Tristan’s Dance Festival

Orchard has a Latin Dance Festival every year. Tristan was a part of it this year since she is in their Spanish Immersion Program. She came home so excited everyday to show us the things she had learned. She did a wonderful job. Grandma and Grandpa were sick so they couldn’t make it. We drove Amber Lee to the performance so I got to do her make-up. They loved the bright red cheeks.

A group picture of some of the girls in Tristan's class.

Tristan loves Jeyhmee

She did so good getting every step just right! I love this girl!!

Ashlynn is like Esher just happy about life. She put so much energy into her dance-it was so fun to watch.

Aubree was the furthest away so I didn’t get very good pictures of her at all. She was very meticulous with her dance.

Tristan, Isabel & Sra. Tavares

Tristan just kept taking pictures with this little group of friends.

My Birthday Lunch

My birthday just went on and on this year. Jo Ann originally wanted to take me to lunch the day before my birthday but she was feeling sick. It turned out, she had pneumonia. We postponed the lunch until today.  Today Naomi got sick so Jackie was not able to come. I was really sad she wasn’t there because I just love Jackie and being around her. My Love crashed the party-I just love him so much!!! Jo Ann paid for all of us-thank you thank you!! I know we all appreciated it. Jo Ann had everyone say what they loved about me.

Jo Ann- She loves that I am her friend & daughter-in-law and how organized I can be when it comes to impossible tasks. Like cleaning out her closets. I remember in Vegas I went through and cleaned out her 3rd garage that hadn’t been used in years. By the end you could actually drive a car in it when before that, you couldn’t even walk through it.

Cayce- She loves how I’m not pretentious. I never pretend to be something I’m not and I tell it like it is.

Terri- She loves how she can always count on me to help her anytime she needs me. Today in particular I had sown two pillows for. She also loves how we can talk about anything and everything. I am easy to talk to. She was so sweet about it I just wanted to hug her, everyone in fact!

Daph- She loves how easy I am to talk to also. There are times when we talk and she thinks certain issues have been resolved until she talks to me and before she knows it she is pouring her guts out in tears. (Maybe majoring in psychology was really the right thing to do, now if I could get a high paying job to go along with that degree we would be set!)

Jared- He said… Frist of all, I love that she is amazing in bed. At that point everyone lost it and started laughing & talking about what he had just said. He threw out a couple funny things to go along with it but never got back to anything else. Later in the car he said he loves so many thing about me. He said one of his favorite things about me is very selfish because he loves how much I love him. He loves how I constantly tell him how much I just love being his wife and how blessed I am to have him. How he can do something and know I’m there to admire how cute he is being. All of these things are true. I love love love him so very much and I can’t help but tell him & show him whenever I can.

I got a free Tiramisu for my birthday and everyone else shared The Great Wall Chocolate Cake. I handed my clean extra plate to Jo Ann so she could comfortably have her very own piece before others touched it. It is kind of nice being Jo Ann's friend and being able to pick up on small things like that , you know, because we ARE friends!

At the end of it all Jo Ann said it was as much fun as when we were all on the cruise.

Thank You Jo Ann for planning such a fun birthday lunch-love you!!!

Choir Performance

Paris had another choir performance for Parent’s Night tonight. It is always fun listening to her sing!

This is also the night we finally ordered the rest of my living room couches. We have been saving up to get them. Finally, it is going to happen!

I Love The Dollar Store

Oh, The Dollar Store is a great place to be! The kids found these cute hats that they just love and these cute toe socks. They have never had a pair so they are very excited to wear them to school tomorrow.

These two were so excited about their hats they wore them to bed the next day. They are so cute!!!

Esher wiggles too much to have his hat stay on all night.

My Birthday Dinner Surprise By Paris Sage

Paris was so sad about missing my birthday she planned this birthday dinner for me at Sam Hawks. My Love went to get me my favorite cake bites and cup cakes. My Love is so very stressed at work that it wasn’t as fun for him at first, but being around his family always makes him feel better in the end. By the end of the night eh was giggling and smiling a lot more.

The girls made me these wonderful homemade gifts. They are both so talented.

I love my crown Paris made special for me. Please tell me I don’t look 40. All of the 40 year olds I see out there look so so so old-I just hope I haven't crossed that invisible line yet. Maybe at 50 I can look like those old 40 year olds…I would be happy with that!

What’s Wrong With Me

For some reason I haven’t felt like decorating my house this year. I really didn’t want to do Halloween, but the kids talked me into it. And now, I don’t really want to do Christmas but I know my family is coming so I need to. Of Course, all the kids are happy to help so they can climb all over the house. We have to do it now before we go to Colorado or else I really wont do it when we get back.

Now we have to find a tree and I kind of don’t want to spend the money and time for it-what’s wrong with me?

Pajama Day & Dusty’s Birthday

Today our sweet angel has a pajama party. She was so excited to bring her little penguin that matches her pj’s and her tiny pillow to school.

Today Jane planned a surprise RV trip to Vegas for Dusty’s 40th birthday. We could not afford the trip to Vegas (It would have been over $1000 because of where they were staying and what they were doing), but they were making one stop in Cedar for dinner. We came up with a plan to take the RV to Cedar and have someone drive us back home. We would pay them $10-12 an hour, tax free. We told Troy and Daph about our plan so they wanted in on it too.  Troy got Andres to be the drive. It would still cost us about $100 in all. I couldn’t believe it when our very expensive date night was actually working out perfectly until…. The Lloyd’s called, that’s when the problems would start. Friday was going to be their night to babysit and I was going to have Terri take our kids to their house for the date night. Paris and Esher were going to ride the bus to Terri’s house and Jessica was going to drop Tristan off at Terri’s after school.  They called to say that they were all sick and couldn’t do it. I quickly fixed it by telling Terri that I would pay $5 an hour for a sitter and she would only have to pay $2. She found a sitter and it was going to be okay. One of the talents I think I have is to solve problems. I feel like I can make almost anything work when unexpected things happen or find solutions with projects. I dropped off Esher at school and told him for the 100th time that he was going on the bus with Silver and Paris. Jane wanted to leave by 1pm. At 1:06pm Paris called from school saying that she had throne up all over her clothes and she needed us to pick her up. Paris NEVER gets sick!  I tried calling Terri but she didn’t answer. We called her about 15 times. They wouldn’t let her on the bus with vomit all over.  My mind went completely blank. I couldn’t think of anyone to help. I just couldn’t think. When I talked to her again on the phone she started to cry so I knew I couldn’t just leave her to anyone. Sarah suggested her sitter come help, but she doesn’t know Paris or her school or Terri or our home. It just didn’t feel right. Finally, since it was now 1:20 and everyone was ready to go we sadly decided to stay. We couldn’t make anything work at all. We took a group picture, grabbed our goodie bags and left to get Paris.

All the way to the school I kept thinking “Why can’t I think.  I feel like my brain is trapped in a bubble of emptiness. I just can’t think. And,  why the hell is Terri not answering her phone?” We arrived to pick up our sick little princess. As she and Jared walked out the doors her little eyes filled up with tears. We went to Terri’s house to get Esher. When I arrived I told her the whole story and she was kind of relieved I had come back because she really didn’t want Teave to get sick. The reason why she didn't answer the phone was because her phone randomly shuts off and this was one of those random times. About an hour later all the solutions came racing into my brain. I have an amazing network of helpers available throughout the day. I have Janette next door who could have brought Paris home to stay here for a few hours. She is only 2 houses away, so she could have checked on her periodically throughout the night. I have Jackie who could have picked her up and taken her to Daph’s house so Grand Barbie could have watched her-she has no problem with sick kids. I could have called Rachel, Terri’s neighbor to tell her what was going on and have her answer her phone so we could figure things out together. Terri would have gotten her from school and quarantined her in the bedroom. I could have had Tonya get her and take her to her house until we got home that night. I could of had Jessica go get her and take her to Terri’s.  NOT ONE CAME TO MIND! All those solutions and not one popped in my head until the RV was too far away. That’s when every one of them came flooding in.

When things like this happen I believe it is because the Lord is protecting us from something that would be far worse. Something that could potentially changes our lives forever in a direction that is not meant for us. I know everyone got there safe, and Troy and Daph drove back without an incident. But what if it was just us the Lord was protecting. What if we would have gotten in a terrible accident on the way home from Dusty & Jane’s because we would be at the right intersection at the perfect time for it if….  we had gone to Cedar.  All I have to say is that I am grateful for such a wonderful Heavenly Father who would be kind enough to take time out of his very busy schedule to protect US from some terrible outcome. His Love for us is just beyond words!!!

We watched Karate Kid in our theater and had a very peaceful evening at home. Paris didn’t throw-up again. She did fall asleep half way through the movie and woke up in the morning wondering why we had turned it off. When she walked down stairs she was shocked to see that is was actually 10 am. She slept so hard all night.

Veteran’s Day

Paris performed for Veteran’s Day today at school. I love that she is in the choir. This girl lives such a blessed life with so many gifts & talents!!! I’m anxious to see what she accomplishes in her life. She just has so much to choose from with all that she has been given.

I’m so glad she is our little princess!