Anne Marie

Anne Marie turned 14. That glorious age where you can go to youth dances, where you start high school and where you start to turn the corner towards young adulthood.

It is amazing to me still that I get to be her mom. She is talented and kind and funny, humble and super smart and she makes me proud to know her every day of her life.

From the time Anne marie was little she was hilarious. Like, roll on the ground laughing at the funnt things she would say. I don't even know if she knew it or if she was tapping into her early onset comedic timing. But the girl has a gift. We laugh daily because of her.

She also plays the piano, sings and has picked up the ukelele with which she has begun to write her own songs. She won't let me post videos of her, yet. But the girl is well rounded and talented beyond belief.

She loves to run and is very talented at it. Which I am in awe of since I run sooooo slow. Always have.

She is the best big sister. She plays with Henry and Nora still. Not because she feels sorry for them, but because she loves them and she genuinely enjoys playing games, creating fun and a good time no matter who she is with.

I hope this will be the year she can see herself and her gifts more clearly. She is amazing and we love her to pieces.

She has a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can see it in every thing she does, every decision she makes. She has decided to serve a mission when she is 19 and I know she will touch the lives of many in her life.

Happy Birthday darling Anne Marie. You are a gift to our family.







We went and saw Wonder Woman together. Fitting since she is so wonderful. Haha. I'm such a dork.



Love you darling girl. Forever and ever

Back to school already. And no, I'm not happy about it

If you know me at all or have read my blog for a while, then you know I hate it when my kids go back to school. I have never felt that I am suppose to home school them, but watching them head out the door every fall just kills me. I have no idea what I will do when they are all gone. I can't even think about it. Even as my second gets ready to leave the next and go off to college. *sob*

Because we moved to the surface of the sun, also known as Las Vegas, it means that we are part of the first year where school starts mid August here. We got out June 18 and started August 14th. That is just a smidge less than two months my friends. That. Is. Poopy. 

Add to that the fact that we were packing Kate for her mission and then our entire house for half of that and we really did not have a summer. 

So when I dropped Henry and Nora off yesterday, I cried all the way to my car. Thankfully, Julia is still here for 2 more weeks and so I did not go home to an empty house. Which I will in two weeks. Jeff doesn't work from home any more. And so my life, which happens, is changing. 

And I'm being fussy about it. I will adjust, get use to it, embrace it, blah blah blah and eventually (hopefully) love it. But for now I feel cheated out of time with my kids. 

But the beautiful, amazing part of this is that they are all ok! Yes. They all came home yesterday saying everything was great and that they are ok and will like it here. 

That is a miracle. Because moving is hard. Leaving everything you know is hard. And my kids are rock stars who have taken this whole thing in stride. I can feel the blessings of heaven. I really can. Which means I shouldn't whine because then I am ungrateful for those blessings. 

Sorry. 

No more whining. I think. 

Anyway, Charlie and Anne Marie left a high school of 950 kids and have entered a high school bigger than my home town. It is 3200 kids! I can't even wrap my brain around that. The administration of the school seriously run the equivalent of a small town in the Cascade Mountains in Washington. They even have their own police. True story. 

But they will be fine. I feel it and I have seen it. Miracles. I believe in them. 

Henry and Nora go to an elementary school that is about the same size as the one they came from.
And they all start before 8 and get out at 2:11 Which I love. I still pick them up and we are all home by 2:30.

A downside is that their new playground is about a 1/4 of the size of their beloved Valley View. All the playgrounds have big shade coverings over them. Otherwise the metal burns your skin. Also a true story. So that was kind of a let down. Also they only have one 15 minute recess. Possibly because its too hot to play outside right now? Not sure. But I guess in 4th and 5th grade you start to have less recess. Which doesn't make sense to me either. But hey, this is not Finland. So I suppose I have to take what I can get.

Its for sure different here. But not bad. I do miss our little town and the friendly feeling to it. Such as seeing people at school and the grocery store and just kind of knowing who a lot of people are. I'm sure we will get comfortable here and that feeling of being somewhere so big and different will get better.

And I guess we have more breaks during the school year once it cools down. Which is nice. Also, we are only 4 hours from Disneyland. Who can be sad about that?

So back to school 2017. Already. But in May, when everyone else is dealing with spring fever, we will be done with school. I will tell you then if it was worth it:)

Hoover Dam!

The title needs an exclamation point. The place was insane. Insanely hot. Insanely crowded and insanely huge. 

There is a pedestrian walk way on the bridge that crosses the dam and goes from Arizona into Nevada. It was neat and also very disconcerting to be that high up with semis and cars going by you at 70 miles an hour. Separated only by a 4 ft tall concrete barrier. Also, it is so weird to only have 7 of us. I can never get use to it. And in two weeks Julia will go off to college and there will only be 6 of us on a regular basis. I hate it. But I love and support them. But I hate it. 

Remember the scene in the original superman? If you're old enough I guess? Its pretty amazing to think that he could hold this back and fix it all.

We really wanted to get there in the morning and avoid the heat. Its only 17 miles from us. That should be too hard right? Wrong. Its my fault. I made Jeff take the boys to get their back to school hair cuts first. Hence Nora's sweaty brow. At least we brought water. Which quickly became warm but was preferable to the almost hot, odd tasting stuff coming out of their drinking fountains.

That is the bridge we crossed looking out from the dam itself. It really is a marvel and a feat of engineering. It was amazing to see. And there were a lot of dam jokes. So the day was a success.

When we got to where you can look down at the dam (a dizzying site) this big warm wind picked up. It was nice as it helped to dry the sweat pouring from everywhere. But wind and short hair, always a weird combo.

I love my family. I love my husband even though he suggested going to Hoover Dam in the 108 degree heat. We survived and learned pretty quickly that everyone there were tourists. Locals would not be there on a day like that. And since we are locals now, we need to assimilate and not give ourselves heat stroke.  We're smart like that;)

A day in Vegas life

Because the school year starts so early here, on Monday yo! that means cross country has already started. One of Anne Marie's workouts was at 6 in the AM. Which means yours truly got to drive her. I love Washington, I think it is the most beautiful place I have seen in this country. But Nevada has its share of majesty and beauty unlike anything I've been around. 

Exhibit A:

6 am Sunrise

Also, I just think its awesome that Anne Marie can run in the heat. I turn bright red, wilt and then die.

And then what is Vegas without splash pads, pools and lots of water activities to cool you down when it is still 108 degrees at 7 PM? 

We love new adventures. But this is the craziest for us. I never thought that I would say I live in Vegas. Which technically I actually live in Henderson. But close enough. 2 miles away close in fact. Not to the strip. I cannot see the strip from my house. I forget its there. We live in a neighborhood. Not across from the Bellagio. Its actually just a normal place with shopping (lots) and nice people (lots). And lots and lots of air conditioning. 

Stay tuned:)