"You Are The Reason" - Prom 2018

This weekend, our girlie had her last High School Prom.
She graduates in just 2 weeks!

They had so much fun!

Their group was at our house for a little bit of the day date 

and you could hear the laughter come rolling up the stairs. 

How I love that sound!!! 

=D

How grateful we are 

that the twigs have had 

such hard-working, fun-loving, kind, 

good friends through High School!

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, 

the planners, the doers, the successful people 

with their heads in the clouds 

and their feet on the ground.” 

-Wilfred Peterson

“Surround yourself with people who have 

dreams, desire, and ambition; 

they’ll help you push for, and realize your own.” 

-Anonymous

"Add to brotherly kindness charity,"

-2 Peter 1:7

The best of college life...

The other day, 

Paul and I came home from the Stake Single Adults' Breakfast Activity

to this cool-looking doohickie on our front porch.

Yes!! 

How fun does that look?!!

One of the twigs' favorite things

 about college life

is the plethora of recreation/physical education classes 

they get to take 

and this semester they're both taking skiing and golf.

Our girlie is also taking racquetball.

Their pal, Will, is taking a snowboarding class

but the classes are at the same time so they carpool together

and get to ski together after their lessons.

It's only been two weeks 

but the stories when they get home are so much fun!!!!! 

I'm sure grateful 

our twigs like to tell us their stories 

because we sure like to listen!

Thanks for sharing your pics, guys.   

=D

Poof! Just like that! We're out of kids.

It happened just the other day.

Our girlie had her 18th birthday

and poof! 

Just like that! 

We're out of kids. 

Happy birthday precious girl!!! <3

BMX racing at the fair...

It's been a few years since we've made it to the County Fair. 

The twigs and I love to see all the critters, 

the Mr. likes the photography exhibits and the art work. 

The other day, after work, we had a chance to go to the fair. 

We caught the little sea lion show, 

(thanks, twigs, for your phone pics)

then headed over to watch some BMX racing 

and there we stayed for the rest of the evening.

 The twigs even got to hand out awards. 

It was so fun! 

By the time the racing was over, 

the critters were all asleep 

and the photo and art exhibit halls 

were locked up tight for the night.

Oops!!! 

We'll have to catch them next year.

;)

Love that wet-dog smell!

A few months ago, 

I saw the cutest picture of our friend Caitlin 

kayaking with her dog Roo. 

It made me wonder if our Rascal would like kayaking. 

We'd never really had him swimming before 

so we decided to give it a try and headed for the lake. 

Rascal was a little skittish 

(spell check tells me it's "skittish" not "skiddish" - who knew!) 

at first 

but in about 10 minutes 

he was hanging out on the front of the kayak

looking around and licking the lake.

He fell overboard 6 times that day.

Five of those times he climbed right back in 

but one time it took a few minutes and for just a split second

I thought I might need to go in after him!! 

It gave me flashbacks of an experience 18 years ago

right after this picture was taken.

Little Hunter (on the left)

stooped down and leaned over the boardwalk

stretching to touch the water below.

The Mr. was cautioning him to stay back and watch out. 

I remember my 8 months pregnant self saying 

I'd jump in after him if he fell in

so no worries. 

Yup, you guessed it. 

It wasn't 60 seconds later that

Hunter went head first into the water.

I jumped right in after him but the poor little guy had met 

an unseen rock with his forehead - ouch!!!

***

Fortunately, 

Rascal got a toe hold and climbed back on board. 

That night I had nightmares of Rascal drowning

so before we went kayaking again

we headed to the pet store for 

a dog PFD.

It works great!

We love that smiley dog!

Thanks for the fun idea, Caitlin!

=D

Wheels, sweet wheels!!!

Zac has been working 2 jobs this summer 

and adding to his savings like crazy

to buy his first car.

Years ago we told the twigs we'd match their savings 

for college and for a car.

The big day came 

when with our matching funds,
he had enough money so the hunt began.

Aren't online used car websites totally awesome?!!

He had a specific Make and Model in mind

and the consumer reports on safety for it were terrific 

so we tracked down every one we could find 

and started test driving. 

It was an education!

In the end, 

he bought this sweet ride. 

Then got right to work changing the serpentine belt

all the while with a big smile on his face. 

Wheels, sweet wheels.

=D

Be kind to one another and watch out for the little guys...

When the boy twigs were just little tiny guys in toddler beds, 

we picked out this fabric to make bedspreads. 

My beautiful little blue-eyed mother 

and my sister Marti 

quilted them for us - so very nice of them! 

As often happens with little ones, 

the boys got attached to their blankets 

so a few years later when they got twin beds, 

they weren't excited to part with their favorite blankets.

We decided to make a shower curtain out of one blanket 

and move their Noah's Ark decor to the bathroom. 

It worked great for years 

and was often a conversation starter 

at bath time because of messages like these.

This past spring we decided it was time to bid a fond farewell 

to the Noah's Ark decor 

that served us well for so many years

and update the bathroom. 

The Mr. picked out the shower curtains - he loved the red! 

My dad loved red and would have agreed whole-heartedly.

I hope we'll always remember the ark rules of 

being kind to one another

and watching out for the little guys. 

<3

The kindest people...

I'm tremendously blessed to know so many people 

who are kind and loving, 

helpful and thoughtful, 

people who go out of their way on a daily basis to bless others. 

Kind friends who share their yummy baking skills, 

friends who'll play pickleball, 

friends who leave their very busy lives 

to go walking, 

friends who love and care about our twigs,

(Stake Girls Camp) 

(Girls State) 

(Mission Homecoming) 

(Mission meetings) 

  

and send us fun pictures! 

(Fort Knox)

We love and appreciate you, kind friends!

<3

Because Zac said it made him so happy...

Zac came outside with me to play fetch with Rascal today. 

While Rascal was fetching, Zac was talking. 

I love when Zac does that. 

He's such a neat guy and I love to hear his thoughts about things.

He mentioned that when he was on his mission 

it made him so happy to get pictures of Rascal 

catching tennis balls

and catching snow. 

Zac said I should take some pictures of Rascal chasing the tennis ball 

and send them to Hunter. 

There you go, Elder Branch,

some happiness coming right at ya.  =D

I love these twigs! 

I love how they look out for and think of each other. 

We're not perfect

- far from it - 

we're working on being more thoughtful, 

more patient, 

more like the Christ we adore. 

I loved what Sister Jones said in General Conference this weekend.

"Understanding the doctrine of repentance 

is essential for becoming resistant to sin. 

Being sin resistant doesn't mean being sin-less 

but it does imply being continually repentant..."

How grateful we are for repentance and forgiveness, 

for family and missionaries, 

for cute tennis-ball-loving dogs 

and for our Jesus and his Prophets. 

We're also grateful for you. 

Happy General Conference Weekend!

<3

You can watch General Conference here...