Gilly!!!

This is for Aimee, they are unable to access SNL skits in the UK...ENJOY--Paddy does a great impression of Gilly.

April 20

Wow- what a day so many things have occured on this day, some good and some bad. First, let's reflect on the month, April the flower is a Sweet Pea, and the gem is a Diamond. (I know specifically because of this I chose this month to be born) It's the National Frozen Food-Weight Loss-Humor-Child Abuse-Month (whatever that means) and I'm a Taurus. April 20 has had some famous people born on this date, and I'm not talking about myself. HA HA King Henry IV, Adolf Hitler (NOT SO GOOD), Jessica Lange and Joey Lawrence(WOOO)are among some of the few they you may be familiar with. TODAY I'm 34, not an exciting number, but a number worth mentioning. Today was non-eventful, Sydney stayed home sick, had a chemistry test (got turned into a Take-home test, best present EVER!) Sean got sick at school, and Fred came home sick from work. I did laundry, homework, Statistics test and now I'm blogging. I think as you mature (who wants to use the word old) you reflect on where the time has gone and how much you appreciate all you have. I appreciated all of the shout-out's on FB and my family for calling. I feel very privileged to have the family and friends that I have and I appreciate your kind words to me as I embark on the 34th year of my life!!!

PS- I had Sydney take a picture of me, so I could see how MATURE I look!!! (I had my hair done to cover up the gray UGH!!)

Coming to America

What do you get when you have 10 kids and 5 adults at the Airport? A homeland security nightmare. My sister, Aimee, along with Paddy and Alfred flew in from England April 2, and we decided to go down and greet her. Her plane was delayed so we had to entertain the kids, not very easy in an airport. Sean made a mad dash for the security check-in which made the guard stand up in case she had to tackle a 4-year old.

Cian, Paddy, Sean
Going to get the Luggage!

My mother has started an Easter Egg hunt tradition, and the kids look forward to it every year. This year my mom splurged and got a bouncy house and cotton candy machine.
Sean had a cotton candy beard!
Sarah and Sophie making the cotton candy

All of the kids waiting anxiously to search for eggs!
And they're off!

All of the cousins with Grandma Wright!

Great-grandchildren of Grandma Wright


We had a great time, Aimee came up to Flagstaff for Easter and we ate at the infamous Little America Easter Brunch, forgot the camera, but we would've had some great chocolate fountain face pictures.

The night before she left we all had a good-bye dinner for Aimee and the boys. It was so hard to say good-bye--


Aaron, Megan, Me, Mom, Dad and Aimee
Have you ever tried to get 11 kids to sit still for a picture, it's like herding cats!!!

Baby Alfred, I'm going to miss the Lil' Booger!

Happy Easter

I just wanted to take the time to tell everyone how I feel about this Easter weekend. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ and all that He has done for me. What a great time to reflect on the atonement, His death and His resurrection. I feel so blessed to know that he did all of this for me so that I can live with Him again. In this time of uncertainy it is important to know that He is watching us and LOVES us.

My favorite hymn is "I Know that my Redeemer Lives" and I love the 1st verse:
I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives! He lives, he lives, who once was dead. He lives, my everliving Head. He lives to bless me with his love. He lives to plead for me above. He lives my hungry soul to feed. He lives to bless in time of need.

Fred and I just got back from the Flagstaff Family Food Center serving food to the homeless and working poor. This non-profit organization feeds people each night and our ward was assigned to volunteer this afternoon. What an incredible opportunity it was to go and serve these people who are in need. They were so grateful just to be able to have a warm meal and a warm place to come and sit for a while. (IT SNOWED TODAY!) My heart goes out to these people who came to the Center tonight and I LOVED serving each and every one of them. We are all children of God no matter who we are or what our situation is.

Big News at our House!!!

Just wanted to make an announcement, last week Fred was offered the position of General Manager at the Little America. I'm so proud of him for working so hard to prove to the Company, he is capable of running their hotel effectively and efficiently. This has been one of his goals, to become a General Manager and it's been great to see him achieve it. Way to go!!!

Spring Break 2009

Spring break was very low-key this year, Fred was only able to take Wed-Fri off so we decided to have a Staycation here in AZ. We thought about doing Bryce national park and Zions, but we needed some sun. The first few days the kids really wanted to go to Camp Verde, so Sophie and Sarah invited their friends, Taylor and Maddie for an adventure in CV--
Celebrating St. Patrick's day at the bowling alley
Jumping on Grandma's Trampoline
Sean peeking out of Grandma's window

We went back to Flagstaff, picked up Fred and dropped off our friends, then headed back to CV to play with cousins. We originally planned to stay 2 nights down in Phoenix, but the kids were having too much fun with cousins and grandma we stayed 2 nights in Verde an one night in Phoenix. Fred and I ditched the kids one night and travelled to Jerome, which is an old mining town about 30 minutes from CV and ate at the infamous "Haunted Hamburger" for dinner. We don't get to see each other very much so it was so nice to be able to spend some alone time with Fred.
Yummy Steak fries and Yummy Burgers!!

Playing at Grandma's with the cousins, Sean in his usual outfit of just underwear!

We left CV and headed to Phoenix to stay at the Pointe Hilton at Squaw Peak, it is a really fun place. The resort has a great water park and we spent all of our time there. Everyone chilled on the lazy river, I think I've come to a point where I'm so glad my children are getting older, we were all able to do the lazy river without leaving anybody out because of size.

Sarah, Sophie, Sydney
We also went to a Spring Training baseball game and watched the Oakland A's and the Seattle Mariner's. It was fun to watch, I got nice and red. We lasted a little over an hour and the kids were done, but we did get to see Ken Griffey, Jr play.
Ummm black wasn't a very good color choice!
Sarah trying to keep cool!
Sydney just loved running around on the grass!
Sean trying to convince the Cotton-Candy man to sell him one for $1

We had a great time, got warm and came back Saturday night, just in time for it snow on us AGAIN!!! We are now officially ready for summer!!

It's Been a While

Wow!! It's been a long time since I've blogged. Life has been super busy and I finally have a couple of hours where I can just sit and write. School has been extremely busy this semester, Chemistry, Anatomy/Physiology, Statistics, and Dental Hygiene 100/101. I've learned so much about the body, it is absolutely amazing how everything works, I'm in awe!! By the way ask me about any of the 206 bones or the many muscles that I've had to memorize over the past 6 weeks, yep that's pretty much what I've been doing.

**Sean had his birthday party, we took him and a friend to the Aquaplex (indoor waterpark) here in Flagstaff, we get to the front counter and pay to go swim and then a lady comes out and says someone pooped in the pool so we couldn't go. I think the lady could've been a little more discreet, but that's how they roll in Flagstaff. So I decided to take them to Peter Piper Pizza, now if you are a local in Flagstaff you know not to go out on a Saturday, why do you ask?, because all of the Native American's are in town. (Disclaimer: I'm not prejudice, I'm just stating a fact) We were the only white people besides the one other family in that whole restaurant. It turned out to be quite the adventure, Poor Sean dropped his tokens and a lady picked them up and gave them to her little boy. Sarah saw this happen and came and got me, I confronted the lady and she lied to me, I was going to make an issue of it, but I was afraid I would've had a bow and arrow pulled on me. (OK a little harsh, but I was mad) Enjoy the pictures!!

Not Really!


Getting the Heck out of Dodge
Oh Yeah! He left the house dressed like this, swim trunks and snow boots!!

**Sophie had another soccer tournament in Phoenix in Feb. She is really improving and loving the goalie position, I'm so glad Sophie has found something she is truly enjoying and excelling in.





It's always a treat to go Phoenix in the winter, we went swimming and just soaked up the sun, even though the weatherman said it was a chilly weekend, 70 degrees.
Sydney doing a bellyflop!



Fred taking a nap

So when the Reese family goes on vacation we always seem to have a "Griswold moment"-we were out eating on the balcony and Sophie shuts the door, well the door automatically locks, no one has a key to get back in. We try to figure out how we can throw one of the kids over the balcony, but luckily for Sophie's sake a flagged down a maintenance worker and he was able to rescue us!

**Sydney has told me she wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up, well I think she thinks she's all grown up because she gave Sean a haircut. He woke up and I thought he had really bad bedhead, but nope Sydney cut his bangs for him. He's quite the looker.


Before, yeah he went to school like that!
All better!