*Thought of the day from spence:

Spencer: "Mom if there was really such thing as Time-Travel...I would go back in time to when Cain was about to kill Abel and go "Pschawwww" (as he jumps in the air)

..."and then I would knock the knife out of Cain's hand so that he wouldn't kill his brother Abel.  (then he pauses)

....But wait then there wouldn't be any Black People!"

*The Condo

~At first I was leary about moving into this Condo. It was going to mean JUST the bare necessities...a kitchen table, a desk, couch & mattresses because that's what we could fit! Well I sucked up my pride and I think we're making the best of it. In fact we feel very blessed to be here right now and wouldn't change it. (Like how we forced my piano in that space?) So for the record here are a couple things we enjoy about being here.  

 WE CAN:

* walk about 10 steps barefoot to the pool

* ride bikes/walk to Sonic to get 1/2 price drinks

*have the place cleaned in just minutes!

* have kids sleep together on 1 bed so they have fun & feel safe 

 THERE IS: 

* a basketball court, pool & playground just steps away

* a piece of asphalt in back of complex for kids to ride bikes

* 2-tone paint inside, granite counters, laundry inside 

* our church building on our same street 

* great friendly faces in the ward

 Ok so it's a little hard cuz:

*tim & i occasionally collide into each other when we walk down the hall

*kids are confined to one room most of the day for homeschool

*things are a little crammed but hey we got creative and even made ourselves a sectional out of our 2 couches:)

.....BUT we do love being forced in such close quarters to one another and having SO much LESS to clean! 

We are definitely grateful to be here during this transition phase of our lives.

*Grandma Curtis' Birthday*

~Grandma Curtis had a really hard week. She has a history of dangerous blood clotting and is not supposed to sit for long periods of time because of it. Well being the do-it-herself type that she is, her & Granddad "snuck" and drove around 12 or more hours down to Arizona so she could visit her sister who is ill and was about to turn 90! (She was instructed by doctors to fly instead!)

~Just moments after Grandma stepped out of the car she fell and broke her arm & pelvis. A 2nd cousin of mine drove her to the Show Low hospital and they in turn air evacked her to the Flagstaff hospital in the middle of the night for surgery. She is now down here in the valley healing and getting the rehabilitation she needs.

~We are glad she did so well reacting to the surgery and now is already able to walk again as she is doing in Physical Therapy. The doctors & nurses are amazed she is doing so well so quickly! She is one tough cookie:)

~So we celebrated her 86th Birthday yesterday in her Rehabilitation Center as we had birthday cake and did her favorite pastime crossword puzzles. Phylip made one & personalized it just for her with family names etc.

♥Grandma is not one who ever asks for help or likes attention and so I told her this must be a lesson she needs to learn!!  She's admitted that it has been nice having other people cook her meals and having been brought so many goodies. Her favorite new drink is a Cherry Limeade! We have enjoyed spending this time with her and hope that she can continue healing quickly! ♥

 

......But next time Grandma you are FLYING here!!!!

Grandma & Granddad ~May '08 (Utah)

Grandma, Me & Dude (~'05 Arizona)

~their front porch Summer '07~

*22 years ago today....

~Happy Anniversary 

to Tim's parents 

Debbie & Lonnie 

as they celebrate 22 years!~

THEN... (1986)

and NOW

 (plus 5 in laws &  20 grandkids)

Spencer's 1st Pack Meeting

-Ever since Spencer found out he would soon be a "Scout", he hasn't stopped talking about it.  Today we all went to the Scout store with Grandma Kathy and picked up all the necessities in being a "Wolf." He literally read the entire handbook by the end of the afternoon. You can see by the silly look in his eyes here how excited he was for the night. Tonight we went to his 1st Pack Meeting and afterwards when we got home the kids insisted on "playing Scouts."

 

playing it cool for the crowd

Kaylea HAD to try on the shirt for size. She sure looks up to her older brother! Before we left the house Kaylea looked at him in awe & said "Wow Spence you look like a man!"

*Best Friends*

*The 3 kids are sharing a room & bed in the condo and they are loving it! It's a slumber party every night for them. I went in to kiss them good night & overheard this:

Kaylea: "Spencer, we should have Best Friend rings just like Sponge Bob and Patrick!"

Spencer: "Yeah we should."

Aw.....those are the moments that freeze time.

(supposedly one episode spongebob & patrick got "best friend rings"...must've missed that one)

Daylan steals the camera!

This is what happens when you're 3 year old insists on using your camera....

~Life from Daylan's

 point of view:

olympic swimming, me putting a bandaid on my toe 

  & Daylan's feet from his angle

*Lara Booga's Blessing Day*

~Yes you read it right, Kaylea insisted Sunday was her doll "Lara Booga"'s baby blessing day. She named her Lara (like Cara with an L) and the middle name Booga after her mom (Kaylea's) nickname.

It was a special day...in Kaylea's eyes and I think she was inspired to do this from cousin Claire's blessing day. She dressed Lara with a white shirt of Daylan's and made her a headband by putting a white flower hair clip on ponytail holder.




~Kaylea had all the boys stand in a circle and hold her doll. She wasn't too happy though when Tim threw Lara Booga up in the air and hit her on the ceiling! "Dad this is serious" she said..."Stop it!" ~We did a quick photo session with Lara & her "Mommy" & it made her day.

*Scriptorian Spence

~Last Sunday Spencer comes home from Church, picks up Tim's Quad of scriptures and tells me "Mom I want to start at the beginning of the Bible since I have never read it all the way through."

~Uhhhhh....this is where I had to decide hmmm...do I tell him I have never read it all either or do I say ok honey that's a good idea, or do I tell him that's a hard goal for an 8 year old. So within seconds he was on my bed reading page 1 of the Old Testament. It was so adorable as he sincerely read each verse wanting to really know everything he could. 

~Thinking it would only last a few minutes before his boredom set in, I quickly grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of this precious site. If you look at the picture you will see by the crinkle in his forehead & the look in his eyes just how serious he was really wanting to do this.

~The great thing is that this goal hasn't worn off. He is currently on Genesis Chapter 45 and has motivated little Kaylea into the challenge. She grabs her scriptures whenever he does and tries to read all the words she knows. I think they are even retaining some of the stories they're reading! Kaylea was excited when she read the words "iron rod" & "tree of life" as she recognized they were from the dream of Lehi. Spencer explained to me in detail the story of Joseph being sold into Egypt and said he discovered details he didn't know from the movie.

~Moments like these make 

the harder times worth it~☺

~Happy Birthday Brittany~

~My little sis Brittany turns 19 today! I remember her 1st birthday so clearly (does that mean I'm old?) (flashback)..her bright blonde hair, beautiful eyes and big grin with her little teeth when she smiled. She was climbing on top of her walker...a gymnast from the start. I remember even her gifts...her chipmunk "brittany" bowl, utensils & doll! ....So 18 years later here she cute as ever.

~1989

~2006

~Britt thought my name was "Hi-ya" (yea like the karate word) when she was young and the name has stuck! I in turn called her "Nini."

~As a little girl she was such a rascal..a cute rascal but one nonetheless. She was doing acrobatics as she ran around in just a diaper. We called her "Mogli" from Jungle Book since that's who this tiny little thing looked like.

~She had the cutest little raspy voice as a kid, was always the fastest runner at school, the flyer as a cheerleader & became so tough because of her older brother Danny picking on her. She held her own and they brought alot of laughs and excitement to the family! What a combo those two were.

~Britt has been "hard of hearing" since she was a little girl and is very good at reading lips. This has been a struggle that she's overcome very well and not let get in her way!

~Brittany has always been a girl who knew what she wanted and went for it. For years as a young teenager she knew she wanted to be a Dental Hygenist and today she works in an orthodonist's office and is close to making her goal a reality.

Oh another thing I love is her constant hugs & nostril flare when she laughs. We are definitely related!

~SiStErS~

~Brittany was 9 almost 10 when I got married~









~Happy Birthday Baby Bwittany!~ (hehe:)

*We Love YoU!*

~Happy Birthday Debbie~

~Happy Birthday today to my Mother in Law Debbie! Today she turns 56 years young. The reason I am allowed to give her age

...is because she DOESN'T look her age. From her small petite frame to her skin to her clothes. She is definitely young at heart.

~Debbie is a one of a kind always with a funny story to tell. She can come up with a cute poem off the top of her head. (She even put words to the song I wrote in High School and within months we were in a studio recording it with Lacey & Ashlyn and sent it off to be in 2 CD's.)


~Debbie is well known for coming up with songs, dances and skits for her girls to do. With her creativity, music abilities & her girls talents, Lace & Ash were able to be in numerous commercials, movie clips & media ads.

~Another talent of Debbie's is that she can find the BEST deals around. Whether it's clothing, decor or groceries she will find where she can pay the least!


~Debbie & Lonnie have always been there to talk & give their thoughts, ideas & opinions about life, yet then stand back and let there children find their own way. This has definitely aided Tim to become successful in various ways. ~They have also taken us on a number of family trips which are so fun as we get to see the world together. Here below is a group of fam getting ready to scuba dive in the Caribbean.
~Debbie loves practically anything burnt...toast, cookies, steak. The blacker the better... it's her trademark. She is very good at documenting life..we both have a love for pictures and video making!

...And the best thing about Debbie is that she gave me my Tim!

.

~HAPPY BIRTHDAY

"GRANDMA DEBBIE"~

*We Love You*

*Who's Talkin' NOW France??

~Ok was that not one of the best moments in Olympic History?? Last night we watched the USA Mens swim relay team "SMASH" the World record ...& France for that matter in the Mens 4x100 relay. *We had tivo-ed it and watched it late last night. So it was 11:30 or 12 & I was tired but I literally jumped out of bed screaming with Tim as we watched Lezak catch up and win the gold medal for the U.S.!!

How rewarding that was especially after Bernard from the France Mens Team commented before the race saying:
“The Americans? We’re going to smash them... That’s what we came here for,” ...

Well who's talkin' now French Boy!

~aw...that was awesome. U gotta love the olympics..an absolutely AMAZING recovery by Jason Lezak!! Garrett Weber-Gale, Michael Phelps & Cullen Jones. I love Phelps & Cullen the bestest! They are so sweet & cute!
USA Men's Swim Team Destroys World Record in 400m Free Relay for Gold

-- 'By a fingertip, Michael Phelps is still on course for eight gold medals. He can thank Jason Lezak for getting him No. 2.The oldest man on the U.S. swimming team pulled off one of the great comebacks in Olympic history Monday morning, lunging to the wall just ahead of France's Alain Bernard in a race so fast it actually erased two world records.Wow!Few sporting events live up the hype this one exceeded it.

'The 32-year-old Lezak was nearly a body length behind the massive Bernard as they made the final turn, but the American hugged the lane rope, drafting off the Frenchman and stunningly overtaking him on the very last stroke. Watching on deck, Phelps let out a resounding "Yeaaaaaah!'' and thrust both arms toward the roof of the Water Cube. .."As soon as (Lezak) came off that last wall, I started going crazy. We're a team. We went in as a TEAM and now we're exiting as a team and we're going out with that gold that we needed to get ....'While the Americans whooped it up on deck, Bernard clung to the wall, his head down. The French were second in 3:08.32 eight one-hundredths of a second behind. Australia took the bronze in 3:09.91. In fact, the top five all went below the record set Sunday.

Bernard, the swimmer who had talked confidently of beating the Americans was the last one to leave the pool.'

(Cmon Bernard..didn't your Mama teach you that if you can't say somethin nice don't say anything at all!) Whoops...this time it bit ya in the bootie!