Value-able

Kenzie is reaching so many milestones in her life lately.  

Not the least of which is receiving her Young Women's Medallion

in our church's Personal Progress Program

(similar to Scouts and Duty to God that the boys do)

For the past 6 years, she has worked to exercise & develop values, including 

Faith - Divine Nature - Individual Worth

Knowledge - Choice & Accountability - Good Works

Integrity - Virtue

She has completed 6 Experiences for each value

(study of that value; goal-setting to incorporate it into her life; journaling each experience) 

And a 10-hour Project for EACH value

Here's what she chose to do for a few of those -- 

- KNOWLEDGE VALUE PROJECT -

creating her infamous, and much loved Quoteboard 

see it in the background in gramma's bday pic?

- INDIVIDUAL WORTH VALUE PROJECT -

Collecting, wrapping & delivering christmas gifts & cheer

to mudslide victims in Punta Banda 

- GOOD WORKS VALUE PROJECT - 

Sewing lotsa school bags to be filled with supplies for needy children

this one took a little prodding way back at age 14 ;-)

She'll tell you that she never could imagine that she'd get it all done

But here we are

Little by Little

This inspired program has played a great part 

in shaping who she has become, what she stands for

She'll tell you she understands the value of it all now

and is so glad she did it

but really didn't 'get it' in the beginning

(remember the 'prodding' comment?)

little by little

(that's how it works, isn't it? 

whether we're moving closer to Christ

or away from Him)

She displayed one of my favorite quotes on her table -

"If ours lives and our faith are centered on Christ and his restored gospel, 

nothing can ever go permanently wrong.  

On the other hand, 

if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, 

no other success can ever go permanently right"

Howard W. Hunter

Sistahs

Porter & G'ma converse over cream puffs

...before he races off to man the trash can on wheels

and 'wow' the cleanup ladies with his speed & accuracy

gotta love this one

Glimpses Help

I was taken on a date this evening

by such a sweet, handsome young man

gave me a glimpse
of who he can will become :-)

he showered

(the scent of a boy recently returned 
from a fathers & sons campout can be unpleasant)

and willingly put on his khaki 'church' pants

and a shirt with a collar

none of which is usually done without a fight

dave thought he should have the opportunity 

to do something nice for me

(cuz lately . . . well that's another post)

he took me to a pre-mother's day dinner 

at claim jumper

he shared his second bite of fish & chips with me

(after he'd taken the first bite;
and realized how yummy it was) 

during dinner we both decided we'd like 

to visit the restroom

he let me go first

he voluntarily offered me the biggest brownie bite 

on his 'do it yourself' sundae dessert

when the bill came he realized 

that dad had forgotten to give him the promised cash to pay for dinner

he quickly assured me that "dad will pay you back"

he walked out the door first

but then glanced back to make sure the door didn't slam on me

(ok, we haven't reached perfection yet)

but the glimpse of who is in there
was a mother's day treat for me

thanks dave

and you owe me $36 :-)



POST EDIT:  It's been keeping me up at night -- the 'cute' way I ended this post --
with the 'you owe me'  part -- i mean, it IS funny,
but for the record -- he doesn't owe me a thing -- I'm the one in his debt.
;-)

"Mormal"

It started as "Spring Formal" hosted by our church

It was subsequently nicknamed the "Mormon Formal" 

by the kids and the friends they invited to join them

And now --

as all words 

become more & more 

condensed

('cuz we're lazy? 

to facilitate texting? 

i dunno) --

We have the "Mormal"

(we old folks, still call it Spring Formal)

Anyhow, Kenzie went last weekend & had a lot of fun!

thought I'd share a few pix

kinda looks like a wedding picture

don't worry -- it's not

she's got some stuff to do before that comes along

like go to dress-up birthday parties

for her friends

like this one

where all the guests came dressed Lady Gaga style

I prefer the Mormal pix

but that's just me

:-)

Scary Hockey & More!

Unfortunately my hockey pictures of Dave

have distinct similarities to the ones I get of Porter -

The quality they have in common

is b.l.u.r.r.i.n.e.s.s

Probably a combination of my photography skills

and their s.p.e.e.d.i.n.e.s.s

(he's the blur in the center wearing a dark blue jersey)

and here he is slamming into the wall boards

not something that I get too worried about when Porter does it

but i have a different reaction when the big boys do it

we are currently nursing a shoulder injury - ughhh.

in less dangerous activites

porter and dave got to help grandpa build

a custom workbench

specially designed to aid grandpa

as he builds a boat from scratch

in his coolio underground

(well, underhouse)

workshop

(guess that's more of cooking term

but you know what i mean -

a boat that looked like 

- THIS -

when the nice UPS man delivered it

a couple months ago)

And, last, but not least,

we want to thank Grandma 

for coming all the way from her

deep freeze in minnesota

to wild wet california

to spend February with us!

not to mention her birthday

(mmmm . . . carrot cake from french's!)

Happy Birthday Gramma!!

:-)

It's been a wet one . . .

. . . here in sunny cali . . .

in fact most of abbie's best fan base 

missed this season opener scrimmage

because it was POURING rain...

and soccer & hockey are ALWAYS cancelled if it rains

but NEVER lacrosse, I learned

luckily i brought my umbrella

(to use while i waited with her for them to cancel the game)

cuz i had it to use in the stands

while i sat watching her play hard 

& score a couple

in the pouring rain

note to self: 

for the umbrella thing to work, 

you have to sit ALONE in the stands

if you sit next to your friend who has her OWN umbrella -

hers drips down onto your head

and yours drips down onto her head

(kinda cancels out the rain protection)

anyhoo

i digress

abbie got to play center

(never done that before)

and she rocked

fun for the mama to watch

#8 has the ball - that's my girl

they never felt the cold

and didn't seem to notice the wet

i, however, was FROZEN solid

after two hours of watching & cheering

Post Script:

Last night they played El Toro

and the Abster

secured 

a

coveted

HAT TRICK

- sweet win -

we were all there - could ya heard us cheering?

and grandpa got to bang the gong 11 times in a row :-)

Congratulations Abs of Steel

& the MVHS JV Girls!

Way to show your coaches that

it would be

UNWISE

(at the very least)

to cut the JV team

(that's a whole other story for another day)

Sweet 18!

Kenzie always gets to share her family birthday party

with her G'pa John

since their special days fall so close together

she considers it a privilege!

(and yeah, i know,

january passed several months ago

but that's the way i blog)

The Birthday Kiddo's

The Birthday Gathering with cousins, etc 

Long, long ago...

in a land right nearby...

little Kenzie joined our family

her dream was to sing & dance on a stage

(she does that a lot!)

she grew and grew

until she turned into a lovely young lady!

oh, this was a happy day!

she's gonna be a nurse when she grows up

her little sis & bro love her

and so do we!

She requested grandma's signature chocolate cake

 with special chocolate frosting

And grandma knew just which of her 

vintage wooden candleholders to use . . . 

The Songbird, of course!

So...Grandpa was lucky enough to get one of my cake inventions!

Happy b-day Gramps!

Love you Kenz --

You are a bright spot in our world!

(but be careful, you can go to jail now...)

Readership of 2

Since my readership of TWO

(and you know who you are)

have requested that i update

(cuz they are sick of the hail post)

(and have even cried out -- "Bad Blog, Bad Blog!")

i will oblige

my readership demands it

:-)

and what's a post without some pictures?

i love my aussie nativity

i couldn't stand to take it down after xmas

brings back happy memories

on so many levels