Each Life That Touches Ours For Good

Another bright spot about our weekend was having Beth and Walter over. Walter is home from S Korea and he has just under 30 days here with us til he and Beth report to thier new home at Fort Drum in upstate NY. Together they have had lots of ups and downs over the last few months. Some good has come, Beth has discovered our Lord and Savior, she has started a STRONG relationship with Him. I don't want to go into thier personal issues, but just know they have struggled with each other and have lost and found themselves along the way, although the trek is not over, they have started on a better path and I know that the Lord will help them get through anything as long as they keep the faith they have each recently found.
I love this pic and the one at he bottom of Danny and Walter sharing a blankie as we sit after dinner and watch a movie. We had a great time with them Saturday night, we barbecued and talked and ate some more...which seems to be what we do alot with them. lol I love that even though in the last 2 years we have seen Walter for less than 6 weeks total, we can jump right back to before he joined the army, that he and Danny can be the best of buddies as if Walter is here every day!

They brought Simba with them, or Bimba as Sammy calls him, Sammy loved having a dog here and if he weren't so allergic I would get him one. I snapped this pic as Sammy was trying to get as close as he could to Simba. We have greatly enjoyed our friendship with the Aduls over the last 5 1/2 years. They have become family and we are devastated to see them move so far away, but such is life! There is always a plan that we may not understand, but I strongly believe that the Lord knows what He is doing. Since we have been through so much change lately when we arrived at church Sunday and sang the closing hymn I was reminded again of how He knows us and loves us. I feel that the hymn was chosen just for the Oquists this day...I cried through the whole thing and was barely able to sing it. I'm not sure I have ever heard it before, but it is definately one of my favorites now.

Hymn #293 Each Life That Touched Us For Good

1. Each life that touches us for good Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord; Thou sendest blessings from above Thru words and deeds of those who love

2. What greater gift dost thou bestow, What greater goodness can we know Than Christlike friends, whose gentle ways Strengthen our faith, enrich our days.

3. When such a friend from us departs, We hold forever in our hearts A sweet and hallowed memory, Bringing us nearer, Lord to thee.

4. For worthy friends whose lives proclaim Devotion to the Savior's name, Who bless our days with peace and love, We praise thy goodness, Lord above.

Even though at this moment I am thinking of the Aduls, this song applies to any of the changes we have had this year alone...changing wards, schools, moving, I am comforted to know that all these people I have met for a reason, that they have all touched my life and hopefully I have touched thiers. As your life changes daily remember we meet everyone for a reason, you never know why someone talks to you or why you feel the need to talk to someone you don't know, just remember it is the Lord's desire you know that person and do all you can to enrich them. Live each moment as Jesus would and as our Heavenly Father would want, so that when you run into that person again you feel comforted to see a good friend.

Snowday part 2!

Friday brought, you guessed it, MORE snow. So Danny could not get to his side job for the day, instead he and I drove around to find discs or sleds. We found some and tried to turn our road into a great run! Here they talked me into getting on this tiny little disc! Thank goodness that I have lost 10 lbs already, not sure my bootie would have fit if it was any bigger! lol We had a great time sledding down the road. Around 1ish Bree and her fiance called to see if they could come play too. So of course we added them to fun, Bree is in the yellow jacket down a little further, along with them they brought a small, plastic snowboard that you just slide your shoes in. As you can see from the following pics we had a great afternoon!

Here comes Danny!

Danielle flying down!

Kody trying out the snowboard, and Bree's backside.

Our road was not as steep as we thought and sometimes we needed to give a "little" shove to get the kids going!

There he goes!

Of course there is always the walk back up!

Danny tries to hit me with snowballs as I take pics of everyone. Caught ya!

Here is Sammy in his "perfect spot" under the big tree out front that had enough cover that no snow got through, it was perfect for him to play and watch all the fun!

Later, when we decided we needed more speed, we loaded up and went to a real hill. My camera died right before we left so unfortunately I didn't get anymore pics. But we had a blast! The hill was much steeper and the kids, Danny and Bree and Sean had more fun than ever. Since there was no place to just stand, Sammy and I sat in the car and watched all the downhill fun. Kody mastered the plastic snowboard and is convinced he's ready for a real one now. After that we tackled the skate park in downtown Prescott. Now this was real fun, since the snow melted the day before when the next wave came through there was ice, slush, under the new snow. So as you rode into the park in certain spots you got a little wet, as Sean found out when he tried to "superman" down into one of the bowls and ended up with a wet crotch, no bueno! But he survived the whole time we were there. When we left, we came home and warmed up the homemade chicken noodle soup I had made on Thursday and made grilled cheese sandwiches, along with hot chocolate! What a beautiful day!

SNOW DAY!!!!

We woke up Thursday to ALOT of snow...I stuck in a ruler and discovered we got about 5 inches...we measured throughout the yard and it varied from 4-10 inches. Of course school was closed for all 3 kids and they were so excited!

Lolo made a giant snow ball in anticipation of Kody coming out the front door...the two of them had an ongoing war when either one were outside. They would hide behind vehicles and trees waiting for someone to come into view. Lolo had never been in this much snow that she could remember and thought it was too much fun. She was in and out probably 10 times each day...the one downfall is that she changed her clothes each time and the front room was covered in wet and muddy clothes.

Kody also came in and out quite a bit, I snapped this pic before he could get out his wet clothes. He had a blast! Sammy had a great time, here he is before he headed out for the first time. He never left on his beanie and gloves, but played as long as the kids were outside, even crying a few times because he didn't want to come in. Despite the red ears and hands! He also only wanted to stand in spots with no snow, if any got on his shoe he would brush it off and squeal with unhappiness that his shoe got wet! lol

Here are a few scenes from the war that went on all day!

Lolo got into the snow! You can tell by her soaking wet pants and hair, she wouldn't wear a beanie either, she always came in wet, red and freezing, but would be back out within 15-20 minutes!

Danielle, aka Sleeping Beauty, finally got up and joined the kids outside, without getting out of her pajamas. What a bunch of crazy kids! Lolo would be out in a pair of capris and her boots, while Kody wore shorts and an old pair of soccer socks with plastic bags in his shoes so his toes stayed dry...can you tell they are Phoenicians at heart??

Here is the beauty of the undisturbed snow, Danielle and I took quite a few pics before our landscape was destroyed by children playing and running through.

They loved that the basketball hoop was filled with snow, this is solid. We had to take a pic, before it melted away. Eventually they got together long enough to build a snowman for me. Here he/she is outside it's new home. However, on Thursday the snow turned into rain by 10:30ish and melted almost all of the new snow, including Frosty.

Good times were had by all, even though on this first day of snow it melted, the storm continued to brew all weekend and by Friday morning it was all back and school was cancelled again. The kids had a great time and loved pelting each other with snowballs.

Not so lonely!

So I just thought I would take a moment to let everyone know that I am feeling much better these days. This last Sunday was so much better than the one before. People talked to us, I even ditched Sunday School and sat and talked with one of the YW Presidency. I have decided to blame this move on Danielle this time. While talking with the Beehive Counselor she let it slip that a YW like Danielle was an answer to a prayer. When I picked her up from her RYLA conferance yesterday I informed her it was her fault and that she had better shape up! lol I still sat by myself in RS, but I felt so much better! We were on time and got to sit in the chapel and not the overflow, just a note to anyone doing anything at our tiny stake center always be early, kinda like camping out for Twilight tix, it is just too small. I felt truely welcomed, Kody said the YM were coming around, Sammy loooves the nursery and Lolo is all excited for Mother/Daughter Activity Day tonight! Danny left after Sacrament to finish some jobs before he went to his "real" job this week, but he was impressed that people came up to him before sacrament. Danielle was gone all wknd learning to be a "leader of tomorrow" but came home with a wonderful attitude, said it was just what she needed and is ready to jump in head first to this new group of YW! My brain finally processed that Lolo's Activity Day leader is someone we have played Bunco with, through the Mangums and Perrieras, so I am happy about that. I am feeling a little better about the move now, knowing that there truely is a plan for us. Hopefully we will all learn something new from being in this area, thanks to all those loved ones who have sent positive thoughts and prayers our way! By the way I am going to the meal planners/play group tomorrow and was even invited to the girl's night out after. However, Danielle has a bball game in Mayer so I don't think I will make it back for the later. I am truely thankful for the Lord's plan and his church that we can belong to!

Formals

Danielle had her first formal school dance last Friday. In the process of moving I discovered all of my old dresses and decided to share them with her and let her pick one of the 3 dresses I kept. However her laughing was a clear answer of how she felt. Not even my classic, beloved, green, plaid "prom queen" dress was good enough for her. So I made her try them all on for my own gratification! I love how she added the side pony thinking she was so funny!

This one is my 8th grade banquet dress, and the one below is my 8th grade graduation dress, all 3 dresses were made by my mother and I love them...however they were not cool enough for Danielle. But she did say that if they had another 80's day at school that she would totally rock one!

She loved the bow on the butt! She also noticed that all 3 dresses had bows and thought that was hillarious! I totally rocked when I wore them! In my mind they are all still cool! Maybe I will post them on FB too just to add to her embarassment! lol She chose to get ready at a friend's house so I don't have any the dress she actually wore, she did take a pic at the dance and as soon as I get the scanner hooked up I will post her "cool" fashion choice!

New Ward

So we started a new ward today. I am a little discouraged, but working to get over it. We only had one person come up and introduce themselves, the nursery leaders barely acknowledged us when we tried to drop off Sammy and they weren't even with the kids to watch them, we got there right on time and had to sit in the overflow right behind a family with 6 kids who NONE of them behaved, even the teenage girl who had another YW sit with them and they laughed and hit each other the whole time, the Relief Society Pres literally was like "Um, why are YOU here?" When I told them I was not a visitor. Danny said no one talked to him in Priesthood, Danielle said the girls in YW were like, "What is Chino? There's a ward out there? OMG" Kody felt the same in YM, but I do think Lolo had had a good time. A few bright spots, Russ Shumate's mom stopped me and introduced herself, very nice lady! The bishop said he was glad to have us, but that was after we found him when no one would help us find where everyone went after sacrament. The RS Secretary did come around and sit with me is class, and helped me find the new person form to fill out, she was also fun to swap comments with during the lesson, which by the way was given by Ronnie Bunker, so that made me feel more at home. I don't know if it was because it was Ward Conferance or what, but they just didn't seem friendly, very snobby feeling, almost thought we were in Mesa or Utah. That is NOT a compliment in case you were wondering.

I know it will get better, we just need to turn on the Oquist charm and I guess be the ones to say Hello! I will get over this in the next few days, I have heard both good and bad about this ward. One other bright spot is that when I introduced myself in RS one sister said, "She is Jennie Stephenson's sister!" Sometimes it is good to be "the" sister, I am glad that someone remembered Jen, I know she really liked that ward. I'm sure that all will come together, I will just have to put these feelings aside and open my mouth to make friends, it's not like I don't know how. Maybe I just really loved the warm feeling that comes from the Territorial Ward! There were no cliques there everyone talked to everyone and made you feel comfortable. Just know my treasured Territorial buddies I will greatly miss you.

My advice is to remember to always keep a smile on your face and greet any new face you see! Even if it is the hallway, they may be in another ward, but you can still meet them, you can NEVER have too many friends!!!

20-Ten!

Well the New Year has arrived! With many new and exciting changes right off the bat! We are currently moving, I am taking a small break to blog a little, and will start in a new ward next Sunday. We are hoping that by going to Territorial Ward this Sunday we can all bear our testimonies and get out of speaking. Heehehehee, we'll see how that goes. I have to say I am excited about the move, we have been looking sooooo long and have not been happy with anything, we even got caught in a scam on craigslist and it has just been miserable finding a new place to live. I have faught the idea that we were to move out of Chino Valley, but knew that anything we looked at out here wasn't right. Then we decided Prescott Valley was the way to go, houses are plentiful and a little cheaper out there, but again we spent many long days on the computer and driving through PV with no luck. We couldn't agree on anything, I kept praying and just never felt that anything was the place for us. When I was trying to decide if the scam was really a scam, I called mom and just cried telling her I didn't know what to do, I felt lost and no matter how much I prayed nothing seemed right. Mom said, "Well isn't that your answer then? If you don't feel okay with any of it, than it's not right. When you find the house your meant to live in you will know!" That made me feel a little better, I had Danny talking his fast talk about being out by the first, and we gotta find a house now, but yet he was working so much that he couldn't really help me and I just kept feeling lost. Last Saturday we were in PV again and we decided to just drive around looking for rentals, we spent almost 3 hours driving around, we found lots of houses, but I just couldn't be ok with any of them. We came home, I was feeling really down, frustrated, and not sure what to do. I sat down at the computer and started cruising Craigslist, yet again for houses. The third one down, I clicked on, it was in Prescott which we hadn't really looked into, since Danny was so sure PV was the place. This list had the right amount of bedrooms, it was a price we could afford, it is 10-15 min from both Danny's work and Danielle's school, it is close enough to let the 2 middle kids stay in Chino for school if they so desire. We called the person who owned the house and hit it off immediately, and set up a time to go see the house immediately after church the next day.
I was feeling better as soon as Danny got off the phone. I just knew this was where we were supposed to be. We looked at the house, it was not quite what I was expecting, kinda a funky little house and layout, but I felt that it was the new home we had been praying and looking for. All has gone well and guess what we will be out by the 2nd! Just one day after Danny wanted to.



I am glad to have the Lord in my life and the knowledge to solve problems. I am thankful for the Holy Ghost and his guidance in finding a home for my family. Also, this year Danielle starts to drive....oh my, Lolo enters double digits, 10 yrs old, Danny has started a new job in a new field and is happily learning something new. I can't wait to see what 2010 holds for Kody and Sammy, I am yet again trying to lose weight and be healthier. Jennie and I started a weight loss challenge and hope to lose a combined weight loss of 30 lbs by March 1, then a total of 50 lbs by June 1. Aunt Shelley has decided to join, so we will probably up the goal! Can't wait, so far today has been good, but we are moving and packing and there is not much snacking time! Woohoo!!



So, even though this New Year means leaving one of the best wards I look forward to what all that entails, meeting new people and new friends for the kids. Possibly a new school for the middle two kids! Bring it on 20-Ten, I feel ready for you! Viva Change!

Here is my before pic, I plan on posting a new pic on the first of each month, with the current weight....starting weight is 192.