Love a Cop

repost from instagram:

Liily and Ducati have been a little frightened of police since one of them got a ticket last year. She got a ticket for unbuckling in her car seat (while I was driving). So I made her pay her ticket herself. She's held some resentment since she had to sell her Monster High bedding to pay her ticket. 

While at 7-11 we seen two police officers. My girls kept eyeing them 👀 around the corner.

When we were up to pay for our Big Gulp's the officers came up behind us. Ducati points and says so loud,"Mom it's a cop!" I explained myself to the officers and told them the story. So one cop told my kids they love to keep people safe and to give high-fives. 👋
My girls loved it!

While we were walking out the first officers partner ran up to us and said she had some shield stickers for my girls so they keep people safe too. 👮This just made their day even better!
So my girls fear of being ticketed has now vanished and has been replaced with love and appreciation for our law enforcement.  And it's all because two people took the time to show them the good.Thank you! For the rest of the day Lily and Cati gave me citizen arrests. 

This Summer

This summer Mike and I sat down with each kiddo and made a summer goal. Some goals were academic. Some were emotional goals. Some were social. But either way those goals haven't really been met. I'm realizing we're not really goal people. We're more, "We should do..... Oh something shiny!" This mind set doesn't work for many. Honestly it doesn't work for Mike but he loves me so much that he just rolls with it.

So these past few weeks have been busy. I took our kids to the mall for the 1st time.  Huge milestone for Lily and Ducati.

Hailey had an eye doctors appointment so everyone got to experience the magic of a MALL!
We went to Hotdog on a Stick for lunch. Went on a mini shopping spree at Bath and Body works. I liked that we went during their semi-annual clearance sale so EVERYTHING was on sale.

 But Hailey was very happy to get glasses. The first thing she did after she got her glasses was read a book. She tells me, "WOW! I've really missed a lot!"

Mike had Father's Day a day early. The kids tried their best to show Mike how much they love him. There was homemade cards, a few new art pieces, and their best to give quality and not quantity gifts. So with a budget they went shopping and got him a few new summer clothing pieces which he hated. So it was the thought that counted. :)

My neighbor/friend helped me plant tomatoes this year. And so far they are growing!! This is the first time I've grown something on purpose and it didn't die. So everyday we're going out and finding new yummy tomatoes and just eating them off the vine thingies. :) As a family we are enjoying gardening. Our kids love to weed the garden and water the plants. So we might expand next year and add another fruit. But 1 plant this year was enough for us to give it the care it needed.

We gave up our Costco membership. Nothing special but still good for us since we never went unless if it was for gum. So on our last shopping trip Mike loaded up on gum. Then hid everything!!

On the 4th of July we kept it small since we're not big fans on crowds. We had a BBQ with a small group of friends. Had all the kids playing in water which caused our yard to overflood into the neighbors yard. At least he doesn't have to water his yard. :)

Afterwards we went to city fireworks and WOW! We love them! Sure street fireworks are fun but to be able to feel the fireworks explode. To have that feeling in our chest... it's awesome!
Anyways to prepare for the wait we packed up some water, snacks, crafts, and a blanket in some backpacks. The firework show was amazing! Ducati didn't remember seeing such huge fireworks since she's only seen them from the distance. So she was staring up into the sky the entire time.

I'm so glad we went. But the next day I was regretting it. The backpack I was carrying didn't feel heavy at the time but oh my! I felt it the next day. How can chips and bananas cause so much pain!! So for the next few days I was in so much pain I couldn't get off the couch. I hate having back issues.

This of course caused a wrench in my plans but thankfully my kids rolled with it.

 

This gave us a chance to catch up on some reading, go see Finding Dory (TWICE), eat some forgotten freezer meals, and play on the second trampoline Mike brought. Yes- we now own 2 trampolines!


We've also:
-visited Mike's brother and his family.

-been adventuring with my sister in law (I'll post later)

-gone to the dentist for a chipped tooth

-updated our living room furniture from "Yikes" to "Good"

-purchased a new fridge since our original one died. This was a learning experience since I never purchased a new appliance before.

-taught our kids about budgets and savings so they are on board for saving for next years vacation

-Mike is signing up for college. Paralegal Studies to help bridge him into becoming a lawyer.

-Dejunking our house from top to bottom. It's been a process but so worth it.


So our plans this summer sort of went off into a different direction. But that's OK with us. Life plans change all the time; that's what makes Life interesting.

Mike's Work pics

I love seeing Mike's work photos. All those moments he's so proud of and I get a glimpse into his daily life. 

Here I got to see his before and after windows of the top of the Conference Center. 

I don't think people realize how difficult it is to keep Temple Square clean. With millions and millions of people visiting this area every year it takes 100's of people to keep it clean so each person can feel the spirit there. 

Of course Mike is always safe with his team. LOL!

When I first seen this photo I gasped since these guys are laying on windows. But it turns out the windows are really thick and supported in a way that they can hold lots of weight.
All in the day of the life of Mike.

Valentines Day

Mike loves Angie!

Angie loves Mike!

And that's all......  HAHA!!

(his crazy eyes crack me up)

Since Mike knows me so well he knows I'm not a fan of flowers or overpriced candy. He knows that he'll hear an ear full if he ever gave me something full priced. So for gift giving he's had to learn to think outside the box. Like this year.... 

 He got me her. This little bunny.

 I named her Merida. She was really shy, timid, and scared to be around us. She would venture out 1 or 2 steps then run back to her hiding spot. She kept doing this for a few days. She never stopped since her curiosity was peaked when we bribed her with apple juice.

Now she's always around us. She loves to play with our kids. Lily likes to have her ride Angus pony. Get it Merida is riding Angus!! LOL!

Anyways I really love this little bunny. She's so cuddly. And the way she hops when she's happy is so cute. She twist in the air with her back legs higher in the air. It's adorable! She kisses everyone. Either cuz she loves us or we have crumbles on our face. Either way is fine with us. 

PS For Mike this year I gave him the gift he could use all year long. 6 pairs of sunglasses. He loves sunglasses. He keeps them in the car, at work, in his coat pockets, etc. So now instead of carrying them around he can just grab the pair he's left at the designated point. He really loved them all! I loved that I got them on major sale since Target had them on clearance and here was an extra coupon code so I think I paid $15 for all of them. 

Semicolon

"a semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. "

Coming from a background filled with abuse of all sorts I allowed myself depression, addictions, and toxic cycles to dwell in me. But no more! 

The author is me and the sentence is my life. 

I chose love. 

I chose happiness.

I chose JesusChrist

I chose the atonement. 

No more hiding. No more fake smiles. Just all me now. Now It's my turn to write and this story ain't over.

Look up

I seen this picture and just had stop and let it absorb inside me. 

I look up to the stars or see a contrasting shadow on a mountainside or see a flower blooming so perfectly without the help of any gardener and it's absolutely amazing to me. I have to acknowledge how God is truly an artist and I'm so thankful he shares his creations with me. 

Happy Happening's

A quick overview of some happy happening's:

Our family went over to Mike's sister's house to celebrate our nieces 3rd birthday. She's so adorable! We may have spoiled her but c'mon... look how cute she is. Worth it!

My kids are adorable!

My sister-in-law made Lily and Ducati these Humpty Dumpty toys. They were suppose to be for Easter but like usually I forgot where I put them. But even a delayed gift is still fun. :)

Ducati made her's into a girl Humpty. Creativeness runs in our family :)

Lily and Ducati decorated the bush outside our house. They told me that they missed making snowmen so they made a "Tree-man" instead. I loved it! So I left him there for a few days but then it rained so everything needed to be taken down and washed. But Tree-man's memory will live on forever thanks to this blog.

Mike tried to teach Ducati how to ride her 2 wheeler. Not successful. But at least she gave it a try.

She has the ability; she just needs to get over her fear. In time :)

Since on-line school is over I'm giving myself a chance to make my own curriculum this summer. So instead of following what the online school says to teach I just gathered all my kiddos and give it a try. We did some geography (learning all 50 states). I found a fun song on youtube that I printed out so we can follow it along.

So far they know some states we just need to work on the locations of them. ( A fun little America puzzle has been helping them with their locations)

Lily showing the camera her states song. And Cati below listening to the song.....again.

Then we did a history lesson on the Titanic complete with each kids replica ship made from Lego's.

This might be a fun way to just gather everyone up and teach 1 lesson in history, science, art, etc. and just let them separate for Math and Language Arts. I have a few more weeks to decide if I want to do this sort of homeschooling or the step-by-step programs. Hummm..... decisions, decisions.

Family Search World Reunion

One of many benefits for working for the church is knowing about all the events ahead of time to ensure I make it.
So the Family History Library was throwing a party to celebrate family history.

 Unlikely connection but whatever works to encourage people to look into ancestry work.

There were Pacific Island dancers. Scottish Bagpipe players. Story Tellers. Games. Inflatables. And food trucks. Yummy!

The only time I allowed Lily to dance in the street. She loved it!

A few games where everyone is a winner. Our girls got tons of prizes from all the games.

My lovely Lily :) Her smile is so cute!

Another game to play.

 She won all these lei's which just made her day.

 Ducati following the Pacific Island dancers. She's giving her hula a try.

 Watch out! She's bustin' a move!

 Me and my girls enjoying some girl time while Mike is working.

During this party there were people walking around giving tips on how to work on genealogy. And conversing how we're all related if we look far enough.

 Oh and Ducati found some coloring pages. Not sure how she did this but she came back from talking to a senior missionary with a few coloring sheets.

So food trucks have evolved since the last time I ate off one. Ducati was waiting patiently for her $8 waffle from MatterHorn.

 Mike was able to join us during his lunch break. So everyone was happy to have Daddy time.

But Mike had to finish his shift so the girls and I continued exploring.

Which lead us to City Creek Disney store.

Lily and Ducati thought this place was Disneyland since there was so much magical stuff everywhere. They are showing me their princess poses.

So after explaining that this is just the store they were still excited to be there. Plus side was the store was having their Once Upon A SemiAnnual sale. So the girls found some real gems for super cheap.

After a long drive home which we all fell asleep while mike drove here's Ducati showing off all her treasures from the day.

It was so much fun spending time with these two lovely princesses.