Slow down and Enjoy your Kids

Source: carianthony.blogspot.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Presenting Oak Hollow's Star Student of the Week

Miss Mimi was presented with this fabulous award along with 2 other kids in her class. They even had an assembly in honor of her!!! Her award states. This award is presented to Mikayla Larsen because she is a sweet girl with a quiet disposition. She always raises her hand and lets others share their thoughts and ideas. CONGRATULATIONS! We are so proud of our girl. Great Job!

Tayler's Official Engagement Story

I wouldn't normally steal Tayler's thunder, but since she may never get around to recording her sweet proposal story, she gave me permission to do so along with some great pictures and a real live video (if I can ever get it downloaded to my blog).

Let me begin by saying Tayler and Jared have known each other for over 2 and 1/2 years and their relationship took a serious turn in August when they began talking about marriage. We knew this was going to happen. Jared had even came to our house the night before this took place to ask for our blessing, which is a very classy thing for him to have done (scored big brownie points with the parents)!!!

Anyway he had dreamed up a great way to propose that was very personal and romantically sweet for Tayler. Better yet he kept it so secret that no one but his sister in Dallas knew for sure where or when this was all going to happen. Tayler and her friends Kajsia and Ashley had all left for a 5 day trip to Disneyland. (Let me pause here and say that I have never met a person who loves Disney more than our Tay. From the time she was a little girl we would visit the Disney Store each year before Halloween because that is what she always wanted to be ...a Disney Princess. Belle, Cinderella etc.) So she and her friends had been planning a Disney trip all summer long and happened to be on their last day at the park. All of a sudden that morning she gets a picture text and it's from Jared. It was simply a picture of Disneylands Main Street. She looks at it and thinks, "I wonder where Jared found that?" Then a few minutes later another picture text arrives this time of "The Tiki Room". By this time she and her friends start putting it together, so Tayler texts back and says, "Jared are you here?" He responds back, "If you think I am come find me."

 She and her friends were stuck on the Alice in Wonderland ride at this point and it had broken down momentarily. So they all began screaming with excitement because they needed to go and find Jared. The last picture Jared sent was of the Disney Land Castle. On their way to find him they thought quick to snag a Disney Land photograher while Tay's friend Kajsia took video on her camera.  As Tayler is walking up  Jared is standing in the archway of the castle. He takes Tayler by the hands and tells her some sweet things, then he got down on one knee and asks if she'll marry him. She immediatley says yes as everyone claps and cheers around them. An engagement fitting for a princess and her prince charming indeed!!!  So This is Love!

Garage Sale Anyone?

My friends have truly addicted me to the new hobby of yard saleing. At first I couldn't imagine myself rummaging through someone elses junk. But as my friends have proven time and again. If you know where to shop most peoples junk can still be like just like new and for a steal of a deal. I being a true frugal shopper have a couple of self imposed rule I like to follow. First I usually go out with no more than a $20 bill in my pocket, this way I'm not tempted to spend anymore. And it allows me to decide if I really want something bad enough and if so to talk myself a deal with the seller. I try always to come home with a dollar or two left in my pocket. I also generally don't go more than once a month, unless I'm really searching for something...like my cherrywood night stand I snagged this summer for $12. Here's an example of what I found last week:

Hi-Ho Cherry-O game
5 like new books for my day care
Toss Across Game
Indoor Golf Game
Brain Quest
2 stuffed animals
Bird Puppet that sings
2 Healthy Cookbooks
Heelies
Comfy Clogs

All of these items were in like new condition. Shoes had never even been worn for $1 a pair. My total for the day $17. What a Steal!!!

Tayler and Jared's Engagement Party

So the really great news is . . . our Tayler is engaged! Here's the cute couple above and below.... Soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Jared and Tayler Palfreyman. WOW! Their engagement story is very romantic. I will post it here soon. We can't believe by Spring time next year our Tayler will be married. We are very happy for them both they make a truly adorable and very much in love couple. To celebrate we had an engagemetn party and invited the whole extended family over. Congratulations to you both.

                                                                     Tayler and Jared

   Amber, Mackenzie, Suzy, Grandma Davis, Heather, Me and Tayler.

Engagement Party continued

        Nan and Pop came to celebrate the happy news along with many others. . .

Brad

 

Brent, Brian and Grandpa Davis

     Matt, me and Colton.  We are all so happy for Tayler and wish them the very best!!!

Shakespeare Anyone?

Each year the season always passes and I once again have missed my chance to go to the Shakepeare Festival in Cedar City. But this year my sweet hubby surprised me for my birthday with two tickets to go and see a play there. He chose "A Midsummer Nights Dream". Which was very fun and light hearted. We were able to watch it in the Adams outdoor theater which was a great setting for this particular play. I loved being in the theater and also the green show just before where we bought tarts and sat on the lawn enjoying some great performers. It was a wonderful retreat for me. We went for three days to St. George and spent our last night in Cedar City. I'm now rejuvinated and ready to take on the world or at least my kids and household.

Our Missionary

We are really missing our Caleb.  But are all so proud of his successes as a missionary.  This is one of his first baptisms.  He is now serving in his second area up in Rome.  We pray for his success there as well!  We really do love him and are proud of the work he is involved in.

First Day of School 2011

Miguel and Mikayla were ready to start out the new school year. They both couldn't wait to meet their teachers and I was ready for us all to be back in the routine of school! They really had a great week and are both enjoying their new teachers too.

Night at the Park with Friends

Last night some of my dearest  friends met up at the Park.  We started our lives out in the same neighborhood in Draper together and now after some 14 years or more many have moved to different places. It is so fun to get together and catch up on each others lives and share a few laughs. A funny thing happened, while we were still visiting someone noticed Elder Christofferson sitting at the picnic table next to us with some of his family.  He was gracious enough to come over and shake hands with each of us and visit a bit. He was very nice and personable.  I think meeting an apostle as a Mormon is a little like meeting a celebrity in our little world! ha ha.  We had such a great time, everyone's families have grown up so much now.  Three of us now have sons on missions (soon to be four when Michelles son Dallin leaves in November ) and  Our friend Marilyn brought her daughter Ashley along with her beautiful new grandaughter!  So Cute!  Time marches on but I'm glad that our good friendships still remain in tact!

Spending Time in Grandpa's Garden

We make the dusty trek from the house to the old mink sheds, just he and I. My small feet follow him as he pauses at his garden, taking me down each row to show me his latest production. He bends down with his arthritic knees and picks a few ripe tomatoes, a cucumber and then a of couple handfuls of beans. He puts them into a plastic sack for me to take home. I love eating things he's grown, they always tasted better than store bought stuff. We venture out of the garden and head towards the sheds. The mink rapidly bob their heads in and out of their cages, as if to see who's there. Grandpa helps me up onto his feed truck, already filled with a sloppy unattractive mixture. He climbs on and we ride from pen to pen dumping food into each trough. Once feeding chores are through we head back up to the house. We talk about things. When Grandpa tells you a story he seems to really get right down on your level, as if you were really his best friend and not just some little kid. He'd tell me I was his favorite (and although now I'm sure he had a lot of favorites) somehow he made me believe each time I was with him it really was true.

 

(These pictures were taken back in 1996. Here my Grandpa

shows his great-grandchildren his love for gardening.

left to right: Colton age 3, Tayler age 6 and Mackenzie 5).
 

 

In 2004 my grandpa passed away in his garden. He had been alone for a number of years after my grandma died and felt extremely lonely. His garden helped to keep him busy during the day but he always said that night time was the worst. A few years later he was reunited with a friend named Mern, who was also a widow. They eventually married and Grandpa moved to her home in Provo and began a  small garden there. He still loved working the soil and sharing what he had grown with others. To him it was a bit of paradise here on earth. How perfectly fitting that he should die there. It was a Saturday morning and he had been out digging and preparing the ground for planting. He sat down to rest for a while on a chair right in the middle of his garden. A neighbor noticed he hadn't moved in quite some time and alerted his wife Mern. I think it was a tender mercy that he could pass on in such a beautiful and peaceful setting. A place where he loved to be most often. A place where he now could rest.

My First Blog Book

Yes-It's finally complete! After editing and arranging my pictures just like I wanted them, I had the first two years of my blog turned into a book and it turned out beautifully. I published it through Blurb. Their software was so easy to use. I just pushed a button and it did most of the work for me. Downloading each Post from my blog into pages of a book. I just set up the fonts that I wanted and chose how I liked the pictures to be displayed on each page. This part probably took the longest, but it's so worth getting it exactly like you want it before ordering. Luckily because the software was downloaded right to my desktop, I could work on a few pages at a time. I used to scrapbook but never again. I can order as many of these books as I would like and for a fraction of the cost it takes to put together a scrapbook the old fashioned way. I think with shipping and a coupon it cost around $54.00 for a book that was 133 pages. Plus it takes up so much less space on my bookshelves than a big bulky scrapbook and looks a lot more professional. LOVE IT!!!!!

A Night at the Louvre

Our elementary school hosted an art show called "A Night at the Louvre". They featured all of the children's art work and had different displays featuring three international artists. One from France another from Mexico and one from China. It was a really fun night and as you can see the kids really liked showing off their creations! Above and below Miguel points out is works of art.  Both were very impressive!

Mikayla is a real natural at art and is becoming quite good at it. Here is the works that she displayed, (her picture below is the bird painted on blue paper- sorry it was hanging high on the wall and a tough angle to shoot from).

Just Dance

So Tayler came home the other night with Wii's Just Dance 2. And we all had a riot trying to keep up with the moves. It's a fun interactive game that our whole family really likes. And even the people watching can sing along because the words to the songs are on the screen. So it can be a mixture of dancing and karaoke! We had a lot of good laughs with this one. Especially when Miguel performed "It's raining Men" with Tayler.

Annual Easter Egg Hunt 2011

It's Easter again.... which means it's time for our Easter Egg Hunt. The weather held out for us and we all went to Grandpas property to look for the treasured grand prize eggs.

Everyone young and old alike seek the coveted eggs. The other great incentive is that everyone comes home with a prize. The rules go like this: everyone who participates brings a prize and we number the eggs 1-however many prizes and people we have. If you find the 1 you are lucky because you get to pick first out of all of the prize loot. then the numbers to select proceed from there on up. My Dad and his brother both furnish the Adult cash prize of $50 and this year 2 kids cash eggs, both worth $25 a piece.

Matt after much seeking near the wood pile found the adult grand prize, and Miguel won one of the kid prizes! Happy Easter!!!