My Other Graduate!

Xander Graduated Pre-School on Tues the 19th. They had a program and sang a lot of songs. He did such a great job! I'm so proud of him.

This is Xander with one of the girls in his class named Hallie. Xander tells me that she is his girlfriend and that he's going to marry her. I can't believe he's already going after the girls!
Xander was waiting patiently for his diploma and Mara decided that she was going to wait with him.

Xander and Mrs. Konni Youd! She is an amazing teacher and has helped him by leaps and bounds this past year! Xander was awarded for having the best handwriting! I am proud of him for that because he's left handed!!!

For a graduation present, we got Xander a new Lego set! He loves the rock monsters that come with the Power Miner sets!

A few things that Xander has learned this past year at school:

1. How to hold a pencil the correct way. (I tried for months to teach him, but after one week at school he knew how to "pinch a crayon"!)
2. He knows some songs that I don't!!
3. He knows the sounds of each letter.
4. Can write uppercase and lowercase letters.
5. He knows how to read and loves doing it!!
6. He knows how to do addition and subtraction and loves to play "plusses" with anyone willing to give him some numbers to add. (He does it in his head too!!! And not just single digits either!)

I'm so proud of him and know that he will love Kindergarten in the fall. Now, what am I going to do to keep him busy until then!?!

80 Is Great!!!

My Grandma just celebrated her 80th Birthday and we had a party for her on the 16th!! And as always Karri made the cake!! There are pictures of the whole family around it too! She did a great job and it was very yummy too!!

The Birthday Girl and Karri!!

One of the candles lit a streamer thingy on fire. I just love Max's face!!

The Birthday Girl and her cake!

Grandma Joan and 5 of her great-grandchildren.

We missed you Jen & Steve!

All of us out to dinner on her actual birthday (the 20th). My Uncle Rand & Aunt Camille came for an extended weekend to spend with her too! It was great seeing them, I just wish they lived closer so we could see them all the time!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We love you!!!!!

Out With The Old & In With The Newer!!

The Old

(1999 Pontiac Grand Prix that we have had since Dec. 2003)

The Newer

(2006 Dodge Grand Caravan)

At the end of April, we starting having car problems. It wasn't all the time, but enough that it made us scared to drive the car. So we took it to the shop. It was there for a day (Mon, 4th), they didn't find the reason for the problem, so we picked it up. The next day the car died again (Tues), so we took it back on Wednesday and it was there for a full week, and they still couldn't find the reason why the car liked to die on us!!!!! So during all of this we decided to maybe start looking for another car, just in case this one couldn't be fixed. I searched online and found a good deal for a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan, so we test drove it (Tues, 12th), loved it and bought it on Thursday of last week!! We only got $1000 for the Pontiac, but we were happy to see it go! Now we have a car with a lot of room, and we won't be worried about it breaking down on us!! What's even better are the perks of having a minivan. It has power sliding doors on both sides, so I can push a button and they open. It has stow-n-go seating, so all the seats fold into the floor, which is great for moving things, and it gives extra storage space for vacations and the like.

I just love our new car!!!!!!

While we were waiting at the dealership our Salesman took Xander and Pat for a ride in a Shelby Cobra Mustang!!!!! Xander was in H-E-A-V-E-N!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I'm still not caught up in my blogging, so I will post more tomorrow!)

Dash It All!!!

My sister Karri got a kitten on the 2nd, and just gave me the pictures! We went to visit her on the 4th and the kids got to play with Dash!!! He's named after Dash from The Incredibles!! He's a really cute kitty and the kids just love him!

Xander & Dash

Mara & Dash

The kids were having fun throwing the balls and watching Dash find them!

This picture is from the 14th. Mara loves to follow Dash around and pick him up. She will always say "It's okay Dash, it's okay", grab him, hold him for a few seconds, then she'll drop him. We are trying to teach her to bend over and put him on the ground. At least he lands on his feet when she drops him :( She has learned how to hold him the right way though, so at least there's some progress.

Mara's New Bed

Earlier this month, when we went to Boondocks, Pat won a gift card to the store and we decided to upgrade Xander's mattress and give his old one (which is barely 2 years old) to Mara! So we made the switch 2 weeks ago and she loves it!!! We only had Star Wars sheets and a blanket to put on her bed, but she was excited nonetheless. She just giggled the whole time Pat was moving everything around. She has only been out of a crib since January, so this is a little crazy for me to have both kids in Twin Beds!! They are just growing up way too fast! So this is a picture of her little corner! (The towels are to block out the sun. It was cheaper then buying blackout curtains!)

On Monday the 11th, I went to Target and found this really cute bedding, so Mara only had to sleep on Star Wars sheets for a few nights. She LOVES her "Polka Dot Bed" and got mad at me when I layed on it after making the bed for the first time.

What a Happy Girl!!!!

My Mother's Day Gift

A Precious Moments of Wendy holding a lantern with Tinker Bell inside!!

I love it!! Thanks honey!!

2 Years and Counting!

I just have to point out that I started my blog 2 years ago today! So Happy Anniversary to Me!

Puzzles are Fun!!

My sister just got back from Disneyland and when she was there she bought this cool puzzle, and let us borrow it. I haven't put together a puzzle for a very long time, and now I want to make more!! The kids even tried to help, which really wasn't helping. I do have to say that Pat put most of it together. He's just alot faster then I am ;)

Boondocks

Tuesday night we went up to Boondocks for Pat's work party. We ate pizza, rode on the bumper boats, played mini golf, and played arcade games. We had a great time!!

Pat & Mara on the bumper boats. You could even spray water at other people. Mara was shivering by the time we were done, because there were a bunch of stupid kids that wouldn't stop spraying them. But it was fun anyway.

Getting ready to golf!!!!

Mara would put her ball right by the hole then hit it in. She would also pick up our balls and put them in the hole for us. It made Xander really mad!! I, on the other hand was amused.

Xander, showing off his cool golf club. I love how he poses.

He also hit a hole in one, it was awesome!!!

There were alot of people there besides co-workers. So there was alot of waiting while we golfed. Mara was getting tired of it by the end.

Xander playing his favorite game ever ~~

SKEEBALL!!

They have a HUGE play place and my kids spent at least 45 minutes playing in it. Xander went down the slides 30 times. (He kept track, not me.)

Mara and Livvy (the daughter of our friends Kenny & Susan, Kenny works with Pat) having a grand time. They would walk up the 2nd slide then go down it. This was probably Mara's favorite thing the whole night.

One of Pat's co-workers gave us all their tickets and we were able to get some fun stuff for the kids. Snakes & Spiders!!!

Boondocks is such a fun place, I would love to go again :) Thanks RC Willey!

My Graduate

Pat graduated from Utah Valley University this morning at the bright hour of 8 am! He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education majoring in History. I am so proud of him and that he finally got to this point! It was so great to have his family there to support him. We thank all of you for everything that you have done for us.

Xander right after the Convocation was over.

I think this is my favorite picture of the day.

Pat and the kids.

Family picture.

Pat & his siblings: Morri, Pat, Gwen & Lana. (We missed you Ben!)

Pat & his parents.

Pat with my mom and grandmother.

Thanks again to all who came to support!