Mother's Day 2016

May 8, 2016

This was definitely my best Mother's Day ever!!  Jada and Dave woke up and made me French Toast even when we had 9 am church.  It was so good!  French Toast is my favorite.  Then we went to church, and Jada had dropped of Brayden early to save a seat.  So when I got up there Brayden wasn't in the bench.  So I told Jada I was going to go find him.  She pointed to the stand, and there he was. He was giving a talk about Mother's and they decided to surprise me and not let me know.  I was sure surprised.  It was so fun to hear him speak on Mother's Day.  He did a great job!  It was short but sweet.  Out of the three boys that spoke, he was the only one that said Happy Mother's Day Mom, I love you!!!  Oh man, made my day :).  Thanks Brady Boy!!  I sure do love you too.

Also in sacrament meeting, Dave made me a boat, Jada made me a finger hat, and Dawson made me an airplane.  They all made them out of gum wrappers, ha ha!  They are so good to me on Mother's Day :).   So when we got home from church they gave me their real gifts.  I got a really cute copper wind spinning decoration for the garden, a cute wood wall plaque that I had been wanting.  Also, Jada gave me the movie The Intern, and Dawson gave me some nail polish and a candy bar.  He also gave me one of those cute questionnaires that they fill in the blank on.  It was super cute.  They really out did themselves this year.

Dawson is so funny.  He wrapped my gift of nail polish and candy bar in 24 different bags.  The first bag was sealed with two rubberbands, and on top of the two rubberbands was a TON scotch tape.  I pealed off one bag after another.  I was laughing so hard!!  He is such a funny guy!!

After church we waited and waited to hear from Dax in Argentina...

I kept listening and listening for the Ipad to start ringing, and nothing... Finally I went to check it and we had missed a call from Dax :(.  Someone had turned the ringer off.  I was freaking out! I tried to call him back and he didn't answer.  Then he called us back.  Unfortunately, we had some problems with the sound.  He was having problems on his end.  After about 30 min, we finally got a good connection.  He had told me he could only talk to us for 40 minutes.  I was so mad :(.  However, we ended up talking for about an hour.  I will take an hour.  I have always tried to get him to talk for longer, but he is too obedient.  What a good missionary!  It was so great to see my boy!!  This is the last Skype that we will have with Dax.  His release date is December 27, and he doesn't want to Skype with us two days before he gets home.  So crazy that the next time we see him will be face to face :)  He has exactly 232 more days.  Time is going VERY SLOW for me, but Dax says it is going so fast for him.  I am so glad that he is happy and loving his mission.

When it was time to get off with Dax, he asked if we could end with a family prayer.  Dave asked Dawson to say it, and he did not want too but finally agreed.  It was so sweet.  Dawson started to cry right when he started to pray.  So obviously I started to cry.  I was trying so hard not to cry this time because I know it makes it so hard on Dax.  So when the prayer was done Dax said he was going to hang up quickly.  He was trying not to cry.  It is always so great to see and visit with my missionary, but man is it hard when we have to hang up!  

After talking with Dax, we hurried over to Grandma Hamilton's for a Mother's Day dinner.  Wendy planned and made the whole meal.  She made roast, and it was delicious.  Roast is my most favorite dinner :).  It was so nice of Wendy to do all of that on her Mother's Day.  We had a good time visiting with everyone.  

Like I said, this was an awesome Mother's Day.  I sure do love my family, they are so good to me.

My Littlest Guy Is Growing Way To Fast...

February 15, 2016

Wow, my littlest guy is growing way to fast!  He had his friends Jackson and Jeremy spend the night, and they decided they wanted to make pancakes on their own.  He is only nine years old, so I told him NO repeatedly, but Dawson does not give up.  He is very persistent.  Hopefully that trait will serve him well one day :).  I finally thought, I am a mean mom to not let him try something that he wants so badly to try.  So I got over thinking about the mess that would be created, and agreed to let them.  I am so glad I did.  He was so happy, and so proud of himself.  They actually made really good pancakes.  I guess I have to let them learn some time.  I guess he will be better prepared for his mission by starting at such a young age :).

They had a lot of fun together...

They brought us all breakfast in bed.

Jada was very happy :)

Dawson had so much fun that later that night he wanted to make pancakes again...

He is becoming quite a pro already :)...

He wanted to make his pancakes look exactly like the picture on the pancake mix bag.  I would say he did a great job!  They look exactly the same.  It is crazy to me how fast my kids are growing up.  I can not believe that my baby will be ten in a few weeks.  Dawson is so grown up.  He always wants to try doing things on his own.  He is very independent.  I sure do love my baby!!  Although it is hard for me to let him grow up, I guess it has to happen.  I sure do love ya Dawson!!!

Jada's Sweethearts Dance 2016

February 13, 2016 

Jada and Colby...

So Jada went on her first real date.  It was a girls choice dance, and she wasn't going to go but her friend talked her in to asking one of our neighbors.  One of the other girls in the group was taking Colby's friend, so they thought it would be fun to have Jada ask Colby.  Jada looked so beautiful!! We looked for a dress for a LONG time.  She was very excited about her choice. We found the perfect shoes and accessories to go with it.  

So for their day date they went to a place called Provo Beach Resort.  They went bowling, they got to do the indoor surfing, and play laser tag.  Jada was worried about trying the surfing, but she did it and had fun.  She said she stayed up longer than the other girls.  Well, Colby didn't talk to Jada hardly at all.  He just kept leaving and hanging out with his friend :(.  Not to mention he had his earphones in the whole time listening to music :(.  The group was going to go get ice cream after the girls got dressed from surfing, but Colby and his friend went and got ice cream while the girls were getting ready :(.  Oh, lets not forget him talking to her about her friend Arienne and how much he likes her :(. Poor Jada babe!  She and Colby used to be friends so she thought they would have fun.  I guess he didn't really want to go, at least that is the impression she got from how he treated her :(.  Thank goodness the girls in the group were good to her.  She at least had a lot of fun with them.

Savanna, Tyler, Cassidy, Tyler, Kiana, Matt, Jada, Colby, Melanie and Bryson

The beautiful girls...

The handsome men...

 A fun crazy group!!

 Homemade Cafe Rio Salads...

Beautiful friends!

I am sad that poor Jada didn't have a very good experience for her first date, but I am very grateful for kind girls who made sure that it wasn't worse by being kind and helping her to have fun.  I sure do love my beautiful Jada Babe!!!

Valentines 2016

February 11 & 12, 2016

Making Dawson's Valentines box this year was a group effort.  I just started working for Lorrin at his new car dealership, and I am still working my morning crossing guard shift.  So between work and my commute, I am now gone from home 8 hours a day.  Needless to say, by the time I get home all the kids are wanting my attention, and with all the other every day things that come up our house is little by little falling apart.  So tonight as I started my mounds of laundry, Dawson decided that he wanted to make a box for his valentines.  Thank goodness for awesome older kids.  Brayden offered to help him.  Brayden came up with the idea for the box, and made the whole thing with a little help from Jada.  The box turned out amazing!!  I am so grateful for Brayden being willing to do this.  He has no idea how much this helped me.

Brayden was a little frustrated with me for taking so many pics.  He hates pictures.  Not to mention Dawson had a freak out and threatened to destroy the box, as usual he calmed down quickly and apologized and thanked Brayden and Jada for the awesome box.  

 Home from school with a full box of Valentines!!!

Valentines fell on a Sunday this year, so Dawson's school Valentines party was on Friday.  When they were making the box Dawson asked if I would have their big Valentines cookies and treats for them when they got home on Friday.  I told him no because Valentines was really on Sunday.  That did not sit well with him.  He freaked out and informed me it would not be a surprise if I made them while they were at home on Sunday.  He was adamant that I have them ready when he got home from school.  I even tried to help him realize that it wasn't really a surprise any way because he was telling me to make them :).  He was really upset that I wasn't planning on making them till Sunday.  So yes, to make my boy have a happy Valentines, I asked Lorrin if I could leave work a half an hour early to get home and have cookies ready.

Is this cookie big enough???  Ha, ha :)

Jada Babe

17 Years Old

Brady Boy

15 Years Old

Dawson

9 Years Old

Everyone was excited about their cookies!!!

 My cute babies, minus our oldest.

We sure miss Dax, and it was sad not to make four giant cookies this year :(.

I guess I will be happy knowing at this time next year I will be making four!!!

Oh, I guess I should mention that Valentines is a special day this year for more than one reason...

Dax has officially been on his mission in Argentina for 13 months!!!

Dave's poor cookie... It is always smaller than the kids, but this year I ran out of frosting so it doesn't look so great.  However, this is not a reflection of my love for him :).  I have the best husband ever that always shows me how much he loves me.  There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't go out of his way to do kind things for me.  I sure do love him.  I am one lucky lady to have five amazing Valentines.  I love my family so much!!!