Introducing - STELLA!!!

Hi Everyone! Here is our STELLA!! Long story short - or not so much - Misty Matthews - single Mom of 3 girls bought one little Yorkie and LOVED her! Loved her so much she decided to get another one - LOVED her too - but the dogs did NOT love eachother! LOTS of fighting - which even resulted in some blood! Loving Marley as much as they did - they wanted to find her a good home - where she would be safe and loved! Misty is my Visiting Teacher and she saw how much I loved Shiloh.....and said she wished we wanted another dog - I explained that we DID want another dog and that we had gone to the pound several times! Well........she asked if we would be interested in "Marley" - and I said YES! Marley is a purebred Yorkie - REGISTERED and everything! Anyway - we had a playdate to see how she and Shiloh would do together - and they did GREAT! Shiloh LOVES playing with her and they are HILARIOUS together. Last Sunday - they delivered her to us. It was such a HARD thing for Misty and her girls - they were SO sad to have Marley leave their family, but they were really happy to find her a home where she would be loved and not fight with her friend! It's been a week now and she has just fit right in! She and Shiloh are ALWAYS together! She is a BUGABOO and Shiloh is PATIENT......(she is not a year old yet.....still that puppy stage). She came to us with all her papers, she is fixed and has all her shots! Oh - and she is HOUSETRAINED!!! Seriously..........it's like we won the puppy lottery!!! (they are playing at my feet as I am typing this!) Yep - some may think we are crazy for getting another dog, but for us - life is better having a dog....it just is! Some are animal lovers - some are not - we DEFINITELY ARE!!! Now - you wonder how we came up with Stella.....Well, Misty's other dog was named Bella - which Cassie LOVED - she wanted to name our Stella Bella - but I said No.....their dog is bella - and we talked about Stella and Shiloh being a pair......so I came up with Bella with an "S"......so we came up with Stella! Why not just keep her name as Marley.......because that was her name with her first family - we wanted to have her be a part of OUR family......so she needed a name that WE picked for here! Her Full name is............Stella Marley Matthews Lynn! SHE'S A CUTIE!!!!

Hmmmmmm it's 108 degrees outside.........

So what would you choose to do when it's 108 outside! Well for me and "friend" that's an easy one! Why not do yard work for 2 days straight! YEAH.......THAT'S THE TICKET!! Holli and I were both thinking that our yards needed a lot of work, and we figured that we should just go ahead and get it done! We thought if we started early we would be OK with the heat.......we were, but for about 10 min! As always, I forgot to take before pictures.....but with the piles you can get the idea. We trimmed and shaped every tree in both of our yards, cut down two HUGE out of control "Mexican Birds of Paradise" in my yard and staked a tree in her yard and removed a dead one...... when we were done we both felt like our yards looked AWESOME - but seriously - we both had heat exhaustion and headaches for about 3 days! Worst of all - we went swimming when we were done - I forgot to put on sunscreen in my hurry to get to the pool and I got FRIED!!! I got so burnt I didn't sleep for 3 days! Anyway - job well done - if I DO say so myself.......and next time.........WE ARE PAYING THE LANDSCAPERS!!!!

Lead Me, Guide Me.........

WE finished! Cassie and I have been reading the Book Of Mormon every morning for the past two school years.....well, we have read every morning since she started Kindergarten, but we started The Book Of Mormon again the first of last school year.........and wish I could say that we read every day, including weekends and holidays - but alas.....that is not the case. We have read every school day - and have not missed. Cassie and I both feel, and learned from past school years that the day is just not the same if we don't read.....she likes the "Scripture Power" she gets and feels like she has a better day - I as her Mom love knowing that I sent her out the door with a prayer and scriptures...."Teach a Child..." Today, we finished. Cassie reads to me out loud and I follow along.....and sometimes help. I seriously believe that her reading is as good as it is because of reading the scriptures. She can sound out pretty much any word she comes across, and her comprehension has improved A TON because she is paying attention to the stories. She and I have had some AWESOME discussions about the Scriptures and the Gospel because of the topics we come across while reading. Reading the Book Of Mormon has been a true blessing for our family and I am really excited for us to start the Doctrine and Covenants - Cassie's choice. How blessed are we to have The Book Of Mormon and all the other Scriptures to help us and to bless the lives of our Children. I LOVE being a Mom! These are the GOOD days.....the GREAT days......the OH SO REWARDING days!

Thank You.........

Hey Babe.........thanks for lovin' me! We have been through A LOT in our 16 years.....but I wouldn't trade them for anything! I love you.....and I thank you!

We have loved, we have fought, we have laughed and we have cried - and OH HOW BLESSED we have been! Here is to another 16 and MANY MANY MORE!!!

For our anniversary - Joel and I got eachother a Wii!!! We boxed and bowled last night and had a blast!!!

SMILE!

Haley is SOOOOOO CUTE!! I tried a MILLION times to take pictures of her, but as soon as she would see the Camera and I would say SMILE HALEY......she would close her eyes and scrunch up her face! These are just a few of my favorites! I took these in about 5 min........you would think I would get at least ONE picture of her with her eyes open......NOPE!!!! HOW CUTE IS SHE!!!!!!

Here is a picture of me now that it's over!! I have started to recover......A LITTLE BIT!!!!

Haley's Feet - OWIE!!!

Haley is just about the cutest little booger EVER!!! How did she burn her feet you ask? Joel took her home from church, and on the way home she took her shoes off - like a typical woman! Joel went to unlock the front door, Collin opened the car door, Haley got out......but I forgot to mention......it was 112 degrees that day - it was 2 in the afternoon and here in AZ - you can get 2nd degree burns on your feet in 35 seconds! Joel got to her as fast as he could, but her little feet were BURNED! I got home from church and was changing her....and she kept saying OWIE.....but I couldn't see an owie.....till she showed me her feet and I just FREAKED out! I got the burn creme and ice to stop the burn.....and while the blisters were big......I kept them covered. She healed SO fast! She wouldn't walk on her feet on Monday, but after that she would NOT be stopped! The blisters broke, but the skin stayed on .....which was a GOOD thing.......and after a few days he skin peeled off and her skin underneath was healed. WHAT A BLESSING!! I was SO worried! We were very blessed that it was not worse than it was.......I am SO glad she is OK! Whew.........WHO KNEW you could get that bad of burns! We do now!! POOR BABY!!!

I'm A SURVIVOR!!!

Joe and Wendy have A LOT going on......Joe works full time, goes to school full time, is building 8 houses....one of them his own, AND has 3 VERY energetic kids.....well 2 VERY energetic kids - and 1 who is fairly calm! ANYWAY......I came up with this GREAT plan! Since I am not in Utah to help....why don't I just bring your kids to AZ with me for a couple of weeks! That way, you guys can have a little bit of a break, and spend as much time working on the house as you can without worrying about finding anyone to tend for you! They accepted! SO - I headed to Arizona with a FULL van.....and 4 kids! WAHOO!!! We made it in one day.....with me as the only driver and let me just say - by the time I got home I was READY FOR BED!! We had so much fun while they were here, we had no major disasters, and I think that for the most part we all had a lot of fun. We spend our days swimming - and let me just say - Lynlee is a FISH! She has NO fear - she jumped in with the big boys! Haley was sort of nervous at first, but after a few days she was jumping in, going completely under without gasping, and was LOVING it! My favorite part was when she would pinch her nose and stick her face in the water! She wanted to be like the big kids! Joel took the older kids to Makutu's Island.....an fun big indoor - Swiss Family Robinson type of tree house, we went to the movies and paid a visit to Chuck E Cheese's. And in the second week Cassie started school - at her new school! There was poop played with ( thank you HALEY), Scribbles on the wall, every single little toy chewed on, burned little feet (poor Haley), tears from EVERYONE.....including me..........laughs from EVERYONE....especially me.....LOADS AND LOADS AND LOADS of laundry, chicken nuggets and mac and cheese and GALLONS of milk consumed........TONS AND TONS AND TONS of hugs and kisses ALL around! And one Bubba who is MISSING her sweet Nieces and Nephew......missing EVERYTHING about them.....including the mess! I am glad Joe and Wendy got a break.........and I am SO glad that I got to spend time with those sweet babies!!

Recap........

So - there are just a few of the highlights of our Summer in Utah. We did SO many fun things - made SO many fun memories and REALLY enjoyed escaping the heat of Arizona! One of the highlights for both of us was when we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. Cassie has wanted to see the inside of a temple for SO long, and it was just a really neat experience for us to be there together. Cassie was amazed at how beautiful it was, and her favorite room was the Sealing Room. She and I got to spend some time in there alone talking. It was a really neat experience. Cassie had so much fun having sleep overs with cousins, going on adventures with Mom, tasting for the FIRST TIME......the fry sauce from Ripples....which she now claims to be the BEST she has ever tasted! I was able to make two batched of triple berry jam and a two batches of salsa! YUMMY.....Joel was VERY excited to have some Jam back in the house - and I LOVE LOVE LOVE salsa - so it was nice to re-stock the shelves - THANKS MOM for the help!! We both had SO much fun and were sad to see it end....but all good things must come to an end! It was another great summer in PARADISE!!!

Timp Cave

One of the highlights of the Summer for Cassie was to hike to Timp Cave. Debbie's crew, Sarah and her boys, Jake and Allison and Brian and Cassie decided it would be a BLAST to hike to Timp Cave! They left EARLY in the morning and just had a ton of fun! Everyone said that Cassie kept the tour guide VERY busy with all her questions (shocker), But they also said she made it VERY interesting and actually had a lot of knowledge already about caves - (another shocker). Her school had gone to Kartchner Caverns.....a cave system here in AZ and she really enjoyed that so she was excited to see another cave! It was VERY cool inside.......Cassie was very sad when it was over, but she was SO glad she got to go!!

4th of July!

This was the FUNNEST 4th of July EVER - OK - well, maybe not EVER - but it was a GOOD ONE! My sister in law Cindy did the BEST 4th post EVER......so I will just recap - Everyone in the entire family was there - except for Joel which was a TOTAL bummer! Cassie and I missed him A LOT but he just couldn't get time off from work - like he said - someone has to work so you guys can play - what a GREAT guy!! Anyway - we all got together at Mom and Dad's house for a BBQ.....YUM! We all got really festive with the doo dads and trinkets - from head bands with dingle stars, face tattoos, hats, all the fun stuff! The boys got their tanks ready for "TANK WARS". Which is always a big hit! Holli and her family were able to be there and her kids TOTALLY got into it! After the food and tank wars, the family had a very informal Flag Ceremony. Brian and I shared the Declaration Of Independence, and a patriotic poem, then the family sang the Star Spangled Banner and said the Pledge and then the real party began!! Sarah came up with the idea of a rousing game of Steal The Flag! We grew up playing.....so it was a BLAST!! 4 hours later, SEVERAL bumps and bruises - and a broken nose......Well the whole gang from the littlest ones to the biggest ones joined in and it was a BLAST! After the game it was time to head across the street to view the "Stadium Of Fire".....PERFECT seats thank you very much! And of course - to finish off the night we had the "Culdesac Of Fire". Everyone had purchased HUGE packs of fireworks from Costco so it was another 2 hours of firework fun! I just can't even tell you how much FUN it was to spend the 4th with EVERYONE! GREAT memories! Who knows how many chances we will have to all be together, but when we are blessed with the opportunity, I am SO glad we make it count!!

Fun at the CABIN!

Jason and Debbie are SO great to invite the whole clan to their cabin! WHAT A BLAST!! It was SO beautiful to be up in the mountains and away from it all. The kids played and got dirty, we sat around the camp fire and told stories, I spent a lot of time taking the kids on 4-wheeler rides, and the next morning Jason took a few of us on a LONG 4-wheeler, dirt-bike ride around the mountain! EVERYTHING was wonderful......except for the DREADED POOP SHOOT!! It's a compost outhouse - and really isn't that bad......but hey - it is what it is and it is NOT my favorite part of the cabin!!!