Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Happy Mother's Day 2017


This was one of the best parts of Mother's Day!  Talking to Brandon.  We were totally ready and excited in anticipation of his call!


Sadly, the lighting was really bad, so it was like we were talking to a "mystery" person.  But it's okay.  We knew it was him!  And it was still amazing!


Plus, he will be home in 5 weeks!!! Yep, you heard that correctly!  AAHHHHH!

We had a really nice visit even though we couldn't see him very clearly.  Brandon is doing well and is on the home stretch!  He never served in Detroit, (which he really wanted to do,) but I think he's had a great mission.  And we are so proud of him! :)  Great work son! (We'll see you soon!) :) 


It was an awesome Mother's Day!  We had my parents over for dinner and that was great too! The older I get, the more I realize just how much my mom has sacrificed for me through the years.  I have a better understanding of how mothers never stop worrying about their children and how they always want what's best for them, no matter how old they get.  

I love this picture of me and my mom!  And I'm so grateful and lucky that she is my mom. 


I love you mom!  Happy Mother's Day! :)

Monday, May 22, 2017

Dallin's Junior Prom 2017

Dallin asked a girl named Sara to Junior Prom this year by making a "Saran Wrap Ball."  It's actually a game that is  meant to be played at Christmastime.  Basically you wrap up a lot of different items in saran wrap, a little at a time, until it's a huge ball!  Here are some of the things we put in it.    



See how the ball is getting bigger...  



As we wrapped different items, we also wrapped little pieces of paper with different letters on them, so that when Sara unwrapped the ball and found all the letters, they would combine to spell Dallin's name.  It was actually pretty fun to make.  


We also cut the saran wrap several times throughout the wrapping, so that there would be separate pieces to unwrap, which made it a harder task.  Dallin really wanted this girl to work for it!



Here's a picture of the final product!


And here's a picture of Dallin the night of the dance.  I don't have any other pictures of him or of him and Sara.  (Frustrating!)  Dallin didn't take any pictures on his phone and I don't know if the girl's Mom took any pictures.  UGH!


Dallin asked a girl who had never been asked to a dance before.  He is such a sweet, tenderhearted kid.  He wanted her to have an opportunity to go.  I think he had an okay time, but while they were at dinner, Sara told Dallin that she had to be home by 11:00.  But then at the dance, she said she had to be home by 10:00.  Since Dallin didn't drive to the dance (he and Hunter went together), Todd had to pick Dallin and Sara up at like 9:45.  It was pretty sad, actually.  They didn't have time to get pictures at the dance and of course they didn't go get ice cream afterwards either, like he was planning.  

I felt really sad for Dallin and I could tell that he was pretty hurt too.  It was a somber evening. I don't know if Sara just didn't want to go, or if she was stressed about something, or if her parents really wanted her home.  I can't imagine that any parent would really want their child to be home from Junior Prom so early.  It was a sad night, especially because Dallin was just trying to do something really nice for this girl.  He could have asked anybody, but he decided that he wanted to ask her so that she would have a chance to attend Junior Prom, especially her junior year.

Growing up is hard...and hurtful.  You couldn't pay me to go through it all over again.  It's all part of life, I know, but it's still hard.  It's hard as a parent to watch your children get hurt too, especially when you can't fix it or make the pain go away.  I guess that's part of life as a parent.  Either way, none of it is easy.  

Hopefully next year, Dallin will have a better experience at Junior Prom. I'm sure he will.  I'm so proud of him though for being such a great kid and for always thinking of others first.  He truly came that way.  And someday he will be an amazing husband and father.
We love you Dallin! :) 

Easter 2017

We celebrated Easter in April this year, but not until April 16th.  Of course the Easter Bunny always comes on Saturday, so that we can concentrate more on Christ for Easter Sunday.  Here is a picture of our Easter Bunny loot!


Dallin's Easter basket


Kyle's Easter basket


Jacob's Easter basket


And of course, we had to add a few more movies to our collection...


Even Ziggy got in on the fun!


I can't believe how old my kids are getting.  I'm really grateful that each of them is still excited to get up at 7 to see what the Easter Bunny brought!  The older they get, the more I realize that this activity will become less and less.  And it makes my heart a little sad...
  




I didn't take too many pictures, but we still had a good Easter.  I sure love these boys!

 We are very blessed to have the things that we do!  I'm also so thankful for Christ's resurrection and that because of Him, we will all be resurrected too.  
Happy Easter! :)