Happy Birthday Ron

Happy 39th Birthday to my wonderful husband! Ron is such a loving and kind husband, father and person. I can honestly say that he has never raised his voice at me. I cannot say that about myself. I love the relationship he has with his mom. He has nothing but pure respect for her. He is alot of fun to be with. The kids love playing and messing around with him. He is so busy right now that we don't get to see as much of him that we would like, but when he is here he is here for us. Thanks Ron for being the man that you are. I love you!

A-

Bryndee is a Seamstress

I told you that Bryndee wanted to sew one of her pioneer dresses. We took 2 afternoons and I showed her how to cut a pattern and how to sew a dress. She caught on pretty quick, but doesn't she always on everything she tries. I think she was pretty amazed at how easy this dress was to make. Maybe she will want to try something a little harder next time. Who knows she may take my job as the family seamstress. Grandma Nelson would be proud of you Bryndee.The serger was pretty scary for her at first but then she caught right on and went to town.
The finished product! I think she looks great!

The Past Couple of Weeks!

Taralee is awake for a while so I will take advantage of the time and catch you up on the last couple of weeks. On May 17 my girls had their gymnastics performance. The older girls have been taking from Angela's Flip Zone for the last couple of years and are really progressing. This was Abby's first year at gymnastics, and she loves it.

I love Angela's Flip Zone because at alot of gyms you have to pay a $50-$100 costume fee. Angela wants to keep it simple she only charges $20 and likes to keep her costumes modest.

Last week we had 2 graduations. Abby graduated from kindergarten and Bryndee graduated from 8th grade. Silly me did not bring my camera to Abby's graduation so my friend took pictures of Abby for me she just has not sent them to me yet. When I get them I will post them at that time. It was kinda neat having one child at the beginning and a child at the end. While at graduation I had a realization... When Bryndee graduates from high school Taralee will be graduating from kindergarten. I will really experience the beginning and the end then.This is Bryndee and Joselyn her best friend. Too bad next year they will be at different high schools :(

Because it was Memorial Day weekend we decided to visit Ron's mom. We went on Saturday and stayed untill Monday. This is the first time we went to church with his mom in a long time. It was nice being with her.After chruch we went to Ron's Grandma McEuen's house. It had been 2 years since we had seen her. She is 96 years old. When my Grandma LaRue died I realized I did not have any pictures of Grandma with my kids. What a disapointment that was! So we were sure to have our camera with us when we went to see Grandma McEuen. We sure enjoyed our visit. Mike and Raime and their girls came also. Grandma McEuen with my kids Grandma McEuen with Mike and Raime's girls

After Grandma's house, Rosalie wanted to put flowers on Clyde's (Ron's Dad) grave, so we drove out to the Pima Cemetary as a family and just visited around Clyde's grave. After that we went back to Rosalie's house and visited some more and just watched the kids play. It was really nice spending the weekend with Ron's family.

Ron and Porter just starting an intense checkers game.

Tuesday we had Torie's b-day party. She choose to get pedacures and get ice cream. A fun time was had by all.

Torie was really sad that Sadie was in Israel and missed out on her party. Sorry sis I was just not organized enough to have the party before school was out. There is always next year.

Today Bryndee and I spent sewing her pioneer dress. She has a goal to sew her own dress for the Trek that is coming up next week. She is bringing 3 dresses, I made 2 and she is making 1.
Here she is in one that I made her. I think she looks pretty cute. When she has finished her dress I will post a picture. I get to go up to the Trek as a cook. Thanks to Rosalie for coming to our rescue with the kids again. I also made me some dresses but I don't look as cute as Bryndee so a picture is not needed. Ron will also be going the Trek. His duity is just to be there around the youth and deliver a talk when asked to. I am looking forward to going, Ron and I will sleep in a tent with all the camping comforts we have aquired over the years. We don't have to rough it like the youth and the ma's and the pa's. I will let you know how it turns out.

Which Princess Am I?

You Are Mulan!

Strong and spirited. You're no one's girly girl; actually you are very determined person with a strong sense of self. Never let go of that! The only thing that equals your sense of self is your family, but the traditions of society can always be bent to protect something or someone you love.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

My House Is Too Small!

It has been a while since I have posted. Brenda called me this morning and wanted to know what was up. Why wasn't I posting, surely things have been going on? I really couldn't give her an answer except I have been busy. She quickly reminded me that I have been able to take time to read other blogs and comment on them so surely I could take a few minutes and post. After contemplating this matter, I came to the realization that I can't post because my house is too small. That makes a whole lot of sense right? Well since Taralee has come in to our family she has not had a place of her own. She sleeps in a porter crib (which I believe is the best crib for a baby to sleep in because no matter where you go your baby always has her crib and sleeps wonderfully) and this crib gets moved from room to room depending on what room is open when she needs to nap. While the kids were in school, she would sleep in Ellie's room at night and Bryndee's room during the day. But now that Bryndee is home during the day and needs her room, Taralee has gotten moved to my room. The computer has also gotten moved to my room temporally (it has been a month now ) because we don't have room for the computer either, but that is another story. While Taralee is asleep I can't go into my room and therefore I can't post. So for Brenda and all you out there who has missed my words of wisdom, I am trying something new. I turned on the bathroom fan to cover any noise I might make, I kept the light off so I am typing in the dark, and I am typing so very softly. This is not very convenient or time efficient, but you do what you gotta do. :)

Who Is Out There?

I woke up to a wonderful surprise this morning. I had 2 comments on my last post from 2 dear friends that I have known for years that I don't see very much. Susan (Sue), and I have known each other for over 20 years. Her and I were roomies at E. A. Allyson and I have known each other for over 30 years. We grew up together. We were cute little girls together, we went through the gauky years together, and we were onry teenagers together. My family moved the summer of my 8th grade year so we went to different high schools, but have remained friends over the years. With both of these ladies I keep in contact with them by phone calls a couple times a year, exchanging Christmas cards, and a lunch or dinner date once a year. When I read their comments and realized they have started their own blog I was thrilled. I can now keep up on the comings and goings of their families, and they can keep up on mine. Apparently Sue has been reading my blog for quite some time and has not commented until now. This got me thinking... How many of you out there are reading my blog and I don't even realize it? How many old friends, family, neighbors, even friends of my sisters that are reading about the Derrick Family? Please leave me a comment and let me know who is visiting. I would love to get in contact with more dear old friends. Thank you! I can't wait to learn more!

My Family

Yesterday was Mother's Day and my Birthday. Everyone I talked to thought it was a bummer to share these two day. Then Porter would say "If you think that is bad, feel sorry for Grandma she had to be in labor on Mother's Day." Good ol Porter gotta love his honesty. Ron took the kids shopping Friday night at Target. Bryndee and Abby went away from the crowd. When they were done with their shopping, they went to find Ron and the other kids. Bryndee said "Abby we need to find Dad so lets find dad by looking for his hair." Abby said "OK so we need to look for black and white?" If you can't tell by this picture Ron's hair sure is turning grey. That's OK, I like the distinguished look.

Yesterday was the first time in a long time that our family enjoyed church together. We even drove in the same car. Because Ron is the 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency when he is visiting our ward he has to sit on the stand. The only exception to this rule is if the 1st counselor or the Stake President is also visiting, then he gets to sit by us. So yesterday he even got to sit with our family. It was so nice. On the way home I asked the kids to stay in their church clothes for a while. I called Cherai and asked her to come and take a picture of our family. This is the first picture of our family complete. I have lots of pictures of the kids, but not any of the kids with Ron and I. I know I have a large family, but I just don't think about it being big until I see all of us together. That is a lot of kids, but I would not have it any other way.

Motherhood

I just got home from a wonderful Enrichment Night that our word put on. It was celebrating motherhood. The Relief Society put together a cute video featuring children from the ward. They asked them questions like What do you love about your Mom, Tell me about your Mom, and so on. Porter said "My mom has a lot of kids". He is a sentimental little boy. But honestly there is nothing more touching than the innocence of a child and the love they have for their mom. We had a wonderful dinner that was served to us thanks to Brenda P. Of coarse it was delicious, everything Brenda does is fabulous! On the table there was a quote that I had never heard before. I loved it and wanted to remember it, so I am going to blog it.

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed some one's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

Sister Marjorie Hinckley

Father's and Sons Outting

As I read other's blogs everyone is commenting on their Father's and Sons outing. So I thought I would comment on ours. May 2nd and 3rd was our Ward's Father's and Sons outing. Porter looks forward to this outing all year long. Ron and Porter usually attend from Thurs. to Sat. but this year they would only be able to go up overnight because of all the time off Ron has already had to take for other things. Ron got a call Wed afternoon while at work and was informed he needed to be at a job site in Mexico Thursday morning, and stay there till the problem was fixed. Because of this the Father's and Sons outing was scratched. Porter was pretty disappointed. We had numerous neighbors offer to take Porter with them which he considered, but then he started to have problems with his asthma. He really started feeling lousy and we decided he should stay home so no one had to worry about him. So this year we didn't get to participate in the Father's and Sons. But that is ok because this Wed through Fri Ron and Porter get to go up to Prescott for Science Camp. They are both really looking forward to this. I went 2 years ago with Bryndee and really enjoyed it. I hope they have fun.

Guess Who is Who!

Yesterday Kymber and Abby were playing together (nicely I might add not fighting can you believe it) and they decided to dress like twins. When they did I could not believe how much they looked alike. Kymber is 3 years older than Abby and they are pretty much the same size, Kymber is a little bit taller. Anyway from the back it was hard to tell who was who can you tell?