Josh's Graduation

Well, Josh has officially graduated from High School! It was a fun afternoon for us. His graduation started at 4 pm at the BYU Marriott Center. The pics of him walking are a little blurry. We weren't real close, just trust me that it's him!

Josh walking in from of the Timberwolf T

After recieving his "diploma". (It's just the diploma case)

Josh also got to play in the orchestra. He is the cello on the end.

Outside after the great event!

Katie, Josh and Erika outside the Marriott Center

This is the real diploma

Josh with his proud parents.

This is Josh after everything! He was so excited. This is also such a Josh thing to do. I'm proud of myself that I was able to catch it so good! I'm not really good at action shots.

After all the ceremonies, we went out to eat with Grandma and Grandpa Gustafson and Grandpa Liddle to Goodwood Barbeque. It was really yummy! I know I have pics of the grandparents also, but, like I said before, those are still in Morocco with David. Hopefully soon! We had a really good time. I'm so proud of Josh for all his accomplishments. He is off to Snow College in August. I'm sad to see him go, but it will be a wonderful experience for him. We love you Josh!

Disneyland

We had the opportunity to go to Disneyland from June 1 through the 6th. We had so much fun! It's been about 11 1/2 years since we went so the kids hardly remembered anything. Josh went in March with the Orchestra tour, so he was our guide. It was hard to get Erika to ride some stuff, but she ended up loving Space Mountain! We rode it several times. I'd say that was a favorite of everyone. It was also nice to learn about the Fast Passes. That helps a lot. I chickened out of California Screamin. We made the kids go on It's A Small World without us. This is a picture of them when they got off.



As you can see, they were not impressed. We laughed so hard when they came out! Hilarious!
We also have some pics of us on Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. You have to look at Erika's face on Splash Mountain! It's the best!



I'd say we all look pretty good. That's me ducking behing David. Erika looks horrified! She didn't like it at all. But we couldn't help ourselves when we laughed. We had a lot of fun. I hope we can go again soon. It was overcast for most of the time so we never got hot. The whole atmosphere there was great. They really go over the top with the themes. Our hotel was only a few blocks from the park, so we did a lot of walking. We also had dinner that first night at the Cheesecake Factory. It was good, but really big and noisy.


On our first day, we left the park to eat lunch and were stopped by one of those people who want you to listen to their vacation deals seminars. At first we were going to say no, but they said they would feed us a free Quizno's dinner and give us 100 Disney Dollars. So we listened to their stuff, said "no thank you" and walked out with basically $100 and bought all of our souveniors! It was worth the boring talking. Katie was sick our last day, so we didn't spend too much time there. We then drove to San Diego to our nice Navy Lodge on Corondado Island. It was too cold to go to the beach, so we decided to head home the next day and spend a night in St. George. That was nice to break up the drive.


When we got home, our doggie, Kujo, was so excited to see us that she had an accident when she saw us. Poor thing. She ran around like a maniac for a long time.


Next post, Josh's graduation! It's taking me a long time because the pics from these events are on a memory card in Morocco with David and he is having to email them to me.

My Bad

I haven't posted in long time! I will put up some pics and stuff tomorrow of our vacation and Josh's graduation. Sorry for all you millions of people who check here regularly because you love us so much! Good stuff soon....

Mother's Day

I just wanted to share how my Mother's Day went. I woke up to a paper being pushed under my bedroom door. It was a note telling me to stay in my room until I got another note. The next note came and when I opened my door I saw balloons taped all over the doorways and stair railing! Erika had decorated the house! She also used a window marker to write Happy Mother's day and hearts on all the reflective surfaces. Then she made waffles with homemade syrup. It was so nice. Katie bought me a new pair of shoes with her first paycheck! Everyone got me flowers and David is getting my a silhouette machine! (thanks to my good friend Kathie). It was such a nice day. I just want to thank my beautiful family for all they do for me. I am so blessed to have such a sweet and caring husband and the 3 best kids ever! I love them with all of my heart and wouldn't trade any of them for anything. I'm so grateful to be a mother. I could never wishfor anything else. And they're mine for eternity!

David is Home and Wicked

Well, David is finally home from Azerbaijan. He spent 2 1/2 weeks there training with them. Over all, he had a very positivie experience. I'll have him post his thoughts in another post. He did bring home some very nice gifts!



The blue plate was a gift from the Azeris. The white plate and the next pic of stacking doll and rug were given to David by his counterpart, Rashad. I LOVE THESE!



And these next two are stacking dolls that David bought for me!! I'm so excited to add them to my collection!










On Tuesday, Erika and Katie went up to Salt Lake with Aunt Melody and her girls, Rosie and Julie to be put in a drawing for $25 Wicked tickets! I would have gone too, but David was coming home that night. Anyway, each name entered could only get 2 tickets, so we picked the two girls who would want to see it the most, which ended up being Erika and Rosie. Erika didn't think they would get picked, but Melody did! So they got 2 Wicked tickets for that night for $25 each! Melody was so awesome to drive them there, get them dinner and then come home, only to drive back up there at 10pm to pick up the two girls. Erika had such a wonderful time. It was a great experience for her.



A few weeks ago Erika came home from her friends house and announced that she was planning to go to Sea World Camp in San Diego this summer with her friend! That was a shocker. She is now desperately trying to earn money to help pay for it. We have to get her some swimming lessons because part of their trip includes snorkeling, and surfing lessons! So, if any family has ways for her to earn money, let us know.



Tomorrow is Prom, so I'll post pics of Josh later on!

Our First Pedicures!

Today is my sweet niece's 16th birthday! Her mom, Melody, took her girls and my girls out for pedicures today. Me and my girls have never had one before, so this was a new experience. It was great!!!







The girls loved the pampering and the foot and calf massages were awesome!





I think the moms enjoyed it the most! What a wonderful feeling to just sit there while someone rubbed your feet and made them pretty. The chairs even gave you a massage during the whole thing! AWESOME!!!





The toe dryers were cool. And you can see the finished product. What beautiful feet! I hope we didn't shock those poor guys with our rough feet and toes, but they were very nice and did a great job! I think that having a regular pedicure in essential to every womans well being. I think that if David gets to go to all the BYU football games, I get a pedicure for each one!

I don't know why some of the pics are small. I can't seem to fix it, so just squint! These were downloaded from my phone, so that might be why!

What's been going on at our house!

Ok, so first, I promised some time ago to post some of Josh's pics from his trip to Disneyland and Hollywood. So here goes! The first few are from the Hollywood walk of fame. Tammy, the Kermit is for you! Then there's a pic of Josh and his friends in front of the L.A. Temple.









Needless to say, he had a blast!

Katie officially got her drivers license and asks to go on errands about 100 times a day! I must say, it's easier to not be in the car when she's driving. I can just pretend that it's all good. J/K Katie! She is a pretty good driver. Now she can drive herself to her new job! She is scared, nervous, and excited all at the same time. Once the first paycheck comes in, I'm sure she'll be feeling fine!

We finally got all the work done on the outside of our house. Luckily, the water damage wasn't so bad on the inside of the wall, so we just had to redo the brick and extend the overhang on our roof a little bit so we can avoid the constant dripping down the front window. I'd like to thank my brother in law, Jon, for helping us with that.

David will be leaving on another business trip on Sunday. Yes, he is leaving on Easter. And he will be gone on his birthday again! I can count on one hand the number of birthdays he's been home for in our almost 19 years of marriage. Somehow, he always ends up spending it with his army buddies. He will be gone just over 2 weeks. Hopefully, things at home will be more calm than the last trip.

Next week is Spring break and I'm so excited! Even though we had to postpone our trip to Disneyland until June, we will find something fun to do. It's actually a good thing we're not going to Disneyland during Spring break, because I think the entire state of Utah will most likely be there!

I got my hair cut! It feels great! I was so sick of long hair. I got such great headaches when I'd wear it up. I used way too much shampoo the first time I washed my shorter hair. I'll have to get used to that.

Well, that is our life for now. I hope you enjoyed my babblings!

General Young Women Meeting

Me and my girls just watched the General Young Women Meeting on TV! It was so wonderful and inspirational. I love the new YW Value, Virtue and all the talks that went along with it tonight. I love being a leader in the YW program. I love all the girls that I get to interact with on a regular basis. And I especially love being able to be with my own daughters! I loved Pres. Monson's talk and the three things he focused on. Courage to not judge others, Courage to keep yourself virtuous, and Courage to stand up for what you believe in. (I didn't use his exact words. The Spirit was strong and my girls felt it also. Our young women are told that one virtuous woman can change the world, and I believe that. If our young women set their sights on the temple, then the young men will have to also if they want to marry them! Their influence is endless.

The First Presidency and the General Young Women Presidency have issued a call to return to virtue! I know I've said it before, but I am so excited to have this added to our Young Women theme!

Quick Update

Well, Katie passed her road test and can now get her driver's license! So, I think that's what we'll be doing on Monday, since there is no school!

Josh had his Regional competition for Solo and Ensemble with his cello on Wednesday. It was at AF high school. It was wierd to be back there. It's changed a lot since I was there. Anyway, his judge was the same guy who he played for at his Snow College audition. He remembered Josh and talked with him a bit. He scored Josh high and so now he is moving on to the state competition in April!

Driving and Yoda and Dogs, Oh My!

So, Kate starts her roading today after school! She does this for 4 days and if she passes, she can get her driver's license! She is really nervous, but she's been driving a lot lately and she's gotten better. Now she lands between the lines in a parking lot when she parks the car. So look out world, she could be legal by next week.

Josh got home from Orchestra tour yesterday. He had a blast and loved his 2 days in Disneyland. He bought himself a Yoda backpack. It really looks like Yoda is hanging on! It's a little creepy. He also went to Hollywood and saw some of the stars "stars" on the sidewalk. He took many pictures. Our favorites are: Patrick Stewart, Jerry Stiller, and Kermit the Frog. I will post some of the pics when I figure our how to get them off of his phone. He was really tired, but still managed to go to church with us.

Erika has gotten a job taking care of our neighbors dog since they no longer have anyone at home during the day. She let's the dog back in the house when she leaves for school and then let's her out for an hour when she gets home. She is loving this because Lucy is such a big sweet dog. I think Kujo is the size of Lucy's head.

David drove home from Little Rock all throught the night Friday and got home at 4 am Saturday morning. I can't believe he did that without taking a break, but I am so glad that he is home. We have had a wild two weeks with all the stuff that decided to happen. Water damage on the outside of our house, the fridge broke, and the computer downstairs died. So we have a fridge on loan from David's sister, and we have to use the laptop until the computer gets fixed. We are still waiting to hear from the insurance company to see what (or if) they are willing to pay for house repairs. We'll keep you all updated on that!

I'm happy because I'm hearing birds tweeting outside! Is Spring finally coming? My grass is totally matted down and ugly at the moment. I can't wait for the color of Spring and to see my trees get green again!

Josh's Audition and other stuff

Today, Josh drove down to Snow College to audition for a music scholarship. He was sooo nervous! He said he even considered just lying about going and saying he wasn't good enough!!! But he toughed it out and he did awesome! The guy he auditioned for said that he really wants him in his Symphony Orchestra and maybe the Chamber Orchestra also! He was surprised that Josh has never had private lessons because he is so good on his cello. He thought that Josh must be able to sing because he has such a good ear for pitch (Josh cannot sing!) So, it's looking good for Snow! He also auditioned at UVU, but he didn't enjoy that at all. Snow has such a good small town feeling that Josh loves. Very peaceful. The Snow website, their directions to the school told you to turn at "the stoplight". And they only have 1!! So I guess I'll be saying goodbye to him this fall :(

Katie is obsessed with driving. Every outing starts with "can I drive?" It's hard to turn the car over to her. I just want to have the control. She is getting better, though. Kate is also a Youth Camp Leader (YCL) for girls camp this year. She is excited to be in on the planning. She is realized just what is involved in making girls camp happen. It's good for her.

Erika has been taking some 4H classes that are offered through the Jr. High after school. She decided to take 3 different classes. You are only allowed 2, but Erika and her friend got permission to take 3. She is taking Cooking, Film Making, and Woods. She is into so many things. I just don't know what she will be when she grows up. Her interests are everywhere and she is so good at all of them. She is an adventurer.

David is in Little Rock right now for a school he needs for work. It has been a looong week and he doesn't come home until next Saturday. They don't have classes on the weekend so he and some buddies drove to Memphis to see the sights. They drove by Graceland and said it looked lame. He's been eating some good southern food out there.

I've been home dealing with the water damage on the front of our house. I'm afraid the insurance won't pay for it because they will think we should have been able to see through the walls and known that damage was happening before it became evident. So, we could be forking out some big money to have it repaired. Super big bummer.

Well that is what is going on with us!

Preference 2009!!!

This first picture is of the posters that Katie and her friend Diane made to ask out their dates for Preference. They are candy bar posters. They turned out so cute! Diane asked Josh, so he was pretty excited about the candy.

This is how Katie's date, Jeff, answered her. He wrote "yes" on some paper and then cut it up into squares and then folded them and put them into the wrappers of mini Reese's peanut butter cups. So, we had to find them all and then put the puzzle pieces together!

Then I went with Katie to bring some food over to Diane's house since they are eating dinner there. They look so beautiful together! I will post pictures of the date portion of their day when Diane's mom gets them to me.

This is Diane picking up Josh. They look really cute together. Josh's shirt and tie look really good with Diane's dress. Diane is such a sweet and beautiful girl. I just love her!

And, lastly, this is Katie picking up Jeff. They look amazing together. Katie was glad to be tall in her heels. Jeff is over 6 feet, so she needed them! His dark suit looks so good next to her dark pink dress.

They are off getting their pictures taken before the dance (apparently, they don't do that during the dance anymore) then they are off to Diane's house for a nice Italian dinner! We provided the garlic bread, salad, and the cheesecake for dessert! I think they will play games for a little while after that and then go to the dance at 9:30. I think it's nerdy to get there too early. So, I will have more to show and tell when I get the rest of the pictures!

Happy Birthday Katie!

I know it's a day late, but still, Happy Birthday!! I can't believe she is 16. I don't know if I'm ready to have her dating and driving. She had a party on Saturday night. Boys and girls! Anyway, we gave them all $3 and then had them draw each others names out of a bag. Then they all went to the mall and had to use the $3 to buy gifts for the person who's name they had drawn. It was fun to see what they came up with. Then they came back home and we had Papa John's pizza! So good. BBQ chicken, Chicken/bacon/ranch, double pepperoni, and half ham/pineapple half pepperoni. It went fast! I also made my lovely Symphony Brownies. Then they watched "I Robot".

Earlier that day, I took Kate shopping for her birthday present. She wanted clothes. We went to Buckle to find some jeans. They are pretty expensive, but I've never been to a store where they were so friendly and helpful! The took the time to talk with you and tell you what type of jeans will work for your body type. It was fun. And her jeans are way cute! We also got her a couple of cute tops.

Last night, we had our a special dinner. I made boneless pork ribs cooked in the slow cooker with BBQ sauce. YUM! I also made garlic mashed potatoes and homemade rolls. After we let that digest for a while, we had the cake and ice cream. Chocolate fudge cake with Mud pie ice cream. Katie also got to go to lunch with her Grandma Liddle. I think it was a good birthday.

She also got talked into asking out a neighbor boy to preference! So, I will get to hunt down a formal for her. It's this Saturday!!! Nothing like last minute...

I just love my Katie Bug. She has been such a joy to have in our home. She is so good at helping out and cleaning! She is so sweet. I'm proud of the lovely young woman she has become. I know I can trust her to be modest and to show respect to herself and others. She will always be my cute little baby girl. I love you Kate!!

How Boring am I?

I guess I haven't posted in a while. Not much has been going on lately. We are enjoying a day off of work and school today. Although, I'm not sure David is enjoying it since he is pretty sick. We've been passing it around, but it seems that he has it a little worse, (or thinks he does ;) J/K sweetheart!)

I am getting a little sick of all the snow we have here right now. After the repeated snow storms a while back, we have so much piled up along our driveway and in the road. We've had some warmer days, but the snow is stubborn and won't go away! We had to dig a little walkway in the back yard for Kujo so she could go potty and not be buried. She had to stand on her hind legs to see over the snow. Poor little thing. Then she runs into the house and goes straight for the heating vent.

It's a new semester for the kids. They are excited about some classes and bummed about others. Katie is taking a floral design class that is being taught by some cowboy who has no idea why he is teaching it. But she seems to like it. Josh still wishes that all math would disappear. And Erika is excited about having art.

Josh has some cello auditions in about a month to try for some scholarships. He has been working hard on several pieces so he will do well. His first audition is at 10am on a Saturday in Ephraim, and the second is at 2pm in Orem on the same day. A lot of driving!

Speaking of driving, Katie will be turning 16 in a couple weeks and we have been letting her drive quite a bit. It's a little scary at times. She is getting freaked out by all that happens when you turn 16. I think she is afraid of who will be asking her on dates. I'm sure she will have fun once she relaxes a little.

Well, it seems I have rambled on enough. I hope this all wasn't too disjointed.

Our Holidays

On New Year's, we had just planned to stay home and watch DVD's (Stargate Atlantis: which we got for Christmas seasons 1-4), but we got a phone call from our neighbors asking us to come hang out with them with a bunch of other friends. The kids all hung out and played games. It was fun. We did some fireworks at midnight. Then David and i went home and crashed, but the kids and their friends stayed up and watched Nacho Libre until 2:30 am. yikes! I remember when staying up late was no big deal. I feel old......

The kids are really enjoying their phones. I'm glad that they know the rules about when it is appropriate to use them. They are good kids.

Well, here is some news. I gave my two weeks notice today! I've been feeling like I need to be home to complete projects, do stuff that has to do with my calling, and to just be a better mom. I am so tired when I get home from work, that I don't want to even think about making dinner so we eat out or have whatever (make what you want). I never want to clean either because I've been cooking and cleaning all day at work. I just want to nap and take it easy. David and I went over our finances and figured we could do it if we stick to our budget. So, in two weeks, I will be home.