Wassup?

Just popping in to say HOLLA!!!
{that's "Holl-ah" not "O-lah" like in Spanish}
heeee heeee

What have I been up to?

Ummm, let me see...
took Felicia to dentist last week & today

Felicia couldn't eat for half-hour after dentist today and it had to be liquids, so we went to the store & made chocolate shakes at home for her lunch (just so I wasn't feeding her soooo bad I added a little protein powder to make it a little healthy)

went on Ward Campout over the weekend at Camp LoMia in Pine, AZ
SO FUN!!! pics coming soon

had lunch w/ my sister & the cousins last week
{I look forward to these every month}

started going back to the gym
got the OK from podiatrist to work in a little cardio slowly

grabbed price list for massages while at the gym
{a girl can dream right?}

played bunko with the girls
didn't win big prize but got cute door prize

went to the Cannery

went to Enrichment & learned all about being prepared for Emergencies with "Grab-n-Go" Binders for important documents
more info HERE

thinking about getting a haircut

finally bought the books "Vampire Diaries" (split cost w/ sis)
started watching "Vampire Diaries" on the CW w/ sis
{new weekly ritual}

enjoying new Fall tv shows, so far
{yep, I'll admit, I'm a tv junkie!}

still trying to get pool from green to blue. UGH!!

OH and the BEST day ever - BEN came home early!!!! So, he's been home for 2 weeks instead of just one week!!!! Yipeeee!!!

So tell me what exciting things you've been up to?

Mother's Day/Weekend

I had the BEST Mother's Day/Weekend this year!!!

The weekend started out with the boys leaving for the Father/Son campout. They had a few extra people with them - Ben's friend Trey & his son, My Dad & a neighbor friend.
See how excited they are to go on their camping trip?!

Nathaniel ALWAYS has a way of finding interesting things to bring home with him. This is a DEAD crawdad. He's pretending to eat it. He ran in the house & grabbed a measuring cup to fill with water. He wanted to boil it and EAT it! I said NO WAY!!! Eeeeewwwwww! Ben made him throw it away. Whew!

Here's my fave boys returning from their trip. No need to bring a change of clothes. LOL They had a BLAST!!! They also quickly became a HIT because they all brought AirSoft guns and played around. They shared so other boys could play too. They thought it was cool to shoot at the water in the nearby creek because the way it looked when it hit the water! Boys are too funny!

While the boys were away, I had bunko! I was in the 3-way tie for most wins or losses (can't remember which one) but in the roll-off, I didn't win. Oh well, I got this CUTE door prize! The kids thought it was funny.

My sweet niece, Chantel, spent the night so she could be with the girls while I was out that night. Ended up staying out til 3am. I was soooo tired in the morning. The girls had fun getting makeovers from my niece & watching Hotel for Dogs.

After Ben got cleaned up from camping, we got some pizza for the kids. Then we snuck away on a date. He took me to Chili's for dinner and we wanted to spend a little more time out, so we hopped over to the theater and got there just in time to see Star Trek. I'm totally NOT a trekkie, but it was pretty good, esp with the eye candy!

Sunday morning, the kids woke up & wished me Happy Mother's Day right away! Awwww what a nice way to wake up! Kids hugging & kissing me while I was still in bed. So sweet!!! Nathaniel asked me if I would make Belgian waffles. What??? He quickly corrected himself, Ummm Dad can you make pancakes? That's more like it. hahaha So, he did. Ben makes the most delicious pancakes!

We got ready for church and the kids hardly fought. YAY!! What a nice morning! Ben took this pic right after church! I just told the kids to come stand by me but they immediately squeezed me with big hugs! {I almost fell over from all the love♥}

I love all my sweet munchkins that make me a MOM! They can definitely drive me crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't trade any of them! I couldn't imagine my life without them! They give me so many hugs & kisses every day, I love it!!!!

These are the fun & lovey dovey cards I got from my darling kids & Ben!

Ben loves putting my card in a place where I will find it {I do the same thing - it's fun}. Who doesn't love surprises? He usually places my card on my vanity or pillow so I will find it when I'm getting dressed. This year, I found it on my keyboard {yep I snuck in to check my email after breakfast - tee hee}. He's a sneaky one!

Ashley's card was sooo cute! She made it at school and inside it says all the things she loves about me! Awwww. She also made me a "diamond" necklace! I wore my pretty diamond to church. She was so happy!

Inside the card:

I like being with my mom most when going swimming with her.

If I could give my mom something special just from me, it would be some flowers.

It really bugs my mom when ask her if I can play. {she means begging for xbox or computer time}

My mom helps me most when she helps me make my bed.

My favorite thing about my mom is she makes dinner for me.

One of my mom's favorite places is the snow. {ummm this one is questionnable. not a huge fan of cold, but do like to play in the snow like one day a year}

My mom likes to go out to dinner.

My mom looks prettiest when she puts makeup on. {at least she can appreciate my hard work 'trying' to look pretty - LOL}

My mom is special because she's kind to me.

I like it when my mom tucks me in to bed.

My mom's favorite food is chinese food. {yep that's one of my top faves, it's a close tie with Mexican & Italian}

If my mom could have anything she wanted, she would probably have 4 children. {she said she put that answer because we already have 4 kids}

At church, all the primary kids got up in Sacrament meeting to sing a couple songs for the Moms. This is one of my favorite times at church! Even if they're not singing or don't remember the words, the fact that they get up there and smile back at me - awwwww just melts my heart!

The talks during Sacrament meeting were Awesome!! Especially Jaime's talk all about being a Mom! You Rock Jaime!!!

They got subs for us in primary, so we could go to Relief Society. It was AMAZING being with all the wonderful ladies and the lesson was incredible!

The kids also made these cute cards at church:

Ashley & Anson made some too, but they were cards that you wrote something inside about your Mom. Ashley said she likes that I have brown hair just like her. Then she drew a picture of me, I think with blue hair & brown eyes! heee heee

Oh my goodness! They totally spoiled us at church! Not only did we get the sweet cards from the kids, but this is what they gave all of us too. A super delicious cookie from Sweet Cakes {a family in our ward owns it}, caramel/chocolate dipped pretzel, primary cookbook {kids wrote the recipes with the 'real' recipe attached, bookmark & sweet quote to hang on fridge.

Ok, so I broke my almost 2 weeks of 'no treats' diet and had a couple bites of the cookie & pretzel. Shared the rest with the fam. Could you resist those?

After church, we went to visit Ben's Mom. Ben picked out an apple scented flameless candle (takes batteries) & cute mug {both from Real Deals} for his mom.

She loved them both!
Ben & his Mom

Ben made fabulous BBQ Chicken & baked potatoes for dinner. My parents came by {and brought yummy fresh corn on the cob already cooked & hot for us to have with our dinner} and I gave my Mom her gift.

I found the delicious White Cheddar popcorn seasoning {she loves getting this topping at Harkins movie theaters}, white & yellow popcorn kernels, popcorn bowl & $15 GC for Hollywood Video.

ME & my Mom

I love my Mom so much! She is the BESTEST Mom!!! Thank you Mom for always being there & all that you have taught me!

It was a fantastic weekend! Hope you had a good one too!

52 Blessings - Week 8, Women's Conference

(My 52 Weeks of Blessings in No Particular Order)

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend our Stake Relief Society Women's Conference. The theme was "It's About Time" and it was incredible. I was running late trying to get the kids ready. Ben had to work on Saturday (as usual) but they were offering a children's class, so that's why I was able to go to this meeting. Anyway, since we didn't even leave until 9:30am (and it started at 9am), I almost didn't go because I hate being late especially that late. I am SO GLAD that I finally piled the kids in the car and headed to church. Some young women were volunteering to help with the children's class, so that all women age 18 and older could attend.

Here's the list of speakers and their topics:
* Susette Cardon Hiatt "It's about time to balance our lives"
* Chef Brad Petersen "It's about time to find joy in what we are doing" and he also helped us ALL make bread (then the dough was used to make fry bread for Navajo tacos for the luncheon)
* Edwin Lamoreaux "It's about time to lighten up"
* Angela Johnson "It's about time to come unto Christ"

WOW!!! These speakers are all AMAZING people!! And SO TALENTED!! I missed most of the first speaker (Susette) but I received her handout and need to read it.

Chef Brad was funny and really made sense about how we should find JOY in all that we do as women/mothers. He talked while we ALL had ingredients in front of us to make bread dough (well we worked in pairs). He mentioned how we really enjoy serving others and we should find that same JOY in serving our own families as well. Everything we do is a service and we are blessing our families and in turn we are blessed. Like cooking/cleaning is an act of service for our families (or anyone else) and the Lord recognizes it as that. He explained it really well and he was also funny and just overall had some really interesting ideas or points of view. He said it's all in our ATTITUDE! So true!!

"Relief Society Rewind - A Walk through Time" A group of sisters from one of the wards put on an INCREDIBLE 'skit' about women through the decades. It was particularly about women who live(d) here in Arizona and ways that the Relief Society Sisters have blessed their lives.

Edwin Lamoreaux apparently speaks for the youth a lot. I can see why they keep asking him to do that. He is a wonderful speaker (even though most of his talk was kind of singing with his guitar - all clever songs he made up himself). He was really funny and told us that we need to have our "feet firmly planted on the rock." We need to have a firm foundation and hold strong to our values in life. He had us laughing and crying all at the same time. AWESOME!!

Our concluding speaker was Angela Johnson. She has trained as an operatic soprano since she was 13. She sang "Amazing Grace" for us while we looked at a beautiful picture of our Savior on a projector. Oh my goodness! Her voice is so BEAUTIFUL!! She told us that just 12 years ago, she needed a musical "break" and just spontaneously hopped in the car and drove to a craft store and bought a small block of clay and one tool. She came home and sculpted a small figurine. She had no prior training in sculpting. She had just 'unlocked' this amazing talent that she didn't even know she had. As time went on, she eventually was divinely inspired to create a life-size statue of the Savior entitled "Come Unto Me" and it was displayed at the Newport California Temple open house. WOW!! She had several of her sculptures at the church so we could see them, plus she showed us a power-point presentation of some of her other sculptures. She has an AMAZING talent!! She explained the story behind each sculpture and how she created them so that others could look at them and feel our Savior's love and want to 'come unto Him.' She has a large exhibit that will be on display at the Mesa Arizona Temple Visitor's Center in March. You can check out her website HERE to preview some of her works. I can guarantee if you've never seen her work (which I hadn't before) that you will be blown away!! Her sculptures have incredible details and just looking at them, you really feel as though Christ is in the room with you.

OK, onto my Blessing for this week. Can you guess what it is?
The journaling on the mat is the 'Relief Society Declaration' (if you can't read it, click on the picture to get bigger or you can go HERE to read it). The journaling on the bottom reads:

"I am so blessed to be a part of the Relief Society program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Sisterhood is so strong, wonderful, and truly amazing! I love the friendships that I've gained and have learned so much from so many women (and continue to learn). I love each of my 'sisters' and have a special place in my heart for them."

I love everything that the Relief Society stands for and does for women. I am so happy that I went to the Women's Conference this weekend and was able to make some new friends, learn some new things, strengthen our sisterhood, and be spiritually uplifted. When it was over, we had a big luncheon. I ran into someone I had just met on Valentine's Day helping in one of my kids' class parties. She's a mom of one of my kids' friends. We sat together and were able to get to know each other a little better. I love when that happens. She is so sweet and very creative (she planned their whole class party and also does Art Masterpiece for their class on a regular basis). I also had the opportunity on Friday to serve a sister in our ward by babysitting her youngest boy for part of the day while she and some 'sisters' helped get her apartment ready to bring home her brand new baby girl. It always feels so good to be able to serve or help others and know that my 'sisters' are there for me in time of need also.

Ok, this post turned out way longer than I had originally planned. Just so much on my mind from a fantastic weekend!!

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