More updates....May

What a cute ramen eating face!

 Brandon turns 8!!!  One moment while I hyperventilate!  I can't believe our baby is 8! Where did the time go!  So, we had a party with his boys.....

 Brandon wanted a treasure hunt.  So, I wrote up some clues and Mike made up some challenges.  We put them in teams of 2 and off they went!

 First clue was to be found by digging in the garden boxes.....

 Then, they had to run to the bike path to meet Mike and kick some soccer goals. Then, back to Amanda and me at croquet. Then to Sydney and friends at the path loop for a drink of water. Back to Amanda at the willow trees. Cross the Harwood's bridge, find our front porch and back to the backyard! We ran them until their legs were about to fall off! What else do you want to do with 12 8 year old boys!

 He had a great time and this group of boys is really cute!

 Sunday was Brandon's actual birthday, so we made him homemade waffles with whip cream and strawberries!

 Mrs Backer's Cake!

 Grandma & Papa Gib came for dinner! Fun party!

Even Amanda had fun!

Misc cell phone pictures!

Oh, I gotta get better at sending cell phone pix to my iPhoto!

 Sydney's 5th grade got to go to JA City at the Gateway.  It's a Junior Achievement city that has sponsors from around Salt Lake and then the kids come and run the town!  It was amazing! I sure hope funding is around for Brandon when he's this old.

 Sydney worked in the Best Buy area.  It was where an employee had to come get the supplies for their companies.  She was busy. But, she didn't want to wear the blue jacket. It wasn't fashionable enough!

 Here we are!  She's so cute! I had to work with some other kids in the radio station.  They had to play requests. We had to sell them so that we could pay off our start up loan.  We had to collect money, enter it, send bills.....it was so fun!

 Here's my group!  And below is her 5th grade class.  She's just right of the sign.  They had a mayor and speeches. There were banks, tv stations, restaurants, REAL SL, utilities....so great!

 Afterward, the other volunteer moms and I took these cute girls to a cute chocolate store in the Avenues.  Can't remember the name right now....but it was delish!

 This is Amanda's Valentine from Corey :) I was home when he left it on the doorstep and ran!

 Major cold this winter....crazy icicles

 Pictures from St George and the IceBreaker Tourney trip!

 Bowling and a terrible singing....This Girl is on Fire!

 Basement before....

 Picture of my brother, Evan, that was in Brandon's 2nd grade program.....

 Amanda had a bad day at school, so I picked her up and took her to IKEA to look for stuff for her new room.  We found a great light that later Grandpa Gib and I ran the electric for :)

Another dance trophy!!!

More updates....

Here are pictures from my cell phone. Sorry if they are repeats....just don't want to miss a thing!

 Melaine, Maddy's mom, and I took these cute girls out for dinner after another winning dance competition!

 Amanda and I met Mike at his work one day before we went to buy her a new mattress. Because we had to wait a few minutes, she decided to take his post it notes and 'write' that he loves buy, etc all over his office furniture!  That cone up top is a gift from a salesman and says BYU Police on it....ah, good times!

 More dance pictures!

 Mike & I went to Brandon's classroom for his animal report. He did a great job!  It was on a Komodo Dragon and he did the research and poster all himself!  Mike helped him with the diorama.  Such a cute kid!

The girls got to go see Iron Man 3 at an 8 o'clock premiere the day before it came out.  So, I took my boys to sushi at Sushi Monster!  I love these boys!

Crazy May

Crazy May. There will be some catching up for while....Here is one of Amanda's dance competitions.

 These cute girls took 1st place and an overall high point trophy for their hip hop routine!!

 Posers....ha ha

 Our friends, the Westenskows gave us their box seat tickets for the REAL game that night! So, Amanda has dance hair, but it was super fun! It's free treats and seats at mid-field. That, let me tell you, is the way to see a soccer game!

 Unlike this soccer game.  Amanda and I headed to Salem to play in a game.  There was a serious rain storm a happening....But this game had already been postponed once due to weather and we had to play.  We ended up winning the game, but there was a big confrontation with the ref who lost control of the game as soon as he starting talking back to the parents who were upset about some bad calls.  He even called one of our parents a retard after he ejected the parent from the game.  Then, he cleared the sideline....no parents were allowed to watch.  Oh my.  It wasn't that bad. But, later I heard that a couple of dads from a couple of our guest players confronted the ref in the parking lot after the game was over.

Amanda and I had been on our way by then, so we didn't see anything, but hear it was bad.  That little move by these guest parents cost the rest of our parents to be suspended from being on the sidelines from the next game the girls played.  Amanda wasn't able to play that game, so we didn't witness it, but they had Wasatch board members there to make sure our parents didn't sit on the sidelines.  This year of soccer has been too crazy.  So much stress and not enjoyable.  But, Amanda is signed up for another year!  We'll see how it goes.  At least I don't have to be team manager anymore.  I may help the new people, but I'm not in charge! Hooray!

Arvy Easter Egg party

Without Grandma and Papa here, we were a little slow about getting together for Easter.  We met a few weeks after Easter, but wanted to continue the tradition of the Easter egg hunt!

 Scott & Kellie offered to host and made a great dinner!  Then, after the eggs were hidden and most of the parentals were talking, the kids quickly hunted down all the eggs!

 It was great fun! It was fun to have Matt  & Alisa back and good to have Andrew and Jace with us.

Sydney's 5th grade program

The 5th grade students at Snow Horse Elementary performed a show that showed different decades in America.

 Sydney was a 50's dancer. She had a cute routine and this is at the end where Elvis says, 'Thank you. Thank you very much' and they scream!

 She was so cute and we were lucky that her 50's skirt from one of her ballet costumes still fit!
Here she is with Abby Orison front, Gracie Rasmussen R, Maddy Weger back and cute Syd Syd!

 Addy Clinger as an American Indian.  Halli Davis sang....

 Sam Stokes was Rosie the Riveter...

 Sydney and the Elvis cast.  Logan West on the far left was her dance partner...

Great job, Sydney!!

Watching Storms

The first or second day of spring break, we had been working in the basement cleaning up after James and his crew were done.  Plenty of dust to sweep up before the girls could move down into their new rooms.  There was a huge thunderstorm passing by.  We could hear the big booms of thunder shaking the windows even in the basement.  So great!

Pretty soon, the girls disappeared. I went searching for them and found them out on the front porch, snuggled in blankets, watching the storm.  My heart melted right there because this is something Mike and I love to do and it took awhile to convince the kids that it was cool to be outside during the storms (They used to be scared of thunder and lightening.  Chalk it up to a couple of bad storms in our Murray house that knocked down trees and terrified them when they were just little).

It made me realize that the kids are picking up on some of the things we do that make our family 'our family'  Our traditions....our uniqueness....

During these busy few months heading into summer break, when I feel so inadequate as a Mom because I can't keep things straight, finding this picture today helps me to realize that I'm doing ok.  That Mike and I aren't just getting through each day, we are making memories even when we don't realize it.

This week, I thought I was so on top of things.  Brandon and Amanda both had soccer. Brandon had a game and Amanda had practice. Both had to be to the same field (at the jr high) at the same time.  I adjusted piano lessons so that I could drop them off, gave Amanda instructions to help Brando find his team and rushed back to teach.

About 45 minutes later, I get a phone call. It was Brandon.  'Mom, I can't find my team.' he said in a panicked voice.  I'm thinking that the game has started already and what can be going on?

I ran into the kitchen to look at the email from his team manager again and realized that I had him at Centennial Jr High and the game was at Centerville Jr High.  ugh.....

I told Brandon he was at the wrong field and I was coming right now to get him.  He was devastated because he was missing the game.

Then, Brandon's team manager called me and asked where Brandon was.  I explained to her my mistake and told her we were on our way.  I quickly texted Mike and told him the correct field, canceled my last 2 lessons and jumped in the car.

The story does not end well.  We got to Centerville Jr High-about 10 minutes away-just as the game ended.  Our crushed little 7 year old crying because of my mistake.  I apologized a million times and told him I wouldn't make that mistake again.  Mike promised to go on a bike ride with him when we got home.  Cute soccer parents told me that they've all been in that situation before, but it didn't make me feel better.

Eventually, Brandon was fine.  But, he isn't forgetting yet.  Just yesterday he said to me, 'Mom, when it says Centerville, take me to Centerville, not Centennial!'  Thanks, bud.  I will.

It's been another insanely busy week.  I've worked for a gal who had a sick daughter for 3 days.  I've been running kids back and forth. I went to the Mummies field trip with Amanda's Nat'l Jr Honor Society group and got back with 5 minutes to spare before I went to see Brandon's presentation on Komodo Dragons.  I've been getting Sydney's 'market day' items which have changed 3 times.  Finally she decided on Pace's popsicles that I need to take over to school in an hour.  I've been teaching.  I haven't been cleaning, but I did get the laundry and ironing done.  I have been trying to be present.  Trying not to act harried.  And reminding myself that I'm enjoying the journey and busyness of life.