Happy Mother's Day!

Today it was planned that I would sleep in... and as it always works out the way I want, I woke up before 7am and could not go back to sleep!!! Such is the life of a Mother! Today I will just say that I just absolutely love being a Mommy. Definitely not the easiest job, but has the best benefits! Each of my kiddos is so different, each with their own personality and I couldn't love them more. 3 reasons why I love being a Mom are right here.

Wish I were Kickin' it like Old School

When I was 14, I started Karate and became addicted. I absolutely loved it and continued it until I left for College. I will be modest and say that I was actually really good at it and could kick some serious ace. I earned the nickname of 'Rubberlady' because of the way my limbs would move when I fought and how I could bounce back up when I got knocked down. Thus explaining my email address (which people often mistake it for something dirty, it's not!!) Good times. I would here and again get back into home training, but never really took off. I started teaching after I got married and then stopped when I got pregnant. My GI, my pads went into retirement and my muscles formed a nice cushion. That is, until this past week. I started a Kick boxing class and man, is it kicking my butt!! it is so fun and I am starting to feel something awaken in me. Could be my inner tiger, could be the arthritis, could be both. One thing I have learned though, is I am not 17 anymore!! I will say this though: I can still do a mean jump kick, and I managed to knock over one of the punching bags with one of my kicks. Granted, it was a smaller one that needed more water, but lets ignore that fact. Yeah baby! Rubberlady is making a comeback! Here is a picture of me prior to wrinkles and children. I was actually in good shape... and I had no stretch marks. ahhh... I wasn't 30. The second is me and my sister being idiots.

Yay for Joseph!

So Hurray for Joseph! He was selected in the lottery for the Dual Language program! This means that he will be in a bilingual program where he will be learning spanish. They start in kindergarten and continue on to the 6th grade. He is so excited and we found out that 3 of his buddies were also selected. To give you the odds there are 24 kids total 12 spainish native speakers and 12 english native speakers (6 boys/ 6 girls in each category). There is a 7 year commitment and if you do not get on the waiting list the first year, you pretty much don't get in so we are super happy for him. We've been speaking little phrases here and there so he can learn some and we have checked out bilingual books from the library. It's a fun way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

Catching up

So its been awhile since my last post. I've just been trying to get my groove back, and am finally starting to feel like myself again. We've been sick, one at a time, (me this last weekend) the good part was the stomach bug gave me just the edge I needed to fit into my new pants (haha). I've been working hard on my garden, and am almost done with the new additions (for now...) I will post pictures when I get it all up and running. Nothing too new and exciting here. This is a boring post, but I will leave you with a photo of Preston, his Dad and the boys at a UTAH football game Sept 2007. We were walking under the tunnel to get to the stadium and I had to take this shot. I beefed it up a bit w/ coloring and it is now blown up and hanging in his Utah room. We loved it so much, that when we were in SLC last, we took some photos of the Stadium and I worked more magic on them as well. We now have them lined up on the wall Gallery style, looks great. Preston has finally agreed to paint his room, so I will wait to show you when it is done. I know you all can't hardly wait. :)

Hello 30's!

So the day came, and I turned 30. I think that I was surprized to wake up and not be a hagg. While I have noticed some greys sprouting and some wrinkles gathering, I think I have a few years left in me before I will start to really freak out. I think I am having a harder time accepting other people aging over mine. Like my niece being a senior next year, or my Mom turning a certain age I will not disclose here.. or my sister that is 10 years older than me turning a certain age I will not disclose here either! ;) I also am having a hard time grasping the concept that Young Women I taught who were my beehives and Mia Maids are now getting married, are married or/ and having babies!! So not cool. My birthday was nice. We were in Salt Lake and the night before we were celebrating my Bro in laws b-day and got caught up in a game of cards, so I ushered in my day by winning 2nd place in Texas Hold em. Yeah baby! We ALL slept in, Jojo got up before us (so prior to 10:30) ;) and he and Nana made Muffins and surprised me with Breakfast! It was so cute coming upstairs and hearing Joseph "whisper" " Nana! She's coming, I can hear her, can you hear her? We have to hid the muffins!" So cute! We hung around for a bit and then set out for home. We first stopped by the Campus and we took some shots of the stadium for Preston's Room. I've done some touch up work and I think they turned out sweet. Maybe I will post them later. We stopped in Burley, ID (yippee...) for dinner and settled for Perkins. Preston made the comment "I bet you didn't expect that on your 30th birthday, you would be eating at a Perkins off the freeway in Burley, ID with your Husband and 3 kids". True, True, I was picturing it a little different than that... more like a JB's or Village Inn.;) The trip home was really long because of all the stops, but it was nice. Now today is a recoup day, we are all in jammies and I have been updating things, hence the 3rd post today. Here are some shots of me as a wee little whipper snapper and as a almost 30 year old. Me as a baby chewing a pencil sitting on golden carpet next to a fabulous plaid couch. Here is me in one of my last hours of my twenties with Fai Ana and Danielle. I'm the super pale one.

Aleah's Blessing

Last Friday (the 26th) we blessed Aleah in Salt Lake. Preston's Father, Ralph had the honor of performing the blessing. It was a very nice evening filled with lots of family and friends and Preston's homemade oven toasted sandwiches. (I must add honorable mention to the Costco chocolate cake). Here are some shots of my adorable baby girl in her blessing gown: We were so excited that we actually caught a smile on camera!! Just look at how adorable she is!

Me and Baby girl!

There were so many people around, kids young and old all running around, wanting to hold her etc... and she was so patient and calm the whole time. She's such a sweetheart and we love her more and more each day.

This is her with her Great Nana Jean. This is a 4th generation shot, with a 95 year age difference!

I'm no professional

I will admit that while I am not the best and that my cakes have flaws, but I have fun making them! Esp when they work with a theme. This is my latest creation. I made it for our Relief Society Birthday Mad Hatter Tea Party. I love how it turned out. While stylish, it was that much better tasting with dark fudge cake, homemade chocolate butter cream frosting and raspberry preserve filling. Yummy!! I made someone else cut it up though, I refused! ;)