The BIG Recital

It just wouldn't be Hope without the big cheese.

Hope had her second recital for tap and jazz. The first one was dress them up in Christmas colors and come have fun. This time they ordered costumes, had professional pictures taken, and performed at the ampitheatre. She loved it all; especially the costume. She did a great job. If she has many more I'm going to have to invest in another memory stick. I didn't want to miss a step. I'll save you from all of that and just give you a couple.

Hope's Graduation

Hope graduated from the preschool that four other moms and I took turns doing each Friday. We learned ABCs and reviewed shapes and colors. She can now write the letters in the alphabet and loves to ask what words start with or "What starts with...." It was a great chance for her to make wonderful friends and she's heartbroken now that it's over. I'm glad she loves learning and has such neat friends.

We are still here!

I figure after almost three months, it's time to post. Life has been uncharacteristically crazy. In April Tony and I stole away on a 7 day cruise of the Mexican Riviera while my parents kept the kids. Those pictures are on Tony's camera, so more about that later when I know where that camera is.

A few weeks before we left for Mexico we found out that we are expecting our third. Kind of a shock, but it didn't take long to get really excited. The day we came back from our trip we found out that I've been accepted into nursing school in August. That has brought it's own excitement along with anxiety, stress, and lots of contemplation of what to do with our little one coming. We've prayed and thought and prayed more and have decided to get it done before our lives get possibly more hectic. So, I've been working through orientation, financial aid forms, drug tests, background checks, physicals, etc. etc. etc.

We've also picked up the home search since our two bedroom condo is seemingly shrinking by the day and we undoubtedly need another bedroom now. It's been exciting, frustrating and consistently overwhelming. It's definitely a good time for us to buy, but the sheer number of foreclosures alone makes my head spin. We think we've finally found the one and will hopefully have some definites this week. However, nothing is happening as fast as I want since we want something we can fix up and need to have the majority of it done before school starts in August.

Anyway, I think that's most of the big stuff that doesn't come with pictures. Above are the ones that I did take picture of. Thanks for being patient in our absense.

I Am a Mother

My mom gave me I Am a Mother by Jane Clayson Johnson last year for Mother's Day when I was reading nothing but anatomy textbooks. I finally picked it up and was hooked instantly. She's an amazing lady with an amazing testimony. The book is about understanding our callings as mothers and taking pride in it; realizing the impact we have, and what we've been given to fulfill our callings. There are great stories from her life and beautiful quotes from prophets and apostles. It's full of encouragement and inspiration and made me want to try to harder. One proverb in particular struck home for me...

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow,
For babies grow up, I've learned, to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.

I stress way too much about everything there is to do and have asked Hope to wait too many times to be snuggled or to look at the pictures in her book while I finish something, and then we can read. I know there will always be things that are urgent and can't be done later. But a lot of it can, and it's important for me to "help" Ben with his puzzle that he can easily do himself, but just needs my attention.

I hope you will all read it and that it will impact and touch you as much as it has me.

Cole and Amy's Wedding

Even more in love than on our wedding day!

Hope the flower girl, Tryston the ring bearer, and Jess who smiles through everything.

Our - the bigger the better- happy family!

These are pictures taken at Amy's wedding last weekend. It was such a fun weekend. But really bittersweet since it was the last time we got to see Dave and Monica or Emilee, Lehi and Emrie before they both move way too far away.

Peekaboo and Spooky

I'm not sure if he's resting or if he's wedged.

This last weekend while we were in Escalante for Amy's wedding we had the unusual experience of having an entire afternoon with nothing scheduled. So, Tony decided we were going to go hiking in the slot canyons. I was excited because we've been really trying to work out more and I knew that packing our kids most, if not all of the way, would be awesome exercise. Keven and Jen came over and we headed out. The farther out on the desert we got the harder it rained and blew. I was really starting to dread this. I was just thinking about two very tired, wet, cold kids. The flash floods that go ripping through the slot canyons after a rain storm had not yet even crossed my mind. Tony was absolutely determined; so I said a prayer as we bounced over the washboards. I sat in the truck at the top of the canyon gathering my courage. As soon as we all got out the wind stopped and a great big circle of clear sky appeared above us. It turned out to be a magical afternoon. It was great to be able to share that with Grandpa and share such a cool thing with our kids. For the most part they had a great time jumping out at each other yelling "boo" and climbing in and out of the rocks. They were absolutely beat towards the end and in some places we tried to carry them at arms length as we squoze through the canyon. Keven gets clostrophobic so he hiked along the top and took all the pictures. I'm grateful for such an amazing experience. Even though my mom took us numerous times when we were teenagers, it was a whole new experience with our kids.

Proudest Big Sister in the World

Mike being honored for Academic Allstate.

Cutest Fans!

I wish you could hear the cheering and screaming during this picture.

Proud and happy fans all sporting our red.

I've never heard dad get into anything as much as he did these games. Nobody was quite as proud as him.

We got to all go to Richfield to watch Mikey play in the state championship tournament last weekend. They played Rich on Friday and trailed most of the time. Right at the end Mike drained a three putting them one ahead. After a foul shot they won by two. On Saturday they played Paiute for the championship and after a great game won by six. I love the excitement of watching him play and wish we could do it all over again next year, but know that he has great things waiting for him. He also received academic allstate for athletic ability and academic success. He's amazing!! It was a great weekend and was so fun to just spend time with the family.