Tommy's good news

So after many days, weeks, and months of hard work Tommy finally got a chance to speak this week! We're both so excited. Session #1 - his first time in front of a crowd and he said it was a little rough, but he's also on week number 4 straight, so he's tired and he hasn't had as much time as he would have liked to work on his presentation. However, his numbers were decent, so we couldn't complain and he got in front of a real crowd!

Then two days later the speaker called him up in the morning and told Tommy he needed to speak... evidently the speaker had spelled the name of the town wrong in his GPS and ended up going in the wrong direction and wouldn't make it to the event on time. #2 was even better.

Today they had a very small crowd and Tommy was nervous because if you have one bad seed in the crowd it can make for a hard presentation and really bad numbers. Lucky for him #3 was a great crowd and he did amazingly well! I'm so proud of him. This has been a crazy year and he has worked harder this year than I've ever seen him before. It will be a slow process to become a speaker, but I'm so excited for the future!!! Great job Tommy!!!

Rain, Hail, and Wind, mixed with alittle sunshine = Not a great day for boating...

We'd planned a day out on the lake with my Dad. He had the day off and it was 'suppose' to be the hottest day of the year. The day before the weather was perfect, and the next day was only suppose to be better.... um yeah KSL weather was wrong. I can't believe it!!! But we had everything planned and packed so we went anyway. We got 2 rides in on the tube before the rain and wind came, so we spent some time in the boat harbor and decided to pull out the kites (sorry no pictures). That brought the sunshine back out and we were able to spend some more time out on the tube. The boys love the tube, they would ride on it all day long if I'd let them. Tyson on the other hand was totally content just driving the boat.Tyson and Grandpa Phil

My crazy boys

Cooper, Lily, Noah, and me. Cooper loves standing up on the tube, then flopping on his stomach, then turning around backwards. I kept telling him he had to hold on because I was not going in the freezing water after him.

Cooper, Lily, and Kiara when the rain started coming down. It was pelting them in the face so hard.

Tyson's not the best driver... he fell asleep on the job.

Jarom, Lily, Autumn, and Betsy. The girls didn't love the water blowing up in their face.

A day in the life of Cooper

Those of you who know my wonderful little Cooper know that he has a very low pain thresh hold. He gets a sliver and one would think that he was dying, I'm not joking here... I'm sure on several occasions our neighbors have thought I was ripping one limb off at a time all because he got a little sliver in his hand.

So today at our ward playgroup at the park it was no different. He starts screaming, whooping, yelling, one would think he was on his way to sudden death. So I slowly walked him over to the car to get a wipey for the small amount of blood on his lip only to find a pool of blood in his mouth. His bottom teeth had tried to push there way through his lip which left two huge gashes inside. I quickly got him loaded in the car, ran back for Tyson and hurried home trying not to make a big deal of it because that would only make things worse. After a lot of paper towels and gauze we finally got the bleed stopped. I feel bad because this one really truly is a painful one (I've been there and done that) and he's been a good sport. Here are few picture from his day.

Fat lip

Happier times outside with Tyson. Like Father like Son... right?!

He loves riding his bike down the hill, but has a hard time stopping before the fence.

At the end of the day. This picture doesn't do it justice. His lip looks terrible, poor kid.

Freakin' Funny Kid...

There's that moment that you find out you're having boy number 3 and your heart sinks just a little because you were sure you were having a girl... well I wouldn't change that for the world. Tyson is such a funny little kid. He doesn't stop giving hugs and kisses and you never know what to expect from him. He has a magical way of putting a smile on people's faces. He is one special little kid. This had all of us laughing so hard..."Boos Mommy, Boos, ouside Mommy, Boos ouside!" At lease it's not high heels!

We've decided when he's 16 and going to prom will print this picture out to give his date and tell her it's so she can coordinate outfits with him.

Star Wars Day...

"May the 4th be with you"... cheesy yes, but when you have 3 boys it is a wonderful 'holiday'. Last year was the first time I'd even heard of it, so this year we decided it was a perfect excuse to celebrate (and a night off from cooking for me). The boys wore their Star Wars t-shirts, and Star Wars pajamas and for dinner we had 'Galactic Pizza', 'Light saber bread sticks', and of coarse 'Yoda Soda' the best part about the whole dinner was by far the Yoda soda because the boys got to pick which color they wanted theirs to be. It also turned out to be a great lesson on mixing colors together. I'm so bummed I didn't take any pictures! Next year will be bigger and better, so we'll have pictures for sure.

Who knew...

That getting a plumber would be such a bright spot in my day. Let's go back 3 days... We had a change in renters in our condo. When I went to do the walk through I notice water running, you know it can't be a good thing when all the faucets are turned off but you can still hear it. I came to find out it was the water heater and things didn't sound or look to good. My wonderful Father-in-law came over to take a look and agreed that I'd need a plumber and he had a great suggestion for one. Back in November the night before Thanksgiving they had a pipe freeze outside and called a plumber. He quickly fixed things and left without asking for any money. I was so grateful to hear that there are still those kind of people out there in the world and grateful for his service. So he was the first one on my list. 8am this morning he showed up to replace our water heater. To make a long story short he did a lot of extra work to bring our old condo up to current standards and make it so our water heater will have a longer life. And he didn't charge me anything extra! At the end I told him how highly recommended he came because of my in-laws. He quickly asked if my father in law was one that had brain cancer. He shared with me that his wife had come with him that night because it was Thanksgiving and when they heard about Paul's cancer he was so touched that his wife asked if he was okay as he shed a few tears under the house fixing the pipe.

I can't begin to express how thankful I am for the tender mercies of the Lord in my life. Paul is such a great example to so many people and he touches and blesses our lives on a daily basis but sometimes I forget about all those people he doesn't even know and how much he is touching their lives.

I have had a brighter day and want to serve those around me all that much more now... all because I had to get a new water heater. If you ever need a plumber I know a good one :)