NANA'S SURPRISE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Nana turned 70 this year, so Kathryn and Michele decided to throw a surprise party for her. Her friends from all stages in her life were invited to attend, in addition to family. We all helped with the food and decor. Bonnie made several flavors of cupcakes, in lieu of a birthday cake. Their were pictures of Kay and her family displayed all over Kathryn's house. Kay's friends gave her 70 cans of coke (her favorite); in addition most guests wrote a letter to Kay and a scrapbook was put together with the letters and pictures of the party.

It was wonderful to see her so happy. It doesn't surprise me that she has so many friends, ones that would take the time to travel and come to the party. She is very thoughtful and it showed by how many people came to give their love and support. i hope one day I can look back after 70 years and hope I have touched the lives of several people as well.

Happy Birthday Kay!

TRYING TO ESCAPE THE COLD...

It has been such a cold and long winter that a few of our closest friends and neighbors decided to venture out to Las Vegas with the kids for an extended weekend getaway!

The weather was much warmer in sunny Las Vegas so we took advantage and went swimming the first afternoon. On the second day we took the kids to the Dolphin Encounter at the Mirage - the wind kicked in and it became pretty chilly, so we didn't spend a lot of time there. The kids thought it was cool to see the tigers and the dolphins, but the adults thought the price was a rip off.

We also visited the Coke store and M&M store, which the kids all loved. We walked over to the Bellagio to watch the fountains and see the beautiful gardens and got some fun pictures!


It was a little crazy going out to eat with a group of 16 (10 kids and 6 adults), but we survived! One morning we went to Serendipity 3 at Caesars Palace, the wait was quite long, so we spent the morning out in the sunshine. While we were waiting Jaxson and Jake decided to be statues like several people do on the strip, trying to earn money. They sat on some small columns and froze with their baseball caps sticking out for money to be placed in them. It was hilarious and they actually made a couple of dollars!



Madi and McKaela were nice enough to watch the kids one evening and we were able to go out as adults for dinner. Dan took us to one of his favorite Mexican restaurants in Vegas. Everyone loved it and the view was incredible!

Rusty wanted Jake to ride the New York roller coaster, so we walked to the arcade - the sad thing was Jaxson and Jake were just barely shorter than the required height to ride (they even made them take their shoes off to measure them), so just the adults ended up riding the roller coaster. The kids did have a good time in the arcade, so all was well!

My favorite part of the trip was a comment Jaxson made about growing up. Unfortunately in Vegas it is hard to avoid pornography. Their are workers on the strip passing out cards of half naked women and most of them get thrown on the ground for all eyes to see. Jaxson is very sensitive to this and avoids the guys in the orange shirts. While driving into a parking lot to the M&M Store, Jaxson spotted the "guys in the orange shirts" and said;

"I'm going to get really good grades in college, so I don't end up here!" I asked him why he didn't want to end up here (When I really know the reason, I just wanted to get his response)

"You know, so I don't end up being one of those guys who hands out those pamphlets."

We all laughed and told him he better get good grades in high school too. I was glad to here that he wanted to avoid having a terrible job when he grew up.

A ROYAL PRINCESS CELEBRATION

I have been looking forward to Reagan's birthday for quite some time. I love that she is so into princesses, it makes a mom's job so fun!

The birthday party preparations started in February, when I contacted Cinderella to come to her party. Because I knew she would be coming, when I visited my brother in California in February, we made a special trip to Downtown Disney, where I purchased a beautiful Cinderella gown that Reagan could wear to the party.

Having Cinderella come to the party was magical for all the little girls, she taught them to talk like a princess, bow like a princess and eat like a princess. They all practiced chewing with their mouths closed and using their please and thank yous. She also taught them that a princess is always kind. She made Reagan an honorary princess and give her a crown. Cinderella also read them stories (which they all had the answers to), they sang songs and guessed which movies they came from and they all made princess crowns.

After Cinderella left, the girls made magic wands, played princess bingo and ate individual princess cupcakes. When Reagan opened her presents, she hugged each friend and was so grateful (it was darling to see her so sweet). All the little girls received a Cinderella bottle cap necklace and a princess cup filled with Cinderella treasures; including a glass slipper, sidewalk chalk, stickers, princess fruit snacks and a princess ring.

Reagan smiled from ear to ear the entire party, she absolutely loves dressing up as a princess and spending time with her friends. We loved having Cinderella at the party too.

Later that night we had a Royal Banquet for the family. We ate plenty of finger foods, including; little sandwiches, meatballs, shrimp, chocolate covered strawberries, a cheese platter, jello in a cup and more!

All of Reagan's presents were somehow princess related, from Polly Pockets, to dress ups, to hair accessories and a sleeping bag. She tried things on, got into her new sleeping bag and played with everything. There wasn't anything she wasn't extremely excited about and so grateful for. The hugging continued as she hugged each member of the family and thanked them for her gift.

Reagan was very excited about her Cinderella Cake (which took me hours to make). After she blew out the candles, she dug right in, put her fingers in the cake and took a big bite before I could even cut the cake.

I can't believe my princess is four already!

EASTER EGG-TRAVAGANZA 2011

The annual Easter Egg Hunt at Grammie and Papa's called for beautiful weather this year! We were on a deadline because Jaxson had baseball practice that morning too. As always the kids got loaded up with more snacks and treats then you could imagine. (I'm not sure why the Easter Bunny even comes the following day). We tried to do more practical things this year, such as cereal, pudding, fun drinks and snacks; however Reagan is still just interested in picking up the eggs! Madi found the GOLDEN EGG this year and came out of the hunt with an extra $5.00. This was probably her favorite part of the day.

It is always fun to spend the morning with the family and eating EASTER SKILLET too!

MISSING JOLYNN

I received some very sad new this month...One of my best friends is going to be moving to Virginia by the end of the month! She invited me over for lunch one afternoon to share the news with me; we obviously cried - not only for us but for our kids as well. Karter and Jaxson are the best of friends; in addition to Paetyn and Reagan being pretty good little buddies as well.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks Jo had to pack up her house and her family, just to hop on an airplane (all the way across the country) with a one way ticket.

We had some good times before she left, just like we have throughout the past few years. We had to have one final girls night, one final shopping trip to Park City, one final game night, one final lunch, and the list goes on.

For our girls night several of the ladies in the neighborhood came for soup and salad dinner celebration. Everyone was willing to pitch in and make this a special night for Jo. It was a relaxed evening with no agenda, just chit chatting and visiting all night. We had enough food to serve an army - it was delicious and I ate way too much!

We tried to spend as much time with their family as we could the last couple of weeks. The boys had late nights, we even let them skip school for a day to hang out, go to lunch and a movie together.

I think the day she left I cried for a week straight, anything and everything set me off, because I just miss her! It's hard to see someone you love move on and move far away. I know we will always be friends - I cant' wait to see her again, but its just not the same because I can't just pop over to her house to visit anytime I want.

I love you Jo!