*Where have all the bloggers gone...and the blog posts??*
I haven't been blogging much lately...Probably because I have been busy with the little things in life. (And the little people in my life.) And, while I do feel a little guilty about this, I must say that I notice there are a lot of my "blogging buddies" that are also a bit behind on posting. (So, don't judge me too much.)

Catching Up!
Cambree was able to once again perform with TaVaci. This time at the Playmill Theater. They did the preshow performance and it was spectacular! Then we were able to watch the play "Beauty and the Beast". The girls absolutely loved it. Brinlee sat by Tess and Mic and Mic's mom Julie. Cambree sat by my mom, and Sadie and I was able to sit by my sister Emily. It was a great girls night out.
*Side Note*: Cambree is loving summer and reading a ton. She decided that she should read "Where the Red Fern Grows" because they read it in school last month and she LOVED it. So, she is reading it on her own now. I am happy that she loves reading so much.
At the end, the cast greets you as you leave the Playmill. We were able to get a photo with Belle and the Beast (Prince)? They thought this was quite the highlight to the night!

My best sister in the whole world decided that we should stay the night up in West Yellowstone after the play, so we did a little swimming, a little shopping and some walking. It was so great to spend time together with just the "girls"! Thanks for making it happen Em!!

(My mom must have been missing my dad "Jer-Bear" or something. She looks like she is on a date with this bear!)

Brinlee is missing 4 teeth right now. She looks so silly with her gaps in her mouth. This is a really cute stage and she is loving all the $$ the tooth fairy brings...You know 10 cents a tooth or something. :) She is about to turn 7 so she is very much looking forward to that. She thought for sure her birthday should have been a week ago, but we were able to explain the days of the month to her and now we are counting down until Father's Day/Brin's Birthday!

Aidan is still Aidan. He is talking more and more. He is ALWAYS outside doing his thing. You know...getting into stuff he shouldn't...walking around the corner to the neighbors...screaming bloody murder if someone gets on the trampoline with him. The regular spoiled rotten two year old nonsense. He is energetic that is for sure and he has decided that his dad is the only person he wants around. I apparently rub him the wrong way and sometimes the feeling is mutual.

END OF (school) YEAR REVIEW
We have one more week of school...HOORAY! So, to show what we have been doing the past month, here is a brief summary:
The girls did their dance recital almost a month ago. It was so amazing and the girls did really well. This is my BFF Michelle who is the dance teacher and these are her girls: Sadie, Tess and Piper. We all love dance!! Thanks for a great year Mic!

Cambree did TaVaci this year and loved it! She asked for a speaking part for the spring recital and did a great job. I was really proud of her for getting up there and speaking in front of such a large crowd. She gets to go and sing at the Playmill in a couple of weeks and she is really excited for that. (We get to see the play "Beauty and the Beast"!)

This is the excitement Mike has for going to events such as these. He gets to be the Aidan-sitter while I video or help where needed. He doesn't love this arrangement, but it's part of the parenting territory right?

And, to keep a two year old occupied between numbers, why not take digital pics of him and his grandma to show him? It worked for about 2 minutes and then the aisle seemed to be calling his name...

Grandma Judy and Aidan...This is where my kids get their AMAZING blue eyes!!

My Bad Mom Moment (one of many...)

Today Aidan and I went to lunch with a friend and when we were leaving Aidan ran out of the restaurant and straight to our car. He was still very much in my line of vision and so it wasn't too scary. (Mistake #1...he ran away from me and I didn't grab him quick enough.) He then tried to open one of the doors on the car and when that wouldn't work, he went to the other side. (Mistake #2...still didn't have a hold of the little independent fellow.) So, after a quick good-bye to my friend I started on my way to get him. Well, here comes a man and a lady and she is holding Aidan's hand...Aidan is so thrilled to see me that he starts saying "Mommy, Mommy..." (Mistake #3....holding hands with stranger....) When I get up close which took about 2.5 seconds, the lady says "Is this your mom?" In a disgusted tone of voice. I say "Yes. Thank you for bringing him back to me." And then I picked him up and started hauling him back to the car. She says "Well, I just didn't want to have him get run over by a car since he was running all over the parking lot by himself." (Okay, point taken.) I said "Thanks again". Then her husband says "We could have just run over him for you if you wanted us too." WHAT?!?! I just stared at him, turned away and got Aidan in the car super quick like and took off. Who says that?? Am I REALLY the one with the problem here? Anyway, I get it. I am a mom who has some bad moments. He is at a hard, independent age and I made a mistake. But really? Do you tell someone you are going to run over their child? Now I feel like a complete failure and that I don't deserve children. But, it also makes me mad to think that someone would be so rude to actually tell someone else that they would run over their child. So, today I am loser mom....Hopefully my kids live another day so I can be a better mom!

**Sharing a Message**

I love Mormon Messages. They are found at the bottom of the http://www.lds.org/ homepage and they are so inspiring to me. Today I was on the website and the recent Message was about a girl that I have never met, but have read her blog from time to time. She survived a terrible plane crash and she has kept a blog. She is AMAZING and her story is incredilbe! It was so touching to watch her video clip...
Watching this was a tender mercy for me. It made me realize that even though things aren't the way I pictured my life would be I am so blessed to have a functioning body and to be a wife and mother. I am so thankful for so many things that I won't be able to list them all here. These are just a few of the things I am MOST grateful for!

**Like I said these pictures were just to show a few things I am grateful for (and to catch up on the old blog...) I am thankful for many, many more things!

I hope that my grandma and my mom and my sister Emily have a Happy Mother's Day!! You mean the world to me and I LOVE YOU!!

**GIRLS WEEKEND 2010**

This year for "Girls Weekend" my sister and I nominated ourselves to be in charge. We decided to meet in the "middle" at Lava Hot Springs! I didn't get a ton of pictures, but here are a few. (I was busy soaking it up in the hot pools.)
A picture of the girl cousins that were there: Me, McKenzie, Brittany, Lauren, Paige and Emily

The older girlies :) Lori, Jody, Rosalie, Grandma, Ellen and Tammy (or Tamara...) :)
We rented a little apartment/condo. (That is what they called it online.) When we got there, we realized that this was a large overstatement. We renamed the joint "THE GHETTO"! I won't go into details, but picture a place without doors on the bathroom....Enough said with 12 girls sharing a small space. It didn't matter though because we were all together and we had the greatest time EVER! I wish I could go back. Looking forward to next year.....Love you girls!!
PS: A little shout out to Megan/Kristin/Kim and Chelsie...We sure did miss you. Hope to see you next time!





*An annaul tradition of Girls weekend is to buy new sunglasses...Brittany, Emily and I bought matching pairs, but Brittany could never find hers.

Easter/Spring Break Weekend


For Spring Break/Easter/Conference weekend, we decided to go down to visit my family. It was a fun filled PACKED weekend.
Here is a brief summary:
Had an Easter egg hunt at the local "Pony Palace" (an indoor event center). It was a good thing it was there because it snowed during the night and I don't know if I would have wanted to venture out for an egg hunt that morning otherwise....I didn't get a lot of "pictures" of the hunt and the ongoings, because somebody was filming the whole thing in video mode...And I am too lazy to download those. So, here are 2 pics.

Needless to say it was fun and Brinlee found 4 eggs that contained papers with numbers on them so she could claim some prizes. She shared with Cambree so it all worked out for everyone.

**Side note: Brinlee won a coloring contest at our local copy shop and she was awarded with an Easter basket full of candy. She was super excited and shared her loot. Here is a picture of the colored picture and the basket after 3 kids have eaten their fill. :)

Like I said, the kids attacked that basket like they had never seen candy before. It was really cute when we got it and I didn't think to take a pic then. Oh well...you get the idea.

We colored eggs during the Priesthood session of Conference, and yes that is Aidan sucking on the wire egg holder. Whatcha gonna do with that kid???

Emily's egg broke and she was sad. My mom was annoyed because I was taking pics and she didn't think she wanted to be on the blog. Whatcha gonna do with that grandma???
We left on Monday to come home and on the way back we decided to stop in Ogden and go to the Treehouse Museum. It was a lot of fun for the kids. Here are some pictures of that.
(I just thought this section was so great because everything was made out of stacks of books or giant books!)

**This one is for my dad! Dad: You need this Chess set to teach with!!

Oh, Sweet Brinlee....



Just thought I would record a few things that Brinlee has said and done the past little while... A few weeks ago, the school had a "Used Book Fair". The girls were very excited to spend a little money there. Brin is a very generous person--she thinks of others and shares everything she has. Well, she came home from the book fair with an Elmo sing-along video for Aidan. She was so pleased with herself and was determined that Aidan was going to love it. Well, it happened. Now, we "get" to watch the video 2 times EVERY morning. (Of course Brin is at school, so it is just me and the little fella having the time of our lives singing along!)

About a week ago, I had Cambree vacuum the front room and when she was done, I told Brin to put the vacuum away in the closet. A little while later, I went in the laundry room where she had rolled it to and there it was in the middle of the floor:
Me: Brinlee, why can't you follow directions?
Brin: I don't know. I guess I'm just lazy!