Take A Hike IKE!!!

Take a Hike Ike! Is a quote we have adopted over here in DRY ARIZONA from our friends the Mangums (our old Bishop) who lives in Houston! As many of you are well aware -our family spent 2, almost 3, glorious years in Houston, Texas while Dan went to graduate school. I can definitely say that I left a piece of my heart when we left. I have so many fond memories.

SOOO when the news that tropical Ike was headed straight for Houston-it tugged at my heart! I have been wanting to talk to every person I know still living there!

Then I heard and saw the news of it hitting Galveston! I was so sad as I looked at the images (check out the link below) We spent many FuN days at Galveston as a family. I know it could have been allot worse...but it is sad none-the less.

We were so blessed while we lived there to have 'just missed' the flooding a few months before our arrival and no hurricanes or storms hitting while we were there!

I am now anxiously awaiting the news from our friends in Houston to see what they experienced! The zip code we actually lived in was told not to evacuate--so many prepared and "tied down the hatches"!

So for whatever this is worth--Here is our hugs and happy memories of sunnier days Houston! We Love you!!Grandpa Hutchings even got a day at Galveston Island while we lived there!
Kemah Boardwalk
Sterling getting some R&R at the beach the day before he had surgery on his club foot!
Colton wearing shades on a Sunnier Day in Galveston!
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823425597/bclid877032950/bctid1797089184

FROG FROLICKING!!!

OH.... to be a KID again!!!!!

Week Synopsis 9/8-9/14

(Ryland all ready for preschool with his huge gardening hat,bandanna, light saber, butterfly catcher, and pooh bib-gotta love the dress up box!--he really did not wear this for preschool...luckily)

Monday September 8th- First day of Preschool for Ryland! It was at our home this week--and I was the teacher. We started off with a BANG! learning the letter "A" --using the theme of apples. There is a group of 4 kids and their dynamics seem to work well together. It is 3 hours this year (as opposed to the typical 2 hours in the past) 2 days a week, so the kids get more play time together. We made apple jack necklaces, cut out pictures of things that start with an A, glue'ing them to our apple, learned our A song, read LOTS of A books, did show-n-tell, the pledge, calendar, shapes, colors and numbers. It went well--and the kids played outside the last half an hour or so, so I could clean the inside.

(Our living room transformed into the makeshift preschool classroom-above- and the cute little 'critters' stringing applejack necklaces that never made it home!-below-)

That evening it was cool and nice outside so the kids played! We did chalk art, caught frogs, and used our first bell pepper out of the garden for dinner! We also had a friend for dinner (Mr. Snakey) who crawled across the kitchen floor, just as we were getting ready to come in. Colton about DIED when he saw it and I came running in to the response of his high pitch screech. I am afraid my fear of snakes has carried over to our children.

(Colton has been learning about the human body in school-he drew the complete 'insides' of a body with chalk on the sidewalk-- and told me every detail about it-maybe he will follow in his daddy's footsteps!)
(Mr. Snakey slithering in for some snacks at suppertime, much to Colton's suprise!)
(Our first red bell pepper from the garden that we have gotten to eat!! YEAH!!!!)

Tuesday September 9- Dan was home..so I went to the eye Dr's. first thing in the morning. My contacts were running out and it was time for a new prescription and eye exam! It ended up being a 2 hour appointment, because I decided to get new glasses. So look for new posts of my new trendy glasses forthcoming! ha ha--I really am getting brave and wanting to get some lasiks done!~ then I went and got a pedicure! My lucky day. My toes have been awful. Every time I play softball my one toenail and cleats don;t seem to mix well. It was a much needed thing. I say it was a necessity not a want at this point! I came home to help Dan finish his coupon clipping and shopping while I did the budget. Love those 'get caught up' kind of days!

Wednesday September 10- The kids had a SUPER early release day at school and were home about 11am! It started pouring rain right as they were due home from the bus. So I went and got them at the bus stop. It continued raining through most the afternoon, with even some hail! It has been unusually rainy this summer (not that we are complaining) but it is fun to see my children's response to it. You would think it is a such a special day when it rains! They have child-like innocence and awe at the rain. They set up a little 'house' by the back window and watched it all afternoon. EVERY time a clap of thunder or lightening would strike-Dacie would make a surprised face and curl up with her animals. It was cute to watch ALL of them there together that afternoon playing. It is what family-really- is all about!

I answered phones all day as the owner was getting a procedure done in the hospital for his heart.

That night we, the stake YW, did an activity night "on us" for one of the wards...umm, one of my favorites-my Alma mater ward ( I served in the ward YW presidency and was YW president when we first moved to Cottonwood)- MINGUS!!! We played friendship Bingo and had ice cream Sundaes. I LOVE those girls and I LOVE Young Women!

(The kids rain headquarters house they set up by the back sliding window to get front row seats to the storm!)

(Dacie's astonished face she made at EVERY clap of thunder--what a ham!!!)

Thursday September 11- We had our 2nd day of preschool today! We celebrated Johnny Appleseed days-read a book, made a puppet, tasted and chose our favorite color apples, sang songs, and read LOTS more books! It was an 'off' kind of day for me. I was not feeling fulfilled. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with our children's needs and dispositions as of lately. I get 'home bound' at times-which I typically enjoy...but not today! My softball game did not help that mood either. Our game was over in a half an hour. We got crushed by the other team. I played pretty darn awful. But. I guess it helped that I was not the only one. It also does not help when both teams (particularly the opposing one) has AWFUL potty mouths. I was raised around these words--so it is not as if I am prudish...BUT it was excessive tonight and I came away feeling foul! Dan just let me cry it all out when I got home tonight! I LOVE my best friend.

Friday September 12-It was a new day and I ran errands!!! We have been really getting started on this coupon sense program...so the kids and I went to Walgreen's to capitalize on some deals as well as buy some gifts for the LOTS of birthday party's this weekend.

The boys all went and got their hair cuts at the Barber. I had earned a little more than I usually do last month answering phones--so I could afford the luxury of avoiding hair all over, getting crisp, short cuts, and getting Sterling's LONG hair GONE! Bye bye hair! They have been sending home lice notices--and that was motivation enough to get it cut shorter. I still think Sterling's hair up front might be a little too long for me-we are bordering on the 80's --but it suffices--and it was money well spent.

We also went and delivered a balloon to Colton's good friend who has been dealing with Bells palsy (is that how you spell it) fore a few weeks. It will eventually go away--but we wanted to let him know we were thinking of him. Meanwhile Sterling who memorizes EVERY ONES birthdays-remembered it was his old preschool friend Livi Gordon's-- and insisted that we go get her a gift and deliver it. I am not the one to stifle my children's desire to give--even if his fixation for birthdays is a little crazy!

Colton got to spend the night at a friends home whose mom called and invited him earlier that day (Jeremiah McDowell). They are in our ward and I felt 'safe' with his parents there! He stayed up late and watched Pokemon. Life does not get much better than that for him!

(Dan showing off his new clinic to the kids--who have not gotten to see the new work place!!!)

Saturday September 13-It was a FUN BUSY kind of day!!! Dan's work had their public open house for the new building. Dan even had his picture in the monthly "money in the mail" they do around here for it. Dan had to be there early. But after I got us all dressed (the boys in their daddy's work shirts)--we headed over there. The place is beauty, and is getting its own little post about it. Daddy had to work the elevator--so we only got to visit him for a little bit! They had a radio station there-we spun the wheel and won prizes at it. We got some pizza and cake, danced on the roof of Daddy's work building to the radio station broadcast, and jumped in the jump houses! We came home only to run Colton to a birthday swim party and I got the rest home for naps. Dan had to be there until 3:45pm or so. His parents came up to see the building and came over to our house after!

( Dancing to the tunes of the broadcasting radio station up on the roof!)





(Who could go jumping without their dolly? Hello!!!! After jumping for a bit Dacie kept coming over and pointing at it and yelling for me to give it to her-What a girl!!!)

After naps I got the two younger boys dressed in swimsuits and to our friends (Brandon William's) birthday party. It was also a swim party. My family always has a GREAT time there. We only stayed for a little over an hour so we could go back home and meet up with everyone to go to dinner w/ Dan;s parents. We went and got some yummy Mexican food! The kids fared well considering their social agenda's that day! We could not get Dacie home in enough time before she had a 'meltdown' ( a new and MUCH undesirable trait). It was a great day of friends and family!

(How Many kids can you fit into one hot tub? Sterling and Ryland at Brandon Williams b-day party w/ a bunch of buddies!)

Sunday September 14-We are feeling the effects of fun today--BUT we still made it in time for church! Colton cannot lift his arm over his head b/c his shoulder is in soo much pain from swimming and playing all the arm Wii games. Poor kid--I hate having too much fun. After church we got our Sunday naps to improve our dispositions for next week! We had dinner out on the back patio at dusk. It got dark on us pretty quickly, but with a full moon and the mosquito candle flame--it was a pretty dreamy evening. We got the kids bathed and in bed at a decent hour. Lunches packed and clothes laid out for tomorrow! I better keep a good thing going and sign off for bed!

Hope your weeks were full of friends, candlelight dinners, and child-like perspective on the simple things !

Weekly Synopsis 9/2-9/7

Tuesday September 2- AFTER a SUPER LONG night up with Dacie I was able to unpack and get everything back into its proper place from the fun weekend. I FINALLY FINISHED the last twilight series book-Breaking Dawn. I was not disappointed in the LEAST! My sleep and family are allot happier now that I have that out of the way! I also managed to squeeze in a nap--that had to be serious careful timing (it NEVER happens without Dan home). We also were able to fill out the rest of our mail-in ballots and drop them off at the voting station. I dropped them on my way to my monthly stake meeting, where we meet with a member of the stake presidency and the stake YM presidency!
Wednesday September 3- It is Colton's lucky day! He has been stealing my pedometer lately (that I got for Mothers Day). He is a fairly competitive lad of sorts, and it just suits his fancy to see how high he can get the numbers to go up on it. In Colton's POPS cereal this morning they had a free one inside. It made his entire week!!! It even sleeps next to him. He has ran laps around our living room and has figured out how many steps it takes to run a mile (their entire school runs Friday mornings). He was a bit disappointed to learn that it was cheating to shake the pedometer to make the steps go up. I started mowing our lawns as it has been over a week. I also got in some weed spraying--and taking the mower for a short trip to the field next door that needed some 5 ft. weeds cut down.
Thursday September 4- It was the day of the snakes! On our way to school someone had killed a really LONG snake and hung it over a sign on the way out of the neighborhood. Later that day while talking on the phone with my sister about her upcoming move out here to the Verde Valley, I happened to look outside the window and saw one of the neighbors pesky cats in our yard...AGAIN. I was getting ready to shoo it away BEFORE it left a present for us to clean, when I noticed it was playing with something in the grass- it snatched a small snake with its teeth and ran under the deck with it. I dislike the neighborhood cats BUT certainly that feeling is not even close to my HATE relationships with snakes. Not a good state to live in for that hatred I am afraid.


It was early release day, and I watched a friends children after school (McDowells) as we are swapping kids the next 2 days so we can attend parent teacher conferences. Between our 2 households we have 8 children--it wasn't bad...until Ryland stuck something up his nose--AGAIN! He has done this twice in the last little bit, and today he got a jolly rancher wrapper pretty good up there. Thank goodness my friend was here so she could hold him down while I held up a flashlight and pulled it out with the tweezers. Never had a nose sticker upper kid....guess there is always a first!


That evening I played in my first co-ed softball game of the season (I even gave up Pokeeno this month for it!). It is not as fun as church co-ed, as I do not know anyone else on the team. 2 of the guys have longer hair than me and my 2nd base buddy was talking about her partner all night. Throw in some serious dipping of tobacco--It is a different world for sure! I played 1st base and was pretty comfortable there. They take softball pretty seriously and I was fully expected to slide, dive and run! We were all pretty comparable in softball savvy--it was nice to have EVERY player pretty good! I have been sore the last couple of days. It was a kind suprise to get a phone call from the umpire friend who asked me to play thanking me for coming, and telling me they look forward to next Thursday. That was a first! I guess I did not mess things up too badly. Oh yeah! I even got to wear my new BYU t-shirt from this football season (thanks Julie!) for the softball game attire. On the way home I made copies for singing time ideas and cleaning out my stuff out of the primary closet (as I turned it all over to my friend Desiree McDowell Friday morning)!


Friday September 5-It was my turn to go to parent teacher conferences. I am so grateful our children do not struggle academically.I am really pleased with their placements and where they are at up to this point. Sterling could work on his perfectionism by not worrying about the kid next to him who wrote a D instead of a B! I came home with backpacks full of books I am cataloging for book testing. Homework! It was FUN Friday so we had pizza and watched Treasure Island in the Living Room that night as a family.
Saturday September 6- Since we do not have soccer in the mornings this season (I electively forgot to sign our children up)--we CLEAN! It is kind of nice to get everything organized and cleaned early, so we can play the rest of the day. Dan and I took Sterling on our date with us this week. We went out to lunch, to visit the pet store (the indoor zoo), and ended it with our own creations at Cold Stone Creamery (as requested by Sterling). Football season has arrived! The rest of Dan's day was spent watching his weekly game--of course--Miami, that evening (however we listened to a good portion of the BYU game on the radio). I started getting ready for preschool that is going to be at our home this coming week. I fell asleep super early laying Dacie down!

Sunday September 7- Dan stayed up late to check the skunk trap, only to awake this morning to find one in it! We had to dispose of it before church (this is our 4th skunk we have had to drown)...so it would not spray any passer-by's--making Dan run super late. I left half way through our ward to go visit the rest of the Camp Verde wards YW, with the stake YW presidency-we have a fun introduction game we play. It was great spending time with all of them. I got home to napping house and snuck in a quick one as well. We woke up in time to make some smoked salmon and visit some friends (the Steinerts) who have converted us to the coupon sense program (what we were doing before only BETTER).

That about sums up this week--hope yours was filled with fun loving critters, great deals and some serious softball!

Can You Whistle?!!!

So today while I was picking up my children from a friends home, I kept hearing someone whistling. It sounded like they were in my car OR really nearby. I kept looking around trying to find the person whistling...and finally found the sweet old lady across the street whistling while she was doing yard work. This reminded me of a conversation I had with my husband on our way to the temple on Saturday.

MY HUSBAND CAN'T WHISTLE? I was astonished when I first discovered this while dating. I did not know it was possible to not know how to whistle. How can anyone go through the scouting program, or childhood without whistling? My husband surely did with very happy memories. How can anyone be a dad and not be able to call his kids? Well my hubby sure does.

Was it because he was never taught? because he never tried? I don;t have any memories of someone specifically sitting me down to teach me to whistle....then I found out HIS MOM CANNOT WHISTLE either. Hmm....it began to make me wonder if it is a genetic thing. I realize this is really NOT a big deal--I was just super surprised to learn that there are some people who just CAN'T WHISTLE. I even practiced with my hubby in the car to see if I could coach him into it. He has a small mouth, does that matter? IS THERE ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE WHO CAN"T WHISTLE? I am super curious to find out.

But for now he will just have to settle for this form of whistling below....

Week Synopsis 8/25-9/1

Monday August 25th- I have been concerned lately with the lack of thought put into our children's prayers-you know the repetition prayers, "help me to have fun". I decided to have a family home evening lesson on prayer. We talked about why it is important to pray and then how. We had them teach us how to begin, end and what we do to show respect with our bodies during prayer. Then we talked about things that money CANNOT buy that we are thankful for-trees, flowers, animals, daddy alive (Ryland said that one). Then we talked about what kinds of things we could pray for help with. Afterwards I found a little prayer handout where the kids were able to go through old friends, and Ensign magazines and cut out pictures of things they could thank Heavenly Father for in their prayers-- and glue them to their paper. I was hoping this would help with their repetition, and help them to think of the MANY things they could be thankful for rather then trying to end the prayer really fast. Ryland cut out 3 pictures of kids-and we labeled them as friends, sister, and mom ( I just think he liked the pictures of the kids). Colton put a fish, water and bread. At first he was cutting out a whole bunch of different species of fish (I encouraged him to expand that horizon). And last but not least, Sterling did baptism, the prophet, and priesthood blessings~ the quickest and surest of the lot. We have heard a little difference~ but I should be taking to my own advice!

Tuesday August 26th-It was Enrichment night. We had a salad exchange (which was super yummy! and right up my trying to do weight watchers again alley) and a skit and talk on gossip. I had a part in the play because they think I have the most problems in this area( ha ha~just kidding...speaking of gossip) really though, after hearing everything that evening--it really makes you think before you speak! I really don;t believe too many older mature people gossip intentionally or with harm in mind--but it really happens and I came away wanting to do better!

Thursday August 28- I was all ready to go play in my first game with my new co-ed softball team. I a m a bit nervous since I do not know anyone on the team besides our ol' ump buddy "Crash". After calling to confirm things I found out that they were not holding games on Thursday because it is a holiday weekend. I had a free night home, and I started to make dinner. We needed tomatoes...so when Dan got home I sent him out in the garden to get some. After awhile I realized that the house was quiet. ALL the kids had followed Dan out into the garden and were in the garden helping him pick tomatoes or looking for squash, while checking the progress of our Halloween pumpkins. I was just so happy to know that. I went out to peek at them and the breeze was blowing. I saw all my kids out in the garden and this is how I always envisioned my future life would be-it was a reality. It was my heart~ outdoors with a garden full of children. I was content and at peace with where my life was at

(while I cleaned Dacie unfolded, the folded laundry and found more creative uses for the items of clothing)

Friday August 29-HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE CLINT-he is a private person...so I don't think a post would be considered a "gift" to him! Was a SERIOUS house cleaning day. I knew we were heading to Phoenix for the weekend AND I wanted all in order. My friend is holding a rummage sale to earn money for the local special Olympics team--I decided it was time to get rid of the things I was holding in our garage for a future garage sale and donate them to a better cause. We now have our garage back! After organizing and cleaning allot of that--of course I had to go through some old tupperwares. I also cleaned out the old book repair tub by those tupperwares and threw most of it away. Then I took some tupperwares out back for the kids to play in their sand stuff,and went through all of the kids outside toys-more throwing things away. Don;t stop me now! I moved into our bedroom and cleaned off the pile on our desk, moved to the box next to the desk-filing and throwing away as I went! I also got my new calling stuff organized and music time stuff organized into one box (as I found that I was getting released this Sunday). I now had a much more organized room.

I washed 3 batches of clothes and folded them getting ready to pack. Then we mopped floors and cleaned bathrooms as our Friday chores before FUN time. Packed all four kids suitcases for three days and myself, loaded the car...AND I was tired before we even left. BUT if felt good to come home to all this work done! (I did not even touch the the last twilight series book I had sitting right next to my bed!)We made it down to Phoenix! Saturday August 30- Happy 10 year reunion!!!(Nope not my highschool reunion)-- 10 years ago today one of the people I had the privilege of meeting and teaching while serving my mission was baptized--Mark Mackay. He is one of my favorite people in the whole world! (oh don't worry THE POST is coming) I celebrated appropriately by going to the temple with Dan (for our stake temple day as well). I always LOVE going to the temple and am always IN LOVE with Dan when we go. It was fun seeing people we knew there, and doing names for Sister Olsen in our ward.Even though we are already in the valley it always takes us forever to get out of the house and get to the temple (it probably did not help that I stayed up SUPER late the night before to read the twilight book). So by the time we were finished we had to rush home and wake up the boys (Colton and Sterling) from naps to take them to a Diamond Backs baseball game!
Colton has been begging us for quite sometime to go to a game. This weekend was a perfect time to go!! We saw the Diamondbacks play the Dodgers. It was heritage night and it was quite the Fiesta!!! We (the Diamondbacks) lost, but we were not disappointed as a girl ran onto the field and got tackled. Quite the entertainment!

(Much to Sterling and Colton's delight--It wouldn;t have been a ball game without the smuggled in M&M's, water and some field bought Nachos!!!)

After the game we had parked quite a ways away and had a good little walk. With all the serious monsoons and micro bursts that have been happening it was super humid (like Houston humid) and trees were ripped out and stakes broken, parking lots flooded, bushes flattened. It was quite a different scene to walk in for our typical desert scenario.

(Like father like son~ Colton and Dan (above)/ Like Mother like son~ Sterling and ME (below))

BEAT THESE FACES JENTRY!

(we are having an ugly face contest)

(The whole crew at the game-BEAT L.A./Alicia, Sterling, Dan, & Colton)

(Dacie is such the flirt! Flirting with Grandpa on Sunday trying to avoid naps!)

Sunday August 31- Dan's parents have been "empty-nested" for quite sometime now (much deserved after 6 kids). But, due to recent events that nest has become quite full (much to Dawnsters(Dan's mom's) jubilee). Some of Uncle Clint's homes main pipes burst and flooded his house while he was traveling for business. His home is being dried out and repaired. He is living with his parents until the damage is fixed. Aunt Kerri has moved home after leaving her job in Texas and recently securing one in Tempe as an athletic trainer. Uncle Scott is home for 6 week break at BYU-I with a roommate named Tommy. Add us to the mix this weekend and that house was FULL!

Our family stayed down in the basement, but there is ONLY ONE CLOCK down there that reads an hour earlier. We were wondering why our kids were waking up an hour earlier than they do at home, and then we were really wondering why we entirely missed sacrament meeting when we had been EARLY for church. Dan said this is the only time he has not felt guilty about being late to church. ha ha ha Not gonna lie...it was nice sending the kids straight to class and having combined meetings the rest of the day. Dan and I were on at date at church! We could not catch another sacrament in another ward...as the next ward does not appear until an hour after the ward we attended was done. We were apostates!!

That evening we had a little birthday celebration for Uncle Clint. I was glad we got to be there. It is rare we get to celebrate our siblings birthdays, and we very rarely get to let people know how much they really mean to us in person anymore!

(Riding BUCKY (Uncle Scotts nick name) Style! Going Buck on Buck the horse! ha ha)

Monday September 1- HAPPY LABOR DAY!!!! We started out the day by going swimming at Dan's cousins home (right behind Dan's family's). The boys swam for 4 hours straight and Dacie/Dan lasted for 3. I got some good Twilight reading in there as well!

We came home to Uncle Scott falling down the window well and going through the basement window. Glass everywhere!!! (without a scratch on his leg). He is painting the exterior of Dan's parents house while he is home, and ...oops-he fell. Dan's mom sent me out shopping with Dan so I could find some nice Sunday clothes to wear, since I wear them allot more frequently with my new calling, meetings, and other ward visits. We headed to the mall KID-LESS. I could not secure the plain skirts that I am looking for...but I have not given up hope! Dan and I have decided that the mall is worldly and materialistic--but it is fun to go people watch!~

While we were gone Dawn stuffed some of the HUGE zucchinis we brought down from our garden with us and we ended our great extended weekend on a high note eating stuffed zucchinis.

Too bad the trip home was anything but a high note-and the night that proceeded as well! We bathed the kids and had them in pj's hoping they would sleep on the way home. Instead they whined because they were so tired and did not have complete beds to sprawl out in! After we got home we proceeded to take the kids in as quickly as possible to lay them down. As I unlatched Dacie and went to pull her out of her car seat she let out a blood curdling scream. I did not know it at the time BUT I had pulled her wrist 'out' (we know it was not her shoulder or elbow, thanks to Dan's education and her reluctance to let us get close to her wrist). She was in soooooo much pain! We thought she was overtired and tried to just lay her down...but it ended up with me sleeping in bed with her-- and in the rocking chair for the rest of the night, waking up (no lie) every 15 minutes when she would twitch or move -- only to have her wake up screaming. I felt awful-with four kids- I have never done that once!!! At 2:30am I was ready to take her to the ER just for some morphine for the pain (since IBproferen was not touching it). BUT $800 plus dollars was too much for a night cap! Her and I just rode it out together. I was crying the whole time! The next morning just as I was calling the doctor to get her in. Ryland jumped on her while she was laying on the couch (the first time I had set her down in 12 hours) and I heard another blood curdling scream, only to find her wrist was absolutely back to normal. Don't ask me how, but we have not had a problem since. Ryland got her to snap her wrist back into place.I think this is the first time Ryland did not get into serious trouble for hurting his sister!!!

(Don't mess with the sista! ~Bed head and all~ This face was all too familiar that entire evening!)

That was our SUPER week, how was yours?