labor of love

Last year our primary presidency was approached about doing a sort of vacation bible school for our children at church. This is a huge undertaking and quite overwhelming, but we pulled it off. Our theme was BOOT Camp (Building Our Own Testimonies) and the kids LOVED it. Each age group was a different platoon and they would march from classes that ranged from Spiritual Training to Craft Detail to Physical Training. Lunch was served in the 'Mess Hall".

Honestly, the kids have SO MUCH fun with this - they look forward to it all year and so this year we might have gone a little overboard but it was so worth it!
Our theme this year was "Putting on the Armor of God". We extended our camp to 3 days and added a water day complete with an awards ceremony, slide show and pinata. Oh the fun!



When all was said and done (yes we even hand made clay CTR shields for the kids to paint and take home) seeing these kids feel the love that all of their leaders have for them is more than worth it. We have kids from ALL walks of life that come together each Sunday and I love them so much. I feel sincerely blessed to serve them.

Julia Karen and I matched in green and black army gear on the firs day - she was a trooper, 3 straight days of no morning naps and being at the church from 9 to 2 on some days.

Funny stories I want to remember *readers be warned one is about nursing*

-On the first day of boot camp I snuck away from my class to quickly feed JK. I hurried into the mothers lounge and not worrying about keeping covered I started to nurse her. All of a sudden I heard a platoon marching closer and closer - turns out that they were doing a scavenger hunt and a clue was hidden in the mothers lounge right where I was nursing - awesome!! Poor kids, they got more than a clue in that room that day! Thanks Tomicka for stopping them before they all were sent into post traumatic stress disorder from a church boot camp!

- the whole week I had a dull and rather painful ache under my left rib cage. Turns out I have a cracked rib (not fractured - but still painful). I just kept thinking I can make it until the end of boot camp. Yesterday I went strait to a pri-med place for an x-ray when boot camp finished up and there you have it a cracked and painful rib - but at least I made it to the end. I always knew I was military material....

Miracle for Tegan

See this little doll - her sweet little body is fighting cancer right now. Her name is Tegan and she is my cousins little girl. My cousin and her husband tried for years to get pregnant, they were finally blessed with this little girl just two years ago and now they are fighting for her life.

My heart has been breaking as I read and hear updates about little Tegan and her struggles with this battle. I know that many of you don't know this family, but I know that you know what it is like to be a mother and to fear for your little ones. Please follow Tegans story with us and pray for her and for her family. I know that prayers ease pain and strengthen us during our darkest hours.

Follow her story at: teganlyn.blogspot.com

6 Months Old

Julia Karen is 6 months old. She is 17.1 lbs and 27.5 inches tall. She is rolling all over the place and starting to sit on her own. She loves her family and laughs all the time. She is the sunshine of our days.

I can't stop laughing

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

Go there now - you'll be happy you did.

Schools Out For Summer

Let's swing, eat popsicles, and play with water as much as possible.

Trey's Preschool Graduation

Today Trey graduated from preschool. It was a great day. We will miss his teachers and friends so much as everyone heads off to different schools next year.

I am very devoted to this little preschool - I worked there as a music teacher when I was pregnant with Trey and today he walked the stage five years later.

Songs were sung, pictures taken, food devoured, presents given and smiles all around - maybe a few tears. (Lars mockingly kept saying "I told myself I wasn't going to cry" all the while laughing with the boys like they had a private joke)!

Here are a few pictures from our day.






Trey's biggest fan and best friend - his little brother. Toby also performed today, but it took a little coaxing. Alright it took a bribe of a water gun. Toby started crying as soon as he saw us and started to refuse to go up on stage. Lars said quietly but firmly - "no water gun then" I looked at the people sitting next to us, embarrassed that we were bribing/forcing our child to perform. I was relieved that it was a Korean couple that don't speak much English. As soon as Toby was done performing he ran to us and the Korean man leaned down and asked Toby "Was it worth it for a water gun?" Busted. We bribe because we love....

Trey can't wait to sleep with his "friendship pillowcase".

Crazy

So - I love to create things. For some reason I get a high from cleaning my house and making things. I have had a little home decor boutique (can I call it that? - hmmm, that reminds me I am 11 days late on rent...) for about a year and a half now and it is fun, but a friend recently talked to me about taking this passion and stepping it up a bit.

Step it up a bit we did! You can check out our business at lfhvinyl.blogspot.com. We have been nuts. In the last 6 weeks we have had 4 events going on. We have more scheduled for August and September already.

If you had stopped by my house last week you would have seen a dining room table and hard wood floors that looked ruined from paint as well as multiple jeans of mine covered in vinyl scraps - I was loving it! Honestly at one point my dining room had 30+ boards in all different colors flanking the walls and chairs and I'm pretty sure I went quite a few days without a shower and my hair tucked under a baseball cap all so that we could get people their orders by Mothers Day.

So that is what has been going on around here. I'd love to hear any comments or ideas on things we should add to our catalog.