Happy Mother's Day!!

Today was another wonderful Mother's Day.  Brian was so great with breakfast in bed and giving me time to myself for a nap and reading.

I love my kids so much.  Being a mom is the greatest privilege I have.  I am so lucky.

 Me, my Mom and my sister at my Aunt's house.  I love family parties!

 

Sam's Mother's Day present for me.  He was so proud of the hand print he gave me.  I love it!

BFF

I have been having lots of flashbacks of all of the LOSERS I dated in high school. 

For some reason, I seemed to pick the ones who I had to constantly chase after.

I picked the ones who had contests over spring break to see who could kiss the fattest girl.  (I hate even typing that, it sounds so horrible).

I picked the ones who's friends told me to babysit their nephews while they got drunk, while he just sat there and laughed.

I picked the ones who asked me if I had been asked to the dance and immediately after saying no (and getting really excited, thinking they were going to ask me), they would turn around and ask another girl.

Just typing this brings tears to my eyes.  It makes me so sad that I was treated so horribly.

I remember my best friend's mom kept telling me that a man would come along who would treat me the way I deserved to be treated.

Then I knew Heavenly Father was watching out for me because Brian came along.

I feel like he was this bright shining light in a world of slimy, dirty creeps.

I was so shocked when he would open my door for me.  I actually didn't like it at first.  It felt uncomfortable.

I was shocked when for our first date, he wanted to go to the conference center and not into his hot tub or bedroom :), forcing me to tell him no over and over again.

I was shocked that he was the one to pick me up and call me everyday.

I thank my Heavenly Father every day for sending him to me.

He is my best friend.

I can tell him anything and I always do.  Probably even more than he cares to know.  I know that no matter what, he will always have my back and be there for me.  Even when I make an aerobics competition video with my friends.  I know he will help me when I need someone to make the video commentary :)

I will stop now because I hate when people talk about how much they love their spouse on their blog or facebook.

So, the reason I have been having all of these dating flashbacks is because of my little sister.  She is dating after her mission.  A LOT.

I don't even know how many dates she has gone on in the last month.

I have been very interested and calling her all the time wondering how her dates have been going.  I have loved hearing about all of the dates and what the men were like.

Like me, she didn't date the greatest guys in the past.  Although, they were much more respectful than my choices.

It has been very frustrating for me to see guys come along that don't deserve her.  I just want to jump in her head and make all of her decisions for her.

I am not sure what is going to happen to her and who is going to be her eternal companion but when she told me about one who stood out to her, I got so excited.

Thank you Mr Annonymous for showing my sister that there are men out there who care about the gospel and who respect women.
I better hurry and say that there are also great men who don't believe in the gospel, but that is not for my sister.

Even though I pray for her every night to be happy, I know she will.  She is in such a good place right now.  She prays about EVERY decision.  I just need to have faith in her.

I hope that everyone gets a chance to meet a man who will treat them this way because EVERY WOMEN DESERVES IT.

I am lucky to have an incredible Dad who has shown me how a woman should be treated.  He has treated my Mom so well and I know he just adores her.

I am also very lucky to have found Brian who is so different from me in some ways but he really is perfect for me.  My best friend.

If you read this, please post about your best friend!

I have been waiting for this day for a long time.

I have always dreamed of the day that I would put my daughter in her first dance class.

So when my sister sent me a picture of her 2 year old daughter in her dance class, I immediately signed Sarah up.

I was a little nervous that she wouldn't like it, but I was more confident that she would love it.

 

 

I have been waiting to use this tutu for a long time.  My Mom bought it for Sarah for her 1st birthday.

 

 

 

 

Sarah and her cousin, Ashley.  They were so funny together.

She had the best time.  She was seriously glowing.  I loved watching her dance.

She couldn't stop talking about her dance class and she kept asking to go all day.

 Is it weird that I want to cry when I watch this?

Easter part 2

My sister explained this event perfectly in her blog:

My parents did an outstanding job when they taught us
there is a time and a place to let your inner-child run wild.
The time and place usually occurs when we are all together...
Today's excuse was our belated Easter Egg Hunt.

I love my family.  We have so much fun together.

My kids and their cousins after their egg hunt!  We seriously have treats and snacks for months to come after this!

My boys have been dying over these shirts after they saw them online.  They were so excited to get them!

Dinosaur Park

A few weeks ago, Brian and I took the kids and their 2 friends, Cohen and Zoey to the Dinosaur Park. It was really cool. The kids loved it.

Oops. I don't think Cohen was suppose to be climbing on that. He looked so cute though.

Such cute girls. I love them together. I kept trying to take pictures of them. They got annoyed and started walking away. I told them to come back and they stuck their chins out and kept walking away. I think since they were together, they thought they could just do what they wanted. It was so funny.

Easter

We spent Easter weekend in St George. We might as well just move down there for the amount of time we spend there. We just love being outside where it is warm. My kids don't do well cooped up in the house all day.

I loved being able to take pictures of the kids outside. What I didn't love was the bright sun vs. shade in the pictures but oh well.

Danny

Sam
I love all this personality in these pictures. This boy is just bursting with energy. He is so fun and happy. He came home from school the other day and he was reading! I was so happy. He takes so much pride in his schoolwork all of a sudden and he has become a lot more responsible at home.

This was him pretending to be mad. He loves to make mad faces and then laugh. He doesn't do mad faces too well :)

Sarah
She is starting to get a tiny bit of an attitude but then I tell her to be nice and she quickly says "Thowwy Mom"(sorry mom). I love to hear her talk. She is still the happiest little girl. She is always up for anything and rarely puts up a fight. She loves to do whatever the boys are doing.

So excited for a new Thimthuit (swimsuit).

Easter Egg Hunt

This first picture is my Granddad with Sam and Sarah. I wish everyone could know my Granddad. He is such a wonderful man. Half the time he was with the kids, he was dancing for them and we were all laughing. He is so happy. My grandparents spend Easter with us in St George every year. We love it!
My Grandma and Granddad did an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids and they loved it.

I am sure you are wondering where I got this beautiful outfit. Well let me tell you.
So I forgot my church outfit and was just planning on going in my shorts. Luckily my Grandma went to her closet and found one of her church outfits that she hadn't worn in years and let me wear it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I did.
It had huge shoulder pads.
I kept laughing during church because it looked so funny.

Caitlin's Wedding Shower

I have been friends with this group of girls for 20 years.
I remember sitting with 4 of them at recess every day on the grass while all of the popular kids played 4 square. Once in a while I would go hang out with the popular girls while they watched me from the grass but then I would just end up coming back with my friends on the grass.
When I got into high school, I didn't talk to them much and it wasn't until the last few years that we have become really close again. They accepted me back like we had never stopped talking.
They are the true definition of friends. They are so understanding and would do ANYTHING for me anytime. I love these girls.
Anyway, my friend Caitlin is getting married, so we threw her a wedding shower.

She is so happy.

A bunch of our mom's came. They are really close too. Haha cheese!

woohoo!

Tubing at Soldier Hollow

We went to Midway a few weeks ago to go tubing at Soldier Hollow. This was our first time tubing there and definitely won't be our last. We had such a fun time. This is going to be our yearly tradition.

Sarah was so funny. At first I was really nervous because she had to sit in a tube all by herself but I relaxed a bit and she really did love it (although you couldn't tell by her expression).


Danny was a little stressed because he lost his hat on the way down.


Brian, pulling all of the kids by himself :) There was actually only a small part you had to walk. The rest of the way you were pulled up on a by a rope.

St George with my family

My family and I drove to St George after Elizabeth got home from her mission. It was so warm, I loved it. We did lots of swimming, playing at the park, playing tennis, and eating.

My brother, Alex was so cute with the kids. Little Earl fell asleep in his arms.

All the grandkids playing just dance (with Elizabeth).

Brian was in Chicago. We really missed him.