Ballet!

We have a Ballerina in our midst. Little Miss started her very first day of Ballet today. She is absolutely thrilled. All morning she asked if it was time to go. Finally I told her it was time to get ready.. off she went shrieking and squealing in pure Little Miss fashion. She shrieked in a shrill noise, Ballet, Ballet, I am so excited, Ballet! I love that she is this excited to go. I love her zest for life and new things, it is contagious. She did a great job today at Ballet and cannot wait to go back next week. Little Man went today and was excited to watch her and tell me all about the great things Little Miss was doing. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from today. She is my Diva. Enjoy!

Kindergarten!!

Today was Little Man's first day of school, and not pre-school, real school. Kindergarten. He was so excited and a little nervous to go. It was a short day just introducing him the class room and stuff. And then he will go for a full day. I am not sure what to feel, excitement, or sadness? A little of both I suspect.

He has two teachers one for English and one for Spanish... he is going to a dual language Kindergarten. He is so excited to learn Spanish. I signed up to volunteer in his classroom every week, and I am so excited to have a chance to be involved in what is going on. He is excited that Mom is going to come once a week.. I won't be cool forever might as well enjoy it now! I signed up to be the classroom photographer also.. that was a no brainer for me. And I even signed up for the PTA! I remember my Mom coming into my class when I was a kid, it was one of my favorite things. We have a few days of rest and then Friday we start in full swing. I don't feel old enough to have a Kindergartner. I thought I would be wise by now. Instead I feel like I have many questions about what I am doing.

I can't believe my Little Man has grown so quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with him. The days keep getting faster. Enjoy the pictures of Little Man doing his crazy Ninja moves.. being a goof, and being Little Man.

And I Will Cherish You.

For the rest of my life.. I will be your Wife!! Eight years ago I married Prince Charming. The Man of my Dreams. I am the luckiest girl alive. Married to the best man in the UNIVERSE! I was thinking about it and realizing how quickly the time has passed. I still remember the first time I laid eyes on him. I was at a fireside with another guy.. and I met him. I thought he was pretty smokin' hot. And that next week I went to institute and I wasn't sure which class to go to. He showed up and said come with me to D&C and I said sure. And I went. A month later we went to a fireside together and he kissed me that night. And let me tell you.. I went in didn't say a word and thought I could kiss him for the rest of my life. Two months later we were engaged, and 4 months after that we were married. Just seven months after first laying eyes on this man I was his wife. Head over feet in love and thrilled with every minute! And guess what? I still am! We exchanged gifts a couple of weeks ago.. we were both too giddy to show the other one what we bought for them. I sold his old GPS unit and bought him a newer, better GPS unit for all of his geocaching. He has been positively thrilled with it.. or so he says. And he.. well he rocked it. Seriously rocked it. I got a blue bag.. with a blue box inside that was tied with a pretty white ribbon. I opened it and found the most beautiful necklace to go with my beautiful birthday bracelet. You remember that right? Just one more piece of the set.. the earrings and my set will be complete. Any guesses what Christmas might bring! He totally spoiled me. We celebrated on Friday going out and having time to ourselves. He is out of town for business until Wednesday. I miss him. But we get to celebrate everyday all year long.

Okay.. if you don't want to hear me gush anymore.. stop reading now! But if you want to know how I really feel.. continue on.

I love you Randy.. more than yesterday less than tomorrow. You are my world. You make me complete. I am better because of you. I enjoy each day with you.. the laughter and joy you feel my life with. The broken brownie pan we can laugh about, the silly things you do. The help that you are. The compassion you have for me and your willingness to help whenever you see I need it.. and even before I know I need it. The way you have made me laugh more.. even when I don't want to. You have lightened my heart, made my life complete. I love the father you are to our children, and the example you are. The way you know how to make me laugh when I try my hardest not to. You have shown me how to truly love and to give my full self. I am better because I know you, because you are in my life. You support me in all my crazy hair brained ideas, and in my crazy jump in two feet and over commit because I believe I can do it all. You are there when I can't sleep because I realize I am complete overwhelmed and you help me to see the picture and that I can do it.. to step back and look at one thing at a time. I love the way you love me.. the way you show it, and the joy bring into my life. I love you, you are my eternal sweetheart. Happy 8th Anniversary.

Photography.. it makes me better.

One of the many reasons I am a better Mother, and Wife because of my camera.

This was supposed to be dessert. Yummy gooey brownies fresh out of the oven.. and dropped on my floor. My freshly clean floor that you could eat off of.. and I would if glass wasn't through out it. I grabbed my camera asked Randy to jump in, but he kindly declined. He burned his hand and dropped them.. it is okay. It happens. No one was hurt.. and well I don't have to run tonight. So it is all good.

Nice Matters Award!

Angela has awarded me the Nice Matters Award! Thanks for such a sweet, kind and well NICE award! Angela has such a nice upbeat blog and it is always full of encouragement. You need to check it out!

I appreciate all of my MOF's and IRL friends that stop by my blog and check out what is going on. Leave a comment when you are here so I know you stopped by!

Here are my Choices for the Nice Matters Award.

Display this on your blog and sidebar with honor!

Emily- EmLousia

Alicia- Growing Spuds---No Small Potatoes

Shelah- Hitting the Ground Running

Sara- Sara is always right

Alli- Raising Boys

Marianne- The Bloxham Bunch

Randy- Random Rantings of Randy

Misty- My Inner Aria

Now go pick some people you think deserve it!

Home!

I had a quick and very fun trip to Las Vegas this week.. and I went all by myself. I was able to see some great friends, and had some terrific photo shoots... the reason behind the trip. I will get pictures up in the next week on the other blog.



I hung out with Charlotte and her fiance and sweet little boy. We visited caught up and just had a great time! And I got to meet Elizabeth and she was just so much fun! Nothing like getting to visit with good girlfriends and catch up on life. It was just great!



I was able to shop.. and eat good food. I went with my friend Jenni to the Luxor.. I wanted to go up the Inclinator.. (Elevator that goes at an angle). But you had to have a room key. I kindly asked someone to hole the elevator and jumped on with them. Jenni and I went up the Inclinator.. and got off at the top. And neither one wanted to get back on. We were sick. Motion sick. The view was awesome... but then we had to get back on... I wasn't looking forward to it at all. We went down and I decided I am content to never stay there because I never want to go on the Inclinator again.



I was able to relax and enjoy great company and just have a nice time. I was excited to get back home to see my kids.. and go to their Soccer Game just in time. I missed Randy and was so excited to be with him again. I did enjoy my trip and look forward to going back to Vegas in November for the wedding!

4th Of July.. the Camping Trip

For the 4th of July my siblings and their families flew in.. drove and we all got together for a week of camping. For some it was a not as nice hotel.. for others a lodge, motorhome, and for the brave a tent. We were amongst the brave.. we camped for 5 nights at the gorgeous Wallowa Lake. I would highly recommend this to anyone. I have been meaning to blog this because it was truly a wonderful family reunion/vacation. We were able to do things together as a family, and also have time for each family to have their own time.

We played in the lake daily. We took our labs, Sage and Izzy and they were wonderful! They loved swimming in the lake and the kids all had fun getting to play with them. We rode the Tram to the top of Mt. Howard and hiked up there. We rode horses, go-carts, bumper boats. We ate ice-cream and yummy snacks. We played games. We petted deer, and chipmunks, and other friendly rodents. We rented peddle boats, and motor boats. The kids rode bikes and enjoyed being covered in dirt 24/7. I enjoyed getting to see my brothers who I don't get to see that often. I enjoyed the time with my wonderful Sister-in-Laws, who are wonderful talented women. We didn't have cell phone, TV, computers, or anything that normally distracts us from our family. It was wonderful to have time to just spend as a family. To enjoy one another's company without all of the distractions of everyday life. Randy and I decided this is something we should do more often. It was one of my most favorite family vacations I have ever had. We were able to spend time together and have a wonderful time!

Here are a few of my favorite of hundreds of pictures. For some reason it starts in the middle.. I have no clue why. Scroll to the top to see all of the pictures. You don't want to miss one! lol.

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

4:45 AM

For the last 3 years we have not had a next door neighbor on both sides of us. We have consistently had a vacant lot next door, in the previous house and in this one. We actually really like it. Last week though.. that all began to change. The broke ground on the lot next door. And construction has begun. We were under the impression that you couldn't start being noisy doing it all until 7:00 AM.. early but manageable. 4:45 AM we heard noise. I thought it was a bad dream.. but then realized it was the workers on the house next door. The concrete truck pouring cement for the foundation. What is wrong with people? Seriously. Do they not get that we need to sleep. They were off to a new job by 7:15 AM. I know they are busy.. but we need our sleep. My kids don't need to be woke up at that insane time. They need there sleep even more than I do. I need them to have their sleep. There has got to be a law against this. It just seems wrong.

My advice for the day.. if you are going to do noisy projects in the AM, do it after 7.. mowing your lawn before then will certainly tick your neighbors off.. along with hammering anything. Hopefully this was a great error on their part.. It was dark.. maybe they couldn't tell what time it really was.