Catch up Catch up and more Catch up!!!

Ok so much has happened in the last little while. Or at least I've just been too busy to do any blogging. Crazy. So I'll try to give a little update on whats been happening. Or what has happened in the last 6 weeks or so. Haley had a choir concert that was really fun, it was a Broadway musical concert so they sang songs that were from fun musicals. Haley is really talented and I'm so glad she is in choir. She has a really fun time with it and I love to watch her. She has such a great personality and brings lots and lots of joy into our lives.

We also took a fun trip to the zoo over spring break.  It was such an adventure when you take 9 kids, but we survived and the little kids enjoyed it, which is always fun.  Kim took all of the pictures and she got some fun ones..

I had to document this, it is a personal progress goal... The girls had to help plan and make dinner for two weeks. They made it one week and if you'll notice, Haley likes to "supervise"... But I'm grateful for the personal progress program that encourages our daughters to serve and be helpful.

Reese came over one day looking like this. Had to take a picture of it, Not sure what he does at his mom's house and frankly I"m not sure I want to know... But he is a cutie, non-the-less.

Here he is cute as can be feeding our turtle... He loves the turtle and loves to pet his back...

I think this was the first time the little kids actually got in the pool. They are so excited to get in and then stay in for 2 minutes...

Of course here is our Easter Post. Easter really is my favorite time of the year. The settings on the camera are off so the pictures look funny, but Easter was a good time. We had an egg hunt for the little ones Sat. morning and then we just took it easy. My weekends are so busy I get tired of doing things, I bailed on my parents coming down for dinner this weekend, I just didn't have it in me to do ONE more thing. I know... awful of me...

Love his hair, we did this first thing in the morning...

Then later that day we took pictures of Kim and Lexie for senior announcements. These are the ones I put together for them.

This is sort of crazy but I also did a wedding announcement for Jeff's ex-wife. I know I know, but we are friends and I'm happy for her. She even asked me to go dress shopping with her, cause I would be honest with her. (I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not... :)

Oh and Lexie got asked to Prom, by Landon Boren, he is a good friend of hers. He put sunflowers throughout the house with little notes as to where to find the next one, and the final one was out side with writing on the wall... It was cute and I'm so glad she is going, she needs to go to one dance at least during her high school life...

The little kids have also been doing tumbling with my neighbor. They had their recital a couple of weeks ago, and I took the class pictures and individual pictures to sell and also to use in the slide show. They turned out really good and the recital was so cute and fun, I think they all had a good time.

Tayla

Madyson

Tanner

Hayden

So I think this is pretty much it for now. It's been a crazy month and I get SO tired of not having Jeff home. I'm grateful for his job, but dang I get tired of not having him here.. I miss him so much!

Haley's 16!!!

Today Haleybobarino turned 16! Wow can't believe that! She always claims that she hates birthdays...
So I thought it would be fun if she got 16 presents... So I gave a few to a couple of her friends to give to her during the day. I think she had a really good day. Her best friend Stacy and Justin came over and took her for a golden spoon and then she got more presents at dinner... They were all little things so she was like what the heck? And we had lots of fun dip valentines left over from Valentines day.. so she got lots of that... we told her it was because she was such a "fun Dip"... (that's why I'm on the ward crazy list, yes Haley has a ward crazy list and I'm on it, well I guess everyone is on it it just depends on WHERE you are on it... I'm like number 6 or so, below Julie Garrison" (just fyi brother Puhlman is nubmer 1)
Anyway, I think she had a great day! I'm so glad, she such a fun daughter!


Here is her FB post... made me smile!

Haley Smith

I have the best friends and family ever. ♥ thanks, you guys! :) — with Lexie Smith and 5 others

Concerts and Birthdays!

Today we finally celebrated Hayden's birthday... he's 7... It was on Sat. but he was with his mom and then went to his dads.. (poor kids, dont' know where they call home...) Anyway hopefully he had a good day. Then last week the twins had the famous 3rd grade concert... 'What's more American?" It really is a cute little show and they did a great job. I think I've seen it 6 times now. So I was singing right along with them. :)

I've also been working on a grad. announcement for a friend, so I had to post my choices... I think they are cute. She's a cute girl.

Does it really matter....

So Haley was late this morning since she wrote a poem last night- late - and couldn't find it this morning.. Not sure why she didn't print it out last night when she was finished... she had to retype it this morning and so I had to take her to school. Which I don't mind (except I do, I HATE the HS parking lot) it is so unconducive to having to drop off your child. AND since she was late I had to sign her in. Yep, what a pain.. So this is what I looked like. I was debating making her go to sweep (if they are late they get swept and have to sit in a room with the other kids who have been swept and they miss their class) when I mentioned that to her she was very put out that I would even consider that... I just LOVE to go places looking like this with slippers on my feet and all. Now it's true I could have put my contacts in and put tennis shoes on before I went.... On the way home from dropping her off I reminded myself that I am really trying to listen to those little promptings and be a little more patient. So in the end does it really matter what I looked like.... No my beautiful daughter who is having a hard time right now with some things needs to feel support and love... I can do that.




BTW here is her poem.. I had to hijack it..

Lucy Hermine

I came into this class with false hopes.
The others before me told me it wasn't
Crazy.
Challenging, yes.
But not too difficult.
Not too many projects.
Not too many assignments.
The others
Lied.
Cruella De Baack went easy on us first.
A. Shawn believed it to be easy.
Meg. A. Tiv disagreed.
"It's difficult now
And will only get harder,"
She would retort.
I was somewhere in between their beliefs.
Jack Ash was in there with me.
"Eh, you just have to think about your work,"
He told me.
I agreed with him.
Then came
Class novels,
Independent novels,
Essay after essay,
A never ending river of work
With all of us caught in the middle.
I sat back and watched the other students fret.
I pretended like I got it.
I was and am the class evaluator.
I observe.
They all think I'm sane.
But really?
My mind went a long time ago.
It flew away with the birds
When they migrated south for winter.
I try to answer questions with some intelligence.
I don't want to sound like
Some of the others.
I want to sound like I know what I'm doing.
The only thing that runs through my mind, though, is,
"Is that actually right?
Is it a trick question?
Is the answer really that obvious,
Or are we all just
Stupid?"
The truth of 6th hour AA Sophomore English
With Cruella De Baack?
She's driven us crazy,
And we're not done yet.

Haley Smith

Tanner turns 6 and other fun things!

Today Tanner is 6! He was so cute this morning and said, "when I blow out my candle I'll be 6, I'm only 5 now..." He really is such a cute little guy, full of energy and lots of interesting things that come out of his mouth!

Oh I need to catch up a bit, and post a few other things. Below are pictures of me and Lexie that we took for a church activity. A friend took them and they turned out really cute. Lexie and I both received our Young Woman Medallion, which is a program of setting and accomplishing goals, similar to the eagle scout program. The young woman does about 40 hours of service in different areas of her life doing projects that help her be a better young woman and prepare her to be a mother. It's a great program and it was fun to work on it with Lexie and I'll do it again with my other girls. Anyway we did a stake recognition night and I put together a slide show for it, which turned out nice. So here are some of the pictures we had taken. Our secretary in the presidency is a photographer. Which is very handy in times like these... :)

We had some left over sparklers so the boys wanted to play with them. Actually just hold them while they sparkle...

Farther down, is snow day for Tanner and 100th day for him also. His dad helped make a necklace of 100 pirates. Very cute!

I have to post all of this so when I make my blog book I'll have everything in it. Which I just had my blog book printed from the last few years and it's really fun to read through it and remember.

Our little Entrepreneur

This past weekend (one day ago) Our little Tayla thought she would earn some money. So ..... she found some rocks down in the basin, and she sold them. Ok she earned 8 dollars... WOW I know, (I'll have to talk to my neighbors about setting her up to believing she can sell rocks...) anyway she stood out there all day on sat. I was really proud of her, and later they sold lemonaide. (by the way, come and get lemons off my tree anytime!) Madyson earned like 5 dollars. too funny... I was proud of them and they both paid their tithing. They are getting so grown up. Love those girls!

Happy New Year!

Well it's that time again. :) We had a good two weeks with Jeff home for the holidays. Love to have him here. And Jeff and I celebrated our birthdays. Hate to get older.. Hate even more to have him gone every week. It's funny when my friends complain about having their husband gone for business.. and I just think at least he's home most of the time. Then I have other friends whose husbands work out of town all the time and they say how nice it is to have him gone. That is NOT me! I love to have Jeff home, he's so helpful and such a great husband! Ok so I'll stop whining... I'm grateful for the job he has and life goes on...

I do have some pictures of New years eve but Lexie has my photo card...

So recently Lexie and I completed our personal progress. Personal Progress is a great program where you can set goals it's a little like the eagle scout program. Since I am in a stake calling I get the chance to put together fun things for all the youth in the stake. We are putting together a dinner for the young women who completed their personal progress this year, and then we will do a program for them and give them a gift. The gifts turned out cute also. The other girls are getting the Mesa temple, but Lexie already has a picture of that one so she wanted San Diego. They are on canvas with tulle wrapped around them. Very cute.




Here is some homework that Cory did. I love it and he did a great job! We miss our grandma Smith!