Schools Out for Summer

-What a fun summer we have been having and it all started off with- 

*Jo graduated from Orem Preschool Elementary on May 28th at 10AM. 

*It was really great! She wore the cutest lil graduation gown and cap that they made in class from a tshirt and paint. They sang some really cute songs, were presented their diplomas (which were compiled of a book she has been making of the ABCs all year called Ants on An Apple!) They showed a slideshow which was soo fun to see what she had been doing all year. Then they broke a class made pinata and ate some cake and punch.  

*The pinata was suppose to be a fire breathing dragon but it looked more like a duck and JO agreed. She said they go to make it in their class and the morning class got to paint it.

*We were blessed to have our Grandpa Herbert, Grandma Innes, and Dad there.  The whole time Ryker was talking to my Dad ^about going for a ride in his blue truck. It was was driving me nuts though and I am sure Grandpa too. Ryker  literally would not be quiet about the truck... until JO came out and started to sing.

*It was soo cute to watch her and her classmates strut their stuff. I am MAD at myself for not having the video camera. They sang the "Stranger Song" the Alaphardy ABCS ( to the jeopardy theme) and "a tootie tatta" song. The expressions on some of the kids faces were to die for. some said "This is so lame with the eye rolling and all"  "Why do I have to do this" "Is it over yet?" and then there were those that had a great time and really got into it and they were FUN!

*JO was one of the kids that did very well. She wasn't shy at the least.. SHE must be My kid? I am thinking of putting her in a dance class. 

*As they were presented her diploma their answers were read to a previous interviews with their teachers "What are you gonna do now that you have graduated preschool?' There were answers like *go to the pool,  *go to the park, *play with friends, *go to Disneyland, and then one boy said *get married  and go to college. Later I found out he really said "Get married to Jo and then go to college" :)! Jo loves the boys and they seemed to like her.

*WE are so grateful we found that preschool and that we could afford it, work out Jims work schedule so he could pick her up and all sorts!! This school was so good for Jo. They helped her so much and she grew in so many ways. She learned to share better, take turns, be happy with what she got and her speech is MUCH better! She has awesome teaches and aides that we will never forget.

*Later that day we went to go to the Dinosaur Museum  at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi but we couldn't find a friend to go with us so we then decided to try out the Childrens Garden there, but the water exhibit was closed so... we went to my mom and dads house and played on the swings, had some cookies, rode bikes, played with baby Macade and of course played in the truck. It was a good day!  

Our happenings in photos!! Clickety to Biggify

ok I know this isn't pics but it IS important

Help 4-H out with 2 minutes of your time...

As many of you know, 4-H (the job I LOVE) has been earning much needed funding through the Albertson’s Community Partners Program. WE need your help to continue earning funds! All you have to do is link your Preferred Savings card to 4-H by going to,

www.albertson.com/cp/

All you will need is your preferred saving card number, your phone number and the organization number.

Utah County 4-H # 49000118401

Please link and tell your friends and family. We earn back 4% of your shopping dollars for every purchase you make. If you need help let me know.
Thank you for your support!

(stolen from my bosses blog but I totally support it)

Jumping for Joy!! Long Post & pics to come

Our weekend started off with my trying to coax Jim into going to a 90 min presentation about a travel company to get a free trip. Well he looked up the reviews and many people had said the taxes and fees you were to pay were really high, and they were there for 3 hours!! So needless to say with that not starting till 7:45PM in SLC we decided to not go we had better things to do with 3 hours of free time. Of course on Monday I got a phone call wondering why I hadn't gone. I told them why, they weren't happy, told me I was "misinformed" and was missing out! YADA YADA YADA

SOo..... Jim and I planned a date to the temple instead but first we had to go do something for for Rykers bday.

WE kept JO home from school, hey she is only in pre school I can do that right? We went to Kangaroo Zoo. It is a place in Lindon with tons of HUGE inflatable slides, jumpers, obstacle courses and more!!! We stayed for about 2 hours and had a good time. Jo made some cute friends and I have to say I enjoyed myself a little too much. Ryker well he got little tired, and hungry and I have to admit it was more fun for JO and I. :) I felt guilty because they don't charge parents for watching, I didn't say I was going to watch, but anyway... I took a few turns on the big slides with my kids! We can't wait to go back or maybe I can't :)

I even got Ryker to let me keep his faux hawk. He hated it and kept saying "make it down, make it down!" but I just changed the subject hehehehe.

After we jumped bumped and slid we asked Ryker what he wanted for lunch. He said "chicken" so we went to the Wingshack in AF. It was soo good and Ryker ate it up. We had terriyaki and mild wings. Ryker loved the terriyaki and fries. JO .. not so much.. 

*Funny thing about Ryker he loves hot stuff we took him to Wingers awhile back and he insisting on trying the wings so we let him. Now JO at this age cried and fanned her mouth, "Hot HOt HOT".. she would say.. RYKER noooo... he loved them. "MORE MORE MORE" he would say!!!

After lunch JO insisted I get back to her school in time to pick up here mothers day present so we shot back to 5 mins before the bell rang got the stuff and got out of there before traffic. WAHOO!!! JO gave me a cute little card and a flower she had planted in a plantable? cup. It's a MARIGOLD  and I can't wait to plant it in a pot!

M-Mothers

A- Are

R-Really

I-Ingenious

G-Gorgeous

O-Optimistic

L-Loving

D-Divine!

So CUTE!!

So my dad was already in Orem about 5ish so he came and go the kids and Jim and I were off to the temple. WE had a great time. WE did sealings for the dead. What a great experience it was to help the dead receive the crowning ordinance, to be with their spouses and some family forever. Oh how I LOVE this gospel! I can't imagine not being able to live with my family for eternity.

We then headed to Costco to get some much needed stuff for the holidays ahead. After our purchases we indulged in the GROSSEST crappiest but CHEAPESt meal ever. WE had the polish sausage and drink combo for 1.5o and a chocolate yogurt. HAVE you ever eaten something too disgusting that later you thought, that was soo not worth the calories, guilt, crap it put in my body even if it was cheap? Well there you have it! It was that gross... NEVER again!

SATURDAY WOW A VERY busy day it was. 

I got Ryker up! He is 3!! Wow I said Happy Birthday to him and he said

*"No I am SOO BIG...Firetruck?"

I got up early, made breakfast, baked a cake, made home made cards, prepped lettuce for a Sunday salad, got Ryker ready (Jo stayed at Gmas), headed to the store to get more stuff, then off to to a BBQ at the heli field for Jims club only 40 mins late. That is why we give me dessert heheh I am ALWAYS running late. We ate food. I had a good time visiting with other wives and kids. Then we tried to sing to Ryker but he was like WHAT? we ate his awesome huge 2lb COSTCO cup cakes or "dumpcakes" as Ryker called them :) and hung out.

Jims good friend Mike was so sweet and got Ryker a "Shake N Go" Tow Mater for his birthday. HE LOVED IT!!! He wouldn't put it down. We are so thankful to have Mike and his family in our lives. He is a good guy that would just give the shirt off his back to anyone in need. He even gave a heli away to a kid expecting payment within and few month, hasn't received payment and still is nice to him. His wife GAVE me her smaller Cricut just because she got the bigger one! So sweet!

Ok so on to the surprise that JO had to tell Ryker about earlier in the week, a real life firetruck. Jims other flying buddy Ryan is a Orem city Fire Captain and he arranged for the red fire truck to come. Ryker didn't know what to think at first. He was scared and kept telling the guys to "go back to work." He would not even get in, try on gear, hold the water hose, nothing. He wouldn't let me get in "NOOOOO it's his fire truck and they go back to work" he would say. Well for 30 mins while the fireman ate some food we tried to get him in to take a ride at least. Jim finally put his mater in there and told him he was going for a ride and wasn't scared. Then we were off we had a great time and Ryker still says "I got tooo wide in a FIWE TRUCK and it was soooo pun, the man put on the wights and the whooo whooo!" Well worth the coaxing!!!

Then I ran to get JO at a birthday party in AF,  picked up Jim and we were off to Goshen, 45mins south, for a Ryker/Mothers Day Celebration. My family had gone earlier in the day to do some service and stuff but I had prior engagements and wasn't able to attend :( I was there in spirit though..So we had a dinner BBQ, don't worry I brought steaks to the Heli club one because I knew we would be having burgers and dogs!! and it was tasty all of it. While the burgers were cooking I hurried and slapped and I mean SLAPPED Rykers cake together. It wasn't as cute as I had planned but it worked. 

When it came to time to blow out candles, he made Jim do it. He doesn't like fire I guess,,,, only fire trucks :). We are sooo grateful for everyone who shared this day with us, for the presents, and fun times. We had Cort and Dan, Dig N Stacee, Mom n DAD Herbert, and my Herbert Grandparents and Aunt Dana who was soo gracious to give JO a small gift because she was sad.

IT was good times especially when my sister Cortney got chased by a turkey.

On to the moms day presents you see I have been working on this book for my mom for about 1.5 months now. It has been a lot of work!!! I did it through Shutterfly and was extremely impressed.  I wanted to do more digital scrapbooking for the pages but I had a deadline to meet. 

All the hours and late nights and stressing all paid off! Seeing my moms face as she opened it and as she went through commenting was such a great moment! I love you MOM what a legacy you will leave.  

"Funny Note"

*So when I made this book I had "All because two people fell in love" on the title page with a pic of mom and dad. Well unbeknownst to me the "love" got cut off  and so it said "all because two people fell in..." While funny and even hilarious with some people wanting me to keep it I had to add a LOVE rhinestone sticker.  Thats just the perfectionist in me!

*I also gave my new nephew Macade William Herbert who is just 9 months old the name Macade Blair Herbert... oops! At least it's the same person right? heheh William Blair Herbert is my grandpa who I love and adore, but it was funny Sorry Stacee AGAIN

The next day was Church. Jim was great to give me a nice breakfast in bed, let me sleep in as he always does on Sundays :) and some cute cards. We then had to roll with it to get ready for church. I gave a lesson about covenants and ordinances and thought it went really well. Sometimes I feel like the girls are soo bored just sitting there even if I get them to talk or they think I am such a scatter brain because I OVER prepare and then can't remember where I found this quote, or lose my place.

After church we took a few pics, and flew to the Innes' house. There we had a lasagna dinner with all the fixins, colored, vegged opened gifts and hung out. Then we headed up to my moms to say hi and bye.. 

WHAT A WEEKEND EH? Whats Up for the NEXT? 

Happenings!!!

What have I been up too.. 

The retreat was a good time last week and much needed as I had a busy work week ahead.

I have been working out on my air climber 30 mins a day and then working out on the wii fit running, boxing, stepping, hula hooping, catching fish :).... to make an hour or 1.5. a day.  At the retreat I tried to run outside for the first time, well let's just say, I was hacking up flem all day and night after that and sounded like I was a smoker... but it was still a good run.

The retreat was sooo fun! We relaxed, ate lots of, good and not so good for you, food ... scrap-booked, sewed, watched movies, talked and just had an awesome time. I am sooooooo grateful Jim took time off work and let me go!!! HAPPY MOMS DAY TO ME!!!

I am also soooo thankful for those that took all the time in arranging it! We stayed at a beautiful modern home in Heber that had all the amenities you needed for a stay away.

Work has been busy as the end of the year is near. School gets out in 22 days that is just NUTS!! then on to a fun filled exciting summer!!!!

Here are some pics of my 4-H kids involved in an awesome service project. We made tiaras, wands and bookmarks for the kids in the children's unit at our local IHC hospital UVRMC. It was fun to see what creative and not so creative kids I have. 

Then on to PARENT NIGHT...tonight was it! I am officially done with work, I still have red tape to do and some cleaning up but I am done teaching, babysitting, and entertaining middle school kids. DO I seem too happy? YEah..No not really I LOVE My JOB but 'tis time for a break.

Parent Night was a great time!! We had a share fair, volleyball game, and then performance time. My slideshows worked this time, we stayed on schedule, I had good food and the crowd seemed to be pleased.

I just love my job. I know I say it so much but you gotta love a job that when a leader unannounced gets up and puts you in the spotlight, starts crying and says how much she loves and appreciates you.

You got to love a job for when your principal pulls you in his office for a 1 on 1 talk just to express his sincere apology that he couldn't make it to support you tonight. 

You got to love a job that has students who bring sweet lil gifts for you to say goodbye for summer!

You got to love a job that only has me away from my kids from 2:30-5,  4 days a week and the rest is done at home.

I love my job because I love to give these kids opportunities that they would not have elsewhere and what a smile it brings to their faces!

I am so grateful for a job that I love. Life is just too short to do something your despise or hate everyday.. THat is why being a mom is soo great too!!! 

I am so glad I have a very supportive hubby who knows when work (both of them) gets stressful to just take over the home front and let me be!!!! I love you Jim.

Hatching Chicks, Sleeping in Cupboards, and a New Heli Field!!!

Well it's already almost May!!

This means I am almost done with 4-H for the summer! This is a good and bad thing. I love my job but I also love to have a break every once in a while... :) Don't WE All?

So not much has been going on in our family lately. Jims Heli Club has been working on their new county field. He is very stoked about having a insured place to fly when he wants, without having to worry about buildings, soccer players, and the new field is in Lehi!

Here are some pics of the field. They are ripping out lots of trees and putting down asphalt soon.

I have been invited on a Sit N Chat retreat. I will be spending today, tomorrow and part of Saturday in a nice modern home in Heber with some great friends from the ward.  Most of the these great women I get toether with every Thursday night for our weekly get a break night. WE have some good times! I am soo excited to get some projects done and to sit n chat with all of them and eat lots of great food. CALORIES DON'T COUNT THIS WEEKEND!!

We have all been victims of the dramatic weather changes lately, therefore we have all had our bouts of the cold, sinus' infections, and coughs. WE LOVE LIVING IN UTAH!!! 

Hey I guess it could be the SWINE flu right?

Here are just some funny pics of the kids recently. Next week, Sat Ryker is turning 3. I can't believe my baby is almost THREE!! Crazy!!

"All Tuckered Out!"

Ryker is really into climbing in my bathroom cupboard and pretending to sleep. We EVEN have to sing the night time singing routine starts with "I am A Child of God" then "I love to see the Temple" then "The Wheels on the Bus" and then "Pokey Bear." It's soo cute he sings along to and has to make sure  we do all the actions for the action songs..

A few days after Easter I purchased these Hatch your Own Chick Eggs. JO liked to watch them throughout the "hatching" phase. It was fun!

EASTER 2009!!

                                                           
With the 14-16" of snow we got the other day, it sure didn't seem like we have already had Easter, but tis true. As usual we always plan to go out with the Herbert Family and Friends camping for the weekend. I had to work Friday till late so we decided to go to dinner as a family and come home and watch a movie. 

Saturday morning we headed out to the West Mts, in Lehi. We met up with family and shortly after the trip turned very bleak. We took a few rides on the 4-Wheelers and got ready to hide easter eggs this is when the rain came. The rain never stopped in time to have an Easter Egg hunt. There are other friends and family that come out ONLY for the hunt and they were saddened by the event.  

OUR EASTER EGG HUNT  in the MTS... is so fun! I has been a tradition for my whole life and more. We are up to like 600 eggs or something! Every year we add more it's crazy. The kids don't even NEED Easter Baskets in the morning bc of the hunt. We hide money, change, balls, Wendys and McDs unopened kids meal prizes, PRIZE slips and of course wrapped candy in our eggs. Its really fun, and especially humorous when we find eggs from the year before while in the hunt, with that many eggs we can't possibly get them all.

ANYWAY... so with the crappy muddy yucky rainy weather the Easter Egg hunt was to be postponed. I was a bit sad but ok with not trudging through mud with my kids to hunt. 

Speaking of kids.. what a day it was RYKER was sooo whiney. All he wanted is grandpa to hold him, and sometimes would go for me or shelby. I am NOT kidding when I say I was completely warn out when I left, as RYKER cried the WHOLE time nor did I want anymore kid! I don't know what the heck was with him, it was part being really tired but the other I dunno. I didn't even get one game of cards in :(  So we headed home just as it got dark and both kids were out before we even hit the dirt road!  AHHH SILENCE!!! :)

To JIM and I Easter is a day to celebrate and reflect on the Savior Jesus Christ; his life, mission, and his love, and his greatest gift to us all, the Atonement and Resurrection. We are very adamant about our kids knowing and believing this. Easter isn't only for Easter Egg Hunts, Cards, Candy and Camping .... sooo .... with that we come home Saturday night from campin to spend Easter at home. 

Funny note here: We were trying to teach JO and help her keep in her mind this knowledge of the Resurrection she had some funny moments

mom: "Jo what is Easter all about tell Grandma"

jo: "It's the day when Jesus came alive again"

mom:  "What is the big word that starts with an R, that means coming alive again"

jo: "Its the day that Jesus was erected."

Giggle Giggle.... we quickly fixed that but RES -URR EC-TED!!! Later she digressed and said.

"It's the day Jesus was arrested!"  I love kids!

Easter Morning....

                    

                        

Who do you think was more excited?

The Easter Bunny, who almost didn't come because of bad behavior, left a trail of eggs leading to the presents, we brought some home for our kids from camping to hide on our own. Jo had a great time finding the 60+ eggs all over the middle floor of our house while Ryker just wanted to play with his new Doc from Cars, lego car and matchbox car. 

"MOM open thiiiiiiis"

Church was very VERY uplifting, fulfilling, inspiring and I am soo glad we went and didn't go back out West with family, all though it was a beautiful sunny day.  I sang with the choir in our ward and we have a good choir and even a better accompanist. He plays professionally for the Presbyterian church in SLC. He adds so much to our music in choir and sacrament!!!! 

YW was awesome! Sis Weber did a silent lesson. The lesson parts were typed up and displayed on poster board up on an easel. She would change out the boards as it went on. There were questions to ask yourself, movies to watch, songs to listen too and at the end the post said... " we will now have the closing prayer" It was soooooo GOOD!!! I can't believe how strong the spirit was AND I had never been able to get through a lesson without chitter chatter so that was pleasant too :)

Ok so after church we came home, hung out, hung out some more, and then tried to decide what to do for dinner. We usually go to Mom and Dad Innes for a scrumptious Easter feast...

This is the 2nd year in a row that Mom and Dad Innes have visited other family on Easter. Last year was sort of an Emergency as we were told the Sat. night before Easter our West.  I quickly shopped, and put together a dinner for us and the 2 sisters. 

THIS YEAR we knew they were gonna be gone. We planned to have the sisters and Ross and Ang but baby Ali was ill so it was just us. I didn't want to cook a big ham dinner just for us, and we had the week before... so this was our Easter Dinner...

Dino-Chicken Nuggets 

Fries w/ pink sauce

Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwhiches!

Great HUH? Hey there is ham in there somewhere right?

It REALLY was great! 

We watch the movie "The City of Ember"  which was very good and kid friendly.

Then we played a little Wii and put our tired Ryker in bed. 

SINCE we didn't dye eggs out West we decided we couldn't just not so JO and JIM and I all dyed eggs till late. It was soo fun! Jo was really creative and particular about her egg dying. JIM was a perfectionist and the photograph of course. He was annoyed the RED was Pink for his stars ans stripes egg :) I just dyed away, using all the techniques I learned from 4-H. It was an "eggxtra" fun time.

  

                                    

                                                                                      

                                

We hope you had a great Easter, we look forward to next years!

Our staycation

We didn't get to go to St George for our annual April Fools Fun Fly because everything just kept going wrong and we just weren't meant to go.  Maybe next year?  JO was very, very sad, she was looking forward to seeing Sadie and Bizzy and swimming at the hotel pool. PLUS we were bringing along 2 cousins too. 

We decided to do a little "staycation" here with the kids. On Friday we ventured over to Cabellas to look at the animals, fish, play a round in the shooting gallery, and eat some lunch. The kids enjoyed feeding the fish and Ryker wanted to get into an old truck that was a target in the shooting gallery or the plane that was hanging from the ceiling near the restaurant... SO funny! He just loves anything with wheels, skids, and/or wings!

RYKER Went from this to this in about 10 mins!

This reflection at the top of the aquarium was funny because JO said.. "Look mom that fish is swimming upside down!"

We enjoyed a very expensive lunch but it was good. I had my first bison burger and it was delicious! We also got some really good fudge from the county store in Cabellas it was sooooo good. With all the choices to choose from like orange, mint, raspberry, toffee, and so forth I went with "Heavenly Hash" which tasted like a snickers bar and Jim ... well he picked CHOCOLATE. I thought that was so funny b/c of all the choices he had. It was delicious and I have decided to make it a tradition to have yummy fudge while watching conference.

 

  

We then ventured over to the new Lehi Smiths! WOW what a store and with 2 kids exceptionally tired what an experience.. Yup won't be doing that again any time soon.

Saturday we enjoyed a day of being inspired, loved, uplifted and edified by our prophet, apostles, and many other general authorities. The kids were pretty good during it we had lots to color and of course SUGAR to eat. 

On Sunday it was time for more conference. When Jo learned we didn't have to go to church too.. She started singing and dancing around her room..."yeah no church! Weahoo no boring church." After laughing at her and then trying to "talk her into" liking church, the afternoon session started. I kept thing.. oh dear my 5 year old doesn't want to go to church? I can only imagine what the future holds??? :\

Conference was wonderful, most of the talks really hit home. Why does it always make me soo tired though I always feel exhausted after? I asked Jim he said something like well you are staring at a guy in a dark suit for hours, sitting on a couch, wrestling kids to stay quiet,... I thought. I then asked a friend why it was so hard to stay awake and she said... maybe because it is so spiritually exhausting... for the good. I can't agree more! 

Anyway.. so we had dinner at the Innes'. It was great to see the family and we enjoyed our first for many BBQs of the year! Thanks Ma and Pa it was great!

Monday we decided to extend out staycation with a day out for the kids. We went to the Mall and played on the playground, then to lunch at Goodwood, that is always rough for Ryker as he can't sit still, and then to the park. It was a pleasant and well spent afternoon.