Hannah is Done with 1st grade!

It is hard to believe another year has come to an end. I surprised when Hannah showed up from school with a five dollar bill. I asked her where she got the money from, and she replied, "From school." I then looked at the certificate attached to the bill 100% attendance! What a fun reward for coming to school every day. It is so nice to have a child that really enjoys going to school.
One thing I really enjoy about school is the BUS! It is so nice not to have to load up all the other kids in the car to get Hannah to school every day.

Hannah really likes her bus driver Karen, and was sad that she was gone for a while during the year because she was sick. It was sure nice to have her back.

Not only is it wonderful to have the bus take kids to school, but how nice it is when they arrive home safe and sound.

The last day of school they always honk the horn!

I think of all the things in first grade Hannah enjoyed the most was READING! Hannah has spent hours and hours and hours reading. One kind of books she really enjoys sharing with the family are joke books

Summer has finally begun!

Going Fishing!

We decided that now that the weather is finally getting nice we should spend some time as a family out fishing. Paul got up before going to work and got all the fishing poles ready to go. My job was to bring dinner, chairs, and the kids for a fun evening together. Well, at around 4:00 pm it was a down pour out side. I called Paul and the fishing trip was off. With in an hour the sun was out again and things were looking pretty dry so we decided to go. We had spent about an hour of fishing with NO luck when all of a sudden Bonnie had to potty. When you are still potty training you take no chances, so me and the kids went off to the bathroom while Paul watched the lines. As we headed back the kids were complaining that they wanted to be done, and go play on the playground. I told them as soon as we catch one fish we can be done. Just then Paul called me on my phone. "You had better come quick you got a fish!" I ran up the little path grabbed my fishing pole from Paul and brought it my biggest fish. We typically catch and release, but this poor fish was dead. Probably form swimming around for about a minute with a hook in it's mouth. Well, I have wanted to take a fish home and gut it for the past two or three years of fishing, but I haven't ever caught anything big enough to take home. This fish wasn't huge, but big enough. So I decided that today was the day for me to gut a fish!
Bonnie enjoyed having her chair and fishing pole.

We switched the fish over to Hannah's pole, so that I could fish a little longer.

Connor just had fun playing around and getting into trouble.

So, for the rest of the story. I have NEVER gut a fish before. I called my Dad, and he said that when I got home he could walk me through it. Paul had to hurry off to a temple recommend interview. I called my Dad, but he didn't answer, so I was on my own. I got on the Internet and googled "how to gut a fish" the first bit of advice was to do it outside "You don't want your kitchen covered in scales." I was happy for that helpful hint. The rest seamed pretty easy. I reminded myself that the fish was all ready dead, and I have taken human anatomy twice this is no different than seeing inside a frog, or pig, or humane. I can do this! Once I was in the right frame of mind it was no big deal. The kids thought is was amazing to see the fishes guts. I thought I did good until talking with my Mom and Paul after I was done. I attempted to dig out some of the bones, I guess you usually leave them in until after you cook the fish, and I removed the fins, who would want to eat those? I guess you don't eat them, but you again just leave them on. The fish was bit cut up, but I believe it is still eatable. The only problem is that I have NO idea how to cook it. My Mom told me to stick it in a zip lock bag and put it in the freezer to save for my Dad. I am excited to give my Dad a little treat. But for now I have a some what cut up fish in my freezer. One thing is for sure it was an adventures evening!

Things I HATE, but trying to improve on!

OK, so being raised an LDS girl, and being an individual that enjoys being independent and having the ability to do new things many people are surprised that I absolutely HATE to garden. I tried a little pot with a bean plant. It was kind of neat because it was a plant that Hannah brought home the seed in a cup from primary. We watched it grow and moved it into a pot, and it even produced beans. I love fresh beans, so I was very pleased with what we had accomplished. We had faith and the beans grew. Then the bugs got them and the leaves were covered in holes and I was no longer comfortable eating the plant knowing that bugs were crawling on them. Then I got a strawberry plant from some friends I worked on the plant for a couple of years waiting for it to produce mouth watering bright red strawberries, but before the plant ever came the leaves dried up and withered away. If you are thinking, "well, you have to water the plant!" Yes, I all ready know this part of gardening and I did water the plant, but I guess not enough. To say the very least I HATE the idea of wasting my time simply to feed the bugs!

So, on to the next thing I HATE, COOKING! I have a very hard time spending hours of my precious time making food that is gone in the 15 min. that the frozen food is gone in, and to be honest my children complain less when we are having frozen chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs than when we are eating some kind of home cooked lasagna, or stew, or I don't know!

Well, I am not having a garden this summer, but I did purchase a my wards cook book from the Young Women. I bought I cook book from a good friend of mine in Idaho over a year ago and I have not made one thing from it. So, I made goal for myself. I am cooking one thing from either of these cook books a week. My kids have complained, but they have been pretty good to at least try it, and then after Connor make his this is disgusting face he then eats peanut butter and jelly.

I've only been doing this for the last two weeks, but the creamy Crock pot chicken on pg 47 was easy and yummy. I made the chicken rolls on pg56 and tonight we will be having Easy Enchilada Casserole on pg 53. I am all over any kind of dinner that starts of with EASY! I still don't like to cook, mostly I hate all the time that it takes to prepare and clean up, but it is fun to have a bit more of a variety in our every day meals!

Another Date Together!

Paul is such a good sport. The things we do simply because you know it will make your spouse happy! Paul pulled out his old letter men's jacket and rolled up his pants to go to a sock hop with me.I had a good time the past couple weeks sewing me a cute puddle skirt. I was so excited when my sister invited me to their wards sock hop dance. Not only would I have a great date night, but it gave me a fun project to work on too.
My sister has a fabulous group of friends. We had the privilege to go with them to Five Guys restaurant. It was good fun! Thanks to my brother in law Alex for a little bit of encouraging us to try somewhere new.

We are all really lucky to have guys that are willing to dress up for a dance and go out in public. Paul found it a little funny how all the girls had spent hours on their outfits, and then you had the guys who got up that morning had pulled some costume together.

The decorations at the dance were great. They had done everything up like a dinner, and the refreshments were FABULOUS brownies and ice cream. Anyone that knows me knows that brownies and ice cream is one of my very favorite desserts.
It was really nice to have my Dad home. My Mom loves to have a night out!

My Uncle Troy came with my Grandma Sally. It was lots of fun to watch them out on the dance floor. Memo to me, make sure Connor has dance lessons, so that I have someone to dance with as I get older.

It was so much fun to have a night out to play together and just be silly with each other.

Fathers and Sons Camping Trip

Dad and Connor got to be Manly men and see if they could survive the night up in the woods where there was still patches of snow. Lucky for us girls they did, and had a good time doing it. Connor really enjoyed the time talking with his Dad and hanging out with his friends. While they were off doing boy stuff me and the girls stayed home to have a girls night. We made home made pizza and had lots of treats to eat while we watched "Princess" a modern fairy tale. We spent time painting our toenails and fingernails and made bracelets.

It was nice to have special time with our kids!

The Price of Children

My sister in law Allison had this on her blog, and I really enjoyed it!

The Price of Children

This is just too good not to pass on to all. Here is something absolutely positive for a change. I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice. The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down.. It translates into: * $8,896.66 a year, * $741.38 a month, * $171.08 a week. * A mere $24.24 a day! * Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice is; don't have children if you want to be 'rich.' Actually, it is just the opposite..

What do you get for your $160,140.00?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs,
* never stop believing in Santa Claus. You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and
* wish on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
* coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:
* First step,
* First word, * First bra,
* First date, * First time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

One HOT MAMA!

My special Mother's day weekend began with us going to JCW restaurant before attending the Stake Dance. We were excited to have the Nelson's join for dinner, and the Buttlers stopped in to join us for the dance, Look at us with our cute little bodies!

We had so much fun dancing with our friends, and the fondu' was really really GOOD!

I love Mother's Day! Hannah made me this cute little card at school. It said, "My love for you,

Grows and Grows and Grows."

The kids helped Dad get everything ready for me. They were all very excited to give me my presents.

Paul was really good to me. He got gifts around a theme, "Things to cool you off" I got a kids swimming pool, to get me outside. Some suntan oil, I love to suntan. A fan, and a couple of flavors to make snow cones.

Paul made me a very delicious breakfast, and I loved the roses.

Hannah enjoyed helping me make Grandma Lois' Mother Day gift.

I had this fun idea to make chocolate covered strawberry bouquet. It is always a little interesting when you are making something for the first time, and you kind of just make it up as you go. Well, it turned out really cute. And, now that I have done it the second time would be even better. Yes, I did get something for my Mom too. My sister Anngela found some lifetime tables for a really good price, so four of my siblings went into together to get her two. She was really excited to receive them. It is fun to be able to nice things to show our Mother's just how much they mean to us.

Break Through with Potty Training!

This is a day that I have been looking forward to for very long. I have been trying to potty train Bonnie for months. My sweet little three year old has been able to pee in the potty, but as she puts it her poop says "NO". I have been telling her for the last couple of days that she needs to tell her poop to say "yes". Bonnie has also explained to me that she only does one thing in the potty that is "pee", NOT two things like Mom, and Dad, and Hannah, and Connor. I have also explained to her that she is a big girl and needs to do TWO things in the potty like everyone else.

Today Bonnie woke up and to her surprise she did not have any more clean underpants. Her older sister was very nice to share a pair with her. Through out the day I reminded Bonnie how mad and sad Hannah would be if she didn't keep her underwear clean. Bonnie had done such a great job running in and going to the potty, even at times all by her self. Around 5:30 I was busy sewing, and Paul was just getting home from work. I hear Paul announce "she pooped in the potty!" I ran into the bathroom and sure enough, she finally did it! She has had many things promised to her if she will just go poop in the potty. I am now off to buy The Little Mermaid Three movie, and a very special treat.

This is only day one, but I must say that I couldn't be more happy! I have looking for Mother's day, and the chance I will have to attend Relief Society. I have not been in Relief Society for about four months now, and I must say that I was really hoping to have the chance to share my good news minute that I was finally done with diapers! Now that I got the exciting news out I don't have to take away from the one minute. But, I must say that Bonnie sure did give me a great Mother's day gift this year. Now all she has to do is keep it up!

Paul is DONE with school!!!

Paul graduated from the University of Phoenix with his MBA. Nothing like this is accomplished without some kind of storey behind it. So, Paul's story seen through his wife's eye.

Paul works for a great company that cover education. Paul talked about going back to school to get his MBA, but not really knowing if all the work would be worth it he wasn't in a hurry to get started. Well, I had the opportunity to be called to the position of Relief Society President leaving Paul home many evenings with the kids while I attended meetings or did visits. He struggled having little to do, so I encouraged him to go to school. This would give him something to do while I was busy with my stuff.

Paul got everything worked out and began his studies. Things worked out really well. Paul had many occasions that he had to travel for work, and having homework gave him something to do during the evenings while he was away. Paul took the summer off, so that he could spend more time with the family, and then it was back to work and school. His schedule was a bit crazy he would wake up around 5:30 am to begin school work and then be off to work around 7:00 he would return home between 5:30 and 6:00. We sat together as a family for dinner. Once we were done eating some nights I would be off to meetings leaving him to clean up from dinner and put the kids to bed while trying to get more homework done.

I was blessed to be released from my calling just as life for Paul was really starting to get crazy. Paul took a few classes that overlapped. This allowed him to finish with school sooner, but made family life a bit more interesting. It was nice to have dinner time together simply because that was just about all the time we had. I count my blessing that years ago Paul committed him self to not do any homework on Sunday. This gave us one day together. We were also very blessed to be called to nursery together. This allowed us to have two extra hours in the day to spend together. At times I really questioned if there was something wrong in our relationship. It gets very frustrating when you begin to feel like you have very little in common with your spouse. When he was home he was sitting on the couch in front of the computer, and I would stay busy with the kids and finding something to do until I was ready to go to bed. The last three months were very challenging, but we kept telling each other when he was done it would all be worth it!

Well, the day did finally come. We had a wonderful opportunity to go to drive to Las Vegas for spring break, and I must say how nice it was to spend time talking with my husband! It was nice to just have time for our family.

Then came graduation day. I encouraged Paul to graduate. This was something he worked hard for. The one thing that did not cross my mind as I was encouraging him was me. I had all ready spent many hours with the kids without him, and now I was going to have to spend another two hours trying to get my kids to behave while he sat down all by himself and listened to speakers tell how what a fabulous job him and all the other graduates did. The imagine in my mind was much worse than the actual day.

It was a rainy Saturday. I got up got ready, took some pictures of Paul and then worked on getting the kids dressed and ready. We ended up being late, so the traffic by the E-center was really bad by the time we arrived. I decided it would be easiest if we parked at the Training Table restaurant and walked the rest of the way, we had planned to eat lunch there after the graduation ceremony. It was only a light rain, and we all had jackets so we would be just fine. I allowed the kids to each pick on stuff animal so that they would have something to keep them busy. The kids proudly showed me how they stuffed the small animals in their jackets to keep them from getting all wet.

My kids were such troopers they walked and were happy to hold hands as we crossed the busy street. We entered the E-center and Connor ask "Mom where is Tigi?" Tigi is Connor's webkinz that he got for Christmas and is as close to a pet as he will probably ever have. I had NO idea where Tigi was, but it was obvious by Connor's flat jacket that Tigi was no longer safe and dry. I priced out the graduation bears that they had for sale in hopes to not have to go back out in the now poring down rain. The bears cost $20.00 a big price to replace a loved pet that only cost $3.00. I took the kids up to my Mother in law and then rain back out in the rain. I found Tigi lying on the sidewalk just over half way back to the restaurant. I was drenched . My nice straightened hair was now frizzy and my pour bangs were flipping out. My jacket and pants were soak, but I had rescued my little boys Tigi and I felt good to see Connor's face of relief. Paul's parents were so great to help keep the kids behaved, and it was so nice to be able to all be there and see our Husband, Dad, and Son finish up his education.

Now that all is said and done it is easy to look back and say, "Yes, it was all WORTH it!"