Campout

Brad and I decided earlier that we were going to go camping this weekend since it's not very often that we have a weekend where we are both free.  To our surprise Craig, Jillian, and Charlotte decided to make a trip over from Florida since it was Memorial Day weekend and so they were able to join us.  They also brought Jillian's little sister Rachael. We were happy they could join us and Kayla was excited to have a friend too.  We ended up getting out the door kind of late since we had to wait till Brad was off work.  Then I dropped a jar of Spagetti sauce on the way out and so cleaining up glass and sauce everywhere took a few extra minutes.  As we finally were on the road we realized we had a flat, so we had to pull over and get that fixed too.  But we still managed to get everything set up before dark.  And Brad cooked us some yummy dinner. 

 After dinner we tried to get the girls settle in, but they were a little hyper so it took a few minutes. 

 Finally Hailey fell asleep by cuddling up to Brad like this.  He was tickling her back and she would lay real still, then every time he would stop she would jiggle her body like "keep going dad."  It was pretty funny.

In the morning Brad, Craig, Rachael and Kayla woke up really early to go fishing while the rest of us were going to sleep in.  To bad Hailey and Callie woke up in the process of the others leaving.  So I pretty much had to get up with them ;)  We went on a LONG walk and played at a nearby playground so Aunt Jillian and Charlotte could at least sleep a little longer.    

Shortly after we had breakfast, we were joined by Grandpa and Grandma who kindly went out of their way to pay us a visit while they were on their way to Branson.

And thank goodness they did stop by, because they wished Craig a happy birthday when they got out of their car, and we all had completely forgotten to tell him happy birthday!  I think this is a picture of Jillian trying to get a makeup kiss, ha ha:)  Just kidding Jillian.

 After that we all headed to the lake to go for a little swim.  Everyone loved it except for Hailey.  She wanted nothing to do with the cold water, or the hot sand, so we spent most of our time sitting in the shade.  But the rest of the girls had a blast.

So sweet

Grandpa might not like this much of a close up, but I just had to post this, it's so sweet.

Standing like a big girl and Ross's farewell

This little cutie has decided that she loves standing up (against a wall anyway).  She will stand there for forever and won't fall over, she just grunts and fusses when she's tired of standing and wants to sit.  I bet she will walk before the other two did.  They didn't walk until about 14 months, and I'm placing my bets now that Hailey will be walking by 12 months.

I've also realized that lately our shopping trips to Walmart seem to take longer and longer.  Before Hailey was born I could get all my grocery shopping done in 30-45 minutes.  Now it is more like an hour and a half every time!  I was contemplating what on earth was taking me so long lately,  when I realized, it is because we get stopped every 5 to 10 minutes with someone wanting to talk to "pretty miss blue eyes".  I don't know, I might be biased, but I would probably stop to talk to her too.

Another event that happened this week was a yard sale that we had on Saturday.  We got rid a TON of stuff that was ours and Billy's and Debbie's.  I think it feels so great to declutter. And I think the yard sale went well. Afterwords we just loaded up everything that we didn't sell and donated it.  During the yard sale, Grandpa and Grandma took the girls out for breakfast to McDonalds and then to see the new "Shrek" movie in the afternoon.  The girls loved spending the day with Grandpa and Grandma and it was so nice to have their help while Brad and I did the yard sale.

Uncle Ross also headed out at the beginning of the week, but before he left we all went out to eat together as a family one last time before he left.  We went to Texas Roadhouse.  It was so yummy!  We also made sure to get a picture of Ross with each of the girls so that we knew how each of them looked before he left and we can compare them to how they look when he gets back.

  We are going to miss Ross, but we sure are proud of him!

Do you want to share your beliefs?

As everybody that reads my blog knows, I am a Mormon. And as you also know, I tend to share my beliefs on my blog from time to time. This can sometimes be intimidating knowing that many of those that read my blog are not Mormon, but I share it all anyway because my beliefs in the gospel are something that brings me a lot of happiness. But for those of you that don't feel as comfortable sharing on a blog or out in public, the church created a new website where you can share more easily.  The did this because the church has seen that many people are more comfortable asking questions and getting answers from someone they feel they know (even an internet friend) than asking missionaries on the street. So they are creating a new site where  Mormons can go create a profile page of our own and give our answers to questions like "Why Am I A Mormon?" or "How do we feel about Joseph Smith".
There are tons of questions and you choose which ones you want to answer. You share a little information about yourself (nothing to compromise your privacy though) and you can even link your profile page to your blog, Twitter, or Facebook account if you choose.

This new website won't be active and going online for everyone to explore for a while, but it is open for Mormons to upload their profiles right now. I just uploaded my profile. The goal is to get as many profiles uploaded by as many different people as we can before the site goes live.
So if your interested you can go to this website and create a profile of your own:
new.mormon.org and Sign in if you have an LDS Account (the one you use to check your ward website) or Register to get an LDS Account (you will need your membership number from your temple recommend or ward clerk and your birthday to register.) It will take you to your own Profile Page and you can start uploading your information and answers.
Here is a link to my profile if it works: https://mormonorg.lds.org/profile/#p

Temple Craft Instructions

I've had many people email me wanting the instructions for how to complete the temple craft that I made a few posts back.  So here is the link to where I found this project.  http://theideadoor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1504
 If you scroll down to the end of the page then there will be a list of temples that you can click on.   Double click whatever temple you choose then when the picture comes up big, right click and save the big picture (not the little one).  Once it is saved on your computer you can print it off.  I would recomend doing it on photo paper so the ink doesn't smear when you put on modge podge (or whatever other sealant you use).  Also, she said the project cost her $1.00 per person, but it cost me about $30.00 total.  And that was with us providing the wood for free.  I had to buy the scrapbook paper, paper for printing the temples , black paint, modge podge and paint brushes.  If you already have some of the items then the project will be cheaper.  Have fun!

Kayla's music concert

This blog is going to be about a bunch of different things, so be prepared.  First off, Kayla had her 4th grade music concert and she did a fantastic job as usual.  I brought both Hailey and Callie with me and I was lucky enough to have Brad's brothers Ross and Cory come as well.  So Ross filmed it while Cory and I wrestled the girls (or more like stuffed their faces with snacks to keep them sitting still, ha ha:)

This is Kayla with her good friend Jada.  She has loved being in the same class with her this year.

I can't believe that Kayla is going into 5th grade this year.  That is just crazy to me.  She is growing up just way to fast!

This is a picture of what our garage currently looks like. Oh, and there is a giant amplifier and electric guitar in there too.  Since Ross is going on his mission, we temporarily inherited all his band equipment.  So we've been "jammin" for the past few nights now.  Well, they have anyway.

This is Hailey trying to be silly with her green beans.  She put the bean like this in her mouth and then left it there while shaking her head because she realized it made the girls laugh.  She loves trying to be funny.  She's also learned to drop things off the side of her tray and say "uh oh".   Yea, I'm no fool,  I know she's doing it on purpose. But it's still cute anyway. 

Brad also picked up this little tikes ride for Hailey on his way home the other day and she loves it.  She will sit on it without falling and she even scoots back and forth. Of course I stay right there just in case she does start to tip, but I have been so impressed with her balance.

  Today she crawled over to the dishwasher (which had the door all the way down), and lifted herself up and just stood all the way up like it was nothing.  She knew she had done something special because she got all exicited.

And last but not least here is a sweet picture of Kayla with her little cousin Gabe at Ross's going away party for the Ray family.

And before I go, I have to mention (mostly for journaling purposes) that Brad got to have a special meeting with Elder Holland this past week.  He is Brad's favorite apostle to listen to, and it was such a neat experience for him to be personally taught by him.  When he came home from the meeting he gave me a big kiss and said "That's from Elder Holland".  I started laughing and said "No, it's not, your making that up, he might have said to give me a hug from him." 
And Brad said "No, honest he told me to give you a kiss for him."  I just laughed again and said "Okay, whatever."  Not really believing him.   Then the next day President Brown caught me at church and said "Did you get your kiss?"  I said "Yeah, I did, but I didn't believe him that Elder Holland said that."  And then President Brown said "He did say it, and Elder Holland also said that he would do it himself but he didn't have the nerve because they are supposed to keep arms length away."  I thought that was pretty funny and special.

Temple craft

For Young Women's tonight we did a really neat temple craft. The girls did a great job. Here is a couple pictures of what we did. These were my first two that I tried making. I made the first one of the Billings, Mt. temple where Brad and I were married and I made one of the Idaho Falls temple for my Mom and Dad.

My week

I got a surprise call last Monday from my sister Karren. She was supposed to be moving that day, but Scotty's mom (who had fllown out to help them move) ended up having to be hospitalized for a few days. So since Karren was all packed up and had already quit her job, she got to come spend the rest of the week with us! We were so happy to have those extra few days with her. It sure was nice having an extra set of hands around here ;) But it was definately harder saying goodbye the second time around.

And on to other news... I had a great weekend. On Saturday I went up to a Stake Relief Society activity in North Little Rock and was able to go to some mini classes as well as a really yummy lunch. Brad led a stakewide volunteer cleanup for all of the tornado damage. They had 50 men show up and Salt Lake even sent down some tshirts that said: "Mormon Helping Hands". It was pretty neat all the service that they were able to get done. And all the people were so greatful. I really wish I could have been there to take some pictures, but I was at the Relief Society dinner. Saturday night Brad and I were able to go have dinner at the Olive Garden, my favorite! It was so yummy. I actually tried a new dish, surprise, surpise :) And just as we were waiting for our bill the electricity went off. Perfect timing! I was so happy I already had eaten my food and that they weren't in the middle of cooking it. I loved spending some time with Brad, before that we had only seen each other a couple hours all week.
On Sunday, I woke up to a delicious breakfast that Brad and the girls had cooked for me and I got a Mothers Day balloon from Kayla as well as cards, and oh I can't forget, Callie gave me ALL of her princesses. Now that is real love! Because her princesses mean everything to her ;)
We also set up Hailey's crib last night. We put it in Callies room and now Hailey thinks she owns the place. I included a video at the end of this of her playing with Callie's piano. She slept well last night, and she only woke me up one time. And I decided it's not necessarily that kids sleep better in their own room, maybe just that the parents don't hear them as well, so they think they are sleeping better. Ha ha...

Mini me

This is a very inspiring story:

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&vgnextoid=bd163ca6e9aa3210VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD&channelId=bd163ca6e9aa3210VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD

A potato is coming, a potato is coming!!!

This is the phrase that I have heard over and over this weekend from Callie. But don't worry, we did not get attacked by a giant potato over the weekend. However, we did have several scares from tornado's (not potatoes :). And let's just say that our weekend didn't exactly go as smoothly as planned.

Ross was sceduled to go through the temple on Saturday in preperation for him leaving on his mission in a couple weeks. So Billy's sister and her family were all coming in from Texas to join him for his big day. Debbie was going to be hosting a big family get together on Sunday afternoon, so she had me help her with some of the preparations for the family picnic. Ross and I planted some flower arrangements for her porch as well as a flower bed and were careful to sweep and tidy up everything out front. I also made an arrangement for her dining room.

Everything seemed like it was in order for the weekend.
Then it all started changing on Friday when we started to get word of the nasty storms that were going to be sweeping through Arkansas over the weekend. So we were thinking that maybe we might end up moving the party indoors.
Well that night we were watching t.v. and tornado warnings started popping up for our county. One storm chaser had out his video camera and had caught footage of a tornado on Kerr road (that is the road my mother in law lives on!) So we were worried sick. Thank heavens everything turned out fine. There didn't seem to be any damage to their house and despite a short power outage to our house we made it through the storm too.
So after a rough night with more storming, we woke up bright and early Saturday to head to the temple which was over 2 hours away. After getting stuck behind two stalled cars on the interstate and one of our passengers getting sick, we finally arrived at the temple 25 minutes later than our scheduled time. Brad, Ross, Billy and Debbie went on into the temple and me and the girls ran over to the stake center next door to get out of the rain. About five minutes after they went into the temple the tornado sirens started going off again. At which time I got a call from my sister Karren that she had to pull over on the interstate because she couldn't see anything. She was on her way over to watch the girls while I was going to go through the temple. So now I was worried sick about her out in the storm, while the sirens were going off and I had no idea what was going on since I had no t.v., radio, or internet. Then Hailey decided I didn't have my hands full enough so she went and had a diarea accident all over :) Ha ha... so while I was cleaning that up, trying to talk to Karren through the storm, calling my dad to find out about the tornado, and the sirens were blaring, I was thinking maybe I just wasn't going to make it to the temple. About that time I ran into President Browns daughter, who graciously agreed to watch the kids until Karren got there.

So I ran over to the temple and got dressed just in time. I was sitting there just feeling so nervous and stressed (since Karren was still out in the storm and didn't know her way) and then I just had this peaceful feeling that everything was going to be okay. And I decided that if there was anywhere I wanted to be right then, it was in the temple and if there was any place I would want my kids to be during a tornado, it would be in the church, and well I just said a quick prayer that Karren would make it to one of those places ;) It ended up being a great session and I was so happy that I was able to be with my family during it. It was also extra special because Ross got to go through the temple on the same day as his best friend Joey.

Afterwards we headed out to eat at Colton's, where we had the biggest dinner party ever! Here is a pic of our long table of people:

When we returned that night another tornado warning came that was supposedly right in our area.  And it was definately the scariest out of all the storms.  It didn't even rain as hard as the other times and the wind wasn't as strong, but it was just scary because it was so different.  First of all the clouds were just churning like all sorts of crazy and huge hail started coming without hardly any rain or coldness, and then the lightning sounded and felt like it was going to strike our house.  After it lifted there was this sudden coldness and then it was gone almost as fast as it came.  STRANGE.  Anyway, I got some pictures of the hail on the lawn and on our patio table.  It didn't do to much damage but it did knock some holes through our siding.  I'm just glad we are all safe.  And to top the night off the entire towns electricity went off and wasn't restored until after church today.  After 18 hours of no electricity, a cold shower before church (and no styling to the hair) I definately decided that electricity is a necessity in the Shelton family.  At least if I want to keep my sanity anyways.  Ha ha... I'm just glad it turned back on before our food spoiled.

We had a short meeting for church this morning (in the semi dark).  We just had the sacrament, a short spiritual thought and music and prayer.  Then we all split up because the men had been instructed to go and help clean up any of the surrounding damage.  Most of our members all made it through the storms, but one of the mothers of our new converts was hit badly so all the men have spent the day cleaning up there.  She lived in a trailor house and it is basically covered in trees now.  Here are some of the pictures of the damage. 

 Her home is under these trees! We are all so thankful that they were not hurt badly.