Color Me Rad

Look What I Did this past weekend...

I Love my Little Sista

Do we look like we're having any fun yet? 
I say, "YES!"
Me, Lori, Shanae, Debbi

We were interviewed by PCTV (Park City TV?)
Me, Lori, Shanae, Debbi, Celeste

Look how much taller my cousin Matthew is than the rest of us?!
Matthew, Aunt Cindy, me, Shanae, Lori, Debbi, Kaitlynn, Crystal

Mom...aka Coat Rack

RAINBOW BRIGHTS:
Shanae, Me, Celeste, Rachel, Jen, Debbi, Lori

STILL WHITE!

The Finish Line...Random Cave Man got BLASTED with color!

Hmmmm.....

The guys up top were the announcers/DJ's/photographers

Flo-Foto taking a picture of my Dad taking a picture of him :)

Not white anymore...
Me, Lori, Rachel, Jen, Shanae, Debbi

Now you know why Flo-Foto was taking pictures of my Dad
Everyone LOVED the snorkel and mask!
And YES, he wore this the whole time he was photographing!

Debbi Dancing

Because she didn't have ENOUGH color on her,
Lori wiggled her hiney in a spot of chalk on the ground.

At the finish line, all the participants threw chalk in the air every 10 minutes.
Look at that BEAUTIFUL purple!

Lori's favorite colors...purple and orange

Some of my FAVORITE girls!

Patting some of the chalk off one another while the piggy tails danced.

Our "Russian Flower Princess"
Friday night Debbi, Lori, Shanae and I had a sleep over at Mom and Dad's house.
We were up a little late sewing flowers on our bandanas and socks...
While we were sewing and carb loading on peanut butter M&M's, Red Vines, and Peanut Butter "Butts",
Shanae and Lori whipped out Russian accents...
The rest of the night, Debbi and I sat back and laughed...
and Laughed...
and LAUGED!
3 flowers (like the rest of our bandanas had) weren't good enough for this "Russian Flower Princess"
So, she sewed them all around her Bandana.
THEN along the course, she leaped in the air and tossed flower pedals in her path.
What a HOOT!!!

The paint went through several layers of clothing...
Making Lori look like she should be in the ER

Need I say more?

OH MY GOODNESS!!!
I haven't had so much fun in a REALLY LONG time!
Who WOULDN'T want to stroll, skip, glide, twirl and do kick lines with some of the most FUN girls?!
Not to mention High Knees and "Hineys"...
All the while being BLASTED with powdered chalk and sprayed with paint!

There were even times where I SWEAR I heard the "Rocky" theme song...
As Lori ran up flights of stairs with hands raised above her head.
We sang songs together and Laughed together from START to FINISH.
THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN!!!

But WAIT, there's MORE!
This was just ONE of the highlights of my weekend...
Imagine this...
I flew into SL Thursday night...
Stayed up until 12:30 chatting and laughing with Debbi...
Woke up @6:30 Friday morning...
Got ready...
Went to Shanae and Jakes new house @10...
Where we met Lori, Ashton, Denice and Mom...
From there, Debbi, Denice, Lori, Ashton, Mom and I went to lunch @ Jason's Deli
Then across the street to the mall...
Where we shopped,
Shopped,
Shopped,
and Shopped...
Lori, Ashton and Denice had to leave due to other responsibilities.
But Debbi, Mom and I kept going until 6...
Then we met Dad, Brent, Jake, Shanae, Lori and Benj for dinner @ SmashBurger

Smiths was our next stop
Where we picked up essential pre-race food...
Like Peanut Butter M&M's, Red Vines, Reeses Peanut Butter "Butts" and Dunford Donuts.
Another late night of giggles, giggles and MORE giggles.

Another early morning where MORE adventures were waiting to greet us...
Like
Color Me RAD!

From there, Lori and I went straight to Ashton's soccer game...
Colored and ALL

Several hours later, we finally attempted to get cleaned up.
HA! HA!
The shower water ran blue!
I scrubbed.
And scrubbed.
And SCRUBBED!

As I examined myself in the mirror...
All pink from scrubbing,
I noticed the pores on my face were still blue...
And I had a blue ring around my hair where my pony tail holder had been soaked with color.
(5 days later, it's still there)

That night, Brett, Cassedy, Kaden, Brynlee, Denice, Dale, Kayla, Debbi, Brent, Dillan, Bailee, Mom and Dad
All came over to Lori's for pizza, chatting, and more laughing.

I spent the night at Lori's Saturday.
Sunday morning came too early!
It was fun to go to church with Lori's family.
And I didn't have to give ANYONE the stink eye...
Not even ONCE!

Dinner Sunday night was at Mom and Dads...
Denice, Nicole, Kayla, Debbi, Brent, Austin, Mary, Bailee, Brett, Braydon, Cassedy, Kaden, Brynlee, Lori, Benj, Emma, Josh, Maddy and Ashton rounded out the group.
More chalk was thrown
And then it was time for me to get back to my favorite boys and MY responsibilities.

It was SO nice to take a break from my crazy, busy life for a weekend.
I LOVED EVERY SECOND that I spent with my family!
I LOVED that they all put their lives on hold (as much as was possible) to hang with me!
I LOVED that Paul let me go and took care of EVERYTHING at home.
Including a very busy Sunday of getting the boys ready for church.
He still had to be to his Bishopric meetings and had Home Teaching appointments.
But he handled it all very well!

These are what I came home to:
Love letters/notes from each of my boys taped to the counter!

IF...

IF you're taking a road trip to California

and

IF your gas light comes on

and

IF shortly after your gas light comes on, you pass a gas station

TURN AROUND!!!

Because...

IF you don't,

The next 40 miles of ups and downs in the mountains of California

Praying that Heavenly Father will be merciful

(Even though you should have known better)

Coasting down each hill

Driving behind large semi-trucks where there would be less wind resistance

Hoping that would make enough of a difference to get you to the next Gas station

Desperately looking for that little blue road sign indicating GAS at the next exit...
WILL result in stress, white knuckles

AND inevitably running out of gas.

Heavenly Father may not have answered the prayer you were praying,

Because

HE MUST work within the laws HE predicated.

BUT...

HE can still grant miracles.

HE can summon Angels

To push you UP hill even though your foot is NOT on the gas pedal

HE can help your car get safely OFF the freeway

(despite loss of power steering...you know...one of those things that requires gas...)

Where a group of kind men working Road Construction

Freely share of the extra Gas they had...

Not even accepting the cash your husband offered them

And that little bit of extra gas

Helped you drive your family 2 more miles

To the next Gas Station

Where you thanked Heavenly Father for granting you this miracle.

Sleepy Drake

I woke up with this little monkey sleeping at the top of the stairs...

Masterpiece

I am not a Masterpiece.

I am a work in progress.

I have flaws.

A LOT of them.

I am painfully aware of

-

each

-

and

-

every

-

one.

-

My eraser is well-worn.

-

I am my worst critic.

I don't need anyone to point out my imperfections.

I know them all too well.

-

Please be kind.

Your criticism cuts more than you realize.

Blood will never come from those wounds.

Those types of wounds bleeds salty tears.

Tears you will never see.

Those tears are only seen by those who love me wholly.

Unconditionally.

Despite all of my imperfections.

-

I know.

I need to do the same.

-

I will be more kind.

I need to remember that NONE of us are Masterpieces.

We are ALL works in progress.

The Skoli-Boleys in Oceanside

We shared one of our favorite places with the Skolmoski's

Oceanside, CA!

After eating dinner together,

We walked out to Ruby's Diner on the Pier

For some yummy shakes.

Cooper and Ashton
These two are BEST BUDDIES and were SO excited to spend the weekend with each other!

Barik & Josh

Madi, Drake & Benj

Emma, Paul & Andrew

Awww...Love my Sister!

Ashton and Cooper...Arm in Arm.

The whole gang (minus the Mommas)
Emma, Barik, Cooper, Ashton, Josh, Madi,
Andrew, Drake, Paul, Benj

Cooper wasn't bothered AT ALL that it was 50 degrees, cloudy and rainy!

Notice how Ashton has on long pants AND a coat?! 
It was COLD out!

The best entertainment money can't buy!

They were NOT impressed with Lori getting so close!  They barked and barked their disapproval.

The kids were acting like the sea lions.

Cooper and Ashton.  Hand in hand.  Again.  I love it!

Despite the cold, rainy, windy weather,

The Skoli-Boley's had a great time!

We spent a lot more time in the hot tub than the beach.

Had lots of time to play card games inside.

Discovered that I have a bit of a sub-conscious cheating problem.

We laughed and laughed.

We ate and ate.

And on Sunday as we packed our cars and drove away, the sun came out.