Memorable MondayFirst Day of 8th Grade

Here are the pictures of my kids on their first day of 8th Grade.   When Josh was in junior high, there were 9th graders that attended high school, so his class was never the top class at Taylor.  He did benefit from having high schoolers at Taylor.  There were more classes available for him to take.  Teams were started the next year.  Josh was never on a team, so he was able to take more classes.  

Josh

Danni

Angela

Emily

First Week of School

Emily started school this week as a junior.   She first started school at EVIT with Kenzie.  They enrolled in the 3D animation program.  EVIT started before Mesa High, so she has 2 different back to school dates.   It's so fun to them to back to school in the fall.  Last year, the first day of school was at home with on-line schooling.  So, we are happy to go back to school, even if they need to wear a mask.

First Day of EVIT

She is ready to go - mask and all

Off to EVIT

First Day at Mesa High

Memorable MondayIndependence Day 2002

We spent July 4th, 2002 in Benson.  We watched the Benson parade and then went to the Barney car lot for hot dogs and drinks.  Later, we headed to the park for more festivities.  Later, we hung out at the Barneys for relaxation and quad rides.

Barney float

Girls waving

Waving in the parade

Jim and Ang

Cutest Angela

Lunch with Kolby

Angela sliding down

train rides

Jim and Josh

My kids and I

My family

Ang and I

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.