Scholarship Award

We received a note home from school the other day requesting our attendance at a merit assembly and Grace would be recognized for her special accomplishments this year.  I had no idea what the award would be, but figured it might be spelling.  Grace is an excellent speller and has 100% on her spelling tests all year.

Little did I know....

Grace received a $500 scholarship toward her tuition for next year!!!!  We are so proud of her.  The awards were given to the students who scored 99% or better on the standardized testing.  A little over a handful from Grace's class scored that high!!!!

Grace has come a long way since last August.  She started the school year knowing the basics...ABC, 123, and she could write her name....but now she is amazing.  She can read (about a 3rd grade level), tell time, add, subtract, count money, and she is a fabulous artist!!!!  She has been studying science, geography, and careers.  She is still interested in being a cowgirl, but we don't have a horse sooooo...

My favorite thing is her singing.  The girl can sing up a storm.  Here is a sample of her class singing America the beautiful.  I promise a solo soon.  It will knock your socks off.

America the beautiful

I could go on and on, but want to give a special thanks to her wonderful teachers.

This is Mrs. Moll

(and Grace's friend Jonna)

and this is Mrs. Van Ness.

They are amazing women who have done amazing things with theirs students this year.  We are so lucky to have them.  They have created a great foundation for Grace's future.  

And,  I will give myself a little pat on the back for being her supportive and loving mommy (and daddy too!!!!)  who faithfully reads with her every night and helped with all that homework!!!

Mother's ring

Finally picked up my mother's day present today.  It is a sweet little mother's ring from my girls (picked out by my sweet husband of coarse).  I just love it!!!  Everytime I look at it, I smile and think of my beautiful girls.  Thank you.  It was worth the wait!

Summer Dayz...

We are just finishing up Grace and Ryann's last week of school and activities.  I haven't forgotten about my blog, but it is getting into the crazy days of summer.  I think once we get there we can relax a little, but we are busy.

I have some really fun stuff to tell you about so stay tuned.  Another wedding,  more home improvement, Derek's world travels and Grace's achievements at school.  I spent all my time tonight updating the look of my blog and catching up on some of you other bloggers.  GOTTA to get some sleep!  I will have a new fun post soon!!!   Like, hopefully tomorrow.....

Memorial Day travels to a wedding in the country.

We hit the road for memorial day weekend to go to my cousin Megan's wedding in Montana.  About 10 miles down the road it starts....Ryann says "Are we there yet?"

"NO!!!!" I say.  "Please don't ask again."  It is a twelve hour drive. YIKES!  She asked again...a lot!

 

We turned on a movie and I put on my headphones for a little peace with myself.  We made it safely to Idaho Falls and stayed the night.  

It was a very rainy drive, but we managed to get a quick walk in by the falls Friday morning before we hit the road.  It was so beautiful!










Then we drove up through the Gallatin National Forest (near yellowstone) to the big state of Montana!  The Gallatin is a beautiful place if you are looking for a quiet getaway!

We managed to see some wildlife on our drive!  A moose with her babies.  (You have to look close because the babies really blend in behind the trees.)

Megan and Mike's wedding was on Saturday.  Megan was a gorgeous bride!  In true country fashion they left the church to ride downtown in a horse drawn wagon.  So impressive to see those big horses.  My girls were in awwwww!

And let the dancing begin.....

Mike and Megan started off with the first dance...

and a little cake in the face, but he was gentle.

Aunt Eileen, Grandma Dorothy and I had a nice time catching up...

 Grace waited patiently for someone to ask her to dance.

Ryann got to dance with her new favorite cousin, Liam.  They became good buddies over the weekend!

Chad and I...

Curtis and Danielle (soon to be married in July)...

Ryann let Liam dance with his girlfriend Heather, but just once I think...

So great to see him celebrating after his battle with cancer!  You're awesome!

Mike, Chad and Kevin singing a little Johnny Cash.  They were pretty good...or maybe it was the beer?

Mother and father of the bride, Uncle Bert and Aunt Anita...

And this is probably my favorite picture of Megan with all her brothers dancing!  

(left to right) Chad, Devin, Kevin, and Jared...

Megan, Jared's wife Julie and I kicked our heals up a little too!

And little Claire (Jared and Julie's daughter), the flower girl, had it.  She curled up in the corner on her nap mat and went to sleep.

And that is where this story ends.  We hung out with my family on Sunday and left after dinner to make the long trek home.  No rain this time, thank goodness.  We had a great trip.

Contrats again to the bride and broom!  Wish you the best!  Thank you for the fun weekend.

Ryann's birthday

It's been a few weeks, but I wanted to post some pics from Ryann's birthday.  We had such a great day.  It started out with presents!!!

We went for a family swim after lunch...sorry.  Forgot the camera.

Then we came home for a BBQ with some of the neighbors and Grandma, Grandpa too.

Like any girlie girl Ryann wore all of her new outfits that day.  A cute purple top and shorts from Grandma and Grandpa in Colorado and a new pink dress from Grandma and Grandpa in Utah.

More presents and then a special tea party with Grandma Kathleen (nevermind the rest of us!)

One last outfit change!  A new cheerleading outfit from the Satake's. Yeah!  Thank you everyone for all the special goodies.  I still can't believe she is three.  Where does the time go?

A quick getaway...

Here we are!  Las Vegas.  Jolie and I made a last minute decision to hop in the car for a girls weekend.  I was deserving of a break.  All the training from my running did me in a little.  Jolie is also a hard working mommy and agreed we need a litte break!

When we got there Thursday night. We freshened up from the car ride and headout to see if we could win a little money...or drink a cold beer.  

Let the relaxing begin!  We had a great night poeple watching.  Vegas is good for that.  We also had a great time dancing and look who Jolie ran into!  Yes, it is Toby Keith!  He didn't seem to mind a kiss on the cheek and a little groping from all the girls, but we found him to be kinda quiet...so, we moved on to dance amoungst ourselves.

(random girl jumped in my pic)

The next day we slept in and went down to the casino for some coffee and gambling in our PJ's.  This has become one of my traditions in Vegas with the girls.  Jolie was the lucky winner that morning on a penny machine.

Then it was off to the pool for a little sun.

  

I felt guilty for about a minute thinking of my family back home where winter is still making an appearence.

After a little pool time we headed out to stretch our legs walking the strip and gazing at all the interesting folks around us.  We stopped in at the Belagio to see their garden.  Always amazing...

Time to get cleaned up again....

We went out that night for some beer and more dancing with Toby....

The next day we decided to treat ourselves to the spa and a facial....better then any show!  We TRUELY relaxed in our comfy robes, sat in the steam room and pampered ourselves silly.  I don't think either one of us really wanted to leave, but they would have kicked us out eventually and we had one more night to win big!

I guess because we were in Vegas I decided to do something a little crazy...our first stop that night was Club Tattoo.

I picked a design.....

And my new friend, I think his name was Johnny, describe the process.  I was already to go until he gave me the price tag.  I chickened out!  No tattoo.  SO...it was off to dinner.

 Margaritaville.  Our walk down the strip was entertaining, more so then usual, because Jolie and I were both wearing khaki jackets.  Everyone thought we were twins.  People kept stopping us and wanting to take our picture.  I felt like celebrities...kinda funny.

We tried to venture out to a couple of clubs that night.  After walking about and finding lines that wouldn't get us in until the sun came up...we headed back to our favorite spots!

Leave it to Jolie to start causing trouble....

NO!!!!  She is a good kid!  This is our fav secrutiy guard, Kennedy.  He does a great job of keeping us safe from all the creepos!  We like to think of him us our personal body guard.

I always get a kick out of cleaning out my purse after Vegas.

Here you can see the VIP passes we didn't get to use at the clubs and all of my winnings...about $6.50 in change they don't accept anymore because it is all paper money now.

Since it is a girls trip, all we do is talk and giggle.  It is fun to keep track of ramdom quotes from the weekend.  Here are just a few:

Jolie,  "Is it the crows that are making you sweat?"

Lisa,  "You never know when you might need a whisk!"

Lisa,  "It makes me feel like I am at a party."

Waiter,  "Are you a star HOT or a starwood?"

Thanks for the fun weekend and all the laughs my friend!