Best Friends

This week we got to go and spend time with some of our best friends at their pool. Denise and I met each other when our daughters, Sammie and Marissa, were in Children's Chorus together. They were just four years old. We immediately bonded over our loves of scrap booking and Gymboree! We soon figured out that our girls were just four months apart in age, and so were our boys, Connor and Joshua, who were just babies at the time! Without planning it we had baby girls, Madison and Sophia four months apart! Denise and I are no longer surprised when we show up with our kids in matching outfits or us with our matching diaper bags, again without planning it! We are kindred spirits! Now that Samantha is no longer in Children's Chorus we don't get to see our friends as often as we would like, but we always really enjoy the time we do get to spend with them. Here's some pictures of us hanging at the pool! Good times!

Tagged

Tagged, by my friend Denise!
A- Attached or single: Attached-15 years and counting!
B- Best Friend: Shaun and my mom
C-Cake or Pie: Cake, preferably chocolate
D-Day: Sunday, there's nothing I like better than a day of rest!
E- Essential Item: Diaper bag, I carry my life in it!
F- Favorite Color: yellow, it's such a happy color!
G-Gummy Bears or Worms: I suppose gummy bears, especially if they're covered in chocolate!
H-Home town: Orem
I- Indulgences: Haggen-Daas Peanut butter chocolate ice cream
J- January or July?: July-duh, who would pick a winter month?
K-Kids: 3 girls, 1 boy
L-Life is incomplete without: My family and the gospel
M- Marriage Date: June 11, 1993
N-Number of Siblings: 4 younger brothers
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples
P- Phobias or Fears: Dying before I see my kids grow up.
Q- Quote: "There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort"-Jane Austin
R- Reason To Smile: My great life!
S- Season: Summer, it's warm!
T- Tag Three: Katie Leigh, Kate Edenborg, Jenny Holman
U- Unknown fact about me: I can't say no to people, maybe everybody already has this figured out though!
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Meat eater, but I love my veggies!
W- Worst Habit: Biting my nails
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasound
Y-Your favorite food: Anything with pasta in it, unless it has some sort of seafood in it, which happens to be my LEAST favorite food!
Z- Zodiac Sign: Libra

A day at the beach

This is my idea of a day at the beach.

In reality this is what a day at the beach is like in Southern California with temperatures in the tripe digits.

We decided to brave it anyway, so here is a day at the beach with the Young family minus the dad. That's a 4 to 1 kid to adult ratio. We had as much fun as that allows! And why the red font you ask? Because that is the color of my back. I did remember to sunscreen the kids, that should count for something!

Samatha's Birthday

9 years ago today

Today

If any of you have been keeping up with Samantha's blog you'll already know that today is her ninth birthday! She has been excited about it for some time now! There is nothing that special about your ninth birthday. No real milestones. Age 5 you start school, 8, you're baptized, 10 is big because it's double digits, 11 means Middle School,12 you graduate primary and go into YW, 16 you drive...I really don't want to go much further than that because every other milestone means being able to do things that I don't approve of! Nothing exciting at 9. But that's what I love about Samantha, she makes life exciting! She is sooooo much like her father, and I can't figure out why that drives me so crazy, after all I picked him! I didn't get to pick Samantha, but I'm sure glad I got her and I wouldn't trade her for the world! Happy B-day sweet girl, I love you!

PS-Some of you may be wondering why a Garth Brooks song about a truck driver seemed appropriate for me to play for a post about my nine year old daughter's birthday. In the song, a truck driver is singing the song to the woman he loves, named Samantha. At our house this song is referred to as the "Samantha Song" and Sam LOVES it! If you listen long enough you'll hear the line, "Hello Samantha dear, I hope your feelin' fine, and it won't be long until I 'm with you all the time." Sam belts that line out every time she hears it!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day dad! I just had to put this first picture in because it is mom's favorite picture of us and I do like the "stache" you're sporting! The other picture is my favorite picture of me and you. It's from my BYU graduation when you got to hand me my diploma. WOW, that was an amazing moment. It was great to have you as a teacher in the classroom, but it's also great to have you as a dad!

Happy Father's Day to the father that raised my husband. I had a hard time finding pictures of just Shaun and his dad. The one I decided to include is a pictures from our wedding day and though it is a little stiff and posed I like that Dell is shaking his hand and, I'm sure, congratulating him on the prize he has just won, me! Every other picture of them that I found included an entire team and Shaun in some extremely embarrassing short shorts! Spending time, playing, watching and coaching sports is something they both love doing, and they seem to especially like doing it together! I so enjoy watching Shaun doing the same thing with our kids. Dell, you taught him well!

Teachers

We have all been looking forward to summer and school being out. The kids, because they get to be lazy and not do homework, me, because I get to be lazy and not bug them about doing homework! But I know the kids will miss seeing familiar faces every day, even their teachers! Their faces have become quite familiar to us since all three of my kids, that are in school, were lucky enough to have the same teachers two years in a row! Amanda was in a 4/5 combo last year and had the opportunity to be in Mr. Martinez class for her 4th and 5th grade year. I remember how nervous she was the first day of fourth grade because not only was Mr. Martinez a new face to her, he was new to our school so no one knew anything about him, except that he was the only "boy" teacher at our school! He turned out to be fantastic! We now feel very fortunate that Amanda has been in his classroom for two years. He is now one of the most requested teachers at the school! He will be teaching a 4/5 combo again next year and Samantha already has her fingers crossed that she gets him!

Amanda and Mr. Martinez

Samantha cried when she found out that she did not get the teacher that she wanted for second grade, and now that just seems hard to believe, because she just loves Mrs. Bevill! Mrs. Bevill had Samantha in second grade and then had the opportunity to "loop" up with her second grade class and teach third grade the next year. We think the world of her and she thinks the world of Samantha. We have discussed many times how the Samantha she gets at school is not always the same Samantha we get at home. At our first parent teacher conference we had with her I had to stop her part way through and make sure she had the right Samantha's folder in front of her (there happened to be another Samantha in the class!) because she just went on and on about how kind and sweet and helpful she was! In fact this year at the end of the year each teacher gave out an award to one female student and one male student that exemplified all the character traits our school emphasizes (kindness, respect, fairness, etc...), and Mrs. Bevill chose Samantha! I love anyone that loves my Samantha and Mrs. Bevill certainly did!

Samantha and Mrs. Bevill


Neither of my girls went to a formal two year preschool program, Connor was the first and it has been a great experience. He went to the preschool right at the girls elementary school, so it was very convenient for me and so perfect for Connor! We found out very quickly that his highest aspiration was to be the class clown! NO one could have handled him better than Mrs. Martin, she was very firm with him, but also very loving. And, how could I not love a woman who loves Disneyland as much( and possibly more) than I do! She said once that if she couldn't be a preschool teacher she would work at Disneyland. ( four generations of her family have worked there, and that is where she met her husband!) Connors classroom next year will be right next door to his preschool and we look forward to popping into Mrs. Martin's classroom once and awhile for one of her "Hugaroos!"

Connor and Mrs. Martin

Graduation Day

Today was Graduation for two of my kidos. First was Amanda's fifth grade graduation. She goes to Middle School next year, I can hardly believe it! It was held at the park next to our school and it was really nice. Right after that was Connor's preschool graduation. The dad of one of the girls in his class is a professional clown and he made special balloon graduation hats for each of the kids. Very fun! After both graduations we headed to Pat and Oscars for lunch with some of Amanda's friends. She sat at a table with her friends and not with the rest of the family. My little girl really is growing up!