clan. Tom and Julie's family (minus Chris and Kirsty) and Grandma Lenz.

A family shot (trying to get out of the gusting wind!)


A shot of the older kids with their grandparents (Carissa was running in the grass! I REALLY hope they were able to get out the grass stains!)

Here's a sweet picture of my parents! My cute dad was making ga-ga faces at "his bride"....and my mom was so worried about her hair! Golly, I love you guys!

Here's a shot of my side of the family! My sister and her family and my parents!

My boys!

The girls!

One of Carissa dancing in her "pretty white princess dress"!

And my favorite shot of Carissa! We were all lining up for the big group shot, and she was distracted by ants on the ground!

And my favorite of Andrew and I!


Hope you enjoyed, and I didn't bore you too much!
(Thanks to Jen B for the pictures! I didn't think to have someone take our picture:( But she has been an incredible example to me and helped me through some pretty rough times! Thanks for everything!)