I'm trying to be a good mom.....

Saturday Casey was responsible for the kids for 1 hour...just long enough for me to shower & get ready for the day. 5 minutes into my shower someone was pounding on the door-lovely. When I got out I found cute Sawyer waiting very impatiently in my bedroom for me to be done-he had a surprise for me. While I was showering Casey decided to mow the lawn & the kids wandered over to the neighbor's yard sale. They were SO GENEROUS and sweet to my kids-it was the end of the sale so they let them take whatever they wanted FOR FREE! Can you believe it? Among the treasures they found I ended up with beautiful jewelry that they were so excited about-they just knew I would love every single piece. Sawyer keeps looking thru them and choosing what he would like me to wear-I nicely brush him off and tell him maybe tomorrow so he asked me, "Do you even like what I got for you at the sale mom???" All of you fabulous better than me moms out there please tell me what you would do!!! Do I wear it til I get out the door and take them off? Sounds a little crusty! Do I wear them just while I am home in my sweats? Or do I somehow muster up every ounce of love that I have for my son and wear it all proudly...even the lovely 80's green bead necklace with the huge bracelet and lovely matching ear rings????

Inspiration

If you want to be completely inspired and have a good little cry....go to Hilary Weeks from my blog...click on her blog and read about her experience with the incredible Huish family. WOW! I love love love her song "If I Only Had Today"-I listen to it often-good little reminder of the simple things that really do matter in this life-after reading this blog entry I will always think of it differently as I listen to it. It's so humbling to know that amazing people with very hard experiences can be such an inspiration to us. We don't know the Huish family but know another just like them-amazing Trent & his family. Our lives were completely changed seeing their experiences and watching everything unfold. Our hearts were broken for them and our testimonies were strengthened so much. I am so grateful for the Spirit-that as we live close to it and strive to be in the right places we can be a blessing to those around us. The journey of life is incredible and it really is The Great Plan of Happiness. Grab a kleenex and go check it out.

Amazing rainbows

This picture doesn't even come close to capturing it but the rainbows last night were absolutely beautiful!!! Hope you all got to see them. Casey kept trying to take pictures of it with my phone-this is a picture Alyssa took with our camera. I wish we were photographers-it really was amazing!

Summer Fun

Shay slidin....
Jaycee who is cRaZy and afraid of nothing was so nervous about this!!!
Sawyer flyin' with his buddies! ;)

My awesome friend called us yesterday to invite us to come slide at the park-the kids had such a great time!!! It was fun to have a little sunshine before the rainstorm to play!!!

Happy Father's Day

This cracks me up!!!  Jaycee's teacher asked her these questions at church today for her dad-so stinkin funny!  First of all-he doesn't LOVE chicken & rice-we don't eat it that often but he just requested yesterday that we only have that once a month-just brought it up out of the blue-we really haven't had it for atleast a month.  When I told him that we probably eat it once a month he said let's make it every other month.  His eyes are hazel-blue is close.  He does like to eat...but I think there are lots of other things that atleast rank close to eating on his "likes to do" scale!  He does like to be with me-who wouldn't?  He is 35.  I know he likes to take me out on dates-not sure he would do that over hunting...but glad Jaycee thinks so!  Best friend is only Craig (which Craig???)  because he likes to hunt-it should be ME!  Wheeles?  That's close to hoses-confusing when you are 4!  He does love me and he does look handsome when he goes to church.  I love to see things through a child's eyes.  Jaycee sure thinks her dad is awesome and she's right!  We are so lucky to have him.  He's such a great husband-he truly loves me for who I am-that is hard to do!  And he is the best daddy any child could ask for.  I am grateful for his example and his patience...we are so blessed.  

Sawyer Brown

Every parent has their priorities-the things that are important for their kids to experience and know.  Sawyer Brown is just one of those things for me.  I want them to know who they are and to let them laugh at their concerts-tonight was #2 for them...#? for me.  I have always loved Sawyer Brown-obviously-named my son after them.  Sawyer thinks they are pretty cool and so do the girls.  Thank heavens Casey enjoys them also!  We braved the cold and escaped the rain-so lucky it decided to clear up just in time!!!  Tonight it was free at South Jordan Park...awesome!!!  We saw them last year at Sandy Ampitheatre-I've been teased ever since that night because I waited outside Mark Miller's bus and sort of insisted on a picture of him & Sawyer.  The picture is on this blog somewhere-if you really want to see it you can dig-we look like drowned rats because it rained the whole time!  It was awesome!!!  Didn't even attempt it tonight-not as obsessed as some people think.  So there Brian.  And by the way-you totally missed out.  Whatever.  Hope you guys enjoyed your movie.

Sawyer's Big Day

Sawyer in his way cool-super stylish hospital clothes...he was bummed when he found out he didn't get to keep them!
The "whale" the dr drew on Sawyer so he knew what he was doing!  Scary!?
Picking out a Nintendo game to play while he waited...this is his child life specialist Amber who was AWESOME!!!  
Time to go--check out the expression on his face.  He's trying SO hard to stay brave-Amber offered to go with him.  I wanted to hug her--made me feel a tiny bit better about letting him go.
After surgery with his cute nurse Megan-giving the "thumbs up" sign.

Sawyer had his scheduled surgery yesterday...things went so well and he is doing amazingly well.  He was SO nervous about having surgery-he had lots of questions and tons of anxiety.  He was so brave all the way thru the entire process.  It almost made it worse for me as his mom to see him trying so hard to stay in control of his emotions.  I could tell he was so scared but gave everything he had to stay brave.  As the time was getting close for him to leave I felt the tears coming and had to fight them back to reassure him-after he was out of sight I completely lost it-I've never felt emotions explode like that.  It's amazing how much we love our kids-and how powerful that love and concern is when it comes to their experiences in this life.

The first thing the dr told us when he came to talk to us about the procedure was "We kept waiting for him to lose his courage but he stayed so brave!"  The first tears we saw from him was about an hour into recovery-I think he just couldn't hold them in anymore-he just wanted to go home and was ready to cry.  We are all grateful we have that experience behind us.  Sawyer has had a lot of visitors and they have all brought gifts.  The first thing he said today when he woke up was "Surgery Rocks!"  he totally DID NOT mean it-it was not enjoyable and fun-but it's funny how fast he tried to downplay everything.  He feels very spoiled and very loved-and he totally is!  ;)

I have to say that Primary Children's Hospital is seriously amazing.  We have only been there a few times but every time has been a great experience.  It's humbling to say the least to be inside those walls-it really is such an incredible special place.  We hope to not be going back anytime soon but are so grateful it is here!

Shay the soccer girl!

Cute Shaylee has played on the same soccer team for the last couple of years.  She has made such great friends being on this team and has been coached by 2 incredible men.  Our whole family has become friends with the families of everyone on the team.  It's been great!  This year the girls are splitting up.  Shaylee & a few of the girls tried out for competition teams-SHAY MADE IT!!!  We are so proud of her and hoping that practicing twice a week all summer and having more intense games will still make Shay happy (and that this soccer mom will survive!) She just loves soccer!  Last Friday we had a team swim party at one of the girls' houses-it was so much fun but also so sad!!!  Her coach Kelly had these shirts made for each of the girls and even had their names embroidered on the sleeve.  Such a cool gift-they were so excited!

I think the best part of being a mom is seeing your kids "become" who they are.  Each one of my kids are so different and offer something completely different to our family.  Shay is seriously the most giving selfless person I have ever met.  We love having her around.  It's been awesome to watch her become a better soccer player-and to see how much soccer is a part of her identity.  She has a zip up soccer hoodie that she wears ALL THE TIME~soccer truly makes her happy.

Lightning!

The weather lately has been nuts!!!  Neighbors have been flooding, soccer practice has been canceled, we even had to cancel our hike for Young Womens Saturday.  I think we are all ready for summer-the kind of summer where we enjoy sunshine and get to be outside!  ;)  Angel Moroni got struck by lighting on the Oquirrh Mountain Temple-so sad to see.

Shakespeare Rocks!

Casey went into work a little bit late yesterday so he could see her performance...he is such an awesome dad!  We are so lucky to have him!
DALLAN ;), Alyssa & Tristen....
Alyssa singing her solo part-she did great!  They worked together as a class to rewrite "Skaterboy" so the lyrics were about Shakespeare...this girl is so talented with anything music or dance!
THRILLER!  It was awesome!   One of the girls mom's along with Richard Parkinson who is amazing remade Thriller to be about Shakespeare...it really was cool!

When Alyssa told me they were doing a class play about Shakespeare I have to admit I totally thought it would be a complete drag.  About as fun as reading the Old Testament...is that bad to say?  I was amazed at how fun it was!  Her amazing teacher had a little help and made it so entertaining....Skaterboy & Thriller brought Shakespeare down to my level!  :)  I took the kids to watch it Tuesday morning and Sawyer asked me to take him back for the 2:00 performance.  They had a performance lastnight that Casey & I couldn't make it to because we had the AWESOME opportunity to usher in the BEAUTIFUL Oquirrh Mountain Temple...so I went back with Casey again yesterday morning at 9 to see them do it.  It's a blessing for us that they performed it for so many classes because we got to see it more than once.  SO fun to see your kids perform and excel at what they do.  Alyssa is such a talented and fun girl-we are lucky to have her in our family!

Blame It On The Rain....

Cute Alyssa before the recital......
Alyssa doing her first dance....just an fyi....because she is 12 and we just put her in a class to get her technique up again before she tries out for team she was sort of in the "special ed" class...she's an awesome dancer but she really shines in this class!  ;)
Starting to rain...Grandma Olson & Jaycee....
Sawyer, Shaylee & Grandma Nordahl.....they weren't crying YET but she was the lucky one when it REALLY poured!  ;)
Me & Casey.....

Anyone remember Milli Vanilli???  They were AWESOME!  They were back in the day of albums/cassette tapes-I should go to I tunes to get this song!  Blame It On The Rain was the theme of our night!  Alyssa quit dance to play the violin 3 years ago and then decided she wanted to dance again.  Tonight was her first recital with this studio.  It was at beautiful Sandy Ampitheater.  Dang hilarious night!!!  It started to rain a little-caused a bit of panic.  Then it poured.  The owner called an intermission to see if it would blow over-it only got worse.  The whole place was umbrellas and blankets-we were all soaked!  Casey & I & LeAna were laughing-the kids were sobbing because they were terrified of the thunder & lightning and my poor mom was stuck with the sobbing kids on her lap.  I think we were all relieved when they finally said to get your kids and go home!!!  The funny part is this is our 2nd time at Sandy Ampitheater.  Our first time was last summer to see Sawyer Brown-it rained then too.  The story is somewhere on here way back last summerish-we waited outside of Mark Miller's tour bus to get a picture of him with our cute Sawyer-by the time the wimp came out for a picture Sawyer was sobbing and we were all soaking wet.  Sawyer wouldn't just stand by Mark Miller so I had to hold him in the picture.  Funny memory.

SO...tonight was another funny memory.  But Alyssa did great-we are so proud of her!  She's one talented girl!!!