Miracles and birthday parties.

       My two M's, Mark and McClane had a big week. Mark, after 7 long months, finally got his drivers license back! My chauffeuring days for the 18 year old are finally done! I know he was more excited about it then me, but barely! Let me just say though, bad choices don't come cheap, it cost a whopping $390 to have it reinstated. Before going to the DMV I encouraged Mark to maybe go over the drivers ed. book just in case he might be tested again. Well he did have to take a 25 question test but it was open book and as we were walking out he said, "You were right, I should have studied because I only got a 25 out of 25 and only had to use the book once to look up an answer." What a smart%$#!

Charlie at the DMV, she's tall but not quite tall enough to get her drivers license. 

     McClane and Charlie had fun at the Partyland store shopping for piñatas and driving the safari jeep.

     It was also the wolf walk for the kids elementary school and my neighbor was kind enough to go and take a photo of our two cute girls. The girls were talking on the way home about what 'place' they got and apparently Sarah was in 99th place and Charlie claims she was in 2nd place. Whether these placements are accurate or not is a mystery but neither seemed disappointed with their results.

The school finally put out a t-shirt I actually wouldn't mind wearing myself.

      McClane is two days away from his official 8th birthday but we decided to start celebrating a little early and had a friend party this afternoon. He was over the moon with the idea of having friends come and breaking open a piñata with them. As the party was wrapping up McClane said it was the best day ever, so we'll call the party a success. He still has a few things planned for his official birthday but for now we're going to share the highlights from the friend party.

8 balloons!

A line-up for the piñata fun.

McClane started off the penguin beating.

Brock got in a few good whacks.

McClane even let Charlie in on the fun.

Greg finally had to help distribute all the piñata goodies. (That penguin did not go down easy!)

This party got bigger then planned with about four extra kids from the neighborhood showing up.

Here are the official party guests.

8 candles in a cupcake does the trick.

Lots of cool gifts from some great friends.

    And as you may or may not know, Mark had until today to get his packets done and take some tests to finalize receiving his high school diploma. To say the stress of this has been overwhelming is an understatement. Well with crunch time upon him Mark stepped up and got it done just in the nick of time. To say I was relieved would also be an understatement. I shed a few tears of joy and relief and said a pray of gratitude. I had prayed that he would be able to take his tests and pass them on the first try, because taking them more then once was going to require some finagling and he told me he passed all the test with 70% or better the first time, truly a miracle and an answer to my prayers. I still plan on getting him in a cap and gown for a photo op in the near future even if he doesn't want to. Mark hasn't been making the best choices lately but I know he's still a good kid and has plenty of potential and I'm so glad these two big events (license reinstatement and high school diploma) are finally behind us!

Very little

     Not the most exciting week. I only took a couple photos. Charlie and her two little friends had some fun with the face paints. I'm so glad it washes off so easily, the glitter, however, may linger awhile on my deck.

     And in case you missed the Instagram post, and however else Kayli does social media, Kayli and Tanner bought a 2016 Toyota 4Runner. (I guess it's the summer of new vehicles for our family.) These two are really good with their money and are making pretty good money so they can afford the hefty bill they just added to their budget. There might have been a little anxiety on my part when I first heard the grand total for this 'new' vehicle but I know they can handle it and it got Kayli off our car insurance and out of the co-signed loan she had with Greg, so that's progress!

It doesn't have the turbo like Mark's 'mom' car but it's definitely a better body style in my opinion.

     So that's it for our weekly highlights. Maybe next week we'll have more cool things to share, at least I hope we will! (Pray for Mark to finish his packets so he can get his diploma, he only has a few days left to finish up!)

Hey MOM!

     Mark is just 11 days away from having his license reinstated and in preparation for the big day he decided to pick up a new ride. I never would have guessed he'd go with a Volkswagen, Jetta sports wagon. It's official, he's a soccer MOM! Ha ha! Not the choice I would have gone with and white is not my color for a car but the turbo, yeah, that's cool! And the huge sunroof is also a bonus so I'll allow it to reside on our property. It's also a diesel so it's going to get great gas mileage and he should be able to do any repairs on it if needed.

2013, 43K for mileage, pretty good deal!

    So that's the highlight from our week. We're still surviving school/homework and I'm enjoying the sunshine for as long as it will last!

Summer don't GO!

    We all had some fun adventures over the long weekend. Greg and I went on a motorcycle ride to the top of American Fork Canyon and then went on a cool hike. We came upon a baby moose and her mama, which was a little startling but we did a little bushwhacking around them and avoided a real encounter. Then Greg took the kids to Goblin Valley and Green River Utah with a couple other families from our neighborhood while I stayed home and enjoyed the peace and quiet for the day. It was about the best day ever! It's been a good week. We also sold the GMC, finally, so now I can breathe a little easier about the new tires we purchased for the Nissan. It was a little sad to see our big, black car leave but it's going to a good home and change can be a good thing.

This is pretty much an every day occurrence for these two. (Why can't she stay in her own bed!?)

Mama and baby moose. 

God is good! Our world is amazing!

Such a fun hike and very pretty!

The kids had a blast at Goblin Valley.

They found a cave, the perfect spot to tell ghost stories.

Charlie had the best time.

Fun group of kids! We love our neighborhood!

The 'three amigos' enjoying some lemonade and bugle chips.

Adios you big, black, beast!

     We've done other fun things this week like attended a zero fatality lecture for Isaac's drivers ed course, enjoyed a fresh peach shake with friends, and spent a good amount of time on the porch visiting with the neighbors. Summer weather is my FAVORITE! I'm not ready for summer to end.