One amazing person...

I just want everyone to know how much I love my sister-in-law. She is the one of the greatest people you will EVER meet. She is a great example to me - I hope one day I can be half the person she is...

Here she is with her two beautiful daughters.

Summer Fun

I know it's been awhile since I blogged . . . but it's summer, and I just get really lazy in the summer. Don't you?

On my very long list of "What I Shall Do With My Time When All Three Of My Children Are In School Starting Next Week: Hooray!" is update this blog with our summer vacation pictures. But for today I will just say that $2.48 invested in a Slip N Slide a few years ago that we finally pulled out of the box this year has helped make the summer fun.

The proof:

Fun with the Fechter cousins

And fun with the Ray cousins.

It has also provided entertainment for the kids during a presidency meeting and sanity for me in the late afternoon when I need the kids to get out of the house for awhile.

I love Slip N Slide. I also love Target clearance.

My pantry runneth over . . .

And my refrigerator, and my freezers, and a few cupboards.

I'm still loving Coupon Sense, because how else could I get 5 boxes of Eggos, 6 boxes of Capri Suns, 4 jars of Smuckers ice cream toppings, 3 boxes of baby wipes, a loaf of French bread, 3 packages of paper plates, a Powerade, 5 bags of Wacky Mac, and 5 boxes of Ronzoni pasta for a whopping $4.63?

Pictures from my amazing New York City trip coming this week, so stay tuned :)

Still Alive

It's been so long since I've updated that some of you might have presumed this blog was dead forever. But alas, it lives again! I have been super busy and there is no end in sight to that.

I do not claim to be a great photographer, but I have been enjoying the new camera Joey bought me for my birthday. Our old camera was purchased in 2003 and only had 2.0 megapixels--about the quality of a cell phone camera. It was definitely time for something new.

Here's what we've been up to:

Hannah took 4th place in the Arizona State Spelling Bee. We are so proud of her. (old camera)

Kendall looks so grown up with her new haircut. She's all registered for kindergarten and I am only having slight anxiety (mixed with choruses of "Hallelujah") about all three of my kids being in school. (old camera)

We recently had a great time celebrating the 25th anniversary of our old grade school (and our kids' current one). Joey and I were in the first kindergarten class the year the school opened. We saw lots of old friends and the memories were fun. Here we are with our 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Huskison. She was the best teacher ever. I was so flattered when she looked me up in the phone book the next day because she wanted to chat some more and didn't feel like she was able to talk with me enough that night.

We enjoyed a brief visit with my brother Nathan recently. Here is much of the family after attending a memorial service for a dear friend. Noah is missing from the picture; he was at a birthday party that night.

Hannah and Noah were honored at the school's Honor Roll Night last week. This was the first year that Noah was eligible, hewasexcitedto get his first trophy that he actually slept with it that night. They have both done really well this school year, although it's been a challenge to keep up with two kids and all their assignments. I don't know how people with lots of kids do it!

Here's a picture of Hannah after her first piano recital. She has been taking lessons since September and she's doing so well. I love hearing piano music in the house all the time. (And I do mean ALL the time, she is constantly playing). I'm glad she's loving it, it will be a great skill. I quit after about three piano lessons when I was about six years old.

I was able to chaperone Noah's field trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens this week. It was a hot day but we had a good time. They have these amazing glass sculptures on display.

They also had a fun butterfly exhibit.

I'm also excited to say that I've lost 25 pounds in the past ten weeks! I'm doing Weight Watchers and I really love the program. It's so easy to follow and I have made a lot of changes in my habits that will hopefully be lifestyle changes. I'm even exercising. I am feeling good and excited to lose even more, especially since I don't really think it's that noticeable yet. It will be awhile before I am done but I am off to a great start.

Hopefully we will update more frequently since we have some fun adventures coming up.

Family Treasures, Lost and Found

Yesterday, as I was picking up Noah from school, his friend Sam was trying to give him a paper and he was refusing to take it. Sam threw the paper on the ground and walked away, so Noah finally picked it up. As we were walking to the car I asked him about the paper and he gave it to me. It was a letter that he had written and given to Sam, and then Sam was giving it back. Here's the text of the letter, including his spelling:

"Dear Sam,
You should be nice to evrewon (everyone). It would be nice to stop fighting Sam. You're mean to evrewon okay. You should be nice to Jalen, Josh, Kaidin, and me. We are all children of are parentes we should lisin and obay. Sam, Dr. Marten Lothe King Jr. said, We shoulde'nt figt with hands We shou fight with words. he said, to all of us. Sam you neve now whos wachen you boy you are in jail. lesen to me okay sam. You're hungrey arent you Sam. I know youre hungrey Sam okay.

Sincerly,
Steve Nash=
Noah"

So I was dying. My first grader wrote a letter telling another kid to be nice and quoted Dr. King!!! Where does he get it? And I thought it was going to say, "We are all children of God" but instead "children of our parents"! And what the heck is up with the hungry part at the end? (By the way, Noah LOVES Steve Nash and always calls himself Steve Nash.) For the record, Sam is actually a pretty good kid, although I think he's a little bit physically aggressive. Noah said he wrote the letter on Sunday when I made the kids go in their beds and take a quiet time after stake conference. Aside from the letter being completely hilarious, I am really proud of him for standing up for himself. This letter is definitely going to be saved, and I now consider it a family treasure. I'm just glad that Sam gave it back so I could have it.

This morning, Kendall was sitting on my lap at the desk and she sliced the letter with my paper cutter into about five different pieces. After freaking out I found all the pieces and put them back together. I am going to put it away now so nothing happens to it.

Where's Your Voice?

I don't know about you, but throughout the last year I've spent a lot of time watching politics. It was the first time I felt like I really figured out my own political beliefs. Knowing what I believe in has made me want to do more. I've been considering starting a blog dedicated to all things political. But to be honest, I probably won't, becauseI typically avoid confrontation at all costs. All of this might just be a result of listening to way too much talk radio these days.

Anyway, I'm sure we all know about the budget crisis facing Arizona's schools. This is MAJOR. Now since Arizona doesn't have the ability to just print up our own money like the federal government, I guess we won't be passing any stimulus package to send our great great great great great grandchildren into debt. So we have to find another solution. I don't think our legislators are looking hard enough to find feasible solutions. I don't want to see teacher salaries cut (let's go ahead and put them below the poverty line, why don't we?), class sizes double, half day kindergarten, a shortened school week, etc.

I was impressed to read this editorial the other day, describing a local superintendant who is speaking out and gathering the masses to say "Enough!". He says the legislature doesn't even have an idea of what these budget cuts will mean for our kids. He started a website, respectforregularfolks.com, to try and make a difference. He has a link to all of the state legislators email and phone numbers. I know I'm going to start emailing.

How about you?

So Far in 2009 . . .

Hannah won her district spelling bee, so on to regionals it is.

Noah learned how to ride without training wheels.

Kendall and I had a great time at the Phoenix Children's Museum.

Joey celebrated his birthday (no he's not three, that's just how many candles I had!)

We celebrated by spending a weekend up north without the kiddos. It was great. Even standing in the snow it really wasn't that cold, but the scenery was beautiful.

I think we're off to a good start.