Swingsets, Hugs and Caterpillars

Just found this "draft" that I never finished.  Everyone is so young! I am not sure what all is going on, but I think the hugging was where I made Kody & Lolo hug til they weren't mad at each other any more, quite possibly stemming from the incident in the first pic.... 

Sammy was so interested in the caterpillars that were infesting the tree in our back yard! Oh well, I love all these pics, enjoy a little blast from the past, we'll just call this Flashback Friday!

Thanksgiving Oquist Style

 We headed up North to Chino Valley to spend Thanksgiving with Dan's family.  We had a blast as we always do when we are all together.  We drove up Wednesday night, when we got to Janeen's house, dinner was ready & Joe & Liz were there.  We gave them al ittle taste of our normal Sunday dinners, including Sammy's "These Nutz" jokes, no dinner at our house is complete until Sammy til that happens.  It works like this, you ask Sammy a question, like "Please pass the salt" or "What did you learn at school today?" and he responds with "Why don't you pass these nutz?!" or Why don't you learn about these Nutz?" After Uncle Joe heard this it was over, he grasped right on the theory & it went downhill from here, until Janeen started making the same face I do at any family dinner.  Of course this continued into actual Thanksgiving, only a little quieter since Janeen has a scarier "knock it off" look than I do.  We had a great time playing games & Stuffing our faces...which we did, oh boy did we stuff!  I haven't eaten so much since probably last Thanksgiving, I do not miss that over full feeling.

Sammy insisted we play football, as no Thanksgiving day is complete without a little Turkey Bowl! Danielle & Brandon brought the Aguilars with them, which have now been a party of our holidays for a full year.   Danielle shows off her game face...trust me you should be scared!

Mike built a ladder golf set which ended up being the most fun ever! Those of us not playing too much football enjoyed this game alot, however the real drama started once the big boys & Kody took over.  Danny, Joe, Mike & Kody were naturals, where the rest of us just tossed & hoped it landed on the ladder, these guys were right on the mark.  I think they played about 10 games trying to beat each other.  It was Kody & Mike against Joe & Danny.  Danny had some great moves to show off, which then Kody came up with his own.  Around 5:30 we headed over to Jimbo's house to see him & then we headed back down the hill to the warmth.  The food was great, the family was great & I am grateful we were all together for it.  Last year a few went up North & a few stayed here, it was wonderful to have my whole little family in one place & enjoying each other.  Hopefully this leads into a great holiday season.  Can't wait for the Ginger's House Decorating Party we are having in 2 weeks for more family & friend fun...Why don't you decorate these NUTZ?! (Sorry couldn't resist)

Take a Deep Breathe and GO!

How do you start a new post after almost 5 years of inactivity? Do you do the whole, where have I been? I need to do better? Life is crazy? blah blah blah other excuses start? I don't really want to do that, because really what excuses are there to take 5 years off? None.  So here are a few highlights to start catching everyone up, then from here on out maybe I can do a better than job than waiting years! lol  Alright, here goes, deep breathe I am going to blow through this as quick as possible...In 2010, I lost a ton of weight & in 2012 I discovered I LOVE CrossFit & Olympic lifting.  Also in 2012 we packed it up & came back down the hill to Laveen...AGAIN :/  The boys & I were not thrilled, & made life pretty hard for everyone for quite a while, but I have picked myself up & dusted off the poor poor me, life sucks attitude & am now making friends, finding my niche here & enjoying life.  I have become a L1 CrossFit trainer & work at CF Box, with the hopes of opening our own Box in the next year.  Danny was working to take over mom's irrigation business, but that didn't work out.  While he was trying to make that work he discovered his own niche making fitness equipment, thanks to my addiction to CrossFit, and paired with my brother, Jason, started a fabrication business, 15/23 Fabrications, and is making a name for himself in the Valley.  Meanwhile he has also jumped back into the construction world to make some money while we get the fab business up & running.  Kody is still on the fence, but has been tolerating Laveen life.  Sammy still claims to miss all of his friends, but is really thriving in his schooling and activities.  Danielle is attending ASU & Lolo is in High School now too.

Danielle got married in 2013, then her & Brandon went through the new Gilbert, AZ Temple this year on their anniversary.  We were a little unsure about all this, & threatened her about not giving up her full ride to ASU, by getting married & she promised not to.  Brandon has actually been a great addition to the family, although don't tell him I admitted that I want him to still think he needs to prove he can handle all of us for a little while longer. He even jumped in & took Sammy to one of his football games this year when every other member of the family was tied up.  

Some of the highlights for the other kiddos, Sammy played his 2nd year of football this year & has decided he LOVES it! He is unstoppable on the field we even dubbed him the Gingerwall, & created him his own #, #Gingerwall. I had a good friend even make me a shirt with his number, 15 of course, & #Gingerwall across the shoulders. At risk of making some bad jokes, this season he got to play both ways hardly coming off the field.  We have enjoyed being the obnoxious football family & fans, screaming on the sidelines & doing all the cheers with the little cheerleaders.  I know it's hard to believe that we would be obnoxious or even embarassing, but it does occasionally happen.  He also Wrestles in the off season to stay in shape & work on his grappling/tackling skills.

Kody & Lolo got to participate in the Cultural Celebration for the new Phoenix Temple, they had a blast & since the Temple district includes the Prescott area, Kody got to spend two Saturdays in a row hanging with his besties from P Town.  It was a great event, I watched both kids grow so much.  Kody is a Senior this year, he attends Betty H Fairfax HS in Laveen, Lolo is a freshman & we just moved her to Heritage Academy, a brand new charter HS in the Laveen area.  She has really struggled with school since the move, not really sure where she fits in & is not applying herself academically.  We are hoping she will enjoy being with some of her friends at this new school & their no nonsense way of handling things will help her get her grades back up & figure out where she belongs.

BOOM, almost 5 years in the Tribe of 5Teen done!  You can breathe now.  There may or may not be a few things in there I missed, but the mysteries will be filled in eventually I am sure as I post regularly & make comments about past events. ;) 

Therapy

Since my last post and the kid's fall break I have been on a self destructive spiral that has lasted entirely too long. Due a bad decision on my part, it seems I have been trying to destroy my marriage and my personal line that leads to our Heavenly Father. This has showed me that I have been unhappy for awhile with things around here and I have given up trying to make it work, just living life as it comes and doing the bare basics to get by daily. So when my "mistake" happened in October I have been depressed and had just about conviced myself to do some things that are entirely wrong, but in my circumstances they would be ok. After this last weekend I have found some clarity and am feeling better, whether I have fixed my line of communication with the Lord or the pharmaceutical help the Doctor prescribed just over a week ago is finally kicking in or the 2 are working together, who knows. But after another fight with the hubby on Saturday I finally stood up for myself and decided I would survive whatever may come from my actions. Thankfully we worked through things are moving forward, while the issue is still on my mind, it is not as pressing and I know that if I trust in the Lord that all will work out in the end. On Thanksgiving the saying "Trust in the Lord" has been popping up randomly in my mind, especially at times when I am feeling unhappy. The warm feeling that comes with that statement is back which is what I have been missing over the last few weeks. Hopefully things will continue to move forward and progress. I was thinking about how I could keep moving forward myself, besides the normal scriptures and daily prayer, and a friend, who suffers with the same issues, mentioned a craft day yesterday. So I agreed, feeling the need to create something, and went through some quick ideas that I could throw together, since I have not touched my scrapbook and crafty items in over a year. I grabbed what I had then hit Walmart on the way out to her house. What a great idea that was! It felt so good to talk with someone who understood how I was feeling and then to create something with my own hands. Plus as a bonus I made it for Lolo, who had a bad morning and I didn't help by yelling before school. Here is my garland for Lolo's room that is proudly hanging for all to see! Crafting really is therapeutic. It was amazing how good of a mood I was in all evening, I can't wait to launch into some other crafts I have been thinking about making. I am thankful for the Lord and His loving touch, for beeing able to create, and for pharmaceutical help, even if I never thought I would need it!

No First Day of School, REALLY?

I was looking through my posts and realized I think I missed the first day of school! Really??! How can I miss the first day? There are no excuses so better late than never, right? Everyone looks pretty excited for the day, Danielle is a Junior this year and driving. Soooooo I only got to grab a pic of her in the driveway, she wouldn't let me follow her to school and take a pic in front of her locker. :{ They grow up toooooo fast. Kody is an 8th grader and full of it, Lolo is now a 5th grader, both kids are the top of the totem at thier school. Can't believe this will be the last year I have someone in Elementary school...at least for 3 more years than it starts all over!

Sammy isn't too sure what all is going on, he just wants to get to his gymnastics class.

Here Kody is trying to avoid me, hard to believe one of the kids actually doesn't want me around??, he didn't realize I would really walk him up to his locker and take a pic. He was not happy with me, so we compromised I told him to just run up to the lockers and I would take a pic, even if it wasn't his. He was satisfied with that...doesn't he realize I mean it when I say Iwill take you to school EVERY first day until I can't???

Lauryn on the other hand was VERY excited to have me take her in. We missed Meet the Teacher night, so this was her first chance seeing her room and teacher. Lolo seems to be a little more anxious than the other kids, so she enjoys me taking her. She was so excited to start school this year, Taylor Hicks has been great for her. She is blossoming and making friends left and right and excelling in her work, she has even started reading books regularly.

Here is her ribbit, Sammy calls animals by their sound not name, and here she is unloading her backpack. She has a great teacher and is loving the year so far. I am so proud of my kids and all that they do. Hooray for another school year and all that it holds for us!

Attitude of Gratitude

Pres. Monson gave a wonderful talk yesterday on the attitude of gratitude. I immediatley felt guilty for not saying thank you enough. I immediatley came home and knelt down and prayed to simply say thank you for all that we have. Health, food, house, beds, clothes, great family, more than enough of everything. It helped me to let some of the worries go and the stresses we let pile up in our minds cloud over the good that we have.

That being said, Danny has had to fix 2 of his lawnmowers every night this last week and he was getting frustrated that they kept breaking and was starting to feel ungrateful and mumbly. We are waiting on 1 really big check right now and he keeps thinking, if that check would come I can just go buy a new mower and all will be well. It didn't come last week and Sunday being the only semi-free day he loaded up the mower and headed out to his dad's shop to weld some reinforcements on it. When they mow some of the lawns, the grass is so deep that you can't see what is in the way. So they often hit lots of rocks and stumps and things. The bolts have broken off 2 of the mowers and the engines literally fallen off. He finally combined 2 and even it broke Saturday which is why he had to fix it on Sunday, especially since he has about 10 yards to clean up this week. He got up this morning, said his prayers, and went to work with the newly reinforced mower. When he got to the first house, that was an initial yard care and locking up of the house, he walked in the backyard to assess the mess and low and behold an almost brand new, self propelled mower was sitting right in front of him. Almost the exact same model he was looking to buy. He added gas, and pulled the string and it didn't start. So they pulled the mower from the truck and his helper got busy....Danny felt impressed to walk back and pull the string one more time. Just like that it started and they used it to finish the yard and get done earlier with 2 mowers going.

Truely this is an example of the Lord showing us, especially Danny, that He knows who we are and what we need. If we humble ourselves and do as He as asked He will surely provide what we need. I immediately said a little prayer in the car, after he told me. I know he was extremely grateful and our attitude of gratitude is taking over! I am so grateful that He knows who we are and that He loves us and is watching over my hubby. That He knows what Danny needs. Amen!

Park N Play, Sept 5

Danny and I decided that since he was working all of the Labor Day weekend this year, we would only go to sacrament on Sunday and use the rest of the day as a family day. We had so much fun. We went to the park, as we were pulling in Sammy started to cough and ended up puking all over himself and the carseat, that is why again he is naked in these shots.

While cleaning out a couple of houses Danny has come across 2 pair of Rollerblades, one for Lolo and one for him. So he dusted them off and headed into the skate park with Kody. And Lolo has discovered she loves to skate, and even when we are just home she skates up and down the little patio we have out front.

Since dad was showing off his jumping skills, as you saw in one of the earlier posts, Kody decided he couldn't be upstaged. While I was in taking pics, Kody boasted that he too could jump over the cone. I got the camera ready, he skated down to his starting point, took off as fast as he could go...and then lept of his skateboard and jumped the cone with his own feet. What a goober, but he was right he could jump the cone, he didn't say he would do it on the board.

Sammy then decided he wanted to push his board all over. Danielle obliged him for a little while, then she got tired of him running in front of the other skaters and bikers and then he would throw a fit. This was about the time we decided we were done at the park.

So we loaded up and headed to the square to see what was going on. Sammy then decided he wanted to push the stroller instead of ride in it, which caused another fit. So Danny decided that Danielle and I could walk around why he plays in the grass with the other kids, thus elimating the stroller problem AND those that didn't want to walk around the art show anyway.

When we found them Sammy was wrestling with dad and Danielle decided she needed an airplane ride. Then each kid after her wanted one too. That is my superman, skating and jumping cones, then still able to lift all 4 kids up off the ground. What a stud!

Then we headed home for some fresh carnitas for dinner. What a great day!