Hey Mister! Throw Me Something!

On Tuesday, February 24th, my family and I went over to the Ayala's house to celebrate Mardi Gras. This is something we do every year (almost), so I didn't want to miss it! So... I skipped math that night.

This year I got to throw and ride in the back of a truck. It was a lot of fun! I didn't do a very good job of judging how much to throw each time, so I had some left over. Oh well.

For the kids, catching the beads, candy, and other stuff, is the best part and for the adults, the food is the best part, as well as watching the kids have a great time!

Here they are waiting patiently for the parade to start:
Caution: Picture overload, I am so sorry. At least they are cute pictures! :-)

Here's the fun part:

And of course... eating together. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the food, but if you can imagine, jambalaya, beans and rice, and other foods I can't remember. Sorry!

House of Refuge

On Saturday February 14th, my mom and I went to the House of Refuge, which is located right next to ASU Poly. My mom is a part of Mesa Leadership in which they go to classes and do different activities. On Saturday, her class participated in their class projects. This took place at the House of Refuge, which is essentially a half way house those who are in need of housing. They can stay here up to two years.
HRE consists of 88 two-bedroom homes and a Chapel/annex all located in a community setting. On any given day approximately 100 adults and 150 children call House of Refuge "home". Because greater than 50% of our residents come from shelters, this will often be the first safe home some children will have experienced. (from the website)

The morning started out with unloading a Bashas truck full of stuff that was donated to them. They have a ton of new school supplies, shampoo, all kinds of food, and many other things. Afterwards, all of the families were invited to come and participate in different activities.

They had a bouncing house, arts and crafts, and cookie decorating. They also had a football, basketball, and a volleyball for the kids to play with. The boys started a game and pretty soon, many were involved.

Some ASU cheerleaders came to join the party and had fun making cards, decorating cookies, and hanging out with the kids. They cheered for the football game and even had some of the little girls take turns with their pom poms and cheer too.

The kids were so cute and it was so much fun to watch them enjoy the activites and people around them.

I was supposed to be there to take family pictures if any families chose to do so, but no families came so I just walked around taking pictues of the kids doing the different activities.

This was so much fun because this is the type of thing I love to do. It was also fun because I got to spend the day with my mom and her crazy classmates.

Ta Da!

While I was on break from school and didn't have to work, I went to work with my mom. I rode the Metro to her office building to help her out.

She recently took over Chambers at SRP. By doing so, she inherited all of the paperwork that goes with it. I had to go through a MILLION folders. I am talking papers since 1994. Who keeps papers that long?!?!?! It took me three days to go through the folders, throw out anything that was not current, sort by years, and then alphabatize.

It took me three days, but I got it done and it looks great!

Before:

During:

and AFTER:

B17

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and dad had the opportunity to ride a B17 plane at Falcon Field. A friend of my mom's and now of all of us, called and said that they had two extra seats left on the plane and asked if they wanted to take them. They took it and it looked like so much fun! I was on the ground taking pictures while my parents were having fun riding on the B17 plane.
Here is my shadow while I was waiting on the tarmac... I got to watch my parents take off and land and then I got to see the pictures that they took while flying on the plane.

These are the people they flew with.

They got to sit in the nose and then walk through the plane and stand with the guns and stuff. (Sorry I don't really remember what it is called.)

Breakfast with the Mayor

On Friday, along with my parents, I had the opportunity to attend the Mayor's Breakfast. It was so much fun. The food was alright, but the "entertainment" and information was the best! As we ate breakfast we got to talk to others at our table, some were from SRP and others were friends my mom invited. It was fun to meet new people. As we finished eating, Bill Jabjiniak got up to speak first and was then followed by Mayor Scott Smith. It was so much fun to hear what they have to say about our city and the new things that can come to Mesa!

Caution!!!:Political type talk

I have decided that I can listen to Mayor Smith talk all day long! If there are any government type events in the future, please let me know, I would LOVE to go. Government stuff is one of my most favorite things in the world. I love it!!!

P.S. Vote YES on 300! :-)

One Year Anniversary

One year ago today, my Grandpa Johnson died suddenly. This past year has been an interesting one. Every once in a while, I go to the cemetery to visit him. The cemetery is a nice, quiet place where I can go to think. Well, anyways, it has taken some getting used to, but it has still been hard not having Grandpa here. It is hard not seeing him at band concerts, visiting his house, and having him over for dinner for his birthday or just for fun. Yes it has been hard, but as a family we have been helping each other through it all.

Even though it has already been a hard year, today was pretty hard. First year anniversaries are always the hardest, hopefully next year won't be as tough.

Today at church, during sacrament meeting, the closing song was "Families Can Be Together Forever." As we started singing, I didn't even make it through the first verse before I started to cry. This song made me think about eternal families. I am so grateful that I am a part of family that has the ability to be together forever. I am also grateful that I will get to see my Grandpa again, as well as my Grandma, whom I have never met. We will be together again.

Families are Forever!