Riley - On to High School

How beyond weird is it that Riley will be a sophomore in high school next year?!?!?!!! It feels like it was literally two years ago that we were delivering her to Kindergarten. I have a feeling that these next three years are going to go even faster. Riley is somewhat excited to be heading to high school....excited that she won't be in a school with uniforms anymore, but not excited about the change in venue of a new school. Although she already knows a lot of kids there, so it won't be as bad as she imagines!

I was able to get two shots of Riley on the last day of school. The first she was hanging with some of her friends looking through the yearbook, and the next......

Riley was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society! :) We hope she continues to work hard in HS and keep her GPA up. Most of all, we hope she has fun. You only get to do it once, and it's the best to spend it making good friends, having lots of good clean fun, and learning as much as you can before "real life" hits!

Apology to my "Google Reader" friends

Just wanted to throw out an apology to my Google Readers.....I switched my blog posts back to short feed for good now. I found out a while ago that it's just safer that way, as in, people have a harder time stealing your pictures.....now, I don't think people actually would want to steal any pictures of mine but there are weird people out there so I want the added protection for my family...so, from now on, you'll have to click over to get the whole story! See you on my blog! :)

Nicole: Class of 2020

This first lovely photo is what Nicole brought home after emptying her desk the last week of school....I'm not sure how she fit anything in there! Little bits of crayon, a dried up glue stick, markers without lids, all sorts of papers, a plethora of books, a broken pencil box, her Hannah Montana journal (wherein she proclaims her love of all things H.M.), winter gloves, and three socks(?!)...from off her feet at various times of the year.

I added to my list of things to work on with her this summer: Organizational Skills


Next we find Nicole with her teacher, Ms. Smith. Loved her. She is such a fun teacher that instills a lot of "hands on" learning and just a general excitement for education. She was also very helpful in pointing out a few "things" we needed to work on throughout the year, and was great to keep me updated on how Nicole was performing. Nicole is a very smart little girl, almost too smart for her own good, but needs to work on some social skills pertaining to working with others. Ms. Smith was very attentive with Nicole on these things and was just wonderful. She is moving into the Jr High this next year, and we are sad that Jared won't be able to have her as a teacher.

Nicole's class TA was Miss Gail. She was a no-nonsense kind of lady, which put me off a little bit at the very beginning, but she did it with enough love that the kids just loved her. Nicole especially enjoyed watching TV at Conference time trying to spot Miss Gail, as she sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!


These are Nicole's little practice poses and shots for me against the black sheet. I thought hers turned out pretty cute. Welcome to second grade, my little lady!

Jared Finishes Kindergarten

Jared got better from his bout with pneumonia just in time to go back for the last two weeks of school. Every (well, almost every!) week Jared's class spotlighted a student. Most of the kids did it during their birthday week, but since Jared was born in July, he will never celebrate a birthday during school. I tried to time his week during his 1/2 birthday, but someone had already claimed that week as well. So I just waited until the end of school to get it as close to his bday as I could. We got to make a collage poster about Jared, he filled out a questionnaire, got to bring home and fill the "show & tell" box, and then we brought a treat in one day...since it was so hot that week, we did Otter Pops during recess! :) He was excited to finally get the chance to be Star of the Week.


On Friday of that week, Jared's class performed an Operetta of "Peter Rabbit". Jared played "Cottontail". He had a few memorized lines, and a bunch of songs. It was very cute. Ron did a video of it, and if you are really interested, you can find it here. This was also the day that I found out from a couple of other kindergarten moms that Jared has quite the following of "girlfriends" that are apparently going to "marry" him! So many, in fact, that one of the girls is "giving him up, because the competition is too stiff". (Little girls words, quoted to me from her mother!) The funniest part is that Jared doesn't have a clue that these little girls like him, he just thinks they are his friends that he has fun with! Now to figure out how to keep him going with this idea well into his teen years!


Last Thursday, Jared has his Kindergarten graduation. It was so cute, of course! I got all teary. This year just seemed to fly by. The weirdest part was when the presenter finished giving out the certificates, she presented them as the "Class of 2021". On to First Grade! What will I do with him in school all day?!


And last but not least, last Friday I got a black sheet to use as a backdrop...I pulled it out of the package and decided to try it out.....it'll look better (I hope) now that I've washed the fold marks out of it. Jared was only interested in doing goofy faces, so I took what I could get!

Remembering and Honoring

I don't know if Memorial Day is like this in all states, but in Utah, especially around where I live, the cemeteries fill up with flowers and other paraphernalia at the graves of people's loved ones. I go back and forth on my feelings. Growing up, we never lived near close family member's final resting places, so we never placed flowers at graves. My parents also espoused the belief that it is unnecessary, and went on to tell me that I shouldn't do it for them when the time comes.

When my Dad passed away in 2005, and the first Memorial Day rolled around, I was a little conflicted. But it wasn't a hard decision to make and I went down, bought some potted flowers for my family (and for my mom who was out of town that weekend) and we visited the cemetery. The next year, I did the same, in fact, my mom asked me to get her some again as well since she was out of town again! Last year, I didn't do it.

Guilt.

This year, I knew I'd feel bad driving past the cemetery and seeing all the flowers, and I wouldn't be able to stand it thinking about Dad's empty headstone. I want people that are visiting the cemetery to know that my dad is loved, remembered, and missed. I got the generic offering of daisies this year, but I really think that next year, I'll take a tomato plant. It would just fit, since at this time of year, he was always busy planting his fabulous vegetable garden, which always included a plethora of tomato plants. :)

What I found....

My absolute favorite picture of Jared, ever. 1st birthday destruction of the cake. Just looking at this adorable chunk of a baby smeared with chocolate makes his mother want to eat him up! :)

Spring has Sprung, Race Results, Soccer Fun, and Green?!

Finally, Spring has sprung around this town. Although Mother Nature is still doing her bast to squelch it with wind, cold, rain, and occasional snow. It melts quickly though, when it happens. Here is our cute little Quaking Aspen putting out it's leaves. Am I the only one that finds new leaves almost as cute as new babies?! They are so fresh and clean, shiny, and are just a great color of green.


We got the results of the Fun Run the kids were in: Jared took 3rd place in the boys age 5-8 division! He couldn't have been prouder. The 2 kids that beat him were both 8 yr olds. I thought it was awesome that he stuck to his little race so well and was rewarded for it. Nicole took 11th place, and wondered why they didn't have a ribbon for her as well! ;) We are proud of both of them for doing their best.


Tis the season for soccer, and we finally had a little bit of decent weather for it. Jared had a great game with 3 goals. He loves playing soccer. I love getting fun shots with his "game face"! This weekend is supposed to be nice weather as well, and hopefully he will be able to go play. (He's trying to get over pneumonia right now!)



I'm not sure what is going on with all the lime green in this post, coincidence I suppose?!

Pick Up the PACE!

The kids competed in a 5K/1 mi Fun Run today for their school. We did the 1 miler due to time constraints...and the fact that I wasn't sure the kids would have fun running almost three miles! So Jared and Nicole ran....I wimped and rode my bike alongside. :) Which turned out to be a good choice since Jared blazed through the race and Nicole needed some encouragement. It also made it possible for me to see both of them finish as I could go between the two! Jared ended up finishing around 7th place, and we are pretty sure he was the first one for his age group. We have yet to see the "official" placements.

For your viewing pleasure....a little video my husband put together of the race highlights! (Oh, and if any of you are confused that you can't see this video on Google reader, it's because the hubster set up the security settings that way. Just click over to my blog and you'll be able to see it just fine!)

World's Best Aunt

Yesterday was my Aunt Carol's birthday (which is why I can always remember when I got engaged, because it was on her b-day). This year was a big one......80 years young. Wow!

Does this woman look 80? I don't think so either!


You could not find a better, or more generous woman than my Aunt Carol. She never married, therefore has no children of her own. So her nieces and nephews are her children. We all have enjoyed the best aunt ever! And her love has continued to spill over to the great nieces and nephews. Silky baby blankets for all the babies, and I was lucky enough to get a hand quilted white one for my girls blessing quilt, as well as Jared's "tiny blank"....his miniature version of the silky blanket to haul around. Not only that, but she likes to know what is going on with the kids, and asks them what they are doing in school, church, with friends, etc. My kids also love it when she reads them stories.

Aunt Carol values education. She has a bachelors, masters, and doctorate degree in education. She worked at BYU for years in Home and Family Education, including serving as the chair of the department. She has also taught overseas, in Japan and Turkey. Her nieces and nephews also benefit from her love of education, as she will buy their books (as long as their grades stay up!), and she also helped pay my tuition when I was in school, for which I am ever so grateful for. All the missionaries in the family benefit as well, as she buys them a suit before they go into the MTC. Aunt Carol is a world traveler. There aren't that many places she hasn't been.

To add to her generosity, she also has, or still does, serve on the boards for Utah Youth Village, and the Children's Justice Center. She sews and donates 10 teddy bears a month to the Justice Center to be given to the children they serve. Have I mentioned she just turned 80?!

I feel so blessed to have my Aunt Carol. I hope she had a great birthday, and that we get to help her celebrate many more happy and healthy years! :)

Will You Marry Me?

Ten years ago today, on the grounds of the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple, I heard these words. I was in shock! Especially with the diamond ring that was staring at blinding me. ;) Ron will claim that he waited 5 minutes for me to answer and had to ask me again, but he is very impatient...it was only about 20 seconds before he said, "Well...." But obviously, the answer was YES! Sheesh, I'd had so many surprises that day, gimme a chance to think!

Ron and I had been long-distance "dating" since mid-February. We met on-line *gasp*, with him in Houston and me in Utah. He had been to Utah twice, and I had been to Texas twice......with lots of email and long-distance phone calls in between!

Ron knew I was planning a visit to my sister in Arizona in April, so he secretly contacted her and planned a little surprise. So on April 23rd, 1999, my sister picked me up from the airport, we dropped my things off at her house and headed to Haji-Babba's (middle eastern food) for lunch. After we sat down, Beth's cell phone rang. She answered it, then handed it to me. It was Ron. He made a little small talk, then told me to turn around...to see him walking in! Needless to say, I was shocked.

Later that afternoon, he said he wanted to go see the Mesa Temple. You'd think I would've been smart enough to figure out something was up, but no. As we were sitting by the North side reflecting pool, he pulled the ring out and popped the question. I think he just wanted to make sure there was a really good reason for him to pick up and move back to Utah.

Even with all the surprises, I am sure glad that he planned it, and it makes it even better that I was proposed to where my parents were married. My brother-in-law Scott took the picture above of us the next day at the temple.

Hooray for us, ten years! I guess I better start planning something good for August and our wedding anniversary. :)