The MOST wonderful time of the Year!

Is.... Fall of course!

I'm enjoying it immensely! It's actually a little cooler - which gives me hope that someday summer will end!

We started fall break today. (Monday - Oct 10) We don't have a lot planned. We are kinda sad that what we wanted to do isn't going to happen (trying not to whine!) But we are still going to have fun!

Vaughan and Heather still have to work. Heidi still has school. But Holli, Hope and I don't really have a schedule!

Today (Monday) we did a little cleaning, grocery shopping and I took Hope and Holli with me to PT. Hope - to get checked out on her "scoliosis" that the school thought she might have. {Nope} she doesn't! I already figured. Holli - cause she's having some problems with her ankle in ballet. Marc isn't sure what's going on, but we eliminated a couple of things.

Tonight we made personal pizza's and caramel apples! Yummers! And watched 17 Miracles! (break out the kleenex!)

It was fun!
(Above was written on Monday - The Rest of the post is being written AFTER the fun!)

Of course we spent the evenings playing games. What game? Settlers of course! Is there any other game? Well, not to my family! hahaha! I like to read and listen in to the conversations while they play. It's pretty funny!


On Wednesday Hope made sugar cookies! Mmmm yummy! She is becoming a good cook!


We tried all week to plan a day trip somewhere. Our choices came down to:

1. Tucson - the Sonoran Desert Museum
2. Flagstaff - various things to see.

By Thursday I thought I was going to go crazy because I couldn't get anyone to decide on something. I like to plan - anticipate the fun. That is half the fun after all!

Finally, on Thursday night - late. We decided on Flagstaff. Mostly because the weather took a turn for the worse. It got HOT! We knew Flag would be much cooler and I really wanted to see Fall! We still couldn't decide on what we were going to do in Flag. So we decided to just get up there and we would decide later.

I dropped the whole planning idea for the rest of the weekend and just enjoyed the scenery and company (my girls and Vaughan) and relaxed.

It was one of the most fun trips I've ever been on! (I'll post about our trip complete with pictures next!)

All in all - Fall Break was seriously Wonderful! Now it's time to get ready for the holiday trilogy!

Enjoying the Journey

Don't you just love this time of the year? I do!

Here in Mesa it's finally getting a little cooler - not so much during the day! But it's definitely more enjoyable!

I'm having fun planning for the next few months. I LoVe the holidays. I've been cleaning up a storm. I'm trying to dejunk and declutter! (Who says you have to wait until Spring?)

We are trying new treats like applesauce cake, apple cider floats and licorice caramels!

I made a fall wreath and I'm planning some fun changes to my fall decor. I'm wanting to keep things a little simpler - but I'm meeting some opposition from my girls. They are big TRADITION supporters! ha ha ha!

We started planting our Fall garden this week! We have plans to plant our winter lawns this weekend. I can't wait! I LOVe out winter lawn. Last year we didn't plant and it was the saddest winter ever! I can already feel the grass between my toes and taste the yummy veggies!

I'm starting to feel a little more a part of my ward. And I am enjoying watching Hope make new friends and feeling comfortable with the changes in her life! It's so fun to watch your girls grow and learn new things!

Miss Holli is almost done with a sewing class that she is taking and will be able to wear a beautiful purple dress that she is making soon!

Yep, there is lots of reasons to be happy! I'm trying to find joy in the journey and appreciate the little things! Sometimes I wish we could take a family vacation or do something amazing making memories along the way! But then I remember every day is an opportunity to make a memory! You just have to decide what kind of memories to make! I choose Joyful ones! (well most of the time!)

I {heart} Our Church Leaders

I don't remember the last time I enjoyed the General RS Broadcast as much as I did last night! (Maybe last year?!)

It was amazing. President Uchtdorf's talk was just what I needed.

How come whenever I hear the words "your Heavenly Father loves you" Or "your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you". I feel like crying - and sometimes I do.

What tender sweet words to remember. I want to remember the feelings I felt forever.

Tomorrow I will be listening again - (thank you DVR) while I do laundry and all those wonderful homemaking things that I get to do (and love doing, by the way!)

I'm so grateful for inspired leaders and for my knowledge that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me. I wish everyone knew this for themselves! What a blessing!

(and guess what? I just googled Forget me nots and here is Mesa AZ we can plant them in October! Guess what I'm planting next weekend?)

My B(ee) Boy!

Have I mentioned that we have bee's? Yes, the real kind. The one's that make honey! It has been quite the adventure. We are learning so much. Vaughan has taken on the project of learning and caring for them full force!

How they came to be: I received an email about "someone" looking for yards that he could set up some beehives in. He would pay for everything and we would get 1/2 the honey. Sounded too good to pass up!

I emailed back and told him we were interested. He came and checked out our property and we were APPROVED! A few months later he came and set up the hives.

This is how they looked pre bee's! The week before we were to get the bee's (sometime in May) we noticed some bee's flying in and out of one of the hives. Weird... apparently a swarm decided to take up residence! So funny.

Unfortunately, when the bee's "arrived" some of the "bee kits" really struggled. And they lost many of them. It was so sad to see all the dead bee's. So they put a "healthy" kit in the one hive and a struggling one in the hive with the other bee's that had moved in. I'm happy to say both hives are doing Awesome!


Our hives are thriving and are twice as tall as they were in the beginning. Our beekeeper comes every month and checks on the bees and makes sure they are healthy and happy.


This is Vaughan and our beekeeper friend at one of our monthly hive check ups. Vaughan put this trellis in - complete with plants to create a barrier from balls and wandering kids! Thank goodness he did, 'cause one of our dust storms picked our trampoline up off the ground and smashed it into the trellis. It broke parts of the trellis, but no harm to our bee hives! I don't think our bee friends would have been very happy!

In July he pulled the feeder box off of one of the hives and found the bee's had started making honey in it. (They weren't supposed to) So he gave us the honey.


It was fun to get to taste the honey and sample the honey comb! Yummy stuff! I can hardly wait to harvest the honey. It's so mild and yummy.

If anyone wants to come check out our bee's and show your kids come on over. Vaughan loves to give field trips! It's pretty safe and he is careful with the kids!

My Favorite 4th of July celebration

The Fourth of July 2011 was spent a little differently than in the past! As it got closer to the day reality set in that we would not be traveling and that I really wasn't feel well enough to do anything too adventurous!

BUT I still wanted to have fun and spend time as a family and make some memories! I got a little idea and I started sharing it with my kids. It went something like this: This year for the 4th of July everyone is going to come up with some food idea for our celebration. If possible, it should have a 4th of July theme.

I told the girls I had seen some fun ideas on blogs and if they needed any ideas I would happily help them!

To be honest, I thought I would be met with some complaints. I didn't really expect that everyone would participate. I prepared myself to be disappointed. (Not very confident, huh!)

This was my most favorite 4th of July celebration ever. Honest. The ultimate best.

Everyone participated. The creativity was amazing! Even the ones that don't usually participate.

Case in point:

Exhibit A.
This is one of my favorite pictures. Yep, our sweet Heather really got into it! Came up with her own idea. Bought the ingredients and went to work! Look how cute her American Eagles turned out...
She - will never really know how happy she made me! LOVED IT!The other girls were great sports too! Heidi came up with Red, White and Blue roasted potatoes! They were really yummy. And yes there are blue potatoes. It almost ended up as red and white potatoes - but Grandma Moore came to the rescue when she found some blue potatoes and brought them over that day!


Hillary made a YUMMY fruit pizza that looked like the flag! Beautiful and delicious all in one!

Hope made these fabulous Rocket Dogs! And yes! they sent you to the moon and back they were so good! Pretty cute too - she had very little help! I was so proud of her!


Somehow I neglected to get a picture of Holli and my Mom! Holli was a life saver cutting the watermelon (a must have for any summer celebration) and wrapping the corn on the cob in foil for the grill! My Mom made a yummy carver's salad and Vaughan grilled the chicken and steak for us!

I saw these cute ideas for some drinks and put those together. (Something I could do sitting down!)
The red white and blue drinks AND the pop rock rimmed glasses! They were fun and added alot of festivity to our meal! I also had a cherry pie in the freezer and made a cute bunting to garnish it with!
I had spent the day cutting and gluing the bunting and the cute banner I found on the internet.
Then James did his part and got the laptop to work on the tv and we watched my Dad's favorite movie "High Road to China". It was so much fun. And a very special way to celebrate this amazing land we live in! We made lots of special memories. It was a day I will never forget!

There's a New Beehive in the House!

Hope turned 12 on June 24th. It's hard to believe it's been 12 years since she was a baby in my arms. But it's true, and believe me she won't let me forget it!

She is SO excited to go to girls camp this year. Poston Jr. High. And all the other exciting things that come with the teenage years. It's hard not to join her in the excitement! But I see all the little girl things of days gone by and I miss them.

Hope is growing into a beautiful young woman. She is a sweet girl with loving and considerate ways. She is concerned for others and their feelings - most of the time. I very proud of her and the beautiful person she is inside and out.



We celebrated her birthday with a yummy dinner of pizza and she blew out candles on her Beehive Cupcakes! (her request!) Then we opened presents. It was lots of fun. And I hope she felt loved.

She was lovingly welcomed into Young Women's by being "bee attacked" in our yard. Each of her YW leaders came by and dropped of a treat. She got her personal progress books and she is all ready to start earning her YW medallion!


It's been fun to watch her and Holli already start working on her YW medallion. Yeah, I REALLY love this girl stuff! And I really love our Hope!

Summer Love ' n

This has been a STRANGE summer to say the least!

But despite all the health problems and the lack of vacations it has been productive:

I ended up bottling 12 pints of green beans and 36 quarts of tomatoes - All from our garden. I even made 1 batch of boysenberry freezer jam. It is beautiful and yummy! It makes me miss Knottsberry Farm! (The vacation we had planned to take!)


This amazes me, 'cause I know how lousy I've felt. I couldn't have done it without my sweet helper - Vaughan. He would come home from work and we would start the bottling process. I love canning and I wish I could have done more. But I'm happy with what was accomplished under the circumstances.

I hosted 2 bridal showers in June. Luckily, the majority of the preparations took place before I got too bad. I had so much fun and I loved doing them.

When I found out I was having surgery I panicked at the thought of anyone seeing my bedroom. I have had a corner of my room stacked with boxes that I needed to go through for MONTHS. I had *planned* to have them sorted through and put away by the end of June, but just didn't have the energy to do it. Nothing like PANIC to give your body the adrenaline it needs! It took a few days and some more help from my sweetheart but we got it done. It FEELS so good to not see all that clutter. My room is far from the sanctuary I want it to be, but it's coming. I have encouragement now!

I have read more books and watched more movies than I can count. It's been the most relaxing summer I can remember. I had to rely on my girls and Vaughan to do so much. I seriously have not cooked a meal since mid June. I've assisted and coached, but others have had to do the cooking- and they continue to!

When I look back now - post surgery - I realize just how awful I felt. And how much pain I was in. Pain really zaps your energy! While I am still having pain and problems with my foot, I have to let the nerve heal - I am feeling better everyday.

I would never want to repeat this summer, but I do have to say I have felt the LOVE. Love from my family - especially my girls and Vaughan, love from my friends and ward and love from the Lord. He has been there with me through all of this.

It's definitely been a summer full of love and I've learned so much. I look forward to having my health and being able to serve my family again. But I will miss spending quality and quantity time with my girls. Just laying around visiting - watching movies. No rushing or hurrying.

I have thought I would like to forget this summer - but I've changed my mind. I'm going to remember this summer as the summer I learned just how much I am loved.