End of the School Year Activities!

Well, the end of the school year has arrived...and so, of course, we got to go to the annual Dance Festival at Sage Creek Elementary! It was a warm and sunny afternoon and Spencer was sportin' some sweet pink sunglasses while we watched! Karlee was excited that we all made it to watch her performance...even Daddy came by for it! The 2nd grade did a parachute dance (which is funny, because when I taught 2nd grade I choreographed our 2nd grade dance festival dance...and it was a parachute dance too!) and Karlee thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing!

After the Dance Festival we headed to Karate...where Rylee was testing to go up to the white belt with a purple stripe (which also means she will graduate to the next class...which is twice a week, and I am dreading it!). Rylee was very determined and did a great job on her test! Her favorite part, by far, was when they had a chance to break their first piece of wood. Yep, her little bare foot kicked through a solid piece of wood and I have never seen anyone more proud! She's been talking about it for the past 2 days! This karate thing is starting to become a bit more of a financial and time commitment than I would like...but I just can't make her give it, she LOVES it!

Oh So Imperfect...

Well, my day was totally jam packed...which means I had to mess up somewhere. From 4-5:30 Rylee had a birthday party, 5-6:15 Karlee had gymnastics, 6:30 was Audree's dance recital and 7:30 was a Relief Society Board meeting. So, between Jake and I, I was trying to keep track of everybody and get everyone where they needed to be. I thought I was doing well...except, as I was leaving gymnastics I realized today was the day they were getting their trophy...and I was going to miss the big ceremony (alright, it isn't really "big", but you get the idea). I hadn't brought my camera and I missed it! That was "Mom Mistake #1" I took the following picture after-the-fact. Then I ran home to pick-up Rylee from the party and get Audree ready for the recital...things were going well and Audree looked absolutely adorable in her recital outfit. After a little photo shoot, I packed up and we headed out...I called Jake and he had Karlee and was headed to meet us for the recital...we showed up at the exact same time (I am feeling pretty good about my planning skills at this point). As I run in the building with Audree I can hear the music playing to her first dance number...I ask some people in the hallway, "They aren't dancing in there are they?"..."Yep, the girls in that costume are performing" they reply. Apparently the dance recital was at 6:00...not 6:30 and Audree was missing her performance as we spoke!!

I ran onto the stage with Audree and shoved her on there just as her second (and final) song began. She gave an "oscar-worthy" performance and we were done...Daddy missed it...he came walking into the building as we walked off the stage. Oh, and when I shoved her onstage I quickly ran to the side and tape recorded her performance...only I must have pushed the wrong button, because it didn't record. "Mommy Mistake #s 2 and 3"

Jake thinks I am weird...but this was all very devastating to me! I made it home to my Relief Society meeting and just remembered I have pre-school here in the morning...I guess I better go figure out what they are going to be learning. Let me know if any of you Mom's have had moments like this!

Sunny Saturday!

We finally had a sunny and warm Saturday to play outside! Jake and I got busy planting the garden, planting some new fruit trees, planting the flowerpots...there was a lot of dirt being thrown around! While we kept busy planting...the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves!Spencer has been obsessed with mowing the lawn ever since Jake and I got back from our vacation. We HAD to buy him this bubble mower and he has been with it constantly for the last week...we have had to insist that he can NOT sleep with it! Anyways, I can only hope he will still be this interested in mowing the lawn in 10 years!The kids wanted to set up a lemonade stand...I think they sold about $2 worth of lemonade...which is good because they made (and drank) about $10 worth!!

Once I refused to make anymore lemonade they decided to get the water out...they were so excited that it was warm enough to get sprayed by the hose!

At one point they found this old badminton set in the garage and convinced Jake to set it up. They will need to keep working on the old badminton skills!!

And apparently they got bored at some point during the day and pulled out everything they could find to come up with these costumes...once I was done with the flowerpots I spent the rest of the day cleaning up from the fun!

It was a great day and I was glad to be hanging out with my family and some great friends!

Oh, by the way...I have recently had the chance to get together with Danielle Edmonds and Audrey Muranaka...some great friends that I haven't seen in FOREVER! I just want to mention how great it is to have friends to laugh with and that I wish I spent more time in the company of great friends...it's hard to do as mothers, but all of you friends I have out there...thanks for being a part of my life!

Time of my Life!!

So, Last week Jake and I took our first vacation together! We went on a 6 day cruise to the Western Caribbean. Our 9 year anniversary is this summer and things finally fell into place allowing us to go without the guilt! I can't thank my Mom and Dad enough for coming up to our house and taking care of the kids...also, Brooke and Lauren for picking up the slack on a couple of the days! Knowing the kids were in their beds and in the BEST hands made it easy to relax and enjoy!

In case you have ever wondered what type of vacation is the best...I am not well traveled (as I make known often), but this cruise was exactly what I would have envisioned a perfect tropical vacation to be! Jake and I said over and over that we weren't disappointed or bored for a single second! In every way it was FABULOUS!

This was the view from a hammock I laid on in Haiti...I stayed in this spot for about 2 hours, Jake right next to me...perfection!

This is us when we first arrived at the beach in Haiti...I bought an adorable hat here, but be prepared for an onslaught of vendors begging for your business!

This was a coconut we bought for $2 from a sweet OLD man in Haiti. Jake remembered these from his mission to Brazil and we finally found someone selling them and had an island treat!

This is us in front of our AMAZING (world's biggest) cruise ship in Grand Cayman. I am wearing my "Haiti Hat"!

This is me in Grand Cayman...everything you have ever heard about the blue caribbean water is TRUE! We swam with masks on and felt like we were swimming in an aquarium...I think I saw Nemo there! Also, my legs are getting fried in this picture...I paid for this swim!

Here are Jake and I on our excursion in Jamaica. We went on a hike through the rain forest and would zip line from tree to tree. It was a BLAST!! The zip lines were thrilling and I didn't chicken out at all...in fact, I totally LOVED it! I got about 12 bug bites...but it was worth every one. We were glad we did our excursion here because the rest of Jamaica wasn't that impressive.

Here we are standing in front of one of the rivers our zip lines crossed.

When we were on the boat we hung out at this "Flowrider" most of the time. Jake got it down and I fell almost instantly every time! It was in a great spot on the back of the boat and while Jake rode the wave I read magazines and enjoyed the view of the ocean!

This picture is on the top level of the boat when we were leaving Florida...that's Port Canaveral, Florida behind us.

Anyways, as you can imagine I took about 300 pictures! These are a few of my favorites! It's been hard to come back home and be the Mom again...but by day 5 I was seriously missing the kids and I cried when I finally talked to them on the way home! I hope we don't have to wait another 9 years to do that again because I fell in love all over again and had the time of my life...I hope everyone gets to do something like this in their life!