What I do when I have to wait

I am not a fan of waiting. I haven't seen that option on facebook yet, but when it's there, I will add it as my first "fan of" thing. So, since I am waiting, I decided to catch up on the fun that has been going on here in the PHX as the school year, et. winds down and summer winds up. P.S. I got a new camera for Mother's Day, so there are a significant increase in pictures due to me using it more often.

This picture was taken after Dillan and Chloe's violin recital on Mother's Day. It was held in their teacher's lovely church. This is Dillan and Chloe with their teacher, a.k.a. Miss Shari. She is truly a gifted teacher. I owe all of my children's abilities to her. She loves each child individually and motivates them to develop their talent. And, yes, I see that Dillan needs a longer tie. Every time I turn around that boy has grown an inch!

This is Chloe during the performance:

It's the one moment that I caught her just sitting there, not talking to her neighbor, who she hadn't met before, but decided that they were now friends and had a lot of things to discuss. That's my girl!
That's the darling children in front of the beautiful stained glass window in the church. It is so beautiful, and we are so lucky to get to go there twice a year for these recitals in the afternoon when the sun is hitting it. I think it makes the children sound ten times better.
This is Kevin and I on our way to one of our combined best dates ever. I mean, we both enjoyed our time together, not that we don't enjoy each others company, but you know, sometimes a date is enjoyed more by one party than the other. We went to the Scottsdale Gun Club after Kevin had gone to the N.R.A. Convention earlier that day and had an itch for a new firearm. I'm not at liberty to give you all the details, I was merely a bystander in a foreign world. But the things really kicked up a notch when we went to Sur le Table! I could spend hours in there looking at kitchen/ dining things. I came out with a new potato masher, but the damage would have been greater had Kevin not been with me to say things like "We just bought new dishes." or "Why would you need another hand mixer?" So I will go back when I don't have a culinary novice in tow. Then of course to the Cheesecake Factory.

This picture is a correction for Myrissa. The picture I posted for her on her birthday was when we were in the botom of the Grand Canyon, so we had just finished hiking for three hours and were attempting to refuel at Phantom Ranch. But in my defense, it was the only picture I had on this computer. So for her birthday dinner, I took the camera and got a few shots. The meal was lovely and I guess even at upscale restaurants they'll sing Happy Birthday. Who knew?

This is Myrissa and her husband, Brad. That Myrissa is such a saint for marrying a mentally challenged individual. He functions at the level of a ten year old, so needless to say, she has her hands full with that one. We have two new dogs. They are Frenchtons which is a designer breed of French bull dogs and Boston terriers. We did not purchase these, but were given them by our friends, the Guthries, who were unable to be around enough for them. Their names are Jacques (left) and Pierre (right). They are brothers and act it every bit. If I give them both a toy, they will want the one the other one has, and then fight about it. But then they snuggle up to each other to sleep. Jacque is older but smaller. Pierre has gotten a bad rap for being a bully, but I believe that Jacques is the instigator and Pierre just gets fed up and fights back. We enjoy them and they seem to be working out well.

This is us on our way to bowling for FHE. Olivia thought that it was for her birthday, which had been celebrated in preschool that day since her birthday is in the summer, hence the crown. These are some action shots of bowling:

Bowling is so great when they put the siderails up. No gutter balls! I don't know what I will do when all of our children are old enough not to have them.

So then the missionaries came over for dinner. They had a presentation for the children about putting on the armor of God. This is them putting it on Olivia.

They had a lot of fun and Kevin was shooting the fiery darts at her. Great object lesson.

I am still waiting. Ugh! I could have taken a nap!