Hawkes house...or should I say FARM

Matt served in the Bishopric a couple of years ago with Pres. Hawkes (who is now in the Stake Presidency), and Shawn Hillis. They are both great men and have such great families that we love and look up to. They are CONSTANTLY serving and going above and beyond for EVERYONE. It was so fun to get together with them for a barbecue and then the kids got to go around in "the Pumpkin", or little 4 wheel drive cart, to see the cows, horses, ducks, chickens, goats, and dogs. They had a blast! What great friends and a great night!

I think Luke is excited...

I keep finding pictures like this around the house, do you think Luke is excited!?!

Our life is about to CHANGE...Are we CrAZy?????

Well I can't believe I am saying this....but we are moving to CHINA! Gosh I can't even type it without getting the butterflies and then a list a mile long of unknowns and concerns pop up in my head and then float around until I think I am going nutty! But it is true! Actually I am very excited and ready for the adventure. There are just so many unknowns that I can't wait to figure out and then I will be more at ease...for example:

• What kinds of things should we take?
• Which toys should I pack for my kids?
• What should we do with our house while we are gone?
• Do they have soft toilet paper?
• Do they have antibiotics for the millions of ear infections my kids get?
• Is there a place for Luke and Gavin to play baseball and basketball????
• What is my calling going to be in the branch?
• Are people going to look at me like I am INSANE when I have 4 kids (they are only supposed to have 1 in China!!!!!)
• Are my kids going to like school?
• Can I go with them to school for the first couple of days so they don't have to be scared????
• What am I going to cook while I am there?
• How hard is it going to be to grocery shop?

So there you have it...I am going to be using my blog to put all my scattered thoughts down and so you will see all the crazy concerns/excitement/shock as it unfolds!

They're BAAAACCCKKK.....

Well Kim and Morgan made it back safely from Italy and had a great time....I know one little boy who's not going to let them out of his sight for a while :)

I am so glad my mom was able to come and stay with Kim's kids because then I got to spend time with her too! We had the best time! I am SOOOOOO proud of my mom and the amazing job she did with Kim's kids. It's not easy to chase around a little 2 year old, especially when they run as fast as Lightning McQueen (even though he looks like Mater :) My mom was a champ! She took them swimming, went to Savannah's school for lunch, and I am most impressed the way she got around. She navigated the 2 hours to Kim's house and back to mine with no problems! And then when she was here we had her running from Gavin's game to Emma's dress rehearsal and dance pictures, to Luke's game, we had to cook and set up for my Laurel brunch, we had the Young Ambassadors staying here and went to their show, and she took all the grandkids into Chick-fil-a. Man I am sure she is exhausted, but it was a BLAST! I love ya mom! Thanks for a great time!

It was Max's birthday while Kim was gone so we had a mini party for him.

On Sunday the kids were looking for things to do to keep the Sabbath Day holy, they were so tempted to go run around outside like they had been all weekend. Instead they turned on church music and started dancing around together. Then they went and changed back into their Sunday clothes and danced. Even Luke surprised the girls and changed into his suit and dance with them as their prince. :) It was so cute!

The kids had a great time out back running through the sprinkler....awe what a fun time!

I sure hate when we have to say goodbye but at least this time we could say "SEE YOU IN A MONTH!"

My graduating Laurels...

Ugh! I can't believe how fast this year has gone! I look forward to school being out, but then that also means my 3 cute Laurels will be graduating and moving on with their lives. I am so excited for them but will miss them like crazy! They have all been great leaders, examples, and YW of faith. Sara will be going to BYU and made it onto the marching band! Christina is also going to BYU and Savannah will be going to BYU Idaho.

I kept feeling like I wanted to do something nice with them before they left and so we had a brunch and invited their moms. All of them were able to come, which is a miracle on a busy Saturday morning. I had the moms each share 3 memories or things about their daughter that they cherish and then I told things that I love and have appreciated about them. Then our RS President was there and spoke for a moment on the blessings of RS. It was a beautiful morning and we were all smiling and giddy inside while we celebrated this awesome time of life with these beautiful girls! What a fun memory!





I gave them each a candy bar poster which reads:

We just wanted to congratulate you and say what a (SWEETART) you are! You've got amazing potential, you're (MINT) to be a (STARburst)! Remember how your Personal Progress has helped you in life, the road ahead is not all (BLISS), you will have some strife. But you have learned (GOOD & PLENTY) in fact all that you need.... and the Lord will bless you as his commandments you heed.

Now is your (PAYDAY)! You get to go out on your own way. May you find (almond JOY) and happiness each and every day! And now we see, a beautiful woman to behold. May you find at the end of your rainbow a (POT OF GOLD - gold coins)!

2 VERY BIG ACCOMPLISHMENTS for 2 Big Boys!!!

Matt had a very short business trip where he left on Wednesday and came home tonight....and in that short amount of time both the boys had VERY BIG ACCOMPLISHMENTS....

LUKE has been DYING to pitch ever since he started playing baseball 4 seasons ago. Well his dream came true! We were playing the Cubs (our next door neighbors team) and we were winning 12 to 0. So the coach decided to let Luke have a chance! I was soooooooooo proud of him! He actually struck out 2 boys! He also got the game ball at the end of the game. This is where the coach picks one of the players that had a good game and awards him a ball with all the coaches signatures on it. Luke not only pitched, but he got HIT by the ball in the leg when he was up to bat. He took it like a man and after wincing for a second he took his base. I was so proud of him. After the game, and for the rest of the night, he kept saying how he couldn't believe he got to pitch! He said "I just want to thank coach somehow, maybe a thank you card or something." :) I didn't have my camera and had to take pictures and video with my phone for Matt to see. Great job LUKE!!!!

THEN today GAVIN had a big day...he was riding his bike with training wheels and I was jogging behind him. I told him I really thought that he could ride without training wheels because as I was watching him ride he was keeping balanced and centered. He just kept telling me he wasn't going to try until he was 5 years old. Finally I had him convinced and we rode/jogged home to get my wrench. We rode over to the park and I took them off. I helped steady him and ran along side him for about 3 seconds and when I let go he was OFF on HIS OWN!!!! I've never seen a kid learn so fast! He had quite a few falls but he never gave up and never got too upset. Each time he would fall he would immediately give me the thumbs up sign so I would know he was still ok and in good spirits :) He was so proud of himself and kept saying he couldn't believe he could ride without training wheels. It was so cute because after school was out he rode his bike up to the school to get Luke and Emma and they were SO excited for him. In fact they ran after him the whole way around the park, along with a few other friends. Gavin felt like a ROCK STAR!

I felt so bad that Matt missed out on all the action, but I don't think the boys mind because then they get to brag to Daddy :)

Mystery babysitter

My sister Kim and her husband Morgan had the opportunity to go to Europe with Morgan's family and so my mom came to town to watch her kids. In true Kim fashion, she made it a fun game for her kids to find out who they were going to have babysit them while they were away. My mom flew in Friday afternoon and Kim's family didn't get here until evening. So we dressed my mom up in a robe, a wig and glasses and had her come ring the doorbell. She talked like the Super Nanny and asked if there was anyone here who requested a nanny :) Savannah immediately knew it was Grandma and screamed and hugged her right away! It has been so fun because after Kim and Morgan left Saturday my mom stayed until Sunday evening. We had a packed weekend complete with Gavin's soccer game, the BYU Young Ambassadors performance, and extra house guests. :) Two of the Young Ambassadors stayed with us and one of the rules is that they each needed their own room....so we had one of them in the guest room, one in Emma's room, and then the rest of us crammed into the last 2 bedrooms - 5 to a room. Let's just say we bonded this weekend :) It has been a blast! I can't wait until my mom comes back Thursday or Friday with Kim's kids!

Gavin had to try the wig too :)

The girls were the cheerleaders at Gavin's game!

BYU Young Ambassadors

We had such a great opportunity to be a "host family" this past weekend for 2 girls from the BYU Young Ambassadors. We got to go to their show Saturday night and then we stayed after for another hour or so to pick up our guests. It was so funny because we had originally bought our 5 tickets for our family and then found out that we got 2 free tickets because we were hosts, which was perfect because we found out my mom and my sister's kids were going to be in town. So then we needed more tickets so we got 2 more tickets. So we were ALL over the theater! I had the baby and the 3 older kids and then Matt had Gavin, and my mom had Max and Maggie. The kids were sooooooo excited to be hosts, during the show they kept trying to pick out which performer they thought would be coming to our house after. The two girls we had were Alexis Flake and Melanie Lamb. Talk about sweet girls! Melanie is from Salt Lake and went to Brighton High School (Go Bengals!) Melanie is from Snowflake Arizona, in fact her dad is a Congressman from Arizona. The kids treated them like celebrities and wanted to sit next to them, hug them, and even got their autographs.

Alexis taught the girls some of a dance while Melanie won over Max's heart and held and played with him. My favorite was when Gavin forgot their names...he kept trying to remember and said "What's that girl's name? Lemon?" ha ha - we should have called Melanie Lemon :) The kids were a little bummed that we didn't get to spend more time with them. They did get to go to church with us but the rest of the time I was their taxi in the morning to their tour bus and again in the evening to bring them home to sleep. What a great opportunity and fun thing to be a part of. (Although it made me miss performing :)

Luke's Kennedy Space Center Field Trip

Today Luke got to go to the Kennedy Space Center for his field trip and Matt went along as a chaperon. I am so glad that it worked out that he was able to go and I know Luke was VERY glad. So here are Luke's words about the field trip:

First I got to go on the shuttle experience, which is ride where you get to feel what it is like to be on a real shuttle. It felt shaky. Then I got to watch Hubble 3D. This was cool because we got to see Orion's Belt and it was like a big nursery of stars. After that we got to see a real orbiter, then after that I got to touch a real moon rock. It felt like I was an astronaut. This was my favorite part of the day! We saw Endeavor on it's launch pad. There was one guy who went to the moon and he kicked moon dust up onto his suit and they still have his suit and it still has the moon dust on it! I thought that was awesome. We also learned about how orbiters launch. There was this one NASA lady that let us go to the education room and we learned about liquid nitrogen. She did an experiment where she put a leaf in the liquid nitrogen and it froze. then when she squeezed it it cracked into a bunch of pieces. She said that if we put our hand into the liquid nitrogen that this is what would happen to our hand.

It was a great day and I loved having my dad with me!