Hang on . . . here we go!!

The rest of the summer was crazy fun and a whirlwind! It was really a summer for our Kylee. She had LOTS going on but our family had fun too! :)

So . . . here we go . . .

We started the summer off by sending our Kylee to a BRAND NEW program - Time to Blossom. An EFY for 11-16 yr old girls only! It's pilot year was here in Arizona at the Mesa Hilton. She had a blast with 250+ girls running around the hotel with amazing speakers and programs. She is ready to do again next year! Check it out if you have a daughter - www.TimetoBlossom.com. They are having 3 next year around the country!

Kylee then headed off to our ward's Journey Retreat for the Young Women. The theme this year was 'Come What May and Love It'.

Then . . . Here she is getting on the bus for Girls Camp! She's a wild one and the new Beehives love having her as their President because she's so fun. She was released just 2 weeks after camp since she's turning 14 yrs old and moving on to MiaMaids.

Here she is with a couple of great gals from the ward. She loved camp, as usual!

The day after she got home from Girls Camp, Kylee got braces. We've been going to the orthodontist for 4 years and when he finally said she was ready, you'd have thought she won the lottery! She was so excited! For now she has an expander on top and lower braces. After the top has moved enough, then they'll add braces on top. She's anxious for that, too!

Here she is in the midst of it all. Happy as can be!! Crazy girl! :)

HERE'S THE FINAL PRODUCT! SHE'S ECSTATIC! We've been expanding and brushing a lot. She's been very good to keep with the rules too. We'll see if she keeps with them. :)

Just 2 days after Kylee's big day, we headed out for a family vacation! In the past we have had a trip here and there and they usually last about 2-3 days and not much more than that. But this summer we went to Colorado for a whole week! We went to Grand Junction first for our niece's baptism. This was for my sister, Mindy's oldest daughter - Carli. We had a blast and enjoyed the fun with family!!

This picture is out of order but it's the Eisenhower Tunnel we drove through between the Dare's and Daugherty's. The kids liked how we drove 'through' the mountain and hearing the history behind it from Dad.

While in Grand Junction we went to the Dinosaur Museum with all the cousins that were there. It was fun to see all the hands-on displays!

We love spending time with cousins! The Dare girls are so much fun and we've missed them since they moved. The kids had a blast at the museum, playing in the retention park outside their house with the "cold" rain and Grandpa's candy cannon, and playing Just Dance! on the wii. We also stopped back by on our drive home to Arizona and enjoyed even more time with them!

Next we drove over the Rocky Mountains to Longmont, just outside of Boulder. We stayed with our dear friends, the Daugherty's for about 4 days. It was absolutely beautiful weather and the kids loved all the rain. We enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. We saw deer walk in the street, even the highway. We saw the buffalo ranch and enjoyed time as a family with no real commitments.

We went to the county fair. I won't bore you with too many pics but we rode rides, ate yummy treats (gotta have a funnel cake) and saw horses, goats and humongus pigs! :)

We ate VERY well while we are there! We just HAD to eat lunch at Noodles. The adults went out to dinner at an old opera house that was revamped into a restaurant called Dickon's. And the rest of the time, Brian cooked for us. Amazing pulled pork tacos, yummy burgers, and tantalizing tubes&twirls (his own recipe). He is quite the chef and the kids really liked watching him cook! Thanks Brian!!

The best part was that I got to spend time with my BEST friend in the whole wide world (well, other than my Geoff)! We laughed and enjoyed spending time with both families for the first time ever! I love you Tawni!

Kylee - 9th grade

Freshman! Where has the time gone?? This is the last year with 9th graders in the junior high schools in Mesa. She is excited to be the "big guy on campus" and to be "making history" as the last 9th grade class at Poston Jr. High. She's excited to add Seminary to her schedule this year!

Jonathan - 7th grade

His first year in junior high! I just can't believe it. He's really grown up in past few weeks. His friendship with Kylee has grown closer too. It's nice to see them get along a lot better. :)

Dakota - 6th grade

Big man on campus! He's enjoying being the "oldest" in the school. He's a ladies man and has quite a few girls trying to be "his". We are working to keep him single. LOL!!

Maddisen - 4th grade

I can't believe my BABY is so grown up! She is really enjoying school and LOVES to read!

Kylee's 14th birthday! No party this year - she had almost 30 girls at our house for a swimming/homemade pizza party last year. But she got breakfast of french toast with buttermilk syrup, lunch from Ned's Krazy Sub and LOTS of fun things from friends! Spoiled with friends and fun! Can't believe how fast you are growing my Kylee-doll! We love you!!

Oh - just a bit of fun: On Friday following her birthday, she went to seminary to find a a sub and it was her grandpa! My Dad is an institute teacher and was asked to sub for her school. FUN!

Well, that's it for now. I'll try to be better about keeping up! Have a great week!!

APOLOGIES . . . please accept??

I sure hope you can forgive me. I tell you I'm blogging again and of course, I get sidetracked. Again and again. I think I have nothing on my plate - summer camps are over, I've said no to theatre jobs - and yet, I still have tons to do.

So, quick recap:

1 - I was going to go to girls camp but Geoff had to work nights while I would be gone and my extended family were going to be up at the cabin. So therefore, I'm not going. I was sad but every time I prayed it just didn't feel right. Now I know why. I need to be here with my family. But I'm still doing a lot of the prep work. I know how hard it can be. My Mom was Stake Camp Director for years growing up. It's MONTHS of preparation and I had so much time on my hands in July, I figured I might as well put them to good use, right?

2 - I had an AMAZING experience to sing a choir. Not just any choir but the recording choir for Rob Gardner's new oratorio, "Lamb of God". I wish I had the talent this man possesses in just an ounce of him!! We had 2 quick rehearsals during the week and on Saturday we recorded all day. The music was GORGEOUS, the cathedral-like hall we recorded in was acoustically BEAUTIFUL, the people I had the pleasure of singing with were AMAZINGLY TALENTED and to put a cherry on the top - we were accompanied by the LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA! It was an all-around spiritually and musically fulfilling day!

3 - Kylee went to her quarterly orthodontist appointment last week, expecting to hear she still needed to wait for a few more teeth to grow in, and about jumped out of her chair when he said "well, looks like it's time to put those braces on"! She is beyond excited, ticked at her mom and still a bit upset at the doctor. Let me explain - she's excited because "all" of her friends have had braces and already gotten them off. She's the "last". (Don't we LOVE teen exaggeration!) She's ticked at me because they were ready to put them on this week but the only appt available would've been the day before she left for camp. You see - she's getting an expander on the top and she'll have to 'crank' it every night. I was NOT going to send my baby to camp the day after and let her be miserable without me around to love on her! So, the date was moved to Wed morning (first appt of the day at 7:40am - silly girl!) the day AFTER she gets home from camp. And lastly, she's still kinda ticked at the doc because he's not putting ALL her braces on right away. Did I mention she's not very patient, like her Mom? She will get bottom braces and the expander put in and then after the top has moved like he wants and the teeth come through - he'll put on the top braces. We're excited for her, not excited for the "drama" that's going to follow and my checkbook has STILL not recovered!! Yikes!

Well, I'm still helping get things ready for camp. Kylee leaves for camp in 2 days. Geoff is working hard at the job he really dislikes. The weather here is miserably hot and muggy since the monsoons can't get through the heat, so we just get the humidity. But on the other hand . . . we leave in 10 days for Colorado. We are still praying for our little miracle and that we'll get this job!! We NEED this change and really feel this is the best for our family!

Stay TOONed!

More TOON drama is bound to happen!!

This is what memories are made of!

Monday morning came VERY early! My alarm went off at 5:15am and I woke up Jonathan. I love how boys are so fast. He showered and dressed and we left the house at 5:35 to hit McDonald's for breakfast. The last thing Geoff said to him when he said goodbye the night before was - -

THIS IS WHAT MEMORIES ARE MADE OF. Don't sit idly by - get out there and enjoy it!

What a great man I married and what great advice! Jonathan is a carbon copy of his Dad and I think he understood. When we arrived at the church parking lot about 5 minutes early, Jonathan was apprehensive to get out right at first but as more boys showed up, he began to relax and before I knew it, he was 'gone'. I sat with some other Mom's while they loaded up, had prayer and headed out. I picked up Geoff from work and then headed home to hit my pillow again but that was short-lived. By the time I got home it was almost 8am and the others were ready to hit the party for Memorial Day at my sisters. I gave them a small "list" of things to get done before we could go and it was about 11:30 when we pulled out of the garage and headed on our way, leaving Geoff to sleep on the couch from his nightshift.

Green chili burros, 3 kinds of homemade salsa, chips, beans, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and other yummy toppings were there waiting for us. We filled our tummies and our hearts and minds with loads of fun, visiting with family and swimming. All of us got a little sun, considering it was only "warm" for Arizona on this holiday. I always enjoy visiting with all of my family and although we were missing Mindy and her family (in Colorado), Liz (in Oregon), my Jonathan (at scout camp) and my Geoff (asleep), we still had 19 grandkids, Grandpa and Grandma, 7 adults and LOTS of noise and fun! Never a dull moment at the Whiting Family Parties! We arrived home just in time for Geoff to eat some food we brought home and then he headed out the door back to work. All of us crashed in the family room on couches and floor for about an hour or so until we were awaken by the doorbell. Kylee had girls waiting for her to go "lead" them as they heart attacked a new Beehive on the eve of her 12th birthday.

Tuesday started with Kylee, myself and the YW president going to the above mentioned new Beehive's home to welcome her in to Young Women's and present her with her new Personal Progress Book, journal, theme card and For Strength of Youth pamphlet. Kylee is the Beehive President and I'm the Personal Progress leader. It's fun to go together and welcome the new girls and talk about the joy and fun of Personal Progress. Unfortunately while we were there, we learned that at scout camp yesterday (their first day), one of the leaders (Rick Wheeler - who was one of Jonathan's previous scout leaders) was in an accident. He was the first to ride the zip line and he hit a tree. They worried about spinal injuries and fortunately there were none but he was air evac'd to St Joe's (they were up by Strawberry). He had some pretty serious facial damage. They had to do some facial reconstruction and wire his jaw shut since it was broken. This just about broke my heart in two when I heard this! Rick is a gentle giant and an amazing man who has had an amazing influence on both my boys! We pray he will recover quickly and that his family will be comforted. Then my heart went to my son, who was there when this happened. I hope Jonathan learned as he watched the priesthood put into action and felt the spirit as Bro. Wheeler remained calm through it all. I pray that his heart is calmed and he is ok. My Jon-boy has such a tender heart and I hope he remains strong and still enjoys himself without apprehension and fear. I hope he remembers the WISE words his Dad gave him and is getting out there to MAKE SOME MEMORIES!

Stay TOONed!

All-Star Baseball season is starting!