Christmas in July!

Our refrigerator has been dying a slow death the past few weeks. Sometimes things were cold, and sometimes they were just cool. We called and talked to a repair man and he suggested we try unplugging it for a few hours to allow it to "reset". That didn't work. So we debated about whether to have a repairman come to check it out or just go and get a new one. We finally decided that we would just save the money for a repairman to come and just put it towards a new refrigerator. We looked online, and at two Lowe's stores. We were just about to buy one at Lowe's when we decided to go to Sears to check out their selection.....maybe because of this or this commercial. ( haha! That guy cracks me up!) Anyway, we get to Sears and it seems at first that they don't even have anything in the price range we were trying to stay in. We did see a returned one that was close to our price that we liked, but when we walked back over to it (seriously like less than a minute later) it was SOLD. Dang it! So we looked around a little more. We found a really nice Kenmore (Elite, actually) that we really liked. The sales lady told us it was the last one and it was 50% off the original price! Except that even at half price it was a good bit more than we wanted to spend. However, we decided that this deal was too good to pass up. So we got it. We came home and told the kids and you would have thought we'd told them we won the lottery. They were so excited! It was quite amusing to see kids get so excited about an appliance! You see, we have never had an ice maker, much less and ice and water dispenser. So they think we are big time now. And I have to admit....I never knew what I was missing. It's so nice to have ice all the time and not have to worry about filling up those stupid trays! And the kids can get their own water, which is a huge bonus! LOVE it! I told Aaron that it's too bad it's only July....cuz if it had been December we could have just put a bow on the frig and called it good! ;)

hard workin' boys

We went to the beach today with the Coffmans.



John David needed some male bonding time, since it seems like he's surrounded by girls most of the time.



It was fun watching them play together.



It must be hard work being so cute!

Arise and Shine Forth

I was released from primary last Sunday and called to be the Laurel advisor in the Young Women's program. It was a welcome change, since I have been bounced back and forth between primary and Relief Society for almost the last decade. I am really excited to be working with the wonderful young women of our ward....especially since Katie will be moving into the program in less than a year. Tonight we had the opportunity to go see what the youth of our entire stake have been working on for months now. They did a pageant that was written by an amazing lady in our stake. It was about how the church began, and how the gospel eventually made it into our area. It was amazing, and the spirit was so strong. I was so impressed with the costumes, the props, and the talent that the youth in our stake displayed tonight. And especially the youth in our ward. I really wanted to take some pictures during the performance, but I was trying to remember my "theatre etiquette", so I didn't. But after the show, I took this picture of Aaron's cousin Bobby, with his son Andrew, who completely surprised me with his talent too.



Our nephew Jacob was "Brigham Young". He sang a solo and did a great job!



I'm so grateful that Katie has such great kids in our ward and stake to look up to.



What a blessing!

getting crafty with my favorite 3rd graders

Sarah's friends Madison and Carolyn came over for a play/craft date today. They are all going to be in 3rd grade and a clipboard is on their supply list. But they couldn't go to school with a plain, wood clipboard. So we cutified their clipboards today, in between play time. Now they're all set for 3rd grade. Great job girls!

Livin' the Dream

I'm not sure exactly what brought this on, but Sarah was seriously bothered by something this evening. She came into the kitchen while I was cooking dinner and started a little rant. "Mom, it's so unfair. Daddy just comes home from work and sits on the couch and watches TV while you have to do everything. You have to cook, do the laundry, clean the house, etc. It's just not fair!" I listened to her go on and on for a few minutes and then finally stopped her and told her that it is okay. I told Daddy works outside in the heat and comes home exhausted, but if I asked him to help me with something, he would help me. I then explained that when I was younger all I wanted to do when I grew up was get married and have a family of my own. I couldn't wait to be a mother and have sweet babies of my own to love and take care of and teach all of the most important things in life. I told her about how when I was pregnant with Katie how I wondered how we were going to make it financially because I wanted to be a stay at home mom, but I made more money than Daddy. That is when Paw Paw asked Daddy to come to Louisiana and work with him. So we prayed about it, and decided that we needed to move here in order for Daddy to make enough money to be able to support us so that I could stay at home with our children. I was so happy to finally be able to be a stay at home mom. And so grateful for a wonderful husband that works so hard so that I can be livin' the dream.

Celebrating the 4th of July

We are so grateful to be American and for this great country we live in. And we love getting ready to celebrate Independence Day! We did our usual patriotic pedicures.



We made some red, white, and blue chocolate dipped strawberries and a flag fruit pizza.



And the girls made these cute stars on their jean shorts with the Gibsons.



I love how cute they turned out! Gotta love pinterest!



And cute little boys in flag shirts.



I wanted a picture of all three of them together in their red, white, and blue outfits. I love how it turned out. Cracks me up!



We went to the ward activity and enjoyed some yummy burgers, and hanging out with our friends.



After the dinner, the kids played water kickball in the field behind the church. They had so much fun!



The highlight was definitely getting to slip-n-slide into home.



I think John David did this about 3, 721 times.





I have to admit.....it did look fun.



After the ward activity we went downtown to watch the fireworks. They were awesome!



We love you America!