Don and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary last Tuesday. We laid in bed and watched movies till the sun came up. "27 Dresses" was the favorite of the evening. So it wasn't the most adventurous anniversary, but that will come next weekend. We found a hotel room in Flagstaff, where we will stay Friday, and attend a dog show on Saturday. We're even taking Darcy, I'm making him some little bows, and I got him a cute little t-shirt for the occasion.

Here are some fun facts about Don and I that you may not know:
Don was born on Aug. 23rd - I was born on Aug 20th.
Don's full first name is Donald, but he goes by Don - My full first name is Fawn'Rel (don't ask), but I go by Fawn (so our names rhyme).
Don's middle name is LeGrand - my middle name is Lee, and now we share the same last name! Don is the second of 12 children, I am the second of 2 children.
Don thinks before speaking, and I speak before thinking!

The list could go on and on, but I'll just say that some things were meant to be! So, I guess I'll keep him at least another 10 years or so!

We want to get a picture for our anniversary, so we'll have to do that soon. When we do I'll add it to our blog. Today Don and Ammon are heading out for a Fathers and Sons overnight camp out. Ammon wanted to bring Mader, but Dad said no. It's probably for the best though, because Ammon will be spending too much time doing other things. I'm sending them with a camera, so I'll add pics of that outing too!

Just couldn't resist adding this pic!


Can you believe what Pippin will put
up with for a little attention - is that
a smile I see under all that hair?

The dogs don't seem to appreciate getting their
pictures taken, but the kids are just little suckers
for that camera! Too cute!

This has been a great day - for DON! He loves the rain, but it doesn't help me load my furniture and misc. items to take to donate at the DI. I was also going to haul a load to the dump! Sam wanted to go anyway, but I don't consider sliding down the muddy hills at the dump a good time!

The girls (Sam, Heather & Savanah) went to get their braces adjusted this morning, so now their moaning about only being able to eat applesauce, yogurt, or anything that doesn't have to be chewed, poor babies. I think they would know real pain if they had to pay the BILL!

Savanah came home excited because she and Heather have been in a "race" to see who gets their braces off soonest. Heather was pretty confident since she's 18 mos. older. But she still has one slow-poke tooth that hasn't dropped yet and the Dr. told Savanah that the next time she comes in they will take x-rays, do some minor adjustments and the visit after that (probably September) she will have them off! Poor Heather turns 16 in September and was hoping to get them off before she started dating, but she's adorable anyway and I doubt it will stop the boys from asking her on a few dates, maybe it will slow them down from trying to kiss her... maybe I'll tell the Dr. to just keep them on till their, oh, say...25!

Today I spent some time posting ads for studding Darcy (my cute little Yorkie) and Mader (my cute, not so little Boxer). It's time consuming, but hopefully with good results!

Now I'm off to take a shower and probably get struck by lightening - I never did look good with a perm!

The girls had to dress in Book of Mormon times
This is a pic. of all of us before they left.


Here's a pic of some of there friends there at the
Conference.


Here's a pic of Heather with one of her friends.


This is a pic. of Katelynn at the Family Camp
Out.


This is a pic. of Sam with one of Bond's kids at
the Family Camp Out.

Do you ever feel like things get too complicated? Or wonder why it couldn't be more simple? The last couple of weeks have been good and hard. We've had lots of shifting and changing going on. I think it has something to do with mixing up priorities, or not seeing the whole picture. Concentrating on the little things, instead of realizing that in the vast scheme of things, this one issue won't change the blessings the Lord has in store for us unless we allow it to consume us and lose our focus on the goals that really matter.

For the rest of this week, and possibly many weeks to come, we will be working in "blessing" our home. Getting rid of things we don't need and making more room to enjoy the times we spend here. I have some plans to paint, replace doors, and re-tile, but we may run out of money before we run out of repairs. So we'll see how it goes. I will post before and after pictures when it's done.

On another note, I'm posting pictures of the girl's Youth Conference, and the Ward Family Camp Out.

The camp out was fun, but I couldn't bring Darcy, who has a camp out that doesn't allow dogs!? Needless to say, we came home early!

A lot has happened since I last wrote. Sam turned 17, my mom moved into our master bedroom and the house looks like a tornado hit it... well, actually it looks like Mom spent the last 10 weeks in bed and the kids (and Dad) were left to fend for themselves!

But now I'm feeling much better and even though my energy doesn't seem to work for me till around 4PM and dies around 4:15PM, I'm still managing to get a few things done.

The girls went to Youth Conference (and had a blast - pictures and more about that later) and are now grounded from going ANYWHERE and have to get up at 5AM (which is saying a lot for them) and go to bed by7PM till they get caught up on their homework, this may sound extreme, but after being 3 months behind for most of the school year, they're actually working on it.

This week I have the kids really scared because I pulled out my Fly Lady "Control Journal" and started talking to them about routines again.

Have I mentioned that I just LOVE that program? I swear, it can turn chaos into a total dream in a matter of days! Very cool, check it out!

Last night Don and I took Katelynn to our Serrano's date and got a picture (I'll have to scan it in to upload it later). She got a fun little Mexican dish and a flan. Our date was pretty late because don had to work a game and I was with Sam at her cheer try-outs at Westwood H.S.

Jordan was with us, I planned to drive him home, but stopped at Petco and Greenbacks first. Then on the way back I spotted Don pulling into the driveway, so I pulled in.

Earlier Jordan "egged" our yard with plastic Easter eggs to ask Sam to prom in a couple of weeks. I think it was fun for him to watch Sam pick up all the eggs. Then we went inside and visited for a while, we danced a couple of dances. Then I drove Jordan home, and met Don at my mom's house to drop off her car (I had it all day because I took her to the hospital again - she was there Monday too, she's been pretty sick lately). After we dropped off her car, we went to Serrano's while Sam made a Strawberry cake with Vanilla Pudding frosting. When we got home, the girls spent some time with us while I got ready for bed, then they took over the cake ceremony, as I had no energy left!

Then today, we got up and went to Kiwanis park and had a birthday party for Sam, Savanah, Caianna, Katelynn, D.J. and Christopher. They rode bikes, a paddle boat, ate lots of food and opened gifts, we were there from noon to a little after 3pm, but everyone was tired by the time we were done. It was fun to spend time with them. We got DJ a shirt that said "The only difference between you and me is that I'm a genius that will someday rule the world and you're just an idiot." Everyone got a pretty good laugh out of that one. We got Christopher a B.B. gun and Byron guessed that Grandpa got it for him, then guessed Uncle Don got it for him. I think he was pretty surprised when Christopher opened the card.

The older girls got mostly cash (which I'm hoping they will use on cameras), and the little girls got dolls and stuffed animals and purses - lots of things that little girls love.

So now we're at home and I'm making Sam do 4 Math assignments before I'll take her out to spend her money (I'm so mean). It's getting pretty late, so we'll probably end up going on Monday instead.

Okay, sorry, this story starts a few blogs down, so to get the story from the top, scroll down to the birthday cake and work your way up.

(Back to the story) Needless to say, the last part of the day was much more rewarding for Savanah than the first part.

Also, Rich and Lynzie sent Savanah a flute (which she loves and uses every day), Sister Crandall sent a gift bag over with Sister Waggoner (who drove me to the store, and picked up some flowers for Savanah while we were there).

Then Dad came home, and the real party started! The girls LOVE dancing with Dad!

So after eating the cake and talking, we put a Jericho Road CD into the stereo and turned it up for some fun family dancing. As I sat there watching the children all dancing together I smiled to myself and wondered "how many families with children ranging in age from 16 to 3 could all be happy dancing together to an LDS music CD" then I thought "only this family could pull off something so unconventional and have so much fun, this is great!"

,

The beginning of Savanah's birthday was a little disappointing for her. We have a tradition of going to Serrano's for a little dinner date with each of the children, where they get a free desert and a picture in a Mexican hat. Grandma Conover needed a last minute ride to a doctor's appt. in Scottsdale, so we had to get a quick picture and box our food and eat it in the car. Then later Don went to the Sun's game to work.

So later, I got a ride to the store to pick up some party essentials, while Sam made a cake and the pudding I made was chilling.

We made a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and decorated it with 14 candles, lit them up and sang Happy Birthday in our own little family birthday party and dance!

Here are some pictures of the children in the "truck" on our way to pick up Easter Sunday Clothes. First we went to Mervyn's to get the outfits for the 3 little kids. Then we went to Sears to get the rest of the kids their clothes. It was a very long, and tiring trip, but well worth it. They looked great on Sunday.

Tina came and did the girls' make-up and hair and took them on a date. They went to the mall, but it closed about 10 minutes after they got their. So they spent the rest of the time at Pete's...

The girls had a lot of fun goofing off at Pete's with Tina. They even ran into some of their friends from the ward. What they didn't get in the pictures (and it's a shame) was the running around and dancing and singing at the top of their lungs to the music that was turned up in the car they drove that night!

The girls had so much fun on their date with Tina, she is "the best" aunt! They all watch her so closely, they all want to be just like her!

So, you'll think this is the first few Easter Pictures I've added to my blog, but they post from the bottom up, so actually, these are the last few!

More Easter Pictues...