Yesterday was Luke had his NOVA graduation. NOVA is a program similar to DARE where a police officer comes once a week and teaches them how to be good citizens. Luke has loved this program. For one week he had to do a challenge where he gave up electronics for that whole week. He also had to right a constitution of how he was promising to live his life and make good choices. Luke was chosen to have the best constitution in his class. So proud of you Luke!
Yesterday Harlee went with all of the Traverse Mountain third graders, to the Clark Planetarium. She had a great time. She was in her group with her friend Audrey Pederson and her dad. He was nice enough to buy them ice cream from McDonalds! She said they watched a show about the planets and she had to draw me a picture of how small the sun looks compared to a big star! So glad that she gets to have these experiences.
A couple of months ago Joey picked up two free bar stools that were super ugly. They were light wood with rust colored cushions. Super gross and not our style but Joey was excited for the potential in these free chairs. He painted them white and I picked out some new fabric that would match our kitchen. I am so excited with the results! They look amazing and we ended up spending $17.00 on the fabric! Not bad for two new chairs! Love them!
Kent has been working hard to finish the wall in our room and it is done! I LOVE IT! We were able to hang our new picture and curtains. I seriously love everything about the room. It is perfect. I feel so blessed to have the bedroom of my dreams to share with the man of my dreams! We are truly blessed!
On Friday night, my friend Jen Mason came to stay with the kids while Joey and I made a quick trip to see a home in SG. There is a house for sale in Green Springs. The house is in a beautiful neighborhood. The house itself needs some work but the potential is amazing. We are going to crunch some numbers and see what kind of offer we could put in. It would be such a blessing for our family with six bedrooms and 3.5 baths. The back yard is the red rock with an amazing pool. We will see what happens but it was so nice to have some time with my best friend. Seriously love this life!
He must be growing because Tag is sleeping all the time like a teenager! The other morning he woke up around 7am and he was super grumpy. Harlee had gotten a pillow she needed to take to school for a read-a-thon and put it on the couch. Tag got his blankie, climbed up on the couch, and fell asleep on the pillow. He ended up sleeping until after 9:30am and slept through all of the noise of the kids getting ready. SO so cute!
Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to Harlee's class for her poetry reading. They had memorized several poems that they shared. Harlee and her friend Lily recited a poem about "Crows". She did not forget a word! They did two other poems as a class. Then we got to sit and read some of the poems that she had written. They were so cute and clever. They had to dedicate their book to someone and Harlee had written- To my Mom who I love with all of my heart! Such a sweet girl. I will never understand what I did to deserve her!
The other day for Gray's take home reader he read a book on Venus Williams. As soon as he knew it was about tennis he said "Dad would like this book!" So we took a picture to send to Joey. Gray is such a great reader and speller. I wanted to write down the cutest thing that happened. We were practicing his spelling words and he was struggling with "because". I could not believe that he would be asked to spell that word in kindergarten. So as we practiced Gray got really frustrated and started to cry. He is super hard on himself! About two minutes later the tears stopped and he sat up. He said "Mom, it is just be ca use." He broke it down and was able to spell it from that time forward. Such a smart boy!
On Friday I started my new job with Primary Residential Mortgage. Kent who has been a friend for over ten years and also did both of our basements, works for a coordinator for this company and helped me get the job. I will be coordinating loans for two loan officers and also have the ability to do my own loans. It really is my dream job in this industry. And the best part is that I get to work from home. Such a blessing! Friday I had to go into the office to meet anyone hence the "business attire". I did go and buy some professional clothes for the times I need to go to the office or to closings. I am super excited about this new opportunity!
On Monday Gray had the opportunity to bring home "Tiggeriffic". He wanted to do something fun with him so we went and got icee's and took them to a park. Gray had a great time place hide Tiggeriffic and the other kids would try to find him. Love these little memories that Gray gets to make from kindergarten. I told him I wanted a picture of him with Tiggeriffic and he insisted on putting him on his head! Gray is such a funny kid! Love him and his crazy personality!
On Friday, Joey was a trooper to take care of the boys so Harlee and I could enjoy some girl time. In the morning we went with Mindi to see the movie "Miracles from Heaven". We had the best time together. Such a great movie and we may have cried a little! After the movie, Harlee and I went with Jen, Afton, and their cousin to get pedicures. The place that we found did kareoke and pedicures at the same time. Jen got the party started by singing Madonna's Borderline. I love her outgoing personality! We then went to get some yogurt at Yogurtland. Such a fun girl's day in my favorite place!
On Wednesday night we went on a family bike ride on my favorite St. George trail. We have collected enough bikes for the big kids and Gray and Tag are pulled by Joey. We went about 3.5 miles and had the best time together. The weather was perfect! Nash did such a great job for just mastering the two wheeler. What a wonderful time spent together.
On Tuesday morning we decided to venture down to Vegas for a little fun. We got there and drove around Summerlan and Henderson. I would love to live there someday. It is so much like California but with an affordable cost of living. After enough complaints about driving around we went to Shake Shack for lunch. The food was really good and I am just continually amazed at how good the kids are starting to be at restaurants. If only we could get Tag to eat off the menu! After lunch we walked over to the Coke and the M&M store. The kids thought they were really cool. Then Luke and I rode the New York roller coaster. He loved it a little more than me. I think I must be getting old because I did not love how jerky it was. I did however love riding it with Luke. Then we went to Circus Circus and let the kids ride a ride. Tag and Gray rode the airplane ride, Nash and Harlee did a spinning type ride and Luke rode the roller coaster. So fun to watch them have fun! We fueled up with a slurpee for the drive home. Love spending time with my favorite people!
On Monday in paradise we started the day with an early lunch date with John, Darolyne, Colette, and Jim. We went to the Black Bear Diner while their girls babysat our kids. We had a great time visiting with them. Then we went on a hike with John and Darolyne to see where they cut the rocks out that were used to build the Tabernacle. Another fun hike where no one needed to be carried! We finished the night with a little pizza factory and swimming. Have I ever mentioned how much I love St. George??
We left on Friday to go down for 9 days to St. George. We were so excited to have such a nice long break in our favorite place. We got there late on Friday night and woke up early to garage sale. Luke was the lucky one who found two pairs of air jordan shoes that were like new for only $5! After garage sales we visited the new Harmons and took donuts over to grandma and grandpa. Then we went home to watch conference and to swimming. In between sessions of conference we went on a hike to the petrigraphs. It was such a fun hike. I actually said out loud that I was thankful we were out of the baby phase! Tag did the whole hike! The kids were so excited to find cool rocks and see all the amazing drawings. We had such a nice day. On Sunday we spent the day watching an amazing conference and then had a barbecue with Grandma and Grandpa. While Darolyne and I prepped the kitchen the kids gathered around Grandpa to hear one of his scary stories. I love this! Then Grandma set up a money Easter egg hunt for the kids. They loved it! After dinner we went to the park by their house and the Taggart's were down visiting. We had fun spending time with them and Luke even got to drive their razor. Unfortunantely a lady was upset about it and look was extremely worried he was going to juvi! Poor Luke! Other than the prison scare it was a great weekend. So lucky that we still have a week down here in paradise!
Nash has been thinking about getting his patriarchal blessing for a little while now. Harlee told him of how they did a devotional at HXP b...
