Bella turns 22!!

 Sweet Bella turned 22!! We had the whole Pershing crew over sans Adam. Bella was awesome and chose sub sandwiches for her birthday dinner, nice and easy! We love the Pershing family, the boys are hilarious and our two families feel like old friends 

We love this ray of sunshine. She's quick a smile and an encouraging word. She's the epitome of a big sister and the ultimate 2st born. She graduates in May and we couldn't be more proud!! Love you so incredibly much, Bella Boo 💕

Biggest prank of all time..

Holman pulled the biggest prank. We knew he was reassigned to the Tacoma mission but then he said it was a confidential reassignment.  He texted us a screenshot of this email.  We bought it hook line and sinker... It was so crazy getting getting his Visa. We had to submit 3 separate monthly bank statements to the Thai government. So I was already on edge perfectly primed for a con by our best con man 😃

Holman didn't want us to fast for him to get his Visa he wanted us to fast that he would go where the Lord needed him.

He did end up getting his Visa two days before his MTC district was scheduled to leave the country!

Not sure why this prankster mom was so thrown by this prank apparently I can dish it but I don't take it very well 😅

 

March 2nd Snow!!

On March 2nd all of Tucson woke up to a blanket of snow. I knew the kids at school would be fully amped up about it. On Thursdays I help with playground supervision. One excited 7 year old ran past me and said, "I never thought this would happen in my lifetime!" This made me smile and I can't stop thinking about it. He's had sentient memories for about 5 years. He hasn't experienced the Tucson desert enough to know this occasionally happens (usually once a year). Yesterday at a church conference the speaker said, "we over estimate youth's experience and underestimate their abilities." One of the things I love most about children is their ability to be curious and their enthusiasm.  I'm approaching my 45th year, like everyone else there have been some incredible highs and some lonely lows. A particular year we needed a financial miracle and it came! We called it the year of miracles. How does one follow such a year? I asked my husband what we should call the next year. He said, "the year of even bigger miracles!" So to the 7 year old expect miracles in your lifetime, look for them, acknowledge them because you have the ability from a loving God to do and see some incredible things ❤️

 

Rodeo Break

For rodeo break we went to our favorite cabin at Roper Lake. It was so different only having 4 people in the cabin. We even had an extra bed in the cabin. That was weird! The weather was chilly but refreshing. Mount Graham was snow capped. We did our usual Walmart run in Safford and stocked up on Pop Tarts, Little Debbie snacks and anything else someone was craving. We took a drive up to hike the damn. The flat plateaus are so beautiful.  We went to an all you can eat lunch at R&R Pizza....it was amazing!! Seriously one of the best all you can eats I've been too. They had savory and sweet bread sticks and pasta and salad. I will be returning. The only bummer about the trip was that the park had permanently closed down the hot springs. They even cemented in the tub. The end of an era for our family's favorite camp site. We ended the trip with. Drive by the Gila Valley temple and an ice cream stop in Benson. It was crazy to reminisce about Benson when Parkin was under 2 and Adrian was born while we lived out there. They don't have the crazy memories of the land maybe it's time to sell everything and go live in a trailer 😃

 

 

Benjamin's birthday, Go cats!! ...and bangs

I cut bangs cus I'm getting old. It reminds me of my youth.

Bangs are upkeep so they finished for the night.

The kids bought Benjamin basketball tickets for his birthday. We love the LadyCats!! It was a close game with terrible calls and a near fight with Benjamin and the refs...at least a fight in Benjamin's heart. We beat Utah a higher ranked program this year but maybe not for long...

The UofA has a unicorn statue on campus both Bella and Olivia love to visit it often. They were riding it like a bunch of toddlers 😂

 

Holman's District

 Holman is the 7th from the left. It's nice to get a visual on all the people we here about.

Benjamin's district. Almost 27 years to the day.  3rd guy from the right.

Bella and Nana in Kindergarten!!

 I had a desert segment in kindergarten and Bella works at Camp Cooper so naturally she was a perfect person to do a presentation. Nana came as her assistant. It was like the good old days when Nana was my assistant and Bella would visit the preschool. She was awesome!!! She brought several desert animal skulls and puppets. She was excellent at talking with the students and involving them in an age appropriate discussions. She taught all 4 classes at my school.