Samantha's Kindergarten Graduation

Samantha graduated from kindergarten last Thursday, on May 22nd. I was the only one from our family to be there, but I was really happy to share this time with her. I was able to find a seat on the front row and it turned out I was right in front of Samantha! It turned out perfect. :) All the morning kindergarteners did a program and then had their names read as the graduates. I thought it all turned out well and Samantha did an excellent job remembering all her songs.

Samantha is really sad to be out of school because she loves it so much. I'm glad she has the opportunity to go to school.
At the end of the song the kids were singing it said go to sleep. I thought it was cute how they all struck this sleeping pose and then all through the introduction to the next song the kids sat here pretending to be asleep. They held this pose for about 2 minutes without even moving. Funny.

Throughout the program the teachers would get up and share funny things that happened during this kindergarten year. This note was given to Samantha's teacher Miss Miller. I thought it was funny and want to share it. She said that when the teachers were having the kids practice their graduation program, one day the teachers got choked up and cried a little because they were sad to have their little kindergarteners moving on and out of their classes. Later, a little girl came up and handed Miss Miller this note:

If you have a hard time reading it, it says this:

Miss Miller,
Dot kriy ubaoot me leeveeg cinagartin. Al sil see you in the hol waas and I dot wont to leev to but we al haf to maak our uon waaz but I sil love you.
From Sadie
To Miss Miller

This picture is after Samantha had her name read and got her certificate. I think the kids look so cute in their little graduation hats!

After the program was finished we went to Samantha's classroom for a little presentation from the teacher and for the kids to collect all the rest of their stuff. Samantha is really proud of this picture that she painted in art class.

This is Samantha with her teacher, Miss Miller.

And finally, the graduation certificate! :)

We have a CD set by Steve James of good kids songs that help teach them important principles. They are really fun songs and the school system has incorporated these songs into a lot of their programs. Samantha is here on my soundless video singing The Stranger Song. If you want to listen to how it sounds (it's on of our favorites) click here http://www.somethinggoodinc.com/ and then go to Sample Songs and listen to The Stranger Song. We also really like The Friendship Song, I Like Being Me, and Buckle Up - among others. :)

Dress-up Day!!!

Jeremy has a lot of faith in the Utah Jazz. Unfortunately his faith did not serve him well in this instance. He was sure that they would beat the Lakers in the 2nd round of NBA finals. So sure, in fact, that he made a bet with his boss at work. If the Jazz won, his boss had to wear a dress to work! Funny, right?? Well, the Jazz lost. Guess who wore the dress.



Based on this last picture, you can't convince me that he didn't like it! LOL

The night before the designated dress day Jeremy was going through my closet trying things on. It was creeping me out so bad, I had to leave the room. I finally helped him in the end and we came up with the pictured ensemble. The kicker for me is that when Jeremy was going through my closet, he commented, "You don't have any dresses! What am I going to wear?" I said, "Yes, and that's why I complain every Sunday morning."

Step Aerobics

I had my own little triumph this week. I taught a whole step aerobics class for the first time! It was the community class at the high school and the teacher couldn't come. I did the warm-up, a 40 minute step routine, 15 minutes of weights and toning, and a cool down with stretching. It was really fun to teach. :)

I'll possibly be teaching this class in the Fall and I hope that I can get in some good practice during the summer, but teaching didn't seem to be as difficult as I thought it would be and I really enjoyed it. We'll see how it goes for me!

Athena's School Programs

I have spent a good share of my time this week going to school programs. I love to see Athena and Samantha enjoying school and being able to perform in front of the parents. :)

On Tuesday, Athena had her 2nd grade program. It was a patriotic assembly. Her part for the program was to say, "Do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America." She did a GREAT job and didn't miss a word. I think it's wonderful that their school teaches them all the patriotic songs and the importance of our independence and freedom. We also got to say the Pledge of Allegiance together. That was nice - I don't say it so very often when I'm at home with the kids.

In case you don't know which one is Athena, she is on the top row, 3rd from the left. The pretty blonde-haired girl with the striped hat!

The next picture is at the talent show Athena signed up for. It really surprised me that she signed up to perform all on her own! I went to her performance on Wednesday. She chose to sing the song "The Melody Within" from Rigoletto. I'm really proud of Athena. She seemed to have 100% more confidence at that age than I did for sure.

The funny thing about this talent show is that the kids who signed up could do whatever they wanted for their talent. The show was held in the music room by the music teacher. She dimmed the lights for a dramatic "performance" effect. Then she had a keyboard in the front of the room for the kids to use if they wanted to. There were 14 kids who signed up to perform a talent. 12 of them messed around on the keyboard and 2 of them sang. I think 2 of the "keyboard kids" actually played a real song. The rest of them went up and just hit keys and took up time. I have to say that Athena's talent surpassed them all by a longshot!

Alexandra's Birthday Party

Last Saturday we celebrated Alexandra's birthday. The weather was perfect and it was so nice to have the party outside. I could have timed it a little better and had it an hour later or so. We ended up having just a little bit of shade and most people crammed to the back of the house. I spent most of my time on the blanket with Alexandra. As the mom, I got the honor of helping her open her gifts and do everything else for the party. Woo hoo!

Robert and Denise opted to brave the sun. It actually wasn't bad at all. I thought it felt quite nice. I did get my first sunburn of the season, though.

Alexandra was so cute about opening her presents. She is the only one of our kids who actually helped open her own gifts. She would tear off a tiny bit of paper and hand it to me, then tear off another piece and hand it to me. Over and over and over. She stayed interested in opening her presents for most of the time. :)

Here is a cute little dress from Mama. Jeremy is quite excited about it because Alexandra can wear it on the 4th of July.



Jeremy arranged all the gifts on the table. This is what she got for her birthday.

• Strawberry printed shirt and denim shorts from Cathy
• Tub toys (boat with accessories) from Michelle and Shauna
• Book, phone, and clothes from Jeremy and I
• Doll and 4th of July dress from Mama and Daddy
• Fisher Price barnyard toy, rattle, and card from Grandma & Grandpa Slater and Kristy and Katie
• Purple dress from Teresa
• Ball and snacks from Lisa

This is Shauna holding up Cathy's gift - the shirt and shorts. They are really cute. Thanks Shnope for the display!

After opening presents it was time for Alexandra to pick in her cake. Hooray! The highlight of the party!

She didn't waste any time digging into the cake. She went right for it and started eating it. She really loved it! I'm so happy she liked her cake - it was cute to see her experience it all by herself.

As Alexandra was eating her cake, Grandma Lynda decided to try the cake too, so she came and popped off the eyeball and ate it. Then Jeremy joined in by popping off the other eyeball.

Then EVERYONE joined in and took a piece of the cake. It tasted really good!


This is the final moments of the cake and messy Alexandra. It turned out to be quite tasty and everyone got to enjoy the special treat. Alexandra did make sure to get her share and she had PLENTY.

After she was all cleaned up Michelle and Mama helped Jeremy and I in the kitchen and we served strawberry shortcake to all who came. We didn't get any pictures of that, but it looked like normal strawberry shortcake and tasted divine. :)

The party turned out to be a lot of fun and I'm glad that it is now over! I'm not a great party planner and so I'm glad to see the end of it and move onto the next thing. I am happy for the support we received and that I have family who will come and support me.

Elmo Cake

For Alexandra's birthday, I decorated an Elmo cake for her to pick in at her one-year-old party. She actually picked this cake style at the store. I took her to the cake pan aisle and held out 3 different patterns for her to choose from. She picked the Elmo pattern. We tested her and switched them around and let her pick again. She picked the Elmo pattern again - so Elmo it is!

This took me about 1 1/2 hours to decorate, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I've never been able to get a good, red frosting. It always turns out pink. This time the red AND the black finally turned out! I think it looks really cute. :)

Athena and Samantha's Dance Recital

Athena and Samantha had their end of the year dance recital on Alexandra's birthday. It was a lot of fun for me to go and watch them dance. They both remembered their dances really well and I'm glad they have the opportunity to do something they enjoy. :) Jeremy took some pictures of them before and after the recital. For the moving parts, you will have to come to our home and request to watch the home video.

For some sad reason, Samantha's picture turned out really blurry. Here she is on the stage before the concert in her costume. This is her favorite dance pose. Her dances were to the music Material Girl (jazz dance) and Ring the Bell (tap). For the Material Girl dance they wore a big fancy ring and for the bell dance it was a cute number where they tapped. Each little girl had a bell sitting in front of them (like what is on a desk that you ring for service) and they tapped and dinged the bells with their feet.


Same for Athena. She is doing her favorite dance pose. Her dances were to Jeremiah was a Bullfrog (tap) and a beach dance (jazz dance). I can't remember what the music was for the beach dance, but they had surfboards and beach balls for props. Athena gets SOOOO nervous, but she managed to keep it together and she performed well.

After the concert Jeremy and I gave the girls each some flowers that they were QUITE proud of. I am proud of Athena and Samantha for doing so well in their performance.
One funny thing I should share about the recital is - I told the girls before that they needed to smile big while on stage. I told them that people like to look at the girls who look like they are having fun up there and are smiling, not the ones that look freaked out. For every dance they did, both Athena and Samantha had their smiles completely plastered to their faces. It was almost like their face never budged from the smile. I guess I know they were listening!

Alexandra is ONE!!!!

Yesterday was Alexandra's birthday. She is now one year old. :) I can't believe that time has gone so fast and we have had her in our family for a whole year now. She is such a fun little girl and I love her very much.

We didn't do much to celebrate her birthday last night because Athena and Samantha had their dance recital. We will have a party for her on Saturday and that's when she will have the honor of picking in her very own cake.

We did go to Pizza Factory after the recital and she got her very own birthday pizza in the shape of a "1".

Here are some pictures of what she did on her birthday:

She climbed onto the chair and got stuck, so I got her down.

She climbed onto the chair again and got stuck. So I got her down.

She climbed onto the chair by the window and got stuck. So I got her down.

She made it look like so much fun that Nathan wanted to join her. I took the picture and had him get down. Then I got her down.

This is an accurate description on what goes on at our house all day every day except during naptime. The birthday was no exception. She LOVES to climb and at least she got to do what she loves best.

Samantha Rides Her Bike

We are so happy that Samantha has FINALLY learned how to ride her 2-wheeled bike. :) She actually started riding it about 2 weeks ago when it was super windy, but I was too busy to come in here and update my blog.

I had been trying to teach her to ride and she kept on giving up and not getting on the bike. I was getting really frustrated. Then one day when I was teaching her it was VERY windy. I sent her out to practice and because of the wind, she had that extra push of speed to help her keep her balance. She was so excited that the wind helped her learn how to ride her bike! Ever since then she has begged every afternoon to p-l-e-a-s-e let her go out and ride her bike. We have had several cold and stormy days in-between, but she doesn't care.


I'm so glad that she and Athena are enjoying riding their bikes. It feels like it's been years in coming. Now they enjoy riding so much that they will spend a couple hours outside at a time on their bikes getting exercise. They love to go around the block and through our lawn. Athena has also made the AMAZING discovery that she can stand on the pedals to get a harder push to go faster. Funny.

I Finished the Book of Mormon!

If any of you saw my graph on the right side of my blog, you would see that I did, in fact, finish reading the Book of Mormon in less than 97 days. I actually started late into the challenge and finished earlier - so I ended up finishing it in 80 days. I think that is the fastest that I have ever read this book, and coincidentally, I think this is the most I've gotten out of it.

I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the teachings that are contained within. I'm grateful for the added spirit it has brought to me and my home as I've been reading it. I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that the people in it are real people. I know that Heavenly Father preserved those records for our time. I gained so much by reading it.

I hope that each of you are enjoying your reading of the Book of Mormon as much as I do and that it will help you in your lives. If you aren't reading it, please start. :) You have so much to gain and nothing to lose!

Book Tag

This is what you do:

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)


2. Turn to page 123


3. Find the 5th sentence


4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog


5. Tag 5 people

The Eternal Plan of Happiness
"Fourth: A daily acknowledgement of His divinity:"

The funny part about this is that you have to pick up the nearest book with at least 123 pages. The first 3 nearest books I picked up had less than 100 pages! Maybe I need to surround myself with bigger books. :)

I tag Cynthia, Erica, Lisa, Shauna, and Aprilyn.