My Blur of a Week!

Do you ever have weeks that feel like they were two or three weeks, instead of just seven days...that was this last week for me! It has been another wonderful, busy week as always...just kind of a blur for some reason. Tad started out in Kansas on Monday and ended up in Ohio for Friday and Saturday. His company is going through a lot of changes, so he is having to attend a ton of meetings. He will be in California next week hiring someone and then hopefully home for awhile! Despite the horrible inversion hanging over our little Cache Valley...we wrapped the scarfs around our faces and headed out a lot this week!

* One of the great benefits of living in a little college town are the great camps that they hold for children. Last year I ran into a flyer advertising a basketball camp put on by the business department, taught by the USU players. It was only 15 dollars for the entire day! Tad went along with Aurianna and was shocked to find the top 4 players coaching the little players. He was expecting the guys off of the bench. Aurianna had a blast and got pictures and her tshirt signed by all of them. Now when she goes to the games she calls them all by name and even gives them high fives when she sees them!
So on Saturday the USU Cheerleaders put on a cheer camp! They had a great day and were so proud of the Utah State Tshirts that they got and all the cool moves that they learned! That night they got to perform as the half time show at the game! I am not sure what Aurianna was more excited about, performing or being able to run through the tunnel that the players get to run through! But she had a blast!!!


Aurianna and Grace sitting in their own cheerleading section(all alone, with mom and dad keeping a constant eye!)

My cute kids walking to the stadium!!! Trey and Liv were so excited to watch their big sis!

The cute cheerleader that taught Aurianna and Grace's class!

All of the kids practising!

*Trey was fascinated by Big Blue. At first I though that he was afraid of him. But then I noticed that he had had the same piece of licorice in his hand for awhile. When I asked him if he was going to eat it, he said "No, it is for Big Blue."

*We made cute valentine sugar cookies (I am kind of starting early on the whole Valentines thing because I am going to be in NY. The kids aren't happy about it so I guess I am trying to make up for it!!!). While we were frosting the cookies I had on a little Michael Buble and we were dancing around. Trey got off of his chair and came over to me and stuck his hands out in front of me. I said, "do you want to dance!" He said, "Ya mom, your the princess and I am the puppy." Livia pipes up and says, "NO Trey! Mom is the princess and you are a King silly...not a puppy, puppies don't dance!". To me it all sounded like a fairy tell The Princess and the Puppy!


Trey helped me mix up the cookies!

* We made life size Trey, Livia and Aurianna paper dolls. The kids had a blast coloring their bodies and then on separate pieces of paper we made clothes, shoes, jewelry and any thing else that Livia could dream up! It was a lot of fun!


Yes, Livia is wearing her striped swimsuit underneath polka dot pants from last year...it got the creative juices flowing!!!
* Alex and I bought our tickets to New York!!! We both are so excited, I think that we talk to each other a couple of times a day, just going over and over all the things that we want to see and do! Alex and Tad came up with this brilliant idea! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
* Friday night we held our first "Girls Night Out With A Purpose" night! Tiff and I have been so excited about getting this started, but wanted to wait until after the holidays were over! The idea is that we get together once a month and each bring 10 dollars! We plan service projects and on the nights that we get together we either work on the projects (if it requires making or putting together something) or we deliver it! We had a great turn out and came up with some really great ideas! 10 dollars from one person can't do a whole lot, but 10 dollars from 15 can at least make a dent. There is already a club like this on the other side of Cache Valley called the Cache 10. They had some really great ideas and allowed us to branch out to this side of the valley. With so many people out of work or sick, it isn't hard to find places to serve. We are really excited about getting our kids involved with service, so we have included them in a lot of the plans! Thanks to all that came, and if you are interested in coming, let me know...we will always have room!

* Aurianna's school on Saturday did a great fund raiser! Our dollar movie theater (which is actually three dollars not one) opened up the movies Bolt and Madagascar 2 to the school for just a dollar a person! It was so much fun to go and get to know so many parents and see a great movie! (we went to Bolt, we had already seen it but the kids were excited to see it again!) Both theaters were packed to the brim! It has been so much fun to volunteer at the school and get to know so many great people. I feel so blessed that Aurianna gets to go to such a wonderful school and have such wonderful teachers! If you are in need of some ideas for cute Valentine gifts for your teachers, I will be posting a couple that I came across soon!

* And then today. I got released this week from the RS presidency. We all knew that it was coming soon. Our dear, sweet Education Counselor just found out last week that she has Breast Cancer. She is so amazing with such a sweet spirit but has had a doozy of a year with two of her close friends passing away, her daughter living in California giving birth to her child more than a month early and having major back surgery on top of it all. She just had a mammogram in June and this aggressive cancer is going to cause her to have Chemo and Radiation. My kids have turned into little Love Bugs delivering gifts to her daily. Our thoughts and prayers are with her constantly as she fights against this and goes into surgery tomorrow.
This calling has been such a blessing to me during one of the hardest years of my life. I have had my own group of grandma's thanks to our retirement committee in our ward. I cannot count the hugs and calls and letters I received through our difficult summer. And the amazing presidency that I served with, words aren't enough. I learned so much just by being able to feel the spirit of each sister every time we got together! Besides that, I got to help plan a party every other month, which always makes me happy. I have been so sad to leave, but I am excited about going into Young Women's! I know that when the time comes for me to leave there, I will be just as sad. And I get to go to girls camp...you can't beat that!!!

Well, I hope that you haven't been too bored with this post. I will leave with one more little story....
As I layed my head back on the couch after church, just to breath for just a second, I accidentally fell asleep. The next thing I know, Aurianna is yelling, "mom, you have to come see what Trey is doing." These words are heard often in my house and never mean that he is doing something wonderful and good, like cleaning his room or folding the laundry. As I walked up the stairs, there is my son on his hands and knees doing a 'wax on, wax off' movement in a sea of Ajax. He has not just poured our industrial size of Ajax onto the floor, he has thrown into the air. It is in every crack and crevice of our black cabinets and covering our shower curtain. The mirrors and counter top are covered in a thick layer of dust. On the floor it is about two inches thick over the entire floor. Now yes, this is my fault. I accidental left the Ajax on the side of the tub when I cleaned it yesterday...but really...ahhhhhhhhhh! Tad was home teaching and I hurried and put Trey into the shower (in my bathroom). All I could do was sweep a couple of times and then walk into the other room because I was choking so bad. I really wish Heavenly Father would have installed a "day of rest" button on all of our kids...for some reason they didn't get the memo! Oh, and there are no pictures of this great event...I was way to mad to get out my camera. I was too busy having flashes in my head of me handing over a huge bottle of Ajax to my grandkids one day and saying "have at it, make daddy proud!!!"