Prom Pictures

Here are the official Prom pictures of Youngest Son and his date. He's a blinker- his eyes must be really sensitive to a flash, because his eyes are shut in a lot of flash photos, but these are pretty good!

USU Letter

Uggg. I'm not liking this. Seeing Youngest Son get ready to leave for college is a real killer. This is his scholarship acceptance letter, and while I'm thrilled that he's going to college, and I'm glad he'll have a little experience living away from home before his mission, it's just coming too darn FAST. I should have had more kids.

Juicy, Tender Spring Grass

If he could, Rocko would spend all day outside in the sun, eating the new Spring grass. I had to drag him away yesterday! His legs are so long that he has to bend one in a crazy way to be able to eat. He's a bit muddy in this picture- sometime I'll have to get a pic when the mud is more wet and he has about an inch thick layer covering him. He likes to roll in the puddles:).

My Guilty Pleasure:

Ok, I'll admit it- I love The Office! For the longest time I thought it was a pointless show. I didn't understand how those people could be so strange or do such bizarre things. But then I saw that episode where Dwight traps a bat on Meridith's head with a garbage bag and I realized that none of this was supposed to be taken seriously! Now I love this show- except those raunchy parts they throw in every now and then for no reason.

Homecoming Page

I really like how this page turned out- it was a really fun night, and the kids actually let me take a few pictures!

Thoughts On Faculty Bathrooms...

Yes, it's another random subject. But in my world, faculty bathrooms are a big deal. I'm at a different school everyday. and believe me, I do not want to use the regular girl's bathroom with all the six through twelve year olds! (Think about it, Moms!) Give me the faculty bathroom, please! Some faculty bathrooms are spartan. Some have little cubbies with the teacher's primping equipment. Some are over the top fru-fru, with lace covered tables and little baskets of smelly stuff. My favorite bathroom has a little waiting area with a comfy couch, magazines and a skylight. They turn off the regular lights so it's dark and quiet and a perfect place to take a nap- as if! It's nice of there is a little basket with different lotions- yesterday was Fresh Pineapple, but stay away from the Chocolate Covered Cherry. I also like it if some creative teacher has put up funny or thoughtful quotes. Here's one, also from yesterday's faculty bathroom: "Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then." -Katherine Hepburn

Sophie's Page

Isn't this the cutest paper ever? We are so happy that Sophie joined our family. When we get together we would be happy just to sit and watch all the cute and funny things she does!

You've Got To Be Kidding!

I should know better than to get all excited for Spring! We got more snow yesterday- not much, but enough to get me frustrated. It's only 34 degrees outside right now, when it was 71 degrees last Saturday. Welcome to Utah! Good thing my pansies don't mind a little blanket of snow.

My Yard Knows It's Spring...

Ah, Spring!! You are finally here! My yard knows it too because...

The Forsythia and Snow Crabs are budding:




























My Day Lilies are sprouting:














The Birch trees have made those funny caterpillar-like things:














And my Pansie pots are planted:














Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" - Robin Williams

Prom Night!

Last night was Prom! Youngest Son took his good friend, K. She is a cute girl who can sing and is related to most of Uintah, South Weber and South Ogden as far as I can tell. Whenever YS picks her up for a date there are usually group of Uncles, Aunts and other extended family who make a big deal about the date and put YS on the spot. I think it's funny. For their day activity they went to a new go-kart place out in Layton that provided pictures! :)
He was running a bit late and was not feeling especially picture-cooperative for this one:

Picture Day For The Herrin Twins

Yesterday I took school pictures of the Herrin Twins. Maybe you remember them- they were born conjoined twins and were successfully separated in 2006. They are in 2nd grade at a charter school in North Salt Lake. They have totally different personalities, and it is neat to see their progress twice a year when we visit their school. You can check them out at herrintwins.com. Don't get excited- I didn't take this picture:

My Work Bag

Ok, this will win the "most random and possibly boring blog ever" award, but I figure my blog is about my life, and my work bag is a major necessity to get me through my work day. Inside my very cool Mickey bag I carry: Mr. Monkey- he helps get those preschools to grin!, my wallet - for those Diet Dr. Pepper runs, my calendar, my keys to the studio, my notebook, tic tacs, Kleenex- for snotty noses and other bodily fluids, hand sanitizer- bless the person who invented hand sanitizer, Tylenol- 'nuf said, chapstick, my Leatherman- for fixin' stuff, emergency sugar, pens, brush and hair spray, extra DVD's, my phone- my link to the outside world, not that I can answer it at work anyway, and my lunch bag. All small but worthy and important items to get me through a work day.

Horse Show Season Pages

So, after narrowing down the 3328 horse show pictures I took last summer, (just kidding!), I picked my favorites to scrap. It makes me so excited for this coming summer- I can't wait!! I should probably put one of those countdown clocks on my blog for the first show!

Be Happy, Now.

Today's blog brought to you by my 11 year old friend, Emily, who lives in my neighborhood. I found this as I walked to church on Sunday and it made me smile. Hope it does the same for you!

It Was An Epic Battle...

But I won! Xena is fairly plump, so she can't reach a 3 inch spot her back when she cleans herself. That spot ends up getting all matted, so every few months she gets a bath. Being a cat, she hates it. So, several puncture wounds later, Xena is clean. She holds a grudge for a few hours, then forgets the bath ever happened! Why is it that fluffy animals look so funny when they are wet...

Almost 50!

Last night we had a little get together with my husband's side of the family to celebrate his 50th birthday. He really doesn't turn 50 until St. Patrick's Day, but the scheduling worked better for Sunday. He got a new yard blower and a chain saw and I gave him the scrapbook from his mission that I've been working on. He really liked the scrapbook, and after everyone left he went through every picture, telling me who was in it and what was happening. It feels good to give just the right present! Now if I can just deal with the fact that I'm married to someone who's 50...

Last St. George Post- I Promise!

I know you thought I was done with the details of our St. George trip, but you were WRONG! One more day to blog about- Tuesday, the 10th. We went golfing!!! I can see now that in St. George, golfing is an all-consuming passion that is taken very seriously. People buy houses bordering every inch of every golf course, just to be closer to the golfing. Unfortunately, my family tends to be the rebel and rowdy type. I don't think we fit in so well with the senior golfing crowd down south. We got in trouble on the 1st hole we played. The golf course police came in their little cart to tell us that we really couldn't all play together and that we would have to split up. Downer. But, we took it well, and the course police must not have seen Youngest Son in his many golf cart power skids, or when he drove backwards for the entire length of one hole, or FDIL wading out into the pond to retrieve our balls. One man who lived next to the 7th hole did come out to see if YS did any damage to his house when a ball ricocheted off his back wall, but no one seemed to notice when FDIL bounced a ball right off someone's roof. It's a good thing we found so many balls on Sunday's hike- we used a good portion of those balls on Tuesday! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

It took Youngest Son 7 tried to get out of this sand trap:

A Few More Wedding Photos

At the urging of my sister, I am posting some more pictures from Thursday's wedding in Salt Lake. Here's the happy couple:
And here are a few more of my favorites:

A Family Wedding

I love big family events, and weddings are the best! Maybe because you know that it's someone's really big day. Maybe it's because you are reminded just how important your family is to you and how much you enjoy spending time with them. And the time you spend always seems short. I think it's interesting to see how other people's families work too. Yesterday was such a day. My nephew was married in the Salt Lake temple to a really wonderful girl. Those two must be some of the truly nicest people I know. It was great to spend some quality family time together...that was too short, once again. This is a picture of my mom, my sisters and my brother.

Red Rocks- St. George Day 3

My FDIL played tour guide again for our third day in St. George. She took us to the neatest place- Red Rock Recreation Area. It's about 10 miles north of St. George and right off I-15. Such a beautiful place and easy to get to and we never knew it was there! We brought along the climbing gear and rappelled off a cliff that was about 75 feet high. Well, I didn't rappel, I took pictures. That took a big part of the day, but we did have time to have an epic shuffle board tournament back at the condo. We don't know the rules of shuffle board, we made up our own. But we had fun! Dinner that night was at the Pizza Factory with FDIL parents.

Home Again...

Ah, it's good to be home. Soooo good. I love my pillow. Family vacations are the best, but let's face it- is it really a vacation for the mom? I would say...no. We plan the food, we pack the food, we make the food, we do the dishes, then it's time to make more food. And tidy up. Ok, gripes over! We really did have a good time! I drove down on Saturday with Only Daughter and husband, Youngest Son and my Future Daughter in Law. We checked in and hung out. FDIL's parents were also in town, so her Mom came over for a visit that night. Sunday we started the day by going to sacrament meeting. Then FDIL took us on a hike. I didn't know that her grandparents used to live in St. George and she has spent a lot of time there. She took us on a hike down a gorge below a golf course to go golf ball hunting. We found over 200 golf balls!! FDIL's mother caught up with us at the bottom, and we hiked to the river and through the red rocks. What a beautiful place with the sandstone and the mountains still with a bit of snow! It was about 60 degrees and felt like summer! Climbing out of the gorge was not as fun. FDIL is in great shape and practically ran up the mountain like a gazelle. 4 days later and my legs still hurt. Later that night DH and Oldest Son joined us at the condo and we played indoor mini golf with our pickings from the hike. The loser had to plunge the clogged toilet.

Marquee Fame

Ah, to be on the high school marquee. My high school didn't even have a marquee back in the day! This was a tricky picture to take because the names were scrolling, and I had to time it just right. It took a few tries. That and the school police officer was giving me funny looks. Congrats to those DECA winners!

We'll be taking a family trip to St. George for a few days, and I'm sure I'll have new adventures to talk about! Peace out!

A Xena Page

I saw this paper at Heartland Paper Co. and had to have it! My spoiled cat. She has a pretty nice life, when YS isn't torturing her. He actually tries to fit her whole head into his mouth, but just manages half a head. He is also teaching her that it's ok to have her belly rubbed. As I type this, she is rolling around on the carpet, trying to get my attention. With the Spring thaw Xena is back to catching the mice that have been living under the snow, making tunnel paths in my grass. Eat them all, Xena! But stop leaving those mouse guts behind on my back porch.

1st in State!!

Last night, Youngest Son and his partner won first place in the state DECA competition! Their category was Business & Financial Services Marketing Research. They had to come up with a whole presentation for improved advertising and marketing for a local Credit Union. Lots of hours went into preparing, and their hard work paid off! Now they get to compete at Nationals, which are in Anaheim (!), April 28- May 3. They are pretty excited! YS also came in 9th in state in the Food Services Roleplay category. I'm thinking that those Savers Suits might have just put them over the top. I pulled a "Grandpa George" and walked right up to the front to take pictures:).