HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE!!!!!

Wow, my little George turned 15 yesterday. One year until he dates.......ahhhhhhhh! George is such an amazing young man. His testimony and knowledge of the gospel amazes me at times and I love to watch him grow and learn from it. His personality is very similar to his fathers and I love that they are so alike. He makes friends so easily and everyone loves George. He is quite the ladies man and of course loves every minute of it. He has thrived at his new school socially and academically and I knew the first week that is where he belonged. He has been helping out with the middle school baseball team and has decided to pick up his glove and play again. He is practicing his pitching and is excited for the high school season to start. George is such an easy going, calm presence in our home. I am so blessed to be his mother and have loved watching him develop into the wonderful young man he has become. I am so proud of him! Love you George Happy Birthday!!!

Shelby's Party

Shelby wanted to throw a Christmas a party this year so I complied. She invited girls from church and girls from school. We did a get to know you game, played Apples to Apples, made bead bracelets (which did not work so well), ate a spaghetti and meatball dinner, made graham cracker candy houses and did a fun gift exchange. Shelby has such wonderful friends. They had a great time and it was fun to see Shelby with all her friends.

Christmas Program at TVCS

Every year our charter school has the kids put on a Christmas program. This is Tommy's first year and he was so excited to participate. The kinders sang a few Christmas songs wearing Santa hats and Thomas was very animated throughout the whole thing. He was making everyone laugh. He sang so hard his face turned bright red. When he came to sit with us after he was finished he said "I am so thirsty!" It was fun to watch him perform in his first school program. Dylan's class did a La Posada performance. La Posada is a Mexican Christmas tradition. The girls wore big bright skirts and danced and the boys wore drums around their necks and played them and clapped while the girls danced. Dylan was so nervous. The program was held in a High School auditorium that held 741 people. I told him there would not be near that many people there, I was wrong! The place was filled to capacity. He did awesome and was so glad when it was over. Shelby's 7th grade class lucked out this year. They created some art work for the lobby and did not have to perform. She got to sit with us in the audience. Megan came from San Diego to watch the kids and it was nice to have another adult there with me. Afterward we hit McDonalds for a treat. It was a fun family night and helped me find a little of my Christmas spirit that seems to be absent this year.

Sweet Dylan

There is just something so sweet and special about my Dylan. He has a soft spot for little children and babies and they all love him. My sister Katy and her baby Stellar came to visit for a week. I snapped this "precious" (Dylan's word) picture of Dylan and Stellar. We were sad to see them go but had such a nice time while they were here!! Thanks for coming Rileys we love you!!

Belated Halloween

This Halloween was a lot of fun. I decided we are no longer going to Trick or Treat as a family and the Ward Party will be our Halloween celebration from now on. We always have an awesome party with a trunk or treat and that is enough for anyone! This year Dylan was a vampire, Shelby an Egyptian princess, Thomas an army man (of course), and Eliza hates costumes so I just put her in a Halloween theme outfit with skulls on it. She was comfortable and happy. Dylan made it to the top 5 finalists in the costume contest again but did not take home the big win. Next year we will think of something great so he can finally win! Martha had a costume/birthday party on Halloween night and George stuck close to home. The only thing missing was Mike, but we had a great Halloween! I took the 4 little kids to the drive in on the 31st with some good girl friends of mine. They hate trick or treating too!! We saw Where The Wild Things Are and Astro Boy. The kids had a great time with their friends. I am so blessed with great kids, great friends and a wonderful place to call home. I couldn't ask for anything more.

One down NINE to go!!

Since I discovered sewing/quilting I decided I wanted to make my family some Christmas stockings. I found a way cute tutorial online for what is called a "Scrappy Stocking". To see the tutorial click here. This is my first real quilting project. It is basically a bunch of fabric strips cut kind of scrappy looking, sewn, quilted and turned into a way cute stocking. I did mine a little different, used different fabric and different size strips. I wanted more strips on mine which of course made it more difficult! I had no idea how time consuming it would be but I finished one last night. I love the way it turned out and now I only have nine more to make. The finished ones will also have their names embroidered across the top. I just need to talk Mike into buying me an embroidery machine. Times like this I wonder why I have so many kids!!

FABRIC!!!!!

So I am a beginner at sewing and becoming a TOTAL fabric junkie!! I enter fabric contests online constantly, but have yet to win one. Cross your fingers for me and if you want to enter too click the link to the right. Wish me luck!!!

Birthdays Galore!!!!!

Martha turned the magic 16 on the 11th. She has grown up so beautifully and has the sass to go with it. She was only 9 when we first met and I could carry her around on my back. Dating terrifies me, but I hope she remembers all her mother has taught her, just like we all did right??? The older she gets the more beautiful she gets.

My dear sweet loving husband had his birthday the 15th. 37 years young and still as handsome as ever. He is dreading the downhill to 40 but I love him more year after year. What a blessing to have my best friend, eternal companion, and father to my children be such a wonderful man!! He was actually home for his birthday this year and that has not happened for the last 3 years I think. He wanted to spend it with the family so it was nice to be at home all together for his birthday.

Today Little Mike turns the whopping 18! I was 18 a very short time ago and it is surreal to have an 18 year old in my home. He was 11 when we first met and has grown into quite the young man. He is preparing to serve a mission and finally landed a full time job at Sonic. He is meeting new people and getting out into the real world. I hope he remembers who he is and what he is working towards and not let the the world get in the way of what he wants in life.
I love my family so much and am blessed to have them in my life. And quickly as time in this life passes us by I am grateful for my knowledge of a FOREVER family!!

First Day!

Finally...............the first day of school has arrived! Actually, my summer went by way too fast and I could have used a couple of more beach days. The kids were more than ready to get back into a routine and see their friends. Tommy started kindergarten. Our charter school has an all day program for them and that is going to be awesome for him. Dylan is a big 5th grader and was the most nervous of the bunch. Shelby started 7th grade and with her I paused the most and was nostalgic. My first baby girl in 7th grade, sigh time sure flies! George began a new adventure at a charter high school here called Temecula Preparatory School, wearing uniforms he of course hates. It has a very intense college prep academic program and so far he is loving his French class. Martha is no longer the tiny Freshman and, as always, was less then thrilled to go back to school. Early morning seminary started today and George said it was good, the parts he heard while not asleep. I wake up and take kids to seminary and exercise while they are there so I can get George out to his school. I really liked waking up early today and getting out into the quiet morning. It was a great start for me. Ask me in a month if I still enjoy it! Mike has decided to leave his job early and will be home on September 4th. He will have to turn right back around and jump on another ship, but it will be nice to see him for a few days. As for me, having only one child home will be different. For the good I hope. I have started sewing and I love it and hope to do it a little more during school. All in all everything is well at the house of Sims. Blessed beyond measure and feeling the love of my Heavenly Father every day! Here are some first day of schools pics. Martha has not held still long enough for a picture, we will see if I can get one out of her.

Mike is gone again.........sniff, sniff

Ok, so same story different time. Mike was unable to secure a home port job due to the wonderful economy we are having and had to ship out again. This will be the longest time away from us with no home visit. 168 days! Yikes. The ship he is getting on is the APL Japan and it is an east coast ship. That means no visits in between routes because they port in New Jersey. I may be able to fly out and see him once depending on his schedule and how long they are in port, also the schedule of our many children, so we will have to see. I really hope so. School starts August 19th so I will be busy getting ready for that and acclimating during the month of September. I will keep busy and stay positive and be grateful Heavenly Father has blessed us with a job to sustain our family. Wish me luck!!!!

Happy Birthday Eliza!!!

Ok, so today is not her birthday, but the absent minded Mom I am forgot to blog on her actual birthday.



My sweet baby girl turned 2 on July 2nd. For her birthday we went camping for the first time as a family, with all 8 kids! Then we spent the day swimming at the Glen Helen water park. (That story is for another blog post)

It amazes me how fast 2 years can fly by. We thought we were through having kids with Thomas, but I just knew there was a little girl waiting for us. It took a lot of convincing, but Mike finally relented and said ok, but this is it!

Eliza came flying in to the world with the fastest labor possible, to me anyway. She arrived at 12:07 am July 2nd, 2007. She has turned into a very independent little lady. With 6 older brothers and sisters to compete with it did not take her long to find her voice and use it in our house of chaos. She worships Thomas and does everything he does. She is so sweet and smart and devilish all at the same time. Just like all the other children, our family would not be the same without her. I can't wait to watch her grow. She loves her family so much and is the epitome of being "Daddy's Little Girl". We are so blessed to have her and feel privileged to be trusted to raise her here on Earth.

Washington DC

For Little Michael's graduation gift we took him to DC for 5 days. It was a secret until grad day and he was very surprised. We gave him a card and tickets to Fords Theater and a DC guide book at his BBQ before the ceremony. Here is how our trip went with some of my favorite pictures.

Day 1: We flew out of LAX Sunday morning. I misread our flight time and we almost missed our flight. I swear it said 9:55 am when in fact is was 9:05 am. We arrived at the airport around 8:10 and I thought we had plenty of time. I forgot to write down the confirmation number to go through self check in so I called the airline. To my horror she gave me the correct departure time. Our flight was boarding in 20 minutes. For those of you who have ever flown out of LAX, 20 minutes is not enough time to check bags and get through security to be to the gate on time. Thanks to some very nice people who let us cut the line and equally nice airport personnel, we boarded the flight just minutes before they closed the doors. Whew, that was close! We arrived at Dulles around 5:00 pm EST and just hit the hotel, had dinner and rested to go to DC in the morning.

Day 2: We decided against a car rental and took public transportation the whole time we were there. To save $$ we stayed in Virginia close to Dulles. Every morning we rode the hotel shuttle back to the airport to catch a bus into DC. It took a little over an hour each way to get back and forth. Nice and cheap but sure took a lot of time. We started at the Washington Monument, hit the War Memorials, then the Lincoln Memorial, walked by the White House (our tour request was denied!), visited the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum. A very full day with TONS of walking but to see these places in person was awesome. Back to the bus to get back to the hotel.










Day 3: Fords Theater was the first stop of the day. We had tickets for a 9:00 am ranger tour. It was a little disappointing because all you did was sit in the theater, hear a recount of what happened the night Lincoln was shot, then leave. You could see the box he was in, which was cool, but I am a close up kind of gal and would have liked to see it closer. The line across the street to get into the house Lincoln died in was too long so we passed on that. We hit the National Archives after that to see all the cool documents and stuff they have there. It was amazing to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in person. After that was our tour of the Capitol building. We did not get to sit in on a session but were able to tour the rotunda and a few other cool places inside. There is a room that has a statue of one or two people from every state to represent them in some way. The Legislature for that state chooses the statue for the room and for Utah it is Brigham Young. That was when we discovered some fellow LDS brothers and sisters. After the Capitol building we peeked in to the Library of Congress and it looks just like it does in the movie National Treasure! The last stop of the day was the Air and Space Museum. It was late in the day and we were tired, we probably should not have gone into the planetarium to watch a movie about black holes. That was a nice $26 nap! On the way out of the museum a thunderstorm hit, and hit hard. We ducked into another museum only to be kicked out because it was closing. We stood under the eaves of the building during the down pour before we ran for the bus stop. Back on the bus to hit the hotel and get some sleep.





Day 4: We decided to sleep in and not get up early. It was much needed! We went to Arlington Cemetery and this was my favorite place on the trip. There was such a respected reverence there, especially at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Cemetery has on average 27 funerals a day. It amazes me the number of people who have served our country and those who died in battle is astounding. There was a memorial for the Space Shuttles Columbia and Challenger. We saw JFK's grave with the Eternal Flame and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We had planned on going to the Holocaust Museum after the Cemetery, but those plans did not work out. I thank Heaven we were not there that morning. We rode the subway to Pentagon City and hit the mall, went back into DC and wandered a bit then headed back to the hotel.............on the bus. I must say every evening the bus was standing room only and some people were turned away it was so full!







Day 5: We went to the Postal Museum and then Union Station. The Postal Museum was pretty cool. The history of the mail is actually interesting and how it has grown and evolved. Union Station, I have heard how big this place is but had no idea. It is basically a huge shopping mall with a train station inside. We had lunch in the largest food court ever! It was crawling with people and you couldn't even hear yourself think. We decided to see a movie in the theater in the basement. It was the weirdest theater I have ever been in. We saw Land of the Lost. It was funny but typical Will Ferrel comedy. There is A LOT of beggars outside Union Station. I have seen beggars before but not like this. Makes me feel very glad and blessed to have the life that I do. After the movie we hit a souvenir shop to pick up some things for the other kiddies and then hit the last bus ride (YAY!) to hour hotel.

Day 6: Our plane was delayed almost 2 hours from DC then lasted about 5 hrs. Longest flight of my life. I am not sure I could fly international. Finally we made it home!

A HUGE thank you to my parents for watching the other kids while we were away. It is not an easy job and they did fabulously. THANK YOU!!! I enjoyed my time with Mike and Michael but I was glad to be back with the others at the end. I have my complaints about my big family but in the end I would not trade a single one of them. Heavenly Father has blessed us immensely and I take it for granted every day.

June 6, 2009 .........Graduation

It is official, Michael is now a High School Graduate. With about 600 names to be read it took a while, but the ceremony was great. The speeches were short and sweet and well executed. The weather was overcast and not hot at all. The one problem was we sat right in front of the loud speaker and we were all deaf with ringing in our ears when we left. We had a BBQ before the ceremony and it was pretty cold for June in California so we stayed indoors for the most part. We had great food and family and friends and it was a great day. I am proud of Little Michael and the accomplishments and changes he has made to make it where he is today. Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day.

May Madness

May has been a whirlwind of activity. Mike got home on the 3rd and we were so glad to see him! Still no home shore job yet but we are not giving up hope. Since he has been home we have been painting and painting and painting. We are almost done! We did have a little accident. Mike had a small can of white paint he decided to shake without checking the lid. It exploded all over me and the computer room floor. I laughed so hard! Maybe I will get my new carpet sooner than I thought.



We of course have been having fun too. Between Geocaching, the pool, the beach, friends and church activities we have had a great month. Mike and I stole away to the beach while the big kids were in school one day and had a great time with the little ones. I forget how much Tommy loves that place. It was not the nicest day but it was not crowded at all and we loved it.



Geocaching is one of our favorite family activities and with Mike home there has been plenty of it. Mike, George, Dylan, Thomas, Eliza and I were out one day and Dylan came face to face with a nice rattle snake. He was standing inches away from it and did not even see it! We decided no more dessert ones while it is snake season. Here is a pic of the kids on a night out caching.



The pool here has a program every Friday morning where you can bring little kids and swim in the shallow area with no big kids to push them down and rule the waters. It is one of our favorite summer activities. Thomas and Eliza like to chill in the loungers.



I went on a 6th grade field trip to the Getty Villa in Santa Monica. It is a museum of Greek and Roman art and artifacts. Some of the vases and statues are dated back to BC. It was really cool. The 4 hrs it took to get home with six boys and 2 girls in my car were not so cool. That was one of the longest drives of my life! And Shelby ditched me to ride with her friends in another car. What I do to have my kids attend the charter...... This is a coin bank. It depicts a slave girl begging for money and the coin slot is where she is pulling the top of her dress out. It dated back to about 200 AD. It was really small and the detail in it is amazing considering everything was done by hand.



Every year at the Storm Stadium our Stake gets a bunch of tickets and we dub it "Mormon Night". The Lake Elsinore Storm is a local minor league base ball team. We decided to take the kids out to the game. We did not tailgate with the Ward, Thomas had his baseball pizza party for his team that night too so we did that instead. It was a really fun night. There were freebies handed out by the Marines and lots of friends to be with. Michael's friend from ROTC was up in the box seats so of course he ditched us for the better seats. There was one point in the game Mike and I had been abandoned by all the kids for either a friend or some running around, of course Eliza wanted to go too so they were kind enough to take her. That has never happened so we enjoyed it while it lasted. They had some amazing fireworks at the end of the game. I didn't get a shot of those but the kids watching them was very cute.



Memorial Day we were invited to a pool party. The pool in this back yard is amazing! A HUGE jumping rock, an awesome rock slide and an enormous hot tub. Great food, smoothies and some fun with friends made it a wonderful holiday with the family. The jump rock is probably 8-10 feet high. Thomas marched right up there and jumped right off. That kid has more guts than I even thought! It took Dylan a good 30 min to make up his mind but finally took the plunge. I decided to give it a try and it was a little scary and took some coaxing, but I jumped and once was enough for me. Everyone but Eliza and George had the burn to go with the day in the pool, but it was well worth it. These pictures are not the greatest, but you get the idea.









Every time I sit and blog about the things we have done I feel such a feeling of love and am so grateful to be this blessed. I have an amazing family and wonderful friends and could not ask for anything more.

Time Flies.....

May 2nd was my 6th Anniversary!! Since he couldn't be here, my sweet husband sent me a beautiful Lei from Hawaii and one for each of the girls too. 6 years has flown by. Here is a pic of our wedding day. For those of you who don't know we kind of got married on the fly. Mike proposed to me in April and we planned on getting married in August after he could get himself and the kids moved to Utah. I said why wait and we were married a week later in the beautiful Provo Mountains with my family in attendance. Pretty crazy I know but when it is right why waste time. (Man we look young!!)



Here is another photo of Michael and Brin at the Military Ball.


Then another formal dance to go to. The Young Single Adults of the church here threw a Prom type dance for Seniors and older. Michael took Connie and they had a good time. The boys always look so dashing in their suits!



With graduation around the corner I have been thinking about my little Michael a lot. He has changed so much in 6 years! He has grown up so much and has had many surprises for me along the way. I am so proud of him and who he has become and the changes he has made in his life to be who he is today. He is a great example to his friends and a born leader. He is going to hang out at home and work for a year before putting in his papers to serve a Mission. I hope we still love each other by the time that happens!