Memorable MondaySeptember 2005

I found this email in Sept. 2005, written to family and friends  It's fun to glimpse and remember what our live was 13 years ago.

It has been a long time since I e-mailed anyone.  We have had a busy summer.  We are glad school is here and everyone is doing well.  

Jim was so busy this summer.  He had a three day canoe trip in June.  It was eventful.  The scouts lost a canoe.  It has become a permanent part of the bridge in the Colorado River.  Scout camp was a week later.  His troop went to Camp Raymond near Flagstaff.  His boys earned a lot of merit badges.  He came home for a night, then headed with the family to a reunion in Benson.  In August, Jim went on a long hike.  It was so long, they spent the night in the middle of the hike.  There were some leaders who were supposed to meet the boys that night.  In the morning, the leaders called for a local search and rescue, while the boys finished the hike. It's an experience that Jim will never forget.  Jim is also really busy with wook.

I am really busy with kids.  Carpooling to and from school, dance, and scouts.  I am involved in two book clubs.  I enjoy reading and talking with the girls in the club.  We do more talking than discussing the book.  That's what clubs are for.  If I just wanted to read, I wouldn't join a club.

Josh is loving school, scouts, and hanging out at home.  Josh is doing very well in school.  His  reading has made a great improvement.  I got a letter from his teacher saying that he reads at a fourth grade level. All that worrying was for nothing.  Josh just turned 9 and received his wolf badge.  Mom just needs to sew on the patch as well as the wolf and all the other patches.  My goal before he turns to a Boy Scout is to sew the patches on his shirt.  Any patch will do at this point.

Dani is loving school and dance.  She is our social butterfly.  On the way home from school, she has to wave and say hi to as many friends as she can see.  She could live at school if she wanted too.  Danielle is in a 2/3 grade combo at school.  She tells everyone that she is in 3rd grade.  I constantly remind her that she is definitely in 2nd grade.  Dani is doing well in school.  She is taking a Jazz/Tap Dance class this year.

Angela is doing really well in school.  She loves kindergarten and is willing to be a part of a carpool.  She will receive some testing in the school.  Every three years, the school will evaluate her.  Angela knows the letters in the alphabet and most of their sounds.  She struggles with her fine motor skills.  Coloring, cutting, and writing her name is what she is working on now.  She is also taking dance and loving it.

Emily is such a sweet little girl.  Today she went the Phoenix Children Hospital to get an MRI.  She hated every minute of it.  Lucky, it was a total of 2-3 minutes.  They had her tied down pretty good.  The doctors are concerned about her head size.  I told them that she is a Pace.  But, they still wanted an MRI.  I'm bringing in pictures of the family next well care visit.  She is crawling everywhere.  I so love that.

As you can see, we are all doing well.  We appreciate all your help and concern and love you all.  Thanks!!!

Emmy at her MRI

Basha Competition

I went with Joella to the Basha competition and we had a blast.  We loved watching all the marching bands and cheered really loud when Mesa High performed.  They are in division 2 and there were 6 bands competing in their division. Mesa won first place with a score of 66.25  They won Outstanding Visual, General Effect, and Musical Performance.  The new band uniforms still hadn't arrived yet, so they wore their MHS Marching Band T-shirts. Apparently, you can take first place without a uniform.  The color guard girls did wear their uniforms however. They looked great on the field and I can't wait to see the rest of their season;.

Josh's first competition playing a sousaphone

Marching onto the field

Danni's new uniform

Picture of their first competition

IMPROV

Danni participated in IMPROV tonight.  She did one skit and her dad was there to support her.  I was at a choir concert and ran quickly to Mesa High, but I missed her performing on stage.  I was able to take a picture to remember the event.  I hate missing performances, but I'm so glad that her dad was there for her.  Jim did video the performance, so I'll watch it when I get a chance.

Throw Back ThursdayPrimary Softball

Pictures of each of my kids playing primary softball.  I love that our stake does this for the primary kids ages 8 and up.  For some kids, this is their first time playing softball.  It was for my girls.  Primary softball just started and it lasts for 2 weeks.

Memorable MondayBaking

Danni is selling bread to help pay for her trip to the Holiday Bowl. I'm making the bread and she is selling it.  This is the picture that we are using on Facebook to increase sales.

I remember one day when Gary Meyer was over at our house.  I recently learned how to make bread and thought that we could easily make pies.  I remember making the dough and kneading it just like you do with bread dough.  We added the filing and cooked the pie.  Finally, tt was time to cut and eat the pie.  To our surprise the pie crust was really hard.  Too hard to enjoy the pie.  We didn't know what we did wrong.  We found out that pie crust is delicate and to keep it crumbly, you just roll the dough and place it in the pie tin.  When you knead the pie crust dough, it becomes hard instead of crumbly.  I will never forget that experience and the simple lesson I learned that day.

Jade's Baptism

There was a girl, named Jade, in our ward that was just recently baptized.  Angela and Jade are in the same grade and in the same choir class.  It was great to see this young girl get baptized and see the incredible support she received from the YW in our ward.  She is such a sweet girl with a strong testimony of the gospel.  

Congrats Jade!!!!

Ang, Jocelyn, Jade, and Danni

The YW in our ward plus some friends that helped Jade learn the gospel.

Danni got her learner's permit

Is she excited or what??

Danni officially has her learner's permit.  She is super excited and made the trip to the DMV as soon as she possibly could.  She can't wait to get behind the wheel and drive.

Danni driving

Throw Back ThursdayCanoeing

Angela and I canoeing in the summer of 2008. I helped shuttle scouts on their canoe trip and remembered this picture.

Memorable MondaySpecial Ed program

I have been invited to attend a special ed meeting because I have d daughter in the special ed program.  Angela ha been blessed so much to be eligible to in this program.  When Angela was diagnosed at 9 months of age with global developmental delay, she ha been receiving services from the state.  We had boat loads of evaluations to qualify for services.  When she was 18 months old, she was receiving PT, OT, Speech, and Cognitive therapy once a week from the state.  She received those therapies until she was 3 years old.  The public school system took over those services after she turned 3 years old.  At that time, she lost her PT.  She is evaluated every 3 years to see if she still qualifies for special ed.  Angela has had no problem qualifying for special ed.  She has had amazing teachers who understand how to help Angela.  Every year, she has an IEP meeting to she what goals she should work on.  I don't know what tomorrow's meeting will be about, but I'll find out.  I've been very pleased with the services Angela has received.

Chyrisse's Visit

Chyrisse came to town to visit some family.  We arranged a time to have lunch together.  It was so nice to sit and catch up with each other.  Chyrisse has been there for some turning point events in my life.  She was there for me when I was a Young Adult, which was the a tough point for me.  I love Chyrisse and I'm grateful for any time we can spend together.

Lisa, Chyrisse, and I

Chyrisse and my mom

Throw Back ThursdayMerrie Miss Dance

My dad and I at a Merrie Miss Dance

Memorable MondayMyDad

My dad was sent to the hospital with pneumonia this past week.  He is an amazing man and I've privileged to have him as my dad.  My dad has always served his family members take car of their own.  His dad took care of his mom until she passed away.  Two years later, Grandpa Wall had a stroke and his two kids, my Dad and Aunt Peggy, took care of him. I remember watching my dad and  I knew that family was truly important and we need to help each other out.  Now my dad takes care of my mom while she is wheelchair bound.  It takes a toll on him which sent him to the hospital this last week.  It reminds me that I need to step up and do my part to help my parents just the way my dad helped his parents.

Grandpa holding Josh and Danni

Throw Back ThursdayFirst Professional Pics

Hospital pics of my kids

Some of my kids are getting their school picture this week and I wanted to share their first professional pics.

Memorable MondayJeepers

We often visited "Jeepers" when the Pace family got together.  There was pizza, fun, and games.  It was a great place to meet and hang out. Whenever Mardy and I came to visit from Utah, we had a trip to Jeepers planned.  There were some great roller coaster rides, bumper cars, and other fun rides for the kids,  We didn't go much after Emily was born, and I feel bad about that.  We've found new places to play and hang out. We had some great times there. 

Good times

Cousins