Got my magnolia on

I am pretty excited about this new piece of furniture in my house.  Heavenly Father really does care about the details of our lives.  I give all that I can to serving Him, and every day that I look for them, I see the tender mercies that come from Him and bless my life.  One of those recently was the thought to take a peek at the classifieds for a buffet.  I had searched before with no success, but this time it didn't take me long to find what I was looking for in my price range. I had enough money stashed away that I could buy it and pay to have someone else refinish it (I knew that taking on a project like that would be too hard on the family). Tyler was so very kind to support me and take me on a "date" to pick it up.  It required removing all 3 benches from our van, and we went ahead and dropped it straight off at Amber's house to refinish it because this thing weighs a TON.  She did a fantastic job, and I think that JoJo would approve.  Another blessing:  the refinish ended up costing more than I originally thought and I was stressing about how to cover the cost.  The armoire that was on this wall ended up selling 2 days before the buffet was complete, and for just the amount I needed. One of these days I will learn to stop stressing and just let the Lord be in charge.

The icing on the cake?  After it was completed I got a flyer in the mail from a chic furniture boutique with a buffet that looked exactly like this, on sale for only $1899!!!  Made my all-in price of $325 look pretty fantastic.

Thanksgiving 2016

This was a big year - the first time that Tyler's side of the family was (almost) all able to gather since Mom and Dad's mission! 

I love Camden's school papers that he brought home. How does he feel about our upcoming road trip to see cousins?



How about this?  How could the person that made this worksheet have possibly known that the President of the Sneaky Hot Dog Club would be filling it out??? It was too perfect.



 The "it won't take up your time" part hurt my heart. I have got to figure out a way to get out of the kitchen more often!!

We started off our trip in what is becoming a tradition anytime we are traveling south, now:  cashing in on report card A's for 2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. 

 We also took the back seat out of our van in order to take the family rototiller down to Aric. That meant that we had 8 seats for 8 people, and guess what?  We all still got along!

There are so many fun cousins on this side of the family. I wish that my kids got to see them more often.

The girls assured me that they were bonding via Pinterest.

 

a pile of cousins

Crazy boys

shooting

and zero pictures of Emmie and Camden who were busy having tons of fun with cousins in the backyard the entire time. Aric and April were fantastic hosts.

This is a great group of people!

Lessons, anyone?

I decided that we should be using our gym membership more - particularly to wear out these boys of ours.  It seemed like a good idea to teach Jacob to play racquetball, and he nearly beat me in our second game.

I must be one tremendous teacher.

Big Day

Big day - Jacob was ordained a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood and Hannah and I received our Young Womanhood Recognition.

 Jacob was very prepared and ready for this new privilege and responsibility. I am so impressed with how dependable he is with his duties.  

I never received my YW Recognition as a teenager, and I am grateful that I got to work on it with both Callie and Hannah.  It was so helpful to have someone else to keep me on track and motivate me to finish.  I am a mother to some pretty amazing people.

But don't let that fool you - they are still pretty crazy.

Costco muffins and Laser tag

Nothing says 12 like Costco muffins and laser tag. At least, that's how Jacob wanted to do things.

Poppy seed and chocolate, because really, are there any other flavors worth choosing?

 Tyler took Jacob and some buddies out for an evening of unlimited laser tag, and they had so much fun that they opted to skip going out for shakes at the end in order to fit in more games.

Happy Birthday to a pretty spectacular young man!