PRESCHOOL GRADUATION

And we've reached another milestone. All three kids are officially elementary students. Brian graduated from his preschool on Tuesday. They had a great little program set up for the parents to ooooo and ahhhhh over our kiddos.

Brian attended a preschool sponsored by a Christian church. I felt like he learned some great basic principles from the bible, he learned to write all his letters better, social skills, and some manners. And as hard as it is to accept all my kids growing up and being in school FULL TIME next year, I'm actually quite excited for Brian to dive in. He is so so soooo ready.

My handsome graduate!!

 They had a cute table set up with a cupcake, and cup or goodies for all the graduates...I felt a little bad for all the siblings that came to support because there were no cupcakes for them. But it was a great gesture.

 They really took time to make a cute setup for the graduation. Funny thing though....

 The church that Brian attends preschool at is currently studying Samson. Therefore, their main sanctuary has two floor-to-ceiling posters of one of the main stories about Samson...the fact that he took a jawbone of an "ass" and fought with it. Kind of awkward for 5 year olds but in the preschool director's defense, she did a great job covering up a center stage picture of Samson. Anyway...I thought it was good for a funny memory.

 My boy, all grown up and cute - no, handsome.

 Pretty much his whole class. I think I got them all in this shot.

 During the awards ceremony, Brian was awarded the "Sweetest" award. All the parents sighed. I thought it was cute too. But when he's in high school....that won't be cute. haha And that is his teacher, Ms. Brianna handing him his award.

 Congratulations Brian!!! So proud of how much you are learning and growing.

 Here's the kiddo's shaking it with their favorite song...Boom Chaka Laka. I've got video of it, but so far I'm not smart enough to get the video off my camera(it doesn't download with the pictures...I don't get it).

 Samuel...one of Brian's BFF's.

 Ms. Julie was Brian's teacher at the beginning of the year. She accepted another job midway through the year, that's when Ms. Brianna came.

EXPERIMENT...GONE WRONG!!

I pinned a recipe for dried strawberries on Pinterest. I was so excited to be able to dry them myself IN MY OWN OVEN that I ran out and bought some strawberries ASAP.

And took pictures to document my excitement.

Look how beautiful they look....

 The recipe called for strawberries cut in quarters, salt and pepper....

 And dried in the oven at 210 degrees for three hours....

I waited the three hours. I checked in often. And then I forgot and took one of the kids to the pediatrician. But never fear, I came home and the timer still had about 30 minutes. So I waited. And when the timer went off this is what I had....

 A disgusting mess of slimy strawberries, crusted on one side, and soggy on the other.

So moral of the story...I'M REALLY NOT THAT GOOD IN THE KITCHEN. 'nough said.

MOTHER'S DAY 2012

I love being a mother, I DON'T love Mother's Day. However, the day went rather smooth, no major emotional breakdowns on my part, no fighting amongst the kids, great meetings at church, dinner was yummy. I would say Mother's Day 2012 was pretty darn good.

Mostly, we celebrated a few days early because Brent was going to be gone on the actual M-Day. Which was fine with me. A few presents - our M and F Day staples...cologne(BCBGMAX and True Religion, Hippie Chic. And they both smell YUMMY! We went out to dinner to Cheesecake Factory and then took the kids to The Avengers. Great movie, by the way.

I love the homemade gifts. Madelyn gave me a written letter with some "chore" flowers inside that I can choose to have her do. Brian made me bling'd flip flops and a coupon for a foot rub. Marcus Made the cute flower with the most precious poem attached and the ceramic butterfly(maybe it's clay). 

 The kids LOOOOVE giving gifts...they were excited to wrap the perfumes that Brent purchased and decide who gives me what. The BCBGMax came with a large tote which Madelyn was in HEAVEN to give me.

Sunday-actual Mother's Day, we relaxed. The kids let me sleep in, brought me breakfast in bed, were super duper good at church, and then we came home and enjoyed the night. Got some yummy dinner, played around a bit and ended the night with a "concert".

The Kids' concerts crack me up. They each choose a song and dance to it...sometimes they sing too but mostly they concentrate on their "moves".

 And, of couse, they ended the concert with a karate fight. I've never HEARD so many fake punches in my life. :)

You know, I've done a lot of things wrong, half right, or even great in my life. But the greatest thing I've done is become a mother to these wonderful kids. They fill my life with so many emotions, the greatest one being JOY. I love being a mom...I love being THEIR MOM!

And on that note....I am truly blessed to have the mother that I have. She is wonderful, so talented, wise, gifted, caring, and truly humble. She would bend over backwards for her own kids AND her grandkids. I love watching her play with the grandkids. She has such a special bond with each and every one of them. She has been my best friend through all things good and all things tough. She is a true example of a Daughter of God, a testament of how Christ would have us live our lives. Is she perfect??? No....but she is as perfect as one can be and remain on the earth. LOVE YOU MOM!!!

MEMORY LANE

I'm heading down college memory lane today for some reason. Not sure why. Boy did I have some good times in College. I attended Utah State University and have nothing but fond fond memories!! I started my freshman year living on campus making some great friends. And then the next two years we lived off campus at OLD FARM Apartments. That's when the fun got super super super fun!

First of all....my university experience would have been cut in half had I not had the awesome experience dancing with the Aggiettes. My first year 14 of us were on the team. The next two years we cut it to 12. To this day I am amazed at that opportunity that I had. There were some ridiculously awesome dancers on the team. But out of hundreds that tried out each year, I made the cut and I will forever be thankful. The team helped pay for my college experience, it taught me discipline, teamwork, and lots of life-long lessons. My biggest regret of all through my college experience was leaving school a year early and not finishing my 4-year degree AND missing out on another year with these wonderful girls.

I sure met some great friends. I look back fondly at the relationships we built with the boys in X-4 and R-3(right). They were truly our brothers. They protected us, stood up for us, they were shoulders to cry on, and the best part-we were pranksters!!! The pic below is my 21st birthday. I literally was home in my p-jays on the couch when my friends came and said, "Just come over". Little did I know they had an apartment full of friends and some very (ah hem) fun entertainment planned. Thank you Greg Simpson for showing us your moves. lol. Just one of the great memories.

 Now...here is an example of the pranks we played on each other. Yes....our "brothers" built a snowman right at our door. We always had fun. We paper shredded an apartment together, snow ball fights in each other apartments, etc etc etc....never a dull moment with X-4 and W-4.

 Hullo!!! I came home from class to find my little Chevy Sprint in between the apartments. Ryan and Darrin had LITERALLY picked it up and moved it. Hilarious, if you ask me!

 Ahh man I loved my roommates! All of them! I honestly don't remember a lot of fighting. Freshman year we had "run-in's" with one of our roommates but never lots of fighting. We just got along so well. I think thats what made the university experience so great!

 USU's Halloween dance. Julianne and I dressed up like Raggedy Ann and Andy, Tori dressed as an army dude, and Meghan was an indian. So much fun that night!!!!

 This is one of my fondest memories!!! I got nervous EVERY performance!! Every single performance, whether it was football or basketball, but I always had my cheering section. These friends, they just were always there for me! ALWAYS! I'm smiling.

I want so much for my kids to go have the college experience. To meet great friends, explore, have fun, enjoy their time. I got really good grades, I kept very high standards and tried to be a good example. AND I still had so much fun! So much fun, that to this day I can sit back and reminisce in my mind for HOURS. It truly is one of the greatest experience for a young adult to go to college. I learned so much about myself, I learned independence AND dependance. I learned to rely on my own spiritual strength - sometimes it was easy and sometimes I struggled. But I worked it out, I worked it out because I WANTED TO.

AHHHH....happy happy joy joy :)