Where Do I Start???

Hello All, I know it has been a long time since my last post but I do have a lot of good excuses. Why don't I just start by updating you in on all the months that I haven't posted:
March:
I started substitute teaching for the Middle/High school. It definitely kept me completely busy! That particular age group of children seem to wear me out! By the time I would get home, nothing else was more important to me than spending time with my family. We were able to take a day trip to the Tucson zoo this month and had a lot of fun being together as a family. Here are some cute pictures/zoo pictures I took of the girls in March, for memories sake.






It was a kinda hot day so we sat down to take a rest and all of a sudden this mama duck came waddling by with her cute little ducklings right behind her. Too cute, the girls loved seeing all those ducklings.
April:
I had another busy month with Substitute Teaching. We enjoyed listening to Conference. One of my favorite talks was by Elder Jeffery R. Holland his talk was titled "Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul" if you didn't get to listen to it you can read the talk here. We also had a great quiet Easter just the four of us. Nothing really spectacular...the girls woke up with their Easter baskets full of goodies from the Easter bunny! They got butterfly nets from the Easter Bunny and when it was time to go Easter egg hunting out in our backyard they wanted to hunt with their butterfly nets and not their baskets...whatever floats their boat!






May:
This was a good month, I only subbed for a couple weeks and then school was over. I guess this would be a good time to explain why I started Substitute Teaching in the first place. Never in my life did I think that I would be a teacher in any way at all. However, since the beginning of this year we were struggling financially as I'm sure most couples know what we were going through. I prayed and prayed that the Lord would help me find a job that didn't require me leaving the girls with a babysitter all the time. After applying at a few different places it just wasn't working out, no one wanted to work around my husbands schedule (his shift changes every 2 months). So, after much prayer and fasting a friend in my ward told me that she was a Substitute Teacher and immediately I knew that that was what I was suppose to do. From that moment on everything fell into place and I think in the 2 1/2 months I taught I only had to get a babysitter 3 times! AMAZING, such a testimony builder...this teaching job fits so well with Donovan's schedule, for the most part he is able to stay home with my girls and then he leaves for work when I would get home. I do owe a BIG thank you to everyone who helped me through those times. Anyway, to make a long story short...I landed a long term Subbing job from August until the middle of November. I'm filling in for an English/Social Studies Teacher while she has her baby. The most amazing thing of all is that Olivia will start Kindergarten and so it will be just Kayten at home during the day. With Donovan's schedule and my work schedule I won't need a babysitter those 3 1/2 months that I work. This is another reason I decided that I better blog because I start my training tomorrow and school starts next week. Anyway, not much happened this month except for relaxing, Kaytie Bug got her hair cut...I think she looks adorable with short hair and Olivia got a new "big girl bike".




June:
This was our Birthday month. Olivia celebrated her 5th and I celebrated my 27th (yuck)! Olivia had a Dolphin theme party outside with her blow up pool, water guns, Octopus sprayer, Dolphin pinata, games and a yummy Dolphin cake that I made from a regular box cake mix. I just cut a picture of a dolphin off the Internet and then set it on top of the cake, traced around it then froze the cake so that I was able to frost it....easy as pie!



I love how her eye is peaking out....my little cheater :o)

My Birthday was really nice, we celebrated it a couple days early so that Donovan and I could go on a date. When we got back from our date the girls had made me a little cake and some cup cakes...yum! It was a nice day. Then guess what happened the next day (which was Sunday)??? I got a call that the Bishop wanted to talk with me, that is never a good sign :o) Long story short, I am now the Primary President...we'll talk about that in July!


July:
This month was a little crazy for me because reality set in that I was the Primary President. I had a lot of organizing to do as well as meetings after meetings. I really wanted to get everything organized the way that I needed before I started my job, so this month was dedicated completely to doing just that. I can now say that things are running really smoothly and I know that my Heavenly Father loves me so much. I know that this call was from him, I only pray that I will be able to serve and do my calling to the best of my ability. It started out a bit like a roller coaster but the Lord has shown me that he does answer my prayers and he knows my concerns. I am grateful for this responsibility.
We had a fun 4th of July. We celebrated it with a couple of our friends and all the kids had a blast. This was the first year that both my girls were not afraid of the fireworks.



Since the 4th of July landed on a Sunday this year. I dressed the girls up so cute in red, white, and blue.



August:
Seeing how it is only August 2nd there isn't much to post for this month yet. However, to all my fellow bloggers...I hope you understand that between my job, being the Primary President and sending my baby for the first time to school I won't be posting for the next few months, it's just not on my number one priority list. Hopefully when I get a break I can fill you in on mine and my family's lives. Until then happy blogging!

My Very First Primary Talk

This is a picture of Jesus, my Savior, that hangs in my bedroom. I like to follow in his way. When I look at this picture it helps to remind me to obey and be kind to others and share my toys. I know that Jesus loves me because he helps my friends to get better when they don't feel good. I love Jesus, when I look at this picture it makes me happy.
Jesus died for us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father, this makes him our Redeemer. He loves when we make good choices because it shows that we love and care about all the things he did for us. Sometimes when I'm having a hard day I like to sing the song "I'm Trying to be like Jesus". It's my favorite because it helps me to remember to try and follow in his ways. Amen.

Olivia gave her first talk in church today and I am so proud of her, she did very well! It is so sweet that my little girl is getting older and starting to not be so little anymore. It was fun preparing this talk with her because she pretty much came up with everything that I wrote down, I just made it flow :o) She thought it was fun to take down the picture of Jesus from her bedroom and take it to church.
This next picture I had to show you 'cause Kayten wanted in on the picture action...she LOVES her big sister. There is going to be a lot of sadness when Olivia starts school this August.

p.s. Olivia wanted me to let everyone know that the dress she is wearing is her brand new church dress that she picked out all by herself! (I just love my sweet girl)

Happy Valentines Day

Well, this last month has flown by so fast and it just seems crazy that it's already Valentines Day. We've been keeping busy as well as trying to keep from getting sick again and again. I think a lot of you know how it is right now. Sick kids isn't always the most fun thing in the world. As for right now we are finally all doing very well (knock on wood)! Anyway, Happy Valentines Day to everyone. This is a picture of the Valentines the girls and I made for their friends:

I got the idea off of my friend Heidi's blog...who got the idea from this blog. I thought it was an adorable idea, just wish I could say that I thought of it :o) I also took some pictures of the girls and Donovan took a couple of me and the girls so here you go:



I don't know why...I just LOVE this one of Kayten! She was done taking pictures, can you tell?

Back to a....

…horrible schedule for Donovan’s work. He is on the night shift (10 pm to 6am). This is the worst because I don’t get much done during the day. My days are filled with me constantly saying “Shhhh daddy’s sleeping!”. I haven’t been blogging because my computer is in our bedroom and he literally sleeps most the day, he takes a nap before he goes into work at night as well as sleeping until 2 or 3pm. Anyway, I could also list off a lot more excuses as to why I haven’t been posting, but I won’t :o)
So, on with what we've been up to this past Holiday season. We had a very long car ride, but worth the trip to Utah, for Christmas. My entire family crashed at my brother’s house in Santaquin Utah. Everyday was an adventure and filled with lots of fun. The girls had a blast playing in the snow, making Christmas cookies, sledding and riding on the snowmobiles. We also got to go to Temple Square, although the night we chose to go was so FREEZING that we only ended up staying about 30 min. It was also way crowded; we were seriously shoulder to shoulder bumping into people on temple square. We still had a good time. Then the next night we went and saw the movie Avatar. It was good…a little “tree-huger” for my taste but the graphics and action where amazing. The next night we took a trip up to Heber Utah where we rode the Polar Express Christmas train. The girls whore there PJ’s and got to see Santa as well as Mrs. Clause. It was a really fun and neat train ride. Then came Christmas Eve and the girls got to open one present with all their cousins. I don’t think I have ever seen so many presents under one Christmas tree. I guess its understandable seeing how there where 5 family’s there. Anyway, Christmas day came and the girls enjoyed what Santa brought them and then as the morning passed and the afternoon came we had decided to start our journey home early so that we could break up the 14 hour trip. We drove 11 hours on Christmas day and made it to Mesa, where we crashed at my Mom’s apartment. Then woke up early and drove the last three hours home. We found out on our long trip that Kayten gets car sick….YEAH! We will be keeping a bucket in the car for all future car rides :o) Other than that the trip was a blast and now we have many memories to cherish and hold onto.
Here are a lot of pictures from our trip, enjoy and hopefully I will post again soon: