All About the Argyles

 Started the month off with a fun trip to see WICKED with Greg and Sharon. We then went to Chuys to celebrate Cinco De Mayo with them.    It seemed like this last month of school was kind of brutal on the Argyles.  This is one day that Kiki stayed home from school with a sore throat.  We went to Smashburger to get her a shake.  Can you tell she doesn't feel good?  Shoes! Shoes! and More Shoes!  Lots of our friends helped chip in and watch Tanner's shoe donation boxes at each of the campuses where he was collecting shoes for Project Sole for his Eagle Project.  I got this text from one of my friends who grabbed the "overflow" one day at one of the elementary schools.  Can you believe it filled up the back of her SUV?  And that was the OVERFLOW.  Overall, They think they received over 500 pairs of shoes, doubling Tanner's goal.  Trek consumed alot of May as we prepared for our first meeting with the AP/YW committee, decided on a theme and preppe

This week has been a whirlwind of all of the usual end of the school year awards assemblies. Yesterday was Brady's.  He was awarded  MOST SPORTY the SOCIAL STUDIES award EXCELLENT STUDENT award and A/B HONOR ROLL (Man he came awfully close to making the all A honor roll!)  Here he is with his cute teacher, Mrs. Jones.  Today we had the Middle school awards assembly.  I loved this banner that they had all the 6th graders sign.  They are moving to the 7th/8th grade campus next year.  Reagan was recognized for serving as a member of the   student council  and getting  all "A's" for the year.  I was able to snap this cute picture with one of her good friends, Taylor,  after the awards ceremony. McKinley was recognized for making the "A"honor roll too but I didn't get a picture of that because she was so far away!  I'll make up for it tomorrow at the UIL Awards assembly....Holy Cow!!!  This place really bel

We had a great night a couple of weeks ago when a group of great families got together to learn about missionaries and missionary work.  We had the missionaries that are currently serving IN our ward come talk to the kids about what their day is like, what kinds of rules they live by, and how mail and care packages from home help them stay positive.  The Schaacks, Margetts, Nielsens, Whitneys, Lloyds joined us for a great night of service!  The kids wrote letters to 6 missionaries that are currently serving from Prosper.  Two are in Mexico, 1 in Brazil, 1 in Chile, 1 in Arizona, and 1 in Virginia.  Everyone brought things that were favorites of the missionaries.  (We found out what their faves were from their moms. ) I can't believe I will have a missionary out in just over a year.  Who knows?   Maybe I will have two!

 Yes.  Here it is. The ugly brown couch. We bought it many years ago when we weren't really even looking for a new couch.  We walked into the furniture store and saw a salesman demonstrate how easy it was to clean and we were sold.  He pulled a ballpoint pen out of his shirt pocket and proceeded to mark ALL OVER THE COUCH CUSHIONS.  I gasped.  Then he took a damp rag and wiped it clean with no effort.  This is a mother's dream couch I tell you! Especially a mother that had 5 young children. This is our itty bitty tv that is in our family room.   I'm not sure how many inches the screen is, but trust me - it's small.   Upstairs we have a media room with a Giant screen tv.   My kids RARELY watch tv up there.  For the longest time I couldn't figure out why.   They are always downstairs when they want to watch tv.   I'm not complaining, mind you.  I LOVE having them down here while I m cooking or cleaning or working on various projects.  I r

Just had a sudden reminder on Monday that there are lots of people out there that have their "church face" on that are hiding the fact that they might be struggling with some really really hard trials.  From outward appearances things might seem like they are smooth sailing but deep down inside they are really suffering. I had lunch with two friends from a neighboring ward yesterday.  They were telling me about a cool experience that had happened several months ago in  their Relief Society.  A new sister in their ward was asked to provide a spiritual thought to start off the RS meeting one Sunday.  She passed out pieces of paper and pencils and asked each sister to write down the hardest thing she was dealing with and to do it anonymously.  Then she read them out loud.  Completely without judgement or emotion.  Things like "My husband is addicted to pornography", "I have a substance abuse problem", " We might lose our house if things don't

This quote came from a talk at Women's conference at BYU a few weeks ago.   It is from Sister Elaine Marshall.   I can't wait to be able to read the entire talk once they are published.    I am not a super-sensitive person.   I don't think I naturally notice things that might clue me in on the fact that someone around me is having a hard time.  I have always admired people who seemed to be the kind that do.  I had a dear friend call me several months ago out of the blue and ask how I was doing.  I had been heavy with worry about something and just talking it over with her made my burden seem lighter.    I wrote a few days ago about spiritual gifts and I think this is one of those gifts that some people naturally have and others don't.  My friend clearly does.  I can even see it has been given to one of my children in particular.  She notices things that others do not.  Like that one of the carpool boys seemed uncharacteristically quiet or that a friend

Yesterday we had a sunday school lesson on spiritual gifts . It made me think.  As I sat in the relief society room and looked around at all the talent and spiritual gifts in that room, I was a little awestruck.  There are so many remarkable people in my ward family that have been blessed with really wonderful abilities.   We have "Scriptorians" who have a terrific grasp of the scriptures-  people who are especially great at caring for those who have needs- many who are helpful with administrative tasks- or wise beyond their years and great at articulating that wisdom so that the rest of us can benefit from it- we have people who have an uncanny ability to love others ( like our current RS president) We have great teachers and speakers. I could go on forever. One of the things that I think I have been blessed with is a spiritual gift that most might not think of as a spiritual gift.  But the more I study and reflect on it, the more I do.    It

 We went to see Wicked with my Aunt and Uncle this weekend and had a fantastic time. Holy cow!  What an amazing production.  I was just in awe at the talent.  I don't know what was more impressive: the sets, musical score, creative storyline, or the amazing voices!  Never having been blessed with amazing musical talents, I sure am a girl that can appreciate the talents of others and this show was unforgettable. Even the boys liked it. And of course, Jensen was in heaven.  This girl never met a musical she didn't love. Then we went to Chuys for some yummy mexican food and ate the big-as yo-face burritos.  Tanner was definitely in his happy place there. I feel so grateful to have such a terrific aunt and uncle!  We love them so much and have so many great memories with them.  They really are such a blessing to us.

 Our ward started a new tradition this year of having a night dedicated to the Seniors that are graduating.  They had each Senior set a table display telling about themselves and did a fun slide show.  Each of the younger youth talked in a video about what they loved about the Seniors and parents submitted photos.  Parents were given time to pay tribute to their graduates and in turn the graduates were able to share a few words of wisdom to the younger kids.  It was such a fun night. We decided to have each of Jensen's brothers and sisters share some things that they loved about her and have learned from her example.   We printed it up and put it on display with pictures of her.  These are the things they wrote.:  "Jensen is friendly.  She's always nice to everyone.  I've never heard her say anything mean about anyone.  She doesn't fight with us.  She is a peacemaker.  She can get along with just about anyone.  She is smart and works hard at her school