Memorial Day Fun

We had a very relaxing Memorial Weekend. (My favorite kind)
The Christoffersen's came over for an impromptu Barbecue Monday afternoon.
It was great to just hang out in the backyard. We had to put Gus away while we were eating dinner, but when we let him out.....he was ALL over the place (notice 2 of Gus in the picture)
This was a tricky photo to take one handed while keeping Gus away from the burger.
We had a little fun with the Panoramic features on my camera.... 3 of Byron is scary!
And played a very intense game of Liers Dice. (Parker won...but Sommer was a very close second) Turns out nobody was a very good lier.
The kids kept all the flies away with the handy dandy swat gun.After a little scrapbook and hunting talk....we ended the evening with a few sparklers just for fun.There's nothing better than, good food, friends, fly swatter, fireworks and a camera!

B. Denet

I make the Sacrament programs each week for church. A while back I started putting artwork from the children in our ward on the front cover. I scan their image into the computer and put their name across the bottom. They just love it!
Today after Sacrament a little girl came over to Ryan and I and had a picture in her hand. Ryan and I both assumed it was a drawing for the program, but instead of giving it to me, she handed it to Ryan. He politely said "Thanks" to her then was about to pass it along to me when he took a good look at the image she had drawn.
She had drawn a picture of Ryan (Brother Denet). We're not quite sure what prompted her to create this picture. Whether it was the comment Ryan made about her cute hair right before Sacrament, or the fact that Ryan Home Teaches her family and the topic today was about Home and Visiting Teaching.
Whatever the reason....it made Ryan feel pretty special, (especially since she gave him lots of hair!)

Take me out to the Ballgame

A while back Ryan bought tickets to a 51's game for the entire office staff. Most of them bailed on us, but the remaining 3 joined our family at the game. Parker was able to invite Brecken since we had extra tickets. Miranda tried to invite a friend, but no luck, so reluctantly she went along, and I think she secretly had a fun time. It was raining when we left the house so weren't sure if it would be called for rain, but the skies cleared and it was a beautiful evening.
We had excellent seats right behind home plate not too far back and it wasn't very crowded.
It was free hat night so everyone in our group got a 51's hat.
The boys were brave enough to take a picture with the 51's mascot, Cosmo the alien
(looks a little like Jar Jar Binks if you ask me).We (meaning the kids) consumed Hot dogs, Hamburgers, pretzels, peanuts, and ice cream while the 51's played a winning game of 11 to 3. It was also Fireworks night so we had an amazing show put to music (one to rival Cedar's 4th of July). What a fun way to start off our extended Memorial weekend! No major plans for the rest of the weekend....just making it up as we go along. Perhaps catch a couple movies that have just come out.
Ryan keeps thinking I'm going to start working on some project, but I have assured I'm not. I may actually sit and scrapbook in my newly cleaned craft room. Except that I hate to mess things up once I get it clean. Such a vicious cycle.

Acting and Singing up a storm

If you'll allow me to brag a bit....I have two very talented children.
Over the past two days we have attended a Parker's class play and Miranda's choir concert. They both did a superb job!
Parker played Lewis Carroll in the play Alice in Wonderland. He played the role very well, right
down to the accent! He looked quite handsome in his suit as well.













Miranda had her final Choir Concert. She's in the Show choir as well as Concert Choir. She amazes me how many songs she keeps in her head between both school choirs, Broadway and Handy Choir. She gave me a count a while ago. She never misses a beat! She goes to school an hour early each day to attend the show choir rehearsals. She rarely complains about waking up at 6am. (I do enough for the both of us)
She wasn't much for picture taking this evening (surprise surprise) but I did manage this cheesy grin with her friend (who is moving into our ward soon).
Both Miranda and Parker should be happy with their performances.
They both love to perform and of course they get it all from me. (wink wink)

Let's catch up...

Things have been so crazy lately I haven't been able to post like I would like to.
So now I get to play catch up for a minute.
Friday night was the school's movie night. It went very well and we had about 200 in attendance. We had estimated around 500 so we had PLENTY of snacks. This was the first time doing this so we had no clue what to expect. Amber and Harlen did our sound and it was incredible. They also took cf lights for our concession booth.
Thanks for coming all the way to my side of town to help us out!
Miranda stayed home and had a couple friends come over. They had a crazy- fun time!
I tried to take a picture of them, but no one was cooperating ...hummm imagine that.
In this shot, Miranda is charging towards me to take the camera away.
Needless to say it was a late night!

Saturday, following Stake women's choir rehearsal for me and Broadway rehearsal for Miranda, the kids had a recital for their "Handy Choir". This recital featured spotlight solo numbers from some of the kids. Now you would think that Miranda would jump at the opportunity to perform, but NO.....it was Parker who wanted to do a solo. He sang "Santa Fe" from Newsies. I was so proud of him. I was crying so much I'm not sure how steady I kept the video camera. I kept looking at the words to the song in case he needed any prompting, but I couldn't even read it through my tears. (I'm such a softie)
After their performance we headed to Henderson for a bridal shower and to start on a wedding cake. My cousin is getting married and the shower was for his bride to be and the cake is for them as well. Mom is heading up the wedding plans for them, so, of course I'm pitching in with the cake, flowers, food, favors and whatever else I can (that starts with F).
Mom and I make a pretty good team when it comes to things like that. Oh, I finally got a photo of us together. ( Although I realized the flash wasn't on so it's a little dark). We even have our monogrammed aprons so you can tell us apart.
We made 30 calla lilies out of fondant to put on the final wedding cake. I was pretty happy with the way they turned out. Once I got my system down it wasn't too hard to do. Kind of fun actually! The final cake is going to be covered in fondant, however , it's going to be pleated. It'll be a fun challenge to say the least. We're not making the cake until the 31st, but I'll be sure to post more pictures of the final cake then.The kids tagged along with me to Henderson. Miranda just hung out and watched a movie, while Parker goofed off with his cousin Josh. they were going crazy with my camera and even figured out how to take panoramic photos using it. They are such goof offs. It's amazing how I was able to concentrate with all their craziness around us. They even used my camera to video tape some skit they made up. Not sure how to upload that yet.
It was another late night for us. I didn't get to bed until 1am!
Today was Stake conference. It was very enriching as usual.
I was also able to cut and assemble the card kits for my RS class on Thursday.
Glad to have those crossed off my to do list!
Ryan may be home tonight unless he's too tired to drive from Cedar.
And yes....I turned on my air today, but only to 78 degrees. I figured since it's 100 outside it needs to be less than 82 inside. Parker even complained of it being too cold. Hummm, maybe I'll turn it up to 79.

All is well

I just wanted to update everyone on Raynold, Ryan's dad. He was having slurred speech for the past week or so. He finally went into the doctor on Friday morning. It was determined that he had bleeding around his brain. Complications from the accident he had a while back. Ryan drove up Friday night to take his parents to Provo to see a specialist and possibly surgery to drain the blood. (sorry so graphic)

After and MRI and CAT scan it was determined that he definitely needed the surgery.
They were able to drain most the blood on the right side but they didn't want to do the left side at the same time.

Raynold is doing very well today. He's reading the paper and they even had him walk around.
They are going to do another CAT scan in the morning to determine if they need to drain the left side or not.
Nancie is staying in a family residence by the hospital and Ryan is coming home tonight.

I'm so grateful that he is doing so well.

If life were easy....

...It wouldn't be any fun at all!

Everything and Everyone is in full swing here at the Dennett household. Everyone has lots on their to do list. Thank goodness there's only a few weeks to go until things settle down. Anyone can handle being busy for a little while...right?
*Miranda has started working on a solo and duet for a competition the end of June so she's added a few extra rehearsals to her already busy schedule.
* Parker is in a school play of Alice in Wonderland and has an after school practice this week.
*This Friday is our ward's Father & Son outing. Unfortunately it is the same night as our school Movie Night, so Parker is torn about missing either one. I'm not sure what he'll decide to do.
*I've been briefed on my Girls Camp duties and have already started preparations for next Wednesday's First Aid certification night.
I'm helping with a wedding for my cousin and we're working on the cake this weekend.
I've been getting ready for the Movie Night this Friday at school.
I have 55 card kits to assemble for next Thursday's RS Card Class
*Ryan has just settled a HUGE case he's been working on for 4 years! He's relieved and stressed at the same time. He still has lots of details to work out before it's ALL done.

I'm trying so hard to keep things here at home a non-stress zone for everyone.
We may have had a few too many "fend for yourself" dinner's lately. And the clothes that I washed last week may still be waiting to be folded. And perhaps the house isn't as clean as I would prefer, (these are all hypothetical of course). Ryan has been very patient with me and pitches in when he can.

I read in a magazine today that if we would change our thinking from......
"I SHOULD be doing this" to "I COULD be doing this"
It helps take away the guilt we feel when we don't do everything we would like to do.
Makes perfect sense to me. I put so much guilt on myself for things I "should" be doing.
When I know perfectly well....I Can't do everything!

So.....I could be putting away the dishes in the dishwasher, but I'm going to go settle in bed and read the Host for a bit.

BTW....I still haven't turned on the AC, but this weekend is supposed to get into the 90's so I might break down!