State Drill 2012.....

We spent the day watching Kalee compete in her last Drill Team competition. I love to go to these, but unfortunately between family stuff and church stuff I was only able to make it to the last couple. They had an awesome group of girls this year and had placed really well all season. They ended up taking 5th overall out of over 20 teams!!!! Go Juab!!!

Excuse this pic of me.....it had been a long day!


Military 3rd Place....

Dance 7th place, but should have been higher. Their music stopped about half way through and they finished the rest of the dance without it and didn't miss a beat! It was so impressive that they received a standing ovation.

Character 5th place....They had placed 1st all season!

The whole group....

Kayden & Kalee....

Senior Girls....

Kynlee Olpin, Brittney Tatton, Alexis Allred, Chelsey Roper, Mckensie Morris, Jodi Fulton, Ashley Nelson. Front: Hailey Robison, Mckenzie Shaw, Brittney Chapple, & Kalee.

The big 30!!!

The dreaded day came to leave my 20's and cross over into the next chapter of my life. This was a day I was not looking forward too. Not because I felt like I was going to be considered old, but more the reminder of how fast my life is going by. 30 always felt so far away and with a blink of an eye it's here. I have always struggled with change and would prefer for things to always stay the same. As I look back on my 20's I realized my life has changed in almost every way. I went from single to married, from DINK (dual income no kids as Dr. Clegg would say) to having 2 kids, from living at home to owning my own, from spending my Sundays at home to being active in church, and most importantly from blond to brunette. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm a completely different person today than I was 10 years ago. I hope for the better, but unfortunately I have made many mistakes and have many regrets that I hope to continue to learn from. I have been faced with many trials, mostly emotional, and I feel stronger today because of them. Life is a challenge filled with stress, disappointment, grief, and feelings we can't always control, but I'm doing my best to look at the positive and enjoy every moment. I want to be a better person and a good example to my kids. I'm so thankful for my Saviors example and his love for me. I'm most grateful for this thing we call "LiFE" and hope to improve mine during the next 10 years!

Now on to the festivities. My fabulous family and co-workers threw me a surprise lunch party at work. Wednesday was my last day at work for the week and I had a meeting upstairs in the morning. We got out of the meeting around noon so the presenters brought in pizza for us. As I headed back to get a piece Deann and Jenna told me to wait because we were going to go back to the office and tell everyone there was pizza and then walk back with them. On the way back to my desk I kept thinking why are we walking down stairs to just turnaround and walk right back up. Did they not notice I was wearing heels? It didn't even cross my mind until I walked in and saw all the balloons! They said I turned red and was shocked to see all my girls! It turned out they had been planning it for weeks and I had been oblivious. Nikki had brought my favorite sour dough sandwiches, My mom did soup, and Tah Tah drove to Springville to pick up my favorite cupcakes from her cousin. My work girls did the decorating and Sherra told me later she had to smuggle balloons in that morning without me knowing. How lucky am I to be surrounded by such fabulous family and friends? Thank you to everyone who made my 30th one to remember and Thank you to the best sister for putting it all together!

The surprise and yes my mom even remembered her camera

I love Deann's face in this pic!

The best Co-workers

left to right-Sharon Huntsman (Sharona), Jenny Mellor, Natalie Mccoy(sitting), me, Sherra Carter (Shee-ra), Jenna Kendall (JJ), Joanne Seely (Jo-Jo), and DeAnn (Dean). I kind of have a thing for Nick-Names. I love these girls and they make working a blast!

The spread.....Yummy!

The best Family...

Me & JoAnne have the same birthday and have celebrated together for 12 years. This was our last thought since she's retiring in a couple of weeks so I had to get a pic...

My actual birthday was on Saturday and I didn't do too much during the day. That night we went to Los Amigos with Brady & Tenille for dinner and grocery shopping....How old are we? We always have a good time with them and I'm glad they joined us to Celebrate!

Cael's Family Party...

We had the usually troops over to celebrate Cael's birthday. For his meal all he said he wanted was Chicken with potato's and gravy. We decided to do breaded Chicken Cordon Bleu with homemade honey mustard, mashed potato's & gravy, corn, green salad, pasta, & roll. It turned out yummy and the kids loved the little colored swords we used to hold the chicken together. Cael couldn't wait to open his presents and was spoiled by everyone.

Waiting to open his presents while everyone finished eating.

Cael's Birthday loot...

G&G Smith-Star Wars jacket (to replace the one he got for Christmas and lost at school...ugh) and Star Wars III DS Game.

G&G Jarrett- Red Rider BB Gun & BB's (my mom teased him and said they got him underwear. He was pleasantly surprised :)

Grandma Worwood-Ninjago Lego set

Chris & Jakoye- Connect 4 Game

Newton's- money

G&G Morgan-money

Cael's 7.....

The birthday boy got his favorite breakfast-french toast, bacon, & eggs, before heading off to school for the day. The class sang to him and then I took some suckers in at the end of school. When Casey got home from work we headed up north so he could pick out some new shoes. He wanted to eat at Red Robin and then we headed down the mall. After much deliberation he chose these white/silver/black Nike shoes. We then stopped at Walmart to get some of his party supplies. He picked out a Ninjago lego set to put on his cake. It turned out to be a great night. We are so thankful to have Cael in our family and love him to pieces!

2011 in Review....

The past year I have seen a huge change in Cael. He has been the best help and at times my right hand man. He has done fantastic in school. Every time I see his teacher she raves about what a good student he is. At teacher-parent she showed us his test scores and they were all pretty much 100% with a few 95%. Last year he struggled a little so I was relieved to see him doing so well. She then told us that we were doing a great job raising him. His class room manners are excellent. She said he is a hard worker, polite to her and the other kids, obeys class rules, and just a great kid to have in class! He definitely has his moments at home so it's good to hear he's minding his business at school. This year he was separated from most of his friends from last year which has turned out to be good for him. Getting along with others (except his sister) seems to come natural to him and he has made a lot of new friends. At recess he mostly plays with Justin Ballow, Nolan Miller, Joseph Peterson, Alex Jackson, Wesley Nielson, Breyer Wright, & Carter Mcpherson. He will also talk about playing with some of the 2ND graders. Until the last couple of weeks they would play football everyday and now they have moved onto basketball. Cael has become obsessed with sports, mostly BYU & Juab, and will watch a game on TV for hours. Before this year I honestly don't think a ball game had been on our TV besides the super bowl...for the commercials of coarse. Casey has never watched sports until this year and we have also been trying to go to the Juab games. Cael loves it and I can see him getting more competitive. The negative is him being so Rough! I keep reminding him that he can't play with the little kids like he does with his friends at recess. Lets hope he's over his wrestling aggression problem this year. He now weighs in at 61 lbs and wears a size 8 slim pant. He wears his hat with a flat brim like a teenager. When we bought the hat I instantly started shaping it and he about come out of his skin. I'm not ready for him to act like a teenager and to top it off he came home from school last week and asked if he could go "shoot hoops" at the school. He still has an ongoing collection of Lego's and is getting old enough to put some of them together by himself. He also loves to play with his R/C car, the wii, and DS. At the first of the school year he lost his two bottom center's and now has his permanent teeth in.

Where do I start.....This little miss can have me pulling my hair out one minute and laughing at her cuteness the next. She still is struggling with making it to the potty. Some days are better than others, but sadly I don't think she has made it one whole day with-out a little accident. This is so frustrating and I keep telling myself that it could be worse and she could also be struggling with #2, but still I'm so sick of worrying about it. I've even had her checked out hoping that maybe they could find something, but all I got was reassurance that every things fine and I need to be patient with her. On a good note though, her speech is improving. It's still not where I want it to be, but it's getting better all the time. She loves to sing and dance. I love to hear her version of a song which mostly is made up of her say the same line over and over in her sweet little voice. It makes my heart melt. Her new love is baby Libbi and keeps telling people that I'm going to have a baby on Tuesday. Every night in her prayers she blesses her baby and that it will come on Tuesday she also blesses "Wy, Nini, Gav, & Libs". I have to laugh that she always forgets Halle, they have a complicated love-hate relationship. She also prays for a good day. So sweet. When she is out to Mona she is constantly reminding Nikki to not forget "Libs". One morning Nikki was taking a quick shower when Kensie burst in and yelled that the baby was crying. Nikki reassured her that she was Ok and she would be out in a minute. Kens was not very impressed with Nikki and let her know that "you can't leave that baby crying!" It sounds like Nikki is constantly explaining herself to Mother Kensie. I've said it before, but I will be shocked if she doesn't end up with a dozen kids. She loves playing mom. Lately she has been loving to dress up her stuffed animals in her jammies. Who needs build-a-bear? She then tucks them all into bed in her dresser. I chuckle every night when I'm putting her clothes and every drawer has a animal in it. She has a really good imagination and is alot better at entertaining herself than Cael. She can play for hours downstairs with her dolls and kitchen. When she grows up she wants to be a "Hair Cutter". I keep reinforcing that you have to earn a license to cut hair. I don't want any surprises... A fun facts is that her eyes have turned green. I thought for sure they would stay blue, but after a couple of months going back and forth they are definitely green like Nikki & Grandma Linda's. They are really dark and it wouldn't surprise me if they even went brown like her dad's. The other day she had a "drama Fit" over Casey putting her blanket on Cael's bed. She had big alligator tears and cried "i had that blank a long time since I was a lit girl and I don wan Cael peein on it!"...can we say Sassafras! She is also loving school and learning lots.