Mother's Day

Yep, still catching up! If you read my previous post you know things were quite chaotic on Mother's day weekend. It was SO NICE to spend the day with my mom though. I don't think we've spent a mother's day together since I left home in 1994. I had Allen take a few quick pictures before we went to church:

{I tried to crop out the fact that my undergarments were hanging out in every group picture he took - he somehow managed to miss this!}

The YM were in charge of the MD treat for all the women in the ward AND for teaching all the primary classes for the women in our ward (quite a huge undertaking considering how huge our primary is and the number of women who teach in our ward). Al was quite busy at church handling all of this. It was nice to get a break from Primary (I teach the 8 year olds) and get to go to all the meetings with my mom.

After church we were able to squeeze in a short nap while Allen graciously handled making dinner for all of us - lettuce wraps (my favorite) and sweet and sour chicken/rice. Delicious! My kiddos showered me with a pile of homemade cards and gifts (so my favorite!) that I will treasure. Allen brought my roses and a beautiful necklace I have been coveting. The kids picked out a watch for me. My mom bought me some fun(!!) home decor items for my bedroom. I felt completely spoiled.

It goes without saying that my children are my hearts treasure and fulfill my life in ways I never dreamed possible. I owe all that I am to my dear mother who is a continuous blessing in my life!

And just for fun, this is a little MD survey Carter filled out about me at church:

My mom's favorite food is: fondue

I like it when my mom makes: fondue

My mom is prettiest when: she's at church

My mom always says: good job

My mom is really good at: cooking

My mom is the best because: she loves me

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Whew! What a crazy, crazy couple of weeks it has been! Along with all the end of school year activities we have had going on, we also moved into our new house. It has taken me awhile to recover from it all. We only have 2 weeks of school left here so the next couple of weeks are crazy busy too but I knew I needed to do an update on our move.

My parents were so, so, so kind and came down to help us move. We had done a lot of packing/moving/unpacking before they got here so we thought we were in great shape for the move. I had moved over and unpacked the entire kitchen, most of the office and all of our closets. My parents arrived on Tuesday afternoon and my dad immediately got to work hauling loads of stuff over to our new house. Wednesday was much the same with Al and my dad working late into the night. My mom helped with the kids and helped me pack boxes and gave me several MUCH needed pep talks. Really, I was a mess with this move.

By Thursday morning we only had the bare necessities at the house plus all of our furniture. We had a bunch of guys coming from the ward to help us with the furniture that night. My dad and I worked like crazy all day getting things set up for the moving crew and moving over the stuff from the garage. That night the crew arrived and started hauling the furniture over. As they were dropping off the first load my dad pulled me aside and said he thought he was having a kidney stone attack and needed to go to the emergency room. Crazy! Al and a couple guys immediately gave my dad a blessing and then he and I hurried off to the ER. My poor mom was left to deal with the mess of the house and the kids who were desperate to go to bed.

We spent many hours in the ER Thursday night and they finally sent my dad home with pain medication and instruction to let the stone pass on its own. We pulled in at about 3:00 a.m. Watching my dad suffer in so much pain was HORRIBLE and something I hope to never have to experience again.

Friday was another crazy day as Al and I spent the day hauling more junk out of the house and cleaning before we returned the truck. We literally fell into bed at 8:00 p.m. and slept for 11 hours straight.

Saturday my dad still had not passed the kidney stone and was in a lot of pain again so we took him back to the ER. Once again they sent him home with MORE pain meds and the promise that the stone would pass within 24 hours.

By Monday the stone had still not passed and my dad was in extreme pain again. We took him back to the ER that morning and they finally checked him into the hospital to meet with a urologist. It was a really frustrating situation for everyone since he had been in and out of the ER so much with no real relief. They finally scheduled him for surgery for Tuesday to get the stone out and get his kidney functionality back to normal.

My poor parents were finally able to leave on Thursday morning after letting my dad recover for a day. Even with all the trauma with my dad, we are so grateful they were able to come and help us. It was a huge blessing to have them here with us and their help was invaluable getting us moved.

We are still living in a sea of boxes but every day gets a little bit better. In hindsight it would have been better to move once school was out since there is SO much going on the next few weeks. The best news is that we survived yet another move. Doing this move our selves gave me a HUGE appreciation for being professionally moved. It also motivated me to dejunk some of our stuff (like the TWENTY bins of kids clothes I've been hanging onto "just in case").

Again, a big thanks to my parents for all their help and support and for all those who helped us here as well!

First Grade Day at the Zoo

I'm still trying to get caught up on my blogging! A couple weeks ago was first grade day at the zoo for Carter's school. The weather was gorgeous and we got to hang out with our friends all day! The school was very laid back about things - parents could pick up their child and spend the day together and then get them back on the bus in time to leave. We spent the day with some friends from our ward and had a great time.

Here are a few pictures:

The first graders (Carter, Grace and Tyler):

Group shot (Carter, Grace, Tyler, Makenna, Addie, Abby):


Carter and Tyler climbed on every rock or climbed every tree they could find:

Makenna and her BFF Abby. These two are ADORABLE together:We have a zoo pass that we use pretty frequently but usually only spend a couple hours at a time at the zoo. It was really fun to have the entire day there and leisurely play and walk through the zoo!

Piano Recital

Carter's first piano recital was over the weekend. He worked really hard to memorize his piece and has improved a lot this year. Carter REALLY loves piano. I never have to ask him to practice and he usually stops at the piano several times a day and plays, outside of his regular practicing. I am so happy that he seems to really love to play. For the recital he chose to play the main theme from Star Wars. Unfortunately, part of the original video was cut off so I had him replay his song after the recital. There is LOTS of background noise but you get the general idea.



Carter also has a VERY fun piano teacher. She always has some fun contest going as a way to motivate her students. All winter she has been offering "music bucks" as a way to earn points towards a prize. The students earned bucks for practicing, doing theory, doing flashcards, attending a musical performance, memorizing, etc. Carter was extra motivated when she told him he could work towards some Star Wars Lego figurines:

With his teacher (and my good friend):



After the recital with Grandma:We are very proud of how hard Carter has worked this year in piano and look forward to many more musical performances in his future!

Mother's Day Lunch

Friday Carter's school had a Mother's Day lunch. Once again, I took my mom and we "enjoyed" lunch with Carter. The food was...interesting. They tried to make some fancy cafeteria food but it didn't really translate on a large scale. We still had fun seeing him with his classmates and having lunch together.

With my mom:

With some friends:

Mother's Day Tea

Last Wednesday was the Mother's Day Tea and concert and Makenna's school. It was such a cute little program and the kids did such a great job with the decorations and gifts. Here's a cute little video of one of the songs her class sang:

My mom was able to come with me to the tea and had fun seeing Makenna and her classmates. A few pictures:

Each place setting had this setup:
A mother's day card, a decorated flowerpot with flower pen and a placemat that included some questions the teacher's asked the kids about their moms with the responses. Here are Makenna's responses about me:

Q: Why did God make mothers?

A: So they will look beautiful

Q: Why did God give you your mother and not some other mother?

A: So she'll love me forever

Q: What kind of little girl was your mom?

A: I think when she was like 5 or 6, at Halloween time, there was an Earthquake! Grandpa had to go save everybody in the earthquake {true story but has nothing to do with my childhood}

Q: What does your mom like to do in her spare time?

A: She likes to play games with the family

It was a fun morning and start to the Mother's Day festivities around here.