My Bow tie Boys!

For the past year or so, Larson has taken to wearing this hideous bow tie that actually came from the dress up box. He is cute and adorable and can totally get away with wearing it. Everyone just smiles. You know that they are thinking.... "Clearly he dressed himself today, what mother would let her son wear that awful looking bow tie to church?"

I actually love it. Mostly because he has the biggest grin on his face and feels so handsome when he is all dressed up.

A few weeks ago, Bro. Thompson brought over a bag filled with the skinny bow ties that he used to wear in his younger days! Needless to say Larson was thrilled beyond comprehension. Bro. Thompson jokingly told him that he expected to see all the Beatty boys wearing them on Sunday.

Can you believe it? We actually convinced all of them to wear one to church on Sunday... even Presten!!! It was actually really fun to see them sorting through the bag to find just the right one to go with their outfit. (Even if the outfit was black pants and a white shirt. :))

Bro. Thompson was delighted!

We had a priest and a deacon that day wearing bow ties as well as a dad and best of all....

an 8 year old beaming from ear to ear!

Things are settling down... a bit!!!

Since the last post... much has happened! I will try to catch you up!

Ashli got married to a great guy.. Josh! Isn't it crazy how life is so backwards and inside out sometimes. The last few years I have been struggling to deal with the fact that my kids are growing up and leaving our home. The home is different and the table is smaller. Now I turn around and my family is growing and the table needs the leaf put back in!!! Isn't family wonderful!

Presten had an amazing track year! He was the region champ in the 100 meter, long jump, medley relay race, and 2nd in the 200 meter. The team also won the region championship. We went to the state meet at BYU and he did well there also. State champ in the long jump, medley relay team, and..... the team took the STATE TITLE!!!! He was so happy to be a part of that!

Naomi won all kinds of awards for academics including top ten in the national testing in 7 areas. Plus she was inducted into the Junior National Honor Society. She finished up volleyball by placing second in the intermountain volleyball tourney with her team in May.

Austen is still going like gang busters. He is currently preparing to participate in the Utah Summer Games with his soccer team. He is also preparing for toe surgery in July. If he ever grows into his feet he will be towering above us all (he has already passed me and he's only 12).

Larson is non stop energy. He wants to swim EVERYDAY!! Right now he likes spending time on his new bike, playing baseball, and this week his dad taught him how to pan for gold. He was so excited to see those little gold flecks in his pan. What a thrill!

Rick is getting stronger and better every day and I am so grateful for the technology and knowledge we have in this day and age. He has such a great attitude and just keeps on moving on and smiling along the way. The garden has been great therapy too.

Tia is working part time in Springdale, and really likes working with the many different types of people who come to visit (except the grumpy, cranky ones :)) She spends nearly every free minute with the singles ward and friends. She is also taking more and more photos and getting really really good at it!

My life is crazy!

As you can see from the table... wedding plans are in full swing. Naomi and I went to the Spendlove last weekend and spent over 20 man (and woman :)hours making the invitations. The Spendlove family were such troopers to give up time and sleeping quarters so that we could accomplish the great task. Thank you!

Now on to addressing, stamping and sending!

Loni was down right amazing in her skills of helping me find a dress.

She was just short of "faster than a speeding bullet and leaping tall buildings!!"

We are busy, but so blessed to have such awesome family and friends helping us out!

A big thanks to all!!!

Hurry and Catch Up!

So I know it's been awhile since I posted. Thought that I would bring you up to speed! I have not been sitting around being idol... no pun intended! I have been busy with the preparations and putting on of the Annual Hurricane Idol Fundraiser. It is a ton of work, but so worth it. We were able to raise just over $4,000 for the HHS Grad Night committee to use for the seniors. My family is so incredibly supportive... especially Rick. They have to endure wimpy or no dinners, dirty laundry and house as well as a mom who is psycho and on edge for several weeks. But it's all good and.... it's all over!!!!

Meanwhile stay tuned to the real American Idol and cheer on our own Hurricane girl--

Taylor Viafanua!

Also wanted to thank all of you who contributed to Naomi's temple can. They finally got to seal them up this week. She was so excited to put something in from so many of her loved ones. They had to have one of the leaders help her get it all in because she had so much. (If you happened to miss getting your letter to Naomi, please still send it!!! We are putting together a supplement can of the things that just couldn't get in. Lucky girl! She'll have two cans to open!

My days are spent being a wife, mom, piano teacher, volunteer, book keeper and maid. That's enough for now!!! But life is good and I am so happy!

Here are a few photos of past weeks! Enjoy!

Naomi got a rag quilt from g'ma for her birthday!

Presten played this amazing sax solo by ear for the sweethearts dinner show!

Naomi turned 14 and went to her first stake dance.

She said it was soooo fun!

Air "Soft"???

School is out for the day and Austen called a bunch of friends to head up the canyon and have a little air soft capture the flag game. They started to arrive and the house was a buzz with boys in camo and protective gear.

(Naomi and I stood snickering outside the door at the way they were all trying to get each others attention and everyone talking at the same time:))

They left here marching down the street and heading to the trail head that leads up the wash by our house. They were energetic and spirited and excited to have some fun.

Three hours later they show up at the house thirsty, thirsty, thirsty, tired and talking about the "war wounds".

The more I heard I started wondering.... just how soft is air soft?

They didn't care... the more welts, bruises, burns, etc. the better.

The bonus was... I told them to aim at tummys and bums when they left and when they returned they were talking about getting shot in the bum too many times!!!!!!

(I didn't want to see those war wounds!! :)

They are already planning the next get together. They just need time for the wounds to heal and round up some more ammo.

Boys!!!!!!

If it isn't broken...

I pride myself on being a very independent girl (get it from my mom)! I am not afraid to delve into fixing things by myself. I have been overwelmed as of lately, with broken things and all of them are way over my head in the repair category! I should probably knock on wood as I post this... so as to ward off any future breakages!

To start the year off right, my sink got majorly plugged and my handy dandy repair man (a.k.a. "Honey") finally ended up on the roof with the hose. Happily the sink was unplugged fairly quickly! Unhappily the nozzle thing on the end of the hose "broke" off in the outlet pipe and we now have to pay someone to come and take care of it.

Right before Christmas I get a call from the Sports trainer at the highschool. I immediately thought... "great! Presten has pulled his muscle again or sprained his ankle". I was surprised when he told me that Presten had broken off one of his front teeth at basketball practice. It was cracked right across the middle and looked terrible. Happily... we have a "magical, miracle worker" dentist who did an amazing job putting the tooth back on and you can't even tell where it was broken. (Also happily... the trainer had this little jar called "save a tooth" and it sure did!!!)

The first week back to school, Presten agreed to drive Naomi up to the Middle School to save me one more morning trip across town. He called me from 2 blocks away saying that his car would no longer go forward. (That would be a problem!) So I ended up making that extra morning trip, then and now every morning. Happily... we were able to get the car home so it can sit in the driveway and annoy me!

It's a new year and I am ready to get in and get Christmas put away and do some heavy duty cleaning out and organizing. The vacuum chose to give out. Normally this is something I am not afraid to jump into and figure out, but a broken latch and lack of electronically things has hindered me. I had to send that to a repair shop 3 hours away. Sadly... the cleaning bug has been replaced by other things. Happily... I still have my good ol reliable Rainbow vacuum to get by with.

Then yesterday I decide to really get after some laundry. I went to change it around, and the dryer is still running at it's same time on the timer and the clothes are wet! AAGGHH! My poor handy dandy repair man (a.k.a. "Honey") doesn't even know about this one yet. Happily... I can take the clothes over to Mom's to dry and he won't have to know for a while! :)

Gotta hurry and post this before something else breaks!

Happily... Life is still good!

Stepping into the New Year!

We had a spontaneous get together for New Years! The McCoy family joined some of the Beatty family for chili, cornbread and games! It was a fun and silly time. The kids enjoyed themselves and the adults got in a game or two of their own.

(We didn't do too well with "Totally 80's Trivial Pursuit")

Papa McCoy was especially happy with the idea of celebrating a New York New Year at 10 p.m.

Turns out we like each other so much that most of us stayed up until midnight anyway!

My favorite part was getting this photo of all the shoes piled at my back door. I am so blessed to have such awesome family all around me.

For those of you who were not here... let's work toward getting together in this coming year and celebrating the gift of family and friends!