Happy, Happy Birthday Denver Dear !!

my keiki gets a room

Yeah..yeah, Kerriann HAS a dorm room !!!

She has been on the waiting list..and the waiting has Not been pleasant.

But she is now an official BYU Hawaii student with an official dorm room.

Me ke aloha.

months and months and months

I love the calendar. I love watching months tick by. I am crazy about calendars. Must be the amish in me ( ?!!!) I could never have "too many". Thanks to Olivia, I found Snow and Graham - which has absolutely Beautiful pages. I found this bird cage at World Market and clipped on all the months..I don't believe I will take it down when 2012 comes along.

My fascination with birthdays is really an off-shoot of my extraordinary fondness for the months of the year. They carry certain personality traits. And they are usually feminine or masculine...are you with me ?! For example, August is definitely masculine ( oh, a birthday shout-out to chris, who is turning 59 today..wowsers!) So is February despite that it is done up in red hearts - but a lovely, manly month nonetheless. No self-respecting man should claim April as his birthday month as it is Decidedly feminine. But then November comes along So gender-neutral. It is a definite Mix..and I assume everyone has their own feelings on this subject.

there is a newbie in the Eagle's Nest

It was a lovely,sultry night in arizona.

Denver had his court of honor and joined the Eagles Nest. Although he earned it back in Alpine, we never had a chance to formally acknowledge him and the Foothills Ward was good enough to include him in theirs. It is a very friendly ward.

We had great family support...but we did miss Dallin and Brianna. The 3 little grandkidlets added a lot of sound effects to the evening - they inherited the Haycock loudness factor. Sweet baby Jane is probably the rowdiest !!

Remember when these two were often mistaken for twins ? That is Denvers new high school behind them. The Bowen's home is 3 houses up from the church here.

My newest pin on the scout mothers ribbon..thanks Denver. Way to go !!

my children are my social life

AKA...BECAUSE OF my children I HAVE NO social life." But that is really ok. I love these guys. We moved here to be near Devin and Kelly. Kerriann is my BFF. I can not spend enough time with Denver. Harrison will always be my baby doll. But Dallin...ah, Dalboy..my special son. And I had to leave him behind- he is getting on with his life and all-but I really miss him. He is such a vital part of my life..it is like a limb is missing. Is my brain a limb? My heart? Perhaps my leg, because I am just not getting around without him.

Does Brianna catch the vision that Dallin comes in a package deal ( /me ) ?!!

I know it is an issue to Kevin that Dal and I are so much alike.We both amuse and annoy him. Kevin loves us dearly, but also looks at us like, "what on earth - where is that coming from?" Kevin definitely uses one side of his brain. It is unclear what side or region or hidden part that Dallin and I use. But we get each other. No one can do "nothing" better than Dallin or I can. We can be with each other for days on end..months..no years, and not get sick of each other. My mom use to say, " they forgot to cut the cord on that one." So true, so true.

I miss this guy so much. Phone calls are not cutting it. Is it possible for one little, itty ,bitty person to cause such a great, big, gaping hole in our family when he isn't here?!

come back little sheba:)

arizona ..reds/blues the real part one

oh, I can't figure this blogging set-up. make sure you look at the pictures on the Next entry ( it was all suppose to be one of course.)

the arizona "reds" were going to be self-explanatory. the "blues" were in response to the 3 e-mails I received just this morning on WHY would anyone live in this corner of the untied states. Jan was bluntly poetic in simply calling it hell. Mary called me a "brave"soul to move here. Well,yes..I imagine so. I can't even reprint what sweet little nancy sue wrote !! Its all good though - my skin/hide has toughen up in this desert sun. By-the-by, I don't think that the temperature broke into the 3 digits today. Guess I need to justify this move.

A home is just a house without a family you love in it.

I know this for a fact.

I also know that as hard as it is to leave certain friends behind..that we always find some new great people. I shudder to think of some of the dearest people I know and love - well, if we hadn't moved around I never would have met. It isn't always easy..but you might be surprised how it all just falls in place too. Denver and Harrison were numbly repeating my mantra as they trudged off to their first day of school at brand new schools. Ok, yes, I had moments of guilt and regret as I uncomfortably spent the school day at home waiting to hear how it went for them. They not only survived but went back today !! small victories.

I don't know if moving to arizona was the right thing..but it felt like we should give it a go.

I wish that I could know exactly WHAT is the best thing for our family,each individual, for me.

We try different things and just keep moving (hopefully) forward.

Apparently I like to mix things up.

Honestly, arizona was not Kevin and my first choice. Oregon or California would have been ...whoa don't forget Austin Texas. But these places are not financial convenient for the younger families. And we are back to point #1 of having us all together..as much as possible.

c'mon..I like the desert. I always have. When was the last time it snowed in Phoenix?! It does lack an abundance of trees..but the palo verdes that they do have are lovely. It is all about looking and finding the good things in the area. I did that in utah..it was simply time to see,and do new things.

Guess I need to define "things". Another entry..ha.

arizona blues/reds

now this is the kind of desert visitor I enjoy seeing in the backyard

way cool sunset last night that left everything red

I put the girls out by the pool so that you could see the true red

palm trees are so key to the landscape

Woot-woot

Dallin found my cell phone wedged into a tiny space in the infinity...yeah!! I guess I am not a complete and total loser. it has been missing for at least two weeks and people probably think I am so rude not returning calls. Of course, those of you who truly know me know that his was about the seventh phone I have lost...make that six phones, because the little blue cell is Found !! I just can't figure out Why keeping track of a phone is such a challenge for me. it just doesn't go along with rest of my personality.

This was Denvers last day of summer...WHAT?!! Yes, it is the 4th of august. Way too early to be going back to school...but dang, no one asked me again. Denver has decided to play frosh football. As his mother I have very mixed emotions on this. First and foremost is the practicing in this disgusting heat. Seriously ?! They practice from 3:30-6 o'clock every afternoon....couldn't be at a grosser time ! I am probably going to have to deny myself water and air-conditioning at that time every day now too. Would this concern other mothers out there?! Today it was 113... Would you want your little cub doing wind sprints in that ?