Father's Day

Father's Day wasn't much of a Father's Day this year. Ron was driving across America on his special day. But, a few days before he left we took time to celebrate with some good food and love. In a pic below,  Tiffany is giving him his special card that she made at school. The other pics are the day he is loading up the van at my parent's home and getting ready to make the big trip to Washington with all of the live things that the moving company couldn't transport...cats, plants, etc.  The relocation company would only transport two vehicles. So lucky Ron volunteered to drive the van for us.  The girls and I got to fly up to Washington after Girl's Camp was over.  Tiffany was SO excited to fly in an airplane!

His last day of work at Compaq/HP.  He had worked there for 15 years! It was a bittersweet day.

Disney World!

After a long year of school, getting a new job, selling our home quickly, packing and moving...we decided it would be fun to surprise all of our girls with a trip to Disney World as soon as school got out for the summer.  We knew they were very sad about moving, so we thought a little DW would help with the blues. We stayed in a villa and enjoyed the parks for 7 days. It was so nice just to relax and not think about moving. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and created many incredible memories.  We discovered that Tiffany is a big fan of roller coasters.  Her favorite ride was Space Mountain!

Of course we took time to ride the rides but also visit with the characters. Tiffany's favorite was seeing the princesses, of course.  After we came out of the princess area, a Disney employee stopped to talk to us for a few minutes. He asked if we would like to see Mickey?  He said follow me and I will take you in the secret way!  We followed him down a hallway and then came to a door.  he said,"Wait here, and I will see how long the line is."  The next thing we knew, there was a loud knock on the door and mickey mouse opened the door and welcomed us in to a long hall way.  He had us follow him down to his photo studio and there we were greeted by a lot more Disney Imagineers and Minnie Mouse.  It was so great, we had Mickey and Minnie all to ourselves for a few minutes! What a fun memory!

 One of our favorite things to do on the rides is to pose for the camera on the fast rides.  We either try to look really, bored, tired, or freaked out.

What a great place to just blow off some stress. It worked! We all came home and were ready to face the challenges in front of us!

Last Post From Maple Falls!

Well, this is it... my last post form my most favorite place ever....my home on Maple Falls Court.  I can't even describe the feeling I had the day we moved into this home. It is a gorgeous home that we were lucky enough to purchase as a foreclosure property.  Not one day went by that I didn't stop and look around my home and be grateful I could live in such a beautiful structure.

This is a bitter sweet moment.  For years I dreamed of leaving Texas and going home to the Northwest. Now, that the day has arrived, I am so sad.  I look back at the past 15 years, I remember all of the people that have crossed our paths, some just for a moment and others for much longer.  I feel blessed that a loving Heavenly Father allowed us to come to Texas.  We have learned so much, and feel stronger for having lived here. We look forward to moving to Washington, and seeing what a loving Heavenly Father has in store for us.

So, out into the "wilderness" we go.  As soon as we get settled, I will post all about where we finally plan to call home.

Good bye Tomball Texas! Thanks for the awesome memories!

FHE with President Pack

Our last family home evening in this home, was very special. We had President Pack stop in with "Challenge Coin" chocolate malts, and he read our girls a story, called the Untwin. Sister Pack had sent it over for Tori. I have to say, the story was perfect for Tori, as she has been the untwin for almost 15 years.We felt so blessed to have President Pack come visit our home and leave a blessing with our family. What a sweet, peaceful feeling he left in out home. We will surely miss his leadership, kindness, and friendship.

Tiffany's Going Away Party

Tiffany's friends gave her a going away party. It was so sweet to see these little girls together one last time. She is so sad to say goodbye. She will miss Kylie and Savannah so much. Thank you Jaime for putting together this party! Tiffany loved it and she wears her necklace and bracelet daily! She looks forward to coming back in the summers to visit her grandparents and stop in to play with your girls!

Tori - Shotput Queen Goes to Regionals!

Tori took 1st place at every track meet this past season. Her best throw was 35.7 ft.  She qualified for Districts and took 1st place at the meet and then placed 2nd (she lost by 3 inches) in the "throw-off". But, seeing that she took 2nd she was sent to Regionals.

At regionals, she was just having an "off" day, her throws just didn't feel right, and her knee was causing her quite a bit of pain. She was disappointed that she only threw 30 feet at regionals, and even more disappointed when the girl who went to state only threw 35 feet. She knew she could have thrown better. However, she was still pleased with herself that she made it to regionals and so were we! She has learned so much this year and looks forward to next season! Way to go Tori! You are awesome!

Marley Goes to Senior Prom

My niece Marley has been living with us for about five months. It has been so much fun having a Senior in the house! It has been interesting watching her go through "Senior-itous", get ready for Prom and now Graduation!  I feel more prepared and know what to expect when Tori goes through this in two years. Here are a few pics of Marley's big night! She went to Prom with our home teacher, Helmut Brenner and with a group of youth from the Tomball ward. {Marley is in the silver dress.}

Tiffany's Kindergarten Music Program

Tiffany had a great year in Kindergarten! She went in reading just a few words, but now is REALLY reading and had a large vocabulary. I can't believe how well her teacher Mrs. Pauley has taught her to read.  Tiffany knows how to connect all the letter sounds and knows the rules of vowels.  She is reading much better than any of my other children out of kindergarten. I am so impressed with this teacher and how she teaches reading skills for life.

Below are photos of Tiffany and her dear friend Kylie. They were taken in the kindergarten music program. It was so cute to see all of the songs the kids have learned this year.

Nieces Came to Visit!

What an incredible surprise to have my nieces call me and tell me they wanted to come visit us! It was such a fun evening, having dinner and just catching up! I had almost all of my nieces in my home at one time (minus two). It was so special to me to have a daughter from each of my brother's dining at my kitchen table. It was a very special time, that I will reflect upon for years to come.

Tori's Knee Surgery

Tori is so brave.  I don't think I could have been as calm as she was before she went into surgery.  She really held her emotions in check.  If I could have, I would have traded places with her in a second. As a mom, it just broke my heart to see her have to go through surgery. I felt so bad for her, yet I knew she needed to have this procedure done so she could finally get some relief to her knee.

Last November she was running laterals on the football field with her volleyball team, when something popped in her knee. The doctor tried many different way to help her find relief. Nothing was working and the MRI showed nothing.  Finally in April he told us it is Plica syndrome. They scheduled surgery to remove the scar tissue and I believe cartilage floating in her knee.  Recovery was awful the first few days. She was in extreme pain.  However by day three she was walking on it.  She got her stitches out last Thursday and her knee does have some swelling, but the doctor says it will go down soon.  So glad to have her feel better and pain free!

Mother's Day!

I had an outstanding Mother's Day this year! The girls made me a huge breakfast, {along with a cookie for dessert...thanks Tiffany!} and I was showered with gifts! Thank you Ron and girls for making Mother's Day so special! I feel so blessed to be a mom.

Hard to Move...

The twins recreated the photo I took a few years ago and combined the photos together. As you can see, somethings remain the same....

This is how the twins feel about moving to Washington.  

Private

I went Private on my blog again,  I am not sure who, but someone in France and Belgium keep reading my blog. They did the same thing last year. I went private and they stopped reading and downloading pics of the twins. I shook them for about 9 months, and they came back last month and began reading again. So, I am going private. Sorry to all my readers who have to log in now. But, I'd rather know who is reading my blog and dowloading pics of my daughters, than not.