Spring Recital 2017...

I guess I didn't get any picture at the Spring Recital since I've taken so many at the other competitions this year. But, it was amazing, as usual! We sat out in the hot, hot, sun and 85 degree weather for about 3 hours! It felt so good for summer to finally be here, I wasn't about to complain! Poppy came to support Alanna, and she was so excited for him to see her tricks. She did several aerials and back handsprings in her tumbling portion, and that's her most favorite. Here is a picture of the "Lost Boys" group in the production of Peter Pan this year. She's decided that she wants to do more competition numbers this next year, and I just can't wait!

Blaze's Kindergarten Graduation!

So bittersweet! Blaze is so ready to move on to 1st grade and be at school all day. He has learned so much this year, and got farther on his Rainbow boxes than anyone in his class. We have started reading a chapter book together, "Ramona and her Mother" by Beverly Clearly, (one of my childhood favorites). I read a page, and then Blaze reads a page. He has made so many friends in his class, and came home everyday telling me about what games they made up at recess, and who he worked with for the day. Oh, and he always wanted me to ask him what he had for his snack!

We have absolutely loved Ms. Rebecca this year, and we are both going to miss her so much! She loved Blaze and was so encouraging of his work. On the last day, she helped the kids present a program of songs and poems, one of which was "Chicken Soup and Rice". Every month the kids learned a verse about the corresponding weather and season and everything rhymed with "Chicken Soup and Rice". It was the cutest thing to see the kids recite the poem with hand motions...not Blaze so much since he was playing with his ultra long shoe laces on some shoes he hardly ever wears! After the graduation, the kids all got a bowl of Chicken Soup and Rice, and oddly, Blaze is already requesting that for his birthday dinner!

Paul's 11th Birthday!!!

Started out with copycat Penny Ann's Jelly Donut French Toast! It's stuffed with white chocolate and raspberry sauce!

Paul wanted to go to Thanksgiving Point (probably mostly to eat there). Alanna made herself a Lego Queen chair!

The kids had lots of fun rolling across the "red blood cells" in one section of the museum.

And we are horrible at selfies...this was the best one1

Paul's cake was a lemon raspberry trifle. I can't believe our B-Paul is 11! He is very anxious to move on the scouts after earning his Weblos and Arrow of Light awards. He is very social, especially through email and Linked-in. Much like his Uncle he was named after, he is the spice of our family. There's never a dull moment with this trickster around!

Mother's day 2017...

Blaze brought home his Mother's Day gift from school on Friday, and he could hardly wait to give it to me. He actually wanted me to open it earlier, but I convinced him to wait! He made a cute little candle that says "I LOVE YOU", and a card. The night before, all of the kids were huddled in Alanna's room drawing beautiful pictures with Jackson's pastels!

Alanna made the beautiful flower bouquet at school that had coupons and compliments!

These kids know me...they all drew sunsets and beaches because they are my favorite!

I made homemade Brioche bread and then turned it into delicious Martha Stewart French toast for breakfast! I also got some strawberry chocolate chip cookies, a nap, and a long walk! It was a great day, beside the cold May weather!

Citrus Heights Girl's Reunion 2017!

We had a red eye flight from Honolulu and landed in Salt Lake Friday morning. I slept a couple of hours at my parent's house before going back to the airport to pick up James and Co. Then I rushed home and packed and showered so I could be at Thanksgiving Point at 3pm to meet up with these lovely ladies, some of whom I haven't seen for 10 years! It didn't take long to get reacquainted as we walked through the beautiful tulip gardens and ate dinner at Aubergine. We went back to the Williamson's cabin in Sundance, and we stayed up until 3:30 am talking! At some point one of the girls said "this just feels like home!", and I totally knew what she was talking about! We have been friends for 30 years through Merrie Miss, Jr. High, High School, and BYU! There was so much to catch up on and reminisce about, no wonder we just sat around and talked for 18 hours at a time!

Another girl commented that it was so easy to share things and confide in one another in this group because there is no judgment felt, we know where we came from and have so much love and admiration for each other! It was so much fun that we plan to reunite again in 1.5 years! I found out things about high school relationships that I never knew, and was reminded about hilarious things that I never thought I'd forget but I had!

We did pull ourselves away from the cabin to eat breakfast (at 11am) at the Foundry Grill, where I think we overstayed our welcome while we sat at the table and talked long after our food was eaten. And then we tried to play a game of "Exploding Kittens", but we gave up after an hour because no one was really focused on playing because we were too involved in conversations. That night, we did manage to focus on getting out of an Escape Room with 10 minutes to spare, so that was quite an accomplishment for us to focus for that long, haha! On Sunday we never managed to get ready to go to church as planned, because we were talking, and we lingered until around 4:30. It was really hard to pull away, and later that week, we were texting about how we missed each other and how great the weekend was! I've been obsessed with reading and listening to Gretchen Rubin lately, and one of her "happiness hacks" is to rekindle old friendships, and I can attest that this has made me extremely happy and grateful to realize how blessed I've been to have these ladies in my life!