Spontaneous Dance

As promised.....Shawnee's first date picture. She went to the Spontaneous Dance at the High School a few weeks ago with her friend Preston. She told me tonight that he auditioned for American Idol, and while he made it past the first cut, he did not make it to Hollywood.

Fashion Sense?

Fashion Sense? You be the judge................

Jaycee's boxing on the Wii. It's a good thing it was a Sunday---don't think I should let her go out like that!!! Since I'm working 3 days a week----Kaylee has stopped her a few times from going to school in ....shall we say....unusual attire! Thanks Kaylee!

Draper Temple Open House

Today started off early with Shawnee and I attending our Stake Women's Conference to hear Sister Mariama Kallon speak. She was amazing. She had us laughing and crying during her talk. She comes from Sierra Leone and told her story growing up in her war-torn country---fleeing the rebels, and losing 5 members of her family to them. What a heart-breaking and also inspiring story she has! It reminds me to be greatful for all that I have. She wasn't worried about what outfit to wear, how her hair looked, etc---she was worried about her LIFE daily and how to stay alive.---and where her next meal was coming from. How spoiled I am!

We left a little early--about 10:30 so we could go onto the rest of our day. We had tickets to the Draper Temple open house. We met my whole family in the "Red Lot" and they bused us up to the Temple. Here we are on the way up.

Left: Garrin, Teresa, Dawson, Devin and Deni in the back

Right pic: Stefanie, Devin, Kaylee in front and Jaycee you can see in the very back.

And here's the rest of them...Dawson, Devin, Ryan, Deni, Jaycee and Grandma, Grandpa and Brett, Kaylee and Shawnee, Jordan and Bailey.

After we went through the beautiful, but small temple, they had a chapel with cookies and displays where we visited for a bit.

My family was the only one that braved the cold windy weather to take a picture in front of the temple. I look like I could fly with my hair :)

On the way home, the cousins Sydney, Kennedy and Jaycee made silly faces, PRETENDED to be asleep (we couldn't be so lucky!) and then finally...a cute picture together. Even after waiting 45 min -1 hour for our bus to pick us up and take us back to the parking lot---they were having fun.

Once we were done, we all came over to our house for soup (which Mom made and brought) and visited the rest of the day. It was fun. We played the Wii (wow Brett---what a hula hooper). In the picture---Kaylee is showing Ryan how to hula hoop. Hope I'm alive still after posting the video :) What are sisters for though, right? Kennedy, Jaycee and Sydney loved playing dress up

No more blessings!

I've always thought...if you can't say anything nice---don't say anything at all!!! So...that would be the reason for no posts for awhile! I usually don't post anything too deep on my blog as that really puts myself "out there". I guess I don't like everyone knowing all my deepest darkest secrets. I wasn't going to post anything this week as it's been a rough week, one of those you'd rather not write about, but quickly forget and hope it doesn't ever repeat itself. Unfortunately, I've had lots of those recently. Anyway----I went to the temple yesterday hoping for some answers and some peace and ran into an old friend who made me laugh and made me think. Thanks Karen---although I doubt she'll ever read this--it helped me a lot.



I've been reflecting on lots of things this week and realized that we all have struggles---some people just hide them better than others. I used to be the "great at hiding them" person---but I become more transparent the older I get. Hmmm. Anyway, I was thinking of the song "Lord, I would Follow Thee" and it says "in the quiet heart is hidden, sorrows that the eye can't see". How true I think that is as we go about our lives interacting with others---but not truly knowing what others are going through. As I talked to my friend, I realized that she too had a teenager she had struggled with--even though I thought her teen was awesome. Teens make mistakes. Heck---adults make mistakes too! I guess it's part of the learning and growing in this life. However, it was nice to hear how my friend had been through struggles and how she had lived through them.


She was telling me that she had started reading the scriptures with her family again recently and they started at 1 Nephi. Don't we all have that verse memorized by now? I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions......" She was explaining to her kids what afflictions meant when she looked down at the footnotes--and it says Topical Guide: Affliction; Blessing: Gifts of God. She said at that point she kind of laughed and said "God....no more blessings....please...I have enough". I know I've felt that way. It made me laugh---and it gave me a sisterhood with her---even though she appears happy and carefree---she has struggles inside. It made me realize we're all different---but we are all so alike in so many ways! I need to reach out to others more and smile more...you never know what someone is hiding on the inside.

Kaylee is 14!

Happy Birthday to Kaylee! She turned 14 today and advanced to Mia Maids. She is excited that she can now go to EFY and Youth Conference and Stake Dances. We had a quiet day at home and church. Her YW leader brought over balloons and a bag of candy. Devin came out and we had cake and ice cream. She's growing up!!!

Shawnee has her 1st date!

We gave Shawnee a hard time as she had her first date tonight. She went with a boy named Preston from her ballroom dance class to a "Spontaneous Dance" at the high school. They gave all the boys blue arm bands on Monday and the girls got pink. When you got asked to the dance, you traded arm bands. She went to Olive Garden before the dance to eat. Since she was little, spaghetti has always been her favorite and everytime she ate it, she ended up with it all over her face. We would always tell her that she better not eat spaghetti when she started dating....guess what she ordered...yep...spaghetti. Pictures to follow.....

Let's Play Ball........

Kaylee joined an indoor soccer team with her regular outdoor team---Eclipse ---so they could get in shape for the upcoming season. Her first game was tonight. they play 4 on 4 on a little tiny field surrounded by nets. It's interesting some of the rules they have. For instance, if they kick the ball and it goes over 3 lines, it's a penalty. They have to really power it down as they are used to kicking it clear up the field. They can play off the walls, but if it hits the net then there is a free kick. The pictures are horrible because I was either shooting through the net or cheating and taking quick pictures in an area where I wasn't allowed :) She played keep about half the time and on the field half the time.