Her Last Night

Yes....the drama queen of Mohave High School took her last bow of her high school career last night. We are so proud of Cortnie. She loves to act and she is so good at it. She might not have recieved her dream part of Ms. Hannigan, but she was a great Lily...in fact, she was wonderful! She can play it up no matter what part she is in. Her dream now is to continue her acting career at Brigham Young University as she minors in drama. The high school will miss her talents as will her parents having the chance to watch her progress. In Cortnie's own words...."I cried just a little bit." Hang you head high Drama Queen...on to bigger and better things.

Our Adventure

So, we have lived here in Bullhead City for almost 19 years. We have heard many times about a wonderful, beautiful hike about 20 miles away. So, we finally decided to go on that hike. It was fun. It was lots of rocks and so much sand. I have news though for those who say it is beautiful...it will never beat a hike through Utah mountains.....I am a Utahn still after all these years.

Coloring Easter Eggs

Pictures of "my babies" coloring their eggs.....

Life!!

Have you ever stopped to notice that life just flies by? Have you ever wondered where all the time in the day goes? Have you ever wondered if you will ever be able to have all the time in the world to do everything you want? I'm sure you have.....and so do I.

I love my life right now...don't get me wrong. I love being a wife and mother. I love being a homemaker. I love being a friend. I find no greater joy than watching my children grow up. I love it when they are all home and we get to spend time together. The house is way noisy, but I love hearing them laugh and play. It is so wonderful....and yet never enough. How I wish Brittnie could come home every weekend. I miss her so much...in fact, we won't see her now again until the first of May when she is done with school. My heart was saddened the other day when I came home from work and saw Cortnie's graduation announcements on the shelf. It hit me then that all too soon I will have another child leave my home and my heart will be even more empty. Who will go shopping with me....Rob hates it and the boys are no fun. It is going to be so strange not having any daughters in my home. How I wish we could move and live closer to them. It would take a miracle to make it happen, but miracles happen everyday so why not in my life too.

I find great joy in being with my best friend...Rob. I love to just hold his hand or be held in his arms. I love to spend time with him on a date or just watching TV. We have both hit the exercise/diet bug and spend a few nights a week at our "gym" working out. It is amazing how much better we feel and we are together doing it. We compare how big our pants are getting and laugh. I am not sure how much weight Rob has lost, but I am done 2 pant sizes and want to go more. It feels so good - but days like today, chocolate and strawberries are worth in once in awhile.

We had "our" twins here again this past week and I love them so much. They are so dang cute and so well behaved. They will just run up to you and give you the biggest hug or want to sit on your lap. We went to the park, colored eggs, played on the computers, and even slept together (well, tried to get them to sleep). They brighten my day so much....how I wish they could be in my home all the time. I just love little kids.

It was also a great day to listen to conference. I get so inspired by the men of God. They make me feel so good and so hopeful about what I can do. I know that they love our Heavenly Father and want the best for all of us. My battery has been charged and I am ready for the ride.

I love to be happy...I love to smile ....I love to be alive!

He Did IT!!

Well, it is not "official" yet - meaning he has not been awarded his Eagle Scout Award, but his project is complete. After a month long process of earning money by babysitting, yard work, fixing computers and asking for donations, Boyd was able to earn over $500 for his Eagle project. He went shopping for material online and at the local Walmart. It was cute to see him carrying the big bolts of fabric to the cutting table. He organized a blanket making day for our ward and we prepared for a couple of weeks. Our nights were spent cutting fabric into fringes on the ends and tying them as we travled and watched TV.

Blanket making day was a huge success. We had 59 people show up to help us cut and tie blankets. We had young kids and wonderful older friends there. Our best friends from Las Vegas even made the trip down to help out. We were done with all the blankets within two hours - savings us tons of hours if we would have had to finish them at home. Of course, dinner being served after two hours was a huge factor in getting done. I am still in awe over the amount of frineds that were there to help us. I was so humbled and grateful that they gave up their time to help Boyd.

Boyd's goal was 50 blankets....and he was able to complete 72. The blankets will not be shipped back to Illinois and Project Linus will then get them to Haiti for him - so that children there can have something of their own again. I am so proud of him......he has a huge, caring, giving heart and it shows in the pictures.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Where do I begin with the wonderful blonde daughter of mine that is a senior in high school....she is driving me crazy and I think she enjoys it! Let's start with the bad. If you know Cortnie, you know she loves to act and be in plays. She really loves the musicals. The school this year is doing the play "Annie" and she was the Mrs. Hannigan - the evil one. She practiced and practiced her audition recitation and solo and she nailed it. Everyone knew she was going to get the role - everyone but her drama teachers. She was so certain the part was hers. She called me from school the day the list was posted and said she did not get the part. Instead she was the butlers "woman" but it was okay cause it was a major role and a villian too. However, after reading the script, she released this version of the play was not that way. She has only twelve lines in the play and has no solos. Her heart was crushed again as she watched her best friend get the part she wanted (and she can not even reach the notes in the song to sing it). The bad.

Okay..the ugly. If you read my earlier post in December, you will recall reading about the car accident that Cortnie was in. We finally got everything worked out with the insurance company and recieved a pretty good settlement for the damage. The check came and I stuck it in my purse to deposit it. I get a phone call from Cortnie THE VERY NEXT DAY, saying she has just been called to the principals office cause her car has been hit in the parking lot. Apparently, some older man was unconscious, rear ended a car at a stop light; drifted over into the oncoming traffic lane; narrowly missed three city workers in field; cascaded down a small slope into one palm tree; sped forward to hit another one causing the car to stop and hitting a metal fence. The blow sent a pole from the fence 56 feet across the parking lot into the door and window of car smashing the window into thousands of pieces and jamming the door. We just had to laugh. Cortnie's comment was if she keeps going, she can get enough money for a new car. The car is so old, we will not fix the dents but let her drive it until it dies. It will be interesting to see what we get this time around....the ugly.

The good...the best for last. We recieved notification this week that Cortnie was accepted into Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. This has been her dream school since she was ten and it is so hard to get into. I had her read her letter at the dinner table and she could not even make it through the first line before she was in tears. She has said the full ride four year scholarship at SUU is very nice and tempting, but this is her dream and she does not want to give it up. Hopefully she will get a scholarship or two to BYU also. She deserves it and I am way proud of her. Now if we can only get to graduation :-). The good....

The College One

I can honestly say that I don't think there is much going on in the college one's life. She is doing better this semester in her classes and is excited for her scuba class to start. She wants to go diving with her dad at Catalina Island.....but might have to settle for beautiful Lake Mohave in Bullhead City, Arizona. She loves her little car that she gets to drive around and loves to come home. She even went to a dance at the institute on Friday night. I wish she would do that more or go find a job. I hate the fact that she sits around all day and does nothing. She did tell me though that she is thinking about doing pediatric nutrition - and I think it is a wonderful idea. She has always been great with little kids and loves babies. At least she is making decisions...finally!!