A graduation celebration

What a weekend we have had! We had a ton of family here to help us celebrate Randy's graduation. Despite all of everyone staying at our apartment, we had a great time and never really felt all that crowded (My opinion could be a little bias, after all I did have my own room). We had a lot of fun wandering campus, eating lots of yummy food, spending time together, and of course playing guitar hero (no get together would be complete without it)!

Here are some random pictures from the festivities:

In front of Todd Hall (Randy's home away from home)


With one of her many favorite statues on campus


Spring is finally in bloom here on the Palouse!
Alike is so many ways...
A very special aunt Mindy
Richie workin' the purse
Richie & fiance Linda

Such a cute couple!

Val & Duane struggling to keep it together

Thank you Linda for running around with her...she loved it!

Finding our Elder on the huge world map on the third floor of Todd Hall

Five of the Six kids...I wish this would have come out better but I didn't have my tripod & it was getting really dark.

Our graduate with his yummy Costco cake...

Exhausted after a long day

Thank you everyone for making this a great weekend. We really appreciate everyone coming & we really had a great time. We will have to come up with more excuses together. : )

A proud moment...WSU graduation

Words can not express how proud I am of my husband and his accomplishments. It has been a long road with many challenges & even more great times. This day marks the end of an era for us & life as we have known it. I look forward to our next chapter and the new challenges that we will face together. I love you so much Randy! GO COUGS!!!

Here are some snap shots of his great accomplishment (A.K.A. graduation):

All lined up & ready to get this thing over with!

The grad

A great family

We are so thankfully to all those how have supported us & have helped us to celebrate. We love you all so much!

Graduation plans update

What is the dress code?
Clothes are required at all times! As far as the graduation is concerned Randy & I will be dressing business casual. I think that you are all big kids and can figure it out what to wear for yourselves.

Don't forget:
A PILLOW as I do not have any extras. For the girls that are flying in, Val will be bring pillows for you. You may want to call her & remind her especially if you have special requests.

Sleeping Arrangements updates:
Thank the Powers for loaning us their air mattress. Now we have one for the living room. I will leave it up to the four of you assigned to the living room to figure out who gets it.

We are super excited for everyone to get here & I think it will be a great weekend. Drive safe & we will see you all VERY soon!

Visiting teaching blessings

I have developed such a great testimony of visiting teaching and the great importance of it. Through our visiting teaching groups I have made so many great friendships and had many great opportunities to serve the sisters & families around me. My VT sisters have been a huge blessing in my life & I am SO amazed at how well they know me.

Being served: Isn't this cake cool? I was in quite a funk when all of the sudden Jerica knocks on my door with this cake. A gal in our ward was teaching cake decorating classes a couple weeks ago & this is what she made (it's been a few weeks, I am slow to post).

Serving: This is Jerica's adorable little boy. They are moving this week (so sad!) and I was able to help out by watching him. It was so fun watching the boys play together & getting lots for hugs from them.

We will miss all of our friends as we move on to the next phases of our lives. I have learned so much from all of wonderful ladies that I have had the opportunity to get to know. I hope that they know how special they each are & I hope that we stay in contact with each other.

Graduation weekend

I can't believe that this weekend is almost upon us! At times it felt like it would never get here and now here we are! I am so proud of Randy and all that he has acomplished.

To save myself from anwsering the same questions over & over again, this is our the plan for the weekend (you can all still call...I promise I am not being beast :) Just trying to make sure the same info is given to everyone.)

Sleeping Arangements:

Val & Duane - the spare room

Ryan & Megan - the office (w/ air mattress)

Mindy - has reserved the couch months ago (which Randy has always said is quite comfy)

Melanie, Richie, & Linda - have prime living room floor space

**Everyone needs to bring there own pillows or make arrangements (sorry but I don't have extras).

The Menu:

Friday

Dinner - Asian chicken salads

Treat - Chocolate fondue (yummy!)

Saturday

Breakfast - Costco Muffins & fruit

Lunch - cursant deli sandwiches & salads

Dinner - Taco bar

Treat - Costco cake (I am SO excited!)

Sunday

Breakfast - Muffins, pastries, & fruit

Lunch - leftovers

The Activites:

Friday

*I have to make a run down to Clarkston to pickup the food in the afternoon.

*Hang out & enjoy the only nice day we are forcasted to have during the weekend.

*Play games & enjoy chocolate fondue in the evening.

Saturday

*Wander campus & town in the AM

*Graduation @ 3pm (we need to be there no later than 2:30)

*Eat food, play games, laugh, & be together. (it will be a blast!)

Sunday

*I have no idea...we will figure it out when we know what everyone's plans are.

Hope this covers everything. We still have plenty of space, if you are still wanting to come. The bathtubs & hallways are still empty or heck bring a tent! I think it will be a fun weekend & I really want to make it a big deal after all Randy has worked so hard for this!

Have a bit of sympathy

So we have all been fighting colds and the kids have been dealing with ear infections and such for what feels like forever. On Thursday it was my turn. I woke up with horrible ear pain, took some Motrin & went about my day but by Friday morning I had had enough. I was convinced that something was really wrong, turns out I only had an ear infection. That's right...the same thing that my kids have been dealing with! Now I am feeling like the world's worst mom. I never have given my kids any more sympathy for ear infections than a cold but now I have a whole new perspective... Ear infections are Horrible!!!

[Don't worry, we have been taking our antibiotics & are all beginning to feel better...although my hearing is still not the same.]

Where did all of these clothes come from??

Now I know that I fell a week behind on the laundry but where did all of these clothes come from?! This is the question that I have been asking all day! We are only a family of four...I can't image the amount of clothes a larger family generates!

Girls night with Dierks Bentley

Jane & I had so much fun on a girls night out. I have not had one of these in a long time & it brought back so many crazy (and sometimes sick) memories of our lifetime friendship. Can you believe we have been friends for 23 years & are still both living & finding our way home?

It was a great concert minus the Bucky Covington opener. I can not stand him and really have no idea what all the screaming girls around us saw in him. Can you tell I have strong feelings? Luckily Dierks made up for it & was quite the entertainer.

What shall we do next?

It's a girl! Congrats Krissy & Merit

My little sister finally had her baby Sunday. She was 10 days overdue & had really had it with being pregnant! She weighed in at 9lbs, 2 oz. & is 20 inches long. The exact size that Krissy was...how crazy is that?




It is killing me that I couldn't be there & that I haven't been able to work out a time to get home to see her. Just when I thought that we had all gotten over the latest cold that had been circulating our house, it comes back around. We take our vitamins, wash our hands constantly, & our house always has the overwhelming smell of Lysol (I can be a bit of a germ freak :) ) What the heck? We have HAD IT with the colds!!!!

A fun school party

To celebrate the Week of the Young Child, my daughter's class planned a luau party for their families . They have been learning about different cultures for the past few weeks so this was a great way to close the theme. The kids have been working all week on decorations, invitations, & activities and have become quite the party planners. We had a great time dancing, singing, reading stories, playing games, and of course eating! We had so much fun partying, that I forgot take pictures until the very end. Oh well, I am sure that there will be many more school parties to come.

Here are the few picture highlights I captured:


Trying to pin the coconut on the tree...


Notice the "grass" skirt...she was so proud of it.


Thrilled to be there...

Our fruit kabobs we made...yummy!

The eating of the Kabobs...
The best teacher...thank you Teacher Ashley for being such an involved teacher & truly caring for our kids. We will miss her so much when she moves in a few weeks (her husband is graduating law school...hurray for them!).

Week of the Young Child

[Note: I have no idea what is going on with my post! It was composed & posted this morning (Friday), yet it says it was posted on Thursday & didn't show up on the blog until tonight. What the heck?! Blogger makes me so CRAZY sometimes!!!]

It's NAEYC's (National Association for the Education of Young Children) Week of the Young Child! It is a great reminder of how important the early years (Birth - 8yrs) build the foundation for children's success in school & in life. As you go about your weekend get involved with the children that surround you and help them to know how truly special they are. Remember that we are shaping children to be productive, responsible adults and that we are their BEST advocates !

I have had yet another busy week! Can I really get away with saying that any more? It seems that every week is crazy busy around here. In honor of the special week I have been trying to focus more on my children & making it a special week for us as a family. I am not sure how successful I have really been, so we plan to do a few fun things this weekend together. Let's hope for some nice weather!Now I am off to a preschool party... I hope you all have a great Friday!!

P.S. We may be moving...more to come in the next few days (can you say...stressful?!)

A long camp day with the kids

Because I still had responsibilities at camp, I packed my kids up really early in the morning & brought them back with me on Thursday. Thank goodness for great kids!!! They followed me around as I taught my classes and my daughter was so thrilled to be at camp with the big kids. She wanted to do everything that the students were doing. I was luck enough to have three great TA's (6th & 7th graders) that loved doing things with the kids & helping me out when I needed an extra hand. Here are some pictures of the kids first experience going to camp:



This was what I looked like most of the time while doing things

Everyone was constantly stealing my son (I love his little cougs hat...so cute!)

checking out the sleeping arrangements...

One of my super cute TAs playing with the kids

Spending some time w/ grandma on her break. My mom even took her on a little hike around camp. She loved it!

Hanging out in the kitchen with grandma, while everyone was at campfire.
Overall, it was a great day filled with lots of things to do & lots of fun memories. My daughter still talks about it all the time& it was a great way for the kids to see where mom is when she is "at camp".

I AM BACK!!!

Like a bad dream, I have returned! I survived a crazy week filled with awesome kids, old friends, a ton of driving & now am scrambling to get everything back to the normal. I ended up driving up to Wooten REALLY early Tuesday morning but had to come back Wednesday night due to having no sitter Thursday (a really long frustrating story).
I took a ton of pictures in between things & got some really cool pictures for the school yearbook. I wish I could post them but feel that it is not okay to post student pictures on here. So below are some fun pictures of the staff:

Warning: BUCKLE UP, it's a long one!

The annual Don & Heather "teaching" picture...really we do teach!

Proof that we do work...I actually got the flags folded perfectly (no strips showing at all) two nights in a row!

The AWESOME kitchen staff

The pastry chefs...they are amazing & a cute couple.

Enjoying the great food. For real...I am not being sarcastic...it's all made from scratch.

My mom & I enjoying a moment together (what a horrible picture of me, why am I standing so frumpy?)Don "the hula king" and Bob
Jim at campfire...I have no idea what he was doing...
Ted...being Ted...

Can you believe that amount of snow still in base camp?! The guys actually had to shovel things out before the kids got there.
Super fun girls...Becky & Kristina...watch out Wooten we WILL be back

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?...

Lisa "helping" the kids fish