Matt's Graduation

It has been a VERY long road, but we are finally done!  Matt just graduated from ASU!  I am so incredibly proud of him!  He worked so hard and sacrificed so much.  It was not easy going to school in addition to having a family, working 50-60 hour weeks, etc etc.  Good job honey - so proud of you.

 Trying on the graduation cap the night before - Matt not so thrilled to take a picture. What a goofball.

 Both of our parents and my brother Nick were here the night before - so we had a pre-celebration.

 Matt's cheering section: Nick, Kaden, Matt's parents, Lexie, my parents, Bailey, Kolten, and I!

 So not a cute picture of me - I was so hot and tired. (it was a VERY early morning)

 Matt and his parents

Daddy and Koley

Ballet Recital

Bailey just finished another semester of ballet.  She continues to do well and LOVES ballet.  This recital was extra special because it was the night before Dad's graduation, so both sets of grandparents were able to come.  We sure love our cute ballerina!

 (A big thanks to Miss Rachel - who is a fabulous teacher)

Mother's Day

The kids and I were able to go to Thatcher for mother's day weekend (poor Matt was stuck working all weekend.  He gets major points for secretly sending a gift though.  He texted me Sunday morning and told me to look in the car.  He hid the gift in there before we left.  Very thoughtful).  It was a very fun, and relaxing weekend.  And the highlight was getting to see baby Delani - Logan and Shayla's newest.  She is just so yummy!

This picture makes me laugh.  I was trying to get all the girls to look at the camera.  So I said, "I'm going to count to three.  Look right here and maybe a little birdie will pop out."  So I counted to three and Neva frantically covered her ears.  I'm not sure what she thought was going to happen - but we all had a good laugh. 

All of the grand-daughters

And of course, no trip to Nana and Papa's house in complete without some card games!

Nine Months Old......

................and still as sweet as ever!  We sure love our little Koley!

(May 4th, 2011)

Half-Birthdays

We decided to start a new tradition of celebrating half birthdays.  Bailey's was April 28th and Kaden's was April 30th.  We had half-pizzas on half-plates, made half-party hats, and they each got a half-cake.  Bailey got 2 1/2 candles and Kaden got 3 1/2.  It was simple and fun!

(Notice the blurry picture? Lexie got ahold of the camera and that would be dirty little fingerprints all over the lens.  Thank you lex)

The Tongue

Yeah, yeah, yeah......I know I'm way behind.  But I recently published my first blog book and I LOVE it!  It has given me motivation to include more things on my blog.  So here we go:

Krazy Kolten and his tongue....silly boy.  I am fully aware this interests no one but me - just had to document it. :)

My Bailey Bai

I can't believe Bailey is going to be starting Kindergarten in a couple months!  I know summer just started, but I'm trying to soak it all up while I still have her home!  Bailey is SO helpful around the house and is my right-hand gal.  She just seems to be a little homemaker by nature.  I always tell her she is going to be an excellent mother!

Kaden and Bailey making lunch before church

 She loves to help with Kolten, no scratch that.  She wants to be completely in charge of him.  She gets upset when (heaven forbid) I step in and pick him up.  She is very helpful with him, and I am REALLY going to miss all the help next year.

 She and Lex are very typical sisters - they have some knock-down, drag-out fights!  And the next minute they are the best of friends.  I know Lexie is going to be lost without her home all day.

I will be sad to see her go, but am so excited for her to be in school.  She has been 5 since October and is so beyond ready for school.  She loves to learn and I know she will love it.  I'm excited for her!

Kolten's First Haircut

 He did awesome!  Just sat there and grinned :)  

My handsome little man.

Soccer

This soccer season has been.......eh, ok.  Kaden has done really well and it has been fun, but I'm glad it's almost over.

Our cheering section....might need to improve on that one.

Easter

 Matt's parents, his sister, and her kids were able to come up for Easter weekend.  Our kids loved getting to do an egg hunt and coloring eggs with their cousins.

Easter Sunday

 The girls loved taking pictures.....the boys?  Not so much.

This is as good as we got

 I seriously LOVE this kid!

It was a great Easter - and we were grateful to spend time with family.

Let Me Hold You Longer

My mom gave me this book a few years ago and I can't even tell you how much I love it.  Even though it's a kids book - I have never read it to my kids.  I keep it in my room and read it every once in awhile.  And there are a few tears every time. It puts things into perspective for me and reminds me how fast these days will be gone.

I got thinking about this book because Mother's Day is this weekend.  In addition to my mom and mother-in-law, I want to honor ALL of my friends out there who are such great moms!  I feel very blessed to have your examples, support, and just knowing I'm not the only one going through all this.  Being a mom is hard. REALLY HARD!  But this book reminds me of all the wonderful moments I need to cherish.  I wish I could buy a copy for every single person I know that is a mom.

Here's as close as I can get:  This video is by the author.  She gives a little intro and then reads the story while it shows the pictures.  Happy Mother's Day to all you moms.