Easter 2008

I'm a little behind in my posts and need to go in order of the events so I put Calvin's birthday first and will now post our Easter pictures....only a week late. :o) That's the story of my life.

We had a wonderful Easter though and it was even better because my Mom was here with us. We actually went to Pacana Park on Saturday for the annual City of Maricopa's Easter Celebration where they have all kinds of cool things and egg hunts for the kids. Easter morning the kids woke up to find their baskets and were thrilled. We do our best to make sure that we discuss and honor Jesus through out the day because Easter is all about him. We have a wonderful Easter Sunday story that we always read to the kids that is about Jesus and it's too long to put in here but to summarize it is about the attonement and when Mary Magdalene is weeping at his tomb because he is not there and Jesus appears to her. I just love it and feel so blessed each time we read it or think about his attonement. Jesus does live and I'm so thankful to personally know that! We then got ready for church and after church stopped at the neighborhood park to take a couple of pictures. We had Steve & Julie and their children join us for Easter dinner. My brothers were supposed to come but ended up going out of town with our Dad for the weekend. We had a very enjoyable day and lots of good food.

Happy Easter Everyone! McKenna, Leslie, Calvin & Will Wright

My baby is six years old!

Calvin turned six during Spring Break and with all of the moving and everything we've had going on I failed to plan a "Friend Party" so we crashed our ward's weekly Playgroup at the park the day before his birthday.


McKenna was so sweet she asked Calvin if he would want her to be his clown and do face painting on all of the children, of course he agreed. After getting the paint and her stencils together she decided that she didn't have a clown wig or clown clothes so she would just paint faces and he was the guest of honor so he would be first. So cute!
I made 50 cup cakes and took them to the park...we sang Happy Birthday and they all ate cup cakes and ran off and played. Everyone was happy and the other children there were excited for their unexpected treats.










Here are only a couple of pictures from the park.




































The next day was his real birthday and that morning my beautiful Mom Sherri flew in from Utah to stay with us for 5 days. Because it was Spring Break, McKenna got to go with me to the airport...poor Calvin wasn't feeling well so he stayed home with Will. We went out to do some bpo's (broker price opinions - like mini appraisals) and then went to one of our favorite places to eat a quick lunch Some Burro's and then headed home to get cakes in the oven for Calvin's birthday party that evening.





Here's a picture of Calvin that morning....poor little guy, sick on his own birthday. Luckily he felt a bit better by that afternoon and evening.

At 6:30pm the guests began arriving. My Mom had helped me make a spice cake with cream cheese frosting and a chocolate cake with homemade fudge frosting. (we had cup cakes left over from the day before also) Very Yummy!

Isn't she beautiful!!! I love you Mom!

Make a wish sweetie!

WOW...he got so many cool toys and cash too!

Kody, Me, Our Dad & Jesse celebrating Calvin's big day.

McKenna getting some use out of one of his new gifts. She didn't take them off practically for 3 days!

At the end of the night after everyone left...my Mom took this picture of us.

Happy Birthday little Buddy! We love you very very much!

Love,

Mom, Dad and Sissy.

Attaching this story here as I had as an element on my side bar for a couple of months.

Calvin's Proposal - Funny Story!
So on Sunday 4/27/08 after church Calvin and I were playing Sponge Bob Square Pants Monopoly even though I wasn't feeling that well and McKenna later joined us as our banker.

So we are sitting on the floor upstairs in the game room playing and...
Calvin - "Mom, I can't wait until I grow up and get married!"
Mom - "Why?"
Calvin - "So I can eat some wedding cake! They look so yummy on TV...Oh I can't wait!"
Mom - trying not to laugh "You've had cake before"
Calvin - "but not wedding cake!"
Mom - "well you'll have plenty of time to eat cake and I'm sure you'll eat some wedding cake before you know it"
Calvin - "yeah, you're probably right Mom"
Kenna - "yeah little dude we've had wedding cake before at Aunt Brandy's wedding and I'm sure other weddings"
Calvin - "well I can't wait to eat my own wedding cake I want it to be chocolate with chocolate frosting"
Kenna & Mom - "wedding cake usually has white frosting"
Kenna - "and the girl bride gets to choose the cake not the husband!"
Calvin - "well, I'm going to tell her to pick strawberry & chocolate cuz those are my favorite!"
Mom - "that sounds yummy now let's keep playing our game"
Calvin - hops up and says "Mom, I know how to proposal" and proceeds to demostrate as well as explain that you get on one knee and with your other two hands open a box that has a really expensive ring inside and you say "whatever your name is....please will you please be my wife?" "whatever because I don't know her name right now"
McKenna - "yeah you don't want to say whatever your name is because she'll tell you NO!"
Mom - "where did you learn how to propose?"
Calvin - "I just knew I think that Heavenly Father just makes boys know"
Mom - "well that's wonderful! Remember that you need to go on a mission first and then find a nice girl to marry in the temple"
Calvin - "oh yeah I know and William and I are going on a mission together then we can come home and go on lots of dates with cute girls until we find the one we like the most and want to kiss"
McKenna - "you can't go on lots of dates with lots of girls because you will make all of those girls mad that you are cheating on them!"
Calvin - "no sir! I can go out on dates and I'll tell them that I like all the girls not just one!"
Mom - "yes please date a lot of girls before you narrow it down to only one and then go on lots of group dates with her and get to know her, then if you really like her, pray and ask if she is suppose to be your wife and then you can propose to her"
Calvin - "ok Mom!" like sure thing no problem
Game resumes for a few minutes
Calvin - "Mom I know how I'm going to propose too"
Mom - "how?"
Calvin - "I'm going to buy some fancy decorations for my house so it looks really nice, have some candles so it smells nice like a Salt City Candle like yours, then I'm going to have the lights (like our lamp downstairs that can go kind of dark but not all of the way)
Mom - "dimmed"
Calvin - "yes dimmed so it's romantic! Then I'm going to have a fancy dinner like Hamburgers because I really like homemade hamburgers and then I'm going to get on one knee and open her pretty pink diamond ring that cost a whole lot of money and ask her, "whatever her name is" will you please be my wife? and then Mom I'm going to be so happy when she says of course! Then pretty soon...we can eat our strawberry chocolate cake"
Kenna - laughing "hamburgers aren't that fancy, sorry to say dude"
Mom - trying not to laugh about the hamburger comment says "wow you have it all planned out!"
Calvin - "yep!"
Mom - "well as soon as she says of course I hope you call me and tell me that you are engaged so Daddy & I know"
Calvin - coming over and hugging me "Mom I'll always call you but I'd rather come over and tell you so you can meet her"
Mom - "I hope I meet her before you ask her to be your wife!"
Calvin - "Ok"
Calvin - "then I'll give her a big kiss right before we eat our cake!"I think he had cake on the mind Sunday....don't you? Then he got a bit silly and started saying silly things like he was going to make a fancy rotten pig for her to eat....or maybe a chicken. ha ha

Then he and McKenna wanted me to tell them again how Daddy proposed to me but before I could begin McKenna starting telling the story. I had forgotten that I even told them. :o)

Later at dinner I told Will that Calvin knew how he was going to propose to his wife and he repeated almost word for word the same thing. Then when he was done he asked Will to tell them how he proposed to Mommy. Will of course being the joker he is started telling them that Mom liked to hang out in bars and so he met me in a bar one night and tried to buy me a drink but I already had ordered one so he thought sweet I don't have to spend any money....Mommy thought I was rich so when I asked her if she wanted to be my wife later that night, she said show me the rock and when she saw it then said yes.

Wow did that make Kenna mad she told him that first of all Mom doesn't drink and she would NEVER go in a bar so tell us the real story Dad! Calvin just laughed and said he's kidding and I said yes he is kidding!

He then admitted that we went with the Hilderbrands to TGIF in Mesa and then to South Mtn Point Hilton in Phoenix next to the lake where he has 6 dozen roses laid out by Jared with candles that blew out so we couldn't find them all...he bent down and nervously proposed to me and put the ring on my finger before even showing it to me and without me answering him yet. 12 years ago one day ago on April 26th, 1996. It was a cute cute night! April 27th, 2008

I was TAGGED.....

Yes, tagged by my friend Jennie over a month ago and she has emailed me a few times reminding me...unfortunately thinking of 7 random facts about myself that are interesting enough to share is a difficult task for me.

Here goes 7 Random Facts about Me:

1. I'm an Arizona Native born in a small town in the White Mountains.

2. I love races....yes I'm a redneck who loves watching anything going fast and love to go fast myself. My little brother Kody races motorcycles and I can't wait to watch him here at Firebird Raceway! My cousin Richie races at the dirt circle track races in the modified division and I love it! I love drag racing most of all and when I'm alone....I test my skills at any light. Oh yeah I also beat Will's brother at Bass Pro Shop's Daytona 500 simulation and he was a police officer for 5 years! Rematch anytime :o) I love to race 4 wheelers, go carts and cars.... it's my Dad's fault!

3. When my kids are grown and can drive their own cars at age 20 or 25, I plan on having a Ford Shelby Mustang. Mustang blood runs in my veins and has long been a family favorite and the 05 and newer ones look like the old ones which are HOT!

4. I lost 19 lbs about 3 months ago and have kept it off....eating healthier, smaller portions, less Dr. Pepper and lots more water! So I'm back down to my wedding dress weight just need to start exercising now to tone up.

5. I'm very anal about certain things especially the dishwasher, frig, pantry, linen closets, bedding & my pillow I like them organized a specific way. I try not to be but it's hard. I'm just a brat.

6. I love rollercoasters and amusement parks....did I mention I like to go fast? :o)

7. My biggest pet peeve is soured or smelly wash clothes...simply spread it out don't fold it or leave it in a ball....it will smell and I truly dislike that very very much!

Added Bonus: I love music and singing! In my opinion one of the best things in life is jammin out, singing as loud as I want and dancing around while driving so when my kids join in I absolutely LOVE IT!!!

Ok I did it....I actually listed 8 random facts about me and it didn't kill me. :o)

Look at me! I can ride the 4 wheeler!!

Yesterday was the first day of Spring Break as well as St. Patrick's Day (so we all have some green on of course!) but Will decided that it was time that the kids learned how to ride the 4 wheeler by themselves in the back yard. They had a blast and loved it except when McKenna punched it and Calvin wasn't hanging on very well. :o)




Dad teaching him how it's done.





Calvin trying to blow it up...Dad not happy. Calvin got the hang of it!

Kenna & Calvin



Calvin giving Mom a ride. I'm so proud!



Mom going fast, look at his face! "Whoa Mom!"
McKenna waiving to all of her fans as we stood on the side lines laughing each time she punched it and spun out a little bit. I think she was trying to do donuts with how fast she kept on punching it, then letting off and the sharp turning...but Daddy told her to slow it down so she didn't crash into our block fence as he smiled ear to ear with pride. It was so funny!

My two cuties & am I late for school????

I took this picture on Friday and as a proud Mom just wanted to say, "Aren't they cute!"




Am I Late for School Mom???


It was so funny last night...guess you had to see it to get the full realm of funny but here goes my version. Yesterday afternoon the kids were fighting and ended up getting sent to their rooms at about 5:30pm and around 6:30pm I tried waking them up because both had fallen asleep. Well finally Will turned on their lights at about 6:45pm and then he went down stairs to his office. I was in my craft room/office adding my brother's pictures to my blog and had thought that both kids were down stairs with Will. Anyways about 20 minutes later I went down stairs and saw that McKenna was dressed in her school uniform, shoes, hair fixed and all and thought she was late for school. She had even had two bowls of cereal. It was so funny because she thought it was after 7:05am when it was really PM. We've never seen her move so fast! Trust me she's not that fast in the mornings normally. :o) I was going to take a picture of her but she changed into her pj's before I could get my camera. Calvin on the other hand never got up and slept through dinner and through the night not waking up until this morning. I guess he was really tired.

My Dad & Brothers

Kody & Jessie Gilliam



Recently both of my brothers moved to Arizona and are staying with our Dad until they find their own place and yesterday afternoon they came over and ate my famous tacos. :o) It was so awesome to see them! I couldn't stop smiling.


For anyone who doesn't know my Mom & Dad were married and had my little sister and I, they were divorced and later on my Dad married Missy and they had two little boys Kody and Jessie. Unfortunately they ended up getting divorced and we really didn't get to see the boys through out the years. Kody is 10 years younger than me and Jessie is 13 years younger so there's a fairly big age difference. Last month when Jessie moved here to Arizona it had been over 8 years since we had last seen him! Crazy I know! We saw Kody last Thanksgiving so it was like 7 years of not seeing him until then. Kody just got here about a week ago and so yesterday was the first time we got together since that Thanksgiving.


My Dad lives out in Apache Junction so it's a little over an hour drive to get there from here....and with his busy work schedule and ours we don't get to see him that often either so it was fun to see them all last night.


Here's a few pictures that I promised Brandy I would post....we wished she was here too and are hoping that she'll be able to come down and visit with all of us soon!! To enlarge the pictures just double click on them directly.
Dad (Johnny) & Kody
Jessie

Kody

Jessie & Dad 3/8/08

Calvin's Field Trip to Mac Farms 2/29/08

Last Friday I got to go with Calvin & his class on a field trip to Mac Farms out here in Maricopa about 8-10 miles from the school and had a blast! It was even better when I saw William's Mom Robyn there also. It is a large plant farm that grows a variety of foods and trees etc. They have a great facility dedicated for children and I really want to go back and take McKenna & Will. Unfortunately the bus was late picking us up due to a serious accident that another school bus had with a motorcycle. We had no idea until 3 days later that the motorcyclist that was seriously injured was our friend Tony Boyles. From what we are told & in the news is that the bus didn't yield and pulled right out infront of Tony and his motorcycle ended up being under the bus. He is in ICU and has several broken bones. We are keeping him and his wonderful wife in our daily prayers. I guess that it was better for us not to know especially that day because we wouldn't have had nearly as much fun at the farm. The kids had a blast but so did all of the adults!






Waiting for the bus





Calvin's 1st time on a bus! So happy!









William & Robyn on the bus.










Arrival & Gathering Area






Miss Connie their wonderful teacher as they were preparing to learn about seeds and how the farm works.





William & Calvin eating lunch. They had lots of picnic tables set up for us to do projects like planting our own seeds










Cute bunch of kiddos playing near the hay maze.






Calvin playing on the tractor & having a great time!






One of the best times of the entire day was this...us being pulled by a tractor around the entire farm. We got to see lots of great plants and smell the wonderful smells that came from them as they were being watered. We were being pulled by a red tractor on this trailer that had stadium seats and shade, what you can't see is the blue tractor behind us with another group of kindergarten kids. As we were being pulled around the farm our tractor stayed in the lead and the kids started yelling, "Go Red Go" over and over because the blue tractor caught up to us once but as soon as our driver heard the children and their chant he would punch it every now and then to make sure that we were far ahead of the slow blue tractor. As the children were chanting go red go, Miss Connie yelled out "the class of 2020" and Robyn and I looked at each other like yikes! In Robyn's blog she wrote that it brought a tear to her eye and I have to admit it made me swallow hard when she said it because the time flies so fast with our babies and before we know it they will be graduating and moving out. I wish I could keep them little forever. :o) But because that is a pipe dream I'll try and cherish every minute of every day with them. I feel so blessed to have been able to go on the fieldtrip and have this wonderful experience with Calvin & his class and our friends The Barkers.




Calvin wanted me to take a picture of this windmill and the sky to show what a beautiful day it was our here at the farm. I think it was about 80 degrees that day and it was perfect.




A fantastic fieldtrip to the Mac Farms on a beautiful day!