Thursday, April 30, 2009

Thankful Thursday

Since it is Teacher Appreciation Week at the kids school this week it's only natural I'm thinking about how great the kids' teachers have been this year. The year started out a little rough for Hailey as her teacher changed 1 day before school started from the teacher she was originally assigned. About 3 weeks into the school year I realized her class was not an ideal situation and if she was going to learn anything this year we needed to change teachers. I'm not the kind of parent who requests teachers for their kids or makes these kinds of changes...we usually leave it to the schools discretion and we've always had very good experiences. In fact, most of the time the kids don't get the teacher they were hoping for but end up feeling so lucky they got the one they did. This, however, was not the case and I was very concerned that Hailey wouldn't get what she needed to out of her 4th grade year. So the principal finally agreed to change her and we have loved the teacher she was transferred into. She was so great about helping Hailey through the change and making her feel very comfortable in the new classroom. The transition was very difficult for Hailey but because of the sensitivity of this teacher she transitioned very quickly and felt comfortable much quicker than she otherwise would have.

I admire teachers so much and think they have one of the most difficult and "patience required" jobs on the planet. I am thankful that my kids have been so blessed to have such good teachers throughout their elementary school experience so far!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Annual Girls Trip

Each year around this time my friends and I go on our annual "golf" trip. This year we lost sight a little bit of the "golf" part and spent 2 days in Vegas to shop and go to shows before spending a day in St. George golfing. We usually spend a couple days golfing in St. George and do a day trip into Vegas to shop. We had a great time but decided next year we need to return to the original plan and spend a little more time golfing. :-) One of the neat things that happened is that my brother was in Vegas at meetings at the same time we were there and they had an extra ticket to a show Friday night so I went with him and all his work buddies to that. I don't see him that much even though we both live in Utah so it was fun to get to hang out with him a little in Vegas.

The 3 of us at a show in Las Vegas called Tony & Tina's wedding. It was pretty unique in that the audience was actually part of the act. We attended the wedding then had a buffet dinner as part of the reception and the cast interacted with everyone and made it seem like you were part of the family. I got pulled up to dance with the father of the groom after he and the bride got in a fight while dancing and she stormed off. The funniest guy in the whole show was the wedding photographer who had the best one liners and about had me spitting lasagna out my nose I was laughing so hard. :)
Not sure why this picture dropped in sideways...but this is one of our many times eating on the trip. :)

This is Chris putting her golf clubs back on the cart after dumping them off the back. :) Even though we have all golfed for several years now we always seem to do something that typifies that average female golfer no matter how hard we try not to. :-) She evidentally got distracted when we were loading our clubs on our cart and forgot to actually strap them in. So as we were taking off toward the first hole we here this big bang behind us and we turn around to see her clubs laying splat on the pavement about 15 feet behind the cart. We always make a great first impression where ever we go. :-)


Cara and I posing for a picture as we're waiting for the guys ahead of us to tee off.



Chris and I hanging out between holes.

All in all it was a great trip with a lot of laughs. It's always so nice to get away for a few days, let loose, and appreciate what you have at home. I'm so blessed to have great friends and I'm so blessed to have such a great family to come home to. I missed my little kiddies a ton and I always feel so loved when I walk back in the door to those awaiting cute little faces!


Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Rest of Spring Break...And a nice surprise

Well we had our fun sleep over with cousins Friday night and the kiddos did not get much sleep. :) They built a fort with blankets over the ping pong table upstairs and put mattresses in there to sleep on. I guess it held in a lot of heat though. They put a couple fans in there with them to try to cool it off but it didn't really work and they couldn't sleep because they were so hot...Nick finally gave up and came down to his bed. But they had a blast so that's all that matters right?! :)

Saturday Nick had another scout powwow where he earned his Engineering merit badge and Space Exploration merit badge. One of the things he had to do was build a rocket and launch it twice to show that it worked in order to pass it off. Brian forgot to do this with him before he left town so I got the pleasure of building it with him. :) I was as proud as he was when his rocket launched straight up in the air and the flag deployed just as it was supposed to...twice. :)

Then Saturday night I got a surprise from my sweet husband and awesome friends. Since I'm turning the big 4-0 next week, Brian had arranged a surprise birthday dinner for me with some of our closest friends. They pulled it off perfectly as I didn't suspect a thing and when we walked into the restaurant I was totally shocked to see 5 couples sitting there with fun balloons and of course several things to mock how old I am. :-) I don't have pictures yet from the restaurant...I'm waiting for my friends to send them to me...but we had so much fun! While we were at the restauant, my kids and the neighbor kids were decorating our house and the party came back to our house afterwards for cake and ice cream.


This cake was one of the cutest cakes I have ever seen...other than the fact that there's 40 over and over and over again all over it. :-) I love the purses on it! :)



Sunday night we went over to my sister in law, Janet's house to celebrate the rest of the April birthdays in the family. Amazingly we have 5 birthdays in April. Grandma & Grandpa's, Janet's daughter Megan's, Janet's and mine. It's always fun to get together, eat the yummy strawberry shortcake that Janet made and chat. :)
All in all I would say our Spring Break was a ton of fun...other than the fact that Hailey came down with the flu today and will probably be staying home from school tomorrow (after being off a week).












Thursday, April 16, 2009

Thankful Thursday...Spring Break con't...

This week I am thankful for family. It has been such a great week and we've had the opportunity to spend time with our immediate and extended family. Last Saturday night we were with Brian's family celebrating his mom and dad's birthdays. We had a great time talking and laughing together and the only thing that would've made it better is if his sister that lives in Arizona and her family could've been there.

Then Brian took Monday and Tuesday off work so that's why we crammed so many things into those two days. I posted about Monday already but Tuesday we spent a lot of time up at Clark Planetarium. We went through all of the exhibits (and learned a lot I might add) and saw 2 shows. (I took pictures with my camera on my phone but I don't know how to download them so therefore, no pictures of that day.) One of the shows was a 3-D Under the Sea show and it was very cool. It was a little startling though because those sea creatures looked like they were right in your lap with those 3-D glasses on and when they would snap up an innocent fish swimming by it looked like they were coming after your head for dinner. Hailey informed me if I screamed she would pretend she didn't know me. :)

The 2nd show we saw was a laser light show set to the music of U2...it rocked. The kids loved the dome screen and we all loved the music. It was a lot of fun just to hang out as a family the majority of the day!

Wednesday was a little bit of a "back to reality" day. I had to work so the kids went to grandmas. They love spending time over there and getting showered with attention from grandma and grandpa. We met for lunch after I was done working and it is always so nice to be with my parents who love me and my children more than just about any other person on the planet loves us. They show it by the small and simple kindnesses that only someone who loves you does. We appreciate them and all they do for our family!


This morning we woke up to Mother Nature's cruel joke she plays on kids out of school for spring break...10 inches of snow. Enough already!!!

On the agenda for today was the new Hannah Montana movie...this is a picture we took of ourselves very excited to go see this movie. :)

My BFF Chris brought her cute little granddaughter Hannah to see the movie with us and we all enjoyed it.
What a great week it has been and we're going to top it off tomorrow night with a sleepover with my cute little nieces Savannah and Adi. I am so appreciative of family and the role they play in shaping our lives.







Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Spring Break

Well, in deciding what to do over Spring Break this year we chose between going away somewhere for a few days or staying around here and doing some things we either haven't done before or haven't done in a long time. We decided we'd stay around here and take advantage of things surrounding us.

It was neat that the start of spring break coincided with Easter this year so we started the week with a wonderful holiday filled with decorating eggs, church, candy, and a yummy Easter meal with my parents. I love the feeling of Easter and all that it represents.

The kids had a lot of fun decorating the eggs...you can't see them very well but we tried a new "marbling effect" on some of them and it was kind of cool.
I love Easter Sunday with all the cute kids in their new Easter clothes.

Nick was such a big help in the kitchen. He helped make just about every part of the meal including glazing the ham.


Even though it's only Tuesday right now and we still have 4 more days of Spring Break to go, we all agree that this is the highlight of the whole week. We all tried indoor skydiving and it was incredibly fun! We were all a little nervous to try it (pretty sad when I'm the bravest one of the bunch and had to go first because no one else wanted to), but once you get in there it is not scary at all and SO FUN!!! You go through a short training class before so they can tell you how to position yourself for the best airflow. The instructor is in the wind tunnel with you the whole time helping you stay in that position and making sure you don't bounce off the sides like a ping pong ball. You just fall forward into the tunnel and the air catches you. On your second turn the instructor takes you up about 30 feet high in the tunnel and you go up that high then back down to the floor 3 or 4 times...it was so cool!!! (Not to mention how attractive 160 mph winds make your face look.) :) It did kind of freak me out though to see my kids go up that high!

The kids with the wind tunnel behind them.



We topped the day off going to the Desert Star Playhouse for a little dinner theater. The musical was "American Fork Idol" and was hilarious. We all really enjoyed it.
The weather is not really cooperating for some of our plans this week...with rain and snow in the forecast today, I think our day on the golf course is cancelled so we'll have to figure out something else. I love spring break and hanging out with the kids!!!





Friday, April 10, 2009

Thankful Thursday







Today I am thankful for great school teachers! Nick was lucky enough this year to get the teacher who received the technology grant in our school district so they've been able to use computers to do their work every day and have lots of other fun technical gadgets in their classroom. They just finished a big project where they had to pick a person who has made a difference in the world and they could either be a figure from history or still living. Nick picked Lance Armstrong for his excellence in cycling and also his contribution to cancer research. They had to read a 100 page book on the person, write a 2-3 page typed report on them, then participate in the "wax museum" which is where they dress up as the person and plan a 1-2 sentence overview to share with anyone who pushes their button to "bring them to life". The whole school along with many parents paraded through the wax museum and Nick said he recited his lines close to 500 times. :)

But I appreciate his teacher and all the instruction and support she's given these kids throughout the year. She truly cares about their education and growth in all areas. She has been great in SEP conferences in helping the kids set goals that will really help them and checking in with them often on how they're doing. So, here's to great teachers who make a difference in kids' lives!!!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Thankful almost Thursday

It's Wednesday night again but I have to do this when I'm thinking about it. :) This week I'm feeling thankful for a few things. I'm thankful that my husband and I have jobs in this economy. It's scary to see everything going on and how many companies are doing major layoffs and I'm grateful my husband survived his companies reductions (knock on wood). :) I'm also grateful for fun people! There is little I like more than hanging out with fun people and laughing our heads off. Laughter is good for the soul and I am so thankful to be surrounded by people both within my own family and friends that are so fun and make me laugh. :)