Not bad for the 1st one!

Saturday morning we were just getting ready to leave the breakfast to head for home. Some of the older kids were playing Volleyball. I went in the house to take Kaylee and Tylinn to the bathroom and went back outside and Dustin was on the ground crying - He had hurt his finger. He kept telling me he thought he broke his finger - yea right. The GREAT mom I am told him it would be fine, I was sure it was jammed, get in the car. Yesterday at church Bruce talked to Bro. Crandell about it and he said he wanted to look at it. Last night he came up and had a quick look and said we better get it X-ray. So this morning I went to Showlow to the Urgent Care place. Sure enough it is broken. They put a splint on it and said it needs to stay like that for 4 weeks - that could get interesting.


On his other had he has some weird infection. Bro Crandell said we needed to get the puss out of it and soak in in salt water 2 times a day.


This is the 1st broken bone in the Bruce McLaws Family. Count our blessings. Hope it's another 13 years before the next one.

Easter Dresses

LeSueur Family Easter Breakfast

Every year the LeSueur Family has an Easter Egg breakfast and Egg hunt. It is always at Grandma Nena's house but with her having irrigation the day before they decided it better be at Darrel and Teresa's house. We usually have it the day before Easter too but with it being General Conference we had it a week early.
The little kids play games in the front yard while the big kids hide the eggs. I think this is Bridget's last year of finding eggs there.





Last year we weren't able to make it because we had a baptism we needed to be to. Our kids were glad for the run this year.

We rushed home right afterward to get ready for the next party. We had a little birthday party for Alyssa, mom and Twila at Mark and Twila's here. I had to rush home to get lots of Mexican food ready. I didn't have my camera at the birthday party.

Mesa

With last week being Spring Break we tried to think of a few things that would be fun to do with the kids with out too much expense but enjoyable for them. Thursday morning I left with the kids for Grandma Nena's house to play with cousins and enjoy the beautiful weather. Bruce had to work so he stayed here and worked, I think he worked - he had lots of fun after work.
The kids eating breakfast at Grandma Nena's

Thursday evening it was so nice outside. Grandma had irrigation and the kids took off their shoes and walked around in the irrigation. Grandma treated us to pizza - it was so nice outside we ate outside and enjoyed the evening. Grandma fell and broke her hip about a year ago and her sight has gone down hill a lot - she can't see much any more. She amazed me this trip. I was surprised at what she could see and it seems like she was always hoping up out of her chair doing something. She has to use her walker but she gets around really good. Thursday when I got there she wasn't there. When she finally got home she was with one of her friends and they had been out on the desert for a picnic - I was amazed!

The kids thought this was so funny. Trevor (Holli's baby) was playing with this tub and he kept putting it over him. The kids were laughing at him and wanted me to take a picture.

Cousins playing cards.

Kaylee, Katelyn and Tylinn in the tub after a fun day at Grandma's.

Tylinn always has to sit by Grandma up to the table. Grandma has this tray that has all the things she needs at the table on the bench by her. Tylinn wanted to sit by Grandma so I put her bowl on the other side of the tray. Next thing I know Tylinn moved her bowl and was sitting between Grandma and the tray with a big smile on her face.

Kaylee is playing with Grandma's marble game. This was one of my most favorites when I was little. It's been around forever and has entertained many of all ages.

Friday we took the kids on a picnic to the park. It was fun but a little windy for a picnic. We took the boys ripsticks and Bridget and Tylinn's rollerblades and Kaylee's bike down there. They played on them at the park and at Grandma's and at the Ridings and loved it.
Friday night Uncle Ben blessed Trevor at Grandma's house.
After Bruce seeing that water in the wash with our cookout he called Jon and Friday evening they went down it about 5 miles in their Kayaks. They have been on quite a few excursions in their Kayaks together.

Cookout

One of the things we love most about living here is the beautiful weather (when that happens) and living in the forest. We love to be in the trees doing anything. Last Wednesday during Spring Break we went out for a little weenie roast. We went about 5 minutes from our house where we went camping last summer. The kids were so excited and can't wait to camp there again. The wash right by it was running higher than we have seen before - Bruce got the great idea to call up good old Jon Boy and take their Kayaks down it. Here are a few pictures from the fun.

My oh so talented kids!! Sure love them!

Can't wait for many more nights of these this summer!

It's about time!

We have tried 2 other times to take the kids to Showlow to go swimming and both times the pool has bombed big time on us. Well we decided with it being Spring Break it would be a good time to take them - so did everybody else on the mountain. There were TONS of people there and it wasn't the most fun swimming any of us have had.


We showed up and 2 of Dustin's friends were there so he was loving it.

Notice the TONS of kids behind us. This is what it looked like everywhere in there, it was a mad house.

All the kids had a fun time but we all decided going to the Valley to Darrel and Teresa's or Twila's or somewhere is WAY better. Glad we finally got to take the kids since we've owed them it for over a month.

Never missed a day!

My "favorite little Kindergartner" as I call her every day when she leaves for school and gets home, got an award at the assembly last Friday. She got an award for perfect attendance for that quarter. Good job Tylinn. The assembly was themed The Wizard of Oz- to explain the wizard hat! Sure love that girl!

Happy Training

Last year (August or September) Lori and Marinda got this great idea to have a coed team in the Ragnar Relay in CA in April. They had seen Bruce and I out running before so I guess this is why they asked us to do it with them. Bruce said yes and was so excited. I did not want to do it... I was worried with being on a relay team and having other people depending on me and my speed that I don't have. But I knew Bruce really wanted to do it. I decided I better get going on my running to be in shape like I needed to be for it. Since then they got a completed team and I'm so excited about it I just wish it was here!!

PICTURE THIS: Beach Bunnies. Movie Premiers. You and 11 of your closest friends running day and night. Starting in beautiful Ventura, your team of 12 runners will embark on a 200 mile adventure-fest. The party in your van will only get better as you leap frog your way down the beautiful Pacific Coast. You'll see stars as you run through Hollywood and feel the ocean-spray as you fly past the "South-Swells" of Huntington Beach. The race (and your stamina) will wrap up where the spectacular bluffs meet the crashing waves of Dana Point.

Running three legs during a 24-hour relay race is much easier than you think. Each team member runs three legs, ranging between 2 and 10 miles. This relay race is physically demanding, but legs vary in difficulty, and runners can choose their legs. This unique relay format makes the Ragnar Relay Southern California an accessible race for beginners yet challenging enough for the most competitive.

This is the description on Ragnar Website - they sure make it sound appealing (what a surprise!) We have 2 vans - 6 in each. It ended up our van is the coed van and the other is the women's van. Ours is Bruce and I, Reese and Marinda, Spencer and Kelli. The girls van is - Lori, Heather, Jami, Tiffani, Robbi, Melody. We will start Friday April 23at 6:30 am and run until Saturday afternoon. The training for this has been fun but I ready for it to be here!! Bring it on Southern CA!!! 31 Days and Counting - may the training continue!

SPRING BREAK BABY!!!!
Wish the weather knew it is SPRING!

Payson Outing

With my parents gone on their mission we don't seem to see much of the family. My brother Scott put together a schedule that has somebody in charge of a family get together a quarter. Saturday it was Holli's turn and we had a fun day in Payson. We met at Green Valley Park (one of our favorites) and had a picnic lunch. After lunch we did this:







We had a family kickball game that was fun as long as you didn't slip on the wet grass and land in the geese poop. After the park we went to Scotts house and the boys (big and little) finished putting up a zip line. It's pretty high off the ground and goes over the water in the lot they have next door. I was too lazy to get the camera to take pictures but sure regret it now. The kids had tons of fun with cousins - something they miss a lot. That night the adults went to dinner and while the kids kept playing. It was fun to see 2 nieces (Jill and Jami) with 2 cute boys there. We didn't get home until 9:30 last night and because of this...

We missed the adult session of Stake Conference last night. This is by far my favorite session to go to. It's great, no kids and the talks are always OUTSTANDING, it sounds like last night was no exception. Stake Conference was great today. I love the stake we are in (Taylor) and our Stake Presidency. They broadcast the Conference to our chapel here from Taylor. Today we were sustaining the Stake Presidency and all the other leaders of our stake and when it was time to raise our hands for the Stake Presidency somebody raised their hand for NOT sustaining them. It was very interesting - never seen that happen before.

Mark, Twila and kids came to eat a yummy dinner with us after church: meatballs, rice, salad, green beans, jello and cookies. It was a great weekend. Life is good!

School Board Meeting

Last Thursday night we had a school board meeting. They were talking about big budget cuts so I wanted to attend. It worked out great because I was planning on going and Bridget and Dustin got asked to go for different things. Bridget was asked to go show her float that they did for their President's Day Parade. My batteries were dead so this is a picture of her from the school. She got a Mustang Pin, that the kids always love.



Dustin was asked to go for being in the Navajo County Spelling Bee. This picture is of the other 2 kids that went - Megan and Rebecca both 5th graders. Here their Principal, Mr. Tenney is talking about them.

Then they get to shake all the Principal's and School Board Members hands and get a Mustang Pin.


The meeting was lasting a long time so I left early to get home to get kids to bed. School is going to be interesting with the budget cuts. We have half as many kids enrolled in our school this year as they had in 2006. Hope it gets better and not worse - kind of scary.

I have a little hard time with blogging sometimes. I like for others to be able to read what I post to they know what's going on in our lives. Sometimes I like to put things on my blog that I want for my blog book but don't want to sound bragging to somebody else. This is one of those posts:

Tylinn (5) has been bugging us for quite a few Sunday's now that she wants to fast. I finally decided the next fast Sunday she could skip breakfast and eat something before church (11:00) church. I told her that hoping she would forget about it and move on. Yesterday when I was telling the older kids that today was Fast Sunday, Tylinn was so excited. This morning she fasted breakfast. It was almost time to go to church so I told her we needed to get her something to eat. She said "No Mom, remember I'm fasting". So we headed out the door to church. That little girl made it all day and never complained one bit. We were waiting for Bruce to get home from doing his Financial Clerk duties and at 3:40 Tylinn asked if we could eat. I told her if Bruce wasn't home by 4:00 we would eat. He walked in the door right at 4:00. Tylinn scarfed her dinner down and was a happy girl. I hope she's not planning on doing this every Fast Sunday, she'll be tired of it by the time she's 8 and really needs to.

Birthday Girl

Today is Kaylee Babe's 4th birthday. We had a fun day planned of as soon as the kids got out of school we would take the kids swimming for Kaylee's birthday and to make up for President's Day when the swimming pool flopped on us so we couldn't go swimming. I called a week ago to see what their schedule was on Tuesdays. We had it all planned and of course the kids were so excited!! About noon today I decided I better call to make sure all was well still. Well it's a good thing I called because they said they changed their schedule within the last week so they were closing today at noon. I was ticked. We picked the kids up as planned and they were very sad, again. We ended up playing games, getting pizza and trying to make it a fun afternoon.
Kaylee opened presents first thing this morning before kids went to school because we thought we were leaving town right after school.

All the kids ready for a party!

Sweet Sisters

Kaylee blowing out candles. There was one that wouldn't go out. She didn't like it very much.