TANNER'S MISSIONARY FAREWELL

We attended Tanner's missionary farewell today and were so impressed with how much he has grown up and the testimony he has developed. What I love most is how much Jaxson admires him. Tanner had a group of friends who all looked out for each other, that they called the Blue Tie Group. They were all friends from school and they same youth group within their ward. At every missionary farewell they all would sit together and wear their ties in support of each other. By the time Tanners farewell came, most of them had left on missions, but there were still three or four of them left. Jaxson hung out with these boys after the farewell and felt so important, as if he was part of the Blue Tie Group!

Tanner spoke about the examples he had in his life and what lead him to serve a mission. He talked about how his friends would always ask him to come to church and finally one day he said he would go. After that his best friend and his father would show up every Sunday at his home to pick him up, whether he was planning on going or not. Sometimes they would get him out of bed, and most days he would make them late; but in the end they never gave up on him. This friend and his family always invited Tanner over for Sunday dinner and he ended up being like one of the family. The example they set for him was priceless.

I am so impressed with Tanner, just like a was with Dan when I first met him because he choose to serve a mission. He didn't decide to serve because he was pressured by family, or chose to serve because he knew he should. He accepted the call because he wanted to serve the Lord and because he had a testimony of his Savior.

I'm so glad my kids has these examples in their lives to look up to. We know the people of Madagascar are going to be blessed to have Elder Tregeagle around to teach them about the gospel and Jesus Christ.

VACATION NEEDED NOW

This has been the longest winter of my life! It is extremely cold and I am in much need of some warmer weather. I started investigating some resorts in the Caribbean came across a really nice resort in Jamaica, so we asked our friends the Parker's if they wanted to join us. After researching things a little more, it became clear that if we went to the Dominican Republic, we could spend quite a bit less, so we started looking at some different resorts. We went back and forth on which resort to book, we even changed our minds after we booked the resort. We were able to fly standby on Jet Blue because Dan's sister Michele was nice enough to let us use a few passes. The great thing was, Jet Blue stops in New York, so we changed our plans a little bit to spend a couple of days there too. (The best of both worlds - sun and Broadway)

This was are first experience going to an all inclusive resort - there were several things we liked about it and others we didn't. My favorite part was having a pina-colada in the pool while sun bathing. (We even added ice cream to them to make them extra special!) There were several restaurants to choose from at the resort - our favorite place was the Seaside Grill, we went there a couple of times and ordered 3 to 4 desserts. (The benefits of All-Inclusive). The grounds on the resort were immaculate; in addition to being right on the beach! We kayaked in the ocean (I beat Dan in the race, he claims it was because his kayak was full of water - but i don't believe him) we also enjoyed the lounge chairs and beds on the beach!

Our favorite day was going on a dune buggy excursion! We drove around the island and went to Macao Beach (one of the prettiest beaches I have even seen) We went to a chocolate plantation, drove around in the mud puddles and then cooled off by jumping into a fresh water cave. The water was cold, but crystal clear! It was absolutely amazing!

The resort also had surprisingly great entertainment at night, the performers ranged from circus acts, to magicians, to singers and dancers. They also had a karaoke night (which of course I participated in - I sang Katy Perry's Hot and Cold. I won't be singing that song again - very difficult!)

The funniest part of the trip was when we thought we had purchased bug spray and in all actuality we were spraying Raid all over our bodies - including our faces. We thought it felt a little weird as it tingled our skin, but the bugs didn't bite! This all happened when we went to the store in the hotel (everything is in Spanish) and we found a bottle of bug spray. Ryan speaks Portuguese, which is similar to Spanish and saw that it said no bugs. Later that week we were back in the store and I saw Off, which wasn't in the store before. I told Ryan I thought that what we bought might be Raid, and he said "No, its not," so we took a bottle up to the cashier and asked her if it was bug spray, she said "NO, NO, this is for your room." Ryan read the bottle a little closer and it said keep away from small children and animals. Dan had nightmares that night thinking we were all going to die from poison. We all had a good laugh about our blond moment!

We had a couple of missionary experiences on the trip (something we hadn't planned on) A preacher came up to us on the beach and tried to persuade us that Joesph Smith was not a prophet. He told us that anyone could write a book and claim it was from God. We agreed, but also made a point to say, how do you know the Bible is true then? Prophets wrote that book and claim it is of God. He told us he could receive revelation just like Joesph Smith and we basically agreed in the fact that we also believe in revelation and that we have a latter day prophet who receives revelation today. We told him that if he thought he could receive revelation, why is is so hard to believe that Joesph Smith could receive revelation too. He couldn't convince us of his beliefs, so he left us alone, but i think we gave him something to think about. The second experience happened when we attended a time share presentation while on the trip. We started talking about how we don't drink and it is for religious purposes and it raised some questions with our tour guide. We talked about the missionaries and he spoke very highly of them. He said they are always so happy and persistent! If you tell them you are busy, they come the next day. He also said how willing to help they were and how they loved the children on the island. He then asked how much they get paid to be missionaries and we explained that they have to pay to be there, and that they choose to go on a mission and serve for 2 years. We also explained how many of them save up to go on a mission and pay for their own expenses. He couldn't believe it! "They pay to come here and to serve the Lord." he replied. I know it resonated with him and I wonder what he will think next time he sees the missionaries, will he be more willing to listen to their message?

We had beautiful weather for the majority of the trip, the last afternoon it rained; however we made the best of it and swam in the pool in the rain and even played volleyball - it was a lot of fun!

When we headed back to the states, we booked a hotel on price line - Dan was so excited because he found a 4 star hotel in Times Square for $120 a night. The hotel was awesome, I would stay there again in a heartbeat (Crown Plaza)! The following night we booked the same room for $159.00 a night. Jaime and Ryan missed their flight, so they stayed the night with us in New York. We all went to see Rock of Ages that evening - it was such a fun and entertaining show - the music was stuff we grew up on as kids and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

The following day we rented bicycles in Central Park and ate lunch at the Boat House (one of my favorite restaurants in NYC) We also took the subway down to ground zero and spent some time on Canal street shopping and eating yummy pastries in Little Italy. Jaime and Ryan took off for their flight, while Dan and I stayed the another night and went to see Avenue Q. It was a very, somewhat crude puppet show, which poked fun at all types of people. Not nearly as good as Rock of Ages, but still a great evening.

On the last day of our trip, we went down to the docks and took a tour of the Intrepid. It was fleet week in NYC, so lots of people were there to celebrate. We learned tons of interesting facts about World War 2.

What a fantastic time we had together! Ryan and Jaime were so fun to travel with; in addition it was fun to get away and spend some time with Dan. This trip did exactly what it was intended to do - put me in a great mood in the midst of a long, cold winter!

NANA'S SURPRISE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Nana turned 70 this year, so Kathryn and Michele decided to throw a surprise party for her. Her friends from all stages in her life were invited to attend, in addition to family. We all helped with the food and decor. Bonnie made several flavors of cupcakes, in lieu of a birthday cake. Their were pictures of Kay and her family displayed all over Kathryn's house. Kay's friends gave her 70 cans of coke (her favorite); in addition most guests wrote a letter to Kay and a scrapbook was put together with the letters and pictures of the party.

It was wonderful to see her so happy. It doesn't surprise me that she has so many friends, ones that would take the time to travel and come to the party. She is very thoughtful and it showed by how many people came to give their love and support. i hope one day I can look back after 70 years and hope I have touched the lives of several people as well.

Happy Birthday Kay!

TRYING TO ESCAPE THE COLD...

It has been such a cold and long winter that a few of our closest friends and neighbors decided to venture out to Las Vegas with the kids for an extended weekend getaway!

The weather was much warmer in sunny Las Vegas so we took advantage and went swimming the first afternoon. On the second day we took the kids to the Dolphin Encounter at the Mirage - the wind kicked in and it became pretty chilly, so we didn't spend a lot of time there. The kids thought it was cool to see the tigers and the dolphins, but the adults thought the price was a rip off.

We also visited the Coke store and M&M store, which the kids all loved. We walked over to the Bellagio to watch the fountains and see the beautiful gardens and got some fun pictures!


It was a little crazy going out to eat with a group of 16 (10 kids and 6 adults), but we survived! One morning we went to Serendipity 3 at Caesars Palace, the wait was quite long, so we spent the morning out in the sunshine. While we were waiting Jaxson and Jake decided to be statues like several people do on the strip, trying to earn money. They sat on some small columns and froze with their baseball caps sticking out for money to be placed in them. It was hilarious and they actually made a couple of dollars!



Madi and McKaela were nice enough to watch the kids one evening and we were able to go out as adults for dinner. Dan took us to one of his favorite Mexican restaurants in Vegas. Everyone loved it and the view was incredible!

Rusty wanted Jake to ride the New York roller coaster, so we walked to the arcade - the sad thing was Jaxson and Jake were just barely shorter than the required height to ride (they even made them take their shoes off to measure them), so just the adults ended up riding the roller coaster. The kids did have a good time in the arcade, so all was well!

My favorite part of the trip was a comment Jaxson made about growing up. Unfortunately in Vegas it is hard to avoid pornography. Their are workers on the strip passing out cards of half naked women and most of them get thrown on the ground for all eyes to see. Jaxson is very sensitive to this and avoids the guys in the orange shirts. While driving into a parking lot to the M&M Store, Jaxson spotted the "guys in the orange shirts" and said;

"I'm going to get really good grades in college, so I don't end up here!" I asked him why he didn't want to end up here (When I really know the reason, I just wanted to get his response)

"You know, so I don't end up being one of those guys who hands out those pamphlets."

We all laughed and told him he better get good grades in high school too. I was glad to here that he wanted to avoid having a terrible job when he grew up.

A ROYAL PRINCESS CELEBRATION

I have been looking forward to Reagan's birthday for quite some time. I love that she is so into princesses, it makes a mom's job so fun!

The birthday party preparations started in February, when I contacted Cinderella to come to her party. Because I knew she would be coming, when I visited my brother in California in February, we made a special trip to Downtown Disney, where I purchased a beautiful Cinderella gown that Reagan could wear to the party.

Having Cinderella come to the party was magical for all the little girls, she taught them to talk like a princess, bow like a princess and eat like a princess. They all practiced chewing with their mouths closed and using their please and thank yous. She also taught them that a princess is always kind. She made Reagan an honorary princess and give her a crown. Cinderella also read them stories (which they all had the answers to), they sang songs and guessed which movies they came from and they all made princess crowns.

After Cinderella left, the girls made magic wands, played princess bingo and ate individual princess cupcakes. When Reagan opened her presents, she hugged each friend and was so grateful (it was darling to see her so sweet). All the little girls received a Cinderella bottle cap necklace and a princess cup filled with Cinderella treasures; including a glass slipper, sidewalk chalk, stickers, princess fruit snacks and a princess ring.

Reagan smiled from ear to ear the entire party, she absolutely loves dressing up as a princess and spending time with her friends. We loved having Cinderella at the party too.

Later that night we had a Royal Banquet for the family. We ate plenty of finger foods, including; little sandwiches, meatballs, shrimp, chocolate covered strawberries, a cheese platter, jello in a cup and more!

All of Reagan's presents were somehow princess related, from Polly Pockets, to dress ups, to hair accessories and a sleeping bag. She tried things on, got into her new sleeping bag and played with everything. There wasn't anything she wasn't extremely excited about and so grateful for. The hugging continued as she hugged each member of the family and thanked them for her gift.

Reagan was very excited about her Cinderella Cake (which took me hours to make). After she blew out the candles, she dug right in, put her fingers in the cake and took a big bite before I could even cut the cake.

I can't believe my princess is four already!

EASTER EGG-TRAVAGANZA 2011

The annual Easter Egg Hunt at Grammie and Papa's called for beautiful weather this year! We were on a deadline because Jaxson had baseball practice that morning too. As always the kids got loaded up with more snacks and treats then you could imagine. (I'm not sure why the Easter Bunny even comes the following day). We tried to do more practical things this year, such as cereal, pudding, fun drinks and snacks; however Reagan is still just interested in picking up the eggs! Madi found the GOLDEN EGG this year and came out of the hunt with an extra $5.00. This was probably her favorite part of the day.

It is always fun to spend the morning with the family and eating EASTER SKILLET too!

MISSING JOLYNN

I received some very sad new this month...One of my best friends is going to be moving to Virginia by the end of the month! She invited me over for lunch one afternoon to share the news with me; we obviously cried - not only for us but for our kids as well. Karter and Jaxson are the best of friends; in addition to Paetyn and Reagan being pretty good little buddies as well.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks Jo had to pack up her house and her family, just to hop on an airplane (all the way across the country) with a one way ticket.

We had some good times before she left, just like we have throughout the past few years. We had to have one final girls night, one final shopping trip to Park City, one final game night, one final lunch, and the list goes on.

For our girls night several of the ladies in the neighborhood came for soup and salad dinner celebration. Everyone was willing to pitch in and make this a special night for Jo. It was a relaxed evening with no agenda, just chit chatting and visiting all night. We had enough food to serve an army - it was delicious and I ate way too much!

We tried to spend as much time with their family as we could the last couple of weeks. The boys had late nights, we even let them skip school for a day to hang out, go to lunch and a movie together.

I think the day she left I cried for a week straight, anything and everything set me off, because I just miss her! It's hard to see someone you love move on and move far away. I know we will always be friends - I cant' wait to see her again, but its just not the same because I can't just pop over to her house to visit anytime I want.

I love you Jo!

JAXSON'S 9th BIRTHDAY

It has been a world wind of a week and I got to finish it off by celebrating Jaxson's 9th Birthday. I can't believe another year has gone by - Jaxson is the most fun loving kid around and the years seem to go by faster and faster. In only 9 more years, he will graduate from high school (how scary is that?).

When the day of the party arrived, it was a crazy day, Dan had to work and I started decorating cupcakes. We had to pick up the black lights from the party store and I had to do some final shopping for the party. (Like I said it had been a busy, crazy week - I hadn't even bought any presents for Jaxson yet and his birthday is on Monday, which is not like me - I am usually prepared way in advance.)My week consisted of working, making dinner for a neighbor, throwing a going away party for a friend, parent teacher conferences, helping with an open house, going through the temple with Tanner for the first time, volunteering at the food bank, hosting playgroup, visiting teaching, haircuts and doctor's appointments.

We decided to celebrate his birthday with a "Glow In The Dark" theme. We reserved the church, so we could have the party during the day and still have total darkness in the gym to play games. I did a lot of research on the Internet to find out what things would glow in the dark - I ordered glow in the dark glasses, hats, balls, swords, beach balls, bracelets, frisbees and more. I rented a couple of 4 foot black lights to have at the party, in addition to purchasing a few standard black lights.

We headed over to the church about 12:30, as the party was supposed to start at 2:00 PM. When we arrived the Tongan branch was in the building and had taken over the kitchen, I was not happy to say the least and told them they had to leave. This slowed me down, as I couldn't put anything in the kitchen until they were cleaned up. So we started decorating the gym and setting up the lights, come to find out one of the lights we rented, wasn't in the box, the box had no light with only 30 minutes before the party was to begin -I WAS FREAKING OUT! I didn't have a back up plan. Dan called the store and they just said sorry, they didn't have another black light. Jaxson started crying because he thought his party wasn't going to happen. Dan left in search of lights and happened to call a neighbor (Craig Smith) to see if he had any lights. He didn't; however offered to go shopping for us and bring them to the party. Without a doubt he saved the party! As we were setting up decoration, half of the items I had researched to glow in the dark, didn't - oh, well we had plenty of things that did. (White and fluorescent balloons do not glow in the dark, also, Sprite and bright green frosting does not glow in the dark). Because of the fiasco in setting up the lights, the boys started arriving and we were not ready. So we got off to a late start!

The boys were so excited about the party, they couldn't of cared less that we were still setting up. We put together their hats and then played glow in the dark Tornado and Tag. As the party went on, I decided it wasn't a good idea to play glow in the dark Dodge Ball because I was worried about the lights getting broken. So we put them away and the boys went at it. It was crazy and they loved every minute of it. They spent most of the party playing Dodge Ball.

When it was time for cupcakes and ice cream, I pulled the cupcakes out of the fridge and they were wet. The fridge was leaking and dripping right on the cupcakes. Luckily for me, I had extras and the cupcakes were in foil liners which didn't penetrate most of the cupcakes. (What else could go wrong?)

Some of the boys mentioned that this was the best party ever, I wouldn't have agreed with them, I was so stressed out about things not going according to plan - I guess I just have to learn to simplify. I'm glad it worked out as well as it did and that the boys did have a fabulous time.

After the party, I raced home to continue decorating cupcakes for the family party. We decided to do both parties in on the same day considering we had the church. The idea was to play glow in the dark volleyball with the family. It was a rush to finish on time, between baking rolls, decorating cupcakes and picking up pizza, but again things seemed to work out OK.

When everyone arrived, we had dinner and gave everyone their glow in the dark glasses (they were really cool)! We played glow in the dark volley ball for a short time, it was a little difficult with all the toddlers running around, so we finished up the night wish tornado.

By the end of the night I was completely exhausted!

On Monday I checked Jaxson out of school and took him to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (one of his favorite places). We met Grammie there and after I took him back to school with some treats for his class. Later that afternoon I had some shopping to do, I still had to find presents for Jaxson. I went to Nordstrom because there was a gray and white jacket he had been wanting, which reminded him of Justin Bieber. I knew I had to get him a purple t-shirt and a hat to go with it and I topped it off with some new white tennis shoes. Shopping presented it's own challenges in trying to find the right sizes and needing it today. It took me longer than expected; however I was able to accomplish everything and before dinner.

Monday night we went to dinner with Dan's family at the Pizza Factory. WE thought being a Monday night that it would be easy to get in and bowl. I also had a groupon for dinner and bowling so I was looking forward to not having to spend any additional money. When we arrived there was an 1 1/2 wait for bowling (I just can't seem to get anything to go my way with Jaxson's birthday) I was in tears, when Dan's mom came to the rescue and offered to pay for dinner. This was extremely nice of her and something I didn't expect.

Jaxson loved his presents, he immediately put them on and everyone told him he looked like Justin Bieber; this made him very happy! We picked up a cake on the way to the Pizza Factory - I also bought some trick candles. When Jaxson blew out his candles over and over and over again, we all laughed so hard. It was the funniest moment of the day. I great way to end his birthday. I do the week all over again just to see your smile. I love you bud!

ST. PATRICKS DAY

I invited my parents over for dinner tonight to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with our family. Although I completely forgot to take pictures, we had a great green meal. We started off with some green jello served in glass cups with white clouds of whipping cream on top of them; next we had some green liquid refreshment (lime punch). For the main course we had green vegetables, green rice and green gravy to go over our chicken rolls. I couldn't help myself so I made not one, but two desserts... Frog in a Blender (lime sherbet, mixed with sprite with a cool whip and a gummy frog on top and pistachio cake.

It was a good way to end a crazy day!

MADAGASCAR?

Dan's nephew Tanner, received his mission call today. The family and several of Tanner's friends all gathered at his dad's home to see him open his call. There were maps of the world and of the United States posted on the walls, where everyone could guess where he was going to serve.

Who would of thought the the words Madagascar would come out of his mouth? not anyone in the room, we were all shocked! No one had ever heard of someone serving in Madagascar; but sure enough that is where he is headed in June.

Madi, guessed the closest by putting her initials in South Africa (with my help). She won a gift certificate to Cafe Rio. She was very excited to say the least.

After letting this sink in, we all decided to start researching Madagascar to find out more about this country. All anyone knew was that were was a cartoon movie about this place. Come to find out Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world, with about 18-20 million people living there. Tanner will be speaking Malagasy and eating a lot of rice.

We are so excited for Tanner and this journey he is about to take. He seems so happy and excited about serving the Lord. I know the people of Madagascar and going to love him almost as much as we do.

This was a great way to spend our anniversary, Happy 16th Dan!