Fully Employed

Yes, it has happened! Brad has now been fully employed by Lockheed Martin for 3 whole days--well, 2 days and 2 hours but who's counting? Here is his picture on his 3rd morning of full time employment with benefits and a weekly paycheck that we can actually live on.

I guess it was too early for him to open his eyes at 7:30 a.m. After 7 months of sleeping in who can blame him?!? Please feel free to note the 40 lb weight loss. Stress does that to my man. Me, not so much, ok not at all, I'm a stress eater but that's another post......

Daddy Daughter Derby

For Activity Days at church, the girls have a Daddy Daughter Derby every year for the last 3 years. It is so fun to see what they are going to do with their cars. Most girls seem to be more about style than winning. I love to see the different cars. This year there was a bath tub, surfboard, and great paint jobs! It is so fun.

The first year Mary spanked everyone and got 1st place by a huge margin. Then next year Helen was 2nd place and Mary was 4th and this year Helen was in 3rd place and Mary 5th. I think the other dads are figuring out Brad's tricks! The girls don't care, they just love to watch them race down the track and everyone has a fantastic time.

2007

2008

2009

School's OUT! Yippee!

Yippee! I love summer. Sleeping in, staying up late, no schedules, no homework, chores done early in the day and lots of fun things to do! I think I like summer as much as the kids do! I especially like planning vacations to get out of the blazing heat and since we start school again on August 3rd, we gotta get to vacationing!!!

Here are their first day of school and last day of school pictures so you can see how much they have changed/grown (especially the girls hair) throughout the year.

We sure will miss these great teachers. They were fantastic! Well, Mary won't miss Mrs. Szaszfai because she is moving up to 5th grade next year and put Mary in her class again, lucky!

Kindergarten Graduation

My sweet handsome big boy is now finished with Kindergarten. (With only 4 trips to see Principal Sterr!) Hip Hip Hooray!!!

First they marched in with their cute hats that had a K stapled to them.

Then they did the pledge, sang a song and got their books that Mrs. Levandowski made for them of all they accomplished through the year.After she handed them their books she cut the K and made it a 1 to signify they were now first graders! It was sooooo cute!

Grif and the best kindergarten teacher ever! Mrs. Levandowski

Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins came for the graduation. Our nephew Joseph graduated from HS and so Helen and Claude got to attend 2 graduations while they were here in Phoenix. Megan and Lewis also came so Griffin had grandparents, cousins, his brother and parents to cheer him on!

Griffin was thrilled and he ate a ton of treats to prove it! It was such a cute ceremony and we are so happy Grif is on to 1st grade. Mrs. Levandwoski told me she and Principal Sterr picked Griffin a great 1st grade teacher so we will see! :>

Puppet Theater Fieldtrip

Griffin's class had a field trip to the Puppet Theater a couple of weeks ago. It was one of the few I volunteered to go on because most of the time I can't find a sitter for Lewis. and no babies/toddlers are allowed! This time I had someone to watch him so I got to go. It was fun. The play was Peter Rabbit. Not a single word was spoken, it was all done to music and was fantastic. Griffin and all the other Kindergartners were mesmerized! They hardly moved except to try to see better.

After the play they had different areas where the kids could go. First they got to see what was backstage Then they saw the puppet museum with all different kinds of puppets

Next they learned what the different kinds of puppets are, hand puppets, stick puppets, finger puppets, etc.

Our group ended with the making puppets station. It was lots of fun and the kids were really creative in what they made.

We ended the day with lunch at a park and some wiggle removing playing. It was only 95 outside so the kids were able to run around and play on all the equipment. I am really glad I got to go on this field trip with Griffin, he was so happy to have me there!

Mothers Day

Today, in honor of Mother's Day, Lewis woke up at 4:15 a.m. and decided he was "all done nite nite." Now if we were home we would have just ignored him but we were in Flagstaff visiting my parents and he was out of that port-a-crib faster than you could put him back in. After fighting it for 2 hours we gave up and turned on cartoons. Then my mom got up and made cinnamon rolls, from a can, which we cooked too long and burnt on the bottom.

Where were the men? Why didn't me and my mom get breakfast in bed? Hmmmm, no good answers there.

Then it was scramble to get ready for church--I went with wet hair--and wrestle with Lewis who was on some super charged batteries with no signs of slowing.

My favorite part of the day was in Relief Society I got to hear the Dear Mom song. Linda Seaman wrote it 24 years ago and we sang it for our mothers in church way back then--I was 15 and can still remember all the words! It is my favorite and I admit I got teary eyed when the Young Women came in and sang it.

After church it was get back to my parent's house, pack up, clean up and get ready to head back to the 103 heat.

I did get some lovely cards, candy and lotion from my children and lots of loves and kisses. The potted plants we got at church had to stay in Flagstaff because they would have died on the ride back home and my mom can plant them in her front yard to enjoy forever and not just for a couple of weeks.

We had Sizzler for lunch and then I packed up all 4 kids and headed home. (Brad is on week 5 of living in Flagstaff, working for Phil and finishing the last of the hope chests due next Sunday.)

So, it was leave Flag by 3, home by 5:45 (we stopped to wish Auntie Lynette happy mothers day), unpack, clean up, and go to bed!!! Everyone was in bed by 8 p.m. Oh, glorious bedtime! So, not a top 10 Mothers Day but I can always hope for my eggs benedict in bed when Brad comes home on Saturday. Hint Hint!

80's Prom Pictures

As a nod to those who are going to prom or have recently been to prom, I thought I'd show you some super sweet prom pictures. These are the real deal baby!!!! Enjoy Brad and Kammy at prom 1987. Yes, this is the picture which my children said "Who is in that picture with Kammy?" Brad looks totally different--no hair and a beard but not Kammy, she is just different hairstyle, same everything else--3 kids later, I might add!Mine are classic. I went both Jr and Sr year with my boyfriend Marc Monroe.

For Jr. year we ladies all took a picture without the boys because most of the girls were on blind dates. We just called up our friends from St. Johns and asked them to round up a bunch of friends and come on over for Prom. It was the best ever.
Of these friends, there are 5 Returned Missionaries and 5 Temple Marriages and 1 lawyer--go Wendy! I'm not sure how many college graduates, me and Wendy for sure but I don't know about the rest. Noelle was the only one who wasn't a member of the church and the only one who I have lost touch with.

We had some rocking dresses, I'm not sure if this was the dress but one year my mom bought Wendy's dress for 15 dollars at a Gunne Sax/Jessica McClintock outlet store and I believe the gloves she bought cost more than the dress. Dianna's dress, can you say POOOOF? Mine was a lovely yellow, it still hangs in my closet at my parents house. Enjoy memory lane...Oh, and 1986 not 1987.

Toothfairy iPod

We are very lucky in our family. Grammy knows the Toothfairy personally and therefore we get a bigger score if we wait for Grammy to visit before we put our teeth under our pillow. We have also saved our teeth and taken them to Grammy and Paps and it works just as well. When Grammy tells the Toothfairy her grandchildren have lost a tooth, Ms. Fairy ups her donation to $20 a tooth. Sweet!

Helen has been hoarding her Toothfairy money for quite some time. She just couldn't decide what she wanted to buy. (Mary has $5 left because she has never met a Little Pet Shop she couldn't live without.) So the other day Helen had an idea, could she buy herself an iPod with her Toothfairy money? After getting the parental go-ahead, the big decision as to what color to buy became our only obstacle. After 2 days of narrowing her choices, she decided she liked the orange one the best. You have to order that color from the Apple store but they do include free engraving on the back of the iPod. Helen had hers inscribed with "Thank You Toothfairy!" Mommy loves the Toothfairy as much as Helen and is so Happy Helen took it upon herself to buy her own iPod! Helen was quick to have Daddy download Taylor Swift so she could enjoy her tunes while she does her chores.

Summer has arrived, check out our forecast!

Hope Chest

In our Stake, the Stake President has promised all Young Women who complete 5 tasks a hope chest. The tasks are:
4 years of Seminary completed
6 years of girls camp completed
Earning Young Woman Medallion
Be Temple worthy when you graduate
something else

President Hayes found out Brad has lots of tools and had a little extra time on his hands and asked if he could help with the project. Brad was happy to comply. President Hayes had already made one hope chest and gave Brad the specs on how he did it and gave him the wood to use to create the chests. Brad had some tables to build for my parents before he started on the chests so he went to Flagstaff to work on the tables at our friend Phil's workshop. Phil builds cabinets for a living so he got the wood for the tables much cheaper than Brad could and he had tons of tools which Brad gladly went to use. While he was there he told Phil about the hope chests and Phil told him they could make them better than that, they could do raised panel sides and really make them extra special. Brad was all in for that! Brad always likes to make things just a little better if he can.

So after Brad spent a week in Flagstaff making the tables for my parents and working for Phil, he went back the next week to keep working for Phil and make the hope chests. Phil could use the part time help and Brad can use the cash and then after hours he can work on his own projects using all of Phil's cool tools!! It's a match made in heaven except for me left to deal with the 4 children on my own down here while Brad is up in Flag. Here is the first hope chest completed and given over to Pres. Hayes for presentation to the first YW to accomplish the goals. They have a mirror etched with the Mesa Temple which they put on the inside of the lid and Brad said it really looked fantastic.
President Hayes said he wished Brad would have stayed for the presentation so he could have seen the girls reaction. It was priceless. Everyone was thrilled and now Brad only has to finish 6 more before Seminary Graduation on May 17. Brad is on his way back to Flag to keep working for Phil and finish the hope chests. We are going on week 4 of this arrangement and I will be glad when Brad isn't a weekend daddy although we are grateful that Phil was able to give him some part time work! Thanks Phil.

Teacher Appreciation

We have had some great teachers this year and I just learned how to Mod Podge big letters so I decided to do a letter for all of the kids teachers to show them how much we appreciate all they have done for us this year. I think they turned out great for my 1st, 2nd and 3rd try at this new craft. It was Mrs. Szaszfai's birthday on Friday so we took them to school then even though Teacher Appreciation week isn't until next week.

I almost forgot to get pictures of them before we took them in to the teachers so sorry for the parking lot photography! The teachers loved them and I loved the tag on the letters it reads: