A gift that keeps on giving

Early in the summer the nice, expensive, $600 waterfall pump in our front yard gave up the ghost, and so we've had the water features turned off for months.  A few fish died and the rest were hanging on for dear life, grateful for the water we added by hose every day to add oxygen to the ponds.

Jason had a friend look at the pump, and he didn't have any luck.  And we were enjoying the lower electric bill, too, so finally last week we made the decision to fill in the ponds.  We needed to find homes for the fish first, though.  Wade was devastated, saying he didn't want us to be "fish murderers," and he wasn't too impressed with my "whatever happens, happens" attitude.  The fish were cool, but we didn't have to feed them, we never interacted with them.  To me they were just ornaments in the pond.  Not so for Wade.

So I did what everyone does in Ridgecrest--I searched one of our local Facebook seeking/for sale pages and followed up with a person interested in fish for their pond.  

The response was immediate and after a few days this really nice couple, Matt and Julia, showed up and went fishing for about an hour, collecting as many fish as they possibly could from our ponds.

I have this suspicion that Matt and Julia may be superheroes, running around in broad daylight and saving the universe one fish pond at a time, like Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent.  They were classy, classy folks, came dressed like they were going on a safari, and were SO kind and GRATEFUL for the fish we were just giving away.  They were good at catching those fish, too!  They just had this aura of being super, super cool and I felt lucky to meet them and be around them.

That night Julia sent me a picture of the "fish release" party they had at their ranch.  They'd invited neighbors and friends over and were so excited!  I told them how happy they'd made our son by giving the fish a good home, and they said we could come over some time to say hello to them.  

Then tonight we got this in the mail, this teeny tiny envelope full of good stuff:

People like this make the world a happy place!

Seminary has started!

Rhiannon just got back from her first seminary class--5:30am to 6:15am.  She was the third person to get there, and there were few cars in the parking lot.  When I went back to pick her up, though, there were a lot of kids streaming out of that church building!  Rhiannon didn't know how many there were exactly in her class, but she said they filled 3 long tables.  I'd put the number close to 30!

She will have two co-teachers this year, Brother MacGregor and Brother Reynolds, both young dads with busy families, and the class is made up of two wards combined, 2nd and 4th.

It should be an adventure.  Rhiannon said the first day was great!  

That time I made homemade laundry detergent

Yesterday I spent a large part of the day making laundry detergent.  It was a Monday, the kids were at school, and I didn't have anything else going on that day.

WalMart carried every item I needed, plus a nice, clean 5-gallon bucket.

And a friend gave me a fun vinyl sticker to dress that bucket up:

It was an easy process, but the Zote soap part took a while--you're supposed to dry it out and then grate it or flake it.  And I was in such a hurry to make it happen THAT DAY so I used the microwave to dry most of it out.  This was a tip on the website where I found the recipe.  Next time I'll just leave the soap bars out in the sun for a few days and save myself the hassle, for when, ya know, in 10 years I need to make some more.  (Just kidding, it won't last me 10 years, but it WILL save us some money and hopefully clean our clothes better than they've ever been cleaned!) The recipe makes 3 gallons of the stuff, and you only need 1-3 tablespoons per load.

It actually smells super good--I'm excited to try it and have fun doing laundry!

Here's the link for the recipe:  Cheaper and Better Laundry Detergent

The Round Rock Sheens visit Ridgecrest!!!

Boy, oh boy, we were happy to have the Round Rock Sheens for a quick visit this past weekend!  Amy and the kids had been in California for almost a month; Logan joined them and they made their way down to us via Yosemite.  They only stayed a night and had to leave in the morning to get to the Grand Canyon, but we were happy to spend time with them!

Love you, guys!  Thanks for making the drive down!

Will really liked those "dog houses!"

Abby was up early and helped me with breakast!

Sibling pic--love this guy and his family!

Wade and Collin played some Wii and Need for Speed

Amy and Olivia--glad Amy could sleep in a little bit!

Playing in Rhiannon's room

Collin was so good with the dogs!

Say cheese!

Evan had a great time playing the Playmobil Pirate ship--glad we still had that thing!

Girls being silly!

Hurray for girl cousins!!! :)

I could not get enough of this--so funny!

Round Rock Sheens in Ridgecrest!

THANK YOU FOR COMING!!!  We love you!

A fantastic surprise in the mailbox

On the very busy first day of school, there was a tiny package in the mail addressed to me.  I opened it and found this!

 My sister-in-law Amy said she'd seen this new nail polish when she was getting a pedicure and felt I had to have my own bottle!

It was such a thoughtful surprise!

Can't forget Band Camp and freshman orientation!

 This is my blog fail for the summer--I didn't take any pictures of Rhiannon's two-week band camp experience before school started, or her freshman orientation the day before school.  All I can say is that she absolutely

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED

band camp! :)  She went for 9 days, from 7:00am to 12:00pm and really enjoyed it, mostly because it was for ALL band students, not just freshman, and she got to make friends with band kids in all grades.  She's playing the mallets again and says the percussion section is the biggest, craziest group--she loves it.  We are proud of her for having a good attitude about ending her sleeping-in-summer a little early!

She said the freshman orientation was great, too--a little fast and a lot of information, but she got her schedule and locker early and was able to walk around campus and get acquainted with it.  I carpooled 2 or 3 of her friends during this whole band camp/orientation thing, and that was fun, too.

First Day of School! First Day of School!

So last Tuesday we all woke up and had to get the kids back to school.  WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO?  It never ceases to shock me!

Rhiannon is in high school, 9th grade, and Wade is starting his last year of elementary school.  They both had pretty good first days--Wade is riding the "Big Men On Campus" wave, while Rhiannon had some panic attacks over the homework load that started right away.  Thank goodness for priesthood father's blessings from their dad and a patient mom, haha!

We are so proud of these kids--they are going to have a great year!

Here's Rhiannon's schedule, for posterity:

And Wade has Mrs. Kyte!  We will need to get a picture of Wade and Mrs Kyte together--the Welcome Back Night the night before school was just too crazy. :)

A special video...and we're in it! :)

Our friend and neighbor Kristin, and her sister Heather, put together this video for the Primary kids in our ward, using pictures of families in the ward.  The first day Kristin put it online, I probably watched it 10 times in a row.  Such a powerful message about prayer!

Double rainbow

The day before school started we got some much needed rain.  There was some crazy thunder and lightning that came from out of nowhere, but the rain was nice!

Jason sent me a message when he got to work and told us to get outside fast so we could see this:

It was SO beautiful!

Jason and Wade go on their second annual boys' backpacking trip

The first weekend in August Jason and Wade went on an over-nighter backpacking trip.  They had a great time together, had beautiful weather with a little rain, and, of course, took some amazing pictures!  

Wade says his favorite parts were taking a walk around the lake and dipping their tired feet into the lake.  Eating at the diner in Lone Pine on the way home was fun, too.

Thanks, Daddy, for this fun tradition!

Girls Night

Rhiannon and I had a great time the first weekend in August having a girls night while the boys were on a backpacking trip.  We watched two movies (Divergent = good, Winter's Tale = weird, good thing it was only a $1), ate lots of chocolate, talked, stayed up late, slept in, and had fun decorating sandwich bags, just for kicks!  I love hanging out with this girl!

A field trip to the Indian Wells Brewing Company

The week before school I took the kids on a little field trip, about 15-20 minutes out of town to the Indian Wells Brewing Company.  We've been here since 1999, and only recently had I heard that this place was pretty fun to see.  I thought they only brewed beer, which holds no interest for me, but apparently they make over 100 different kinds of soda, too.  We bought 12 and brought them home to try.  Note:  if it sounds nasty, it probably tastes nasty, too.  :)  We still had a good time, though!

Here were the flavors we got:

Cotton candy--weird

Ranch Dressing--GROSS

Martian Poop (marionberry)--pretty good

marshmallow--pretty good

plum--YUM!

cookie dough--not bad

Seal Ya Later--tasted a lot like Pepsi

Radioactive--mulberry, pretty good

Judge Wapner--another cola

Bacon--DISGUSTING with a meaty aftertaste. :)

buffalo wings--Jason hasn't tried it yet!  We'll have to see!