Blessings

I have been so lucky to have had so many wonderful people in my life. Friends truly bring joy into our lives.
I was able to get together for with these beautiful women for a baby blessing. The baby was beautiful! The blessing was so sweet. It filled my heart with joy to be with these girls.

We never seem to grow up when we are together. Thanks for blessing my life these past 16 to 21 years! I'm so glad we are friends.

The Lost Year

This year will forever be known as my lost year. I was so focused with teaching and Michelangelo kept the camera at his studio so I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked during the year. So some pictures are borrowed and some events are not recorded with pictures. I think I got most of the important ones though. Here is my attempt at a quick catch up.

In the spring Monkey turns 8 and Bug turns 5!

 For my Dad's Birthday we went on a Penguin Excursion at The Living Planet Aquarium

. This penguin laid beneath Bug's feet for most of the visit and kept all the other penguins at bay. It was pretty funny.

 I took the girls to our Friend's campout this summer all by myself. Michelangelo had to work and I was pretty proud of myself for pulling it off. It was also nice to know there were plenty of friends around to help if I needed it. We had a lot of fun.

 For my side of the family's extend family reunion we went to Cove Fort and Bryce Canyon. It was beautiful! I love being with my family.

 All the girls started school. I started teaching for my first full year. Monkey started 3rd grade in the Spectrum program. Bug started Kindergarten. Boo started Daycare at the High School. They take great care of her and she gets to be with her sister for part of the day.

I began the school year with my own class of 2nd graders. They are the cutest people in the world. I love being their teacher!

 Monkey and Michelangelo entered the State Fair. This was Monkey's first time.

 Michelangelo won the Grand Prize award and First place in the Professional Sculpture category! In other art related news; Michelangelo made a strippling warrior sculpture to go along with the 2000 young men that marched in the Bountiful Handcart Days Parade. It was so popular Deseret Book has started selling them in their store. He also continues to receive orders from all over the country for his Native American Lacrosse pieces. Things are going really well for him.

 We spent alot of time on the Soccer Fields this year with both Monkey and Bug playing Soccer. Monkey is getting pretty good! Bug is starting to get the hang of it and loves making new friends each game. Boo loves to play games on the sidelines.

Boo and I had our Birthdays. Boo turned 3. I am 10 times that plus a year. Boo loved blowing out the candles but got a little confused when everyone sang Happy Birthday to Mommy as well.

Thanks giving was wonderful. Monkey was in the school musical, "Annie", and she and Bug were also in a singing group called the Gingerbread Kids. Monkey had 5 or 6 solos depending on which night it was and Bug kept us laughing withe her antics. She finally figured out that if she wants a solo next year she has to sing all the time this year. Needles to say the last two performances were much improved. Lets just hope she gets a solo next year.

Christmas was wonderful! The girls were so cute together and we had a grand time with family. I may post more about this later.

I got a camera for Christmas so hopefully I will be better at posting. My goal is once a month.

Photo taken by Amy Carlston at http://serve-sunshine.blogspot.com

 Despite being a lost year 2012 was a great year. I am so excited for 2013!

The Party Planner

 On Friday Monkey planned an impromptu get together with her friends.
In the beginning it was "can me and (neighbor's name inserted here) have a puppet show?" Sure I said. Then she asked for the phone list of our neighbors. That got my curiosity going. Who was she inviting and when were they coming? She had called 14 kids and I started to panic. I've always wanted my kids to feel comfortable about inviting their friends over, but when it comes right down to it I usually chicken out. I have a ton of excuses, my house isn't clean enough is usually number one. This time I decided to let her run with it as long as we played outside. 10 kids came and I think most of them had fun, but I was feeling pretty stressed about it. Luckily two of the moms stayed and we hung out, so it ended up being enjoyable for me as well. Although when we didn't have enough cups for the kids to get a drink, I made a comment to Monkey that we couldn't do this again for a long time. I wish I could take that statement back. I don't want to ruin this desire to plan things with friends at our house. I need to make sure I have a supply of paper cups and be a better sport about having parties. After all I know how fun it is to get together with my friends and if my girls feel comfortable about having their friends over I'll be able to be more involved in their lives and perhaps they will be as lucky as I am to have such great friends.

Some of my friends later that night at a park.

Everyday happenings

Day 4: My relief society had a get to know you dinner. I love these ladies.

Day 5: Boo playing the piano

Day 6: Talking over the fence. If they aren't in school or at each other's houses this is where you can find my girls and my neighbors. I'm so grateful for good neighbors.

Day 7: Eating dinner at Mom's and playing card games. Monkey earned the spot as the Great Dalmuti.

I discovered these labels at Living Locurto and made these for my husband and fathers. I think they turned out pretty cute.

Day 8: Bar-B-Que at Dad's for one of my highschool teachers retirement. Monkey had my camera took this picture and then my battery died. I forgot to charge it for a while, so there will be no pictures from last week.

East Canyon Resevoir

We were able to get together with a group of friends from high school and go camping. We try to get together once a year at Christmas, but the holidays are getting too hard. So this year we did it during the summer. I loved it. We went up to East Canyon Resevoir.

We had 21 kids ages 7 and under. It was pretty crazy. I loved that they could play and I could catch up with my friends. My girls enjoyed making new friends. The mud pie didn't come out of Bug's clothes very well. Maybe next year we can find some mud instead of clay to use.

I loved being able to sit around a campfire and see the stars, but having good friends there to chat and laugh with was the best.  I can't wait to do it again.