Pre-School Graduation

Kate Graduated Pre-school yesterday. She loved her class and her teacher. Mrs. Brown - she is in our ward and this is her last year. I think she did it for 13!
The program was cute, they sang quite a few songs and when it was 2/3 of the way over kate announced "I'm getting bored with this!"
She was so excited to get presents and flowers! At the store when I bought the flowers she said: "Oh, those are beautiful! Who are they for?" I told her it was a suprise for someone. "who, who?" "oh, just someone." She asked: "do you know them very well?" I said " not really!"
And then at the end of the graduation I gave them to her and she wouldn't believe me that they were for her. It was funny!
She'll be going to pre-school again next year since her B-day is in Sept. And then Kindergarten in Fall of 2009. Everyday I am blown away at how old she is getting.
She'll be 5 in 4 months!!

A Great Day in the Mountains

We didn't do too much for memorial day other than on Sunday after church we went down to springville and went to Hobble Creek Canyon to visit some friends who were camping there. They had a camper and we were too chicken to camp in a tent with the crazy rainy weather. But Sunday was just a perfect day and we had a lot of fun. We cooked tin foil dinners and roasted a lot of s'mores! It was fun! I can't wait to go camping for real on a warmer weekend!
I love the last photo with Emily holding tight to Ryan's ears as he runs toward me. Ouch!

Daddy Sandwich

Kate and Emily LOVE it when Daddy comes home!!

So David Cook it is!

Well I am a fickle fan! But it was cool knowing I'd be excited either way! I am really glad David Cook won! I love his voice! I just went and downloaded some of his songs before they were taken off iTunes. Anyway, it was so great to see some of the celeb performances and I thought both David C and David A's performances with celebrities were so amazing!

This is the first season I have watched pretty much from start to finish - it was pretty fun! But glad I can get on with life. j/k!

Which David was I voting For?

So... after watching the show David Archuleta captured my vote! I was voting for David C. after the first song (because I watched it at 10pm) and then after the next two I thought that David A. really deserved it! I know that David C will go far anyway! Sometimes - like Daughtry- their career can take off even more than the Idol who wins.
Anyway, Tonight we'll see!! How coll would it be to have an idol from Utah and who is such a humble person!
So I guess at this point I would love either one of them to win.

Go David!!!

Ok - tonight is the big night! I have a book party in Lehi so we are recording it! I LOVE DVR! But I will be voting for sure!! I am rooting for David Cook unless his performance tonight isn't good - which has not happened very often - so I am sure there's nothing to worry about!

Post your comments about Am Idol if your an Idol fan!

MULCH!

Ok - I have to say how proud I am of myself! I really wanted to have mulch in our flower beds ( I never thought we had so many and such big ones - but we do!)
So Ryan brought the mulch by (kind of for Mothers Day) and a few days later I decided to spread it - all by myself. Then about 2/3 way through I had to stop. But later I called Anita to see if she could bring Jordan over after school to help me. So she found him wandering around and brought him and 3 friends over to help me.
We were having an enrichment night that night in our yard about gardening - that was what made us do it all.
Ryan took a picture of the house this weekend so now I'll show it off. I think it looks so great with Mulch even though it was so hard and not a job for one person. Happy mothers day to me!!

Kate's Spring Party

Kate and I have talked about having a Spring party with neighborhood friends for a few weeks now and so we finally threw it together and had it last Friday. Each friend brought a rock to paint and put in their garden. Then I used glitter spray and a clear top coat - they turned out cute! I wish I'd gotten a pic. of all of their rocks. Kate was super excited about the dirt cups! We just bought pudding cups and crushed up Oreo's and added gummy worms. I got a few confused faces when I told them it was time to eat dirt with worms! Then we played Simon says and red light green light. It was just an hour so it was perfect! We have this cute Caterpillar so I thought it would be a perfect place for a photo. She wanted to invite some of her pre-school friends too and there were still so many more girls right from our neighborhood that we should / could have invited and maybe we'll have to do a summer party so that everyone can come. We have SO many little girls that live in the neighborhood - actually 80% of them are on our street too! What fun!

Testing Testing... 123!

Here are some cute pics while I was testing out the new camera. Jack was over at the time.

Buddies!!

I had to put this cute pic of Em and Jack Jack - our kiddie -corner backyard neighbor (And good friends)
Taken yesterday - on our new camera

Oh where, Oh where has our little blog gone??

I know - I've been MIA for over a week now! It's been crazy and we also have not had a camera so I decided to just hold off.
We got a new one - so far I like it! It's a Sony Cyber shotDSC-T20.
I like that you can delete multiple pictures by selecting which ones you want, and that it takes video - our old one did too - but I used it a lot! I also like how it has face detection and blur protector, red eye reducer, and it also plays music and does a slide show of your pictures - on the camera even before you download. The biggest thing for us is the DELAY! I hated our old one for that reason. This one takes the picture pretty close to simultaneously.
So far it's been pretty good. I went to this blowout sale yesterday and for it for 40% off I paid $168.
So now I can continue blogging! Aren't you all so glad! :)

New Halloween Slide show!

Ok - I decided after looking through all the Halloween memories I'd do a slide show for my blog. See it at the bottom. I bet you'll see yourself!
It's so funny how many pictures we have of Halloween! No wonder it's our favorite holiday!

In other news - I obviously figured out how to add cute paper to my background. I still think it's tough to read - so I am not sure how long I'll keep it. But I love it!

I also broke our camera!! I am so sad because I had all the pictures from visiting my Mom last weekend! (She got her 2nd Knee replaced and is doing really well!! She's got a new hip and 2 new knees now so she's the real Bionic Grandma!) I broke it right after taking some way cute pictures of Emily and Kate swimming! (That was Yesterday - the weather was beautiful and today it was pouring!) I am pretty sure my picture card is fine so I'll post the pics as soon as I get them.
So I am not sure what to do now! What's the point of a Blog without a camera? Ryan was just saying how we should get a new one and that this one could be used for his business. So needless to say we'll have to figure something else out! I guess this is why I'm doing tons with Usborne to afford the little extras!

Well - I hope you all have a wonderful Day! Love ya!

Ok - so Jason's going home. Did he seem relieved to anyone else? He even said - right before singing: "next week it's 3 songs each, I don't know what I would have done!" Or something like that!
So - not to come out and say I'm eating my words - but, I need to clarify- I like David A. and have voted for him all along! And I think it would be awesome for him to win!
I just think at this stage in the show I am liking the sound/ style of David Cook better. (it's probably that Sattle Grunge in me - I loved Nirvana and Pearl Jam back in Jr high!)
I know I said I'd vote for David Cook no matter what. But I am going to actually listen to their performances and vote based on how they do. Which I've actually done all along.....- ok - I did give Brooke a few sympathy votes a few of the weeks!
I guess with Syesha being the only girl and african american - and such a cutie at that! She could have a good chance of winning! :)

But I am still betting on one of the Davids - Probably "the Archuleta" as Lori says!
What do you think?

Help with background

um.. Help!
I was playing around and found a really cute background - tried changing it and ... well it didn't work and I lost my other one. Anyway, I didn't want to loose all my music, slide show and widgets so I am keeping this one for now. Can anyone help me figure out how to do a cute scrapbook style layout? I have a jpg file on my computer that I would love to turn into my background. I am not sure if it will work. I have been seeing some really cute blogs and I guess I want to do something new and fun!
Please send me in a good direction if you know of how to do this!

American Idol
Ok - here is my run down!
We've been pretty
addicted (we meaning - me
and Ryan just by default) Secretly he loves it!
I loved Brooke from the start - I was rooting for her because she was a good LDS girl with a cool voice- but I think it was
her time to go! I think that the 4 left are all good but one of the 2 Davids will win! I think that the judges (and Natasha Beddingfield) are really helping David Archuleta to win! He is sooo HS musical! And since that is sooo popular right now I think he could win! Ryan (my ryan - not Secrest) said that if David A. just sat there on stage and didn't sing he'd still be put through to the next round. I like David A. but I think if he wins it's mainly cause people think he's cute or because Murray High is probably offering extra credit if you can show how many times you voted for him. (Don't get me wrong -he has a great voice - but it's more old fashioned to me)
I am actually rooting the most for David Cook! He just has such talent and can make almost any song into a current hit!
I think that Syesha is so cute and has grown tons! But I don't think she'll win - but who knows - I probably just jinxed her to win??

Jason Castro - ok he's cute but weird and has no self confidence! He makes funny faces! Does anyone else think he looks like a younger John Travolta.

And I found this other look alike photo on someone's blog! So funny!!
I loved "over the Rainbow" -hence it's on my playlist - but ever since then he's just been sub par and I am sure he's on the show still just for his looks! After tonight though - he really needs to go - He's in the top 4 and messed up his Lyrics! I'll be shocked to see him "safe" tomorrow - But I bet he will be! Then it'll be down to Syesha or David Cook! Because Archuleta is pretty much a shoe in!

I tell ya what - if it comes down to the top 2 being the 2 Davids - I'm going to vote all night for David Cook but it'll probably still be Archuleta! :) I guess it would be pretty cool to see him win since he's from Utah - 17 and has a great voice - but he is so goofy on stage - it's uncomfortable watching him when he's not singing! :)

Well - that's my two cents! Does it make sense?
Let me know what you think! Make your predictions now!!

(I have a million other thoughts about LOST - but i won't go there! It's a love/hate relationship right now)

Here are a few of my favorite Usborne books! (It's hard to pick out just a few!)

I thought I'd share my main passion lately - these fantastic books and tell you what I do.

I just got my certificate to be an official Educational Consultant with Uborne books! This means I can not only sell at parties and booths etc. but I can sell books to schools and libraries!

I have been really busy with my business and loving it! When I started a year ago I just wanted the books - but now I am wanting to be busy with it! Besides - we're still coming out of winter so the extra money is great!

I feel great about what I do because it not only enriches my children's lives but many other kids also! Something exciting that happened is that I have been setting goals and actually achieving them! It feels so great to set a goal and actually accomplish it!

Usborne has been around since the 80's and now we're the #2 children's publisher in all of Europe. Our books are sold in 19 different nations too.

My vision would be for every child to experience and Usborne book! Every Child and teacher deserves Usborne books. We have many teachers who use our books as their curriculum!

Some interesting facts:
*The way they tell how many jail cells they'll need at the SL prison is by the reading comprehension levels of the 3rd and 4th graders.

*"Unless you have a good reason for not doing so, buy some books. It has been said that the US will not ever be a literate nation until we spend as much for books as we do on chewing gum." (From The read aloud hand book by Jim Trelease)

There are so many fun books for your kids to read and activity books and Kid Kits (a book w/ the activity) That are perfect for Summer time! Check out the sales that they have on line too! my web site is on the right side bar. Happy Reading!!!!