RIP Luke the best dog ever

2020 has brought many, MANY questions. One that woke me from my sleep last night was this, “Did my family in fact have the greatest dog that ever lived, or was he made great by the many whisperings of love in his ear?” At one years old, we took our dog Luke camping with us. We took him because he always proved to be so loyal and he never would stray from us. He left the tent early in the morning and he wasn’t coming when we called him. When we found him he looked terrible. He had received some sort of blunt force trauma to the head. We raced him to the emergency room whispering in his ear, “you are the best dog we've ever had please stay with us.” Luke lost his eyesight that day and proved to us in the process that there can be joy in disability. Weeks after the accident the family set off for an evening walk in the neighborhood, we thought should we take Luke with a cone on his head? Nah, he doesn't want to walk, he's still recovering. We got about 3 blocks away from home and looked behind us to see little blind Luke running to catch up with us. We knelt down whispering in his ear, “aren’t you the bravest dog that ever lived?!” Throughout the years when we have gone on family vacations our poor pet sitters found out how sad this dog can be when his pack is not around. Twice breaking out of the backyard, searching the street to find us. That little black dog crossed eight lanes of traffic searching for his pack. The angels have been busy protecting this one. Every time we returned home we would drive to the rescuers house with tears in our eyes holding homemade cards, and gifts thanking them for picking up our wandering dog. Once in the car whispering in Luke's ear, “buddy we would never leave you, you're the best dog.” In his almost 11 years of life it was not uncommon to see one of my kids bending down whispering in his ear, “I love you so much Luke, you're the best dog.” I myself often whispered into his ear, “As a little girl I always prayed to have a dog like you. Heavenly Father answered my prayer decades later when we got you.” This blind beloved dog used up all 9 of his lives and then some, so many near misses but still allowed to stay a little longer with us. During Covid he developed a mass on his lip with further workups it was discovered he had cancer in multiple places. We knew it was time to say goodbye. Whispering in his ear, “you are the best dog that ever lived thank you for all the unconditional love.”

Holman gets a permit!!

Holman has been driving for almost a month. His commentary while driving is hysterical. "Mommy I'm scared" 🤣 Our first drive out was quite the adventure it was like a Mario kart ride. He has taken to it really well. We love this crazy fun guy💕

2 camp outs in one pandemic summer... Father's day!!

Pandemic has been going on for months and the family way to cope is to get out of town and go camping. We first went to Parker Canyon lake to boat around and camp the night. Dan, Pete and Grandpa Ronnie came out to join us, the lake was lovely.. Camping the night did not work out. Because of the pandemic the national and state parks are closed so the nice campgrounds were/are not available so we went to camp in a remote area off the main road.  There was hardly any good trees and we didn't even have enough camping chairs for everybody to sit in. We boated all morning and were hot,  I looked around and thought this is nuts we packed up and headed back to home.

The second cam pout luckily was actually at a cabin. We got to stay in the Bell's cabin in Greer. I was racing to get a paper done for school, right before we left on the trip because there wasn't going to be any Wi-Fi and so I packed rather hastily. I didn't grab a book and phones don't work out there so I was a little unprepared for the peace and quiet we were going to experience. Benjamin was in heaven which was good because it was Father's day weekend. Holman fished,  Benjamin and I hiked we watched a lot of family movies and had sacrament in the woods it was very beautiful. The kids did a special musical number for Fathers Day it was lovely.

On the drive home Benjamin saw a man on the side of the road and it was one of the Bell's brothers. Benjamin had met him 2 weeks earlier. He got in a car accident 5  minutes earlier. Because of a detore we took we were able to help him get back to Mesa because his car was totaled.

Tucson Volcano

Last Friday night the Santa Catalina Mountains got struck by lightning. The fire was mostly on the south and north side of the mountain. The smoke looked like an active volcano. Then the fire changed course and we could see the flames at night. For a couple of days the smoke blew into the valley and it smelled pretty bad and burned the eyes. I got a pretty good headache because of it. The firefighters are awesome to work in 105+ heat 🔥 

Pictures from our balcony

Professional pictures

This fire retardant was dropped from a series of low flying planes. It looks like the mountains have been spray painted.

There are only 4 planes in the world that can do this, 2 of the planes that can are kept in Arizona.

2020 has been the craziest year!!

One hill conquered and a mountain to go..

One hill conquered and a mountain to go...I'm so ecstatic to be done with my NES tests. I'm grateful to have a job lined up. Those are hills on my journey. I have 43 teaching credits that I need to complete. That's like 3 semesters worth of college classes that I need to complete while I am working FULL time. Currently I am taking one online class. It's an 8 week course crammed full. I have to write a discussion essay, a cited paper and take a test, EACH week. Bleh! To say I am overwhelmed and discouraged would be accurate.

Recently Lindsey and I were talking about personal definitions of success. I think mine is progress. I feel successful when I'm moving forward and improving. This class is definitely making me move...I hope in a forward direction 😅

Victory for Lesley Jane!

The little girl inside of me who struggled with learning disabilities and attention issues got a huge victory on May 19th. I remember  sitting in school as a kid and hearing my teacher explain something and my inner voice would say "Lesley focus I think this is going to be important just try to listen to the end." Inevitably my thoughts would shift and I would hear Christopher Cross's song "Sailing" and I would be out to sea...I sailed many oceans especially in math class. I scrapped my way through school and college and earned a Communication degree. After 10 years of teaching preschool at my home I felt impressed to shift course slightly and teach in school. This required me to pass two subject tests. One test heavily concentrated in algebra and geometry. Covid required my preschool to close and allowed me time to hit the books. The Lord loves effort and he magnifies our efforts when we ask and try. Thankfully my kids are wicked smart and helpful and managed to tutor their mom with patience.

The night before the test I took a practice test. I finished 20 minutes over the time allotted and I got a D...I was so incredibly discouraged. Many tears were shed. I figured I didn't have the luxury to take my time on the test. I had less than 2 minutes on each question. So if it wasn't coming I just had to make an educated guess. I literally left for the test in tears.

During the test I didn't feel panicked, I worked on the problems and just went for it.  I finished 20 minutes early.  I thought now what?! Do I go over every answer? I went back to the first two questions reviewed and changed the answers. I was mentally drained. Then I prayed, "Lord is it enough?" And I felt the impression, yes it's enough. I felt like He was saying it's enough because you failed and no amount of reviewing will help. I was at peace with that answer and turned in my test.  Thankfully the results were almost immediate.I passed the test!!! I couldn't even make it to the elevator before I started to cry😭 I called Benjamin bawling.

The week before the test the Come Follow Me scripture study was on the two Nephite groups that had been delivered from  basically enslavement. I love those chapters. I had prayed for deliverance but was also praying that I would be ok if things didn't go my way. So grateful I was delivered. I can't remember a time I studied more. I haven't been in school for 20 years, when did I get old enough to say that?

  The Lord magnified my efforts and I passed both tests! The English /Social Studies test was the week earlier. I passed that with with minimal worries.

 I will now be a kindergarten teacher at a STEM school. Before I got hired I had interviewed with two other schools. Interviewing is so vulnerable. Grateful that search is over.

I love teaching because I love kids. I know that our greatest weaknesses are tied to our greatest strengths. My learning disabilities made me a hustler. Those early disabilities make me appreciate the kid who struggles to sit still but can organize an inclusive game at recess.

Mother's day 2020

It was a perfectly great mother's day! I woke up to breakfast in bed. Holman went to the store and got me my favorite "chocolate soup", sausage, scrambled eggs with bacon and pancakes with a dyed batter message.

Holman inlisted Parkin's help in bringing up the breakfast. It was so yummy!!

Benjamin and I went for our Sunday walk after breakfast. The weather was perfect 👌

Bella (and her roommate Hailie) made this beautiful card and got me Coke zero and peanut butter cups.

Adrianna made me this adorable card.

Parkin made me this coaster with my favorite desert bloom, creasote. 

Olivia slaved away and made a delicious meal. Chicken cheesey dish, rice, rolls, asparagus, apples and fruit dip. It was awesome!!

Benjamin got Eegee's the night before for dessert. He also got me flower bushes for the front yard. I love them!

We took gifts over to Barbara's and chatted with the Howe family for awhile. We all enjoyed the visit.

Later we had my parents over and gave mom gifts then. We also played a card game. 

I am so blessed to have such amazing family. It really was a golden day.