It is not my favorite cramming everything together, so hopefully someday I won't.
But here goes!
Macey had her school singing performance. It was darling. And here she is with some of her cute school friends.
Mackayla had a birthday party at the park and came home to a surprise!
Her papa surprised the kids and came to visit for one night!
Over Memorial weekend we went to a water park with some friends. Ben had to be on call which is always a bummer, but he luckily had off Memorial Day.
On Memorial Day we started with a hike to the flag with our ward. We sang some patriotic songs at the top and had a prayer and hiked down. It's a great way to start this holiday!!
Mackayla once again rode as a giant baby in the pack. But she had had a fever the day before and wasn't 100%.
After our hike we headed to Cody's team baseball party. It was catered and they had individual trophies for each boy and read some of their stat highlights. They don't mess around with baseball around here.
Cody got The Backstop award because he played catcher so much (they can't solely play one position yet). Team stats:
Then we headed to the beach with some friends for a little party. The kids built a fort in the rocks and Ben and I played pepper with the volleyball. He's been playing on weekends some, kinda fun to do again. We roasted Starburst and S'mores. Kinda fun!
Mackayla had her preschool graduation
We had some incredible super moms in our group this year.
One of them had the kids decorate these adorable graduation cap cupcakes.
Macey got a special award in her school this year for reading.
She loves it so much she even reads walking home. I snuck these as they were walking up:
So proud of her!
Our last day of preschool was at the waterpark. These kids are so cute!!
This weekend we went to the beach with some friends and Cody and Ben went snorkeling. It was a little overcast and is really better when it's fully sunny. The water was FREEZING, even with their wetsuits, but they saw some fish and are excited to go out again!
Macey loves boogie boarding
We're speeding through the last week of school lightning fast. I went to five different stores today with my buddy Mackayla trying to get some things done before I have to take my ball and chains to stores with me:) For me, the older my kids are, the harder they are to shop with. ha!
We had an Incredible fireside in our stake with two experts, a psychiatrist, Jordan Turner, and a therapist, Cory, who are experts in this area. They talked about pornography and titled it "Beyond Filters" because this wasn't a fireside about putting filters on phones.
Jordan Turner started by explaining our brains, and said we're wired for connection. He told us Elder Holland has called pornography a "public health crisis." And then eventually explained that pornography is isolating, and almost always connected to depression, stress, anxiety, and loneliness.
He talked a lot about the atonement and said parents should strive to be "Safe Harbors" for their kids. He talked about how Christ treated sinners and pointed out that we all have, to one degree or another, some sort of addiction. Maybe it's negative self talk, drugs, or social media. That's life, and we're all here learning.
The therapist gave some practical tips with raising kids and said over and over and over 60 one-minute conversations with your children are way better than one 60-minute conversation.
He also said, "The opposite of addiction isn't sobriety, it's connection."
It was such a fascinating, incredible night.
They also gave some GREAT resources to use as a parent:
Resources:
· Overcomingpornography.org: Sexual Intimacy is Sacred and Beautiful
(FHE Lesson)
· The Mormon Channel: Family Conversations: Talking about Healthy
Sexuality
· Brad Wilcox: Growing Up—Gospel Answers about Maturation and Sex
·
Fight the New Drug (Instagram)
·
Good Pictures, Bad Pictures - Kristen Jenson https://www.amazon.com/Good-Pictures-Bad-Porn-Proofing-Todays/dp/0615927335?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
·
“Arm Your Kids For the Battle” – BYU
Magazine https://magazine-dev.byu.edu/article/arm-your-kids-for-the-battle
·
A Parent’s Guide – manual lds.org
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