All About the Argyles

McKinley taught our last FHE lesson from our series we were doing on Doctrine and Covenants 109:8. "Organize yourselves, prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." In her lesson she told us about a "parable" that she thought of to help illustrate a point.  She said that Heavenly Father wants us to do our best but he doesn't expect us to be perfect.   "It's like when you are in elementary school and it is party day.  The room moms come prepared with a craft for you to do.  They pass out all the materials to each child and then show a model of what the craft should look like.  All the kids are trying their best.  They are looking at the model and trying to follow the directions as they have been explained to them but in the end, the craft they make doesn't REALLY look as good as the model that

 I don't love the time slot we have been assigned for church this year of 9am.  I really love being able to sleep in and go to church at 11 or 1.  BUT one of the "bright sides" of early church is having the chance to spend the day together as a family.  We have set a goal to have a baking project most Sundays and then delivering our goods to people we love afterward.  Yesterday we made "Bunny bait" with the following ingredients.   Chex mix, Rold Gold pretzel sticks, white popcorn,  white chocolate candy melts, sprinkles, and pastel m and ms. Lay it all out on a cookie sheet (except the candy melts). Microwave the candy melts til creamy. You might need to add a small amount if milk to make it the right consistency to drizzle over the other ingredients. Drizzle it on and then mix it all together well. The boys got a bowl to enjoy while they watched MARCH MADNESS. We delivered the rest to very deserving people.  Old friends, new friends, frien

Man I love this gal. Just seeing her makes my heart sing. She is the quintessential girl. All toenail polish and good smelling things. I so admire her wit .   Her easy way with others. She's never met a soul she didn't like   (or that didn't like her, for that matter.) She has the confidence to take her far in life.   Confidence, I only wish I had when I was a preteen. She's a "smartypants" (- the acedemic kind, not the beligerent, disrespectful kind.) She's fun .   fiercely independent .   Self reliant .   Has a thick skin.   I think I could count on one hand the number of times I have seen her upset because of something someone has said or done that was unkind.  She just lets it go and moves on - a rare find in an eleven year old girl. She looks out for the under dog   - and the gals at school who need a friend.   Because of that she is always surrounded. I love how   she is genuinely happy for people when

We celebrated Reagan's birthday a few days early with a party at JUMPSTREET and lunch at Wendys with friends.

Today's blog post is about Hormones. We have a few too many of them in this house at this time. I feel for the men in my family. That is all. Shahna

She made it.  But her three closest friends didn't. She is pretty bummed. Things are kinda' bittersweet over here.

These cutie pies are 7 of the girls that were on the cheer squad I coached this past fall.  They are all 6th graders and this was taken last night at 7th grade cheerleader tryouts.  Aren't they adorable?  I LOVE them. These are the sweetest, kindest, funnest group of girls.  I'm EXTRA fond of the one on the far right.  :O)  (Catherine, Caty, Emi, Hailey, Lexie, Kennedy, and McKinley) The night before tryouts we had a pizza party and "mock tryout" to get em' ready. That night I couldn't sleep.   Just seeing how hard these girls have worked to memorize the challenging choreography and tweak areas that they needed to work on made me realize how much they each wanted to make it.  I understand why.  We have had so much fun together the last few years and I'm right there with them not wanting it to end! But when I started thinking about the sheer numbers and all the other girls that have been working hard too!  There were 40 girls vying for

Yep.  Still studying this topic on "lemonade making" for this presentation I have to do later this month and came across another gem. An old cowboy said he had learned life's most important lessons from Hereford cows. All his life he had worked cattle ranches where winter storms took a heavy toll among the herds. Freezing rains whipped across the prairies. Howling, bitter winds piled snow into enormous drifts. Temperatures might drop quickly to below zero degrees. Flying ice cut into the flesh. In this maelstrom of nature's violence most cattle would turn their backs to the ice blasts and slowly drift downwind, mile upon mile. Finally, intercepted by a boundary fence, they would pile up against the barrier and die by the scores. But the Herefords acted differently.   Cattle of this breed would   instinctively head into the windward end of the range.   There they would stand shoulder-to-shoulder facing the storm's blast, heads down against its ons

 Reagan's new favorite pasttime is to post "selfies" on instagram.  I hosted a fun valentine party for the nursery at Institute.  We had heart shaped sandwiches, chocolate heart shaped pretzels, bananas, and valentine cookies.  Had lunch with these great ladies just cuz.  We try to get together every few months.  My kids have decided they like yogurt bar for breakfast.  It's a new favorite with three types of granola, three types of yogurt, and a variety of fruits.  Every once in awhile, Brent makes smoothies too!  Brady LOVES them.  McKinley and her best friend, Caty,  had fun in the photo booth  at their February book club mtg.  McKinley and Reagan starred in the "Schoolhouse Rock" production at school.   Several of their friends from church showed up to support them.  Very sweet.  We are so lucky to have the best network of  good friends for them here.  Brady and Brent did a great FHE lesson on a what it means to be a &qu

This gal just got home from 5th grade camp today.  We missed her.  Last night at dinner, Jensen reminded me that 7 years ago when SHE was the one coming home from 5th grade science camp, our family was in the midst of a crisis.  I had forgotten that!  How fast time has flown.  So I decided to document that most incredible experience with hope that I will never forget it.  It truly was one of the best "Holy Ghost" experiences I will probably ever have. Reagan was 4 and had been home sick for a few days with a bug.  She started feeling better on Thursday and asked if she could go outside to play in the back yard.  I was happy to oblige!  Poor kid was excited to get out of bed.  Things seemed fine.   Then early Friday morning, she awoke with what appeared to be a relapse.  I didn't think too much of it.  I sent Tanner and McKinley off to school and Brent off to work ( remember, Jensen was away at 5th grade science camp) and resolved to spend another day with my po