It’s Summer!!!

On the first official day, I thought I’d share  my top ten reasons I’m glad it’s summer.

 

10…No more giant stacks of paper to sort through EVERY day!

One day’s worth of papers from my second grader. Can we please go green and stop this madness?

 

9…No more bedtime-routine fights.

  Let ‘em drop where they are.

 

8…No more morning-rush mess to clean up.

We were all out the door that morning and it stayed like this all day. Just keeping it real, people.

 

7…No more PTA meetings.

Had great company and lots of help, but I’m glad I’m done.

 

6…Being lazy.

I’m tired, man.

 

5…Going on hikes.

Yes, that’s Hailey carrying Casey. Maybe next time I should have her carry me (see #6.)

4…Eating s’mores.

Have you ever tried them with peanut butter cups? Just sayin’… 

 

4….Lemonade stands.

How could you resist this?

 

3…Going swimming.

Even better when dad comes along. 

 

2…Camping.

 Hey- Randy does the cooking and cleaning. ;)

 

1…Spending more time with the crew.

 Longer days and nothing to do. Does it get any better than this?

To This Guy:

Thanks for being my eternity.

A dad my kids can look up to.

A hard-working provider for the family.

And someone who makes me want to be a better person.

Thanks for being my hero.

Shark Boy and Mama’s Girl

Happy birthday to my two youngest kidlets….

Nathan turned 6 on May 15th. While he still likes pirates, his newest obsession is sharks. So you can imagine my surprise when he asked for a gun cake.

Being the awesome cake decorator I am, I frosted the cake and stuck a dollar store squirt gun on top.

Hey- he was happy with it, and that’s all that matters. ;)

Nathan composed his birthday wish list a month and a half before his birthday. Strangely, it was identical to the birthday gifts his brother received. We obliged, adding a few unique gifts to the stack.

He was thrilled with everything he got.

After playing with some of his new toys, we moved outside to do his piñata. Funny thing about that piñata….it had been sitting on a shelf in my room for the past year. I know, I really think ahead. Okay, okay, I bought it for his 5th birthday and, well, it didn’t happen. So I filled it extra well this year and we were all happy.

Emma’s birthday followed soon after. She turned four on May 25th. 4, I know! When did she get so old?

She has been my little PTA helper this year. Sitting through countless meetings and dragged to schools all over town, she was quite the trooper. We had fun, and she made some unlikely friends. One of which dropped off a little gift for her that day.

 A handmade soap cupcake from my treasurer, Cheryl.

She loved all her presents. Even the goofy cake I made her (see, mad skills, I’m telling you.)  

After cake and presents, we all had a great time playing with her Play-Doh.  What can I say? We are easily entertained around here….

Not Again

I felt bad for a whole year that I never blogged about Nathan or Emma’s birthdays last year. I was determined to not let it slip by again this year. But May is insanely busy (especially when you are the PTA President,) and it happened again. I have put off blogging anything else because I didn’t want to let it go once more. So without further ado, this is the beginning of my return to the blogging world. I make no promises, other than I love blogging (I have really hated being too busy to write) and I am motivated to record the memories.

Kids Grow up too Fast

The older my kids get, the faster time flies. Before I know it, another year has passed, and I am left to wonder how it happened.

Today, however, Tyler’s biological clock fast forwarded a hundred and fifty years.

The fourth grade performed a Utah history melodrama. Tyler was chosen to be the grandma based on his ability to speak like an old person. But in the end, the teacher told him his regular voice was ‘good enough.’ He was left to wonder if that means he sounds like a grandma.  I thought he did a great job memorizing his lines and he had many   people fooled by who was under the wig.

I Want S’More

Nice weather, that is.
I’m loving the windows open, hearing the birds chirp, going bare foot and roasting marshmallows.

Forget the Crystal

Randy and I celebrated our 15th anniversary on April 8th. We have plans to go somewhere in June to celebrate (Randy has taken the reigns on this and I will be surprised where we go and what we’ll do.) So for the actual day, we didn’t really have plans. Or so I thought. We had tossed around ideas of going to dinner or to see ‘Date Night’, but hadn’t decided anything for sure. At least that’s what Randy led me to believe. Wednesday night, we talked about his schedule for the next day and he seemed pretty busy. So when my book fair lady called me saying she needed my help, I agreed to be there.

Thursday started out pretty laid back. I was feeling bad I hadn’t done anything for Randy so I decided I’d clean the house (whoopee!) and maybe make him something chocolaty.  My friend suggested I leave Emma at her house while I set up the book fair, so I did. Little did I know she was in on it, too.

Not long after arriving at the school, my cell phone rang. It was Randy, asking me what I was doing. He wanted to take me out to lunch. I felt bad leaving the book fair (but not too bad- it’s not everyday Randy asks to take me to lunch,) so I promised I’d be back before long.

We he got home he asked me if I could pack a bag. Suddenly, my laid back day turned busy- book fair, carpool, homework, dinner, bedtime, packing lunches, PTA meeting….who would do all that? Randy kept assuring me it was all taken care of. After a few phone calls, I was ready to go.

We had a nice quiet lunch together and hopped in the car to go to the temple. We passed ‘our’ temple and kept going. After driving for a while, we ended up at the Logan temple. It was nice to do some sealings and spend some quiet time together in the Celestial room.

After the temple, we stopped by the store to pick up some treats before heading to our final destination: Anniversary Inn. Randy had been planning this for a while. We stayed in the Lake Powell room, complete with a waterfall, fish, and my favorite: twinkling ‘stars’ in the ceiling. I’ll spare you details, but we had a nice time. ;)

Thanks Mindy and Julie, for holding the fort down while we were gone. And thanks Randy, for not getting me crystal.