Hot weather and hot chicks

We just finished a fun visit from Jeff, Jen, Jarrin, and Jaliece. It was great to have them. We spent most of the time swimming; as you can see from the pictures. The four adults dined at the golf course clubhouse and had a visit from a little rattler which was a good welcome to Tucson for the Donalsons. We’re grateful for all our friends and family and love visitors.

Kyle is now in full swing with JV football. He has weight training 3 times weekly and practice about every day with scrimmages thrown in now and then. Kyle also just received an award for his diligence in seminary last year. Amongst other things, he read the Old Testiment, memorized the Quorum or the 12 by seniority, and read scriptures 20 minutes each night. He’s a great example to his younger siblings and friends.

Kjirsten is very busy with the JV cheer schedule. She practices every day, but not at the same time as Kyle which makes for lots driving for Amy. It’s a little difficult dropping a 13 year-old off at high school cheer practice. But, if anyone can take on the challenge, KJ can. Although KJ is fine, we are having a hard time not being overly protective of our little girl.

Cicely is fitting in quite nicely in the young women’s program. She loves the support of her sister and making new friends is in her DNA. She’s excited to go to girl’s camp and will not stop talking about it. Her health is 100% now and with daily meds it will hopefully stay that way. Thanks again for all the prayers and support.

Alycia is 10 going on 13 and hates being the last girl while her Beehive sisters leave her behind. The 3 girls do spend most of their time together, but when Kjirsten and Cicely are off doing YW stuff Alycia is very vocal about the fact that she’s not 12 yet. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long year since Alycia only turns 11 on July 15th. Lee-she is our little fish in the family. She’s always first to get in the pool and last to get out. She has so much athletic ability it will be fun to see her in Junior high sports next year.

Tanner is half monkey and half ball of energy. Tanner loves to help dad BBQ and he is always tossing a ball in the air or shooting hoops in our 110 degree weather. Tanner just wrapped up his baseball season with a semi-final tie. Unfortunately, we didn’t advance, but it was a fun season watching Tanner pitching strikes and nailing more kids at bat than any other pitcher in the league (he got to be quite feared by the other teams). Tanner is definitely the baby of the family and plays the part quite well when necessary. Tanner became a trend-setter recently when Mom cut his hair into a mohawk. Now Mohawks are popping up all over the neighborhood much to our ward's delight(we get a lot of eye rolls at church, what else is new?).

Ell is still doing very well baptizing the hell out of everyone in Tucson. Seriously though, we have had a lot of success in doing missionary work as a family and the experiences we’ve had here are priceless. We are so grateful for the opportunity we have to preach the Gospel and welcome any chance we get to teach a lesson in our home. Work is going very well and we are so grateful to have such a good job despite liberal attempts to shut down our economy.

Amy keeps trying to leave on one-way flights to Utah. But, she can’t get the kids to go with her, so she stays. She loves being a mom to her kids and she enjoys being a mom to all the neighbor kids as long as she gets a little time to read. Amy is sick of all the focus and money paid to environmental issues so she drives very fast everywhere she goes in either of her 400+ HP cars. Seriously, she drives fast. Amy spends most of her waking time loving her kids and taking care of Elliot (and the dogs). She’s proud of the fact that she’s a stay-at-home mom and grateful that she gets the chance to spend time with her kids before they’re adults…….Kyle takes his driver’s permit test on Monday.