Best Birthday Gift!

For all who know me, know that I LOVE my birthday.

I love everything about MY DAY!

The Gifts.

The Surprises.

The Attention.

BUT this year is a bit different.

With Dad still trying to recovery after his heart attach, All I want for my birthday this year is to hear him wish me a Happy Birthday.

When I walked into the room, my dad recognized me and the words out of his mouth was the Best Birthday Gift I could ever have asked for...

Hearing him say, "Happy Birthday Honey."

That was a happy moment!

Who would have thought that spending the evening at HealthSouth would be a great way to celebrate my 32nd birthday.

Seeing my dad improve slowly is a great gift.

This birthday was an eye opener.

It made me realize...

*That presents are nice to open BUT tiny moments are a even better gifts.

*Having the attention on me isn't the only important thing BUT I enjoyed taking care of others.

*It is fun to celebrate life on YOUR day BUT why not Celebrate life everyday; you don't know how much time you have.

Whoever said "you can't teach old dogs new tricks" never had a life changing birthday.

Here's to being 32 years old and learning some great life lessons.

I SPY...

...with my little eye...

...that Autumn is in the air.

Dan and I took a drive up the canyon to Park City today while the kiddos were still in school, and the mountains were beautiful.

Vibrant color of reds, yellows, greens, and oranges, filled the mountain side.

(BTW Paps, Something you don't see in Oregon's Mountains.) ;)

The air was crisp.

The sky was blue.

I was there with the one I love.

(no, I am not talking about the outlet malls, but that is a close second.)No wonder Fall is my favorite time of the year.

an early morning date...

A 9:15 am date to be exact, but totally worth my early wake up call.

Today was the 5th grade doughnut date at the kid's school...and I had two little helpers who wanted to have Mackenzie read to them for her doughnut date.

With doughnuts, a book, and some sibling love...that was a fun way to start our day...even if I had to be ready super early.

(As you can tell, I am not an early raiser. I like, enjoy, and need my sleep.)

(I was able to sneak in a afternoon nap when C&C when to school.)

Girls night out

Happy Birthday Andrea and Eliza.

(Christina, Andrea, Eliza, Me, Jessica, Mindy, Jamielyn)

Thank You girls for being born so that WE could go out and celebrate with a girl's night out.

Nothing says a Girl's Night than shopping at the Gateway, dinner, and more importantly...FRIENDS!

12 years baby!

How do you celebrate 12 years of marriage bliss?

Well, Dan started the day with an early morning golf tournament...

and the rest of the day kinda was a bust.

Don't worry, I didn't let Dan live it down. ;)

So, when Dan finally got home, we went to dinner and Dan surprised me with tickets to the off Broadway hit Mary Poppins.

So, I guess what I am getting at is that, it can be 1 or 50 years, (or 12 years in our case)
life still happens and days will come and go, people are busy and things come up (even if it happens to be on your 12 year anniversary) ;)
the important thing is that you make your wife happy at least by the end of the day...and she will eventually forgive you.
All joking aside... I am truly lucky to be married to my best friend.
Here's to 12 years for awesomeness and bring on a lifetime of many more "making up" moments.
I {heart} you Dan!
FH2E

Allow me to introduce...

KAMRIE LYNN

Born July 29th 2011

Weighing in at 8 lbs. 5 oz.

and 20.5 inches long.

The proud mama and dad.

The proud Cousin #1


Proud cousin #2

Proud cousin #3 AND #4

AND I can't forget...

The Proud AUNTIE!!!

Welcome to the world little one!
We are excited to add you to our crazy, loud, wried, not perfect family...

BUT most importantly, we do love each other and would be there for each other for anything.

Kamrie, you are so little and haven't been here long, but our hearts are full of love for you already.

For Sale.

It must be pretty important for me to be up and out of bed at 6:30 AM on a Saturday morning...

We were up at the crack of dawn for this silly idea of a yard sale.
I now remember why I haven't done one in years and why I dislike them so much...

* the early mornings

* the de-junking

* the pricing of everything

* the anxiety of bartering

* the JUNK... I mean "Treasures"

It is just a lot of work for a couple of dollars.
The kids even set up a sucker/otterpop/drink stand and sold to people that would stop by the yard sale...They made $45.00 to take to California later this Summer.

They were pretty proud of themselves.

Over $600.00 later...

YES, YOU HEARD ME!!!

$600.00 is what I said.

I am serious.

I think that it was worth all of the hard work, de-junking, pricing, getting up early, sitting in the heat, bartering with people, (which I hate so much!) and one last trip to DI; it was a good yard sale, BUT I am NOT doing it again anytime soon.

PROMISE.

Cheers!

Raise your glass and shout...

School is OUT for the Summer!

So, to celebrate, the kids wanted Chick-fil-a.

Welcome Summer.

NO more Early Mornings.

NO more HOMEWORK.

No more SCHOOL.

Bring on the POOL.

Bring on the SMILES.

Bring on the FUN!

Class of 2011

Allow me to introduce my two favorite graduates of the Class of 2011...

Carson Twelves
and

Cassidee Mae

Hard to believe that these two are graduating from Preschool.
Where did the past 5 years go??!!?
They have grown up so fast and within this year of preschool, these two have learned so much.
When Mrs. Hunsaker was talking about each kid, when she came to Carson, Mrs. Hunsaker said that Carson was a smart kid. That Carson loves numbers and that he knows them very well. She even predicted that Carson will be an accountant. (like his daddy)
Now, when she got to Cassie, she shared that Cassie is very social and loved being with her friends. Also, that she likes to help out and take charge. Mrs. Hunsaker said that she wouldn't be surprised if one day, Cassie would be student body president.
These two loved Mrs. Hunsaker and LOVED everything preschool had to offer them.


Dan and I are so very proud of our two graduating students.

Congrats to the graduating class of The Young Patriots class of 2011.

Playing Hookie.

Can you blame the kids (and Pappy) for wanting to get out of school a bit early...

...to go play at the park...

...Since the Sun is FINALLY out and it is a beautiful Spring day.

So, I will let it go this one time, and let you kids play hookie from school for this afternoon.

With Smiles as big and bright as the Sunshine, I can tell that fun was had by all of them (including Pappy.)

Be TRUE to your SCHOOL.

You can tell that the school year is almost over; this past week, we have been to the girl's school to watch this and support that...

First on Thursday night, we got to go and watch Delanie and the entire 2nd grader classes show off to their family and friends, what the kids have learned this past year.

It was a concert of song and dance.

Carson and Cassie even could sing a few parts of the songs, due to Delanie "practicing" all the time around the house.

Pappy (who is here for a visit for work) was so impressed with the kids and just how smart they are PLUS, Paps was even more impressed that these kids will be our future one day and they will accomplish many great things in their lives.

On Friday afternoon, Mackenzie asked if I would help with the schools walk-a-ton during the school's "Stay Fit" week.

I was over the help with the yellow 4th graders and every time a "yellow" would run by, we would have to check off a square off their neck cards.

Time started and the kids were suppose to walk/run for a total of 45 minutes...Some kids looked as if they were going to die one lap around the school, but the kids kept on going.

Here is Kenzie with a couple of her classmates;

showing off the 10 checks that she earned in 45 minutes, which equals 2.5 miles.

Good Job Girls! Awesome Job!

Notice the girls rosy cheeks.

Thank goodness there was a mist of rain to help cool off the kids while they all worked hard.

I have to say, even though I have been busy with the kids and their school functions, but it has been good for me to be there and support the girls.

I have been impressed with the kid's school and the fun they are having with their school...activities, field trips, great teachers, good kids, ect.

Go Dragons!

I can't believe that with the coming of the end of this school year, I will have a 5th, 3rd, and two kindergartners.

CRAZY thought!

Who knows, maybe the PTA is in my future, what else will I do with all of my free time. ;)

PET PEEVE!

REALLY??!!?!

SO CLOSE...YET SO NOT.

Why oh Why, is it that I always seem to find this sight when I walk into the bathroom.

Is it really that hard for the kids to change the roll??!!?

AND to make it even better, putting the new roll on the old roll doesn't count, it almost makes it even worse.

It really don't take a rocket scientist to change a toilet paper roll...

or DOES IT??!?!!