Christmas Dance Recital

Last night was Hannah's dance recital. Looking back, it is amazing to me to see how much she has grown and changed over the years. This is Hannah 4 years ago at her first dance performance. Holy cow! So tiny!And here she is now...

She decided that she wanted to try tap this year instead of ballet... Now she is totally bummed that she isn't doing ballet. Mostly due to the fact that she didn't get a cute new tutu for her recital...Just a sweatshirt and a scarf. I was disappointed, too, Hannah.Needless to say, she still does a great job and is such a beautiful dancer. Her dad and Amber were able to come and see her, along with my mom, her Grandma Shell and Aunt Brooke.

Fun Filled Fridays

This past Friday was quite eventful, to say the least. I started off the day by dropping Hannah off to school and heading in to work to post my grades. Hannah went to her friends house while dad and I went out car shopping.

Let me give you a little background on my little old car. My 98 Honda Civic, lovingly referred to as the Rice Rocket, has been with me since November, 2000. After 298.360 miles, I have decided that she needs to retire. Along with needing a distributor, CV axles, and a thermostat, (I can drive clear to work without my heat even starting to get warm) her exterior has seen better days. Every time I get into that car I feel like Captain Hook when he could hear the tick tock of the crocodile coming towards him. I hear the tick tock of a time bomb... I know I am just one turn of the ignition key away from this car just not wanting to run anymore and a hefty repair bill just to get it back on the road. So to make a long story short, I decided it was time to take the plunge. Maybe this will help me deal with my commitment issues...Maybe not.

So I found this sweet deal on the cutest little Beetle. I won't bore you with the specs, but lets just say this... Heated seats. I think I am going to enjoy my drive to work this winter! Dad went along with me for moral support and to drive my other car home until I decide what the heck to do with it.

We got home and Hannah had her friends sleep over. Riley and Karina live here in the neighborhood and the three of them are pretty much inseparable. They danced, sang, watched about a minute of a movie, ate pizza, drank smoothies and hot chocolate, and tore the house to pieces. I, on the other hand, went into my bedroom and folded laundry. Needles to say, we didn't get to bed until around midnight, but they had a blast.

Well, it was a super long day, but in the end, I think it was a pretty good day. When I can get up the courage to go back out into the cold, I may take a photo or two of my cute little car so I can show ya all. Now the count down begins for my next adventure...Road trip to Montana in December. Wish us luck!

Honor Roll

At parent teacher conference last week, I received an invitation to come to the school today and watch the honor roll assembly. Hannah's school gives awards to all of the students who get all A's and B's. Hannah was so excited to get to go to the assembly...Her dad and Amber were also able to attend and see her in the spotlight. I can't believe that I have such a smart, sweet little girl! I took more pictures at the assembly, unfortunately they didn't quite turn out.
So in celebration of such an awesome achievement, Hannah was also able to go watch the Utah Jazz game tonight with Robert and Alma... She loved it, minus the part about having to scream every time the Jazz scored!

So, on to more of my fun life... Work is going well. We had a bit of drama today, though. One of my students received a call during class that her husband was having a seizure and they were transporting him to the hospital. She was freaking out to say the least. I jumped in and worked my magic ;) and calmed her down. Then I had another student call me because she thought she was having a stroke!!! For heavens sake, people, call 911, not your instructor! I advised her to go to the ER and call me back... I heard she saw her doc, but still don't know how it all turned out.

Tonight my students got to give their first injections on each other, so needless to say I am a little wound up... It is a little nerve racking being responsible for these people when they have needles in their hands! Tomorrow is "banana day" for my class. I get to watch 30 students slice, stitch, and then remove sutures from bananas. Anyone want to come? I am hoping I don't have a story to tell tomorrow!

Where is the "off button"?

I can't turn it off. My brain, that is. It's pretty late and I can't sleep. I'm fighting a nasty sinus infection and I don't think the antibiotics are working. can't smell or taste a thing. That could be a good thing I suppose. I took some Nyquil and now my throat feels dry and sticky. I need to drink more water. I have hundreds of papers to grade and lesson plans to print out. I wonder if any of my students emailed me tonight... Oh, well. I'll check that in the morning. I just spent an hour blog-hopping and I really should have been putting dishes away and folding the clothes that have been in the dryer for two days. I have no idea where my phone is. It may be in the car but it is cold and rainy outside and I am freezing and that will only make me colder...I worry if we made the right decision to move to Salt Lake. I also wonder if my car will start tomorrow! Hannah is going to her dad's house for the weekend... Maybe I'll just put in some earplugs, warm up the electric blanket and sleep the weekend away!

Homesick

I am feeling homesick. There. I said it. I miss my little town of Heber. I miss my friends and I miss my neighbors. I miss being able to run to the grocery store without having to wait at a stop light. I miss bumping into people I know everywhere I go. I miss people asking me how I am doing and really meaning it. I miss Sunday mornings in the ward I grew up in. I miss the drives over to Wallsburg just to check on things for Grandma. I miss feeding cows and changing sprinklers. I know, this sounds crazy. Here I am sitting around on a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do. I should be napping or doing something productive... Nope. I am sitting here feeling sorry for myself for what I feel like I am missing out on.

Now don't get me wrong, things are good here. I have a great job. I am making more money than I have ever made in my life. I love what I am doing. I never thought I could do this, and yet, I find that it feels so natural. Hannah is thriving in the new neighborhood and in school. She has so many cute little friends and this place never is quiet. My neighbors are awesome. Last weekend I was sick and my neighbor, Anna, watched Hannah all day and even dropped by with a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup...so what am I complaining about???

I guess I just didn't realize that so many changes would eventually catch up to me.
Well, Hannah will be back from her dad's house in a minute. I better get it together and finish up dinner so we can enjoy the rest of the evening.

I am still alive...I promise!

I know some may be wondering where the heck we have been...
Ok, well, I'll just assume that at least someone is missing my lovely blog...
Seriously, things have been crazy the past few months. I've made some major changes in my life. I moved. I changed jobs. Twice. I haven't had a paycheck for a month. I haven't had Internet for a month. I took a job doing something I thought I could never do and found that I am really good at it. I have been reminded over and over again how extremely blessed I am and how much I am loved. I agree, that was a little vague, but I guess you'll just have to stay tuned to see whats up.

Happy July!

Wow. It has been a while since I posted anything on here... I bet some of you are wondering what the heck happened to me. Well, here is a little bit on what has been going on around here lately.

First off, I started a new job. Hannah and I are going to be moving the first of August, so some big changes happening around here. I have been commuting and it really sucks! I can't wait til things settle down and return to something close to normal.

Hannah had her 7th birthday... It's hard to plan parties around this time of year with everyone vacationing, so we just headed down to the pool with a few of the cousins. We were lucky enough to have TJ and Tori still here, so we had a great time.

We took a little drive up the Aspen Loop the other night... it was absolutely beautiful! I think we are going to have to go back soon and hike to the Timp Cave...
I couldn't resist getting a picture of her... She just looked so beautiful!

Well, my little Hannah is off on vacation with her dad right now in San Diego... I miss her tons and can't wait til she gets back!

Doing a little catching up

So here are a few of the picture-worthy happenings in my life...

My little buddy Taygen had his 2nd birthday a few weeks ago...what a cutie! He loves his cake!

Taygen's Aunt Kara and her sweet little girl.

Hannah and I took ANOTHER trip to Montana this past week. We planned on helping my sister move into her new home and then they didn't close in time. I am starting a new job next week, so I couldn't really change my plans so we went anyway. We got to spend a night up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and have a campfire and a great time.

My sis swore she would kill me if I posted this picture... hehehe.

The kids posing in front of the cabin... Roasting marshmallows for S'mores.

On the way home we stopped at Idaho Falls. I've driven through there so many times and never stopped and saw what it was all about. Now we know!We headed to the PowWow last night and got rained out.... we were lucky enough to get to see Mrs. Red Elk from school.

We ended up huddled under this tent when the rain and wind started. This guy was nice enough to let us take a pic with him before we ran for the car!

Today we spent some time at the state park taking a few fun pictures and then headed out to the car show.

We found this Woody and the kids HAD to get a picture for their mom.

Hands

Hannah stopped by to see me at work yesterday. While she was here she asked me for Maria's phone number so she could call her. I grabbed a pen and wrote it in the palm of her hand so she could call when she got home. She opened her hand up and stared at her palm with those great big blue eyes...then she said,

"Mom, I am so glad we have hands!"

Me, too.

Three B's...and a crashed car.

I told myself that when I finished this last semester I would spend more time blogging...hahaha.

I haven't really done anything except work and more work (and a couple parties, here and there.) The good thing is the paycheck should be looking better, but the blog needs help.

This past week we had three B's... Baby shower, Baptism, and a Birthday Party.

Friday was Kellie's baby shower. I absolutely love Kellie! She is so stinking cute!


(Hannah has Kellie's middle name, that's how much I love her, and she also was there in the delivery room when Hannah was born, so, yeah... we are close) This is her 2nd boy, and we are so very happy for her! Two weeks to go and I'll be posting some photos of the little one...
This is Hannah, Kaden, and Hannah... the bartenders for the event... they were so cute! Kaden would ask, "What can I get'cha?" Then name off the drinks, then one of the Hannah's would ask if we wanted ice or not... it was quite the team. I may hire him for Hannah's b-day party.


Susan Lynn Bosshardt (Hannah's BFF) was baptised on Saturday. What a great day. It was nice to get to meet her Dad and step-mom and their families. The baptism went well and there was plenty of good food afterwards! Susan's family is moving soon, so we were happy to get to share such a special day with them. Here is Susan and her mom, Cherle.
Some of the kids after the baptism... Maria, Hannah, Susan, Ryan, Maya, Preston, and Sammy.

Some of the family and friends that attended the baptism.
Grandma Freddie had her 60th birthday party on Sunday. (I know, all Sarah does is party, party, party...) Ok, so she really isn't even related, but Hannah has called her grandma since she could talk. We are practically family, if that counts. It was just a small get-together with the family and some close friends. Again, Hannah enjoyed getting to catch up and play with the "cousins" and eat more great food. The memory card is getting full so I only took this one picture.
Here is Grandma Freddie and her sisters.


One more little tidbit...
Grandma B's car... On her way home from the store and got hit in the intersection a half a block from her house! Almost 80 years old and never a ticket...
She is doing fine, but unfortunately, she is in need of a new car.


So here we are at another Monday... blah. Back to reality, back to work. Today was also the first day of Tap lessons. We figured we needed a little something to keep us out of trouble this summer. Hannah absolutely loved it!
I'll post more when I'm not out partying...

The Best Day

We have had a great time the past few days. Lots of friends and family and time together.

Tuesday

Last night we were able to attend the Taylor Swift concert. This was Hannah's first concert and so much fun! I am so glad I was able to be with her for this experience! Kind of bad timing with it being a school night, the poor thing probably fell asleep in class today! We finally got home about midnight and she just kept saying how much fun she had and telling me about her favorite parts of the night.
This is from on our way into the show, the girls stopped for a pose in front of one of the trailers out front...

The opening act was a group called Gloriana, and they were awesome! We went out for the meet and greet so Hannah could get and autograph... she was so excited!

She wants me to frame it and hang it on her wall...

Taylor Swift was amazing! If you ever get a chance to see her...GO! She is an awesome performer and entertainer. My camera battery died as soon as she went on stage.. go figure.
Monday
Well, so here we go back a few days. We spent Memorial Day just hanging out around the house working in the yard and had a little picnic out on the lawn. We went to grandma's house and fed Sunset and put him to bed. Hannah insisted on taking her picture. We were sitting on the lawn having dinner that night and Hannah said to me, "Mom, this was the best day." I agree.Sunday

After church we headed down to the valley and spent the afternoon with my good fried Marie. She has 5 little boys and was feeling a little overwhelmed, so Hannah and I went down to pitch in. Here she is with Bridger, Morgan, and Wyatt.

Bridger is so adorable! I would have brought him home with me if I thought I could have handled him...
This kind-of sums up how you feel when taking care of a 2 year old and 5 month old twins... To sum it up, the past three days have been awesome. I am so blessed to have such good friends and my amazing little girl here with me. I get pretty overwhelmed with school and life sometimes, so it was so good to just be able to spend some time together and have fun. It makes me even more excited for this summer and all of the fun things that we have planned!

Busy Thursday!

I was able to volunteer and ride along on the field trip with the first grade. We spent the day at the Clark Planetarium and the Children's Museum. We had a super fun time and were exhausted at the end of the day. We saw a fun movie at the planetarium, can't remember the name, but it was about the ocean and some really cool fish!We walked over to the food court and ate our lunches and then posed for a silly picture...Hannah loved the climbing wall at the museum. Hope she doesn't take this new interest to any extremes...
I thought this part of the museum was pretty cool. The Helicopter makes some real cool noises, as you can tell, Hannah wasn't that impressed.The girls got to practice being on TV and anchored the news. It was hilarious to hear them! You can tell who watches the news and who doesn't!We made it home just in time to go home and take some Excedrin... Then we prepped for her big end of the year recital...

Hannah has been taking a singing class this year with Jenny Cook. They get together once a week and sing and dance and learn about being on stage. Hannah and Susan took the class together this year. It made it fun for Hannah and Susan to be able to spend more time together and also made it a little bit easier with us being able to carpool.

I may try and upload some of the video later, but for now, you just get some pictures.

When it was all over we took Susan with us to the Dairy Keen for a shake to celebrate the end of another fun year of singing and being together.

Locks of Love...

Hannah has been begging for a new haircut for years. She hates long hair and wants to be more independent and "take care" of her own hair. Well, yesterday was the big day for her. We went to "Cookie Cutter" hair salon in Salt Lake to donate her hair for Locks of Love.

http://www.locksoflove.org/

Hannah was so excited she could hardly stand it! I was still thinking to myself, can we change our minds?

The ponytail measurement...They have to have at least a ten inch braid for the donation...

Almost time...No turning back now!

This is the part where I wanted to cry!

So cute! She was very excited to have this done, and I am very proud of her for wanting to help someone else in the process.