HOME SWEET HOME! Long posts about our awesome vacation to come soon…

“The axiom ‘You get what you pay for’ is true for spiritual rewards as well. You get what you pay for in obedience, in faith in Jesus Christ, in diligent application of the truths that you learn.”

–Richard G. Scott, “The Sustaining Power of Faith in Times of Uncertainty and Testing”, Ensign, May 2003, 75

Let’s see, Tuesday we brought dinner to the missionaries and Wednesday I brought dinner to someone who had just had a baby. Also, on Wednesday, I woke up feeling like I needed to go to the temple… so, I went and did an endowment session. I’ve had a lot on my mind and it was so nice to go and feel the Spirit so strongly and receive the guidance I was seeking.

On Thursday, our ward met at a park for a flag raising ceremony, a mile run, and a 4th of July breakfast. I teared up a little during the pledge… still proud to be an American and grateful for the freedoms we still have in this country. I wasn’t planning on going on the run because of Emma, but when she saw her Daddy running by she took off after him… so we ended up going on the run after all with Emma yelling, “My Daddy. I want my Daddy,” the whole way. I was proud of her for running so far even if it was in desperation… lol. Mike took 3rd on the run with a time of 6 minutes, 30 seconds (although he feels he preserved his energy too much for the final stretch and could have finished much faster) and Cameron was first for the youth, although he later found out the other youth didn’t even run. Errolyn took 2nd for Senior Primary and Logan finished but we don’t know what place. Emma and I were near the back.

Later, we met at our neighborhood clubhouse for lunch and a pool party. The kids had raft races and Logan took 2nd for his age group and received a prize. Then we were going to leave but the lady in charge told us there was a money dive starting soon. The kids of course wanted to stay. Emma found a little over $4 in change in the baby pool, Logan and Errolyn found $4+ in the big pool, and Cameron a little over $6. Emma and Logan both found silver and gold dollar coins, which they got to keep but which also let them receive an extra prize bag with toys and candy. Since Logan found two dollar coins we let Errolyn have his second prize since Cameron had received a candy bag at the ward activity in the morning. I guess Cameron also received another prize on his way out because the host felt badly that he was walking out with nothing.

In the afternoon, we went over to Kathy’s to celebrate Jeff’s birthday. We had a good time talking, but afterwards Cameron and Logan’s eyes started to swell from being around the cat. In the evening we drove to a small town nearby for their fireworks show. We got there 3 hours early to hang out with friends and play sports and run around. The fireworks show was great, as usual. We were all exhausted from our long day.

Friday evening, Mike and I went to a pool party and had a good time talking with friends. On Saturday morning, we all helped clean the church and then came home and cleaned some more. Carol came over in the afternoon and the kids attempted to put together some wood crafts she had brought over. In the evening, Mike and I went to a goodbye party for some friends and then went to see World War Z. I hated it. Everyone I had talked to loved it, but it was too “horror” like for my taste. I can stand a little scary and violence, but I hate horror movies and this was way too much horror for me. I wanted to walk out, but rationalized staying. I told Mike next time I felt like that I would leave and for him not to feel badly. He said that was fine. I watched another movie about Zombies a few weeks ago, and I’ve decided I really don’t like Zombies and have no desire to read books about them or see movies about them ever again.

Today, Logan, Errolyn, and Cameron all bore their testimonies. Logan did a good job, Errolyn shared an experience last week where she felt the Spirit really strong, and Cameron bore one of the best testimonies I’ve ever heard him give about Jesus Christ and the scriptures. I’m so proud of the wonderful young men and young women my children are turning out to be! Cameron is finishing his packing for Scout Camp and has to wake up at 3am to get ready and leave… fun stuff.

Let’s see, we’ve had three swim meets in the last two weeks. Logan and Errolyn are both doing well and both have received some first place ribbons. A couple of weeks ago Sister Walker, our patriarch’s wife, passed away. We used to be in the same ward and she was a very funny woman who I loved talking to. I went to her funeral and bawled my eyes out. I cried at all the memories I had with her, I cried because I have grandparents I love who are also getting to this point in life, I cried thinking about my family… funerals always make me cry. She was a big Spurs fan, so it was doubly upsetting that they also lost the Championship on the same night as her funeral.

On Saturday, Jim came over and the kids taught him how to play Bang. It was a good visit. Linda and her family arrived in time to eat dinner with us. The kids also taught Linda and Dave to play Bang, in fact we played it a lot in the evenings and they liked it so much they ordered it before they left.

On Sunday, Cameron and I played a cello/ violin duet of “My Heavenly Father Loves Me.” We both did a good job and we both received numerous compliments. It was my first time playing with Cameron and he did a really good job. I was a proud Mama. Jim, Kathy, and Grandma also came to church to see Linda and to hear us play. Later in the evening Carol and Kathy came by to see Linda.

On Monday, we took Linda and her family swimming at our pool. The kids all had a good time. We came home and Carol and Grandma came over. We had dinner and FHE and then Bluebell courtesy of Linda and Dave. On Tuesday, Linda and Dave wanted to see the Alamo so we all went, except for Mike who was working. Then we began the long trek down the Riverwalk, then to a neat wooden playground, and then to some above ground fountains that the kids could play in. It was incredibly hot, so the fountains were very welcome. Dave and I walked to the cars and picked up Linda and the kids so they didn’t have to walk all the way back to the cars. The kids and I raced home since Logan and Errolyn had a swim meet and they had already missed their warm-up.

Linda’s family left on Wednesday; I enjoyed seeing my sister again! On Friday, we drove to Houston and stayed with my parents. Kevin was sick but still stayed down to talk to us. Even though it was a short visit I still enjoyed seeing and talking with my Mom, Dad, and Kevin. On Saturday morning we talked some more and then left pretty early to drive to Galveston. We stopped several times to get lunch, fill up with gas, exchange Redbox’s, etc. since we left way before everyone else and had time. We all met up at Stewart Beach since it had showers and was close. The showers were nice at the end, but it was way too crowded and I don’t think I’ll recommend going there again. The kids had a blast playing in the ocean and the sand. I applied sunblock several times to the kids, especially Emma because she is so fair. Emma still somehow got a really bad burn on her back… I feel so badly for her. Cameron got burned on his sides because we only put sunblock on his chest and back, not his sides. I got a sunburn on my legs pretty badly but I’m fine everywhere else. Mike has one little spot on his foot that got burned that he must have missed when rubbing in the sunblock. Errolyn and Logan just got tan. We met Linda, David, and Janet and their families at the beach and it was fun to talk to them all and play at the beach. Afterwards my family showered and we began the long drive back home. I was really tired after the beach and Mike could tell I was tired so he made me pull over so he could drive instead which was nice since I slept most of the way home. We unpacked, started some laundry, and then I went back to bed. I love my bed.

The kids have another Swim Meet on Monday, so we had our FHE tonight instead. Logan drew a question from the Missionary Jar that said, “Why does your church focus on the family so much?” His answer was hilarious and I tried hard not to laugh when he said it. He said, “Because your family are the ones who take you to church and if they die, then I don’t know the way to church and there would be nobody to take me. So, that’s why we talk about families a lot.” Lol… I love it. {And there, we are done Cheryl. Sorry to keep you waiting. J/k… love you! }

So, the Friday before school got out Errolyn’s school had a career day. Errolyn came home from school crying because the artist who came showed some nude drawings. She asked the teacher to leave and the teacher said no. Needless to say I was very upset. The teacher denied there were inappropriate pictures throughout and said the first three were nude but you couldn’t see anything. The principal denied there was anything inappropriate. Long story short, we all had a meeting with the artist and there were indeed nude pictures that showed detail that was highly inappropriate anyone, especially elementary school children. The principal, who had not seen the slide show but took the teacher’s word for it, immediately apologized after seeing the pictures and said the pictures should never have been shown. Errolyn came up to the school and the principal and teacher apologized.

Errolyn had a friend from school get baptized, so that was neat. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and everyone seemed to really be touched by the examples I shared. Last Friday, Mike set up a broadcast for the others Stakes for one of the seventy that was speaking to the Single Adults at our Stake Center. Last Sunday, I subbed in nursery. Cameron had an ortho appointment and found out that we don’t have to turn his expander anymore although he still needs to keep it in for three more months. He can’t wait to get it out since it makes him talk funny. Logan and Errolyn’s swim meet got cancelled because of rain. Tuesday, Mike left for D.C. and came back on Friday night. It was interesting having all four of my kids home each day and no husband to help relieve me a little in the evenings, but I survived. It turned out that Carol and George also went to D.C. this week and had been in the National Mall the same day as Mike. They never ran into each other and didn’t know they were all in D.C. at the same time, but I think it would have been hilarious if they had run into each other so far away from home.

I really wanted Cameron and Errolyn to read “I Am David” since it’s one of my favorite children’s books, but they had no desire. So, I promised them each a Redbox and snacks during the movie if they finished the book this summer. Well, they both finished it in a few days and loved it… lol. So, Errolyn picked “A Monster in Paris” and it was just ok. Cameron picked “Escape From Planet Earth” which I thought had a good moral and was much better than the other movie. I was upset nobody picked “Oz” so I rented that the next night after Emma went to bed. They all loved it and laughed at way more scenes than I had even thought was funny.

Errolyn and I went to a musical fireside that the Institute put on. It was fun to hear all of the pieces, but I especially loved Suzanne who played the guitar and sang an arrangement of “Amazing Grace.” She had such a good voice, but I have to admit that I have a soft spot for guitar music because of my Dad…. who I need to call in a minute. I have fond memories of listening to Paul Harvey with my Dad so I sent him some CD recordings of Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story.”

Saturday, we cleaned and Mike took the kids swimming. I got paid to play for another wedding, so I was gone most of the evening. Today, we all made breakfast in bed for Mike and the kids made cards. Apparently, nobody planned anything for Father’s Day at church. If I had known that I would have, but I’m not in any leadership positions in our ward so I assumed they had it covered. I told them if they did something for next week I would like to help. Other than that, we’ve all been playing games together. The kids keep wanting to play the Bang game on my I-pad, but I prefer they play the real game face to face… more interaction.

So, I’ve mentioned recently that I switched from milk to Almond Milk and now to Coconut Milk because I don’t like the taste of almonds and milk has too many hormones/bad things in general and also messes up my sinuses. While, I love the Silk Coconut Milk, it was too sweet to have with most cereals. I have finally found the best milk, that isn’t milk! It is So Delicious Coconut Milk, Unsweetened, 45 Calories. It tastes almost just like milk, isn’t sweet like the other coconut milks, and you can barely taste the coconut, if at all (although I didn’t mind that part because I love coconut). I’m so excited! Now I can eat cereal again on a regular basis.

(I bought it at HEB… just went to Walmart and couldn’t find it there…)

Random things:

Mike fixed the broken printer… it wasn’t feeding the paper on one side because a fruit snack was stuck between the paper… wonderful.

We get each kid their own Friend or New Era, depending on their age, and I love seeing how excited they get when it arrives in the mail! They are so excited to read it, although I think half the excitement is just getting their own mail.

So, swim team started and has consumed our lives! Logan and Errolyn are both doing well, but I will be glad when practice switches to mornings instead of in the middle of dinner time. Last Tuesday was crazy!! I took Logan and Errolyn to swim team. Mike came to the pool after work so I could take Cameron and Emma to his orchestra concert. Mike took Errolyn and Logan home to change and then dropped Errolyn off at Activity Days. He took Logan to the church while he helped with temple recommends. When Cameron’s concert was done, I picked up Errolyn and met Mike and Logan at home. I hate when everything happens on the same night.

Last Friday, I ate with Logan and Errolyn at school. Mike stayed home and finished the wall/ door he built to make Logan’s new bedroom. It looks super good! On Saturday, I was supposed to play a concert with the professional Symphony here, but it was flooding all over town and got cancelled. So, instead Errolyn and I went to Houston to visit my Dad since I was really worried about him. Cameron really wanted to go, but I promised I would take him next time. I won’t go into details but my Dad has had extreme kidney stone problems and pains… I have a difficult time thinking of him going through so much pain. It’s just not fair and I wish I could do something to help him. We had a good time seeing everyone in Houston and came back late Sunday evening.

On Monday, we took the kids downtown to a really cool wooden park that they love. They also played in some above the ground fountains/ sprinklers and then we walked down to the river for a minute. Later, the Updike’s came over and went swimming with us. We came back and ate dinner and talked since we had both had our FHE’s earlier in the day because it was a holiday. On Wednesday, Logan had his trophy party for t-ball and had a good time.

On Saturday, we cleaned the house and then went to Logan’s last t-ball game. He hit really well without the tee. He’s improved quite a bit and has a natural ability to know where he needs to get the ball to get people out. He also throws really well. Then Logan went to a birthday party at the skating rink. He was the only kid who could skate without needing the rolling cart to hold onto and he had a great time skating with his friends since he’d been asking to go skating for a while. Cameron and Errolyn went to a birthday party across the street and also had fun. Emma just went shopping with me… poor thing… no party. But, she did get new sandals which she desperately needed.

In the evening, we picked up our friends, the Updikes, and went to the Symphony since I had received 4 free tickets from the Symphony since I wasn’t able to play with them the week before because of the flood. The Symphony played Mahler Symphony no. 3 and I loved it!! The last movement is so moving to me and absolutely gorgeous! I think the others got bored pretty quickly, but I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we went to La Madeleine for dessert and to talk. We had a good evening.

Cameron made more blankets for the hospital with his friend this week for his Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge. On Wednesday, Mike, Cameron, and Logan went to the Priesthood Commemoration which is just an excuse for them to eat and play sports together… but they always have a lot of fun. On Friday, Emma and I went to a Diaper Shower at the park and Emma enjoyed being with her friends. I left a little early to bring Cameron his birthday lunch at school.

In the evening, we met our friends the Updikes at Stonewerks for dinner and then they came over and played games with us. We played pretty late, but it was a lot of fun.

On Saturday, it was Cameron’s birthday. I registered Logan and Errolyn for Swim Team. Cameron won’t be doing it this year since all of the swim meets are on mutual nights. Then I took Logan to his t-ball game, picked up Cameron’s cake, picked up his friend Josh, and then Carol, Grandma, and Jim all came over for Cameron’s birthday meal. Cameron had a good time. Everyone went swimming, and I left a little early since I had to play the violin at a wedding. I got back early from the wedding and Mike and I watched the 2008 version of the Incredible Hulk since we hadn’t seen yet. There weren’t any ties to the Avengers other than the very last scene with Iron Man.

Today, I had to play the piano for the ward choir which made the morning crazy since Mike was also going to a different ward. I also taught the Relief Society lesson on temples. The lesson was just ok. I had a lot prepared but ten minutes into the lesson, a non-member raised her hand and asked what a temple was. So, I felt like I spent the rest of the lesson teaching to her and dumbing down everything so it was more understandable to everyone. So, it wasn’t the big symbolic in-depth lesson I had prepared, but hopefully the non-member and the new sister baptized have a better understanding of the temple. The one lady did ask me afterwards if she could still be sealed to her children even though she was married outside of the temple. When I explained yes, and how, she seemed very excited.

So, on Tuesday Logan performed with the Kindergartners at the PTA meeting. They sang two songs and he did a good job. Cameron went over to a friend’s house to make blankets for a service project; they need the hours for Scouts. On Wednesday, Emma and I went on a tour of HEB with a bunch of her preschool friends. They got little hair nets and went in the bakery and saw how tortillas were made and got a cookie. Then they went behind the produce section and saw how fresh orange juice was made. Then they went in the meat section and the seafood section and got a glove to touch the crab legs and live crawfish. Emma wouldn’t touch the crawfish though. Then they went on the second floor where you could see the whole store from up above. Then they got to scan things out at a cash register and then meet HEB buddy, the mascot. They each got a goodie bag to take with them and Emma had fun. Afterwards she played with her friends at the park.

On Thursday, Cameron got bottom braces and an expander on top. He was hurting really badly by the end of school and his tongue was rubbing raw in two places because of the new wires. He’s a lot better now, but I feel bad for him. Emma also had her last dance practice on Thursday.

On Friday, Cameron’s friend Josh came over to do their Personal Fitness Assessment again, and then Cameron went with his friend to help him move boxes to their new house. Kevin came in the late afternoon and we all enjoyed seeing him. Errolyn and Logan wasted no time teaching Kevin how to play Bang. He seems to like it and we’ve been playing a lot of it since Kevin arrived. Friday night we all went to Emma’s dance recital. She was cute to watch. Then Mike and I stopped by a wedding reception real quick and then we came home and talked with Kevin.

Saturday, I had my annual Stake Music Training. It took a lot of preparation but it turned out well. Afterwards, we had the Stake Music Workshops and I taught a composing class. Now that Finale Notepad is free, and I got permission from the Family History Center to use their computers, I installed the software on the church’s computers and had a step by step tutorial on how to use the software. It was fun to see how excited people were to learn how to use the software, write the notes, and hear what they had written played back to them. Mike took Logan to his t-ball game and Logan hit both of his balls from pitches from the coach instead of the tee, so he was excited.

In the afternoon, we took the kids swimming and then I took Cameron to the library. Then I took Errolyn dress shopping. We went to at least eight stores a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t find a single modest dress that fit Errolyn. She’s in between sizes right now. So, I finally broke down and took her to the mall and found four dresses that she liked. Kevin spent the day at Grandma’s taking pictures of her family history and then helping her with yard work. We all got home in time for dinner and then we played games and talked. Mike and I wrote/ finished writing our talks in the evening.

So, this morning the kids made me breakfast in bed, sang me a song, and gave me their cards. It was sweet. Mike and I both spoke in church. Mike said some really wonderful things about me in his talk and even got choked up when talking about me several times. I think he’s in love with me. I was supposed to talk about promoting love in the home. I started off talking about Band-Aid fixes and that a lot of the things we do to promote love in the home, incentives, consequences are Band-Aid fixes and don’t change the root of the problem. It’s the whole doctrine, principals, application concept. If you teach you children the “why”, then they will naturally do the “how.” If you teach them to have a firm belief in the Savior and how to feel the Holy Ghost then there will naturally be more peace and love in the home. How can you feel the Holy Ghost and yell at each other at the same time? I talked about teaching our kids to feel the Holy Ghost and to have firm belief in the Savior for the majority of the talk. And then we came home, ate, and played some games together.

Usually, I love these Mother’s Day things… but I don’t know about this one, lol. Logan was cracking up the whole time I was reading it, so I think he was trying to be funny for most of it.

My mom is 33 years old. (close)
My mom weighs 4101 pounds. (what??!!!)
My mom’s favorite color is blue. (green)
My mom’s favorite food is macaroni. (Taco Salad)
My mom cooks the best cookie.
My mom’s job is driving in the car. (I guess it does seem like that)
My mom laughs when… never. (I’m laughing now)
If my mom had time, she would love to change a baby diaper. (Yes, what I’ve always dreamed of… lol)
My mom & I like to go to HEB.
My mom really loves her husband. (Hey, he got one right)
I love my mom because she’s tall. (Just warms my heart… lol)

But, he did make me a really sweet card saying I was the best mom in the whole world.

And here’s Errolyn’s…

These are the Top 10 Reasons Why I Love My Mom:

10- I love my Mom because she reads me stories
9- I love my Mom because she helps me with problems.
8- I love my Mom when she makes me laugh by playing funny Youtube videos
7- I love my mom because she taught me not to be lazy
6- I love to hear my Mom sing “I Am a Child of God”
5- I love my Mom because she finds time to play games
4- I know my Mom cares because she gives me a home and food
3- I know my Mom is smart because she helps me with my homework
2- I love my Mom because she works so hard at cleaning the house
1- I love my Mom because she’s the BEST MOM EVER!