Fun times with a Fun Ward

Val Vista Ward Ice Cream Social....Hawaii Style

Kaitlyn with a mouthful of ice cream

Smokin' hot dancers :) You think it's all in the hips and it's not! It's all in the knees - that was a cool bit of knowledge

So I am probably the only one to actually blog about a church activity! But I could be posting about going to the public library....
We love Hawaii...have never been, but actually looked the part thanks to our in-laws who were there one month ago.

Kennedy in her super cute Hawaiian dress

We made yummy Oreo ice cream and added a secret ingredient. Frozen Oreo pie! It made it really thick and yummy. Won Jesse second place! I won second best dressed which was cool because it will probably never happen again. Thanks mom-in-law for the dress! So fun to get dressed up!

My girls actually wore the same outfit (without complaint) and wore their Hawaii T-Shirts (without complaint). I guess I just have to have some place exciting for them to go and they will wear anything. :)

A fun filled night with the fam, complete with fun Hawaiian games: bball with beach balls; coconut bowling and a hula hoop contest.

One more month until vacation...!!!!

Great Dad!

So I missed posting about Father's Day. Something about 2 sisters getting married and 3 crazy girls that got me off track! So for journaling purposes and if you are like me and are entertained by reading the happs of other people read on:

Dad Day '08

I made a quick run to Albertsons after Ali's reception to go get the goods for Father's day. We're talking about 1030pm... So lame, I know. I had already given Jesse his gift (Under Armour bball clothes that he was in desperate need of - I won't go into further detail). So I figured I would just make him a fabulous breakfast! Well, his version of a fab bfast is sausage, eggs, potatoes, red peppers, onions and whatever else is leftover in the fridge. My style is more homemade pancakes and fruit. I REALLY did not want to wake up early and cut potatoes. I thought of making that cute DAD cake. Then thought, do I really want to do this tomorrow? And who is going to eat it? The answer, my girls :) So no on that! Then, as I always do on Sat night at Albertsons...I see a friend from my ward. I tell her my lame father's day plans and she tells me about SKILLET CREATIONS!!!! Now we are talking!!!! If you haven't tried these, it is sooo good! I even liked it! It's just as Jesse would make (because he is the one who makes this kind of breakfast) Potatoes, sausage, peppers, cheese. No chopping, just plop the bag on the skillet and in 15 minutes DIG IN! Jesse loved it and I was glad I didn't totally lame out for a truly fantastic guy!








Here he is playing with the girls. He always takes them in the backyard to play games before they get ready for bed. This leaves me time to clean up dinner and/or blog :) He plays red light/green light, tag or police officer. It is so cute to watch!


Jesse has more motivation and self discipline in his right arm than I have in my entire body!!! This past year he has lost more than 80 pounds!! This is another post entirely, one that I will get around to soon!

Jesse makes THE BEST nachos EVER! I won't even attempt to make them for him. Every chip is perfectly placed...to the point of obsessive compulsion :) And they are yummy!


He is a great example to me. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't read his scriptures. Even if it's Friday night at 11pm I will see him open them up and read. I really admire and strive to achieve his strong testimony and love for the Gospel. He motivates me everyday.
I don't like my posts to sound perfect - we definitely have our ups&downs. We have worked hard on the communication factor and I feel we (or just he, haha) have come a long way!!! We both want what is best for each other and don't ever bring one another down. We have the utmost respect for each other and I am grateful to have such a fine husband!!!

I told my friend Sarah that I would advertise for her. Plus I thought she would love this picture on my blog :) She wants to fill some afternoon spots in July. We have gone to her for 3 years and Kelsi just loves her! She focuses a lot on swim strokes and is a master at synchro.

I think this should entitle me to a free lesson:) HA!

For more info click on my SwimBySarah link

{Note to Self}

Do not leave Desitin on bathroom counter as I will inadvertently put it on my toothbrush in my rush to get to the gym and not realize it until my mouth is a white gooey mess! Ewww! I can still taste it!

The Lion King

I was in desperate need to give Kelsi&Kaitlyn something to do this summer. When I saw an email advertising Performer's Inc. by Erica Soelberg I was sold. I love the 3-5 age group. It means Kaitlyn doesn't get left out and can join in on the fun!It is very ironic that I just did a tribute post to my sweet, fun loving Kaitlyn. Here's proof that she definitely does her own thing.

All week while the girls were practicing, they would both show me some moves and sing Hakuna Matata and I Just Can't Wait To Be King. But as you can see in the pictures, I think Kaitlyn would have rather been a spectator than a participant. Unfortunately I haven't figured out my flash on my camera. It will just shut off on me. The pics are pretty dark, but you can see that she looked a little confused at times and decided to just sit and watch the older group sing.

Oh, that girl...Kaitlyn told me later that she didn't sing because she didn't get to stand by Lauren. Lauren and Maggie are two friends that Kelsi got to do this with. Kaitlyn seriously felt so grown up to be able to "hang out" with these girls.

{I knew it! I am an idiot! hehe..K - so this might not make sense...BUT I am not ashamed to admit when I am a complete fool. I didn't realize the pic would keep scrolling down by itself. Seriously, I even told someone that I didn't have enough room to scroll my pic down where I wanted it. Hurray! I figured it out - THX people for your help. U know who U are!}

{Can Somebody Please Help Me?}

I must be a little slow....everyone does this and I haven't been able to figure it out. How in the world do you post a picture and put text underneath it...another picture/text...ect.ect. All in one post
It must be so simple....

A little post about my KaterBug

This girl is a classic "middle" child. I just love her sweet personality. She can be so funny and tell you fascinating stories full of hand gestures and facial expressions. The next moment she might be a total drama queen and get so upset. Her face crumples up, sometimes her lips even turn blue! And she will cry (scream) for as long as it takes. Then, sometimes, she is super sensitive. She will say, "I'm not happy!" and go pout, lip quivering, and it honestly makes me worry that I am really not doing enough to make this girl happy. So whatever she does....it's workin' for her because she has me in the palm of her hand!

One of her favorite games(my least fav) is that she will sneak outside (even in 111degree heat) and knock on our door. I have to answer the door and in my sweetest voice say, "hey little girl, what are you doing out there? Where is your mommy" She will then say in her most sweetest, shy voice, "my mommy is on vacation" - So then I will tell her she can live with us and she makes up a fake name etc, etc,. I can't remember how this started, but we do it about once a day before I lock the top latch so she can't go outside.

Fun Facts:

Kaitlyn refuses to wear anything but jeans. And they have to be long. So usually she is in Kelsi's 4/5T's and they are falling off of her. Her favorite jeans are so holey and worn out. She is in a dance group this week and has had to wear shorts/skirts with tennies. She told me the first day of wearing tennis shoes with shorts that she felt like the mailman.

She calls High School Musical "high smell musical"

So happy or sad, tantrum throwing or game playing, I love this girl! When she crawls in bed with me in the morning and when she aks me to stay with her at night. She is my sweetheart!

Last...but not least

My little sis got married on Saturday! All of us Reed girls have now tied the knot! Of course, Kelsi & Kaitlyn loved getting all dressed up (they even wore makeup but don't tell their dad :). The wedding took place at The Wright House and the food was delish! There was even pizzookies for dessert made in little foil tins. Super cute! Ally didn't want punch, so we had bottles of Jones Soda. Mighty tastey! It was a fun exhausting night and we are so excited for her. She married Dave McLaughlin, a police officer for the city of Mesa. Such a cute couple. Congratulations! Have fun in Jamaica!

I must add that Dave's uncle came up to me and was like, "you must be Allison's little sister". Ummmm....no, older sister by like 8 years. See these 3 girls, yeah, they are all mine.

Do I look like I'm 20 or something?? Or maybe my sister looks like she is 30! haha

How fun is this?

One of the advantages of being up at 2am with a baby.....sometimes you see a good idea on TV :) This was from Your Life A to Z. They used 1 cake mix and put 1/2 in a square 9X9 pan and 1/2 in a circle pan. Bake and let cool. Cut the circle in half to make two D's. To trim the sqaure pan: Find the center and cut a diagonal from the top to bottom on both sides. This pic is from familyfun.go.com but the one from Your Life was cuter. I couldn't find the picture though. Their website might not have updated yesterday's show.

They decorated the letters with candy. M&M's shaped the letter A and reeses peanut butter cups and hershey kisses and kissables were on the D's. Very fun and very cute!

What a fun day!

I jumped the gun yesterday and posted about Kelsi's Birthday. I just couldn't resist. It is actually today and it felt like a holiday/vacation day all rolled into one. Kelsi had her very first "friend" Bday party! I used to just do family parties but I realized that it's way easier to feed a group of 5 yr olds chicken nuggets and mini corndogs. Less stress for me and fun times for Kelsi. We have so many little girls that live in our neighborhood. Add cousins and some good preschool friends and you've got a party! We decided to rent an inflateable slide. It was so fun! We had it pretty much all day long and had a blast. Kelsi went to bed asking when she was going to turn 6. Ummm...in exactly a year from today. Then she said, " Today was so super fun. Can I get a more fun slide next year?" Ummm...you need a more fun slide?

It's Your Birthday...Shout Hurray!

My Kelsi Leigh is turning 5! Every year gets more fun! She is so excited to start school and loves to play!

She has "Because I Liked the View" from H.S. Musical memorized. It is hilarious to hear her belt it out. I have enjoyed every second with her and am so grateful to be her mom. She is our peacemaker and loves to please. One of her favorite things to say is "that's super cute!" I just love to be around her and will be sad to lose her to the mesa public school system coming in the fall :)

To celebrate her birthday we took her to get her ears peirced! I always said I would wait until 8 yrs old. Not for any reason really...but I thought how fun it would be to start kindergarten with earings. She was so excited. The look on her face getting it done says it all. She didn't even flinch! Of course when she was picking out the earrings, she wanted the hugest fake diamond on the display. It was pretty funny. Even at this age she wants the biggest diamond ever. Then on we went to get a pizzookie from BJ's. Yummy! It's so fun when your child is big enough to be so excited about their birthday. She has been counting down the days for a week!

Happy Birthday Sweets!!!

Val Vista Sista's

I love girls...I think that's why I have 3 of my own and hopefully a fourth will come next :) I'm sure I would be fine with a boy, but as my 4 yr old says, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit".

Anyway, I spent Thursday to Saturday camping at our bi-annual YW Laurel Retreat. Such an awesome experience. The laurels got to be pampered and had a wonderful spiritual experience. The mia maids and beehives were together most of the time and really bonded together. I seriously think I am in YW because I am more on their level than an actual adult. Everything about them amazes and inspires me to do and be better. We had a fantastic speaker the first night (her last name is Matter) How dumb that I don't remember her name. She is an author and has written books on how to love yourself and not be jealous. Her main point was that your body is just a "costume" for your spirit and everyone has the same amount of worth . It doesn't matter how much money you have, how skinny you are, whether you wear designer...we are all born with the same amount of "perfect" worth. It was awesome and I will definitely have to get her books. I know I need reminding of my own self worth sometimes.

We started out on Thursday doing a HUGE service project for a family of 7 in Clay Springs. There were 50 of working all day long piling up wood, painting, picking up trash, building a deck, planting flowers, pulling weeds....the girls never complained and worked so hard.
The girls also went on a "Solo" experience out in the woods for an hour and wrote in their journal, said a vocal prayer and received letters from their parents. It was amazing. We went and picked each one of them up and saw them praying and writing and crying. I love the YW and hope the time never comes when I am released. It's been almost 2 yrs now so I know it's coming. I will just enjoy every second of it while I can!

Almost 30 of us stayed in this huge tent. So dusty...so dirty... but so fun. I have to admit, coming back home and taking a warm shower and sleeping in my own bed felt sooo good!

It's so great working with such fun leaders & girls that make being away from your family so worth it!