Still here, after all these years

Is anybody out there? I'm still here. Well, here in the cyber world. My last post was almost 6 years ago. I can't believe "they" let me keep my blog without any updates for almost 6 years. Crazy. I guess I could do a snapshot update on our life. We moved back to Utah in December of 2011. My little T-Man was 2 1/2 and had actually broken his elbow a few weeks before we moved, and he got his cast off the day before we packed up the moving van. Talk about timing. In January 2012, my husband started classes at UVU. He attended UVU Winter and Spring Semester in 2012. I started working again in January 2012 and have been at the same job since that time. Daniel transferred to BYU and started courses there in January 2013. He is earning his Bachelor of Science in Landscape Management. And, time warp, he's almost done. He will be applying for graduation this April and will hopefully "walk" in August. He will still have 2 classes to take this fall semester, but that should be totally manageable. He's gearing up to work hard this summer trying to build his landscape business, and that will hopefully carry us through most of the fall. We'll see where we go from there. My oldest son is almost 13. 13!!!! I am trying not to be all emotional about my little boy growing up so quickly! He's in 7th grade and doing pretty well there. He's made a few good friends and I am thrilled about that. His birthday is on Easter this year, so I am trying to figure out how to make his 13th birthday/Easter Sunday special for him. I am open to ideas (if anybody still ever checks in on this old blog). My "baby" is 6 and in 1st grade. He has the most wonderful teacher this year who has inspired him to WANT to read and do his best in school. He loves all sports, though his first love is football. But he plays anything he can. He has enjoyed playing soccer and basketball during recess most recently. He played his first season of flag football last fall and he loved it. I loved it too, actually. This football lover is thrilled that I have another football lover in the house. I work full time at a software company that makes your phone books possible. Yep. Phone books are still a thriving business. And my company makes the products that phone book companies use to make their phone books. It is a small company. And I have fantastic coworkers. And I love that I can schedule my work around my family's schedule. It makes it much easier on me to work outside the home. We are looking forward to spring. We love planning and planting our garden and taking walks out in the nice weather. I love to run in the spring, when the trees start to blossom and the weather is temperate. We are loving living in Utah and enjoying 4 seasons, beautiful mountains and real trees (not those shallow-rooted things they have in AZ), and we hope to live out the rest of our days in Utah. I hope to keep up this blog more often to keep the cyber world updated on our goings-on. Maybe it will end up just being a more regular journal for my family. We'll see.

Scenes from a Happy Birthday

The Family Birthday Party....
We enjoyed Homemade Pizza - YUM! See? The Birthday Boy loved the pizza:




Played with cousins:



The Birthday Boy enjoyed his very own cupcake (a little too much of it, actually...can you say 3 am tummy ache?)

hmmmm...what do I do with this?


Here, Mommy will show you what to do!




Like this?



Getting the hang of eating a WHOLE cupcake!







PRESENT TIME!
The favorite present was the bucket of pop together beads. The bucket was actually the highlight for Little Man, but I didn't get a picture of that :(

Of course, there was MORE than one gift, but silly mommy didn't get a picture of all the loot. But, he got several books, new shoes and the beads from Mom and Dad. Bubby gave his little brother a football. Our good friends gave Little Man a new pool float that has a sunshade (YAY!), a toy phone from his aunt, and two new teddy bears from Haba. Oh, and Haba is crocheting a blanket, too!

We also went out for a birthday dinner at Chili's on his ACTUAL birthday:

Lovin' Dad's Strawberry Lemonade:



Clap for me dad, it's my birthday! Yay for my birthday!


Awwww...birthday kisses from dad!


Hurray! I LOVE my birthday! It's FuN to be ONE!


(Do you see what that bib says? "Chicks Dig Me". Yep, they do!)

Happy Birthday, Little Man! We are SO happy that you came to our family. Here's some of your accomplishments in your first year of life:
1. You have grown 8 teeth with hardly a complaint. Such a sweet boy!
2. You have been sleeping through the night for many months. Thank you!
3. You have mastered crawling (which you did at 8 months), and have been cruising the furniture for quite some time now.
4. You have figured out how to stand yourself up in the middle of the room.
5. You have taken your first steps, and are getting more sturdy each day.
6. You make me laugh EVERY DAY - several times each day, in fact!
7. You have discovered that YOU ARE FUNNY! You PURPOSELY make me laugh!
8. You are such a good eater. You eat just about anything we put in front of you. BROCCOLI, CARROTS, GREEN BEANS, you get the idea!
9. You take GREAT NAPS!
10. You are SO cute with your big brother. You laugh at almost ANYTHING he does. It melts my heart!
11. You make the cutest vocalizations!
12. I love that you clap for yourself when you are practicing walking.
13. I love that you can blow bubbles in the water. Such a big boy!
14. I love that you are so brave in the pool - no clinging for you! You kick and splash and have a blast!
15. I love that you are so snuggly. Your kisses and cuddles melt my heart!
I love you, Little Man! Happy 1st birthday. I look forward to our adventures together this coming year!

And the Winner Is.....

The school Bubby attends does a drawing for students who have had perfect attendance all year. Only 2 students's names are drawn. They draw one name from the upper grades, and one name for the lower grades. Well, I got the call from the school principal last night while we were having dinner and she told me that my little Bubby's name was one of the 2 names drawn for the Perfect Attendance prize. I was SO EXCITED. And THEN she tells me me to keep it from Bubby so he can be surprised when she announced it during morning announcement the next day (which is now today). THAT WAS A HARD SECRET TO KEEP! But, I did it. Thankfully my mom was willing to tend the Little Man while I went to the school this morning to take pictures of his cute surprised face and such. His teacher didn't even know he was gonna win. She was surprised to see me walk into the classroom with my camera until a moment later when the principal announced my Bubby's name as the winner of the drawing. Here's a few pictures of the announcement moment:





The first is Bubby's expression upon hearing his name announced.
The second is his teacher's surprised look upon hearing Bubby's name called.
The third is on our way to the front office to pick up the prize.

What's that you say? WHAT IS THE PRIZE? Oh, did I seem to leave you hanging? Oh, alright. I'll let the pictures tell the story of just WHAT BUBBY WON:






First, he got a helmet, then he got A BIKE! YEAH! Bubby was one of only TWO students whose names were drawn from the WHOLE SCHOOL of students with Perfect Attendance, and the prize is a BIKE! and a racer red helmet (safety first!). It's a COOL bike! Don't believe me? Wanna see MORE pictures? Well, alright, here ya go:






Isn't he so cute the way he poses with his brand new bike? Cool kid with his cool bike. What is he most excited about? The bike has a KICK STAND! hahahaha he cracks me up! This super bike has 20# tires and pegs on the back wheel.
I'm so excited for my sweet little buddy. This is a perfect end to a roller coaster of a year. I'm glad we get to end the ride of this school year on a HIGH! Congratulations, Bubby! You TOTALLY earned it! Thanks for being so good about getting ready every morning so you could get to school ON TIME. Way to go!

Some Pictures for You

I'm being brave today. I just hope brave does not turn into "sorry", and that nobody creepy views this blog with the hopes of snagging pictures of a cute baby and doing weird things with those pics. Okay, do I sound paranoid enough? I shouldn't be, since I think there are a grand total of about 3 people who even view my blog, and I know your intentions are legit! Anyway, I thought I would post so pics of my chillins for ya to enjoy. Most of these are from Easter. The first one is Little Man at my mom's grand Easter party. He hit the motherload with all those empty Easter eggs! Heaven!
The next is Bubby at the family Easter shindig, hunting eggs.
And Bubby climbing the walls to get an egg.
Then there's Little Man with his little egg at our house that morning.
The last is my favorite. A tender moment shared by brothers. My little loves!

On-A-Roll

This is my Bubby. Isn't he the cutest little chef you have ever laid eyes on? Let me tell you a little about Bubby.
It's been kind of a tough year for my sweet little blonde angel. Moving has really turned his world upside down. And we moved 3 times in the past year. So, that being said, his educational journey over the past year has been a roller coaster. Lots of emotional upsets and disappointments. Thankfully, this school year has brought us the most amazing teacher. She loves my little boy, and has been willing to work with Bubby to help him overcome his struggles.
And since we have moved into our new home, I think we have been turning a corner. I think my sweet boy is FINALLY feeling settled and secure. As a result, he has been able to get a handle on his emotional outbursts.
And he has been working REALLY hard at home and at school. Ove the past few months, homework has not been the nightmare it previously was. I wasn't sure if the changes I have been seeing at home have been taking place at school. So, I sent Bubby's teacher an e-mail and asked. And you know what? She has chosen him for this quarter's "On-A-Roll" student for her class. Every quarter, the teachers in each grade can choose one or two students from their class who has shown improvement from previous quarters, is working hard, and is generally worthy of the honor. I am so excited for my little guy! I am thrilled that his teacher is recognizing his improved attitude and efforts. I hope it is a good boost for him. And that life just gets nicer for him.
I love my little Bubby so much. He is such a happy boy. So I am so glad that he is getting back to his happy self! WAY TO GO, BUBBY!

Birthday Sister

Happy Birthday to my Sister Kari. I love that my Bubby and I got to call you and sing Happy Birthday to you while you were getting ready for school. I love that I get to see you more often while I'm living here in AZ too. And mostly, I love YOU! Happy Birthday, KJ!

Anniversary

Today is the first anniversary of my LAST day as a Harvest Hills resident. Many emotions being felt. Mostly, I am grateful to have lived among the best neighbors in existence. I love you people.