Shelby

Rae's dearest wish has finally come true!  We finally got her a dog!  She has been scanning the humane society website for months now to find a dog that I would finally agree upon.  And I have to say, she seems to have found a good one. 

 Rae is the happiest girl on the planet - and I think Shelby is pretty darn happy too!  She is a kind of a funny looking animal - but so so sweet.  She is five years old (the main reason I agreed to her) and very well behaved.  We have had her since Saturday and so far so good.  Rae really wanted to change her name - but it seems to have remained the same.  She is five years old after all.

Yea - Rae has pretty much been in heaven lately.  And for now Shelby is surviving Bran!

Happy Birthday Grandpa and Rae

We had our traditional birthday dinner for Grandpa Barry and Rae last night.  It was so much fun.  I sure do love these guys!
It is great to get together with Barry and Chris - and we feel bad that Grandma Marge has been sick and didn't feel up to coming with them.  We missed her!
But it was a fun party!

 I have sixteen years of this picture!  Love it!

 Okay - so the fun began with the opening of the gifts.  Grandma Chris was determined to play the "what do you wish game" with the gifts, but she had a new rule about the wish.  She was telling Rae that when the present was on her head, she had to tell the giver what she wished for them in the future.  Rae was kinda dragging her feet with playing along, so Grandma was telling her to get with it and play and just kidding her.  Well-- Rae decides to just get on with it and play the game - and starts by saying, "Good health"-meaning she wished Grandma good health for her wish.  Well Grandma thought Rae said, "Good he #@ " and was being exasperated with Grandma and her game!

 Grandma was really shocked at little Rae swearing back at her! She was beginning to wonder if this was the new sixteen year old Rae!  When Rae figured out that Grandma misunderstood and was shocked she started laughing and laughing and we all did.  It was pretty funny!

 So they tried again - but really couldn't keep a straight face.  Funny!

 Rae had fun with the money machine they got her, and loved the earrings too!  She wore them for homecoming.

 How does every kid know that olives go on fingers?!  Do they teach this in heaven?  There must be lots and lots of olives in heaven!

 So now it is Grandpa's turn for the game.  You can see he's excited!  :  )  I think he's thinking of swearing too!!

 Well, Grandpa did survive the game and gave all of us many great wishes.  It was really nice.

We had a great evening with them.

As weekends go, this one was pretty darn fantastic!


Rae was looking grown up and beautiful and is such a great young lady - we are really proud of her.   What is awesome is that the inner Rae is as pretty as her outside and that is what makes me smile.

Conference was amazing!  The announcement of a temple being built here is almost too much to comprehend.  It really makes me emotional to even think about it.  It is such a big blessing.  A life changing blessing for sure.  I keep thinking about my Herrington cousins in Gila Valley - and finally I really understand how they must have felt-- having a temple announced, built and finally dedicated in their small valley.  I was always so happy, glad and excited for them - but now I really understand the depth of the gratitude that they must feel.  I am excited for the future!
And our dinner with Kelly's parents was so fun last night.  They are also a big blessing in our lives.  The support and love that they give us is fabulous and we feel it all the time.
We are truly blessed!

Homecoming 2011

I can't believe the girl is now sixteen!  She went on her first date over the weekend - to the homecoming dance!  CrAzY!!  That's what it is!  CRAZY!  Rae is growing up!

Her date is Brennen Robinson (no relation to Bedford Robinsons - and not to be confused with her little brother BrAnnen!! ).  Nice guy- really tall - watched some football with Kelly while Rae finished getting ready and lived through it!  He just turned sixteen too so it was his first date also.  They were pretty cute I think!
Rae was also elected Homecoming royalty with her great buddy Collin Campbell!  She was so very excited about Collin getting elected!  They have been good friends since he was born when his mom (my great buddy Lisa) was my visiting teacher.  Fun stuff!!

Brennen escorted her in the assembly to get crowned -

 She had to sing with her group, treble tones, at the assembly too.  She had previously tried out for a solo before she knew about the whole royalty stuff - so she ended up singing in her big dress to the homecoming king - the rest of her group were in tie dyed t-shirts (yea, she kinda didn't match :  )  )

 The wave and parade down main street -

 Announced and escorted by Collin at the football game -

It was a fun birthday weekend for this girl!  She had a great time and is officially old.

Kitchen

This summer when Bekki was here (yep, still haven't finished the summer posts!) we did a few projects.  One of which was putting up a back-splash in my kitchen.  I have been wanting to do something like that for a long time - but of course it takes Bekki energy to actually get it done!  It looks so great!  Here are some befores-

And some afters-

Of course Bekki couldn't just tile and be done - we had to paint too!  It looks so great!  I really have loved it!
The other project we tackled was painting my stairway and entryway.   I needed the nimble Bek for this one because I don't do ladders!!  It looks so great though.  Glad it is done!

First Day O School 2011

They are all officially back in school - and I have also finally posted it!  I can't believe how old they are all looking!  Rae is a sophomore - Brady an 8th grader - Reese is in 5th grade - and good ole cousin Jeffrey is in 6th grade.  Kelly is in some grade or another.  He seems to have done this a few times.  : )

Bran is also headed to preschool this year.  I really didn't want to send him this young - but he needs the speech help (What?  My kids?  Need speech help?  Sheesh!  How did all four of them manage not to talk! Well okay - they all talked but very very badly!!) so he's at the Development center two days a week for a couple of hours.

Anyway, here we go - ready or not!

Lava Hot Springs

So the friends were called and plans were made on one of our last free days before school starts.  Let's go swimming at Lava!  Yes!  Fun stuff - lots of water slides and such!  Okay!  Here we go!  Three moms and TEN kids in tow.  We get up early, pack lunches, drive and get excited --- and then we arrive!!  Oh the swimming joy!!

....... And WHAT?!?  It is closed?  Why?  Who did this?  Whatever do you mean?  CLOSED???

Now three moms and ten kids are standing glumly in an empty parking lot.  Oh the misery! 
Hey -- isn't this a movie?

Well, now we are in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho at 11:00 in the morning with not much to do.  So we had lunch at a park, were kinda sad, and then noticed . . . hey!  Aren't those tubes for rent?  Really big raft-like tubes?  That looks kinda fun . . . .

So we floated some local river on fun tubes instead!  And we did have fun.

So why are all my photos kinda funky?  A little bit blurry and bright?  I was asking myself the same thing.  I couldn't figure it out.  Until --- I uploaded them all and see this at the beginning of all the photos-

And yep I turned my camera around and found a very large smear on the lens.  If you only knew the extent of the troubles that this kid creates.  :  )
But we did have a great day and a really fun time.  I guess Lava will wait until next year. . . . .