Moving on....

Emma "graduated" from middle school.

Now, I know this isn't a real thing.  I realize this isn't a big accomplishment.  But, I may have still shed a tear or two seeing her up there.  Mostly because I am bursting with love and pride.  Oh, how I love this girl!  How I love the person she is and all she has to offer the world.  I just wanted to hug her all day long!

Ms. Sparrold, the advisor for student council, created an award just for Emma.  It was a service award for her work in student council over the years.  I am so so grateful for wonderful teachers who help teach my kids outside of school.  

She's a big fan of Emma's

And of course, these three.....

After the graduation, I helped organize a party for the 8th graders.  It was a big drama thing, but I won't get into that.  Things turned out okay in the end.

The kids loved the italian soda and candy bars.

One boy turned to his friend and said, "Dude, this party is lit."  I guess that's high praise.

I can't wait to see what high school brings for this amazing girl.  It's going to be so so fun.  My goal is to soak up as much of her as I can in the next four years!!

Shrek Jr.

We survived another play this year.  How is it possible that we've been doing this for five years!?  This year, was Shrek Jr.  Emma was cast as the lead princess, Fiona.  She was so perfect for this part!  Fiona is a sassy, headstrong, loud, and hilarious dreamer.  Hello?!  I could use those same words to describe Emma.  She was amazing!  Emma took voice lessons all year to help prepare.  She spent hours memorizing and practicing.  It all paid off during showtimes.  Her vocals were nearly perfect.  Her acting was spot on.  Her interaction with Shrek was hilarious.  Her ability to keep straight face while burping and farting on stage was impressive.  She was hilarious. This girl rocked it!!

 Her and Blaine (Shrek) have really become good friends this year.  That made the play all the more fun.

These guys are always being silly and having a good time. 

Here they are doing a promo scene at Fiesta Sahuarita.

Add Melody and the three of them are always laughing.

 Sydney was cast as several characters.  Her biggest one was Shrek's mother.  The entire first scene is Sydney singing to little Shrek about how  "it's a big bright beautiful world, with happiness all around....but NOT FOR YOU".  It was pretty great.  During the first performance, Brent turned to me after this scene and commented on how great the singer was.  He didn't even know it was Sydney!  Thankfully, he came more than once so he got to enjoy it again. 

These two have really shined doing these plays!

 Aiden got to be in the ensemble.  This meant lots of big dancing and singing numbers.  All the directors would hold their breath each time they'd come on stage in hopes that they'd all be singing and dancing together.  He worked hard all year to get the steps learned.  It was fun to see him nail it on stage!

Taylor got to be a tap-dancing rat.  She really enjoyed learning to tap.  And, of course, these kids were adorable.  She loved being part of the play again.

This photo ended up in the newspaper.  Too bad Taylor was hidden behind Emma.

Once again, I am so grateful my kids have this opportunity.  It is a special thing to be able to do something of this caliber in middle school.  

Ski Bunnies

For Christmas, we gave each of the kids a set of thermals with the promise of going skiing this spring.  As the year progressed, it was clear that there was not going to be enough snow at any local resort, so Brent and I decided to take a trip to Utah.

Now, let me just point out that this is a bit extravagant for our family.  Skiing with a family of six is not cheap.  But, Brent had this on his bucket list for a while and since he was so excited, we decided to make it happen. I was pretty apprehensive about the whole thing.  I've never been a strong skier and was worried that I'd be unable to help struggling kids.  I was very worried about someone hitting a tree, or going off a cliff, or falling off the lift or just giving up when it was too hard. Seriously, the more I thought about it the more I wondered how this had become a pleasure sport.  It has so many potential dangers!  But, Brent assured me that this would be worth it. So, he did all the planning and I collected all the snow gear we were borrowing.

Research (everyone on Cougarboard) said Brighton was the place for beginners (kids 10 and under ski free) and that ski school was a must.  So, we bought lift tickets, rented gear in Orem and were cautiously optimistic.

The first day, Cody and Sherise brought their boys.  We were all thrown for a loop when the canyon road required chains.  So, we quickly unloaded all nonessential items and hopped on the UTA shuttle.  We were lugging our rented gear and trying not to make it too obvious that we were out of our Arizona element.

Aiden waiting to ski school to start.

Maxwell, Aiden and Sydney excited to get started.

We enrolled the three younger kids in ski school and Brent took Emma on the slopes.



















 After a shaky run on the bunny hill, Brent talked me into going on a larger run with him and Emma.  I was very scared, but he assured me that it was a gentle hill and we'd go slow.  However, as the lift went higher and higher, I became very nervous.  When we got to the top of the hill,  Brent looked at the map and said, "Oh, I guess there aren't any green circles  (out of my comfort zone) on this run.  Only blue squares  (waaayy out of my comfort zone)."   I immediately burst into tears.  "I can't do this!  I am too scared!"  Emma looked over at me and wondered why I was freaking out.  Honestly, it wasn't my best moment.  Brent assured me that I could do it (which was really my only option anyway), and the three of us headed down the mountain.  After just a minute or two, it was clear to me that Brent must have been quite a great skier in his day.  He was a little worried that it wouldn't come back to him.  But, it did.  He was obviously comfortable on skis and was very patient with us who weren't.  It's fun to learn something new about your spouse after 15 years of marriage.  He can still surprise me. FYI- I made it down in one piece, albeit very slowly.

Emma did so great and was pretty fearless.  This is her and Brent at the bottom of the blue square run where I had a meltdown.

All the kids at lunchtime.  This was immediately following ski school and they were all anxious to show off their moves.

I spent the rest of the day with Taylor on the bunny hill while Brent took the three older kids on the real slopes.  I was worried that he was pushing everyone a little too far. But, a few hours later, we met up and I heard about how amazing everyone was doing.  They were skiing!

Maxwell, Taylor and I on the bunny hill lift.

You can guess the rest of the story.  Everyone was amazing!  I became more comfortable with my own skiing and was really enjoying myself.  I tried to reign the kids in from all the perceived dangers while Brent kept pushing them to try new things.  It was a good balance.  We rode the shuttle back to the car exhausted.


Day 2, we drove my parent's suburban up to Brighton and arrived bright and early.  However, it was much colder and very windy.  It snowed all day long.  We bundled up as much as we could, but we were freezing.  Brent got some old beanies we had brought, cut the tops off and we wore them as face masks.  Still, after two hours, we all needed to warm up so we stopped for an early lunch in the lodge.

We got something warm and then finished our lunch in the car while we waited for the wind to die down.

Once it looked a little less windy, we started out again.  Brent, Emma and Taylor hung out while I took Aiden and Sydney.  Aiden was a bit of a dare devil.  He'd weave in and out of the trees and get some air on a few jumps.  Sydney was much more cautious.  She liked to go slow and be in control (something she must inherit from me).  The powder from the storm was amazing.  It was almost fun to fall over in it.  We had so much powder in some places (up to 10 inches) that it would stop us from moving if we didn't have enough speed.

Taylor was amazing.  She learned to turn and was even going on some trails by the end of day 2.

At one point, Brent got in line behind Taylor and heard her singing a jingle to herself, "This is the best day ever!  This is so amazing!  I love to ski!"

By the end of Day 2, we were all sore.  Brent and I could hardly walk the next day.  But, nobody got seriously injured and everyone had a great time.  It was a huge hit.  We will definitely be doing some Jackman skiing in the future.

Musical Minions

Our month has been full of music.  The girls were busy preparing for the big piano ensemble at Centenial Hall.  It's a favorite of mine.  It's just so cool to be on that stage, in front of thousands of people, playing on a huge grand piano with a conductor.  I get a bit jealous.

 Of course, they both did amazing.  Unfortunately, they sat at a piano in the back for their song together. I just got a photo of the bows.

 Emma played a second song, in which she sat at 1st piano.  

I also got to chaperone Sydney's band trip to Flagstaff.  It was fun to see her do her thing.  She even won a solo award for one of her many solos.  Go Sydney!

Sydney is right in the middle.

 I mostly hung out with these lovely ladies.  It was nice to have some great friends there too.

Sometimes, when Sydney wasn't with her friends, she'd pose for a photo with me.

Or, we'd eat wayyy too much at the college all-you-can-eat cafeteria

After seeing all the food, she said, "Whoa!  I'm gonna love college!"  Then we had a little discussion about the Freshman 15.

After the festival at NAU, we had some snow fun.

I am so grateful that my kids have had good experiences with music.  It was a big deal for me growing up and I hope they appreciate it too.

Growing up is Always bittersweet

Our kid's portraits have been long overdue.  Finally, Brent found the time over Christmas Break.  Sydney's are still on his camera so they'll be coming soon.  But here are some of my favorites.

This girl will always choose a dress over pants.  She will always have holes in the knees of her leggings.  She always wants to snuggle and talk to me.  She is always getting her chores or homework done before anyone else has started.  She is always asking for friends.

This boy is always trying to go to school in whatever dirty clothes he slept in.  He is always playing with or snuggling with Tesa.  He is always ready to play soccer.  He is always the one to apologize first.  He is always avoiding schoolwork.  And those eyes still melt my heart every day.

This girl is always rolling her eyes.  She always says, "oh my gosh!".  She is always ready to perform (just ask her for a workout video).  She is always worried about getting enough downtime.  She is always wanting to hang out with friends.  She is always in her bedroom.  She always wears her hair in a top knot.  She is always looking prettier and more grown-up than the day before.

No small feat....

When all your kids have working bikes, you hurry and go on a family ride.

We rode to the Carlsen's, stayed and hung out for a bit, and then rode home.  It was about an 8-mile ride.  We learned that Taylor can do it, Sydney's bike is super heavy and slow, and we need to buy more helmets.  

A little famous and a lot grateful!

Back when Aiden was in the hospital, some of the staff asked if we'd be willing to help the hospital with their annual fundraiser.  It is a 2-day radiothon in December on one of the local radio stations.  I wholeheartedly agreed and was excited when we got a call in November to get everything set up.

They asked us to write our experience and send in a few photos (thanks to this blog, I didn't have to do much).  We scheduled a time and I mulled over every question and practiced my cool mom voice.

The broadcast was at the hospital and I let Aiden skip school for the occasion (he had told his class when to listen).  When we got there, they got him all hooked up.

They had given me a few questions to come prepared with and so I knew they were going to ask about this conversation from mother's day (taken off facebook):

     I was on hospital duty this morning when I casually mentioned that it was Mothers Day. Aiden's    
     eyes welled up with tears. "I'm sorry mom," he choked with tears falling, "the only present I can 
     give you is a smile." Then he smiled the saddest sweetest smile ever. "Thank you, buddy. That's 
     exactly what I wanted," I said. We hugged each other and cried. Best Mother's Day gift I've ever 
     gotten! 


As I told the story, I choked up a bit.  I looked at Aiden and he also had big tears rolling down his cheeks.  It was very sweet.

It was only a few minutes of air time, but it was a fun experience.  They asked Aiden a few questions and it was fun for him to get some air time with some of his fans listening.

Above all, it reminded me how much we have to be grateful for.  As I remembered those dark weeks, I was filled with emotion, again, for all the wonderful support we had.  Our friends, our families, the hospital doctors and staff were all amazing.  Most of all, I will always be grateful to my Heavenly Father that things weren't worse.

I was so happy to be able to pay it forward a bit.  The PR person asked if we'd be willing to talk to some local Sahuarita businesses too in hopes that they will keep donating.  So, maybe we will become the Sahuarita poster family for TMC.