This and That

A few of our recent activities include:

Coyote Pride Awards received by Ashlie and BFF Madalyn

Photos of the friends - Ashlie's to be exact! Second to last day of school - Ashlie and Madalyn have been friends with Ethan, Blake and Bridger since Kindergarten - end of an era. Tho, the 7th Grade Teachers may thank us!!

Cameron and his partner in crime - Mitchell! Friends since Kindergarten in Ms. Gaetz's class. Now they are almost third-graders!

Cameron and BFF Keller - fellow Coyote Pride recipient. These boys have been causing trouble since before Kindergarten! The neighborhood will never be the same...

Cameron and his 2nd Grade Teacher - Ms. Gallagher. What a great teacher!! She whipped this boy into shape! Not literally, of course. How we loved having her teach Cameron this year!

Ashlie spent a season playing lacrosse - and is quite the player! This girl is lethal with a stick - but in a good way.

As a going away present, her BFFs Madalyn and Blake gave her a going-away party - complete with balloons AND pizza!!

Of course, BFF Macy was there - along with several others.

Ashlie and Blake - friends always. There might be an arrangment between mothers - that's all I'm going to say...

Ashlie and her "gang" of awesome friends. What a lucky girl to have so many people love her!!

Ashlie and Kade - matching pillow pets!

We are so grateful to have such awesome friends, neighbors and teachers! Amazing how people can bless and shape our lives. Thank you, everyone. We love you!!

Cookies Anyone?

Had a couple of cute neighbors have new babies.  The girls and I wanted to take them a treat - so Ashlie decided on homemade oreos.  (Ashlie takes after me - insane sweetooth and a love for baking!)  We were out of chocolate cake mixes - which is a shock becuase I always have chocolate cake mixes (I buy them by the case).  Anyway, she tried "inside out" oreos - using a yellow cake mix and chocolate frosting instead of a devil's food cake mix and cream cheese frosting.  They turned out pretty good!  Here's the recipe if you want to try them yourself (just the standard cake mix oreo cookie recipe).

1 box yellow cake mix
1 cube margarine
1 egg

Mix together and roll dough into balls.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 7 - 9 minutes.  Let cool and frost with chocolate frosting.  (We made them into oreos - chocolate frosting on the bottom cookie, top with another cookie.)

I use canned chocolate frosting because I am lazy and it is pretty cheap when I buy it on sale.  Hope you like them as much as we did!

Look Who's 40?

May 12th, year 2011.  The day Chris lost his youth.  He turned 40, yes, 40!! on that day.  To mourn the passing of his youth, I gathered his family for a farewell dinner.

Dad, as undertaker.  The coffin where we buried his youth.  Complete with dead flowers and all. 

A Mouring Family...

Happy Birthday, dear husband! 

You just get better with age. 

And don't worry - you don't look a day over 30!!

Little Valley

Little Valley

For Michelle

Okay, Michelle, this post is for you!

I has been over 1 1/2 months since I last blogged.  What the cheez whiz?  I must be busy!

What we've been up to....

We last left you at Ashlie's 12th Birthday.  We celebrated with pedicures, shopping and, of course, Cheesecake Factory!!

Of course, her two BFFs came.

Next, after weeks of preparation, Cameron completed his award-winning diorama of chimpanzees!  (Okay, not really award winning, but it looked super cool)

Taylor, after months and months of 5 AM practicing, graduated from Suzuki Level 6!  We were super proud of her (the song took 15 minutes to perform - all from memory!!)

Here she is with her grandmas, always supportive!!

Here she is with her amazing piano teacher, Laureen. 

As for Chris and I, we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary in April - amazing how fast the time has gone!  We are off to Cancun (a few weeks late) to celebrate.

As for me, busy with school, as usual.  Pretty much holed up in my office all day, every day. 

Easter came and went with no photos snapped by me.  I was busy studying for finals, which are almost over.  I have one left then I am free for the summer!

Our next adventure includes renting out our house, moving to sunny St. George and me starting dental hygiene school as DSC.  

I'm sure the next few months will pass as quickly as the last!!