12 Years!

12 years ago we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City Temple. There have been lots of deliriously happy moments and more than our share of throw-the-towel-in moments...but we've stuck be each other's sides through it all. Here's to eternity...it isn't nearly long enough!

In the POTTY!

7 days ago, I began potty training Ava.  I stressed and worried about starting for weeks.  Little Sister showed me up in ONE DAY!  The first day, she had wet accidents throughout the day and one stinky accident on the morning of the following day.  Every time she had an accident I said, "Uh oh!  We don't got pee-pee in our panties!  We go pee-pee in the toilet.  Where do we go pee-pee?"  And Ava would say, "In the toilet!".  Not sure where the idea to only say those words came from...but it worked!  She has not had a single accident for almost an entire week and has stayed dry throughout the night almost as long!  I'm so excited for this milestone to be behind us.  Ava tells me when she needs to go potty and runs to the toilet as fast as she can.  We were even out and about at a park one night for at least 5 hours and she refused to go potty in the Port-A-Potty...so she held it the entire time!  What a great little learner!
 

Hey Batter, Batter!

After Denise's graduation, we all headed to Sizzler for dinner. It was super delicious! Aubre and Christopher had a softball game that evening...so off we went to see them play! It was a gorgeous evening. Aubre and Christopher's team is called the "Moondogs" and the team they were playing that night were the "Chicken Sox". They had their own mascot and Ava was totally scared of him. Lyle tried to get her to say Hello...but she would have none of it! Ava didn't nap all day and she was falling asleep on my lap during the game. She never did actually fall asleep, but it was nice to cuddle with her for awhile. *On a side note: When we got back to the car after the graduation, we found that someone had hit our gorgeous, brand new Pilot and didn't leave a note or anything! When I parked the car, there was nobody around me. When I got back, the car that had hit me was gone, but they left me a gift; a dent, a scratch and a long black mark. *sigh* Why are people so dishonest?

Newest Graduate

Lyle's youngest sibling, Denise, graduated from Hunter High School today. She was so excited! With a graduating class of about 800, it was difficult at first to find her in the sea of blue and white. Eventually, though she was spotted and I started clicking! We are all so proud of her and her accomplishment. During the ceremony, a group of kids got up and rapped. It was slightly weird. They even had their own Flava-Flave! LOL The principal had forbidden everyone from decorating their caps. He didn't want anyone to put themselves above anyone else, acting like they were more special than anyone else. We all thought it was strange...with lei's, and scholar tassles it seemed like it was happening anyway. Denise covered her hat with some fabric, then pulled off the fabric as soon as she got out on the floor. She actually did a great job on the decoration!

Arrow of Light

Tonight we celebrated a wonderful occasion. Sean advanced from Webelos to Boy Scouts...and he earned his Arrow of Light! He came home from Den Meeting a couple of weeks ago and told me that he had had an interview for his Arrow of Light and that he'd earned it! I was flabbergasted! It had been hard enough to get him to earn his regular stuff, let alone go the extra mile for the highest award in Cub Scouts! Luckily, Sean has been blessed with amazing Cub Scout leaders that work on everything under the sun during Den Meetings. We were all sad that Lyle couldn't be here for this awards night, but business called him away.

Sean was asked to lead the skit this evening and it really was hilarious.  All the adults were laughing at the end!

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Our Webelos Den is HUGE!  We had 13 Webelos at the beginning of Pack Meeting, after awards, we were down to 12.

Sean was first awarded several Webelos pins and Bro. Buchmiller came up to award him his Religious Knot.

When the Webelos patch was awarded, Ava and I went up to the front so Sean could pin the Mother's pin on my shirt.

And give me the special scout salute...a kiss!

The three boys awarded their Arrows of Light tonight were in awe of the amazing flaming arrow the Cubmaster Bro. Clements constructed.  While he lit the arrow, a recording played extolling the virtues of earning this prestigious award.

First, Bro. Pemberton awarded Sean his Arrow of Light.

Then, Bro. Fitzsimmons gave each boy their own arrow.

All three boys were asked to repeat the Scout Law.

All the parents came up at the end to congratulate these wonderful boys on their achievement!  On to Boy Scouts....with oodles of merit badges and an Eagle Project!