Where to begin...

I am really bad about taking pictures...just putting it out there before I start this update...

SOOO, a few days before school started we (Jeff, Klaira and myself) FINALLY were able to make a trip over to San Francisco to see this....
Last year Nana Judy had given us the sound tract and said that we needed to learn it before we went to see it so that we would enjoy it all the more. I was really enjoying the music but still did not understand everything that was happening in the music, so I read the book....OMY! So there was a great book under all the gunk you had to wade through but in the end, I was glad I read it. (I gave the book away the day I finished it..) Nana was so wise in having us learn the music first. We (Klaira and I) were so excited we were full of giggles for days. Jeff was not really excited about going but since it was going to be late at night in the middle of San Fran, he came to be our body guard. THIS WAS SO FUN! It was all Klaira and I could do to not sing along with it. BUT...it is coming to Fresno in April and Klaira and I (and yes, Jeff) will be seeing it again. AND WE WILL SING LOUD AND PROUD! (Jeff said that he liked it!)

THEN....
Jeff has been trying hard to pass his testing to be a pilot. The person giving the test is described as a #*$&#^@)!! and kept failing him for not using terminology that he was looking for even though Jeff was telling him exactly what he was asking. So a week ago on Saturday, Jeff tried again and the guy failed him. That night the man who owns the plane and school that Jeff is taking lessons from, (and just happen to be some really fun friends of ours) invited Jeff and I to fly along with him and his wife over to Montery Bay for dinner. (Who does that? Just decides what they want for dinner and then think of their favorite place for that food and FLY over for dinner?) IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Now I am not really fond of flying, but it was a fun trip. We were only in the air for about 22 minutes. It is fun to listen to all the talk between the pilot and the tower. When we landed, there was a car waiting for us and we drove about 2 minutes over to the wharf to walk up and down by all the little shops and restaurants. We ate a little place that had yummy oven baked pizza and different fish items. I don't like sea food. I keep trying it hoping that my adult tastbuds will finally grow and except the flavor..but it just has not happened yet. (I had some fried calamari but still don't like it. Jeff had a smoked Salmon pasta dish and it was OK.. but not something that I want to eat more than 1 bite of.) Then we played in some of the shops that all seem to have the same stuff in them and then flied home. It was dark and so all the house lights look like you have stars on the ground while you are in the sky with stars above you. What a nice evening out!!!!


Well, then on Monday, Jeff took his test again. The man failed him again. So Jeff worked with our friend for about an hour on maneuvers and then took the test again. I think the guy giving the test was really going to try failing him again, but Jeff and Gene put up a stink and the guy passed him! YIPPY! Jeff is a PILOT!
We celebrated at our favorite steak place and had a double celebration since Klaira's birthday was going to be that next Saturday and we usually go there for dinner, but why not save some money and celebrate both at one time. LOVE IT!

Then of course, Klaira had her 16th birthday on Saturday. Amazing! The time has just wizzed by! We had a layed back day which was so nice. Dad gave her our traditional "16" birthday gift and we went out for ice cream to finish the day. She is dragging out the day by going horseback riding next Saturday with some friends and Dad.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Summer...

So those that have been trying to get me on the phone and on the computer...Sorry, I have been busy this summer.

Jeff had a seminar up near Reno and he let me come along...we found this place
Which is now a new love on my list.

As you walk in you see this incredible wall..I would so love to have this in my house. This one is a salt water tank and at the other entrance is a fresh water tank...

It is full of the most colorful fish! I could sit for hours just staring at the wall.

Then I was invited to help celebrate a VERY important birthday. This sweet girl had her 7th birthday on 08/09/10. And were did we go? To the ZOO of course! This was my first time at the Fresno Zoo. (Very nice Zoo!)

We went with all of these people and had a wonderful time!

Then during the week we made lots of these...

We found a really fun hands on museum for the kids to play music...

And dress up...

And Laugh...

Strut our stuff...

Show our talents....

Get a check up... (sad to say that I have contracted Elephant cheek, tiger knee and my heart stopped 3 times!)

We did several lab test to see if we would recover...

Dr. Brynn said that the only way for us to get better was to go to the beach and play in the sand..

And play in the water...

and you know..It worked!
We had a wonderful week that ended knowing that we are children of Heavenly Father who loves us and gave us a wonderful world to explore and wonderful people to love!

This was a great summer!

Summer

A few weeks ago I got a call from my sister...her daughter Morgan and Morgan's friend Brandy were in need of a new camp sight. (I just got back from camp, I know how to do camp, the Wild Camp would be a great place for them!) (They were up at Brandy's house in Sonora and needed to be on neutral ground!) So I ran up to Sonora a grabbed these two! We slept in late, stayed up late, ate a ton of pizza, went swimming and of course went to see..

Have our popcorn and drinks! Ready!

Klaira was very excited but really hates seeing it with obnoxious people! Must say that this movie was better than the first two. Still a little cheesy...but better...I guess I should just expect that no one will be able to make a movie that matches what I have in my head as I read the books...

Well, after you have stayed up late, slept in late, ate tons of pizza, swam, watched a cool movie..what do you do? Color your hair! Dah! Its what girls do during the summer!



I know that it is hard to tell what we did to Brandy, but in just the right angle in the light you can see the purple! Very cool!

This was a fun week at Wild Camp. I think we should do it again next year!

Camp

For the past several months I have been a part of a incredible team preparing for our church girls camp. (The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints)













These two women amaze me! I love their humor and their love for their families. They are so talented and have a great love for the girls.

Then I got to work with these girls..our Sr.s! WAY FUN and so hard working. The girls ran camp!


We had almost 190 people at camp this year.
DaNae almost stepped on a rattle snake in camp, and what do we do with snakes in camp? We skin and eat them silly! (This is our amazing Certification Crew)







We have amazing leaders that will love the girls and do the most silly skits without a hesitation. (It is a bit scary just how good Jen Bohn is being Nacho Lebre')

Our Fourth Years have a tradition of going on a intense hike to the top of "The Rock". From camp this is what they look like..

Klaira was a JC (Jr. Counselor) for the fourth years this year. She did a great job with these girls who were also JC's. It is fun to see how they worked this year because we will be working with these girls as Sr.s this next year.

I have been blessed to have been invited the past 10 years to go to girls camp. I have been able to serve at 3 different camps (3 different stakes) and have been able to see how girls camp is run differently but how they all have the same spirit. This is Heavenly Fathers camp and I was able to see his hand performing miracles.

When we got with our Sr. girls for our first meeting of camp planning, we asked them what was most needed with our girls. It was almost as if they all came with the same idea, Unity. Our girls need to feel united. Our theme for this year was BOOT camp. Be Of One Troop. The scriptures and the songs and the daily themes all just fell into place. As we left camp and as we are now home, I believe that we achieved what our girls needed, to BE UNITED.

Danny Awards

Klaira is very involved with the drama class at her school. I have mixed emotions about it. Jeff and I both were in drama in high school and have fond memories of the experiences we had. I am excited that Klaira has found something that she enjoys doing in school. Now the mixed side of it....Here is Fresno/Clovis there seems to be need to have kids grow up faster than they need to. I find that several times the drama teacher has chosen plays that really are not age appropriate. I am very uncomfortable when young kids are having very heavy love scenes on stage. Do we really need all that? Can we change the scene to get the point across without having the kids all over each other? Are we giving the kids mixed messages? Don't make out in the halls, only on stage! Then we have these OVER the top parties. One being the Danny Awards. I understand the need to award the kids for a job well done. That is not my complaint. It is the outfits that we encourage the kids to wear at these events. The girls are barely dressed. There is so much of a "Hollywood" feel to it that it feels like how we are having "Proms" for 6th graders with all the hype of limos etc. This is just not age appropriate. We can have a great awards program without breaking the bank and dressing up more than the prom.
I'm not saying this the way I wanted to....
I work at school with so many confusing rules. In the handbook it says that there is a dress code and anything you do that is school related it to be in dress code. Then when we have a car wash, (7th and 8th graders) the girls are allowed to be in tiny bikini's. This made me SOOO embarrassed for these girls. Then we have swimming at school for P.E. and again, girls are allowed to wear very skimpy bathing suits. (but you can't show your tummy in class...)
We say no P.D.A. (Public Display of Affection) and then have the kids make out on stage...These are our future leaders and we are not teaching them to be leaders.
So how do we change? I have had some interesting discussions with the kids at school about dress code. There is one boy who wears a shirt that had a half naked woman on the front. It is his favorite shirt. He is allowed to wear this shirt. I tell him that if it was up to me that shirt would not be allowed because the girl on his shirt is not in dress code. Then we talk about WHY this is his favorite shirt. I am finding that parents are not having conversations about clothing with their kids. They allow their kids to dictate what is fashion (Parents WAKE UP!) and the kids are choosing their choice in clothes by shows on T.V. that the kids should not be watching.
I guess I am on a soap box.
Lets go back...The Danny Awards....Klaira went to the Danny Awards. A sweet girl at church let her borrow a dress because I was not about to buy a party dress for one night. I was proud of her for finding a dress that was age appropriate that she could borrow. I understand her need to be apart of what is going on at school, I am just not ok with how the activities are being presented.
I guess it is many talks about "Being in the world, Not of the world!".


I love this girl!!!!

Hide and Seek

LuvLump's school put on the production of "Hide And Seek". Now this is a bit of a dark play to begin with and so when LuvLump didn't make it into the 9 people cast, I was a bit relieved. I know that she was really upset, but she then said that she was willing to do what ever just to be apart of the crew just so she could be busy. Well, one of the girls had to drop out and LuvLump was in. As a mother I was happy for her, but the thought of, "Not another play" did go through my head. Not to mention again that this is a bit dark in content.


I don't have any pictures of the play since you are not allowed to take pictures in the theater and I am not shelling out the money for the cheep CD with very few pictures of my daughter and tons of kids that I don't even know their names. Yes, I am a terrible mother but I have other things that are keeping me up at night, not this one.
LuvLump plays a 40 something year old housekeeper for a young expecting couple who rent out a farm house way out in the country with their only neighbors living about 5 miles away. Now LuvLump sends me a picture of herself the first time they do make up on her..(to protect the innocent, we will not be sharing that picture. The make up was done by other students..not professionals..)My first question to her was, "How old are you suppose to be? You look like you are 80!" She tells me she is suppose to be about my age....HELLO, I don't have gray hair and heavy wrinkles!!!!) Well before she comes out after the play, she cleans up her face the best she can and brushes her hair out..still is a bit gray...

One more week! One more week! One more week...What do you mean you want to do the summer production of "Wizard of OZ"? NO way! You are already busy with summer school (her choice...) girls camp and you want to get your drivers licence. Not to mention that I have a list of things that I would like to do before going back to work in August! Like clean my house! (I know it is a silly thing to want my house clean...)

Garden

For years our church has been telling us that we need to know how to grow a garden and that we SHOULD have a garden. We have moved so much and the houses we rent have gardners attached. (Its a Fresno thing for sure!) Well the gardners spray the ground so weeds won't grow so they wont have to pull them. So the ground is not the best for starting a garden, not to mention that there really isn't a good place to put one. We have really felt that we need to learn how to garden and why not do it in something that we can take with us when we move. Jeff thought about it and his crazy brain came up with the idea,(I think he has seen it somewhere before) with trying out planting in rain gutters. WHY NOT? And I thought, Lets put some stuff in pots! WHY NOT? And Klaira wanted some flowers, so WHY NOT?
Klaira and Jeff went shopping and came back with some seeds, soil and gutter stuff. I had the pots..LOOK AT OUR GARDEN!

A strawberry plant that Klaira ate the one and only strawberry that was on it and said that it was perfect!


In our pots we have herbs, squash, peppers and a tomato plant and flowers.

In the gutters we have radishes and onions.

In the ground we have Sun Flowers and Carrots and we have a crazy Black Berry bush that last year did not do to well and so Jeff chopped the snot out of it and this year it came back very happy. The test will be this summer when the berries come out. Not a bad start! I like our little garden!