Wedding Bliss

I love weddings!! Nothing quite like being around newlyweds and add food, family, and dancing to the mix and your bound to have a good time. Such was the case with my cousin Krissy's wedding in Logan last weekend.

Brother Rob and Lila

Cousins Magen and Kelli

Miss Caymbree Rose

GETTING OUR GROOVE ON!

Just Dance!!!

Hope and Hallee had their spring dance concert once again. They did a fabulous job as always and had lots of fun in the process. Thanks to everyone who came. They LOVED having you all there and they have not stopped talking about it.

Check out Hope's dance here. (Remember to pause my music on the playlist first)

To see more pictures and a video of Hallee's dance check out her blog here.

Memorial Day

So if you would have asked me on Friday morning what our plans for Memorial Day Weekend were I would have said "A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING!" How quickly all that changed. About 10am Friday morning we got a phone call from my mom saying that they were headed to Provo to watch my cousin play in the State 4A baseball championship game. Quite a few of my cousins and grandpa and grandma were all going to be there so we thought we would join in on the fun. Over 20 family members were there to watch my cousin hit a home run and win the State Championship. While at the game we decided to have cousin Olivia come stay with us for the weekend. The girls were so cute and had SOOOO much fun sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags.

Also on Friday around 3pm we got a phone call from the Bishop saying that the couple who were going to speak on Sunday had just called and cancelled so he was wondering if Troy and I could fill in. Luckily, public speaking does not bother either one of us it was just finding the time to write our talks with 48 hours notice :).

On Sunday we gave our talks in church and then I ran home to meet Rob and Rachel to get baby Lila. We were lucky enough to get to babysit her for the day and we LOVED every second of it. Olivia's family came down after church to hang out and have dinner with us. The kids were outside playing when a thunder cloud burst and it was like a someone poured a bucket of water right out of the clouds on top of them. By the time the kids got to back door of the house they were DRENCHED!!!

On Monday we had some friends call and invite us to the pool and a barbecue later that evening. By Monday night I laughed at our "Not a dang thing" original weekend plan.

School Days

So I have been doing a lot of substitute teaching lately. Interesting Job. And in the process I have discovered a magnificent way to improve our school systems. I think every parent should legally be required to be a sub at least once a year. I'm not joking. Parents need to see first hand what teachers do and more importantly what they put up with each and every day. It would give parents a whole new appreciation for teachers.

I have also noticed that in every classroom regardless of age there seems to be the same array of personalities. I often think about my own children and sometimes smile, sometimes grimace as I realize what category THEY would fall in to. Then I think about myself in school and which one I fell into to. (Again sometimes smiling, other times grimacing). So here is my breakdown. Anyone brave enough to disclose which one YOU were in school??

Brown-noser: Does anything to please, always right in your space asking for attention
Brat Face: Typically girls, constantly rolling their eyes at each and everything you say.
Tattle-tale: Oh, yes happens at all ages. Constantly surveying the room for anyone to tell on.
Whiner: Whines about everything!!!
Jokester: Wants to be the center of attention. Does not know when it's appropriate and when it's not.
Needy: Regardless of task they need your attention, approval, and recognition.
Cop: The one who is constantly on everyone's case
Recluse: Never makes eye contact. Keeps to themself. Does not want to engage in anything or with anyone.

And then there are those precious few:
Everybody's Friend: Say's hello to everyone who walks in the door. Constantly pays compliments to others.
On task: They come in , they do their work and they do it well. No fanfare. Just gets it done.
Trustworthy: You know you can ask them a question about how things are done and they will give you the honest answer.

There are always a few of them in every classroom. The problem is sometimes it gets too crazy to even notice them. I try to find them. I really do. And when I do I always pull them aside after class and let them know what a great kid I think they are. My favorite is in the middle schools and high schools. Truly class acts. Especially when they are boys. I was about brought to tears last week when I watched a cute, "popular" BOY readily give out sincere compliments to each and everyone he interacted with. It was amazing!

I come home everyday drilling Hallee about what kind of a student she is. Do you whine? Do you tattle-tale? Are you a good friend? And then the lecture begins as I "teach" her and Hope about what kind of student I want them to be. I hope they have a good attitude and take care of themselves. I hope they stay on task and are honest and responsible. And I pray that they are the type of person who builds up everyone around them. Probably a lot to ask considering that I was not always that kind of student myself. I guess I can only hope.

PS. Send a teacher a thank you note and treat today. They deserve it!!!

Happy Mothers Day to Me!

So Hallee helped Troy pull it off. The best Mother's Day ever! It started with a gourmet breakfast in bed with pancakes, eggs and toast followed by a plethora of handmade gifts from the girls.
The girls have been whispering secrets all week and working frantically behind closed doors on their craft projects just for me. You can't really see it from the picture above but there were A LOT of pictures and projects. Hope made me an entire book but my favorite is the one below. When I asked her what it was she said, "It's you mom. You're golfing." Ahhhh. Makes perfects sense. (Since I have never picked up a golf club in my life.)

Troy took over the duties for the day and let me indulge myself in laziness. He cooked all the meals, cleaned up afterwards, kept the kids busy and happy and anything else I chose not to do today.

Hallee is now the official party planner and kept Troy on his toes all day making sure they did any and everything to pamper me. In fact, Hallee even fixed me a diet Coke and had it sitting by the computer when I went upstairs to blog. Love it!

I am truly one lucky mom to have such an amazing husband and children who went above and beyond to make sure I had a wonderful mothers day. And wonderful it truly was! The only thing that would have made it any better would be to have been to share it with our own mothers who are both amazing women! We love you both and wish we could have seen you today. Happy Mother's day!

Lagoon!!

Hallee had her dance competition at LAGOON yesterday and as far as the competition went...not so hot. Lagoon however was a big hit as usual.
We had to have Hallee AT Lagoon ready to perform by 7am Saturday morning. This meant we had to get all the kiddos up at 5:30am! It was freezing and total chaos. To make a long story short the girls were rushed on stage and looked like they were in a state of confusion. Not their best performance but they still had fun.
Our friends little girl woke up in the middle of the night with a raging fever so Troy got to live out his dreams with two wives and five daughters for the day :)

Caymbree is completely terrified of rides (including the swings at the park) so anytime we got her even close to a ride she would start to come unglued. Finally after watching her sisters do the bumper cars she got brave enough to go on one with Hope. Then she got a little braver and decided to try it by herself. What a mistake. Every time the ride stopped and we tried to get her out of the car she would kick and scream through the entire line until it was her turn again. Luckily, the lines were short.

Most of the time she would just turn in a circle over and over and over again. But she never got bored with it. I think we ended up going on this ride at least five times.

Towards the end of the day I tricked Caymbree onto this ride. As soon as we sat down she started screaming. I think she held her breath the entire ride! Once we got off I asked her if she had fun and she said, "Yeah." But when I asked her if she wanted to do it again it was a definite "NO!"

It ended up being the perfect temperature and the kids loved it! And I quite enjoyed the toe touch contest that Troy and Tara decided to have in the middle of the park. For more pictures you can check out Hallee's blog here.

Hello Sun...we've missed you!

Ever since the sun has made its debut my girls have been BEGGING to turn on the sprinklers. Let me remind you...sun does not necessarily mean heat! For the past month I have had daily conversations with the girls about how 60 degree weather is not conducive to water fun! Finally, yesterday I had heard enough and let them have at it.

What posers!!!
I was convinced that they would be complaining about it being too cold within a matter of minutes but they proved me wrong. They loved ever second of it!

In Loving Memory

Bunny Stinker passed away on Sunday, May 3rd due to unknown complications. He lived a short but adventurous life full of trips down the slide, walks to the park, jumps on the trampoline and rides in the bucket of Caymbree's car/stroller. He is survived by his loyal friend and companion Diamond Lesha as well as his three greatest fans; Hallee, Hope and Caymbree. Burial services took place later that evening at the Hodges residence.

Ok. So really - it didn't go down quite so peacefully. The girls and I were in Logan all weekend while I was judging a dance competition. We pulled into the garage Sunday morning and the girls were eager to see the bunnies. I got to them first and saw Diamond Lesha resting her chin and paws on Stinker and of course I say "Oh, that is so sweet!" Then I realize that Stinker is not moving and my heart sinks and I have to start fighting off the tears. And then the girls realized what was going on and the flood gates opened. Hope didn't believe it and kept asking Troy to hold it. We took the girls inside and then watched in anguish as they fell apart. Hope took it the hardest and it was hard to get her over it. She just kept saying , "I didn't want Stinker to live with President Hinkley." Funny that was her first thought.

We finally got them composed and I sent them to church with Troy so I could finish getting ready. I was worried about Hope getting to primary and falling apart but Troy knew she was fine when she walked into church, saw one of my friends and announced "Stinker died. My dad put him in a box. Do you want to come see him?"

I felt like my emotions were right at the surface partly due to an insane weekend of a 14 hour judging day on Friday, five hours of sleep, and then a 13 hour judging day on Saturday with another extremely late night. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that when I walked into Relief Society saw all my friends who started apologizing for the loss of Stinker that I easily caved and had an emotional meltdown right there in the middle of RS. Lovely. And on top of that, most people probably think I was in pretty extreme mourning over the loss of a BUNNY! (Although I will miss the cute little thing :).

Now I hold my breath each morning as we walk out to where the cage is. I have tried prepping the girls that it might happen to Diamond Lesha as well. Oh, can't wait for that day.

Safety First

We had quite the family home evening tonight . You know, the kind that you laugh at, scratch your head in bewilderment and wonder if the kids really got anything out of it in the first place. Hallee asked if we could talk about our family emergency plan so I turned it over to Troy to lead the discussion. We quickly discovered that Hope had a LOT to say about the topics. All of them. Most of her thoughts were somewhat off base but deep to say the least.

First Topic - FIRE
Troy quickly gave the basics. Hallee chimed in with her info. Then Hope took over. "Ya, and when you get to the door, you don't want to open it, cause you don't have gloves. So you just need to yell outside the door, "Hey put on some gloves so you can open the door and then the guys will put on gloves and let you out." Hmmm.....

Next we discussed the whole stop-drop-and-roll thing. Hope had a different idea...."OR", she says, "You can just wait for someone to turn on their sprinklers and wash you off." Maybe not.

Next Topic - STRANGER DANGER
Next we went over possible scenarios of a stranger trying to get them to come with them. We gave out the usual enticements. Things like, "what if they ask you to help them find someone/something." Hallee immediately said you should never do it and Hope agreed. But then we added candy to the equation. Hope got a huge smile just thinking about it. Eeeekkk. Would it really be that easy?

WHAT IF YOU GET LOST IN A PUBLIC PLACE?
Hallee said to find a mom with kids or go to the counter. We said she was absolutely correct. Hope said, "Ya, cause people without kids are bad and they might take you!" Ok, we had some explaining to do. We tried to explain that a mom with kids was simply a safer choice which obviously cleared it right up for her. "Ya. And you wouldn't want to go live with "them" (meaning people without kids). So apparently you find a mom in the store with kids because they would be fun to live with since you have "lost" your mom?

EARTHQUAKE SAFTEY
Troy tried to show them what an earthquake might feel like and that things would probably fall off the walls and break. Then he turned to me to make sure I knew where the water and gas valves were located. I had no clue. He explains where the gas valve is located. Hope was even more helpful. "Or you could just go to the gas station mom."

We covered other topics like what do you do if you find a gun at school, or a friend wants to show you their dads gun, matches and other fire hazards and so forth. Honestly, Hope had a "rationale" answer to everything. She said them with such conviction that I'm sure she could get almost anyone to believe them. At first Troy and I did our best not to burst out laughing and give her an alternative solution but she seemed happy with her own solution. By the end we were both exhausted and wondered if anybody had gotten ANYTHING out of our little safety talk. Whew. Glad that talk is over. And after the way this one went I can't WAIT to see how the birds and the bees talk is gonna go. Now THAT should be fun.

Spring Break Run Down

After taking over 200 pictures this weekend here is my attempt to record all of the fun memories and mayhem!!

1. Hallee and cousin Olivia. Such a cute little friendship. They were able to have a sleepover on Thursday night and spent most of the night giggling.

2. Caymbree with Grandma and Grandpa. These two are amazing!! Their house gets turned upside down with all of us around!

3. A special hug with Great Grandma Larsen.

4. Cute baby Becca - My sister Adree's baby. Gotta love that smile!

5. Hope with Great Grandpa and Grandma Smith.

6. Sweet baby Lila - My brother Rob's new baby.

7. All the grandkids minus Lila and the baby girl still in my sister-in-law's belly. (Arriving soon) All of them under the age of 8.

Rob and Rachel blessed baby Lila on Sunday. They actually attend the same ward that Troy and I did before we moved to Riverton.

While at church I got to see my dear friend Brooke and her cute family. Brooke and I served in the YW presidency almost the entire time we lived in the neighborhood. We both had our first and second babies during this time period. I LOVED LOVED LOVED serving with her. She is amazing, talented and inspiring. Now her husband is serving as the Bishop and this amazing woman juggles FOUR boys BY HERSELF each Sunday.

Looks like my girls won't have to look far to find the perfect spouses :) Brooke actually has one more baby boy who was asleep during the photo shoot.

After the baby blessing we went to a luncheon where Rob and Rachel had planned a fun Easter Egg hunt for all the kids. Afterwards we went back to my parents house where my parents did an Easter Egg hunt as well. Between the two hunts my kids got more candy than they did at Halloween!!! Ironically, yesterday the kids had dentist appointments where the dentist asked the kids to throw away all the "sticky" candy (starbursts, skittles, laffy taffy...) Hallee (too afraid to say anything else) said "Ok." When he asked Hope, "Will you do that for me too?" She looked at him like he was crazy and said, "Um....NO!" Well, at least she is honest.

Caymbree spent the entire weekend stealing anyone and every one's shoes. One morning I found her outside in my mom's high heels mowing the lawn half naked. Oh Caymbree.

WICKED

The highlight of our spring break was going to the Broadway musical WICKED at the Capital Theatre in Salt Lake. We gave Hallee tickets for her birthday back in December so it was a long time coming but worth the wait!!! It is amazing!! Watching Hallee's face was priceless.

Introducing our newest additions....

We are SO not pet people. Well, actually TROY is SO not a pet person and I am just not willing to put in the time required. But I've always wanted my girls to experience having a pet. So this Easter we broke down and decided to get the girls a bunny for Easter. I knew we would be headed to Logan for Spring Break/Easter so I called my dad and asked him to buy a bunny that we could surprise the girls with. Of course, one just wasn't enough for him so he bought TWO bunnies. The night before we left for Logan we told the girls we had a surprise for them and started giving them some clues. Hope was convinced it was a plant. Yep Hope, we bought you a plant for Easter. Seriously, she is funny.

The girls were SOOOOOOO excited when they saw their surprise. When I asked what we should name them Hope immediately came up with Diamond for the gray one and surprisingly Hallee agreed. I said the black one looked like a skunk and so for a minute the girls started calling him Skunk. Later that day Hope informed us that the gray one shall officially be known as DIAMOND LESHA . And "Skunk" ended up being such a little stinker (not in smelly kind of way but in a mischievous kind) so he became STINKER. And there you have it.

All the cousins had SO much fun playing with them over the weekend and I was a little worried they may not survive long enough for us to get them home. They have two completely different personalities. Diamond Lesha is very mellow sweet and lets Hope carry it around like a baby. Stinker has spunk and loves to run!!! You have to keep your eye on it because it loves to make a break for it the first chance it gets. (Be prepared for "Have you seen me?" signs).

And now the million dollar dollar answer to your question....NO, we don't know if they are girls or boys or one of each. The salesperson didn't know. I guess we'll find out in approximately 21 days from now. And then we will be dropping a bunny off on your front door step.

Hard work pays off!!!

Some of you may remember THIS post. Well, Hallee's hard work finally paid off. Way to go Hal's. We are so proud of you!

SPRING OPEN HOUSE

SPRING OPEN HOUSE

(Just in time for Mother's Day!!!)

Tuesday April 7th 6:00-9:00pm

My House 12452 South Black Foot St.

Paisley Lane by Nicole: Little girl and toddler TUTU'S for a screaming deal! All the latest in flower clips, headbands, crochet hats, bows and more! Come see the spring collection of colors and styles. Bring outfits and/or Easter dresses to match.

Absolutely Charmed by Josie and Krista: Lots of new styles to choose from! Soldered pendants, glass lockets, little girl necklaces, bracelets and more!

Layers Clothing: Need a modest swimsuit?? Layers clothing can help!

Make sure to stop by Heather Gillis' WATCH PARTY the same night!!!