What's On My Happy List?

All things at once...
Why major happenings seem to always fall on the same day and weekend is beyond me but it always seems to happen around here. Bring on the craziness! One things for sure it keeps my juggling skills in tact trying to get everyone where they need to be, when they need to be there. Its one aspect of motherhood that I strangely don't mind. I love the challenge. Today was no exception.

The 6th graders got the opportunity to perform their Shakespeare plays at the Murray Arts Festival...Poor Emma was literally thrown into her Hermia costume by me and Kyleigh as she came fly'in all sweaty from dance rehearsal, to perform in A Mid Summers Night Dream. Just to complicate matters even more, both were practically held at the same time. We pulled off managing to be almost in two places at once. Here is Emma tonight caught on camera in her twitterpated state. Love that picture!

Jealous and angry Hermia & Helena going at it..

Get her Emmsie, get her! just don't do this at home lol

Lysander and Demetrius at odds over their ladies..

back in love again...

At the end of the play...Emma with her best friend, Meagan.

Earlier in the day we were at the Arbor Day Celebration to see Hannah recognized as the winner of the art contest for all of 4th grade at Longview. Way to go Nana Bella! We about froze to death during the ceremony held at the park as it was in the 40's today. Seriously Mother Nature isn't tomorrow May 1st?


Today was just the trial run for tomorrow, notoriously known as one of the craziest Saturdays of the year for us. recital weekend...heaven for the *dance mom* that I am.

What's On My Happy List?

La Caille
I had the privilege of going with Kyleigh on her French class field trip to La Caille, one of Utah's premier luxury restaurants.. A European looking chateau that serves authentic French food! Needless to say we were in heaven! Loved our meal..everything from the escargot to the banana foster dessert which was french vanilla ice cream flambed with banana and Bacardi silver rum sauce. Oh my! To die for. I'm afraid I've always been a little partial to anything rum flavored, ever since I accidentally had an alcoholic drink containing rum on our honeymoon in Puerta Vallarta. oops! It was so delicious..sorry to say! :0 Anyhow, good thing I'm not a drinker. After a most delicious lunch, we explored the chateau and walked the grounds taking in the beautiful scenery.

Kyleigh and one of her best friends pictured with Miss Trotter, their French teacher.

Kyleigh's face tells it all...she wasn't too sure about eating the snail! I've had them before on our cruise and loved them then so I was actually looking forward to the moment...

Had to get a picture of the carrot. We've always joked that the reason we've never eaten at La Caille is because it costs a $100 bucks just to eat a carrot!

the deadly dessert...wish you could see the flames! Very cool!

pics taken while exploring...i fell in love with the fireplaces..

I so enjoyed this experience together. We have dreams of traveling to France for her graduation present. Just four more years...Hoping the dream comes true! ;)

The Race

Last Saturday we participated in the SLC 5k in honor of my sister-in-law Shari, who passed away from cancer last year. The race proceeds go to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Here is a pic of Team Shari! 30 family members came out to support, walk or run. We had a great time together!

We had the matching shirts...

A lot sleep deprived but ready roll at 7:00 am

This one is for you Shari! My brother Brad, pictured here, said, "Shari is probably looking down on all of us right now. She would be proud." Geez we miss her. *sniff*sniff*

Kate's first Sunday dress

After a six week break I returned to church on Sunday. We managed to get thru Relief Society without much drama. Thank goodness. Little Kate had this stink'in cute dress on that her Aunt Melanie gave her along with this darling "church" blanket that her Aunt Karen made for her. It has "Teach Me To Walk In The Light" embroidered on it (one of my favorite primary songs) with pictures of the Temple, Book of Mormon, Baptism etc...so cute!

What's On My Happy List?

Kate's Blessing Day

What a whirlwind weekend we have had! We weren't planning on blessing Kate until May when my bro-in-law who lives in Geneva, Switzerland could be here. However, when he got an emergency assignment to leave for Beirut, Lebanon ASAP with his State Department duties, and we found out late Tuesday that he was allowed one week home, we quickly changed our plans to bless her Sunday and began preparations for the big day. The two older girls and I ran out looking for a blessing dress, which btw happens to be one of the greatest pleasures of my life. We happened to find this stunning 28" 100% dupioni silk gown with organza ruching on the bodice, hem, and matching bonnet. Melt. Could not wait to see her in it.


Besides cleaning, shopping, (I can't even tell you how many stores I went to in the course of two days) and decorating for our "pink and white" party to be held after church...the demands of life with five kids swirled about us. Lost retainer...(the thought of the cost to replace it and the extra trips to the Ortho after we've already had several unexpected trips for Hannah's broken wires just since the baby has been born), caused me to burst into tears..luckily the retainer was found after a dig thru the garbage...ewww!.....last minute haircuts...photo shoot for baby in her blessing dress....dance pictures for the older three girls (of all weekends!) which included multiple costumes, hair and make up do's and several runs to the photo shoot...Kyleigh started a new Irish dance class Sat. morning...Jaren had Trek training...sacrament meeting talk preparation for Emma...sprained toe earlier in the week which caused dancing drama... working on a 4th grade science fair project... and celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary on Friday night! About all Jaren and I could do was escape for a couple of hours for a movie. To save time we ate while we watched the movie! So romantic! lol While we were gone poor Kyleigh stayed in the same position for 2 1/2 hrs. holding Kate so that she would stay asleep while we celebrated.

Seriously, I thought the coo coo bin would be calling for me on several occasions this past week but I survived and I believe we pulled off a very lovely day that we shared with a household full of 42 loved ones for lunch.

The dessert table...a glimpse of our pink and white madness..







Just a few details that I loved...the pink and white sugar crystal succors...the white & pink roses and pink tulle...


the pink binky....


this pink rose heart wreath that framed a picture of Kate in her blessing gown...

one of my favorite treats ever just happens to be white...yogurt covered almonds, unfortunately I ate too many over the course of two days which caused my usual allergic reaction. Both eyelids swelled to the point where I had to miss Kindergarten Registration on Tuesday. I looked like a freak!


My absolute favorite thing ever though was this baby white rose corsage that Kate wore on her wrist...

melt some more....

Some pics of Kate with the family....

Dad, Kate and I right before heading to the church

All the girls were in their Easter white and pink dresses...dad refused to wear a pink tie! LOL

Stroking Kate's face and me talking to her in my infamous "baby talk" way was caught on camera. We both have the same lip action going on. Crack me up!

A photo shoot with each of the sisters...I couldn't help pulling out the old photos of my older girls on their blessing day and seeing the resemblance, if any, to Kate.

Kyleigh and Kate

Kyleigh on her blessing day 14 yrs ago...

Emma and Kate

This one of Emma looks similar to the one of Kate up at the very top of the post..

Hannah and Kate

I totally can see Kate in this sleeping pic of Hannah on her blessing day.

and little Brie Olivia and Kate...so precious!

Kate totally has Brie's big blue eyes!

All my girls have a pic with this special white and pink blanket on their blessing day except for Kate as I couldn't find it. Lost in our storage unit? Made me a tich sad, but other than that the day was perfect.

I certainly was one proud mama on Sunday! Daddy gave Kate such a beautiful blessing I had tears streaming down my face. My favorite part is when Daddy started to cry when he told her she was a blessing to her parents who deeply loved her and that we are honored that our Heavenly Father saw fit to send her to us.

My heart is so full of gratitude to the Lord to have been given another healthy, beautiful daughter to love.

What's On My Happy List?

Blessing dress photo shoot