Happy Father's Day!

This Father's Day was a special one for me because I was able to have my Dad here to celebrate in person which doesn't happen that often. I am usually mailing off a gift and card and calling him on Father's Day but this made it all the better. I have been blessed enough to have great men in my life, my Dad to start off with, my husband, and a wonderful father in-law and I am grateful for each one of them. We had a great day.

After Church

Awesome.

Me, Brittney, and Brandy with Dad.
I got Jordan this little find on Etsy. I love it, so perfect for a Father's Day gift.

And these adorable matching ties for Drake and Jordan. They looked so handsome going to church!

Here is Grandpa in the hot seat about to open presents. Drake got in on the action.

After a delicious tri-tip, twice baked potato, shrimp scampi, grilled corn dinner we all played BINGO with prizes and Scattergories. And then topped the night off watching Princess and the Frog. Such a fun day, there is nothing like being surrounded by family on a Sunday, let alone Father's day!

We Have A Winner!!

Tuesday night Holly and Brad invited us to another Round Rock Express game and since we have so many pictures of the Round Rock Express games I didn't take my camera. Bad Idea! The one time I don't take my camera we were asked if Drake wanted to be in a race during the 3rd inning. Actually it worked out because one of the workers was taking pics and got them from her. ANYWAYS... so Drake was in a little foot race with Tyson, Holly and Brad's little boy, and another little boy, 3 all together. I had no intentions of Drake doing well but guess what... He won!! Jordan started him off and when they said go I knew I had to get eye contact with Drake. So I am yelling his name and waving his snack cup, another strategy!, and he started to come...

The race felt like it was in slow motion! So he kept coming as I am encouraging him. Then he gets his eye on the finish line streamer and as you can see in the picture got so excited and kept coming...

At this point I hear Holly saying "NOOOOO", I am laughing so hard and still encouraging Drake and then he grabbed the finish line!

It was so fun! Drake did awesome, he had no idea what was going on but everyone started cheering and they gave us the prize... an Adult Small tee shirt, I guess for me? I thought they would give away a childs size shirt or some candy or something but oh well I am excited!

Good job Drakers! We had alot of fun at the game with everyone, more fun actually than others in the past so thanks Holly and Brad for the tickets!

Happy Memorial Day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day! Growing up Memorial day was just another day off school, until I was married and went to the cemetery with Jordan's family to see family members and it was then that I realized what the holiday was all about. My family didn't have anyone to visit growing up so we really didn't have any special traditions. Now, Memorial Day means something a little bit different. We honor those that have fought for us and our country and, a little bit more personally, those loved ones that have past away. And for us that is Maddie. So now we always make a special trip to the cemetery and this year we took our friends, the Gardner's, with us to visit Maddie. It was so enjoyable taking friends and having someone else there than just the 3 of us. We actually went on Sunday because on Monday we had a lot of fun swimming, BBQing, playing water balloon games all with a bunch of our friends which was a blast. It was a beautiful day and we had such a great time. Sorry no pictures, forgot the camera! But I am grateful for a day to remember those that have passed before us.

"Called to Serve"

Saturday, my presidency and I put on a fun missionary themed primary activity for the children in our ward. It turned out so much fun and had to share the details. A week before the activity we gave out "mission calls" to all of the children individually at church. We took a real mission call and revamped it to fit our activity. (click on the pic to enlarge)

We started with a coloring activity while everyone got there. Katie made these cute little suitcases and we had little coloring pages of things to "pack". We also made tags for each of them (see above picture) that said Member Missionary.

First up, a ride on the Missionary Airplane to the MTC! Katie and Sarah did an awesome job as flight attendants, showing where the emergency exits were with the official hand gestures, oxygen masks, and seatbelts! Sarah brought a recording of a real airplane take off that the kids loved. We got on the airplane in between each activity.

The M.T.C.! The Elders in our ward were teachers at our makeshift MTC teaching how to do a door to door contact. There were 5 steps:
1. Introduce yourself as a Member Missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
2. Smile
3. Make eye contact
4. Give a firm handshake
5. Bear your testimony
They were awesome and really got them excited to go door knocking! We had Welcome signs around the building with members in the classrooms. Some of them were inviting, some of them were "too busy" and didn't want to hear the message and some nobody was home! The kids really loved this part and were great at it!

Back on the plane and off to South Africa and Chile to their "missions". We had a Sister in our ward and Jordan talk a little bit about their missions with visuals. They both did a great job and had some great stories.

After the missions we had Pday! We set up a relay: lay down in the beds, alarm goes off, get up, make your bed, do 5 jumping jacks, put on a shirt a tie, eat 2 cheerios and say "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints", and run back. Again alot of fun!

We got back on the plane one more time after Pday and served beverages and snacks on the rolling cart down the plane aisle on the way home to their parents. We had all of the parents go to the primary room to pick their children up with a big Welcome Home! sign. They all clapped and cheered as we brought them in! It was a great ending to a fun activity!

My presidency is awesome and I love all of them. Alot of prep for this activity but it turned out great and we had a great time right along with the kids! Now off to plan the next one!