Relief Society Broadcast

Last night I had the priviledge of going to the Relief Society Broadcast at the Stake Center. I went with my good friend's Aimee Cooper and Brandy Oskilanec. We had the best time. The broadcast was, of course, excellent. My favorite speaker was President Uchtdorf. I think he is so awesome! His talk was so uplifting, and motivating. All of the talks were, actually. After the broadcast, the Stake Presidency and some of the Priesthood brothers provided dinner for us. Can I just say, "Yummy?!" It was prime rib, mashed garlic potatoes, two kinds of salad, seasoned green beans, rolls, and apple pie. I was so impressed! There were so many women there that they had to set tables up on the stage, which is were we sat, and in the Primary room. What a great turn out! After wards, I didn't end up getting home until like 11:00 because Aimee, Brandy, and I sat in the car and talked for like 2 hours. It was so much fun, those two girls make me laugh. I love having friends that you can just totally be yourself with. Thanks for the great night girls!

In the picture from left to right: Krista Watson, Heather Oliver, Marissa Moss, Carrie Anne Berges, ME, Dyana Jones, Brandy Oskilanec, Aimee Cooper

Johnny Appleseed's Birthday

Friday I volunteered to help in Ashlynn's class. They had a birthday party for Johnny Appleseed. It was such a cute idea. The kids were asked to bring in stuff such as apple juice, apple pie, apple sauce, apple slices, etc. I sent some apple filled cookie things, and decorated them with vanilla frosting. See, I knew that cake class would come in handy! :) Anyways, the kids were so cute, and were all dressed in their matching, red class shirts. I love that the teachers think of such fun things for the kids to do. Mrs O'Donnel and Ms. Tratos (student teacher) are doing a great job. I was also happy to find out that Ashlynn is one of the top readers in her class. Great job, Ash!

My Final Cake...

On Thursday I had my last cake class and made my final cake. I decided to stop with course 2 because the next class is learning about Fondant. I really only wanted to learn enough to be able to make cakes for my kids and other special occasions. I think I have accomplished that, and am now going to move on to an 8 week long Parenting class...... something that I need to learn about much more that Fondant. :) I was quite happy with how my final cake turned out. I thought it was really cute. Since we aren't big cake eaters and I knew it wouldn't get eaten, I decided to give it to someone that I thought needed it. I knew my friend Sheryl could use a little "Pick Me Up", so I took it to her tonight. She has a teenage son, so I know that it won't go to waste. :)

Basketball

Dillon started a basketball skills class a couple of weeks ago. He and his friend Jamison Cooper go every Monday and Wednesday from 5:00-6:00. Aimee (Jamison's mom) and I take turns driving them back and forth. The first day that I picked Dillon up, I had to laugh because his shirt was completely soaking wet. I asked him why his shirt was wet, and he told that he had dumped his water bottle on his head because he was so hot from running the whole time. This class is definitely giving him some much needed exercise. The kids have not been able to be very active because of how hot it has been.... so, this is really good for him. Dillon really likes basketball and would like to be on a team after the skills class is over. I have decided that I want him to try a lot different things, so that he can figure out what he really likes. Maybe next time we will try Karate..... :)

Fun Saturday

We had a fun Saturday last week. It started off with me taking Ashlynn to get her hair cut. She had been asking for weeks if she could get it cut again. It had been about a year since she cut it and gave it to "Locks Of Love". It was getting pretty long again, which I was happy about. I enjoy doing my girl's hair in cute, different ways. Every day was a battle with her though, she balled and fought it to the point that I just decided to give in. She wanted it cut into an A-line. So, off we went to Great Clips, where she told the girl exactly what she wanted. It is actually really cute, and much easier to do. Ashlynn really is one of those low-maintenance types.



After the haircut we rushed home so I could get Dillon to his friend Jackson's Birthday party. The party was at an ice-skating place. I didn't even know there was one here! The boys had such a great time. It was fun watching Dillon, he was of course, very cautious as usual. I think he used the little, metal cheater bar the whole time. That's okay though, at least he has tried ice-skating. More than I can say for myself. That is right, I am from Rexburg, Idaho and have NEVER been ice-skating. How that happened? I do not know. We skied my whole life, but never that. Anyways, I wish I would have had my camera to take pics of Dillon, but maybe I can get some from Miranda (Jackson's mom).



That evening we went to dinner at the Elephant Bar with our good friends the Reynolds. The food and company was great. We always have a good time with Tara and Jason. Our kid's were more rambunctious that night than usual. All three of them had their very own melt-down, all for different reasons. Some nights are just like that with kids.... I have to thank Tara and Jason for being such good sports when it comes to that kind of thing. :)

Anyways, so here is a picture from the Elephant Bar. Of course, Dustin ran away when he saw the camera, but we took them anyways, and I thought they turned out pretty cute. You can also see Ash's cute, new "DO".

Our Last Month In A NUTSHELL....!

Well, it has obviously been hard for me to find time to blog lately. As if life wasn't busy enough already, it seems to have accelerated even more lately. I am going to do my best to summarize some of the main events from the last month. My hat goes off to those of you who find the time and energy to do a much better job of updating than I do.


Okay- here goes....


First Day of School:


Dillon and Ashlynn started school again on August 22nd. Dillon is now in 3rd grade, his teacher's name is Mr. Earley. Ashlynn started 1st grade, and her teacher's name is Mrs. O'Donell. We have heard nothing but good things about these two teachers and have so far been impressed. Both Dillon and Ashlynn seem to look forward to going to school, and come home happy and excited to share what they have learned. Ashlynn has had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the all day schedule. After the second day of school, she went in her room, layed on her bed, and slept for three hours. Poor thing, she was completely exhausted. Dillon is enjoying having a guy for a teacher this year. He has always had women, which is fine, but I think this will be a good change for him.

My Cake Decorating Class:


Tara and I have been taking a cake decorating class at Michael's. It has really been a lot of fun. I have always been interested in learning how to decorate cakes, just so I could make my own for Birthday's and other special occasions. Tara asked if I wanted to take the class with her, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity. We are now on the second course, I think there are 3 in all. Our teacher's name is Shaynee, and she has been fun to get to know. I think I will take all 3 courses. Dustin says that I might as well if it is something I enjoy. I appreciate him watching the kids while I go.

Labor Day:


We decided to make a trip to Utah for Labor Day. We were all ready for a break from Vegas. It rained a lot of the time, but it was a welcome change for us. If it rains in Vegas, it is only for like 5 minutes. Gloria, Shalise, and I always try to find time to get away and go to our favorite places: Robert's, and the D.I. I absolutely love going to the D.I., I always find lots of treasures to re-do and decorate with. We also went to the Wood Connection and got stuff to make a Halloween craft with. I always get in such a crafty mood when fall rolls around. The kids all played non-stop outside, yes, even in the rain. Ashlynn especially did not want to spend any time in doors. She was constantly outside riding bikes or jumping on the trampoline. On Monday, we all went out to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. After lunch, it ended up being a beautiful afternoon, so we took all the kids to the park. They all rode bikes and scooters, played on the play ground, and kicked a soccer ball around. Danica showed us all how good she was at swinging on the monkey bars, and Ashlynn made it her ambition for the day to learn how. I tell you, if I could have half that girls ambition......... She tried and tried until she had blisters on her little hands. The next few days, her arms were pretty sore, Geez, my arms were sore from trying it one time! Anyways, it was a great weekend, and fun for everyone.

Samantha's First Day of Pre-School:


Yep, my baby is going to Pre-School. I will admit that it was actually a bitter-sweet day for me. I kind of wanted to cry when I left her. Part of it was not knowing what the heck to do with myself for 2 and 1/2 hours without kids, but it was mostly coming to the realization that Samantha is really not a baby anymore. It has also been a worry for me to leave her because of the issues that she has with seizures. I think that I have kept her quite close to me, I guess just my way of protecting her. I am grateful that her teacher is my good friend Tara, who I trust. Samantha is doing well, and enjoying herself. She has already learned a lot, and has come home with the cutest little projects. She goes to pre-school on Tuesday's and Wednesday's, from 9:30-12:00. I have made it my goal to not waste my precious alone time. I have tried to accomplish as much as possible each day. I think that is why my blog has been lacking lately, because by the end of the day, I am just ready to go to bed. Night time after everyone else goes to bed, has normally been my time to blog. I have just been too tired though.

The Planetarium:


Over this last weekend, we decided to take the kids to the Planetarium. Samantha was kind of a pill through the whole thing, but other than that, it turned out to be very informative and entertaining. After the movie, we were able to go outside and look through the big telescopes. It was pretty awesome... we saw Jupiter, and the moon. It was so neat to see the moon close up, you could really see all the detail of the terrain. Dillon especially enjoyed this, and kept saying, "This is SO AWESOME!" After the Planetarium, we went to a Mexican restaurant called Cozymel's. We loved it! Mexican is all our favorite, we are always wanting to try new restaurant's. What makes it even better is the gift certificate's that I get from Restaurant.com. We totally save so much money when we get certificate's from there. So, any of you who like to eat out should give it a try.



Samantha's 1st Day of Dance:


Another big step for Samantha. I put her in a tap/ballet class. She has the same teacher that Ashlynn has. Her teacher Miss Stephanie said that she did very well, but was quite selective with what she would do. If she didn't want to do something, she would go sit over in the corner or something. Hmmmm.... not like this surprises me, Samantha is definitely stubborn and has to decide for herself whethor or not she does something. Stephanie said that she eventually realized that she was the only one not particpating and decided to join back in. Also, the fact that they don't get a sticker unless they participate helps. I think she will end up enjoying dance because she is such a girly girl, she just takes a while to adjust to things.

Some other events:


-The tornado returned to our house, again, only striking Samantha's room. My solution to the problem: I am boxing up most of her toys and donating them to someone elses problem. ;)


-I passed out and had what we believe to be a seizure, because I swallowed my Diet Pepsi the wrong way. We are pretty certain, at this point, that I have the same thing Samantha has. The other day I kneeled on a stupid toy in the tornado room and almost had the same thing happen again. More to come on this story later.....


-Dustin's company thankfully was able to get another job, offering us job security for the moment, or atleast until we decide what we want to do in life. :)

I'm sure that there is more that I have forgotten, but atleast for now you have been given a little bit of our life in a NUTSHELL!

Bye for now..... ;)