America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Abraham Lincoln

So stand by your values and be true to you. Being an example to the world of faith and strength so that our children might know who we are.

a mental health day

yesterday, madeline came to breakfast complaining of a headache, dizziness, and feeling hot and cold. ohhh, that sounds like the flu, you better go back to bed.

so, i get jacob off to school and i am on the computer and hear some voices. i walk into madeline's room and she is playing with her doll house. hello, did you say you were sick. girl, if you are sick then you need to be in bed. and then the story comes out, mom, i don't like the subjects we are studying today at school. okay, so i will be a cool mom and say, you can stay home until lunch and then i will take you to school.

so she plays on the computer, checks her e-mail, and then we go eat lunch at applebee's (thanks for the gift card Jason and Rosa)!

we got little cheeseburgers and a delicious ice cream with chocolate chip cookie deseret, so there was our girl bonding and she skipped off to class.

she felt good today and is off at school! sometimes you need a mental health day or half-day!

my goofy parents

Here is the target, can you hit his "booty". 50 points....
So, we bought laser tag for Stephen's birthday last week. I brought the game to my parents house and my mom had so much fun. My mom hit the 50 point target and sometimes the target was moving.
Here is the heart rate for my dad. He had triple bypass heart surgery 15 months ago to help his open the 3 blocked passage ways. He also had a maze procedure to slow down his heart, it usually beats 140-153 beats per minute. That is high impact cardio all-day long! Well, the maze worked for a couple months, and last July it was back up to 140.
So, last week dad had a shock treatment performed that stops your heart and then they start it again hoping it will be in a slower rhythm. It worked, as you can see by the picture. 62 glorious beats per minute. Now Dad take rest and exercise, ahhhh.

happy birthday to you

On Saturday, Stephen celebrated 36 glorious years of being alive. The kids and I bought him Laser Tag and we had a great time playing it. I will post pictures of them tomorrow.
Here is the cute crafty birthday sign that I made. I love it!
Me and my honey

yum-0, how about this bad boy! A little flakes of chocolate, swirled in chocolate with chocolate cake and frosting. yes!

Athletes from Special Olympics

These hockey players are from china and Madeline traded some pins with them. The guys let Madeline and Jacob try on their gold medals and pose for a picture. What great examples of heroes for our children.
We were at the Medal's ceremony for South Africa and loved the fans cheering on Stephen's second home.
Here is a speed skater from Japan. His family was sitting by us and cheering him on. I can still here them saying "go Yugi".
Got Gold?

Hearts of Gold

This cute skater, Katrina, won first place for the US. Scott Hamilton put her gold medal on. What a great day to see these amazing athletes with such determination and yet amazing dignity and courage. They were so fun loving and the pure joy that they had at competiting and being among their peers. I've learned through the Special Olympic experience how "abled" these athletes are and how "disabled" we are. They are abled in patience and we are disabled in patience. They are abled in being courageous and we are disabled ,often, at being courageous. They are abled in pure joy we are often "disabled" in finding the joy in everyday.

This has truly been a mind changed experience. What amazing athletes they are and truly hearts of gold!
Marissa loved to perform and skated to the song "Dancing Queen", and was she ever that!
Here is a picture of Richard, Tim Shriver (Arnold Schwartinager's bro in law) Stephen, Madeline, and Jacob.
Here are the kids with Michelle Kwan, an olympic skater. She and Scott Hamilton were presenting the medals and they were waiting on the ice below us so I said "kids, let's go get some pictures with two olympic athletes!"
Madeline and Jacob with Scott Hamilton.

an olympic day

This cute coca-cola bear was at the "young athletes" program at special Olympics. He had on the famous blue and white scarf and a cute button. The button said I love NYSSA! How fun is that!

Here is the cool torch that the company "women of steel" made for the torch ceremony. the flame burns here. you go girls!
This was a very cold chair... thank goodness it wasn't in a long TIME OUT. It was a cool ice sculpture that was useful and yes, my pants were wet.
I have on my official volunteer coat, scarf, and badge.
This olympian was so adorable. She did an awesome job ice skating and when she skated off the ice her coach was over cheering her on. The athlete jumped on her coach like a little child does into the arms, it was so precious!

Here is a group of us at Qwest arena with the ice skating. Robert, a former special olympian, me, Kathryn, the famous "scarf lady" who collected 55, 256 scarves for special olympics, and Misty an employee. It was a great day and fun to see the olympian strutting their stuff!