9 years???

I cannot believe its been 9 years since i wrote on this blog. Theres so much to catch up on. We live in Gilbert in a little house we bought in 2014. Its on an acre and we love it there. We have big dreams of remodeling and adding on. Theres so much to be done. Ken is working as a commercial appraiser. They are about to start a new side gig of development. We will see how that goes. I am still at Alaska Airlines. I love it. Times are strange in the airline industry due to Covid-19. Everyone has to wear a mask in public areas and on planes. The whole world is shut down. Schools are not in session. We do not go to church. We have home centered church. If you get Covid-19 you have to quarantine for 2 weeks. Its a whole lot of craziness. The airllines are suffering from a depleted customer base. They are about to furlough hundreds of coworkers. Jake went to UofA last year and is about to start his Sophomore year. It will likely be online though. His Blue Devils Drum Corps got cancelled this summer which is so so sad. Today wouldve been the finals in Indy. He is trying to find out who he really is. He stretches boundaries and rebels against what hes been taught his whole life. But he is a great kid that I love so much. He will figure it out. Cougar is a senior at Campo Verde this year. He loves band and plays Trombone. For Marching Band this year he is playing the snare drum...which was a suprise since he has never learned to play drums. But they say hes good and getting better all the time. They wont have any competitions this year so it mostly all for fun anyway. Dakota is a sophomore at Campo. He loves to play video games, and shoot plastic bb's. He is my greatest helper. He is always willing to do his chores. He is a straight A student. He loves to be sarcastic and laugh at memes. He works hard and plays hard and is always up for giving his mama a big tight hug. Ashton is growing so tall. He reached my height earlier this summer 5'7 and i'm pretty sure he has passes me up now because he sleeps and eats....and sleeps and eats. He will play video games too but then says hes hungry. He will be an 8th grader at South Valley this year. He plays the trombone as well and is excited to be in jazz band this year. The dog, Indy, is new to our family this year. She is a Cathoula mixed with probably a Rotty. She is so sweet. She can be feisty too though. Her coat is silky smooth and luckily doesnt shed very much. She loves to chill next to whomever will let her. She usually sleeps on Ashtons bed....or Jakes bed....or my bed....lol. She is such a cuddle bug. Im hoping to keep this blog alive and add pictures soon.

The Newest Member!!

Cougar turned 8 and was baptized this month. He was a little nervous and wasnt exactly sure he wanted to go through with it but he made the decision to be baptized and we are sure glad he did it. He was a little nervous that his toe would pop out of the water or something and he would have to do it again. It wasnt Cougar that had to do it again. Ken had to give the baptismal prayer twice. Its gotta be right! His Uncle Jared and Uncle Mike were there along with PopPop. All his brothers were there despite being sick. The primary president and a member of the stake presidency were there and his friend from school showed up to see him be baptized. What a great day. Afterwards he was confirmed a member of the church and recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost which will be a constant companion throughout the rest of his life. We celebrated by going out to dinner at On The Border for chimichangas, Cougs favorite!

The Jokester

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

joke of the day

Dakota just got off the bus grinning and told me a joke.
Dakota: "knock knock"
Me: "who's there"
Dakota: "who"
Me: "who who?"
Dakota: "Are you an owl?" giggling as he runs in the house.

Happy 4th Birthday Ashton!

------ MMS ------
Sent: Sep 12, 2010 7:10 PM
Subject: IMG00136-20100912-1906.jpg

HaPpy 4th BirthDaY Ash! I love you so much! You bring me so much joy. I cannot believe my baby is 4. Where does the time go?
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

spaghetti mystery

We are having dinner and I notice a small pile of noodles on the table in between me and Dakota...I know I didn't put them there...

me: Dakota...why is there spaghetti on the table?

dakota: um, well, I can't really tell you right now Mom, Its a verrrry long story.

He makes me laugh.

gulp

Dakota: Momma, Why do you only have boy kids?
Me: Well that's just how it happened ...I don't get to choose if I get a boy or girl. Its just a surprise each time.
Dakota: Did you want 4 boys?
Me: Yes that's exactly how many I wanted. Aren't you so glad you have 3 brothers?
Dakota: Yeah, but I really wanted a sister....

Sun Devils for 2 more years!!!

We have had a good week. Ken was accepted to grad school at ASU next fall. He will graduate this spring with an architectural design degree. In 2 more years he will have a masters in architecture. I am so proud of him. Just 3 years ago he wasnt sure what he wanted to do. We had just built our house in Dayton, NV and we both really enjoyed it. Construction wasn't really what he wanted to do for a living but Architecture sounded pretty cool. So he made a decision and 3 years later we feel like the plan is working. That wasn't the only good news we got this week. Ken was invited to have an internship at a firm that is doing the new Phoenix Temple. He is so excited to start working. The firm is a really big name here and they do really great architecture. There are 5 or 6 other LDS guys who work at the firm but they don't know the computer program that the project requires. Ken happened to take a class on said computer program about a year ago and was asked to help on the temple project specifically because he knows the program. We have been so blessed these past 3 years. Ken works really hard and doesnt get near enough sleep but we've never had a doubt that we were doing the right thing.

Bee Repellent

I realized today that i've had this blog for almost a year now and I have only a handfull of posts. So here is what happened to us today. After Ash got home from preschool he said "Mommy I want to have lunch at the park today." I thought, what a great idea. The kids were going a little stir crazy and I was just reading a book. So I was all for it. We didn't have any bread so I couldn't make any sandwiches so I decided just to get something on the way. My kids seem to be pretty picky about fast food-nothing too spicy or too big or too bland etc...I chose Arbys because they seem to like the roast beef sandwiches pretty well. Heres the first misfortune of the day. I paid with the wrong card! Who pays for fast food with a credit card? So after calculating the amount of interest I will pay on that meal, we headed off to the park. We found a nice bench in the shade and proceeded to get ready to start eating. Getting ready to start eating takes a little time what with the opening wrappers, dumping out fries, squeezing ketchup, telling them no toy untill they eat something (at least 10 times) then we were attacked by a bee. The bee would not stop pestering us and I don't really like bees so we packed everything back up in the bags, gingerly of course due to the ketchup, and moved to another area. We were all good for a while. I had forgotten to grab some napkins so it was a little messy. I had seen the bee try to get into my soda through the lid and then through my straw. Since I didn't want bee germs I took the lid off my soda and threw it away. Pretty soon there were 2 bees, then 3 bees, then 5 bees. I was panicking and trying to shew them away without making them mad. It seemed like they just wanted soda. Very quickly I had enough and started throwing things out that had had a bee on it. I wrapped up the uneaten sandwiches and threw out the fries and half of my sandwich. I went to grab my root beer and noticed a bee down in my cup. He was either dead or very drunk. I guess taking the lid off wasn't the brightest of all my ideas today. Meanwhile Ashton had gone to play and came back with wet pants. After trying to clean him up, I decided it was time to go. The kids had played maybe 7 minutes at the park. Bummer for them. As we were walking back to the car Ashton slipped in a puddle of water on the concrete and got all muddy. Poor little guy!
It was a great idea Ash! Lets try it again tomorrow. We will bring a sack lunch from home and drink water instead.
Later in the afternoon, my sweet little boy took a nap and before I left the room he said "You are my best friend, Mommy."
I could just melt.

My Fingers are Numb...Isn't it So Cool!

On my long list of things I'd like to do before I die, one of the top things is to learn how to play the guitar. I have wanted to learn for many years and now I finally get the chance. I bought me a classical guitar! I bought it from Alaska's online Employee Assistance Fund auction which uses items left onboard and donated items to raise money to help employees in need.I feel like I got a good deal on it and it seems to be in very good condition. It looks brand new. And I LOVE IT!!!
I bought a few other things in the auction and instead of having them ship it down to me from Seattle, I decided to fly up there and pick them up myself. I felt so cool walking through the airport with a guitar on my back. 3 people asked me how long I've been playing....I had to respond truthfully and tell them that I don't play YET but I want to learn. One girl said "thats alright, Jimi Hendrix had to start somewhere."
I want to be that person that sits around the campfire and plays all the songs on the guitar to all the camp songs. I want to be able to sing to my kids while playing the guitar and instill in them a love for music.
I know you all have a "list" of things to do before you die, so what are you going to do to cross something off your list?
So far I have tried tuning my guitar which proved to be difficult especially because my piano is out of tune. I have learned 4 chords, C-G7-D7-G. My book actually said after learning those 4 chords and practicing on some short songs that "right about now, you may find that your fingertips get sore." Um, yeah. Numb. Cool.