Growing, growing, growing…

One year for Christmas, Jake and Liz gave us each a birthday board. It had Joe’s height already written on it from him growing up. Each time one of our kids has a birthday, we measure them too. Colin is growing by leaps and bounds! It’s fun to compare our kids to Joe, what a cool gift!
Beau is creative and was hiding under the laundry bucket. Joe put his foot on top of the bucket and Beau completely freaked out. He ran upstairs and came down a few minutes later with this picture he drew of the situation. Joe is standing on top of him, Beau is trapped in the bucket, and Joe is crossed out. I guess that’s how he interpreted the events.

Maybe one day Beau will draw as well as Colin…cute boys. We went to visit Jake and Liz in their newly remodeled (completely beautiful) home! Camri and Alex had fun dressing up, and Camri LOVED invading Alex’s closet. They did a little fashion show for us. Cuties!

Everyone keeps growing up! Slow down!

Baptism preview

This girl is getting baptized this year!! Joe, Camri, and I headed over to the church on Sunday and attended the baptism preview. They showed the kids the font, the clothing, they talked about activity days and scouts…it was cool! There will be four girls and four boys from our ward who will be baptized this year.
We just found out that she gets to be baptized ON HER BIRTHDAY!! She is very excited!!
My little darling is growing up too fast!!

I’m the mom and I can brag if I want to…

In November, I got the lovely phone call that every parent at our school loves, “Your child has been selected as the Eagle of the Month, don’t tell them, it’s a surprise.  Please come on Monday to our presentation.”  Yay!!  This is Camri’s second time, and she’s in second grade.  I’m proud of this little ray of sunshine!! 
Her teachers, Sra. Abuchaibe and Mrs. Hamilton wrote:
Camri enjoys learning.  She is always trying her best and going the extra mile to help classmates be happy, and feel part of the group.  She is eager to learn Spanish and she promotes the learning environment by actively participating in class discussions and activities.  She is sweet and respectful to teachers and other students.  It is fun to have her in our classes.
That night, we went to Dakota’s piano recital.  She performed beautifully!  She has a gift of music, this one.  I love these recitals, and every time, I am blown away by these kids and their talent.  It doesn’t hurt that they have an amazing teacher…I love Cindy!

I’m a humbly proud of my wonderful kids!

Elementary Picture Day

We finally had picture day for elementary school, so we took our own at home.  These kids are so dang cute….I’m a lucky mom!            

Many faces…

Camri got a jewelry box from her sister that had room in the front for a picture.  She requested a picture of her, me, and Joe together.  No other kids.  So we tried.  And tried.  And tried.  Close enough. I think she ended up putting a family picture in there…All my kids love to take my phone and take selfies.  I think Koko’s actually trying to see what’s in her eye here.  Ha, ha, I’m the one with a blog….your pictures are for the world to see now!
And then there’s Minnie…

Happy Randomness Day.

Friday night, movie night

Since Emma has dance on Fridays, we have to wait until she’s done to do family activities.  Well, we found a theater that was showing the One Direction movie right after she was done…perfect!  I got our tickets, the girls wore their concert t-shirts, and we were on our way! 
I think they were excited…

Koko is so dang cute.  And a teeny bit obsessed…The movie was okay, the company was fantastic!!  My favorite kind of girls-night-out…

School. Yep.

The opening band for One Direction was called “5 Seconds of Summer”.
That’s what this felt like.  Maybe it’s because school ended in June and started August 19.  Maybe it’s because we had so much fun, it just zoomed by.  Maybe because it was just too dang short. 
In any case, summer is over and school has begun.  I’m so proud of my kids (except the growing up at the speed of light part). 
Koko is in 8th grade this year. She decided to wear her (fake) One Direction glasses over her (real) contact lenses.  Fashion first, people!  Plus, she looked darling.
Emma felt like a pro after her mini-day at school last week.  Off to 6th grade with you, you cute old lady! 

Colin is now the oldest elementary school kid, he’s in fourth grade this year!  He’s muy bueno, and my amigo.
Camri is my little 2nd grader.  How did that happen?  She is so smart and social, she will have a great year! 
Baby Beau is not a baby anymore…Kindergarten!  He had his meeting with the teacher today, but has to wait until next Monday for his first official day.  Pure torture for a kid that keeps asking, “Is is school yet?”
Little Annie is my stay-at-home buddy this year, so she gets her picture too!!

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Off to school!  Have an adventure! Learn new things! Make good choices!
And most of all, I love you!!
The Middle-Schoolers had carpool, so they were on their own.  I joined the elementary-schoolers.  They were welcomed to school with a red carpet and cheering teachers! 
Annie and Beau helped me with Safety Patrol this morning, then we were on our way.  Let the fun begin!
                  

Speaking of One Direction…

My girls are utterly, undeniably, whole-heartedly in love with One Direction.  It’s fine with me because their music is clean, they seem like good kids, and they ARE pretty cute.  Koko loves Liam, Emma loves Niall, and Camri and Annie love Louis.  It’s adorable. 
When we found out they were coming to Utah, we tried to get tickets.  But because we tried after the first 10 minutes they were on sale, we missed the boat.  There were still tickets available for only a mere 300-500% increase over face value.   You gotta love those ticket brokers!
Anyway, Joe called Jake who is a big cheese at Zion’s Bank, who happens to be a sponsor of the Maverick Center where the concert was being held. Jake pulled some strings and was able to get 4 suite tickets!! Hurray!!  The plan was for Liz to take Sammie, Koko, and Emma.  We were so happy that our girls got to go see the concert, how could we ask for anything more?!
Jake is very persuasive.  A few days before the concert, he called to let us know that he had secured four more tickets!!  What?!  That meant that Joe, Camri, Alex, and I were able to go!!  After all his efforts, Jake wasn’t even going, he was out of town for work that day. He is the man!
We had the time of our lives!  The day of the concert, the girls put on some fake nails with their boy’s faces on them.  Annie joined them and had the coolest nails I’ve ever seen on three-year old. 

It was crazy!  Picture thousands of fan-crazed teenage girls, 100 degrees outside, and everyone trying to be louder than everyone else.  It was awesome!
  


  
  
It was ridiculously loud in there, the girls were in heaven!  I had to cover Camri’s ears most of the night, and even then, it took a few days to recover to full hearing again. 
The band “5 Seconds of Summer” opened for them.  They were pretty good, another British boy band and a few years younger than One Direction.  And since we were in the suite, dinner was also provided.  They had hamburgers and hot dogs with all the fixin’s, plus popcorn, fruit, candy, drinks, and an ice cream bar.  Yum!When THE BOYS finally came out, they began on the main stage, but after a while, they rode a platform to a center stage and were much closer to us.  Very cool!
  

I think they girls liked it…
They sang all their best songs and we were waiting for the debut of their new song which just came out earlier this week…”Best Song Ever”, but they never did it.  Bummer. 
We can’t complain, though, because it was everything the girls thought it would be and more.  Generous Joe bought t-shirts for all the girls so the cousins could have an official concert shirt.  It was a night I’ll never forget because I loved watching my girls have so much fun.
      

“So we danced all night to the best song ever!!”