I LOvE Being a Mom!

Being a Mom is the BEST!  What a great Mother's Day!  I am so thankful that I get to be a mom to these 5 wonderful children.  I love them more than they will ever know (until they are parents themselves)!

Italia!

Brad and I were lucky enough to go on an amazing trip to Italy this Spring.  Emily came home from BYU and watched the boys and we took off.  I am planning on making a book of our trips and so I only chose a few pictures to represent each place we visited.  We saw so many amazing things that it was really hard to boil it down to just a few pics.  First we arrived in Rome!  We were able to see the Coliseum, the Vatican and lots of beautiful fountains.  Sadly, we were not able to see the Forum because it was closed for a holiday.  So we will save that for another day!

We rented a car and drove through Tuscany.  It was so beautiful.  We stayed at a little vineyard outside of a place called Rhiadda in Chianti.  It was still a working vineyard and very quaint.

Next, we stopped in Florence.  I loved Italy so much, but I think that my very favorite place was Florence.  We stayed in the heart of the old town and got to go to all the museums and eat at little cafe's in the old piazzas.  It was heavenly.  We got to see the "David" by Michelangelo and I was struck by how tall it was.  It was huge!  We even got to attend church in Florence. :)

Our next stop was Venice!  I have ALWAYS wanted to go there and it definitely did not disappoint!  We stayed in a hotel overlooking the Grand Canal.  It was so awesome!  We wandered around and explored and of course had to take a boat ride.  It was very romantic.  :)

On our way home, we even got to spend a couple of days in New York.  We got to wander around town and saw "Mary Poppins" in Broadway.  It was great getting to stop there for a few day because then we weren't so jet-lagged when we got home!  Thanks Brad for the "trip of a lifetime" and for all the wonderful memories.  :)

Gilbert Golden Scholar

Danny was honored in Academic Night tonight for getting strait A's all year.  We are proud of you Danny!

Beauty and the Beast

Taylor worked hard and got a part in the Highland Musical this year of Beauty and the Beast.  I was hoping to get the part of Gaston, but got the part of Belle's dad.  We are so proud of him that he got a major singing part!  He got to sing a duet with Belle and there are more scenes with him in it than there were in the cartoon.  He did a great job!  We were so proud of him :)

 Taylor with Beauty (Danielle Shorts).  Personally, I don't quite understand the make-up.  They said it was to make him look old, but it was pretty freaky close up!

 More of the cast

 Ashley (Mrs. Wardrobe) and Taylor 

Shiner

 Poor Alex was playing volleyball and came home with a black eye.  Ouch!

Suns Fever

 

Lovin' the Suns this year!

Dan the Man

 Danny turned 11 this year!  He is in the 5th grade and doing really well.  He is in ALP and gets straight A's.  He likes sports and has lots of friends.  He is such a fun boy to be around.  Thanks for being such a good boy Danny :)

Spring Break and Snoopy

 For a few days of Spring Break this year, we got to go to Knottsberry Farm in California!  Taylor couldn't go with us for some reason so we took Connor Ward with us.  I don't know what happened, but I didn't get pics of Alex and Connor and I am not happy with myself!  We had a great time and of course got to enjoy some Mrs. Knotts Chicken Dinner :)  We love Knottsberry Farm!

 In Camp Snoopy, they were doing a little scavenger hunt that was fun for the boys.  They got these shirts and hats and binoculars.  Danny had just sprained his wrist the week before.

Taylor's JUNIOR Prom and MORP

Well, today I guess it's time to write about Taylor.  He is 17 1/2 and just went to his Junior Prom last weekend.  He went with a girl named Rachel Riggs.  I got to help make dinner for 26 people!  Prom is so expensive these days, that a bunch of the moms got together and made a fancy dinner for all these kids.  It was a lot of fun!  Plus, I got to take as many pictures as I wanted!  Taylor is also in his high school musical production.  They are performing Beauty and the Beast this weekend and Taylor is playing the part of Belle's Dad!  He is such a great young man.  He is very involved in music and church.

Earlier, he had gone to MORP (prom spelled backwards - we used to call it Sadie Hawkins) with Bethany Malan.  He sure has such a great group of friends.

Lobster Anyone?

On the 8th, I meant to talk about Alex.  It was his 15th birthday!  Time passes so quickly.  We were so scared when he was born, because he was born with a kidney ailment called Hydronephrosis.  He also had to go back into the hospital for a few days when he was 4 days old because he had severely jaundiced.  He was pretty sickly for awhile and he had surgery on his kidney when he was only 9 weeks old.  I still remember his little face when the nurse carried him away to the operating room.  It was so heart wrenching.  We had to see the pediatric specialist every year for 5 years.  Thankfully, the problem was corrected and he is doing great.  He is a freshman at Highland High.  He is on the JV volleyball team and he is 1st counselor in the Teacher's Quorum.  He is a wonderful boy who is very affectionate.  We love him so much!  I guess I ought to explain this picture.  I saved it from the Disney cruise.  We were on the Disney Cruise in November for Thanksgiving.  Alex decided to choose lobster for his Thanksgiving dinner instead of turkey!

Let it Snow!

We have 5 beautiful children.  The oldest is Emily.  Emily turned 20 in February and is in her second year at BYU.  She loves every minute of being there.  She is majoring in English, with minors in Music and Editing.  She is a busy kid and will be going on study abroad to London, England in June!  She is very excited needless to say and I don't blame her a bit.

Every year she has been gone, she has been able to come home on President's day week-end and share her birthday with Ryan.  He loves it!  Her birthday is on the 19th and Ryan's is on the 14th.

 Emily & Corey

Tara, Emily & Amelia celebrating her birthday :)

Stuffed Animal Heaven

 Last year for Ryan's 5th birthday, he wanted to go to "Build a Bear Workshop" and he picked out the cutest dog which he named Fluffy.  Well, for his birthday this year which is on Valentine's Day, he asked if he could go again!  So Brad and I tagged along and he chose this dog which he named Scruffy :)

 Here he is with Fluffy, Scruffy, Baby Tiger and Mickey

 Just in case you can't tell - he's a stuffed animal junky :)

Here he is in his kindergarten class.  It's kind of fun bringing birthday treats on Valentine's Day!  All in all I think he had a great day!