Pictures of Girls Night Out 4-8-08

All of us gals.....Yes my friends are absolutely Beautiful inside & out!!!!!

Karen & baby James (the reason we all gathered, thanks for visiting Karen!)

The entire dinner party....next time I'll try to open my eyes and wear a blouse that doesn't make me look chubby! :o) I need to get a tan.....let's see can I say anything else negative about myself? ha ha ;o)

So fun to get together with old college room mates & high school friends! Karen moved away to Chicago and recently had baby James so this was our first time seeing him! We're glad Jennie (Karen's twin sister) organized this wonderful girls night out at Olive Garden.

Thanks to our waitress for taking these pictures for us! :o) Lots of Fun....Let's do it again soon!

What a day!

Wow what a day I had Tuesday April 8th! I started out at 6am as usual...taking the kids to school then rushed home to shower and get ready for the day. I routed my BPO's and printed out my map. Typed up the minutes from last weeks relief society meeting and emailed the presidency for agenda items for the next meeting. Then I drove into town, did my three bpo's which were all over the place Chandler, north east Mesa and then south even further east Mesa. Went clothes shopping for my new job that starts Wednesday April 9th. Went to Walmart for groceries and then to my Dad & brothers...stopped by my sister-in-laws....went to Olive Garden with several girlfriends from high school & college for dinner and then had to stop by Will's brother's for some papers. 160 miles later I got home at 10pm and had to unload everything and prepare for my first day of work. I had a great day but wow it was busy and very fast paced! It was midnight before I went to bed and then I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep all night tossing and turning...looking at the clock. :o)

Got up this morning Wednesday at 5:40am to get ready for my first day of work, got the kids up and ready with Will's help....thanks babe....then dropped them off and raced into work. I made it ontime 7:30am and the front office of Legacy Traditional School was already chaotic...just my luck. :o) I don't think it calmed down until about 1:30pm but only for about 30 minutes, so busy I didn't even get shown the restroom, had no lunch and left a few minutes later than I was supposed to. After work I went to the grocery store for the refrigerated items that I didn't get yesterday and got home unloaded and here I am working on RS stuff and entering in this blog exhausted and still need to make dinner, pick up the house, several return calls to make which won't happen and then be ready for the RS meeting that happens each Wed. here at my house from 6:30pm until about 8:30pm or later probably later since we have so many topics.

All of my girl friends from last night are waiting for me to send the pictures our waitress & I took last night but I don't think that will happen today. Will today ever end?????? :o)

Jesus Lives and is my Savior

I know that God sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ to this earth to be the Savior of the world so that we might be saved by his attonement and if worthy one day return to live with The Father - God and with the Son - Jesus Christ again. I know that while here on earth Jesus established his church which consisted of him the leader and 12 Apostles and today The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church on the face of the earth that has that to this day.

We believe in God the eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost. We believe in the Bible fully and also in the Book of Mormon which is only another testament to the Bible. We know that there is order in all things and that God reins supreme with his Son at his side and we believe that revalation wasn't just for long ago but that God & Jesus still communicate with man with each of us. I know that Tomas S. Monson is a true Prophet as in the Prophets of old like John and Luke and so on. I know that he is called of God to lead and council his children. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the truest church on the face of this earth because it was established and is ran by Jesus Christ himself for God the eternal Father. I believe in the Bible fully and also believe fully in the Book of Mormon.

I just felt so inclined to share that especially after General Conference this weekend. I invite any and all to review the words spoken at General Conference especially from yesterday Sunday morning when President Uchtdorf spoke and then later that afternoon when Jeffrey R. Holland spoke and concluding with our dear Prophet Monson. These words are true and we are Christians to the very core. We bare Jesus' name in the very name of our church. We don't only read the Book of Mormon we study the Bible first and foremost. We promote good and strong families and help the world with hunger and many other things...it is so hard for me to understand why people have such hate towards us including some of my own family members. We love all and respect all not just those of our faith. We do not push our beliefs down other's throats or preach against other religions...we are easy to get along with, so why have such strong feelings of hatred?

I can't imagine my life without the church and my testimony....I see others and their pain and know that without the church that is exactly where I would be. I am so thankful for the gospel and the joy and happiness it brings me and my family. It's not a life of restrictions it is a life of freedom and I wouldn't change it for the world. I personally have been to over 30 different churches and know without a shadow of a doubt that this is God's church and his son established it and continues to run it. I feel honored and blessed beyond measure to call myself a member.

I love God the eternal Father and his beloved Son Jesus Christ with all of my heart and I know that they live and love us...every single one of us!!! They love you as much as they love me...ISN'T IT WONDERFUL?

For any of you that do not know what we as LDS people believe here is a link that identifies our core beliefs. http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/background-information/core-beliefs-why-and-how-are-mormons-different

2 AWARDS - OUTSTANDING MCKENNA!!!

Yeah McKenna!!! We are so proud of you sweetie!

McKenna was honored last Friday 3/28/08 in an awards ceremony at her school with Honor Roll and Perfect Attendance. She had perfect attendance for the entire school year until last week when she missed two days, Tues & Wed. due to being very sick and then only 2 days later was given her award. Go figure! But we are extremely proud of her and all of her hard work!

McKenna is on left - not sure why it's blury?


Today after I finished volunteering at the school Book Fair, had my parent teacher conference with McKenna's teacher who said she was fantastic! She loves having McKenna in her class because she is so creative, responsible and always willing to help! My favorite thing she said was that "McKenna is a joy to have in my class and I don't worry about her at all!". Way to go Kenna Benna!

Miss Brosseau - her teacher

McKenna you are wonderful in every way! This has been one of your best academic years ever! Honor roll and perfect attendance is outstanding, keep shooting for those straight A's and you'll get them! Only a couple more months before you are a 5th Grader....dang time flies fast and before you know it your kids are taller, prettier & smarter than you.

I love you Kenna and Dad & I are extremely proud of you! Keep up the great work darling!

To be totally fair...Calvin too has straight M's which in kindergarten means A's really (M = Mastery) and you can't get higher. Also, he has perfect attendance for the entire year also until he missed his first day in March! Way to go little buddy! We are proud of your hard work too Calvin!

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)