Ryan Turley's Farewell

 Ryan Turley had his farewell today and it was good to be able to attend.  He just finished his home MTC and is going to serve in Ventura, CA until Brazil opens up.  He was assigned to serve in the Rio de Janeiro Brazil mission.  Hopefully, he will be able to serve in his original mission soon.  He gave a great talk about knowing if one is really ready to go on a mission.  He told us about a personal experience about when we did feel ready while at home MTC.  He prayed and then felt the spirit and knew that the Lord would help him and that he wasn't alone.  I think we can all relate to the story at some level.  It was an awesome talk and now he was ready to go out a serve.  Afterwards we took a family photo.

Memorable MondayJournal Entry - Sept. 7, 2004

This has been a busy month for us all.  School as started.  The kids like their new teachers.  Angela has the same teacher as the year before.  They like to keep the same preschool teacher.  Dani and Angela are taking dance.  The both really like it.  It was great to see Ang dance and tumble.  She wears her dance outfit all day long.  

Josh turned 8 this month.  He was baptized on Aug. 31 with his cousin Brittany.  It was really neat.  I can't believe that he is old enough to get baptized.  He is going to start cub scouts on Thursday.  I hope that he likes the scouting program.  All that he knows about it is that when he is older, he can go camping overnight.  Josh decided this year that he doesn't want to participate in sports.  That will give us both more free time.

Dani is going to be student of the week.  She was so excited.  She colored some pictures and brought some pictures from home. Her teacher is going to put these papers and pictures on the bulletin board.  On thursday, I am going to school for curriculum night.  I'll take a picture of the bulletin board.  She likes school, but thinks that school is long.  Her favorite part is lunch, of course.

Angela is doing very well.  She is going to see her doctor tomorrow.  I'm excited to go and tell the doctor all the neat things she can do now.  She can talk in sentences, she can count to 29, she can recognize her ABC's, she can do a somersault, etc.  School and therapy did their job.  She is developing an independent attitude.  I know that is a good thing, but it can be frustrating.  

Jim took the scouts to Gisela.  It is a deep water hole near a creek in Payson, AZ.  The scouts could jump off cliffs and into the water.  The boys had a lot of fun.  Jim did too.  Jim is keeping real busy.  He planted a tree for Josh's 8th birthday.  Yesterday, Jim launched Josh's rocket.  It shot up in the air and landed on our neighbor's roof two houses down.  The kids are still taking about it.  Josh suggested that we do it again at the park.  Good idea.

I am doing well and keeping busy.  I am volunteering in the kids classrooms.  It is a great way to learn about school.  Especially when the kids tell you nothing.  I added the pictures of Josh and Britt's baptism and temple pictures.  The picture with Josh and Britt looking at the Christus was the picture we used for the cover of the program.

Memorable MondayKid's 11th Easter

Here is a pictures of when my kids on their 11th Easter.  It's fun to see their different personalities as they are getting older.  It's fun to look back and see what my kids looked like at certain ages.  I always get Easter pictures, so it's the perfect time.

Josh and Dad on Easter

Danni - she posed for his pci

 Angela

Emily

Easter 2021

 We celebrated some of Easter a week before Easter.  There are just come traditions that we like to do as a family and since Manny will be with his dad on Easter this year, we decided that we would celebrate it the week before. 

We got all dressed up in our Easter best and went to Sacrament Meeting.  I loved buying my girls dresses every year. This year it was just shirts for Ang and Em and shirts and ties for the boys.  Angela's shirt didn't work, so she wore a beautiful dress that she already owned.    We looked good and I love any chance that I can get a family photo.

Jim and I

The Girls

Danni and Manny

The Boys

My kids side by side

Lisa and I planned an Easter dinner and egg hunt since we have Manny this weekend and Brittany was in town.  We had a yummy smoked pork sandwich.  Joseph Sessions smoked the pork.  It was really yummy. It was a great night and at one point all of my kids and all of her kids were there.  Joey had to go to work, so he was only there for a few minutes.  We had a really fun Easter Egg Hunt.  Manny loved looking for the Easter Eggs, while the other kids got distracted by the toys.  Jay and Corbin found some eggs and then cooked them.  They would crack the eggs and cook them.  It was super cute.  After the hunt, they decorated eggs with Lisa and then played with the wagon.  They loved the wagon and the rides Lisa gave them.  They even took turns giving each other wagon rides.  It was such a fun evening..

Lisa and I

The Grandkids - Lisa and 5 and I have 1

All 4 in the wagon

Emmy and Kenzie just chillin'

Manny loved the East Egg Hunt
Not sure on the cupcakes

The weekend of Easter was General Conference.  We went down to Sahuarita to spend time with Josh.  We went out to eat several times and went up to Madera Canyon.  Madera Canyon was really pretty and crowded.  We stopped for a bit to get pics but didn't stay to long.  It was so cool to see snow on the mountains, even it was just a trace.  We had a great time just hanging out with Josh.   The pool and hot tub as always a hit with our family.

"Starting Today"

The church started a new initiate for Easter - "Starting Today".  There are daily themes and videos to watch.  I wanted to remember the daily themes.

• Jesus invites us, “Follow Me.”
• Jesus invited us to “believe in his light.”
• Jesus invites us, “Love one another.”
• Jesus invites us to forgive others.
• Jesus said, “Ask and ye shall receive.”
• Jesus invites us “not to be afraid.”
• Jesus invites us to keep his commandments.
• Jesus invites us to “come into Him.”

Madera Canyon

It was Conference weekend and we were down south visiting Josh.  We decided to take a detour and visit Madera Canyon.  It was a beautiful canyon with a tad bit of snow on top.  We were not the only ones who thought about visiting the canyon nor did we have the cash to park and stay long.  It was well worth the drive and hope that we visit again another day.

Mommy and Me Photo Shoot

Danni and Manny had a photo shoot done just recently.  Here are the cute pics that Danni sent me.  They are the cutest pictures.