First day of preschool!

He's been so excited and couldn't hardly contain
his excitement waiting for 9:30! :)



Happy Birthday baby Riley!

Baby Riley made it safe and sound today! 

Congrats to my brother and sis-in-law and new big sister Alyssa!

Don't you LOVE it when FHE actually turns out successful??? :)

Since our family (along with the Tripps) are singing "I love to see the Temple" for the Primary Program in a couple weeks, I thought we should practice out song and learn about Temples for FHE this week.  The magazine to the left that the church put out a while back was awesome!  The kids loved looking at the pictures and there are lots of good nuggets of information in the margins.  Now, the lesson was great, but the activity was a BIG success. We played Temple bingo and the game helped us learn different facts about the Temple and things we can do to help us prepare/stay worthy to go there.  The kids LOVED it!  Parker has even asked to play it again today....over and over. Love a successful FHE!

(I found a blog called thegoldenseven.blogspot.com and she has lots of ready to go FHE....this is where i got the temple bingo cards, in case you wanted to know)  



Fashionista's first day of 5th grade!!

So, I posted this on Facebook, too, but look at how fashionable my daughter is on her first day of school! Fashion never mattered much to me.  Sure, there were some things I had to have.....like that ONE pair of Guess jeans I had that I wore over and over again because I only had the one pair, and that awesome leather jacket that I discovered in my Mom's closet way before Christmas and had to wait FOREVER to actually get it.  But most days I was content with rolling out of bed for Seminary and throwing something on. Comfort was important to me because between show choir and play rehearsal I was often at school for a long time! So, jeans and a t-shirt has been my wardrobe since...well.....a LONG time.  I was also a bit of a tomboy and was never much into "girly things". No frills, no bows, no pink..... and despite my early, apparently failed, attempt to have Aileen follow in my sports loving, jeans and t-shirt wearing, throw my hair in a ponytail footsteps, she has ventured out on her own into the world of girliness.  Lucky for me, she's a natural, cause I am no help in this department.  Now that I've rambled on......she is cute isn't she?  All decked out and ready to take on the world......well, 5th grade, at least. :)

Happy Birthday Aileen!

I CAN NOT believe my little girl is 10 years old.  Other than a few different memories and experiences, 10 years old, 5th grade, is really the first year I remember A LOT about.  It was a big year for me.  I had my first lead in play. .....my parents got divorced.......we had a tornado while at school (I will never forget that panic on my teacher's face as we ran out of the prefab building our classroom was in into the main school!) and it was the first year a boy brought me gifts (I later learned he had been taking these "gifts" from his mother and I had to return them. hehe)  It was a year of many highs and lows for me....a year that really did shape some things in my life.  I only hope that this year is full of lots of ups and fun experiences for Aileen, and yes, a few downs.....it's through the downs we grow the most, right????  She is so precious to me and such an unbelievable young lady.  I am so lucky!!!  Here are a few captured moments from her first double digits birthday......

What could be better than birthday blueberry muffins!

Grammy got her gymnastics classes for her birthday.
And lucky for her, her first class was ON her birthday!



That's her smack dab in the middle of the pic



Not sure too many kids would choose Panera for her birthday dinner ;)

She's not really a fan of cake, so cookie cake it is!

Happy Birthday Aileen!!