Miss Elizabeth!

A few weeks ago Elizabeth came out to visit. And once again I couldn't help but smile as I watched her cracking up over some kinda trick one of the little one was doing. Or how she would pick up the front room, or clean the kitchen. I had Pneumonia and felt like I was dying and she wanted to help me out so she just did those things without my asking.What teen does that??

I came into the room and found she and Rachelle just hanging out. Rachelle was laying down and Liz was resting on her like a pillow. i found myself once again amazed at the relationship of those two. They have been like that since day one! Best of friends! I remember one year we were camping at the beach. The girls were five I think. And I came to the bathroom where they were talking with some woman. The woman asked if they were my girls. I said yes they were my daughters. She said they told her they were sisters. and that they both were five. She thought yeah, they defiantly look like sisters but she was confused cause they told her Rachelle's birthday was in March and Elizabeth's birthday was in May! I explained that they were step sisters but don't tell them that cause in their eyes they were sisters and that was all that mattered!

To this day that relationship is just as strong as it was 11 years ago! No matter how much time is apart they just seem to pick up right where they left off. I think in Heaven they knew each other. Were best friends even then. We were all meant to be a family!

It made me happy having her around. I loved watching Liz do Rachelle's or Bailey's hair. Or seeing the girls take off in the truck to go have some fun. I loved the sweet thoughtful letter she wrote her dad for his birthday. Seeing how much it meant to him! I loved just being able to sit around with her and talk. Catch up a little!

I miss her! Like crazy! So do the kids. Bailey has asked why Liz can't live here. And when does she get to see her again? " Cause you know what mom? I miss her!" Yeah Bailey~ I do too! But aren't we lucky that she is a part of our forever family?

April Fool's Sucka!

Tony and I decided we needed to get a car for the teens to drive to help me out a little.
We looked and looked for just the right car. We wanted a good deal and a car that would last. We didn't really care what the car looked like. It just had to run good and for us to get it at a good price.
Zachary and Rachelle had ideas though. A jeep. A bronco. A truck. No girlie cars. Nothin wimpy. Cmon mom...everyone eles is driving something cool!
We showed them older accords, camry's,etc. And they would insist it wasn't good enough. So then I started threatening to buy them a Yugo (if I could find one! Plus it was always a dream of mine to buy one and TRICK IT OUT! You know can see it!!)or a sidekick, or somethin they'd really complain about!
But then we found a truck. A awesome truck. It was a salvage title. But it was perfectly restored. AND!only 38k miles! We took it to our mechanic and he told us if we decided not to buy it to let him know and he would buy it! It was in great shape mechanically. Plus~It was a smokin deal!
So we told the kids we were gonna buy it. And life was good. They were happy!
And on the day we went to pick up the truck the dealer found they hadn't finished the paperwork for the DMV. So they gave us a loaner car till they had the truck ready the next day!

So that night the kids came running out to meet us in the driveway to see their new truck! We told them we had rethought it and decided to buy something less expensive and the dealer gave us a killer deal on this little blue number! Plus it was blue! Mesquite Blue! You know like their school colors! So they could show everyone they have awesome school spirit!
Rachelle kept saying over and over "are you serious?" She said it was the worst day of her life.She had tears in her eyes!
And Zach? He said "great this car will go great with my vagina!" He also texted to Rachelle and his friends "I am livid mad in my own little world"
Imagine the fun Tony and I had for a while. Then the fun had to end and we were able to tell them APRIL FOOLS DAY SUCKA!!!!!

Love, Love it when I get them! Haha!

My Sweet 16 Girl!!

Attention all cute boys~ Miz Rachelle is now 16 and we are taking applications for the honor of taking her out on a date!

Wow...my lil Rach is old enough to date AND drive! Life has now become very, very scary around here folks!!

Rachelle is one of the sweetest girl's you will ever meet! She is so affectionate with me. I am not a really snuggly, feely kinda girl so I appreciate that she IS and she always has lots of hugs and kisses to give.

I enjoy spending time with her and talking. I am proud of the young woman she is becoming!

Rachelle!! I love you so much! I hope your birthday was wonderful!!

Update On The Hair!

I've had alot of people asking for a update on dumb and dumber so here it is! As you can see from the pictures the paint came out, but so did lots and lots of hair!
We had to have the girls put conditioner in their hair and then we had to pick it out piece by piece. With the pieces came hair!
They still have little chunks of paint in it but not too much!
Rachelle said she wants to go get her hair trimmed to get rid of the ragged looking ends!
I'm thinking they won't be doing this fun trick again!

Dumb And Dumber!

Rachelle and Bobbie decided for Halloween they were going to buy some hair color to do their hair crazy and they also bought some paints to make matching shirts.

Unfortunately they had a total brain fart and they used all the hair color to decorate their shirts. So Rachelle and Jaycee had a solution... They decided to use the shirt paints to decorate their hair!

Fun?Sure

Cute? Yep.

Stupid? OH YEAH!

You should see them today. We have been laughing at them all day as we have been trying to salvage the hair! The paint won't come out and Rachelle is getting worried she is going to have to cut it all off! But hey Rachelle~ at least you looked cute for Halloween right?

Oh yeah..Way to go Dumb and Dumber Ü

52 Blessings Project~Week 40

This Week I Am Grateful For~ Willing Workers!
We started to move some of our big stuff into the home! I have brought almost all of my kitchen over, and set up my bathrooms and laundry room and I was anxious to get more stuff moved in! I just didn't want to wait a whole nother week! So, to appease me, Tony rented a moving van and Zachary, Rachelle, and Tony moved a ton of stuff over! We now have our patio table, outdoor love seat,and chairs, our kitchen table, living room sofa, family room sofa and love seats and all our decorative tables there!! It is looking like a home!
I feel a sense of relief and peace every time I walk into that home! I feel it is a huge relief and blessing!
So..walking into my home, seeing all our stuff, having it look like our home..all of this because my husband and kids were willing (with a smile even) to make me happy and bust some of this out!
For that I am very grateful!
Thanks family for working so hard! It means so much to me!! You rock!

52 Blessings Projest ~Week 39

This Week I Am Grateful For ~ Rachelle!!!

Poor, Poor Rachelle.

Rachelle has been so good with her sisters and brothers that she has become s my built in babysitter and I love it!

I have very rarely called someone Else because sometimes they would have a hard time with the kids and just wouldn't quite know how to handle them. With Rach I always know she will change them, feed them, referee the fights, and always, always be kind and sweet to them!

Last week she watched the kids while Tony and I went to Zachary's game even though she wanted to go also.

On Saturday Tony wanted to take me out to the Cuban restaurant for dinner and the live band. Rach really didn't want to babysit again so I told her it was OK we would stay home. When she realized it was our 11 year anniversary of getting sealed together in the temple she told us to go ahead and go. I told her it was alright we'd stay home but she insisted.

She is so dang sweet, and crazy, and stinkin fun!

We had the best time. The music was fantastic, the food amazing and I was so grateful when I got home to see Ethan was in bed asleep, the girls were in their Pj's and my house was picked up!I know I can always count on her and I am so grateful for her!

Thanks Rachelle! You are the best!

52 Blessings Project~Week 34

This Week I Am Grateful For~ New Glasses!

I have been in dire need of a new pair of glasses and so has Rachelle. And Hannah broke hers again (this is the 4th time!) And I have been meaning to take care of this. You know, one more thing on my to do list! So I got on the ball and Rachelle and I went Friday to pick out some new ones and yesterday I took Hannah's in to be fixed!
We are so excited! As you can see, it doesn't take much to excite us!

Here's Rachelle in her new pair! you can tell she really likes them! She is super excited! Plus, just being able to actually see is a huge plus!

Getting Ready To Leave

When we were dropping off Zach and Rachelle today I was struck with such a feeling of gratitude for this wonderful ward that we are a part of. The kids in our ward are such good kids. I was so worried for my kids before we moved here, and I can now see that being here is an answer to my prayers.I might have had a hard time leaving my home and I might be having a hard time adjusting to living in the desert, but I can't deny this is where my family needs to be.

I am so excited for them to be able to a part of this fun adventure! Rachelle said she just hopes she's not eaten by a bear. I agree.

Pioneer Trek

This morning I dropped Rachelle and Zachary off at the church for the trek. Strange, but I was feeling sad seeing them go. I thought for sure I would be singing Ding dong the kids are gone the wicked kids are gone!!Hmm. interesting.I guess I really do love them!

The bishop had come over a few weeks ago and asked them if they would go. Up to that point, they were adamant they were not going to go.Well, he worked is magic, and now here they are.

It has been fun seeing them begin to get excited as they got ready. Zachary's attitude sure changed when he found out a girl he likes was also going to be coming on the trek. Oh to be young again!

Rachelle's 8th Grade Graduation!

Today Was Rachelle's 8th grade graduation ceremony. I have never heard of junior high doing a graduation, but is kind of a big deal here.Strange, but what the heck!
Rach is such a funny girl. She is VERY opinionated. She likes what she likes and says what she thinks. I gotta tell you, I thought I was going to kill her shopping for a dress for this thing. After about three hours and four stores later, she finally found this dress, and she had to have it, then to make matters even worse, she wanted to wear black converse sneakers with it!
I finally gave in..I thought whatever, it's so not worth the fight. She was happy as a clam, and I have better things to do than argue with a hormonal teenager!
Rachelle...You drive me crazy, but I love you to pieces!!