Florence Nightingale & A Pot of Gold

At the end of February Bailey finished her historical project. They had to choose and research someone who was dead and had made an influence on the world. The individual could not be a celebrity or solely known for religious affiliations (basically telling them they couldn't do Nephi or Joseph Smith) :) Bailey chose Florence Nightingale, she was the first nurse, and while there were several repeats, Bay was the only Florence. She was pretty proud of that. She learned a lot and was a good help on this project but lets be honest, I did a lot of it. I guess that is how they learn, a 4th grader can only do so much. She had to give a little speech about her (which she still has memorized and recites often), make a tri-fold, write a report, and dress up like her. They had a museum with all of the students to show case their hard work. She ended up getting 100% on the project. She was proud of herself, she taped her grading sheet to the door for me to see when I got back from dropping off Ellie at gym. I glad she enjoyed the project.

Good Job Florence!

That is my moms nursing hat that she wore in nursing school. Florence actually only wore a bonnet but we thought the nursing hat so better suited for the event. Her nickname was the Lady with the Lamp, so uncle Spencer crafted us a lantern for her to hold.


At the beginning of March Ellie had her Pot of Gold meet for gymnastics. This is the big meet of the year, where the students have the opportunity to pass off their current level and move up. She did awesome. She really wanted a new leotard for the event and it made her perform like a rock star. She 3 blue ribbons(beam, floor, and bars) and 1 red (vault) this earned her a gold medal and the opportunity to move up to level 3. She also got invited to be on the team. We aren't sure we are quite ready for the time and financial commitment just yet, but it will probably happen eventually. I think this is her true love.

Way to go Ellie, we were so proud of you!!

I was running the video camera and Ryan was chasing Logan, so Bailey was in charge of photography for the day. She did a great job, she captured some good moments. Thanks Bay.

One Month Old and the rest of October

This is a photo of Laney when she is 1 month old. She is a good baby. She is very content, even when she is drug around to all that everyone is doing. The kids are adjusting well. The girls are excited to see her everyday when they get home from school. Logan does pretty good. If Ryan is holding her, he will tell him to give me the baby, so he can play with him. Here are a few of the other things that we did this month.

Bailey had a space project due. She had to make the solar system accurate in size and scale. Lets be honest here, Ryan and I were heavily involved, but she really wanted to make it her own and did all that she could. It turned out really well and her teacher asked to keep it as an example.

Ellie was picked to be Principals Pride by her music teacher. She got to attend a special ceremony in the morning before school and she got to hang out with the principal during her last recess. Her teacher said that she is always sweet and enthusiastic. Good job Ellie.

I am also proud of the fact that we all made it on time to the ceremony at 8:30. Everyone was very cooperative this morning. It made a world of difference.

Ellie was able to go the Ag Expo for a field trip. I was able to go with her and take Logan. It is a fun event that they do every year. The kids get to see animals, agriculture and enjoy some milk. They also had.................



HUGE John Deere tractors. This little man couldn't get enough. I spent a good portion of our time out looking at these. He couldn't stop talking about it. He still loves to look at the pictures.

Logan is adjusting well to sleeping in a big boy bed. We made the change a few weeks before Laney was born. He has always been such a good sleeper, he really loved his crib so I was a little worried, but he did great. He looks so grown up in this big bed.

Ryan went on his second annual pheasant hunting trip with his dad, brothers, brother in law and a few of his dads friends. They drove all night to North Dakota and hunted for a few days and then drove home. They all think it is the best time ever. I am not so sure, but I say whatever makes you happy, and I don't want any pheasant!

More Laney photos

Her cord fell off at about two weeks, then she could take a real bath. I had a lot of helpers for this. Logan and Ellie helping with the washing, Bay with the photographing.



Her sisters love to hold her and pose for a photo

Cute girl

First Week at Church

First Day of School

School is back is session. The girls were excited to go back. We were all very excited about the teachers that they have this year. They both got really fantastic ones, so it should make for a great year. They got up early and were ready to go with plenty of time. Let's hope the rest of the year runs that smoothly.

Ellie has Mrs. Van Quill for first grade

Bailey has Ms. Densley for fourth grade

Ellie is excited about going all day. I am going to miss her. I think the transition to first grade is much harder than Kindergarten. They are gone for SO long.

She is ready though so I think it will be okay.

Logan thinks he is going to school too. He got to go while we took the girls to their classes so I think he figured that he went to school. By the time we ran some errands and he took a nap it was pretty much time for them to be home, so I don't think he felt to lonely. He loves going to get them off the bus.

I think we are going to have a great school year!

The Month of June

We started off the month with our Primary Talent Show. Since I had to help be in charge of it and Ryan had to try and run the video camera and tackle Logan, poor El had to recap some of her talent for a photo op at home. She did gymnastics, we came up with a little routine show casing some of her sweet moves. She did such a great job. You could actually hear people say oh or wow when she did her one handed cartwheel. Bailey played the background music for her on the piano. It was a job well done by both of them.

Bailey and her BFF Sariah also decorated a cake to display as their talent. They both did a great job deciding what they wanted to do, and making it look fab. Good job girls!

School is finally out, it seemed like those last few weeks went on forever. The kids didn't seem to mind since it was mostly just doing a lot of fun things. We were actually able to have field day this year. Every year since Bailey started school the weather has always been awful on field day. This year it was perfect, not too hot but nice enough to enjoy being outside. I was able to be with both of the girls classes, it was fun to watch them do all of the fun activities.

Water games are a field day hit


Go Girls!!

Last Day of School

Ellie had her Kindergarten music program and graduation. They sang a few really cute songs, including Peanut, Peanut Butter and Jelly. Always a fan favorite. Ryan was late and Logan was awful during the entire thing. There is a pretty embarrassing story that goes along with this day, it includes me falling down, but I don't need to type it all out. It is burned in my memory FOREVER. The good news is Ellie didn't notice and she had a great time. Hopefully the video isn't too painful for her to watch in a few years. She had a great year in Kindergarten and loved her teacher Ms. T.

On the last day of school there is always a family picnic. It is fun to sit outside and watch all of the kids. They are so excited for summer and to have a break from school.

Bailey and her teacher Mrs. Cacioppo. She was perfect for Bailey, she had a good year.

This is Bailey's most awesome Girl Scout Leader that I spoke of in the previous post. She also works at the school. Love her, love her daughter and her granddaughters. Great family!!


Summer is Here!

Girls Trip to Denver

In the middle of June I took a little trip to Denver to meet up with two of my most favorite people, Sarah and Natalie. We met 8 years ago in Las Vegas while all of our husbands were in dental school together and have been good friends ever since. We haven't had a chance to hang out for a long time so it was so fun to just talk and catch up and spend a weekend without any kids (or husbands)!
We arrived Thursday afternoon and besides going to dinner and to Target, we literally just talked until 1:00 in the morning!
Friday we slept in, ate the continental breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to see the "Body Worlds" exhibit. It was really cool. Sarah and I spent 2 hours walking around looking and reading everything. Poor Natalie was 7 weeks pregnant and not feeling well so she just sat and waited for us- sorry, Natalie, for taking so long!

We then went to a really nice mall and did a little shopping. We ended up at The American Girl store where Nat and I bought some fun stuff for the girls. Sarah just walked around and dreamed about how fun it would be to have a reason to buy one of those cute dolls! Now she will get her chance :)
Look at all of our good finds!

We ate dinner at a restaurant called The White Chocolate Grill. The food was pretty good, but the dessert was amazing! This white chocolate brownie sundae was one of the best things I've ever eaten. Seriously so good. I still dream about it!!

Saturday morning we slept in again, ate our free breakfast and then got pedicures. We decided to get 4th of July nails and even though they were all totally different, they all turned out really cute! It was fun to go with people usually I just go by myself, it is much more enjoyable with good friends.


We then got lunch and did some more shopping. We stopped at a toy store and got some good stuff to take home to the kids. Can't go home empty handed after being gone for a weekend!
That night we headed downtown and ate at the Cheesecake Factory and then went to see a play that I had found called "Girls Only." It was a hilarious comedy about women. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! My abs honestly hurt the next day.

The whole show was put on by these two women. We didn't really know what to expect, but they were surprisingly able to carry the whole show. Definitely worth the money!


After the play we went to a place called "D Bar" which is a dessert restaurant owned by Food Network celebrity Keegan Gerhard. We were a little scared of the menu since none of it made sense to us, but everything was really good. It was the perfect way to end a perfect weekend!

I have eaten a lot of chocolate cake in my day, and this was hands down the best I have ever had. It was so yum!!

Sunday morning we had to get up early to catch our flights. Mine was delayed due to weather which was kind of annoying because once you get to the airport you are ready to be home, but it was kind of nice to just sit there and read my book by myself too.

The kids were really excited to see me and to get all of their fun surprises that I brought for them. Thanks to Sarah's husband Jon for coming up with the idea for the trip and thanks to Ryan for letting me go and for taking care of the kiddos while I was gone. It was a great time!

Father's Day

I love this picture. These kiddos love their daddy.


Ryan's hygienist got married at the end of the month. She has always been so sweet to the girls and very supportive of Ryan so we were happy to be a part of her special day.


The girls loved dancing under the gazebo

The Month of May

May is always a crazy month, here are some of the events that made it both fun and crazy......

We started out the month by finding out what we were having and much to my surprise

It's A Girl

I honestly was completely shocked I was convinced it was a boy. Ryan says he knew it was a girl but didn't want to tell me. So much for evening the score. I guess Logan will be in touch with his feminine side?? After the shock wore off..............we are excited. This little girl has thrown us for a loop from the beginning, I hope she doesn't give a us run for our money.

Happy Mothers Day

I am lucky to have these healthy, beautiful, crazy kids. I am happy I get to be their mom.

The kids and their friends thought they would start Spring/Summer of right by having a lemonade stand. They tried to make the lemonade from scratch and even added real lemons. They mixed it up in that bucket that they all kept tasting it out of. I don't think they sold much, thankfully, but they had a blast doing it and that's all that counts.


COOKING MOM

I had the opportunity to be the "cooking mom" for Ellie's kindergarten class. It was so much fun and the kids always looked forward to it. They were always disappointed if I was at class that day to do something other than cooking mom. Some of the kids in her class even called me cooking mom whenever they saw me. We tried to do things that coordinated with the letter they were on. We made mini pizzas, smoothies, granola, marshmallow octopus, and the final one of the year was letter Y. I felt like we had used yogurt a lot so I needed to come up with something else, plus it was the last one so I wanted it to be fun. At my sister suggestion, they made "you" or self portraits of themselves on sugar cookies. They all did a great job. I will miss being cooking mom. Ellie said, "I hope we have cooking mom in first grade."

Ellie's self portrait

Bailey had her bridging ceremony for Girl Scouts. She is no longer a Brownie :( She has had such a great time in this troop. Her troop leader is seriously amazing. Love her!! Bailey would be a Junior Scout now if she continued, but I think we will take a break. She has Activity Days, her leader is going to be less involved this year so I could be time to move on. I am hoping I can get her leader to do a troop Ellie's age.

Way to go Bay, what a cute Girl Scout you are.

Thanks to everyone for supporting her and buying cookies.

I am proud of her for all of the things she accomplished as a Girl Scout and the good friends and relationships that she made.

Miss Bay also had a busy soccer season. She played with a great team this spring. Her coach is awesome. We got lucky, that man was put on the earth to coach soccer. Bailey really improved and had a fun season. Her team won the championship. They lost won game all season and had to play that same team in the championship game, which they won. We have been playing that team for 3 or 4 seasons and came close to beating them a few times, but it was nice to get a victory. She really loved playing for Ice Purple. I think she will get to have the same coach in the fall, so we will see how that all plays out.

Sweet hardware


The team in action

Bailey, Megan and Natalie have played together for a few years. I am glad they were able to stay together when they got on this team. Cute girls!!

Bailey had her end of the year music program. She did a great job. She had a little one word solo and she was very into all of the songs, dances etc. She loves this type of thing. I could still sing most of the songs because she has been singing them around the house for quite some time.

3rd Grade Picnic

This year the 3rd graders decided to have an end of the year picnic. Our spring weather wasn't the best, so I am glad they had a good day. Ryan was able to come home for the afternoon so I could go help out, and I was glad that I did. It was fun to watch all the kids and help them play the games. Bay was a champ at the potato sack race, and she was a good sport in the 3 legged race when the only person left to pair up with was a boy she didn't really know. It was a fun day.

Memorial Day

The girls are in to wearing hats right now.

We didn't do anything to exciting for Memorial Day. Mel and Spence were in town looking for a place to live, so we just BBQ'd and hung out. It rained early in the day so I was glad that it cleared up in time to enjoy being outside. It did give Logan a good reason to wear his boots. He loves these things and every time we go to Target and he sees them for sale, he thinks all of them are his and yells "my boots, my boots" at the top of his lungs. Great fun. Good thing he looks so cute in "my boots."

May did not disappointed this year, always lots going on. Summer is on its way!!