Be Prepared

Ozzy, the Boy Scout

Ozzy Guillen, the manager of the Chicago White Sox, must have been a Boy Scout.

In fact, with how prepared he is, he MUST be an Eagle Scout.

I heard on the news this week that he put aside $100,000 to take care of any fines and violations he anticipates receiving this season.

That's being prepared.

Bad, bad Mother!!

This week has been full of doctor, dentist and chiropractor appointments. Today alone, including travel time, I spent a good 6 hours in various offices.

One appointment today was for the eye doctor. In the last month, Elizabeth, Taylor and Kristen have gotten glasses. Michael got glasses about 1 1/2 years ago. Ryan hasn't ever complained about his eyesight, but I thought after Kristen and Taylor ended up needing them, I should have Ryan's eyes checked for good measure.

Well, I found out today he ALSO needs glasses and he probably should have gotten them a few years ago, as should have Taylor and Kristen. I am a bad, bad mother!!!

Kristen and Taylor have been complaining about their eyes since last Fall. I put off taking them to the eye doctor because when Elizabeth was about 10, she INSISTED her eyes were terrible and she REALLY, REALLY needed glasses. Being the dutiful mother I was then, I took her immediately.

Did she need ANY sort of eye enhancement? NOOOOOOO. She probably just had some friends that had glasses and she wanted them too.

When Taylor and Kristen started saying things about their eyes, I was immediately transported back to Elizabeth's eye exam and assumed it probably was nothing. Matthew and I don't wear glasses.

Well, it WAS something for them and for Ryan. I had Elizabeth see the eye doctor right before she went to BYU as a precautionary measure and found out she needed glasses as well for nighttime. (She explains it well on her blog.)

So now 5 out of 5 kids wear glasses. I should have taken 4 of them to the eye doctor way before I did. I am a bad, bad mother.....! I hope they aren't scarred for life and I haven't ruined any academic achievement they might have achieved in the future because of my negligence.

I think I see fine. But with all of them needing glasses, maybe I do to and I just don't know it! Perhaps undetected bad eyesight is to blame for all my problems....

I think I'll blame everything on that from now on!

Graduation Soiree'

Sunday evening we had a graduation open house for Elizabeth and Krysten Meredith, the other graduate in our ward. (She is also headed to BYU.) We have made such nice friends while living in Plainfield. It was fun to have a relaxing get-together with many of them to celebrate a happy event.
Getting ready.....

Some of our friends....





Elizabeth and I leave tomorrow for Utah. She moves into her new place of residence on Friday, has Freshman orientation on Friday and Saturday and then starts her classes on Monday.

All day Sunday, I kept thinking, "This is the last Sunday Elizabeth will be here until Christmastime." "She will be attending her new ward next Sunday." "In a few days we'll walk past her room and she won't be there." "This is the last this or that until Christmastime."

So many keep asking me how I feel about it all. For me, it is such a happy/sad occasion. I will miss Elizabeth tremendously, but I am SO happy she will be at BYU and know of all the marvelous experiences that are ahead of her. I can't help but be EXCITED for her and all that awaits her in this new adventure.

Vacay{YEAH}tion

I KNOW, I KNOW, my blogging public....I have been negligent in my blogging duties (and have been duly reprimanded by some...) However, we went on a lovely vacation and then we had a graduation open house for Elizabeth and tomorrow I leave to take Elizabeth to BYU. So it has been busy, busy. But from your perspectives, I know it must be disappointing not having new and exciting things to read about. So without, further ado, here is the latest!

Last Thursday we got back from a lovely vacay{YEAH}tion in Florida. I call it a vacay{YEAH}tion for several reasons. There were lots of YEAHS! about it.



1. We got to meet Jacob, our newest addition to the Safsten clan. Linde and Jason came along with Jacob.

2. Gayle, Matthew's Mom, joined us.

3. We got to see Erick & Adrienne, Madeline, Tyler and Carter.




Adrienne made us a yummy dinner on Sunday.

4. We stayed in Orlando at the Marriott Grande Vista Resort. It is BEAUTIFUL!



5. Because we went and heard a time share presentation, our lovely vacation didn't cost as much as a normal vacation and we got to stay in a beautiful place.

On an amusing note: At our time share presentation, we met with the top salesman in all of the Marriott timeshares. On his windowsill, were several of his Top Sales plaques. Guess what their top sales team is called? (And, mind you, this name was prominently displayed on the plaques....) THE PREDITORS!! We found that quite interesting and it gave us a chuckle!

6. We were able to fly because we found flights that only "cost" us 25,000 frequent flyer miles each--Most flights are 50,000 miles each. (Although our flights both ways LEFT at 6 a.m., it was much easier to fly.) I'm afraid if we had to drive with 7of us in the car for 22 hours each way the togetherness might have gotten to be a bit much!

Happiness is.......flying at 6:00 a.m.!!

7. We went to the Epcot Center.

8. The boys got to golf FREE.

9. We stayed in a condo with a kitchen and washing machine.

10. There were about 6 swimming pools and one of them was right in our back yard. 11. We only got on each other's nerves a little bit!

Thanks, Trevor!

After dinner on Sunday, Trevor OFFERED to do the dishes! What mother wouldn't love her daughter dating a boy that offers to do dishes??? (And you should hear him play the piano......)

Graduation(S)

Yes, graduation(S). First, Seminary Graduation on May 18th and then High School Graduation May 31.

As we were eating dinner right before going to Seminary Graduation, we discussed (again) the importance of not only going to Seminary, but graduating as well. Both Matthew and I stressed, again, that in our opinion, Seminary Graduation is MORE important than high school graduation.

"What do you mean, it's more important?" chimed one child.

"More important than high school graduation? Come on, you can't do anything without a high school diploma!" stated another.

"What are you talking about?" added another.

"Yes. It IS more important." I replied. (Besides the knowledge gained and a great start to the day, the discipline required in order to graduate from early morning seminary is invaluable.)

I continued, "I've known A LOT of people who graduated from high school but not Seminary. But I've NEVER known of anyone who graduated from Seminary that didn't also graduate from high school.'

"Oh......yeah......"

Seminary Graduation
Seminary Graduation = High School Graduation
Trevor and Elizabeth

It's the LAST day of school.....go ahead and......

JUMP

FOR

JOY!!





Go ahead.....don't be shy. And do a Happy Dance while you are at it!

Goodbye, Scrap Addict

On May 23, Scrap Addict had a surprise going away party for Elizabeth. Elizabeth knew there was a crop that night, but couldn't figure out why there was no one on the sign-up sheet to call and remind. When we walked in, Elizabeth was very surprised.

It was a fun evening of friends, food and scrapping away! Thanks Felicia, for such a fun night.

P.S. If you like to scrap, visit www. scrapaddict.com. Felicia has all sorts of fun, interesting things in her store and on-line. She definitely keeps up with all the trends and will have anything you need to feed your addiction!

Graduation Cake
ScrapAddict owner and scrapper extraordinaire, Felicia, her mother Carole, and daughter, Katie.

The whole Fam at the party!