The Macdonald Family

Of Course I Forgot Something!

2012-01-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

One last thing we did over the Holidays...we attended the J. Buren and Lenore Carpenter Family Reunion. Above is a picture of us as we entered the reunion. It was fun to see old pictures of my grandparents. All of my brothers and sisters attended along with most of my extended family, cousins, aunts, uncles etc. We enjoyed a pizza lunch and minute to win it games. It was fun to get together with family.

Now we can move into the New Year!

Holiday Wrap Up

2012-01-06T10:49:00.001-08:00

This year the Holidays were a bit different for our family and with the craziness of our schedules, sadly not many pictures were taken and those that were are not great. So my final post for the 2011 blog will be written post so I can finally wrap up the year and get on with 2012.

So to start about mid December....my birthday was on Dec 20th. I turned 39. 39! Where did that come from? I don't feel 39! Hopefully I don't look 39. Anyways, I am a believer in milking my birthday to the fullest. I spent the early part of the day with Jared at his preschool Christmas party. We made gingerbread houses, played with play dough, made a Santa puppet and watched the kids perform favorite Christmas songs. It was a fun was to spend an afternoon. My baby will enter Kindergarten next year, so I'm trying to soak up every little experience I can with him.

That night Joe spoiled me as usual. He took me to a favorite restaurant, Brio, where we enjoyed delicious Italian bistro food. This is a special treat because this is not a cheap place. Afterwards we went shopping for my birthday present. I got my iPhone 4s. So fun! It is amazing what can be accomplished by such a small device. I never would have imagined in my lifetime to see such developments. I think back to the early 90's when the Internet was this new and kinda scary endeavor and now I carry Internet with me everywhere I go. Amazing!

I continued the birthday celebrations into next week with a night out with great friends. Dinner and great conversation are always a pick me up. Thank you Aimee Asay, Nicki Enos, Laura Flores and April Corey for taking some time to celebrate with me.

My work schedule was an added change this year for the Holidays. I currently work Wednesday through Saturday on the 4pm to 2am shift. That meant I worked on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve this year. Both weekends were very busy and crazy at work. Both were learning weekends. I never knew how crazy Mesa can get!

For our family Christmas celebrations....we got together with my family at Grandma and Papa's for a Christmas Eve lunch (because of my schedule, but it worked out great). After lunch we opened presents from cousins and grandparents. On Christmas day, which was on Sunday this year, we attended our shortened ward services where I sang in the choir. That meant we had to delay the opening of presents for our boys until after church. The boys were really great about it and very patient in their waiting. Each boy got something they really wanted. Jacob got an automatic air soft gun, Tyler tons of Beyblades, Aaron a new bike and Jared power rangers. Joe got some books he had been wanting along with a gun safe. I got an iPad and accessories for work and play. We all were very blessed this year.

Later that night we went back to Grandma and Papa's to have dinner with them and Galen's family. It was Galen's year to have the kids for Christmas and it was fun to have them all together. Julia's son Sheldon was the only member missing this year.

Another big and exciting, though not in a good way, thing that happened and another reason why I don't have pictures for this post...is our computer contracted a nasty virus and it is kaput. We extracted all the information we could from it and then it took it's last breath and died. Luckily we didn't lose too much, only a bit of financial records that we kept for 2011. Not a big deal because most of that is online and in the past anyways, but I liked to make reports for our taxes from those records. Just a hiccup, not a big deal. But then I realized we forgot to copy off all our emails and email contacts. Years worth of email contacts. It is almost all recovered now thanks to all our family and friends taking time to send test emails to us so we can update the new programs. I think of it now as an early spring cleaning. A forced spring cleaning. Much needed.

So there you have it...a quick overview of our Holidays. Now time to move into the New Year!

Tyler's Choir Concert & Aaron's 1st Grade Program

2011-12-16T10:35:00.000-08:00

This past week Tyler had his Choir/Recorder Club Concert and Aaron his 1st Grade Program. I was unable to attend Tyler's Concert so Joe took pictures and recorded a few of the songs. So I felt like I got to see some of the concert. Luckily for me, the 1st Grade Program did a school time run through so I attended it in the afternoon and Joe and boys attended the evening performance. Both boys did a great job.

Reindeer on the Roof ....

More Family Picture Attempts

2011-12-07T12:24:00.001-08:00

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now...but yet I keep trying. Although I would have to say that the pictures we do get are a perfect representation of who we really are....not picture perfect!

I decided to try to get some cute shots in the house with the Christmast decorations as back drop...in our Sunday clothes no less....nice try...

Then maybe a few at the Temple lights for family night.... better I guess??

You get what you get...

Someday I'll get a nice photo session put together...until then...

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Week Catch Up....

2011-11-27T15:56:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving celebrations started this week on Wednesday at Jared's Preschool. Each year they make homemade pumpkin pies and invite parents to come taste. They also have a small program of songs the kids have been learning for Thanksgiving. Jared loves popcorn, so he was so happy that was a choice instead of just pumpkin pie...although he did taste it. It was fun to see our once shy boy singing and talking with friends. He is growing up so fast. I can't believe he'll be in Kindergarten next year!
Getting ready to taste the cool whip...Now tasting the pie Jared smashed on his fork...

Singing a few songs...

The Turkey Pokey...put your left wing in...

...Put your left drumstick in...

On Thanksgiving day we went to my mom and dad's house for lunch. I had to work the night before and was due at work that afternoon, so Mom agreed to host a quick lunch for our family. Of course we had to take some family pictures.

Being silly

Dad...carving the turkey

Mom decided to make a chocolate cream pie this year...we had to get proof so she will never try again...let's just say it didn't quite turn out. The boys drank it from their bowls....hence the spoon!

And lastly, Thanksgiving was also Mom's birthday. So we had to have a little celebration. Jared, Aaron and Tyler made cards and we got her a small gift.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Jared's Preschool Field Trip

2011-11-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

Today I went with Jared to the Superstition Farm just south of our house for his Preschool Class Field Trip. It's always fun to go see the cows, feed the goats, pet a chicken and eat ice cream made from the milk from the farm.

Here is the class waiting to go in for the field trip.Jared was so happy to be there....wearing his special field trip t-shirt.
Learning in the "classroom", all about cows, what they eat and how to milk them.

On our hayride around the farm.

It's kind of hard to see, but the black small animal in the middle is a 2 hour old calf.

Getting ready to feed the goats and sheep. Jared did it with my help. He laughed and laughed while the sheep and goats ate the corn out of his hands.

This was the funniest looking chicken walking around.

Petting calves.

Touching the chicken. Jared did not want to hold it.

Petting the bunny.

After the field trip, class photo.

I was very proud that Jared tried to do everything. He fed a donkey a carrot and even went back later to pet the donkey. He is usually so shy and afraid, but not today. He got right in there and did everything. He was even sad when it was time to go home.

Veteran's Day...11-11-11

2011-11-15T14:43:00.001-08:00

As a family we attended the Mesa Veteran's Day parade in Downtown Mesa. As always, it was a great parade with all the High School bands representing. There were tons of cub scouts and scout troops, loud motorcycles and army trucks...an all time favorite.
Jared refused to look up at me. He kept telling me he was drinking his juice, no picture.

This was the only way I could get Jared to smile and look in the camera.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

For Halloween this year we celebrated twice. 1st on Sat. Oct 29th at the Ward Trunk or Treat. Joe was in charge this year and put together a huge party. This picture is from Monday, Oct 31st on our way out to Trick or Treat in the neighborhood. Jacob and Tyler decided not to dress up this year, although they kept saying they were secret agents. Aaron and Jared were great Trick or Treaters. I didn't even have to coach them on how to knock and say "Trick or Treat" and the "thank you's" came easily. It was so cute to hear Jared say, "Happy Halloween" as he walked away. Made for a fun night. Joe took the picture and stayed home to hand out candy. But he was dressed in his Superman costume/t-shirt. Next year we need to talk the older boys into staying home to hand out candy so Joe and I can have a nice walk with the little boys.

Cub Scout Day Camp

2011-11-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 29th Tyler attended his 2nd Cub Scout Day Camp. As you can see in the picture we have a pretty good looking group of Cub Scouts in our Ward. Tyler had a great time, came home dirty and tired. Thank you to our fearless Cub Leaders for spending the morning with our boys.

Jacob's 1st Scout Campout

2011-10-25T10:30:00.001-07:00

Jacob went on his 1st Scout overnight campout on Friday, October 21st. They went to the Lava Caves in Flagstaff. He had a great time, thanks to our wonderful scout leaders! The pictures are compliments of our Scout master, Justin Hutchins. In order....Esteban, Jacob, Adam, Hunter and 1 boy I don't know...
Bro. Edgeworth, Bro. Woods, Bro. Fry and Bro. Hutchins with the Scouts
Jacob's favorite thing to do....help make the pancakes...& he is good at it!

In the cave....

Jacob Ordained a Deacon

2011-10-20T12:02:00.001-07:00

On Sunday, October 16,2011 Jacob was ordained a Deacon by his dad. My parents were able to attend the ordination. We are so proud of his decision to get the priesthood. Luckily, my mom thought ahead and remembered to bring the camera. So here are a couple of pictures from after the ordination.

Jacob with Mom and Dad Grandpa Hastings with Dad and Jacob

Jacob Turns 12...

2011-10-12T00:15:00.001-07:00

On Monday, October 10th Jacob turned 12. To celebrate we took a trip to the Phoenix Zoo, just me and the boys. It was beautiful weather wise...as most of the valley figured out. The Zoo was packed. But we still had a great time walking around and seeing all the animals. The boys did great, they walked the entire time. They even took turns pulling the wagon that carried 2 coolers of food and drinks.

Monday was not only Jacob's birthday, but also the 1st day of our October Break. Luckily it was also a day off for me. It was a fun way to celebrate the Break and Jacob's birthday. Later that night we went to Red Robin for Jacob's Birthday treat. We ended the night with family home evening and presents. Joe got Jacob a new airsoft rifle and pistol, a camping pillow, camping storage bag, water bottle and large army duffle bag. It was a special day for Jacob.

Here are a few pictures from our zoo trip.

Jacob's Viola Concert

2011-10-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

Jacob's strings teacher decided to have an early concert/curriculm night. It was a great time to hear some of the progress being made in strings, as well as the requirements for the class. Jacob enjoys playing his viola, although we have only heard him play it once at home. We got to get him working on that a little more. I only took a few pictures, just to prove he really is learning to play.
This took place in September, 2011. I'm a little slow getting the pictures off the camera. Better late than never.

Earned my 1st stork

2011-10-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I earned my 1st stork. Now this doesn't sound like such a big deal to most people, but in the line of work I am in earning a stork is a big deal. As a 911 operator it is very rare that we get to have a positive call. The birth of a baby is not a common occurrence. Many of the operators I work with have been there many years and never got a "baby" call. So imagine my surprise to get one while I am still in training. So here is what happened....

My 911 emergency recording went off. The male on the line said his wife was in labor and they were not going to make it to the hospital. I started the call entering for police and fire to respond. I then started going to the medical protocols. The male, Dad, was very calm. This was their 2nd baby, she was 40 weeks and having contractions about every 2 mins. This baby was coming. We had the dad checking for crowning and trying to keep the mother calm. I could hear her in the background. Now the rule with 911 operators and stork pins is that if the baby is not born while you have them on the phone you don't get credit. So my trainer and I were anxiously watching the map to see how far out the fire truck was as well as having the dad check to see how far along she was moving in the labor. We were in a race. Could we get this baby out before fire arrived?

We were cutting it close. Fire was driving lights and sirens to the house. The dad kept checking the progress, he thinks the baby was crowning. Then all of a sudden he said, "I can hear the fire trucks, so I'm going to go unlock the door." And put the phone down, while my trainer and I yelled, "NO!". When he came back to the phone he said fire was pulling up. We told him to check his wife at which time he screamed, said a word I won't repeat here, "The Heads out!" and hung up on us. We immediately put on our case comments that the head was out and that we had been disconnected. We then immediately went to the shift supervisor who said, "That counts. Congratulations, you just got your 1st stork!". We then went over to the fire dispatch and told them we wanted to know if it was a boy or girl and they said they would let us know. About 5 mins later they found us and told us it was a healthy baby boy.

When I went back and looked over the times from when the call came in and when we were disconnected it was 7 mins. She had that baby in 7 mins. Amazing!

So there's the story of how I got my 1st stork. Hopefully it won't be my last.

Can you spell appendectomy??? Tyler can...

2011-09-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

On Tues Sept 20th at 6pm, Tyler started having stomache pain. Of course I thought he just didn't want to eat his supper and told him to go lay down. Within a hour and half he was puking his guts out. I was thinking it was just some stomache bug, but Tyler was begging to go see a doctor. So I got an appointment in with the after hours doctor at our regular office. Needless to say, it wasn't stomache flu and we were sent to the ER, Cardon Children's Hospital at Banner Desert where it was determined that Tyler had Acute non-perforated Apendicitis. On Wednesday, Sept 21st at 12:00 he had it removed.

The following pictures are from the surgery.

Just a few pictures of Tyler's insides.... The appendix is the brown tubular looking organ near the top metal clamp.
And below is after they cut it out.

This picture shows the appendix cut away and preparing to pull it through the belly button. And below is a picture of his liver and gall bladder, which are both healthy.

Needless to say, Tyler is feeling much better. He was released from the hospital on Thursday, Sept 22nd. He is on limited play at school for the next few weeks. He is feeling great and healing well.

My version of school pictures

2011-09-20T16:37:00.001-07:00

I'm revolting from paying the high cost of school pictures. This year it was going to cost us $23 a packet to get 1 8x10, 2 5x7's and some wallets.....$23! EACH!! That's over $90!

So today was picture day at school and I made it picture day at home. I took pictures of the boys before they went to school today...and I'd have to say they turned out great. I'd say even better than the school would do...

And the best part...

I ordered all the pictures I wanted from Costco, which are being shipped to my home as we speak and it cost me a grand total of $14! That's $14 for 4 8x10's, 8 5x7's, 4 4x6's and 4 sets of wallets. Needless to say I will no longer be purchasing through the schools. Not when I can do just as good of a job at a fraction of the cost.

Take a gander at the great results!

Happy School Picture Day!

As Jacob said when he saw these awesome pictures...

"Lookin' good!"

The Gilbert Temple

2011-09-11T16:33:00.001-07:00

The primary had each child take a picture in front of a rendition of the new Gilbert Temple being built in our area. Once completed it will become our temple to attend.

Here is Jared... Aaron...

Tyler...

and Jacob.

We went of a field trip to the corner it is being built on. Of course I didn't have my camera. We'll have to do that another time. It will be located at the corner of Pecos/Greenfield Rd.

Tribute to a friend

2011-09-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

1st Day of School

2011-08-10T15:45:00.001-07:00

We love the 1st day of school. Jacob is in 6th. Tyler in 4th. Aaron in 1st and Jared in PreK. It's hard to believe how big they are getting. Time goes so fast. Waiting for the bus.
Waiting with our good friends, the Robertsons.

Carefull.... there is a "Tenderfoot" about

2011-08-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

Jacob earned his Tenderfoot in Boy Scout!

Way to go Jacob!

Our newest cousin...

2011-07-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

Introducing Troy Valentine Merrill, born July 27, 2011. Weighed in at 8.5 lbs. To the proud parent of Sean and Christine Merrill. He's a cutie!

Happy Birthday, Troy!

A Quick Vacation

2011-07-20T11:04:00.001-07:00

In between the time I finished the "classroom" portion of my job training and the "live" portion swing shift I had 6 days off. So we took advantage of a few of those days and took a quick trip to the cabin. The weather was amazing! It rained and thundered on Friday. Pictures below of the boys playing in the rain until the thunder scared them all inside. Then on Saturday we took a trip to the park, where Jacob decided to take tons of fun pictures of his brothers. I included a few here. It was a nice get away from the summer heat. Hopefully once my job settles down we will be able to plan a few more trips.

Being silly.

Jacob had to get a picture of himself too...

Jared...peek a boo

Aaron & Jared

Playing "Angry Birds" and enjoying the weather.

There was also a band playing at the park...so it made for an interesting trip.

Happy 4th Birthday, Jared!

2011-07-18T22:27:00.001-07:00

Jared turned 4 on Friday, July 15th. (I don't know where the time has gone... my baby is 4.) I had to work that night so we decided to have a small family party on Monday, July 18th. Merrill and Hastings cousins came for the cake, ice cream and pinata party. Jared was so happy. The cousins ran and screamed and had a great time together. The Spider-Man Pinata...it was too hot and dusty outside so we did it in the livingroom. Everyone got a turn beating Spider-Man.
Tons of Candy!

Happy Birthday, Jared!

Working Girl...

2011-07-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

So I started on phones this week at work. My schedule is Thur-Sun from 4pm-2am. It's not as hard to stay up as I thought it would be. The 1st day on phones I literaly shook for 4 hours. Everytime the phone would beep in my ear and my recorded message would play I'd get a little jolt, but after my lunch around 9:30pm I seemed to calm down. It still freaks me a little when the "911 Emergency" recording comes on, because I haven't received an "E" call yet. And "E" call is any life threatening with great possibility of death or serious injury. My trainer keeps saying I need to get an "E" call and get it over with, but it hasn't happened yet. It's not that and "E" call hasn't come in when I've been there, it just didn't get routed to me yet. But I can honestly say that I am loving this job. It has been such a great learning experience so far.

On another note...

I got the cutest text from Joe this last week. I usually call home on my lunch if I think the boys will still be up to say goodnight, but the 1st night it was after 9pm so I just sent a text. I got a text back saying...

"Aaron says he loves you....like old people love chicken"

That has got to be some kind of love!

Isn't that awesome!

Made me laugh. I'm so glad my boys are doing so well with all the changes with me working. I'm really proud of them and how much they have been helping and doing their best to help each other. I have such great boys...including the greatest husband ever! So supportive...so patient...

I love you!

May Catch up...

2011-06-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Cleaning out a few things that have piled up since I started working and came across these pictures and certificates. Wanted to make sure they are included in our history. Three boys playing baseball was quite the trick this year...we are hoping for better placement next year. The boys all had a great time.

Aaron's team... Tyler's Team...

Jacob's Team...

Of course, I could only find Aaron's certificate. That just means Jacob & Tyler's got sucked into the pit of their bedroom...never to be seen again.

Tyler sang in the choir at school this last year and they gave out this certificate at the last concert.

Macdonald Reunion

2011-06-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post some of the pictures from the Macdonald Family Reunion in St. George, UT...more to come...

Happy Birthday Joe...yesterday...

2011-06-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, June 7th was Joe's 38th birthday. We both had to work and Joe had late softball games so that means nothing special to mark the occasion. I'll get working on a batch of chocolate chip cookies this weekend, that's what he asked for, and hopefully that will help make up for the lack of celebration.

Aaron's 6th Birthday

2011-05-20T19:53:00.001-07:00

Aaron turned 6 on Thursday, May 19th so for his birthday he chose to have a party at Peter Piper Pizza. He invited neighborhood friends and school friends. They all had a great time. It's always an easy party when you can leave the mess behind!

Pizza time...

Present time...

Birthday Cake time...

This is actually cake #2...the first cake didn't want to come out of the pan and ended up in about 16 pieces. It became the after school snack for the boys. Pre-party cake is always delicious! So cake #2 stayed in the pan...I wasn't taking any chances!

When you get this for a birthday present...

You get this for children...

And the sidewalk is decorated...

And socks that look like this!

It is all washable and made for interesting baths. Nothing like turning the bath green as you wash off the colors!

Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-08T15:59:00.001-07:00

Joe & the boys spoiled me for Mother's Day this year. This morning I woke up to a table filled with flowers and a working mom's survival kit, basket filled with many items including 3 different kinds of chocolate. The best part was after church Joe had special shirts for 2 of my boys to wear. They say "My mom is hot!" Tyler put one on just for the picture, but Aaron loves his and is still wearing it! Tyler made a cute tile container in Cub Scouts and brought it home from church today. I got to take a 2 hour nap and Jacob keeps asking what he can do for me...an all around great Mother's Day!
Aaron made this at school. He waited until after church today to finally give it to me.

Jared wanted a picture taken of him. I told him to smile, but his mouth was full of cereal and this is what we got! I love it!

Tyler Baseball Pictures

2011-05-08T15:48:00.000-07:00

I finally remembered to bring my camera to one of Tyler's games. (Thanks to Tyler reminding me to put the camera in my car before work one morning!) Sadly I haven't made it to very many of the boys games this year. With school, work and 3 boys playing at 2 different fields it has been lucky that they have made it to all of their games at all. (Thanks to Grandma & Papa for helping shuttle boys and bring us an occasional dinner at the ball park!) We are hoping next year is a little easier! But we know this is our life as long as we have 3-4 boys that want to play ball!

1st Day jitters

2011-05-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 25, 2011

Joe insisted I needed a 1st day on the job picture for posterity. So here I am the morning of my 1st day with the Mesa Police Department 911 Operator. I have been at it for 2 weeks now and can say I am loving it. Now I haven't started the official training yet and probably won't for another month, but I love going to work. The boys are doing great getting themselves off to school in the morning and have been very good for my afternoon nanny and greatest babysitter ever, Jessica. I'm so glad I took this work opportunity. Getting used to 10 hour days has been a challenge, but I know it was the best decision to do this.

Easter...Catching up

2011-05-08T15:23:00.001-07:00

Saturday, April 23, 2011

This year the Primary was in charge of the Easter Party at church. Since I am in the Primary Presidency, I had the task of buying and filling all the Easter eggs. With the boys' help, we filled approximately 2700 eggs. We planned a potluck breakfast at the church with the Easter egg hunt following breakfast, out on the front lawn of the church house. It was a big success. The room was packed with plenty of seating for everyone. We had the food in the YW's room and we buffeted the line from the hall & then had the families eat in the cultural hall. The reason for this is that our building is very small, but our ward is quite large. Our goal was to get as many tables set up in the cultural hall as possible. We ended up being able to get 22 tables in the room and every seat was taken. Here are a few pictures taken that morning...Notice the cute centerpieces the other Primary counselor came up with. The cups were filled with Peeps and M&M's! Cheap and really cute! I love this picture of 3 of my 5 boys. Pictured from left to right, Tyler, Aaron & Joe
Aaron, Myself & Tyler

Out on the front lawn of the church. We had about 100 kids show up, which sounds like a lot, but was not even 1/2 of our Primary. We had the "big" kids on the big lawn and the 4 and under group up on the top and side lawns. It worked perfectly!

Jacob's take

Tyler only collected green eggs!

Aaron with a weird smile!

Jared

Hoppy Easter!!

Baseball/Softball Injury #2

2011-04-21T16:14:00.001-07:00

Lucky me! I have the 2nd sports related injury for this season. This past Monday at Joe & my coed softball games and overzealous teammate (male) ran into me out in right field. I was watching and waiting for a high fly ball to come down and out of no where the right center fielder slammed into me. My left foot got the brunt of the injury, but I am sore on the entire right side of my body. Luckily my foot is not broken, but here it is 3 days later and still swollen. The bruising is just starting, I'm sure it will get much worse. In the meantime, my doctor has me wearing a boot to protect my foot.

Wednesday morning I was not wearing my boot while getting Jared dressed for school and learned the importance of wearing the boot. Jared was being silly and accidentally stepped on my foot. I cried out in such pain, all the boys immediately sprang into action. My boot was brought to me, an ice pack and many kind words. I don't think they have ever seen me is such pain. Needless to say, I keep my boot on whenever children are around.

Hopefully I'll only have to wear it for a week or so. No softball for a week also, bummer. If it's not feeling better within a week or so, I have to go get it re-x-ray'd to see if there is a minor fracture that didn't show on the first x-ray. It's beginning to feel better but still very tender.

Until then here is my new fashion accessory.

This picture is to show the swelling. My feet usually are veiny, like the right one. You can also see the bruising beginning just at the base of my toes. Pretty cool!

The top of my foot took most of the force, but you can see how the swelling goes to the side of my foot also.

My new protection!

Interestingly enough, they found on my x-ray that I have a bone island on my left heel. They say it's nothing to worry about, but could give me problems in the future. I had to google it to figure out what a bone island is and I still don't fully understand. But basically it's a birth defect in the bone and I never would have known it was there except for the needed x-ray. If I begin to have pain in my heels I'll need to see a foot doctor for treatment. Something to look forward to!

On another note, I start my new job with 911 this upcoming Monday! Had my last day of preschool today, it was bitter sweet.

Jacob Baseball Pictures

2011-04-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to Jacob's Baseball game. He is playing kid pitch baseball. As you can tell by the pictures, he is really having a good time!
More pictures??? Come on, Mom!

2nd week of ball games...Injury #1

2011-04-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

This past Monday we all attended Aaron's ball game. I sent Jacob, Tyler and Jared off to play for a while and watch the ducks at the pond. 3o minutes later Tyler ran back reporting that Jared is bleeding. When asked what happened, no one knew. The older boys had been playing a game with some friend and didn't see what happened to Jared. What little I got out of Jared was that his fell down the sidewalk. I assume that he was running down one of the hills on the sidewalk and tumbled, skidding on his face. Luckily, no broken teeth, just a bloody nose and scratches and scrapes. I took these pictures a few days later just to document the injuries. Somehow I need to teach Jared and Aaron to put their hands up and protect their cute mugs! (see earlier post of Aaron's injuries, they are almost identical!) As you can tell, he is just fine. No worse for wear! Boys! It's always something!

It's official, Spring is in the air...

2011-04-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

At our house, Spring = Baseball season. Not only do we watch baseball, we play baseball. This year 3, yes 3, of our 4 boys are playing baseball. Aaron is playing T-ball, Tyler coach pitch and Jacob kid pitch. Calendaring 3 sets of games and factoring in my graduate classes 2 nights a week, not forgetting scouts on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and trying to figure out when everyone will eat has been quite the task. But it seems to all be working out....Thanks to Grandma & Papa being willing to help shuttle on the super busy nights.

I only have pictures of Aaron's first game so far. Of course he forgot his hat for the first game. Aaron loves playing. He is one of the few who "gets" how to play. He hits really well and can throw farther than anyone else on the team. We are working on the catching, but it will come. He is having a great time. He plays his games at Discover Park, over by San Tan Mall.

Luckily Jacob and Tyler both play their games at the same field. This has helped us be able to get everyone to their games. They play at the McQueen fields off McQueen between Guadalupe and Elliot Roads. At the game I attended for Tyler last week it rained and everyone got soaked while watching and playing. Good times.

Jared loves to attend the games with both Mom and Dad. How do you entertain and 3 year old at a T-ball game? Take lots of silly pictures of said 3 year old.

Here are a few of our favorites...

Good times!

Play Ball!

Butterflies

2011-04-04T13:39:00.001-07:00

Today our cocoons have begun birthing butterflies. There are 7 out so far. 1 died trying to emerge and 1 still has curled wings, but we are hopeful that the rest will birth healthy butterflies. The plan is to keep them until all have come out and then release them outside. Here are a few pictures of the early birds. It made for an interesting morning, trying to get my boys to stop watching butterflies and get ready for school.

Cocoon Stage

2011-04-01T08:08:00.001-07:00

This year for preschool I ordered live caterpillars for our study of caterpillar week. Of course the caterpillars did not arrive until after we completed the week, but it has all worked out perfectly. I delivered caterpillars to every one's home and kept the rest home with me so we can monitor them during school, and so my boys could enjoy them too. I started with 32 caterpillars, gave 9 out to students and my nephews, 1 caterpillar died and pictured here are the remaining 22 in cocoons. Of course I didn't even think of taking pictures of the caterpillars, which I am kicking myself for not doing.

It was just like our own live "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle book at home. We skipped the egg stage and started with very small caterpillars. Each day they grew and fattened up. I will take pictures are the butterflies emerge from their cocoons. An up close view of the cocoons. Really cool looking. Hopefully 22 healthy butterflies will emerge in about 7 to 10 days.

The cocoons are on napkins that came with the kit. The instructions said to tape them to the side of the enclosure but, some of the tape didn't stick so I just lay them on the bottom. In this picture you can see that 1 cocoon fell off the napkin. I didn't want to disturb it so I just left it when it fell.

911, What's your emergency?

2011-03-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

Today I got official word that I passed every last test, screening & questionnaire. I will begin working as a 911 operator for the Mesa Police Department on Monday, April 25th. I have made the decision to temporarily drop from graduate school until my training is complete and regular schedule is set. I hope to then restart my Master's at Ottawa University. This was a hard but necessary decision.

I am scared and excited about the new changes and challenges. It should make for an interesting year at the Macdonald home.

I will be stopping my preschool on April 21st, 4 weeks early than planned. Everyone has been very supportive and I appreciate all the kind words and offers of help.

Pinewood Derby 2011

2011-03-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

Pinewood Derby March 2011

Tyler was our only racer this year. He chose to make a police car. Grandpa came over the night before the race to work on his wheels and finish attaching everything. Tyler came in 9th place. He was happy. Sadly, I was unable to attend this year because of my school schedule. The boys all behaved well and were treated to Sonic after the races.

Sis. MacLay and Sis. McDowell counting up the score.

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-26T18:16:00.001-07:00

For spring break this year we went up to the cabin for a few days. It was perfect weather, cool and sunny. We took rides on the golf cart and Joe took the boys out to shoot the rifles and pistols. They had a great time while Mom took a nap. Happiness all around. Grandma and Papa were there with us at the cabin.

Happy 16th Anniversary

2011-03-11T13:18:00.001-08:00

March 11, 1995 Joe and I were married at the LDS Solomon Building on the corner of Solomon and Broadway Road in Mesa, AZ. It's hard to believe it's been 16 years. I'm so glad we made the choice to be married. It was the best decision of my life.

Happy Anniversary to my best friend! I love you. May the next 16 be just a great!

Accident Report

2011-03-10T05:58:00.000-08:00

Macdonald Accident Blogger:

The accident took place Monday, March 7, 2011 at approximately 5:25pm. The scene of the accident was the road in front of the Grubbs house. Conflicting reports coming in tell us that no one or nothing was in the road. One witness, the boys older brother Jacob, who was trying to get the victim to come home for dinner, reported that he was riding his bike eastbound on Lakeview when out of no where his bike stopped and the victim's face hit the asphalt. No other witnesses came forward. However, a good Samaritan, Sis. Grubbs, helped once the accident had occurred. She quickly retrieved wet paper towels and sent the crying child home to get patched up. Pictures show the damage from the accident. (Pictures were taken the next afternoon) Luckily it looks as though his nose did not get broken. His upper lip had been swollen the night before, but as a 5 year old that moves at lightning speed, he is healing at a rapid rate. The victim has been advised to avoid any more accidents in that area. However, he was spotted the next day riding the same bike in the same area.

I guess some kids just never learn!

Aaron's Kindergarten Musical

2011-03-04T07:35:00.000-08:00

Aaron's Kindergarten Musical was on Feb. 24th, 2011. I've been a slacker getting it posted here. I started graduate school at Ottawa University this past January and just finished the first term this week. That is where all my time has been lately. So I now see that it will take more effort to keep up with this blog. Better late than never!

Aaron is pictured her with his friend from class, the neighborhood and church, Will. They sang songs about going to the zoo, hence the zoo animal hats. It was really cute. I took some video of the show for Joe since he couldn't make it to the school at 2:00 in the afternoon.
On another note, Jared is slowly progressing with potty training. Not there yet, but progress none the less. I am hoping to be done by his 4th birthday this July. Each day we have success and setbacks. But we are encouraged by the progress.

President's Day Vacation Weekend

2011-02-21T16:34:00.001-08:00

We took this wonderful President's Day weekend and went up to Grandma & Papa's cabin. We left on Friday and were expecting a snowing weekend. On the way up it began to snow. It was a little worrisome traveling through Forest Lakes. The snow seemed to be coming at us through a tunnel. We could barely see the car in front of us and were glad they kept a pace and path we could easily follow. Our truck does not have 4 wheel drive, but we had chains with us just in case. Needless to say, we arrived at the cabin around 8:30pm safe and sound. It would be a cold night, but no snow at the cabin so far.

These pictures are from Saturday afternoon through Sunday night. I guessed that the snow would start at 5pm. It started to snow around 4:15pm. Our boys went out as soon as they saw snow falling. My brother, Galen, came with his family (Julia, Austin, Dallin & Haleigh) from Snowflake to play for a while. They ended up staying for dinner and a round of dominoes (Mexican train). Austin & Haleigh stayed the night at the cabin. Then on Sunday Galen & Julia came back for dinner. They brought with them Trevor, Dallin and Dallin's girlfriend Adeline. We ate a roast dinner and played crazy dice. Jacob, Tyler, Aaron & Haleigh spent all of Sunday out in the beautiful snow that had fallen the night before. It was perfect powder. Joe and I joined them for a spirited snowball fight. It was a perfect time to enjoy snow at the cabin. We came home today, Monday, Feb. 21st. The roads were perfectly clear. It was a beautiful drive home.

Aaron enjoying the snow coming down on Saturday afternoon. Jacob and Tyler.
Even Jared went out in the snow for a little while.

This was just the beginning. These are the "before" pictures...

Looking out the back yard. The tree before...

The backyard before...

The wood pile before...

The cars before...

It started to snow harder. Tyler was enjoying it.

Haleigh getting in on the fun.

The adults watching from inside where it was warm and dry.

Austin enjoyed the indoors.

Joe, Grandpa, Dallin & Grandma getting ready for Mexican Train.

It getting harder & darker...

More snow

Sunday morning. The cars were covered and all was white and still.

The tree after

The wood pile after.

The lights out front had snow hats.

Aaron had brought his Nerf ax and it was a perfect scraper for getting snow off the cars.

Tyler & Jacob enjoying the snow in the backyard.

Sadly, Jared got some kind of stomach bug and spent Saturday night puking. He chose to stay inside Sunday and watch movies.

Joe, cleaning off the truck Sunday morning.

The snowman & the kids.

The snowball fight.

Jacob stole my new snow boots & good snow gloves. Good thing they fit or he would have been cold.

Looking down the road in front of Papa's cabin. So beautiful.

We were pulling snow out of the back of the truck for the snowball fight. It was perfect powder. By Monday morning it had iced over into a solid block.

The kids decided to build a snow fort out back.

They said they were going to use it to protect themselves from our next snowball fight.

They spent the entire Sunday afternoon working on it. Little did they know, Joe and I were not coming back out for another snowball fight. We were tired from the first one!

It was a great trip. Our boys had never been in a snowstorm like this before. They have gone sledding and seen it come down a little, but nothing like this experience.

School Days... Busy, Busy

2011-01-31T11:29:00.000-08:00

I am officially a student again. I am in my 4th week of my first class in the Graduate program at Ottawa University. Each class is 8 weeks long, so I'm halfway there. It was a bit overwhelming at first but as I've gone on it is getting easier to manage. Writing papers and reading the assignments is a challenge, but has not been too bad so far. We'll see how the next term goes, I'll have 2 classes.

At the same time, I have been going through the hiring process with the City of Mesa Police 911 operator. So far I have made it through and am in the middle of the background checks. It's unbelievable how much background examination goes into this process. I had a polygraph test about a week ago, passed of course. It's been very eye opening. I am hoping something will come available this summer.

Busy, Busy.

Oceanography Pictures...Finally!

2011-01-26T13:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the Oceanography trip. I took about 300 of them, so you can see why I say these are some of them.

This is the first morning getting instructions before we went out on the boat. It was cold, but warmed up nicely.Getting on the boat.
Heading out.

Jacob got called up to touch the sting ray.

The Whale!

Just thought this was kinda cool. Sea lions hanging out on a bouy.

SEA WORLD!

At the Dolphin show.

Day 2 at the Aquarium of the Pacific...the group shot. With Bubba Gump Shrimp in the background.

Touching sharks.

A friendly sea lion.

Feeding the Larakeets.

The boys in our group. They were pretending to drown and very upset that I didn't cut off their feet for the full effect.

Karaoke on the way home...Jacob's song...

Sea world...fun! Sing it to the Red Robin song.

Oceanography Trip with Jacob

2011-01-18T17:50:00.001-08:00

I've been trying to upload pictures from Jacob's Oceanography trip to San Diego the weekend of January 14th for the past week or so, and have had no luck. So for now I'll at least get a few memories down & add the pictures later.

Jacob and I went to the school at 4pm on Friday, Jan 14th and got on the chartered bus to California. I was really happy to go along as a chaperon. There were 3 boys in my group, including Jacob. We drove to San Diego, arriving around 10pm AZ time, 9pm California time. I roomed with another mom who also has 3rd grader and kindergartner, so we felt comfortable cause we see each other at lots of school things. Her name is Nicole. I had a lot of fun visiting with her each night.

The first motel we stayed in was gross. Just old and smelly, if you asked the kids. But for 1 night we were ok. The next morning we were up early and at breakfast by 7:30am. We then went to a pier for our boat excursion to see whales. Before heading out to the ocean they dragged a net in the bay and brought up lots of ocean dwelling fish, crab, sting ray etc. The kids were able to see and touch many of these animals. Then we went out the to ocean to look for dolphins and whales. It didn't take long. No dolphins, but there was a whale & I have a picture of it to prove it. We followed the whale for a little while then had to turn back to home. On the way back in they took us by the fishing bait docks where sea lions hang out hoping for a free meal, again I have pictures. Back on the bus and off to Sea World for the day. We spent about 5 hours at Sea World. I made sure we made it to every show. We saw them all, and we were tired from it. After Sea World, we got back on the bus and went to a pier for dinner. I don't know if it was really good or if we were just really hungry from the day, but it was great. After dinner we walked along the beach to a bon fire. There we had s'mores and campfire stories from the owner of the company sponsoring the trip. The tales all had "shark eating man" themes. Needles to say, it kept our attention.

The second hotel was in LA near Knottsberry Farm. It was much nicer and we were all so tired that it didn't take much to get us a great nights sleep. Sunday morning had us going to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was a really great aquarium, again lots of pictures....
Jacob spent the only $3 of his own for the entire trip at the aquarium. He bought nectar to feed the Larakeets, pictures? Of course!

At lunch time we exited the aquarium and had pizzas delivered to a the park area next to the aquarium. After lunch it was back on the bus and start the drive home. One stop for dinner in Blythe and we were home to the school by 9pm.

Talk about quick trip. But it was a totally blast. Kid Karaoke on the way home was too funny. Great laughs and good memories. Jacob has a blast and only had 1 day of high sugar while on the boat looking for the whale. Otherwise he was great.

Hopefully the website will cooperate better with me sometime this week and I'll get those pictures up.

Happy 9th Birthday, Tyler!

2011-01-13T10:16:00.001-08:00

My "troll" baby turns 9 today. Where did the time go? Happy Birthday, Tyler! His hair stood up like this from birth until about 4 mos. I tried everything to get it to lie down. I was known at church as the mom with the troll baby. But he sure was cute!This is my favorite picture of Tyler as a baby. He was a happy, content baby. Always smiling and cooing. He's about 6 mos here. Had his first haircut already and finally the hair has started to lie down.

This is from cub scout day camp Oct 2010. Tyler loves cub scouts.

3rd Grade picture.

Sadly, Tyler is getting a big jipped for his birthday this year. I start school tonight & Joe has night conferences. So we set up for his party on Saturday, which is great except that Jacob and I will be in California on the Oceanography field trip. Tyler will just have to party hard with Dad & little brothers. And we've decided the party has to go on for the entire weekend.

Looking Back...& Looking Forward

2011-01-01T08:42:00.001-08:00

Wow, I really seemed to have dropped the ball with my blog. December is a very busy month and I really wanted to document all the fun & exciting activities that we have done with our family to end 2010. However, I seemed to have forgotten that we own a camera and did not document one said activity. Therefore, this will be a catch up and move on post for the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011.

My 38th birthday was on December 20th. Not one I was looking forward to. 38 is just that, 38. Nothing exciting or noteworthy. But I do have to say it was celebrated to death. I started my celebrations on Saturday, Dec. 18th with 3 of my best friends...Nancy Gonzales, Rhonda Trone and Nancie Lindblom. We had breakfast at Crackers. After we stuffed ourselves, Nancy and I went back to her house and I went "shopping" in her closet. Nancy has great clothes and although we have different body types, we wear the same size. She was cleaning out her closet and had a wonderful assortment of clothing for me to chose from. I brought home the cutest skirts and tops, plus many "in style" jeans that made me look way skinny....a total plus!

On Sunday I got to have the Primary sing to me and had many well wishers in the halls.

Then Monday, the official day.... I slept in till 8:30! I know that doesn't sound late, but in our house that is late. Once I was up, I was brought a Krispy Kreme donut with a candle in it and got the best "Happy Birthday, Cha, Cha, Cha" ever sung by my 5 boys. I did a little light cleaning during the day, while Joe took our bedroom apart and cleaned every bit of dust and yuck all away. Later Joe got our favorite babysitter, Jessica and we went out to dinner at one of my favorite special occasion restaurants, Brio, at the San Tan Mall. It was soooo delicious! Afterwards we went next door to the Barnes & Noble, where Joe had a gift card, and he let me pick out 2 books. A great way to celebrate my birthday with my best friend.

The following Wednesday, Dec. 22 I got to restart my Birthday celebrations. My good friend Heidi took me out to lunch at Chile's. And then that night I went out with another group of friends to The Cheesecake Factory. We did a little shopping at the mall afterward, well some of the ladies did shopping, I just walked around and enjoyed being out with great women. When I got home Joe asked if I was finally done celebrating my birthday. I told him yes, we can now focus on Christmas.

Thank you to everyone that helped make my uneventful 38th Birthday very eventful and fun!

Christmas! Did I take any pictures? NO. What? Not 1 picture of the great decorations in the house? Not 1. Not 1 picture of the kids with all the fun stuff Santa brought? Not a 1. Then I'll just have to paint a picture of words...HEHEHEHE. Yeah, right!

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with my family. Dinner of Tamales, rice, beans, enchiladas and all the makings. My brother Galen came from Snowflake with his wife Julia and her son Sheldon. Galen's kids were with their mom this year. Doyle, Jody and their kids were there. Christine, Sean and their 3. Denise, Cole and their 3 and the Macdonald 6 along with Grandma & Papa. It was quite a group all squished into Grandma & Papa's house. Loud the say the least. After dinner we opened gifts from each other. As siblings we rotate families, while Grandma & Papa get something for everyone. It was a nice way to celebrate Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day was all about our family this year. No where to go. The weather was a beautiful 72 degrees. Our boys woke us sometime around 7am. A lego set for Jacob, Bike for Tyler. Aaron got a Leapster 2 with games, Jared a Toy Story race car set that shakes and go's. Many presents including a Laptop for my schooling. We spent a relaxing day playing with new toys.

The day after Christmas, after church we loaded up the truck and headed up to the cabin in Heber. We spent a relaxing 2 1/2 days at the cabin. Fires at night to keep the cold away. I read books and we all played lots of board games. The boys enjoyed football and Frisbee outside with Joe. We took a trip Monday into Show Low and had lunch and went bowling. I had my camera in the car....but didn't take any pictures. Jared in those silly bowling shoes, hopping down the lane to Dad so he could take his turn. A memory burned into my brain. The cutest EVER!

Weather reports on Tuesday night had us worried. A cold front heading into AZ, bringing snow to the high country. We decided we would leave around 10 the next morning hoping to beat the storm. Tyler woke us at 7:30 and when I checked the weather outside it was already snowing. Shift into overdrive! We started getting packed up as fast as we could. No snow tires or 4 wheel drive on the truck could mean we would get stuck or slide off the roads. By 8:30 we were on the way home. Steady snow was falling and by the time we got to Forest Lakes it was already pretty bad. Not much snow but lots of ice. We slipped and slid through Forest Lakes, a near death experience as Joe tells it, and made it down the rim without an accident. It snowed until just past Christopher Creek and then turned to rain. We were happy to get safely home and celebrated with lunch at Fuddruckers.

Last night was New Year's Eve. We range in the New Year with our good friends, the Asay's. Take out from PF Chang's for the adults, with pizza for the kids. A rousing round of Sequence for the adults while the kids destroyed the Asay house. Then we all went outside into the freezing night to set off fireworks. Sparklers, snap caps and small level fireworks while we froze. Jared didn't make it with the sounds. Joe took him inside to be safe. Eventually I couldn't handle the cold and joined them inside along with Aimee and baby Tallin. Once the fireworks were all gone, everyone came in to warm up and enjoy brownies and ice cream. Then a game of Wii Smarty Pants for the adults, with the kids helping here and there. We went home just before 11. Jacob stayed up till Midnight along with me and Joe. We could hear all the neighbors setting off fireworks. It was a great way to celebrate the New Year.

So there you have it, a look back. Now on to looking forward. May this new year bring challenges that strengthen us, and experiences that bring us together. Happy 2011!

Choir & Recorder Concert

2010-12-16T15:36:00.001-08:00

Tyler is singing in the school choir this year. His 1st official concert was this past Tuesday, December 14th. He did a great job.Jacob is participating in the Recorder Club again...at least for now...

His concert was also this past Tuesday with the Choir.
The many faces of my boys...I actually took about 5 but didn't want to put all 5 on here.

December Pack Meeting

2010-12-09T10:33:00.000-08:00

Tyler received his Wolf Badge at Pack Meeting yesterday.

To get his badge he had to "wolf" down a cupcake/whip cream treat without using his hands. He did a great job and really enjoyed it.

When the time was up, Tyler picked up his plate and smashed it into his face.

For the activity, the cub scouts made gingerbread houses while the siblings decorated cookies.

Once Joe arrived to Pack meeting, we continued with Jacob's awards. He earned his Webelos badge and Arrow of Light back in October, but we haven't been able to make it to Pack Meeting so we held if off until December.

For his Webelos Badge, Joe got to paint his face.

Great job Dad!

Then Jacob got his Arrow of Light.

This is the best family photo we have taken all season, minus the face paint. I'd use it for the Christmas card but Jacob wouldn't be happy, so we will just have to try again.

Congrats to Jacob and Tyler for you Cub Scout Achievements.

Yesterday was also Grandpa Hastings' Birthday. So we invited Grandma and Papa over for pizza before Pack Meeting, went to pack meeting and then treated them to ice cream at Dairy Queen after.

Happy 68th Birthday, Grandpa!

Aunt Jeany & Grandma Phyllis visit

2010-12-05T19:36:00.001-08:00

In all the business with the play I failed to document the visit of Joe's sister Jeany and his Mom, Phyllis. They came into town on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Jeany stayed until Monday, Nov 30th and Phyllis stayed until Saturday, December 4th. We all went to the Mesa Temple lights on Saturday, November 27th. Here are a few pictures from that visit.

It was fun having Jeany and Phyllis visit. The boys enjoyed the nightly story time with Aunt Jeany and added attention from both our visitors.

Savior of the World: His Birth Production

2010-12-05T18:39:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I was in our Hawes Ward production of Savior of the World: His Birth. We began working on this production in August. It was a lot of time and frustration, but it turned into a great play. My parents and Joe's mom, Phyllis attended the Friday night performance along with Joe and the boys. We then had a Saturday matinee at 3:30pm and then the final performance at 7:30pm on Saturday. Every performance was so different, and yet successful in its own way.

Tyler and Jacob took pictures during the performance. I've included a few of those here. We had a professional photographer take pictures, so I should have some of those in couple of weeks. We also had a performance video taped, and I'm hoping for a copy of that also.

Here are the grandparents waiting for the show to start. Papa, Grandma Hastings & Grandma Phyllis. Aaron, need I say more???
Joe and half of Tyler. I'm not sure who took this picture, but I'd assume Jared.

Jared

The Wedding Scene. I am wearing the blue shoulder wrap. I was one of Mary's cousins and an angel. Here is my cousin costume. My costume was very colorful.

Glory to God Angels, singing to the shepherd. To my right is Carrie Bennett. On my left is Michelle Jimenez and Cindy Spratling.

The final scene.

Momma Angel with my "angel" boys. They were so well behaved for the show. Grandma Phyllis and Dad treated them to sonic afterwards.

My parents.

Myself, Phyllis and Joe

Jacob's 1st Viola Concert

2010-12-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

On December 2nd Jacob had his first Strings Concert. He is playing the viola this year. We invited my parents to tag along to see the concert. Bad planning by the strings and band teachers = too many people and no where to sit. We showed up 25 mins early and there were no seats. Tons of people standing around. Joe went and helped the custodian get out chairs and we snagged a few so we wouldn't have to stand the whole time. Needless to say, Jacob's 5th grade strings songs were great. I had to leave after his part to get to my play practice, so my parents took our other 3 boys home and Joe stayed for the rest of the concert with Jacob.

Grandma & Papa Hastings with Jacob back at our house.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T15:54:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving this year was celebrated with my family at my sister Christine's house. Everyone was there. My parents along with my older brother, Galen and his wife Julia, along with Julia's sons Sheldon and Galen's four kids, Austin, Trevor, Dallin & Haleigh. Julia's parents also joined us for dinner. My younger brother Doyle, his wife Jody and their 2 kids, Allie & Ryan. Christine's family including husband Sean, kids: Garrett, Tatum & Dusty. And the youngest, Denise with her husband Cole and their kids, Addison, Lincoln & Linden. With my 6 the total came to 25. Christine's back yard was the perfect size.

Like every year I tried to take a few family pictures in preparation for Christmas. This was our "funny" shot. I think we could take 100 pictures and still not get great ones. So this will have to do for now. I'll see if one of the others makes the cut for our Christmas card. The kids enjoyed the trampoline, playground set and sand box before and after the meal.
Trying to make everything fit on around the buffet table.

Grandpa carving the roasted turkey.

Sean carving the smoked turkey.

Christine, Julia's Mom and Denise arranging and rearranging the table.

One of the kids' table.

It was a nice afternoon with family. The weather was cool but sunny.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Mesa Veteran's Day Parade

2010-11-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

It has become a tradition for our family to go to downtown Mesa for the Veteran's Day Parade. This year we picked up Grandma and Papa Hastings and took them with us to the parade. My sister Christine met up with us just before the parade started. She brought 2 of her kids, Tatum and Dusty. Sean had to work and Garrett was at a sleepover.

I took a few pictures of us waiting for the parade to start and then turned the camera over to Jacob and Tyler to take whatever pictures of the parade they wanted to take.

165!

That's how many pictures they took of the parade!

165!

and they killed the battery. But it kept them happy and they got some fun pictures.Aaron, the only picture dedicated child I have. Everyone else could care less that I was taking their picture!

My Mom, Sister Christine and nephew Dusty.I tried to get Dusty to smile, but he wasn't having it!

Aaron and Tatum

Jared

Tyler

When we went to pick up my dad and mom, my dad had old army hats for the boys to wear in honor of Veteran's Day. Tyler wore his the whole time. Aaron's was off and on.
Jared's didn't last out of the car. Jacob wore his for about 5 mins. The best was Aaron thought he got the keep the hat and was surprised when Grandpa asked for it back. Aaron was told he could wear it anytime he visits Grandpa.

Mesa Citizen's Academy Graduation Night

2010-11-10T20:08:00.001-08:00

Tonight was graduation from the Mesa Citizen Police Academy. Joe and the boys came along to the ceremony. They had a few speakers and then a slide show presentation, which we all got a copy of. Then they presented us with a certificate and class photo. Then we ate cake, a favorite for the boys.

Jacob was in charge of the camera. He had to "test" to make sure it was working correctly.

Getting my certificate from the Assistant Chief Dvorak.

These are the girls I sat with each week.

On the left, Adrienne Hassan, and on the right Danielle Fallbeck.

It was a very nice ceremony. I thoroughly enjoyed the 12 weeks in the academy. It was a great experience and one I suggest to anyone interested in the workings of the Police Department.

It seems a little weird that it's over. It has become quite the habit to go every Wednesday night to class. I'm sure I'll find other ways to fill my time.

Finally Retake #3

2010-11-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

The final retake arrived via mail today! Just in the nick of time. I had a project I've been working on that was time sensitive due to an amazing coupon that expired today. So I can't say how excited I am that the final picture arrived. No more stress regarding this project. It's done, sent off and the coupon was good. This has been the best thing to happen all week. I'll take it!

By way of pictures....Aaron looks great. Kindergarten wears him well.

Retake #2...Tyler's 3rd Grade Picture

2010-11-01T16:37:00.001-07:00

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Tyler's retake photo came back great!

2 for 2 so far. Hopefully Aaron's comes back great and we'll be 3 for 3!

Trunk or Treat

2010-10-30T19:50:00.001-07:00

Tonight was our Ward's Trunk or Treat. We only took pictures before we headed down to the church for Halloween fun.

Here are my boys. Jacob wouldn't say what he was. Tyler was the Black Spiderman. Aaron was Bumblebee from Transformers. And Jared Buzz Lightyear.

The Trunk or Treat was really fun. Everyone dressed up, parents and kids. This year they had a sponge throwing board that the Bishop and Elder's Quorum Pres got it. It was a total hit.
Mom the Witch with the boys.

Joe was supposed to be a lumberjack. He left his red suspenders at his school office. That would have completed the look.
Happy Halloween!

Walk to Cure Diabetes

2010-10-30T19:37:00.001-07:00

This morning we went down to Tempe Town Lake for the Walk to Cure Diabetes. The Asay family came to walk with us. There were so many people there, it was crazy. We started out walking and were planning on going on the short 1.5 mile walk. Quickly we realized we were on the longer 3.5 mile walk. So we took a short cut and went over the bridge with the big group and then doubled back over the other side of the bridge back to the park. It was better that way for us. The kids enjoyed looking out at the lake at all the kayak and boaters.

This is us getting started on the walk.Here is the Asay Family.
Tons of people. You can see them going up and around the hill.

And there were still tons of people still coming over the bridge and looping under the bridge.

They announced that over 1 million dollars was raised for research. I was able to raise $135. Thank you to all that donated. We are hoping that research can find better treatments for Type 1 Diabetics.

Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-29T20:23:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin Carving 2010

Of course they all said they wanted to help....but eventually it was just me carving the pumpkins. Tyler and Aaron did a great job cleaning out the pumpkins. Jacob said the smell was too bad for him to endure being near the pumpkins. Jared just said gross and went to watch Charlie Brown the Great Pumpkin. Always a good choice to have on the TV when carving.

Here we are getting started.Yeah, says Jared. Pumpkins!
Bring on the GUTS!

Ready to scoop out guts.

The pile of GUTS!

Jacob did help put the stencil on his pumpkin. I think next year he is going to be ready to carve his all by himself. That is if he can stand the smell of pumpkin.

Mom hard at work.

This year I decided to only get 2 pumpkins. Of course this meant that 1 pumpkin has 2 faces because Aaron & Tyler couldn't agree on a face. This is Aaron's choice.

The finished product. On the left is Aaron's choice. On the right is Jacob's.

On the left is Tyler's choice. This is on the back of Aaron's choice. It worked out pretty well.

My happy boys.

The happy carver.

This was much easier this year. Having the right tools makes all the difference.

Happy Halloween!

Retake #1

2010-10-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

Jacob's retake came back....& I have to say it is great. That is what I want from a school picture! Way to go Jacob.

Halloween Spider Hat

2010-10-26T13:56:00.001-07:00

I just couldn't resist. He is just so darn cute. The bus drivers said Jared was one of the few kids that kept his spider hat on the entire ride home. He is so proud of it. And again, just so darn cute!

Cub Scout Day Camp

2010-10-24T07:59:00.001-07:00

On Saturday Tyler went to his first Cub Scout Day Camp. He had a great time. Tyler brought home his puddle jumpers that he made while at camp. They are a new fun toy that everyone takes a turn on. Tyler also loved going across the rope bridge. He said he climbed up on to it by himself but had to have help getting down. It was a total success in Tyler's eyes.

Our Stake has been putting on this Day Camp for the past 6 years or so. This is the first year I did not attend. Kinda missed it....kinda didn't. Next year I'm sure I will get to attend with Tyler as a Bear.

Shooting Range Day

2010-10-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Mesa Police Department Shooting Range for my range day. We learned about hazardous devices, SWAT and firearms. The bomb guys and SWAT gave a demonstration on their range. They blew up a cap in a can and then they detonated a bigger device. The 2nd detonation was so loud. And you could feel the heat and pressure as it exploded. After the bomb guys were done the SWAT team demonstrated all the different guns, rifles and beanbag rifles. They were really amazing. They even did a sniper shot, hidden away in the bushes. It was quite the surprise. After they were done the bomb guys and SWAT demonstrated an explosive entry through a door. They had installed a old steel school door onto their make shift wall. Then they went through the exercise. They treated it like a real situation. We stood really far back. They loaded the door with a water bomb, got into position and on the command, blew open the door then moved in in formation and took down all the "bad guys". We were then able to inspect their damage. It was fun.

Once the demonstrations were done we had lunch and then the firearms course started. We learned all about how police officers are trained to use their weapons. Once the presenter was done we went back out on the range and took turns shooting a pistol and a rifle. Below is my target from my pistol shots. We used a simulated bullet that had a paint filled rubber end. The offices said these are what they use in training. They won't kill you, but will hurt you. At least more than just a normal paint gun. Anyways, we got 5 shots with the pistol. My shots are all over the heart. The SWAT guys were pretty impressed because out of the 10 people in my group, my shots were the closest together. They even took a picture of me by my target for the DVD slide show at the end of the course. I was very proud. It is hanging on the back of my bedroom door. Joe was impressed and my boys were surprised.

Now the rifle was a different story. I was not a great shot but I got better as I went. They didn't let us bring home those targets. But needless to say my beginning shots hit the target very low and still would have injured the suspect. As I got more confident with the gun I was able to place my last shots in the chest.

It was quite a day. I am very impressed with what our Police Officers do and have to learn. This class has shown me just how involved this job is and just how many different aspects there are to being on the Mesa Police Department. I have 3 classes left and I can say my expectations have been exceeded greatly.

Ouch!

2010-10-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

No Pain, No Gain! Right! That's how the saying goes. Well Joe definitely gets the award for both. This last week we had 2 sets of softball games. On Monday nights, Joe and I play on a coed softball team at Gilbert's Big League Dreams Park. Joe pitches. Sadly that night someone hit one up the middle and it hit Joe just below the right knee. Now in this league if you line drive a hit at the pitcher within the chalked out box it is an automatic out. However if the ball hits the ground first and then hits the pitcher it's a fair ball. This particular ball hit the ground and then hit Joe, so he made the play. On Tuesday night Joe had the final game for his Men's Mesa League, played at Skyline Park. He also pitches on that team. Mesa doesn't have the line drive pitcher rule and the bruise below is what happens when a line drive goes straight into the pitchers leg. And of course it's the same leg that he was hit from the night before, just on the thigh instead. Pretty picture. I love how the colors really show up on film. If you look closely you can see the smaller bruise below his knee.

Like I said, OUCH!

October Break Adventures

2010-10-19T15:17:00.001-07:00

For October Break we took a trip up to the cabin, Thursday to Sunday. I wanted to include a few pictures from this trip. I didn't put them in order, however, but these are a few fun things we did while up in the cool pines.

*Drove the golf cart around the neighborhood, Jacob drove, the rest of us were just along for the ride. Taking Jacob out and letting him drive was a big mistake. That's all he wanted to do was drive the golf cart. Every morning, afternoon and night he was begging to go for a ride.

*Played Frisbee, Football, board games and table games as much as possible.

*Hunting for skunks each evening. Spotted at least 4 each night. 1 skunk even chased Jacob and Tyler. Or at least that's what they told me. I never saw the "charging" skunk.

*Attended the Snowflake Lobos Homecoming Football game with my brother Galen and his family. Thanks for the invite!

Playing football in the street.

Aaron out looking for skunks.Tyler skunk hunting.

Jacob Skunk hunting

Aaron playing frisbee

Jared playing frisbee

Games in the garage.

Golf cart rides

On the way home on Sunday, we decided to take a detour through Roosevelt Lake due to construction on the main highway around Sunflower. We had never taken this route before and were up for an adventure. Well it became quite the adventure. Once we reached the Roosevelt Lake, which was amazing and has a really cool bridge (my camera was safely packed in the back of the truck so no pictures), we came to a fork and had to make a choice. Continue on Route 188 to Globe or take Route 88 to Apache Junction. Well Route 88 to Apache Junction sounded so fast. That was until we got about 5 miles into the road. Suddenly there were signs that said pavement ends for next 22 miles. We had to make a choice and we choose to stay the course. Take the road less traveled by became our mantra. This road followed the river, winding this way and that, up and down hills, over 1 way only bridges with lots of switchbacks and washboard bumping. It was some of the most beautiful Arizona country we've ever seen. It was a true adventure. The road took us by Apache Lake, Canyon Lake and Tortilla Flats and spit us out next to the Superstition Mountains and into Apache Junction. It was a long ride, and probably one we won't take again for quite a while. The funniest part was as we got closer to Tortilla Flats, we came across tons of people heading into the canyons we were trying to get out of. I suppose this is great place for a nice Sunday afternoon drive, that's what it turned into for us!

When I got home I was telling my Mom about our round about trip home. She just laughed and said, Sherri, you've been on that road before when you were little. Dad and I took you kids on it when we were young and adventurous and had small children. So I told her we must be following tradition, cause we had just taken our young family on the same course. Funny how those things happen.

Police Ride Along

2010-10-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I went on my Mesa Police Ride Along. I rode with a female officer named Lauren. She was a very interesting lady. She has been with the MPD for 16 years and I could tell that she loves her job. I went out from 2 until 6:30pm. The time went really fast too. I could have stayed out all night with her, it was fun.

I started by going to the Superstition District on Ellsworth to meet up with my officer. I was able to attend the briefing with about 4 officers that were just coming on the swing shift. They talked about crimes that had occurred over night and any "bad guys" that were out and about. It was kind of a story telling time, and maybe it was because I was there, but I didn't totally get the feeling that they were doing anything different than when I'm not there. After the briefing that lasted about 20 mins, I headed out to the cars with Lauren. It took about another 20 mins to get her computer running and her car loaded with all her stuff. Just as we were finishing up we got her first call. Someone had thrown a rock through a window at a house that people were inside working on. Sadly this is where we ended up spending most of our time.

The house was a big 2 story in North Mesa that had been a foreclosure and the new owners were fixing up. It was gutted to the drywall. It looked like a new build on the inside. Except for all the broken, boarded up windows. We took a report, because the people wanted a report. But there really wasn't anything to do because they didn't see anyone throw the rock and we couldn't find anyone when we drove around behind the house. Oh, the house backs up to a shopping center and the top row of brick on the fence was down, so basically an easy target for bored kids.

We left there and drove around a little while. She showed me how she checked license plates while sitting at red lights. Just looking for insurance and registration violations. Officer Lauren doesn't pull people over for speeding unless its really excessive. She drives very fast. I was holding on the entire time. We then got called back to the first call. Some teenagers had jumped the wall and the owners had them sitting on the curb behind the house. Four officers responded to this call because there was four teens caught and one that had taken off. After all the talking and figuring out, it was determined that 1 boy was high and 1 other had actually gone over the fence. And because they were all around 14 they were being cited and released to their parents. Watching angry parents show up was entertaining, but otherwise it was a lot of standing around.

We got 2 other calls while I was on the ride along. The first of the 2 involved a Sheriff's Posey member harassing teenagers in his neighborhood. Basically a cranky old guy who shot off his mouth to the wrong Mom that he was Police. Well the parents didn't take kindly to it and call the real Police. So that was a quick call, and I'm sure they will be back in that neighborhood with more complaints soon.

The last call we went on came in as a "hot" call. A woman called a crisis line and was threatening suicide by hammer. This is someone that Officer Lauren had dealt with in the past. A mental health, common crisis person. When we got to the apartment complex, Southwest Ambulance was waiting. Officer Lauren called them vultures, just waiting for blood. I thought, wow finally something exciting. There were 2 other officers there when we got there. Officer Lauren took lead because she had had previous contact with the woman. A very agitated and colorfully worded woman answered the door and started screaming at the officers. I stay down the stairs a bit, just in case. But like any good mental health patient, her mood changed very quickly and she calmed down and talked to the officers for about 10 mins. She told them she called the crisis line and asked to be put in lock down, but they told her no. So she said some things that set everything into motion. But now she was saying the crisis was over and no one needed to come. Officer Lauren explained that the crisis team was already en route and would be there in about 20 mins. A friend showed up to stay with her and sadly we all left with no further trouble.

After that it was time to take me back to the district. I had softball games to get to anyways. After I got home I realized I left my water bottle in the police car. I warned my babysitter that if the police showed up, not to worry. And sure enough, when I got home from my ballgames around 10:30 my water bottle was sitting on the counter.

More of Jacob's Birthday

2010-10-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

My cake baking helper, Jared. Aaron said he wanted to help but then he climbed into "the magic brown chair" and went to sleep. (We call it the magic brown chair because anyone who sits in it falls asleep. So when I want Aaron to take a nap or slow down I tell him to go sit in the magic brown chair, it's the new family joke.)

But back to the Birthday Celebrations... So cute! The rule in the house is if you want to lick the bowl you have to help make the cake. Jared was very insistent on pouring the ingredients in and helping stir. So he got his reward of licking the bowl.

11 candles!

It took 3 breaths to get them out. We were all teasing him for not getting them out in 1 breath.

It was a nice quiet birthday celebration. We sang happy birthday and ate cake and ice cream.

Happy 11th Birthday, Jacob!

2010-10-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today Jacob turns 11. In celebration of his birthday, we took him out to his favorite walk in and sit down restaurant for dinner last night, Red Robin. He enjoyed a free kids meal and we even got them to bring him out a ice cream sundae and sing to him. He put his head on the table through the entire song. Joe took this picture with his new cell phone.
Jacob has requested a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday cake. Aaron said he wanted to help bake it for Jacob. We will see how that goes.
Happy Birthday, Jacob!

The good, the bad and the ugly

2010-10-04T14:17:00.001-07:00

2010 School Pictures are in...

needless to say I'm am a little disappointed and am sending 3 of the 4 back for retakes.

We seemed to have ended up with a good, a bad and a couple of uglies. I love my kids and I know school pictures are never the greatest, but this year takes the cake. I don't know if it's just my lack of photogenics or lack of skill on behalf of the photographer. The surprise is who I thought would be the worst is not. I expected Jared's to come back a mess, and yet his are the best in my opinion.

Judge for yourself. They get retaken on Wed. Here's hoping for better results.

Jared wins the prize for the best picture.

Who is this kid? Not my ever cute and smiley Aaron.
I've never seen a bad picture of Aaron until now.I think Tyler is too scared to smile. Now Tyler struggles to take a great picture sometimes, but this is one of the weirdest pictures of him I've ever seen. He told me they took it so fast he didn't have time to smile. I bet about 2 seconds later he had a great smile. 2 seconds, guaranteed.

And Jacob. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob. The last few years we've gotten some strange pictures out of this boy. But this one takes the cake. He has such a nice smile when we are not trying to get him to smile. Although I did get him to admit that this was a bad picture and he would like to try again.

I figured I needed to document these just in case they get worse on the 2nd try. I'm hoping for a better set soon. I know bad school pictures are just part of growing up. They are great to look back on and laugh at, but for once I'd like a nice set up on my wall for all to see. I have such handsome boys and just hope the camera can catch it. That's not too much to ask, right?

The Sheep Walk

2010-10-03T18:44:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, October 2nd we got up at 5am to go see the Sheep Walk. Every year a group of ranchers walks their sheep from their ranch in Florence to Eager Arizona for the summer. October is when they walk them back from Eager to Florence for the winter. Joe taught school with a lady that wrote a book about this Sheep Walk. She let us know when it was happening so we could watch them walk the sheep down Signal Butte Road from Usery Pass to the US 60.

When we got up it was pitch black. We drove up and down Signal Butte but couldn't find them. So we went back home and got the email instructions and headed back out. We finally found Cindy, the writer of the book at Signal Butte and Brown Road. So we hopped out of the truck and waited. We took tons of pictures and some video of this amazing occurrence. Here are a few.

Here are my boys waiting for the sheep to come down the road to Brown. The sheep were escorted by 3 Maricopa County Sheriff's, 2 in the front and 1 in the back. It was quite a site to see, smell and hear. The sheep make quite a noise as they walk. We were encouraged to walk with them, but the boys didn't want to until the end.
Here they come. The shepherds had red flags and lasso's to keep the sheep moving along. There were also 3 dogs herding them along.The boys got so excited when they finally saw them coming.

This white dog is named Blue for the blue collar he always wears.

The blond lady standing behind Tyler is Cindy. She has gone on the sheep trail many times. She is currently writing a book about the burros that the ranchers used while in the mountains. We got to see the beginnings of the book along with the pictures. They are amazing.

Once the sheep went past Brown Road, we cut around them on Meridian and got a spot at Apache Trail (Main Street in Mesa). Here are the boys waiting for the sheep to come by again.

Joe and Jacob waiting for the sheep.

Sherri, Jared & Aaron waiting on Apache Trail.

A Mesa Police car pulled up to the light at Apache just as the sheep were coming through. It was fun to watch the sheep go around the Police car. The officer had his cellphone out and was taking pictures and filming it.

Me in front of the sheep. My boys were too nervous to join me in the street.

At Southern Road there was a lot more traffic, including bicyclist. People were just pulling over in amazement.

This car just stopped at Southern and didn't know where to go, so the sheep went around it.

The boys and Joe decided to walk from Southern to the freeway. I drove around and met them. The sheep turn into the desert from here and head down towards Florence. They camp somewhere around Guadalupe Road and will finish the trek on Sunday.

Here come the boys behind the sheep.

This is one of the other dogs. This picture says it all. It was getting hot and was a long walk from Usery Pass to the US 60 and they still had another mile or 2 to go.

In all it took just about an hour for the sheep to walk down Signal Butte Road. The boys thought it was too cool. We are hoping to do this again next year, and hopefully it will be cooler. The best part is we went for a fun Village Inn breakfast after our Sheep Walk.

Hey Mother Nature....It's Fall!

2010-09-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's September 30th. Tomorrow is October 1st. Why or why is it still 107 degrees outside? What a cruel trick Mother Nature is pulling on us. Well my boys have bested Mother Nature. Awhile back Joe came home from a Target shopping trip with 12 waterguns. Yes, I said 12 waterguns. Yikes at the time! However, thanks to his ability to over buy stuff on sale, each water gun was about $2 and they are supersoakers, anyone who wants to play water fight in the 107 degree weather can play. Here are few pictures of the boys with neighborhood kids doing just that. They go home soaked and a little tired from playing so hard. Not a bad thing at all. So there Mother Nature!

Just Say NO!!

2010-09-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

Last night at my Academy Class we had the best presenters. We were at the Superstition District which is just over the freeway from my house. After a short introduction from the District Commander, we toured the facility. This time there were actually officers around, and I was looking the that cop that pulled me over for not stopping all the way out on Hawes and Baseline, but he was not there. We then had a presentation by the CIS, Civilian Investigation Specialist. This is my dream job. No guns. You get to go through a modified Police Academy training and then you spend your day investigating property crimes around the city. It sounds so interesting.

After that we had what looked like an average Joe show up. It actually was a Sgt from the Street Crimes division. He was so funny. He taught us about undercover work, Mesa hookers and "massage" parlors. Great stories, PG13. He just went on and on. We had a break after his presentation and he hung around still talking. When the next presenter showed up he finally left but not until someone gave him a really hard time for it.

The next presenter was from the Gang division. Let's just say that he warned us that Gangs are very Adult and his pictures were very Adult. Graffiti, tattoos, hand signs and gang violence were his focus. Very educational.

Lastly we had Narcotics. Drugs! He actually brought little baggies of drugs to pass around the room. Marijuana, crack, cocaine and meth were a few. He showed us pictures of what someone on crack looks like over a 10 year period. He showed us pictures of meth labs, kilos of drugs, PCP, Oxycontin and so on. It was amazing. Seeing what people will do for drugs and what teenagers are messing with. It really opened our eyes. The girl sitting next to me leaned over during the presentation and said, "Wow, I've really led a sheltered life. I've never seen or heard of some of this stuff." I told her sheltered is not a bad thing. Although I've never seen many of those drugs, I have heard things about certain drugs. It was cool.

The next 2 weeks we will be down at the Central Station. I can't wait. It just seems like each week it gets better.

K-9 Unit

2010-09-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last night at my Mesa Police Citizens Academy we got to learn about the K-9 Units. They brought in 2 dog, Jake and Kino. Jake is a dual purpose dog. He does patrol with his officer as well as narcotics detection. Kino is a narcotics trained dog. Their officer handlers gave us a demo of what they do. They hid drugs in the room and dogs found them, fast. They put on the big training coats and sleeve and the dog attacked. They even let people in the class wear the sleeve so you could feel the strength of these animals. They bite and hold on. It was cool. No I didn't do the sleeve thing. I figured with my dog allergies and size, that dog would throw me all over the room. I watched Jake throw around a over 6 ft and I'd say over 200lb man last night. There was no way that sleeve was going on me. But it was fun to watch.

Here is the K-9 Unit website if you are interested in checking out all the MPD dogs. I'm hoping to schedule a demo for our Cub Scouts and Activity Day girls some time in the future.

http://www.mesaaz.gov/police/k9/jake.aspx

MIA

2010-09-15T08:40:00.001-07:00

It seems Mr. Turtle has gone MIA. It's been about 3 weeks since I've seen him. I don't know if he got out and has wandered away, or if he buried himself so deep in the hole he dug out back that he either escaped out under the fence or is just down there deep. If he shows back up, we will be very happy. Our family really loves this silly turtle. But if he has moved on, whether to the next life or to the little patch of desert near our house, we wish him well on his journey. We love you Mr. Turtle, and miss you.Little Mr. Turtle, when we first got him. Jacob is about 4 and Tyler around 2. That means we've had him for about 6 years. He was a good pet. Quiet, never complained and provided lots of entertainment.

Good Report

2010-09-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

I am glad to report that I have nothing to report. After all we have been through the last couple of weeks, I can happily say that things have calmed down and we are starting to get into a schedule. Jacob's sugars are up and down, but that is to be expected. The doctor is still adjusting his medication and it seems to be getting better. The other boys have adjusted to our new changes too. We have settled pretty well. I couldn't be happier.

I have been enjoying my Citizens Police Academy classes. Last week we visited the Red Mountain Precinct. This is where my sister in law works from. I got to see her mail box. I know really exciting! I scheduled my ride along for October 11th at the Superstition District. And my shooting range day is Saturday, October 23rd. Many things to look forward to.

Mesa Citizens Police Academy

2010-09-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to my first class in the Mesa Police Citizens Academy. I will go every Wed night from 6:30 to 10:00 and get to learn every aspect of the Mesa Police Department. This is a 11 week, 12 class experience. I get to go on a police ride along and have a day at the shooting range. I will get to tour the city jail and 3 of the 4 precincts in Mesa. I read in the paper about a citizen investigator pilot program and went looking for information about that and found the citizen academy. So I signed up.

We met last night at the police training center on Greenfield north of McKellips. We toured the facility, met the chiefs and other high ranks and learned about the hiring process. I will not kid you, by 9:30 my eyes wanted to shut. The lack of sleep from this last weekend is catching up with me. I'm excited about these classes. I'll post about my experiences as I go.

I know now that an afternoon nap every Wed is going to be necessary. Good thing I still make Jared take a daily nap, so I can have the excuse to lie down too.

Just Breathe...

2010-09-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

We are doing it! We got all the supplies organized and stored away. Got Jacob totally settled at school with plenty of snacks and supplies. We have a teacher meeting today to have Jacob show how his meter works and answer any questions they may have. And Jacob is managing his care with supervision better than we had hoped. He tests his own sugars when we tell him to. He records it in the log so we can monitor that. He draws his own insulin, we check it, then he injects himself. It's really manageable. I'm sure he will grow tired of this schedule and it will become a fight, at least that is what everyone tells us. But for now we are enjoying how well he is adjusting.

I am required to call his Endocrinologist, Diabetes Doctor, every day at 2pm to give his blood sugar levels. They are monitoring and adjusting doses as we go. This will occur for a while and whenever he had a growth spurt and hits puberty, there will be adjustments.

It seems like a lot, but I am handling it pretty well. Fixing lunch today was a little more hectic because I had to total his Carbs and record it in his lunch so the nurse is sure he gets the correct amount of insulin. But I think I am working a good system and feel good about it.

Joe and I are both still pretty tired. But are recovering.

Thanks again for all the prayers, we definitely need them.

Jacob is home

2010-08-31T17:08:00.001-07:00

Jacob got to come home on Monday, Aug 30th. He got released around 7pm. Funny story. I left the hospital around 5:20pm to head home to pick up Tyler and Aaron from our Home Teachers house, where they had gone after school. I had dinner coming in at 6 from my Visiting Teacher and needed to be there. It all worked fine. I got the boys, a little late, but still before 6 and got home to meet my VT. Joe called me at about 6:20. Did I know where his car keys were? See on Saturday in the PICU he couldn't find the car keys. So to keep them safe, I put them in my purse. It hadn't mattered since then because we were traveling back and forth to the hospital in Joe's truck. So we would just hand off those keys and we left the expedition parked at the hospital. Well, now it mattered. I was home, Joe was at the hospital almost ready to bring Jacob home when he realized I had his keys to the expedition in my purse. So after a quick call to a good friend to come over and watch the boys, who had no desire to get back into the car for a ride to the hospital (especially Jared), I got back in the truck to deliver the car keys so we could bring Jacob home.

So I've finally got a few pictures from our hospital experience. I didn't take many, but there are a few. Jacob even took some pictures so I included them just for fun.

This is in the PICU on the 2nd floor at Cardon's Childrens Medical Center. I took this on Sunday about lunch time. That is his lunch in front of him. I had to give Jacob his insulin injection for this meal. My first time. It was scary, but I didn't it and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Aaron on Sunday visiting Jacob.

We had the Wii to play. Tyler and Jared playing during lunch.

Sunday afternoon we were moved off the PICU floor to a regular diabetic floor. He moved to room 522. Jacob took this picture of the view from his room. On Sunday we had many visitors. This was great for Jacob's moral. Home Teachers, Grandparents 2 sets of different cousins and ward friends were among the visitors. We decorated his room with posters from primary and friends. Of course I forgot to take a picture of it before we took it down and brought it all home. I need to get better at taking pictures.

Before we left the hospital on Monday, Jacob was able to give Mom and Dad a saline shot so we would know how it feels. Let me tell you, don't feel sorry for this boy! It was nothing. I didn't even feel it. The anticipation of the shot was way worse! And donating blood is 100 times worse that his injections. He will be so used to them soon that it will be nothing.

Thank you to friends that brought Jacob fun lego sets. They made his day and made time in the hospital more bearable.

When we got home this was on our garage. It really made Jacob smile. Thank you Asay Family! You made the night.

Home Sweet Home!

This is all the stuff the hospital sent home with us. This isn't even half the supplies he will need, but it gets us through for now. We will forever be in debt to our great diabetic nurses, especially Jaime who hooked us up with all these supplies.

This is Jacob's Blood Glucose meter. He tests his blood many times throughout the day. This helps us know how his blood sugar is doing. And tells us when he need insulin. We use it all the time. Jacob does it all by himself. It gets easier every time he uses it.

These are the emergency shots for if he is unconscious. I hope we never have to use them. We had to get 1 for school. 1 for the house and 1 that goes with him everywhere.

These are his insulin. He takes 2 different kinds. Long lasting called Lantus and short lasting for meals called Humalog. We have to do math with every meal. Great practice for everyone!

This is my new bible for Jacob's meals. I have to know how many carbs are in everything he puts in his mouth. We total the carbs then divide it by a certain number and get the ratio of how much insulin he needs to process that meal. It sounds hard, but is getting easier with practice. He does have carb free options to eat for snacks and stuff, like protein, pickles etc. Take a look the next time you are eating something and you'd be surprised how many carbs are in each food. The hard part is I have to break down all my recipes as I make food to know how many carbs are in my homemade dinners, etc. I plan to write the numbers right on my recipes until I have them memorized.

This is why I am not accepting any meals from outside sources right now. No meals are being brought in until I know how to manage Jacob's food I can't take any chances.

So thank you to those that have offered. We appreciate you thinking of us, but want you to understand why we are declining.This is Jacob's life. All tied up in 1 small pack. Needles, meters, lancets, snacks, emergency sugar all in 1 small pack.

It is quite a change at the Macdonald home, but we are adjusting well. Jacob is doing the best. He gives his own injections and is good about checking his sugar when we tell him too. We are going to try to fatten him up a bit in the next few months.

Thank you again to everyone for your kind words and prayers. Know that we are doing great.

Day 3

2010-08-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note....I keep saying that and then it goes on and on and on.....

Well not tonight. I'm exhausted. Great day for Jacob. He got moved to a regular room out of the picu (pediatric intensive care unit). He no longer has any iv's or ports. He is wearing regular clothes and eating regular food. We are in the process of him getting used to taking his insulin injections on different areas of his body. I had to administer the dinner one tonight on his belly. Let's just say it didn't go as easily as other times. I am getting better, for a 2nd time, my first was at lunch on his thigh...but he was freaked out and stressed and upset just talking about it. I would be too. He doesn't have hardly any fat on him so he feels a lot more that if he had a fatty place to put the needle in.

Needless to say, he is doing he best. He had lots of visitors today that kept him occupied. Cousins, Aunts and Uncles, grandparents, home teachers and good friends. Thank you to everyone. He walked me and boys out to the truck tonight just to get out an move around.

A good day. Progress. One day at a time.

See, I did keep it short!

Day 2 at the Hospital

2010-08-28T21:18:00.001-07:00

We made it through day 2. Jacob is looking very normal and is doing great. His blood sugar levels got back into the normal range by around lunch. Before this I couldn't have told you anything about blood sugar, carbohydrates, the pancreas and how it all works together. But we are becoming experts as fast as we can. To begin, when I brought Jacob into the hospital on Friday afternoon his blood sugar level was 650. Normal range for him should be 90-180 tops. He was in the danger zone. It was scary. So to have him back into normal ranges by lunchtime today was exciting. This meant he could prepare to start injecting insulin and get off the IV.

He was offered a sugar free clear lunch, which consisted of jello, popsicles, diet soda and more jello. He ate 1/2 a popsicle and turned away from everything else. His numbers continued to stay in the healthy range so at 5pm tonight he got his first injection. It was scary, he was worried and stressed. But he did it. And it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Because he did that, he was able to eat food for dinner. Sadly the dinner was unappetizing to him so he picked at it. I was able to get him a chocolate milk from the kitchen they keep stocked for families at the hospital. They also had cheddar cheese which he perked up for and gobbled down. It was good to see him reacting to choices and food. He was told that tomorrow he gets to choose his breakfast from off the menu. He was looking forward to that.

They brought in the Wii for him to play. He has Internet access from his bed and a full range of movies. The hospital staff are wonderful. They have been patient and kind.

The best part, he called me tonight and asked if he was feeling really good tomorrow night could we take a special trip to Dairy Queen for ice cream. I just laughed and told him the truth. Although I think it is a great idea, I don't know that the doctors want him leaving the hospital just yet. But that I know for a fact that they have ice cream at the hospital and we can make arrangements to have some tomorrow. (I know they have ice cream because I ate some today while he was sleeping. They keep the kitchen well stocked with tons of snacks and treats for the families.) It lifted my spirits to hear him asking for ice cream. Jacob loves ice cream. In fact almost every day before this happened he had been asking me for ice cream, but I had told him no because it was too late at night or whatever. Well, tomorrow he can have ice cream. We will figure out how and he is having ice cream.

The hardest day

2010-08-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Today has been the hardest day. I don't exactly know where to start and I definitely don't know where it will end. Nutshell version, I ended up in the Cardon Children's Medical Emergency room with Jacob with what I thought was dehydration from a nasty stomach flu, turned in 5 seconds to blood sugars and insulin talk. Jacob has Type 1 diabetes. I learned that today. The first of many things I'll be learning for the next little while. I've been crying for about 8 hours now, off and on. Not because I don't think we can do it. It's just really scary to watch your 10 year old lying there and not be able to do anything for him. Knowing he is hurting. Wondering if I missed the signs. Knowing I've done all I can. Praying. Lots of praying.

I'm scared.

My parents came down once we were settled and helped Joe give him a blessing. He'll be okay. We'll be okay.

I'll post more as I know more. Joe is staying at the hospital tonight, and probably every night. I'm home with the other boys. They are worried, but handling it. I told them Jacob is sick and tried to explain what is going on with his body. The hospital has a great program to help the siblings learn and understand what is happening. When I left, Jacob was sleeping as he probably will for a quite a while as his body takes in the fluids and medicine. We are in the waiting game right now.

I keep reminding myself to count my blessings. I have to say things like this really refocus you on what's important. I can't remember the last time I felt so close to my Heavenly Father. I can feel His presence with Jacob and around us. I know He is watching over my boy. I am grateful for that knowledge. We will get through because of that knowledge. It will make us stronger.

Starting fresh

2010-08-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

I've decided I need to get back off my rearend and get back to working out. So I'm starting fresh. I have set goals and made commitments. It's time for "me time" again. My promise is to do the best I can every day and make each day better than the last. Along the way I plan to lose a little weight and feel better about myself. I'll record some of my ups and downs here as I restart this process. Here's to starting fresh.

Art projects

2010-08-14T21:29:00.001-07:00

I decided that I'm going to take pictures of all the wonderful art projects my boys make this year and record them here. I will display the project on the freezer for a good amount of time, but by taking a picture and recording it here, I no longer will have the need or desire to keep the paper copy of the project. Of course, I do still keep a few things for their special books, but seeing that I'm not a scrapbooker and keeping tons of these art projects just isn't possible this is my solution. This way I can always remember the cute things the boys bring home from school for me, without going bonkers with the amounts of clutter that 4 boys worth of art projects can create.

This first project is from Aaron. This was his first Kindergarten project.

I love the hand print.

This project is from Jared's first day at the Preschool at Boulder Creek. He was so proud of it and every time he sees it on the freezer he points to it and talks about it. I don't know what he is saying, but he is very excited about it and I play along with his excitement. Hopefully his speech will improve enough throughout the year that I will know what he is telling me about these precious projects.

1st Day of School

2010-08-12T08:54:00.001-07:00

Aug. 11th, 2010

1st Day of school for the Macdonald boys. All the boys are going to school this year. Jacob is in 5th, Tyler in 3rd, Aaron in Kindergarten and Jared is attending the preschool for speech services. This is the only great picture I got, thanks to Jacob. He has been using my camera all summer long to take Lego stop animation pictures and drained all my batteries. I got a total of 3 pictures before the battery died.

Jared and I walked the 3 older boys to the bus stop. Aaron was very excited to ride the bus with his brothers. Jared's bus came about 30 mins later to our house. He didn't want to get on, so I had to help him get on and in his seat. But he didn't cry, a plus. When they brought him home, he climbed down all by himself and seemed happy to be home.

In all it was a great first day of school.

Dead battery fun...

2010-07-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

I took the boys to see Toy Story 3 today at the movie theatre on Stapley. I had a gift card and that was all I needed as an excuse to take my boys out for some afternoon fun. We went to the 12:55 showing. There was no one in the theatre when we got there at 12:50! It was great. Maybe another 6 people came in, total. It made for an excellent movie experience. Anyways, the movie was great. We love the Toy Story movies. They are all very entertaining and good clean fun.

After the movie, I noticed that Joe had been calling me. I called him back and told him where we were and asked if we could come visit him at work. He said it wasn't a good time, which is fine because he is very busy getting ready for the back to school rush. He told me he was planning on staying late to work on a few projects so not to plan on him home for dinner. I told him okay and that we'd see him later.

Then the fun began! As we exited the theatres we noticed a major monsoon storm headed right for us. The wind was blowing dust and the air was very cool. That meant rain was coming. So we hurried to our car and got set to head over to visit grandma & papa since they just live over the freeway from the movie theatre. But the car wouldn't start. Not a sound. Dead battery.

My first instinct was to call Joe, and that's exactly what I did. Joe of course said he would be right there. I got everyone out of the hot car and we headed to the strip mall to take some cover from the dust and wind while we waited for Dad to come save us. I then thought to call my parents and tell them we weren't coming. Which my mother said, why didn't I just call them? They are so close and could come help, maybe even before the rain hits. I told my mom that Joe was already on his way and not to worry. The boys were having a great time playing in the wind and looking for rain drops.

It took Joe about 15 mins to get to us from his school. In that 15 mins the rain started to come down. It was falling in sheets of water. The boys were having a great time dodging drops and pretending they were being shot by the large drops of water. They were screaming and running, it was fun to watch. No one else was outside so I didn't worry about the noise.

By the time Joe drove up it was pouring! We raced back to our car. I loaded all the boys into my car and got out the jumper cables. Just walking around my car to the back had me soaked. Needless to say, we got the car jumped and running. Joe and I were completely soaked. My hair was dripping, I could ring out the water. I got in the car and Jacob was just laughing at us. Aaron said, "Mom doesn't get this wet when we go to the swimming pool!" And that is the truth. I never get fully wet at the swimming pool because I have a reaction to the chlorine in the water. But I was wet today.

The best part...Joe was heading home with us to make sure we got home safe and take care of the battery. He had to bring a ton of work home and will probably lock us all out of the office for the night, but he's home. In all it was an exciting day. Not exactly what I had planned, but a great day to make a memory. Got to love these monsoon afternoons in Arizona.

Is the summer over yet?

2010-07-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

I think Aaron's getting a bit bored this summer. Good thing school starts soon.

Jared's Birthday Party

2010-07-17T08:21:00.001-07:00

On Thursday, July 15th we had a small birthday party for Jared's 3rd birthday. We invited Grandma & Papa over for cake and ice cream. That's it. No one else. It was perfect. We watched the TV show Wipeout, which Grandma & Papa had never seen. Papa laughed real hard that night. Jared opened his 2 presents, then we sang happy birthday, blew out the 3 candles and enjoyed the chocolate cake and ice cream. Perfect.

Grandma & Papa got him a Diego toy set. The other boys were all over it like vultures!

Aaron thought he needed to help Jared open his presents. Apparently he was not going fast enough.

We got Jared this Toy Story 3 Woody doll. Jared loves Toy Story.

Jared chose pink sprinkles to put on his cake. They were very pretty. His brothers about died when he chose them.

Lots of spitting on the cake....not much blowing. So Mom helped.

Happy 3rd Birthday Jared!

2010-07-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my youngest boy, Jared!

Jared was born on July 15th, 2007. He came as a big surprise. We had a c-section scheduled for the next week, but he was on his own time schedule. My water broke around 4:30am. We called Grandma & Papa to come over and watch the other sleeping boys so we could go to the hospital. In the past my labor would not start without the help of medication. With Jared it was a different situation. My labor started within the next 30 mins. Waiting for my parents to arrive was torture! We rushed to the hospital around 5:30am, with me screaming for Joe to drive as fast as he could. We had to travel all the way to Country Club and Brown to the Banner Mesa Medical Center, it has since been closed down. This is the same hospital that all our boys were born in, along with myself when it was called Mesa Lutheran Hospital. Once I reached the OB department, I had 4 nurses working on me. 1 took my history, 1 put in my iv, 1 prepped me for surgery, while the last 1 administered medication to stop my very strong contractions. Once I was in the operating room they gave me my spinal tap and I couldn't believe it when it didn't take. The nurse began prepping my belly and I would gasp at the coldness every time she touched me. She finally stopped and said, "She shouldn't be feeling this." I said, "I know, I can still move my feet." And began wiggling my feet. Everyone freaked out and started screaming because my spinal tap had not taken. A 2nd spinal was administered and this one took with no problem. They then proceeded to get Jared out. It was quite the experience. He was perfect in every way.

Here are a few fun pictures of my baby boy.

All the Macdonald boys celebrating the birth of the youngest brother. Baby Jared and Daddy.
Grandma Phyllis, Grandma Janell & Papa Hastings

Jared enjoying the leftover cake batter/bowl after making his birthday cake this morning. That boy loves chocolate!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jared! We love you.

July 4th Celebrations

2010-07-13T09:11:00.001-07:00

July 4th was spent as always up in Heber, AZ at grandma & papa's cabin. This year we had a smaller group. Just the Macdonald's, Grandma & Papa & the Merrill's along with cousin Allie attended. All the kids got along great. They played and played. Enjoying the great weather. On Saturday, July 3rd we all went down to the Heber parade....along with everyone else that was on the mountain! It was a great experience.

Here are a few of the kids hanging out in the shade waiting for the parade to start. We had to go down 3 hours early just to get a small spot on the side of the highway. Then we had to go to our spot an hour before the start time to secure the spot and park our cars before the highway was shut down. It was nuts! Waiting for the parade to start. From left to right, Uncle Sean, Allie, Tatum, Aaron, & Dusty.From left to right, Back row, Papa, Aunt Christine, Grandma, & Joe

Front row, Aaron, Dusty, Garrett, Jacob, Tyler & Jared

Here is what the highway looked like. This is facing west.

Facing east toward Show Low.

One of our favorites in the parade. A guy with a snake on

his neck!Jared's reaction to all the loud noises of the parade. Car horns, engines, etc. He does not like loud noises!

On Sunday, July 4th we took our boys to the Willow Springs Lake to get out of the cabin for a couple of hours. This lake is smaller than Woods Canyon Lake, but still a fun adventure for the boys.

Tyler and Aaron on a rock.

Tyler & Jared

Jacob, Jared & Tyler on our hike around the lake.

Tyler inside a fort we found.

Enjoying the water. There were people fishing everywhere so we really couldn't throw rocks. Bummer for the boys. They love to throw rocks in the water.

Jared took the liberty to throw a few small things, whenever Dad wasn't paying attention. I believe Joe is dreaming of a canoe about now. Someday.....

There is nothing like fireworks in the cool pines. Heber always has a great show. We took our jackets and glow sticks and enjoyed homemade ice cream in our favorite spot. Galen and his new wife Julia came over to have dinner with us and enjoy the show, too. Of course,

every year I say I'll take pictures of us at our favorite fireworks viewing spot, and every year I forget to get out the camera. Oh well, next year!?!

Arizona Natrual History Museum

2010-07-12T17:22:00.001-07:00

On June 30th I took the boys and their visiting Utah cousin, Curtis, to the Arizona Natural History Museum. We had a great time walking around looking at the dinosaurs, jail and panning for gold. It was a great day to get out of the heat.

Tyler & Curtis looking through a space rock.
The boys in front of the dinosaur flash flood exhibit.

Jacob & Tyler ...dinosaur bonesTyler in jail

Curtis & Jacob in jail

Aaron in jail

Curtis panning for gold

Aaron showing me his gold.

Jacob

Tyler

Jared, Tyler & Curtis on a giant sea turtle

The museum lobby

Catching Up... Building a wall & Woods Canyon Lake

2010-07-07T19:38:00.001-07:00

The weekend of June 25th-28th we took a quick trip up to my parent's cabin in Heber/Overguaard. It was nice to get out of the heat and enjoy a nice quiet weekend in the pines. Joe has been working 4 10's with every Friday off and he had some time that was either use it or lose it, so we decided to use it. No TV, no phones, no radio. It was glorious!

We enjoyed reading books while the boys watched old VHS tapes and ran around outside. Aaron even learned how to ride his bike without training wheels (I didn't get any pictures though, oops). Joe and Jacob built a wall/room divider in the basement for my Mom. One side is a closet, while the other is for shelving. Jacob was the big helper. He was interested in every aspect of the project and stayed to help the entire time.

Here is the beginning of the project. Tyler and Aaron wanted in on the hammering too. Thanks to extra nails and spare wood, everyone got to help.Aaron showing off the extra nails.
Jared says, "Me too".

Starting on the drywall.

The closet side.

The storage side.

On the way home we stopped at Woods Canyon Lake. Joe with the boys.

Sherri with the boys.

Looking for rocks to throw.

CHEESE!

Finally, throwing rocks.

Hiking around the lake.

We spotted the Bald Eagle. It kept flying around the lake. So we hiked closer and got some great pictures of it sitting in the top of the very tall trees.

Joe & SherriPicture taken by Jacob. I'm so glad he is able to get some good pictures of Joe and me every once in a while.

Boulder Creek Stake Girls Camp

2010-06-21T12:28:00.000-07:00

I was very lucky to be able to attend girls camp at Camp LaMia this year with my stake. I went up with a few friends working in the Craft cabin as a Craft Lady. We left on Wed, Jun 16th and returned on Saturday, June 19th. It was busy but very fun. I love going to camp. It gives me great "girl" time and there is nothing like the spirit at camp. Wednesday was our busiest craft day. The girls made necklaces. Panic started to set in as we realized we were short on some supplies. Because of a combination of a bunch of girls making more than one, without permission, and the total numbers were off a bit. So Thursday, during the hike, we took a road trip into Payson for more stuff. Luckily we found a craft store that had some supplies that would work. In all it worked out fine. We learned a little and had a great time together.

I was so grateful that I was included this year at camp. It was uplifting and memory making. Now if only I had pulled out the camera I brought along and actually took some pictures. Oh well.