The MOVE

We are in the process of getting our home ready to sell. That should not be toooo hard. We've only lived in it for 2 1/2 years! Well, when we bought the home we bought it "as is" and we never found time to paint a few of the rooms.


The one room Glenn did paint before we moved in was the beach room. The beach room was interesting: it had a beautiful light blue sky with rolling clouds. Then, on the wall, were the THREE LADIES IN BIKINIS. Those HAD to come off even if Zachary assured us that he'd "look the other way." These women were cartoon women, with large busts, big hips and ruby red lips! They were disgusting to us! Glenn began painting over and over and over and over with about 3 to 4 coats of red paint, and then green paint. The room came out nice for the boys... but for resale, NO WAY!

Last week Glenn began taping the room off - to get ready for the 5 to 6 coats of natural beige paint that it would take to cover up this red and green paint. As he began working with the tape and stuff he noticed that the paint "peeled" off very very easily. (Well of course it would, it was vinyl-like and had about 3 to 4 coats.) So our Friday Night Party involved getting all the kids into the room to peel paint! It was like peeling large pizza-sized chunks of paint off the wall - it was easy and fun!

It was a blast till we told Uncle Brent what we were doing. He questioned about the drywall and asked a few "thoughtful" questions that we had never even thought about... what is happening to the texture on the wall? are you taking the drywall off? will the paint stick to what you have left?

Of course "we should have NOT been doing what we were doing" and Uncle Brent came to the rescue last weekend. He and Glenn "re-mudded" the walls and the room is bikini-free, red & green paint-free and READY TO PAINT! Thanks Uncle Brent!

As for the move... we will continue to box and box and hopefully be out before the Holidays! :O

The GECKOS are back!

Summer is ON ITS WAY OUT! The gecko's are back on the back porch! I am so happy to see them, for they only come when the temps are going down, down, down! Lovely!

Whirlpool

This is one of Christopher's treasures. He found it at the park a few days ago and was so so happy when I found it today (it was lost)... it was IN MY DRYER!

Stake Conference

Last night and this morning we had the priviledge of seeing and listening to one of the 12 apostles from The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints... Jeffrey R. Holland.

Oh, where do I begin... LIGHT! On Saturday night at the adult session of this spectacular conference Elder Holland spoke of a book he had read a while back. It describes the holocaust and speaks of when the victims rode the train into the camp. Men and boys were escorted to the East and women and girls were escorted to the West. At the end of the day they would "line up" to watch the sun go down (in the West). This young boy at the age of 12 could remember seeing his mother. And as the sun went down it always went down directly behind her causing her silhouette to shine through... until it was down and the camp was dark. He wondered if he would ever be with her again.

He went on to say that sooner or later in life we would all have this darkness (be it marital problems, drugs, educational battles, divorce, wayward children, financial, social, etc.) Some of these darknesses can last days, months and even years.

He said that many of us are out there with this darkness and continue to carry on. BUT, some are "jumping ship!" His plea to us was "YOU DON'T JUMP SHIP!" No matter how bad it gets, there is someone that loves you and sees your individual worth - it's our Heavenly Father! "Without the Gospel of Jesus Christ you will not succeed." On Sunday morning he reiterated this same message to the youth.

He spoke highly regarding President Hinckley, our prophet who is 97 years old. "Each day he comes to work, day-in day-out. Can you imagine being 97. His wife is dead. He has terrible health and is in much pain. He will continue forward until his time is up. He's not jumping ship on us."

Since it has been 19 years since we had an apostle come to visit in the Mesa area, our older boys really wanted to be at the conference. (The conference was being broadcasted to another building.) We arrived at the Stake Center at 7:45am and they patiently waited and took many walks till the conference started at 10am. There was no complaining! We ended up sitting in the basketball area, about 10 rows back from the last padded bench in the chapel. (Not bad.) We had friends that were 3 rows from the front. THEY arrived at 6:30am. (They only have 2 older children though!)

We ALL loved listening to this apostle of our Lord and Savior. I am so excited for Conference coming up next month and it's really really rewarding to see the boys getting excited too! I am very grateful for the teachings of the Church.

I Can See!

After 9 years of glasses and 25 years of soft contact lens... I AM FREE and I CAN SEE! Why, tell me why, did I not do this procedure (LASIK) sooner?!?! Probably the price tag attached to it! ;0

Labor Day Fun

We thought about "going swimming" once again... but we are really really getting tired of "going swimming" already. So, we took our yearly jaunt up to Flagstaff, or Snowbowl, to ride the ski lift and go on a hike. This is our 3rd year and we thoroughly enjoy it!




So, once again this year came by and we decided to make the trip. The only problem - there were thunderstorms in the area that day and after waiting an hour we were informed that the ski lift never would open. So, the boys took a quick hike and we continued on to see the Arizona meteor/crater.

Basically, a miniature Grand Canyon.

Anyone need a trim?

We returned from our Labor Day Day Trip... all were put to bed... Glenn and I proceeded to the bedroom to get ready for bed... and there on the ground was THIS SIGHT! Augh...



All were already put to bed. Who could it be? When was it done? Well, you can only guess - EMMA LEE! As each one awoke on Tuesday morning, the interrogation began... WHAT DO YOU KNOW? Know one had any clue EXCEPT - CHRISTOPHER!

Apparently he tried it first. (He has a patch on his forehead removed.) Then he proceeded to Emma where she stood on the step stool and he grabbed a chunk from the top of her head and took a nice close-to-the-scalp SNIP! He told us that we were getting the older boys ready for bed and that they were just jumping on Mom and Dad's bed (and snipping hair).

Live and learn! :)