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Fighting some kind of stomach bug – been flat on my back all day. The boys have been very helpful, but I am realizing that I need to expand their culinary repertoire – tortillas toasted to a crisp with melted cheese is not my idea of a meal. But at least I didn’t have to make it! Hoping tomorrow brings me back on my feet.

I can't believe I'm just now blogging about this amazing, special gift.  But a few months ago we had our Trek Reunion with leaders and Mas/Pas and Committee Chairs.  It was our way of acknowledging all of their hard work and efforts.  (Remember the 100 peanut butter/chocolate cupcakes??  It was for this). 

Well, since we were coordinating the dinner, it took us by surprise to be honored ourselves by our stake leaders and friends with a standing ovation and a wonderfully sentimental and heartfelt gift.

This quilt was made by one of the YW leaders mom.  Each "family" on trek (there were 35) had a different colored bandana – and each was used in the quilt.  I am a quilt lover which makes this extra special for me.  But what a beautiful reminder to us of such a life-changing and momentous event.  It was part of our lives for 9 months and we poured our hearts and souls into making it successful.  And everytime I look at this quilt I am reminded of our efforts and the blessings that came as a result…too many to mention. 

And I hope this will stay in our family for a very long time – my children's children's children may not know all of what we went through for trek, but they'll know it was special to us when they see this beautiful quilt.

What to do with 3 busy boys on a hot afternoon? Make 'em work! But make them think they're playing.

Car Wash Exraordinaires: Jacob, Lance (friend) and Caleb

I'm hoping to make a summer tradition of having "Friday Friends" – a day for the kids to invite friends over for fun.  We had our first one last Friday and had a GREAT time.  Josh came with Jacob and Luke came with Caleb.  We headed to a new splash park, then got junior sundaes at Sonic, then went to the pool and headed home for video games.  I have had the influence of great friends in my life (and some not so great), and hope to help the boys foster good friendships and choose good friends. 

p.s.  I've had people ask me if we are only socializing on Fridays now and the answer is of course not!  We're open to social outings all week long, I'm just hoping to make a tradition out of Fridays where we do fun outings with friend's they choose. 

We had some friends over tonight while their parents are with Jacob at Twilight Camp (pics of my time there soon).  We ordered pizza and got Sonic drinks and headed to Aviator Park for splash time and playground fun.  Lovely, breezy summer evening with delightful kiddos. 

Jacob's 4th grade year is written all over his face in that middle picture.  He is confident, comfortable, happy and loved.  Judy Olson is a legend 'round these parts.  She is an amazing teacher and educator.  She loves what she does.  She loves children.  She tells tall tales, and you never know which ones are true or false.  She makes the kids call her "the queen" and she means it.  She can be scary and sweet.  She can be mean and melodic in the same breath.  She lets them into her life – gives them her cell phone number, asks them to bring her their report cards in 5th grade, checks on them and just thinks they are wonderful people.  On the last day she sat them all in front of her to hand out awards and read each student a personal letter.

This was Jacob's:

Dear Jacob:

Your enthusiasm for learning is awesome!  You are not just inquisitive, you are also very observant; you use your observations to think and ponder – then you ask more questions!  You are creative, sensitive, and responsible.  Your creative writing is awesome, and I hope you will continue to develop and fine tune your skills.  You will always set high goals for yourself, and because of your enthusiasm and determination, you will always achieve them.  Jacob – you will go far!  Love always,

Judy Olson 

Jacob got an award for being on the A Honor Roll, an award for making commended on all of his TAKS tests (including a 4 on his writing) and a Science Award.

Jacob is naturally bright and a gifted learner.  He knows HOW to learn and he LOVES it.  Those things come naturally to him.  But confidence does not.  And this special teacher helped that grow this year for him and I love her for it.

I love to go to the track to run. I think it’s energizing (although only a tad bit at 11:30 in the morning). I like knowing how far I’ve gone with each lap. It reminds me of my high school days where I pretended to loathe it, but secretly loved it (or maybe it was the other way around, I can’t remember!).

I love seeing my little ducks on the track with me, picking a lane…pretending to hate it, but secretly loving it!

Caleb had such a great first grade year.  Going from the "warm and fuzzy" huggy-style of Mrs. Tennison to the more strict and edgy style of Mrs. Pompey was a bit of a challenge in the beginning.  But Caleb and Mrs. Pompey began to appreciate each other's sense of humor and had a great year.  Caleb grew leaps and bounds academically.  He's a strong reader and got a math award for being such a good problem solver (he's a whiz at "UPS check").  He's a fantastic speller and great writer.  And his art skills continue to amaze me.  He's a popular guy and a good friend and I'm impressed with his social skills.  He's pretty comfortable in his own skin (although hides his nervousness by chewing his cheeks!).  I sure love this fantastic kid!

The bottom right-hand picture is he and Jax.  Jax was Caleb's best buddy in Kindergarten, and although they weren't in the same class this year they kept their friendship going and like to have after school playdates.  Jax has PDD (an autism spectrum disorder) but seems very calm and easy-going with Caleb.  Caleb is patient and just seems to "get" Jax.  It's a great thing to see these two together.  They couldn't be more different (personality, ethnicity, religion, etc, etc) but they are true friends.  The world could learn something from these two. 

Samuel LOVES "speech class", as he calls it.  He LOVES "Ms. Cole" (Nicole).  And he was beyond thrilled that his speech class had an end-of-year party just like big brothers!!  This little Early Childhood School is such a blessing to us.  And although he's made so much progress and is pretty easily understood now, we are thrilled that he's been accepted for another semester in the fall and will have his same teacher once again.  Walk-in speech therapy is a great thing! 

His end of year party was short but fun.  A bounce house, bubbles, spray watercolor paints, "fishing", and popsicles.  He was a happy camper.

We decided not to do our yearly trip to the cemetery to take pictures with the flags, but instead tried to finish some much needed house projects which included painting the cedar posts and shutters on the house.  We decided to make it a family project.  BIG mistake! :)  Samuel cried because he wanted to paint "all by myself" without any help.  Jacob opened the can of stain just barely after being told not to, so when Derek went to shake it it splattered on the driveway.  With some turpentine, water and a brushing, it came out.  Back to work.  Then Caleb was grumpy because it was hot and he wanted to do more solo-painting.  He decided to skateboard instead and ran his skateboard right into the gallon of stain spilling most of it…yep, you guessed it…on the driveway.  More turpentine, more water, and more brushing (and more killing of the grass around the driveway).  Another trip to Home Depot for more stain and voila! we have nice looks-like-new posts and shutters.  But, boy howdy, we needed a party after that fiasco.

And where better to party than the Hicken's.  I didn't take a bunch of pics, but these kiddos are always blog-worthy.

As each year goes by, I feel more and more grateful for the blessings that come from living in America.  For being a citizen of a nation that values life, liberty and happiness.  And for those who offer their lives in defense of those freedoms.  It truly is the land of the free and the home of the brave.