The Weekend Wrap...

Alot of my weekend was spent in Dallas,Texas. Well, not physically but definitely in spirit as I watched the events of Glenn Beck's Restoring Love weekend. This was the third in his "Restoring" trilogy. The first was Restoring Honor which took place in Washington D.C.two years ago, and the second, Restoring Courage, took place in Jerusalem last year. All of the events have been so inspiring and somewhat life changing for me. Not in huge ways, but they have encouraged me to think deeply about my values, my country, and where I stand as an American and a patriot. I love them.

One of my favorite days from  this weekend's event was Friday, when 35,000 people gathered and performed service for and with charities in the Dallas area.  It was unbelievable to see so many people gathered to serve those in need. Friday evening, a program called Indivisible Under God was held. It was  a religious gathering of all different denominations. The speakers were incredible.
I love to hear and feel the testimonies of people from other faiths. I wept.

 Saturday night was the culminating event in the Dallas Cowboy Stadium where close to 100,000 people gathered and listened to patriotic stories, music, and saw incredible artifacts from American history. All this in an effort to restore love for our country as well as for each other. Mostly, to help us remember that, as De tocqueville said: "America is great because America is good."  We need to be good and do good.

It was truly an awesome experience.

Okay enough of that! We also managed a few other things this weekend...

We went and saw this musical...

 ...with this amazingly talented man from our ward. 

Really, he was incredible.

Meghan came home from her summer stint in Washington on Saturday, which only made us miss Michaela more, and brought with her this incredible quilt. Grandma makes the college bound kids a quilt to take with them and this is over the top. 

Can't wait to see Michaela's.

I also did a photo session with Hannah where I made her do lot's of stupid poses (and she actually did them!)

And finally there was Sunday dinner. 

We celebrated Kyle's impending birthday....

...dined with the Woolf kids...

...which are kind of all grown up...

(awkward moment when Janis thought Ashley was Tyler's wife)

...and listened to EFY reports from all the 

cousins who got to attend this summer.

And today, once again, my husband is leaving me for 5 days, and taking Hannah, Elijah, and Kyle on an exciting adventure in the 

High Uintas...

Wish me luck!

Okay, and them too.

Too-deh es your deh!

...as Bethany's high school bus driver used to tell them

 as they got off the bus, in a completely wonderful Antonio Banderas accent.

 

Today IS her day.

She is finally the owner of an official "drive without your mom in the car" Driver's License.

Eeeek.

 

Very Mysterious.

Today I got this email from a friend: 

Brenda, I know this is so random but I just saw photos of Michael Jackson's kids and the older two look just like your niece Kaitlyn and her older brother, it is SO weird. Are you possibly harboring Michael Jackson's kids???? JK 

So, I decided to check it out:

Michael J's son...

Zac.

 

 

 

Michael J's daughter...

 

Kaitlyn.

I think she might be on to something.

Fast And Furious.

The Hallidays came, and the Hallidays left.

 All within about 24 hours. 

In that time we managed:

*a trip to Bridal Veil Falls 

*2 trips to the Power Tumbling Gym 

*a Pioneer Day ward breakfast 

*a trip to Savers 

*and much running around and visiting.

Then, just as quickly as they arrived, they packed up and left 

with reassurances of a Thanksgiving reunion. 

It already feels emptier.

.

Do you think Zac is sincere with his goodbye hug?

The Time Has Come.

After six long, but wonderful weeks, 

Mom has come to collect the Californians.

Seriously, I might cry- I love those kids.

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, my husband went on a trip for 5 whole days leaving me alone with 9 children. 

I lived, 

 so did they. 

We might have even had a little bit of fun.

The trekkies returned with some amazing experiences to share...

Elijah went to EFY for the week...

He came home with this little note in his scriptures...

Molly did makeup...

Beth drew pictures...

We went to the new City Creek Center in Salt Lake....

...where Beth dressed up as her favorite Tangled character.

We went to Temple Square...

... spent a few hours at Payson Pool...

Visited Janis and her Zoo...

And made friends with Tuffy and Buddy 
(we heard them sing the most delightful tune).

No pictures from the day I made them all go to the water park for two hours so I could regroup. 
Some of them hate the water park but they were good sports.

The husband is home now...
we are all a little saner.

Shabbat Shalom.

A Couple of Pictures For the Neeley's.

Elijah came home from Washington with a piece of board cut, shaped and sanded, hoping one day to be a longboard. 

Three days later it was.

Thanks Uncle Matt.

Temporary Leave of Absence.

Whoops! I am currently out of space to upload any more photos on my blog. They now want to charge me a monthly fee to continue. The webmaster (the hubby) and I are looking at the best option to store my data (print my blog as a book) before deleting years at a time to free up space. We will be back soon. 
I will leave you with this quote of the day:

Will: Me and Cecil like all the same things, except for his problem of liking broccoli...


And there you have it. 
Shabbat Shalom.

And They're Off.

At 4:00 this morning, 

they left for the Pioneer Trek.

For three days.

I am excited for them-

and I am excited for me.

Just Another Monday Evening...

For Family Home Evening we Tie-Dyed. 

I know, I had a momentary lapse of sanity. 

(The word momentary is debatable these days...) 

It's not necessarily wise to combine permanent color products

 and 9 kids.

However, they were pro's.

They took it very seriously.

 Kaitlyn did the "Wad it up in a ball" technique.

Not sure what Hannah's doing ...

Cecil models his finished product...awesome!

The whole crew is pretty proud!

And Molly finished up the red bottle in her hair :)

Never let some good Tie-Dye go to waste...