Father's Day

Happy very belated Father's Day to this amazing fellow!  We are so blessed to have him in our lives.  He is honestly the best daddy and husband EVER!  He has taught me how to be a better mother, wife, friend, and person through his example and advice.  He is a great example of dreaming BIG and making BIG things happen. 

The best pictures are him playing or teaching the girls.  Derek sure loves his girls, but I am always going to be his #1 ;). Thanks for who you are Derek!  We love you!

I went on a temple trip with the youth to the Dallas Temple and it brought back so many wonderful memories and feelings being raised near a temple.  So we left at 8:30am and we didn't get home until 9:30pm.  I took for granted having the temple 5-10 minutes away.  This trip broght back so many memories on going to the temple once a week in high school and college, then working in the Provo Temple after my mission.  The temple is really a special place that is sacred and special.

It was also fun sharing this moment with these great youth!  Driving 3 1/2 hrs to the temple, 5 teenages girls was a fun time connecting and jamming to music.

Ashlyn had a great opportunity to do Zoo Camp at the local zoo.  She was able to learn, explore, and feed the zoo animals.  She had a blast and is planning on going next summer.

One Ashlyn's last day at zoo camp, the 3 youngers, Derek, and I went to the zoo and the zoo park.  It is fun to see their excitment in the little things.

This was the most exciting part despite the vib from the picture ha ha.

One incentive that we started is filling up the jar with warm fuzzy by being kind, serving, helping me out and then they can earn a lunch at Chick-fil-a.  It took them about 2 weeks to earm, but it was worth the hard work. 

On Father's Day we had a young woman, Peyton from the ward spend all day and have a sleepover at our house (her family recently moved to Dallas and she wanted to go to girls camp).  Well we had eventful day.  We had a tournament with Ladder Ball and losers had to do a challenge.  The first round Peyton and I lost so we did the cinnamon challenge.  The second round Ashlyn and Derek lost so they had to jump in the pool with their clothes on...then it turned into a swimming party!  Derek was so excited because we don't swim on Sundays, so this was a real treat for him! Happy Father's Day!

For the almost 8 years that Derek and I have been married, I have never made his childhood favorite meal Chicken and Broccolli Casserole...so I finally made it and it turned out to be a success!  EVERYONE loved it and got seconds!

Yummy!

My kids love Sid the Science Kid and the activities that we do while we watch the show.  We learned about bananas process and we made banana bread.  They love the mashing of the bananas and anticipating the delicious bread.

Recently I have been studying a lot about simplifying my life and I am soaking it up.  I recently just finished the book Essentialism (so amazing) and it is a great reminder to evaluate your life and see what is most essential to you.  I am learning how to be content with what I have.  It seems like I am always wanting something (especially when I look at social media or pinterest) so I am limiting my use and my desire to want is replaced with gratitude for what I have.  I am so blessed to have the life that I am given.  I spend so much time with Derek and my girls and that is the most important thing to me. 

This is a quote that was in the hallway at church...