A Sweet Experience

I am so incredibly far behind in journaling but wanted to take the opportunity to share my experience tonight while it is fresh and sweet.

Our wards youth were scheduled to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead this afternoon. This would be Shelby's first opportunity to go. I couldn't help but to be excited for her as I know this is the beginning of her experiences within the walls of the temple. I called a member of the Bishopric to see if I could tag along as I wanted to be there to experience this with her. They of course welcomed me to come. I was able to sit next to Shelby as we waited for their turn and then be able to hand towels to them as they came out of the font. What a wonderful experience to be able to be in the Lord's House with my sweet daughter who is a strong example of good. You could tell that she was nervous as she kept saying I am so tired, I am so hungry. I giggled and told her I thought she might just be a bit so nervous. We have an incredible group of youth in our ward and it was great to be surrounded by them, in many ways it made me miss working with the youth. We finished our evening with dinner at Olive Garden (of course!) and a nice drive home.

It makes me grateful to live close to a temple and now with two children old enough to babysit, it makes it easier to go. Collin was man of the house while we were gone. He did a great job (even though he feels Ellie is spoiled!) He is working hard to master it for mom so that I will recommend him to my friends. I came home to kids fed, food and plates cleaned up and all of them in pajamas. I do believe he gets two thumbs up. Way to go son!

I did have a quick glimpse back in time though tonight, as a flashback to my Laurel Advisor days reminded me of the last youth temple trip I went on, where my keys got flushed down the toilet in Olive Garden and we had to have a lock smith come and make a new key....I think the whole stake had a great time teasing about that one forever.

Thanks for letting me come along Shelby, I am so proud of you and love you very much!

A Trip Home

Tonight I escaped to my hometown via the great world of blogging. It is amazing how time can just fly by because it seems that one blog just leads to another.....and before you know it hours have gone by. I was able to see blogs of so many people from the Gila Valley, people that I love but it has been so long since I have seen them or caught up. I have to be honest that it made me a little homesick not to be able to reach out and hug them. But on the other hand, it was wonderful to see their lives, full of joy, trials, happiness, success, growth and even sorrow, as we know this is truly the Refiners fire. When I moved to Utah, I left behind so much. I knew that it meant a new, sweet start, but at times I feel like I completely removed part of who I am. How do you find the balance between those two worlds?? Between leaving the sad, hard and hurt that came from all that was happening in my marriage 5 years ago, trying to move on and going forward and embracing that I am exactly who I am because of all that I did go through and that I am grateful I am ME! I have always loved the Gila Valley and hope that someday, the anxiety that I feel when I do physically travel home will leave and that I will look forward with anticipation to bumping into the unknowns with smiles, happiness and joy...I know this is a matter of time healing the soul, I do hope that it heals quickly. I am so grateful for each of you who do warmly embrace and welcome me home...I love each of you!

Baby Bath or Bidet

I needed to go and check our display at the Showcase of Homes where I have worked for the last three Saturdays and decided I would take the kids with me so that they could see the house where I have been working. It is only a mere 11,000 sq ft with a 2500 sq ft garage. They described it as a mansion as we were pulling up. They were oohing and awing over the house as we were going through but the kicker and what caused great laughter was when we got to the master bathroom and came across the Bidet. Ellie exclaimed, "Look Mom, it's the bath for the baby!" Of course Ellie! In my lack of knowledge on how to spell the word "Bidet" (never had a reason to before and it actually spells just like it sounds!) I went to Webster on line and after it gives the majority of the definition it then finishes with this. "Despite appearing similar to a toilet, it would be more accurate to compare it to the washbasin or bathtub. In fact, the bidet is used by some for a baby bath." Well duh, to me and the rest of us that laughed, Ellie had it right all along!
They had three of these bunk beds in one of the bedrooms. I thought they were fun!
The kids loved the indoor sports court and of course the movie theater.
I loved the doors that slide back into the walls and create a very open feel for the living room and kitchen. This house was right on the golf course and so your view was spectacular and it brought nature right into the house. Of all the features I saw, this was by far my favorite. It was absolutely beautiful!

Ellie Kneviel Part TWO

I know that you are probably looking at these pics wondering why I am taking a picture of a canoe, be ready for a good laugh cause it is quite funny! (I can only say that cause Ellie is okay of course!) The other day while I was fixing dinner, Ellie had been next door playing at the neighbors house which is something that she does quite often. I heard the doorbell ring and went to it to find my neighbor, her three children and Ellie standing there. Before she could get two words out her 7 yr old just starts spilling out the whole story and it went something like this. "Ellie and Alan, (also 4) they were climbing up the canoe and then they climbed up on the roof and the canoe fell and Ellie was hanging from the rain gutter and my dad had to catch her!" Okay.....only Ellie could pull something off like this so as I go through it with Erin (the mom) it gets funnier as we start to piece all the picture together. The canoe had been propped up against the evaporative cooler like Shelby is holding it above, Ellie and Alan were climbing up it and using it as a slide. What fun you say! As you can see it is quite close to the roof line, Ellie had just gotten to the top and Alan was almost there when it started to wobble. Alan jumped off of it and Ellie, thank goodness, had the presence of mind to grab the rain gutter. The canoe fell off of the cooler leaving Ellie literally hanging from the rain gutter. Erin and her husband were inside and heard the canoes crash and she thought she better go check but when they all of a sudden heard the screaming of the kids her husband Bryce bolted out the door. They came around the end of the housing expecting to find a child under one of the canoes but NEVER expected to find a child hanging from the rain gutter! (I would have loved to have seen the look on their faces as they came around the corner!) Bryce had to tell Ellie a couple of times to let go before she would release her death grip on the rain gutter. I knew the kid was strong but she really is amazing! We had to recreate the scene of the crime for photo evidence purposes. You have to remember that she is my child who at 2 I found her on top of Kevin's shed just sitting there and then when she was almost 3 she fell out of our second story window when she was trying to see the fire truck! She is something incredible and blessed to say the least. She must have a great mission to perform because her guardian angels have to work overtime with her! We tried to explain to her that she is not a cat and does not have 9 lives but she just smiles.
Ellie posing near the canoe, this is how it was when we found it.
This is Alan, and just for every one's information...I really do comb Ellie's hair but at some point and time earlier that afternoon she had gotten in the water and already was bathed and dressed for bed but never got her hair combed.
Ellie and Alan thought it was fun to play in the canoe now that it was down on the ground too!
This was such a cute pic of Dallin and Alan that I had to include it in this post!

In all serious, I see the hand of the Lord in our lives so often. We are blessed daily as he watches over my precious family and keeps them safely protected. I had to say a gratitude prayer especially on Wednesday evening that my Ellie was safe. I am sure that she is strong but I am more sure that she had Heavenly Father's strength with her that evening to be able to hold on for as long as she did in the hysteria of the moment. She is such a sweet blessing in my life and I am so grateful for the spunk that her audacious spirit brings to my home. She is always smiling with such a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, you can't help but to just want to squeeze her! I am grateful that I have her for another day and that we can laugh about her "Swinging from the Rain Gutters." It's so my Ellie.

Ellie's First Day of Preschool

Today was Ellie's first day of preschool. She was so excited to get up and go. She has been chomping at the bit for the last several weeks since the older kids went and she had to wait, cause you know mom is too boring :-) She is going to Teacher Terri's (that's what Ellie calls her) again, she loved being there last year. Terri is now teaching five days a week and was also willing to take Ellie extra hours so that I can work. She goes Monday - Friday from 8:30am to 2:30pm. I was worried how Ellie would do cause she gets so clingy to me at times, but she is absolutely loving it. Terri is always looking for fun things to do and Ellie is loving all of the friends that she is making. And just a side note, I am loving how much I am able to get done for work without interruptions, it is just bliss. It is nice to finally have a structured schedule for all of us. It truly is what keeps my world going round!

Collin's Last Pinewood Derby

This is the last Pinewood Derby for Collin as he will graduate to 11 yr. old scouts next month. Can you hear me crying the tears of sadness :-) No, I can't complain too much about Pinewood Derbies cause my brother Kynan was a saint and not only helped Collin build a pinewood derby but Dallin too! (Dallin, he is not in scouts yet but was dying to do it too!) It was quite the process, design and design some more, cut and then sand, sand, sand. What about killed Dallin was how long it took me to go and buy the paint, talk about little patience, but we finally got it bought and then painted them. They each had their unique style and definitely knew exactly what they wanted. We had a few little problems with Dallin's paint job but he was cheerfully flexible (bless you Dallin) and then Uncle Kynan did the finishing touches....the wheels, they need to be just right! They both weighed 5 oz. right on the dot. Way to go Kynan! Something a little funny was that Collin wanted to name his Blue Lightening. While Kynan was trying to get the weights melted and put inside the cars, he kind of caught Collin's on fire. It had a singed part on the bottom where it almost looked like it had been struck by lightening. I told him it was good luck!

One of my callings is Assistant Cub Master. I am grateful for this calling as I feel that scouts is very important for boys and it allows me the opportunity to give back when Collin has had wonderful leaders that have made such a difference for him. This pack meeting was fun as I was able to give out all of the awards. I especially loved the opportunity that it gave me to give Collin his awards. He was very excited, as he should be. He won 1st place for his Webelos Den and 3rd Overall, he also won an award for Sportiest Car. Dallin had to race his car as a leaders car because no other younger boys had made cars...so we became Team Wright and he raced my car in the leaders race.....and we won!!! He was very excited and went with the flow of things quite well. He will thoroughly enjoy running under his own name next year.

I truly have much to be grateful for, great boys who are good sports and have fun! I am also especially grateful for a big brother who has taken the opportunity with a smile to give back to school blessings, help build pinewood derbies, be a great role model for my kids and is an exceptional boss to me. It has been wonderful to live close to him and his family. We feel so blessed to live in this community, I hope this is where we will always live! It just doesn't get much better than this!

Dallin's Pinewood Derby Hightlights

What a shot of Collin's and Dallin's cars racing! The car in the lead was weighted down by pennies and ended up being the car that won overall! It received the award of Wisiest Use of Money :-)




Dallin did such a fabulous job even if he was underage :-) He spent so much time planning this car out, it really was quite cute. I wouldn't be surprised if someday he makes a career out of designing cars or something of the sort as he enjoys drawing and using many details. He would have loved to have done more with the paint job but we just ran out of time, maybe next year Dallin! Ellie was especially patient and such a good girl tonight. She sat and watched so intently, bless you child!! Your momma thanks you!