Happy Birthday Grandma!

Today is my grandma's birthday - she is 99! Wow! Wish we could be with her to celebrate. We got to see her last weekend though. And Keanna is with her (my parents live with my grandma and Keanna is still there) so she is giving her lots of birthday loves and wishes from us. Happy Birthday Grandma. We love you!!

Busy, busy, busy!

What a busy couple of days we have had. Friday I met my dad and brother to pick up Ashton. He has been staying with my parents for almost a week. That is a long time for him to be away from home. He gets homesick very easily. So does Ambrea. Anyway, he was past ready to come home. He had a lot of fun, but wanted to be home. So they met me with him so I wouldn't have to drive the whole way. It's a 2 1/2 hour drive one way if you go the whole way, so it cut the time in half. Now, Keanna is a different story. She doesn't get homesick and she didn't want to come home quite yet.

Then after we got home from picking up Ashton we got Nate and Hazel moved into their new place. They have lived in a one bedroom, one bath apartment for a year now and decided it was time to get something a little bigger and get little Savannah out of their room. So they moved into some brand new town homes. They are now in a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhome.
They aren't going to know what to do with that kind of room. :) Now they just need to get Savannah to sleep in her own room. It is brand new and really cute. It even has granite counter tops. I helped Hazel get some more of their things put away this afternoon, before I had to hurry off to work. And thank heavens we brought Ashton home. He and his friend Andy were really good to play with Savannah while we worked. It made it much easier to get things done.

So, we have had a very busy couple of days.

A Visit from Megan

A couple weekends ago our good friend Megan stopped by for a few hours for a visit. When Nate was in elementary Megan was our neighbor and her and Nate were good buds. Now she is married and has two kids, Hallee who is 2 and Addie who is 3 months. It is hard to believe that little Megan has grown up. She now lives out of state while her husband, Mike, finishes school. She was going back home for a few weeks to visit and to work and it is an 11 hour drive. We were about half way so she stopped for a visit and to give the girls a break. We packed a lunch and went to the water park, of course. What a great place to get rid of energy and try to keep cool. We are so glad they came to visit. Her girls are darling and it was so good to see them.

Ray kept very busy keeping track of two 2 year olds.

Savannah and Hallee had a great time. You wouldn't know they had never met each other before this.

Hallee and Megan.

Megan and her girls with Nate and his family.

While I Was Working...

So, on Thursday's I go into work at 2:00, instead of the normal 5:00. Well, sometimes I get off at 6:00 or 7:00 and sometimes I work till 9:00. Tonight I got off at 6:00, I ran into Target to get some hamburger buns, visited with a neighbor there, then ran home to get dinner going. We were having bar-b-que hamburgers, so Ray was the cook tonight. Yeah. Anyway, Ambrea was eating and proceeded to tell me that while I was at work, and Ambrea was at work also, Ashton and Keanna had decided to create a new drink. (Ashton had told Ambrea this earlier because she got home before I did.) We asked Ashton about it so he told us the story. He said first they mixed rootbeer and orange soda. Oh, and they would taste it after each time they added something new. Then they added gatorade and hi-c. Then they added oj and milk. Mmmm sounds yummy right. Then they added cream. By this time Keanna was done with tasting it. Then they added ranch. Only Ashton would taste the final product. Ambrea asked him how it tasted and he said "chunky and lumpy." We were laughing so hard. I can't believe they would taste it. Leave it to Keanna to come up with something like that. She is always doing something fun. I'm sure it's not as funny just reading it as it was having Ashton tell us the story.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day. Today has not been anything grand, just a relaxing Sunday. But I did stop and think about the fathers in my life. First there is my dad. In relief society a couple weeks ago our lesson was about fathers. The teacher asked what kind of a teacher each of our fathers were. My dad is a quiet teacher. He doesn't say much, he teaches more with expression and by example. I have always known whether or not he is happy with me by his reactions towards me. I am OCD with some ways in my life, and looking back, I believe some of it is inherited from my dad. Then there is my father-in-law. He is one of the hardest workers I have known. And he is a great cook. Too bad Ray didn't inherit that from him. :) There are eight kids in Rays family and his dad has always helped with them. When Ray and I were little my mom worked at Skaggs. You coould go there and get yummy icecream cones and my mom can remember Neal bringing kids in the store to get a cone. This was way before I even knew Ray. And my son Nate. It's hard to believe he is a dad. He is a very young dad but what a great dad he is. Savannah loves to be with him. When Hazel was pregnant and they found out they were having a girl some people worried Nate would be dissappointed she wasn't a boy, cause who would go fishing with him. Oh, no worries, Savannah loves to go fishing with him. And of course, Ray. The father to my children. He has always been a very active part of our kids lives. He expects a lot from them, and sometimes they feel like they can't please him. But in reality, he couldn't be more proud of each and every one of them. Including Hazel and Savannah. He is very wise and gives very good advice. He is always willing to help with them. If he didn't I wouldn't be able to work at night like I do.

I just wanted to wish all the dads in my life a very Happy Father's Day and let them know how much I love them.

Sleeping Over

A few weekends ago Savannah stayed with us for a weekend. (I know, I am slow getting this posted. I don't have a cord to put from the camera to the computer. So I have to wait till I get a lot of pictures on the camera and then put them to disc. I really need to invest in a cord for the camera.) We had a lot of fun. Let me just say, being a grandparent is everything they say it is, and more.

Ashton and Savannah played with these little battery powered cars that run on a track. She loved it.
We went to a fun water park that is by the "new" library.

There are all kinds of ways to get wet and stay cool.

After being at the water park Savannah helped grandpa mow the lawn while grandma went to work. She is a little sleepy. She fell asleep on the way home, and she doesn't really like loud noises, and ya, lawnmowers are loud. :)

She went to church with us on Sunday. It was fun to dress her in her beautiful new dress.

Thankful for...

Yesterday late afternoon Ashton informed me that he was a little dizzy and he felt numb. He was laying on our bed and I happened to have the squirt bottle so I squirted his legs and of course we laughed and I told him "see, you felt that, you're not numb". So I got home from work about 9:30, we ate dinner (It was just Ray, Ashton and I. The girls were up north.), and then Ashton asked us if he looked green. We kind of laughed, again, and reminded him that he is blue, not green. He said, no, like when someone doesn't feel good and they look green. So we spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong. During that time he just got more and more upset. We were trying to determine if it was just a bug or if it was something with his heart. He wanted us to take his SATs and when we were trying to get a reading he got really upset. Then we made him a bed in our room to sleep but he wouldn't lay down and relax. He finally admitted that he was afraid to go to sleep cause he though his heart would stop while he was asleep. And he was really upset again. So I asked him if he wanted a blessing. He answered yes very quickly. So Ray gave him a father's blessing. In the blessing he asked that Ashton would be able to relax and that he would have the knowledge to explain to us what he was feeling so we would know how to help him. Then we checked his SATs and they were 77. Heck, that is up from the last time, which was 72. We also took the stethascope and we all listened to his heart. It sounded very good. Strong, not too fast and not missing any beats. Not long after the blessing he said he felt better and so we put him in the middle of our bed between us and he went right to sleep.

After thinking about all that happened and discussing it, we think it might have been somewhat of an anxiety attack. He knows what is coming up in July and he thinks about it too much. Maybe I shouldn't have told him so soon. But I was so impressed with his faith in Heavenly Father. He knew that the blessing would help him and he relaxed and had a good night. We are so blessed to have a father and husband in our home that is worthy to hold the priesthood and exercise it when needed.

I am Thankful

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine, Cheryl, emailed me a statement that Jay Leno had made. Then she also used it in her Visiting Teaching message when she came to visit. It is kind of long, but bear with me:

It says he was reading a poll from Newsweek magazine and it alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence, 2/3's of the citizenry just aint happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking(Jay Leno speaking), "What are we so unhappy about?"Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time, and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year? Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all, and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital. Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TV's, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This is all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy. Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here. I know, I know. What about the President who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The President who has a measley 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same President who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The President that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The Commander-In Chief of an all-vollunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad. Think about it...are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day. Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse......So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want, but I blame it on the media.......We are among the most blessed people on Earth, and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative. With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance? (This was said in 2007)

So thanks for sticking with me through the whole thing. After reading this with Hazel her comment was "It's kind of like a slap in the face". We are very blessed, but it is easy to forget. I am the first to admit, life is hard. And some days are easier than others, but I do believe we need to remember to be thankful, all the time.

Graduation

Ok, so bear with me. There is a lot of pictures here. I just couldn't decide which ones to post. Ambrea graduated last Friday, May 23 '08, and we are so proud of her.


Ambrea and her proud dad.




Her hard earned diploma. (Notice the bright blue nails. We stayed up late the night before doing those beautiful nails. Do they make a statement or what?!!)







Ambrea with G-Ma and G-Pa Shaw. We were so happy they could make it.

With the family.
Ambrea with some of her friends.






Another picture of the hard earned diploma.







We had a little lunch for Ambrea after graduation and for her dessert she wanted this chocolate cake that you get from Costco. It is 7 lbs. of chocolate. It is soooo sweet you can only eat a tiny sliver of a piece, but oh man is it good.