Early Birthday Gift!

Aubrey has been wanting a phone forever.  To be honest, I wanted her to have a phone.  I wanted to be able to contact her if I was working.  Plus now she is on the dance team at the high school and they primarily communicate through text.  We couldn't avoid it anymore, we had to get her a phone. Now she wanted a iphone, but no, that wasn't an option.  So Aubrey got an early birthday present!  She is a happy girl.

One Awesome Sunday!

We had an awesome Sunday during Memorial Day weekend.  We were so lucky to have family here!!! Zachery gave his welcome home talk in sacrament meeting.  You can read his talk HERE.  Then Austin was ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood.  “There are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic” The Melchizedek Priesthood, which is “after the Order of the Son of God” is the greater of these. It “holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all the offices in the church”. It also holds “the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church” . It is named after a great high priest who lived during the time of the prophet Abraham. 

Men in the Church must be worthy Melchizedek Priesthood holders in order to receive the temple endowment and be sealed to their families for eternity. They have the authority to administer to the sick and give special blessings to family members and others. With the authorization of presiding priesthood leaders, they can bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost and ordain other worthy men to offices in the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods.

When a man receives the Melchizedek Priesthood, he enters into the oath and covenant of the priesthood. He covenants to be faithful, magnify his calling, “give diligent heed to the words of eternal life,” and “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.” Those who keep this covenant will be sanctified by the Spirit and receive “all that [the] Father hath.”

Austin has to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood in order to serve a mission.  It was great to have the family from Idaho share this moment with us.

 

This picture is so funny.  Check out Veloe yelling at Ryker and check out Ryker's face.  Classic!!!

Memorial Day!

For Memorial Day weekend, we had company from Idaho!!!  We normally never have company, so we were super excited to have company this weekend.  Don's parents, his brothers, and their family came down to see Zachery give his talk and Austin receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.  We were so lucky to have family in town for these two things.  It was special for us because normally we don't have family in town for our special occasions.  When you have a bunch of people from Idaho, what do you do to help them spend the time?  You take them swimming!!!  I hope they loved that.  Look how cute our nieces and nephews are!  We had a ton of water guns, so everyone had fun!

We played a lot of games!  Our little niece loved the Pretty Pretty Disney Princess game!  Even Austin played it!

We talked a lot and hung out.  It was awesome!  People even got to go down on the strip.  Then on Memorial Day, Uncle David took Ian out to State Line with his family to go on the roller coaster.  He loved it!  It was a great weekend.  Now the house is too quiet.

Flag Football - Finishing the Season

The flag football is officially over.  They came in second place in their league.  Then they decided to go and play in the city championships.  They didn't practice all week, they just went and played.  Unfortunately, they lost.  They lost their first game, so they were out of the playoffs right away.  Ian didn't really seem bothered by it.  He was pretty chill.  He did get this cool trophy.  It was an awesome season.  He gets better and better every year!

Ian's First Court Of Honor

Yep, we are back again!  Ian is in Boy Scouts and you know what that means???  Don is working with him on all of his requirements and we are back going to Court of Honors!!!  Crazy, right?  Our last one is a boy scout. Don and Ian have been working hard.  He got his first rank advancement and received his pets, collections, fingerprinting, and painting merit badges!  He was excited.

Zachery Is Home From His Mission!

Zachery came home on May 17th.  This explains why we have been so busy!  We had to reorganize the house and get things cleaned.  Austin also had to make room for Zach.  We made signs to welcome Zach home.  Unfortunately it was a windy day, so this sign only lasted a couple of hours.  Zach did get to see it.

Austin kind of got a feel for what it would be like for him when he came home!

When we got to the airport I totally stressed out.  There were four escalators that he could of come down.  How was I going to keep track of all of them???  The limo drivers had us follow them.  They knew when certain escalators were going to be used.  I don't know how, but they knew!  Sure enough, we saw Zach.  I pretty much elbowed my way past the limo drivers right to my son!!!  It was so good to give him a big hug.  He was a little overwhelmed!

I am sure it was an overwhelming night.  We know he misses Russia, and it breaks my heart to see him suffer.  Zachery loved his mission.  I am so glad he enjoyed it.  We are happy to have him home and hear all of his stories.  We missed him.  It is also hard for him to adjust to America.  Hopefully he will feel better about things soon.  I am glad he misses it.  It means he really gave it his all in Russia and loved the people!

Happy Mother's Day!

I know I am late blogging about Mother's Day.  The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind.  So much has been going on.  Mother's Day was wonderful.  We all went to church and heard the most wonderful talks I have ever heard on Mother's Day.  Most of the time, I hate hearing Mother's Day talks.  They leave me feeling guilty and like I am the worse mother of the year.  This year they were great.  I also loved hearing the primary children sing in sacrament.  There is nothing like it.  Plus I love seeing Don lead the children in singing.  It is so cute.  Then we went home and Don made dinner and have me my favorite cake.  I love this Red Velvet Cake from Nothing Bundt Cake!  Dessert means everything to me! 

The kids gave me some cute cards. I loved them.

I got this awesome skirt that Aubrey picked out.

Then I got some new running shoes.  Let me tell you, I am so excited. They are the best shoes.  I love them!  I am running?  Well, people don't ask, and I don't tell.  That is my story and I am sticking with it.

It was a great Mother's Day!  I love being a mother and during these hard times this year it is my children that keep me going.  Being the a mother is the best!  I am so grateful that I was able to be a stay at home mom and be there for my children.  It was hard work sometimes, but I love it.  There is nothing I would rather do!!!!

Championship Flag Football Game!

Today was the championship flag football game.  It was a hot Las Vegas day.  The boys played very good, but in the end they lost.  It was a close game, but unfortunately a bad call from a referee changed the game and might have cost them the game.  Don and Austin think so. Ian had an awesome game.  He played so hard!!!   It was an awesome season.  We love our team and coach!  We will be back in the fall!

Austin's Senior Pictures

We got Austin's senior pictures!!!  Our friend Marissa takes them.  She takes all of our family pictures, and she does an amazing job!!!!  We love her style and our kids love her, so they don't give us a hard time when she is the photographer.  Austin originally wanted these taken in a desert, but time was running out and his schedule was crazy, so this is what we did.  I love them!!!  It was hard for Don and I to pick out which pictures we wanted to use for Austin's graduation announcements!  I think Austin is pleased.  Check out Marissa web site: Marissa [d] Photography. She really is amazing!!!