Reading!

Next week I am done with school until the end of the month so I wondered if anyone has the Twilight books I can borrow?

Derek's Last Day

All the cockroaches, crickets and all other disgusting insects can rest a little easier tonight knowing there is one less bug killer on the loose. Today is Derek's last day as a pest control worker. Although this job was a huge blessing it was a lot of hard work for him. There were many days where he would go spray all day and then go sell at night. Long days in the heat! With the economy as slow as it is, it wasn't quite the money making venture we had hoped but it got us through. Now on to being a 2nd year medical student. He starts school next Wednesday!

Our Bathing Beauty

A couple of weekends ago, Derek was outside cleaning the cars and I looked out the window to see Ava in her underwear with a beach towel all spread out across the driveway and she had stolen Derek's sunglasses to sunbathe. It made me smile so I hurried and grabbed the camera. I know some of you are probably thinking, "Does this child ever wear clothes?" The answer is not very often. Next week after I am done with classes for a few weeks, I am hoping to have her dressed everyday!

Jerrod's Trip to Arizona

Jerrod had a great time in Arizona. A huge thanks goes to the Payne family for making it happen. They took him to see Batman, to a big water park and he got to see some friends that we miss from Arizona. When he got home I was excited because I thought since I sent a camera with him he would have documented it for me. Nope. He took a lot of pictures of clouds and a few others from the plane though. Guess he had more important things on his mind.

View of the Grand Canyon from the airplane.

Part of downtown Phoenix

Birthday boy Austin

Jerrod's First Plane Ride

This morning I took Jerrod to the airport for his flight to Phoenix. It is his friend Austin's birthday tomorrow and so his family got Jerrod a plane ticket to come for a weekend of fun. Lucky kid! I could tell that he was a little nervous and I was sad to say goodbye. As a mom I felt so helpless because I knew that he was nervous and I couldn't be with him. I was also bummed that I was missing a "first" but then Derek mentioned a few firsts that I will be gladly missing so I guess I can't be there for all of them! We just a call from him saying that he is there and that he's ok and he sounded excited! He said the flight was fun so that relieved all of us. I'm sure we will have more pictures on Saturday of all of his adventures.

Here's his plane just as they were leaving the gate.

Pioneer Day Celebration

On Saturday there was a tri-Stake Pioneer Day Celebration and our ward wanted the primary to be in the parade so we had the kids decorate their bikes and we walked along the parade route with them. It started at 9 am and it was so dang hot. We did not come prepared. I was expecting a small parade around the stake center. No, this was a full on parade with floats, and went around a couple of blocks. It wasn't far, it was just HOT!!! We were very glad to get done and find a booth with ice cold water bottles. After the parade they had a pancake breakfast and games. We were up until about 12:30 the night before decorating bikes and then we needed to get up at 7:00 so sleeping in was much more appealing to me but it was important to the kids so we went. After it was over the kids kept saying they never wanted to be in the parade again and I kept telling them that that was music to my ears!

Putting the finishing touches on the bikes

Our primary kids

Derek found this praying mantis.

They had a fire truck spray water from their hose from across the street and mist everyone.

Wrestle Mania!

Last Sunday, Jerrod and his Dad were just playing and wrestling when all of the girls decided to doggie pile them. Ava was so excited to get in on the action! She even started to stomp on poor Jerrod's head. Where is she learning all of these moves?

Our little Ava

It is official, Ava is now potty trained. It is such a great feeling. It is also a little bittersweet that our baby is growing up. I can't believe she will be 3 next month. She is so much fun. She is slowly getting some hair and every once in a while she will bring down some of her sister's hair accessories and want me to put them in. The other day she came downstairs and I laughed so hard because she had this ponytail holder but she had put it around her head. Someday she will be able to wear something like that.

I made a decision!

Well after months of pondering and after receiving some good advice I have decided to go for the nursing program. I took the pre-entrance exam today and I will be applying next month for the spring 2009 start date. I was so stressed about what to do and so I was working on my pre-requisites for both nursing and dental hygiene. I just had a lingering feeling that dental hygiene wouldn't be good. I would have to take about 6 classes in the fall and apply next february for the fall 2009 semester. They only accept 30 students a year so if I didn't get in I would be out of luck because I can't start a program and not finish it before Derek graduates. I know that the schedule would be sweet but only working a few 12 hour shifts won't be so bad either. With me being able to knock out both semesters of Anatomy this summer it gives me a lot of points toward the nursing program and deep down I think I am more interested in it anyway. So, my plan is to put in my application next month and see what happens. I hope to get in and start in January and then I would graduate December 2010. If not, I signed up for a CNA course and one more pre-requisite this fall and then I can reapply for Fall 2009 with 6 more points. For those who don't know, they accept based on a point system. You receive points for certain things like completing classes, GPA, entrance exam score etc... It feels good to have a plan, now I'm just crossing my fingers that it works out! Thanks to everyone who voted on the poll I had!

Quick Trip to Elko

Last Sunday we got a call telling us that Derek's brother Jason was very sick and in the hospital. We were all really worried about him so Derek and the kids got in the car and drove up to Elko to check up on him and to help with the kids. I had to stay behind because of school commitments which was really weird. I am not used to being home alone! Even though they didn't go for fun, the kids had a blast playing with their cousins, and spending time with their grandparents. Here are some pics of their trip.

Andrew and Renee's dogs Zeus and Pan

It wouldn't be a trip to Grandma and Grandpa Wahlstrom's house without a golf cart ride.

Grandma showing off her new table

Our cute neice Ashlyn

Jerrod and Brenden wrestling which led to this...........

Father and Sons and 11-year old campout

I've been holding off posting about the boys' adventures because I thought they could tell you about it better but if I don't post their pictures, I'll soon forget about it. Last month Jerrod got to do his first boy scout overnight campout. Derek was able to go with him. They went to Elderado canyon which is near the Colorado river by Hoover Dam. They got to tour an old gold and quartz mine which they both said was really cool. Derek said the walls of the mine sparkled. The owner of it told them old mining stories and they had a testimony meeting up in the attic of his huge barn. The next day they headed to the river to pass off their canoeing merit badge. One kind of funny thing that they found out was that camping in the desert is a lot different than what they are used to. All of the boys kept stepping on cactus in the dark and getting it stuck to their shoes and pants. They said there were a ton of cacti everywhere!

This is a re-enactment of a miner who accidentally put a drill bit through his head and died in the mine. True story!

A couple of weekends ago our ward had it's annual father son campout. The boys left Friday afternoon and as soon as they got to the camp site and set up the dads all took their boys out to shoot guns. Derek didn't know that they would be doing it so he was bummed that he didn't bring his gun too but some of the other dads shared. That night Derek and Jerrod had a yummy steak dinner, and they watched some boys put on a program about Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon. After some visiting they went to bed, and then woke up early to help with breakfast and headed home. It seems like when you are getting ready to go camp, there is so much work for such a short time but they both had a lot of fun.



Now the girls want to go too so we might have to squeeze a quick camping trip in before school starts so if you know a good camping spot that is close by please let us know!

Drive In

Last Saturday we decided to take the family to the drive in to see a couple of movies. It was only $15 for the whole family and you get to see a double feature. We saw Kung Fu Panda and Indiana Jones. They were both pretty good. I thought Ava would fall asleep after the first one but nope she kept going and going until we left at 1:00 am. Ugh... Derek hooked up Jerrod's stereo so we would have good sound and we did! We had a good time.

4th of July

Yesterday, we had a great 4th of July. We started off by sleeping in, well at least me :) then we finished a puzzle that the kids had started the night before. We were only missing 4 out of the 750 pieces which I thought was pretty good. We weren't sure what we were going to do that evening because we just didn't want to fight the crowds especially in 106 degree heat, but we finally decided to all go out to dinner at Chili's with a gift card that we had and then we headed to a local high school where they were shuttling people to a nearby park to watch fireworks. After a yummy dinner we got to the high school and were shocked at how many empty parking spaces there were! Ava was so excited to ride the charter bus. She just sat smiling the entire time.




Once we got to the park, which was right next to Jerrod's middle school he will be attending, we found a spot on some COOL grass and let the kids play on the playground while we waited for it to get dark. They had a jazz band performing on a field below us and Jerrod and Derek went down there in search for some kettle corn and cotton candy.





Once the first firework went off Ava started clapping and said "More". She loved them. About half way through the show she wanted to go ride the bus again. I think that was her highlight of the night. We had a great spot to see the fireworks. It was a lot of fun! Once we were home we let the kids do sparklers and pop its.