1st grade Bible Presentation

Today our church presented all the 1st graders with a new Bible. It was so nice and Konnor was so proud to receive his. They call all of the kids to the front of the worship service and Pastor Dan talks to them about the importance of having the word of God. Then he prays with them. After church they have a luncheon for all of the 1st graders and their families. It was a great time of fellowship. Konnor loves his Bible and he especially loved taking a picture with Pastor Dan today.

This is Konnor with his Sunday School teacher Mrs. Crayon

This is Konnor with the Children's Minister Ms. Karen. She is so Awesome.

Our Busy Saturday!

With four kids, sometimes our Saturdays can be so busy.

This Saturday was one of those times.

It started with Konnor's last soccer game. He loves soccer and he's really good at it. There are 8 players on his team the"SandSharks". It is so much fun to watch all of the kids running around the field trying to get the ball. They are actually pretty good for 6 and 7 year olds. They have learned how to stay in position and pass and they do pretty well. It's still fun to see them bunch up into that circle that seems to move around the field together.

After the game they had cupcakes to celebrate their great season

They also got their trophies. Konnor loves to get trophies. He always takes them to school for show and tell.

This is Konnor's friend Josh. He doesn't play soccer with him, but they will be playing basketball together in January. They are sometimes inseparable.

After the soccer game, Keith and Konnor headed off to a pump it up party while me and the girls headed off to go get lunch. I decided to take the girls to Applebee's since the Michigan /Ohio State game was on. I figured I could catch a bit of it there. When we arrived they had another game on so we asked them to change it for us. I think the girls puppy dog eyes were irresistible because they changed it over to the Ohio State game. We had a great time cheering for them and we also had a great lunch.

After lunch the girls begged me to go shopping. I can never say no to shopping so off we went to Target.

We always have so much fun. I think they each tried on at least five outfits. These are a few of their favorites.

After our shopping exposition we headed over to ultimate gymnastics to take Carolyn to a birthday party. Her friend Morgan was turning 5 years old. Here are a few picks of her with her friends.After the Birthday party we met back up with Keith and Konnor at the Phoenix Zoo. His company was having a get together at Zoo Lights. I am so glad they had it this weekend because Keith's cousin David was in town visiting and he was able to join us for this fun night. We had dinner first and although the food was great , there were not any seats left for us to sit down at a table. So we just made the best of it and sat down in the grass behind some of the lights. The zoo security tried to kick us out of the area but I just let them know that if we couldn't sit there than my 4 kids would have to walk around with a plate full of food in their hands and I'm sure he did not want us making a mess on the ground that they would have to clean up. He agreed and let us stay there on the grass to eat. We had a nice time.

After we ate dinner we walked all around the zoo to see the beautiful lights. There were over 2.5 million lights and the kids thought it was awesome. Christmas music was playing everywhere we went, so we just walked and sang.

As we were walking around the kids spotted a rock wall and coconut tree climbing so they had to do it, Of Course!! Gwen, Makayla and Konnor all tried it and loved it. I have never seen a coconut tree climb. They looked like monkeys climbing up those things.

These are just a few pics of the girls posing at the Zoo. They are really getting too big!

Carolyn just had to ride the carousel. I think this is her favorite thing about the zoo, not the exotic animals.

We had such a fun time at Zoo lights and we were so glad that David was able to enjoy it with us!

Finally we finished the night off with some rock candy. A great Ending to a wonderful day!!!

Race for the Cure

Sherry and her son Sean

A few weeks ago, Gwen, Makayla, their friend Kennedy and I walked in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in downtown Phoenix, This is a very important race that happens all over the country at different times of the year to help raise funds and awareness for Breast Cancer. I feel very fortunate to have a big sister who is very focused on breast cancer awareness. My sister Sherry is herself a breast cancer survivor and is an inspiration to women everyday. She is a Director of a local Breast Cancer center which has allowed her to share her story and give women hope and encouragement who may find themselves in a similar situation as hers.

In December 2005, Sherry's doctor unexpectedly found a cancerous spot in her mammogram. She was in shock, but began a very vigorous journey of tests and doctors visits to make a decision about her own cancer treatment. She decided to have a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. I wanted to be there every step of the way, but as I found myself trying to be there for her I don't feel that I could ever measure up to the amount of time that Sherry gives others every day of her life. She has always done everything for every one, no matter what it takes or what she has going on. She has always been truly inspirational in how she helps everyone who crosses her path. O.k. now I am babbling so lets get back to the story. After her Mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, it took many months for her to truly recover and get back on her feet. But she is truly a survivor!!

When Gwendolyn was in 4th grade she had to write a paper about her hero. She wrote about my sister and how she was so strong and courageous as she went through her battle with breast cancer. I am glad that my children have a hero like her to look up to. She is truly an amazing hero, sister and survivor.

So every year we walk in her honor as well as my aunt Marie who is also a breast cancer survivor. We really are amazed every year to see how many people gather in downtown Phoenix. This year I think there were around 33, 000 people.

When we first arrive at 6:30 in the morning, we love to go around to all the booths and get all the free goodies. We were on the John C, Lincoln Health Network Team so we all got pink cowgirl hats. I love to collect all the pins and post it notes and the pink scarf from the Ford truck that says warriors in pink. This year the kids got pink capes from FUZE and we ate yoplait yogurts, pumpkin muffins, bananas and apples all morning. They also had a pink heart spray painted on their arm and we had pink foam princess tiaras too. There was so much to carry around that we had to make a trip to the car to drop everything off before we actually did the 5k walk.We loved seeing all the people(and dogs) dressed up

and always love playing on the drums while we are strolling aroundGwen and Makayla always like filling out their celebration sheets to wear on their back with their race #.As the race gets underway there is always a lot of excitement in the crowd. It is beautiful walking around the downtown streets and the weather was absolutely perfect. Cool and sunny. After the first mile the kids usually start complaining about being bored or tired, but soon get a second wind to finish out the race.

We see the finish line!

Thank you Sherry for being our Inspiration!!