The little things ~ April

Shelbi called this morning and asked if she could do Hayden's hair for dance.  She found these little bunny ears on snap clips in the Target dollar spot and got them for her!

The Young Women from the ward came and "egged" our yard :)

Preston *STAR student*

Went at watched Taylyn play softball at Queen Creek HS

Their favorite part of going to Trader Joe's- finding Iggy the iguana!  Hayden begs to go so she can find him!  They get a sucker at checkout if they tell the cashier where Iggy is hiding.

Went into the Apple Store to get my phone fixed, Hayden and Bridger had fun playing on these iPads while we waited~

We had our Hamilton grandkids Easter egg hunt and then everyone piled into the back of Heston's truck to check out their loot.  

A sudden obsession with mermaids!!  Patricia Kann's newest "licious" book, Aqualicious

Shelbi had her baby girl!!!  She asked me to come to the hospital and take photos once they got a little rest.

Uncle David has been wanting to run Pat's Run with me for YEARS!!  This year, the stars aligned and we were able to make it work!  It was hottttttttter the heck by the time we were finishing and I was the sweatiest mess!  My (our) finishing time was 36:20 and I actually ran negative splits (getting faster each mile), average pace 8:52 min/mile, not too shabby!

Birthday dinner at the Keg.  I ordered the pecan crusted salmon with brussel sprouts and garlic mashed potatoes, it was delicious!

LuLaRoe, I'm obsessed with it!!  Maxi skirts, pencil skirts, baseball tees, dresses and leggings for moms and girls!  I finally hosted a party and earned a couple free pieces!  Here we all are wearing our new LuLaRoe- me & Brooklyn maxi skirts, Hayden loves these twirly dresses!

Happy Birthday to ME!

My day started off with breakfast in bed, yum yum!

Taking advantage of my free birthday meal (lunch) at Firehouse Subs, then a little treat from next door, just me and my favorite little people!

Matt knows I looooooove the Sweet Tooth Fairy so he picked up this beautiful strawberry cake for me.  After Brooklyn's dance recital, everyone sang Happy Birthday and we dug in!

Glad I got to spend my special day with my family.  Here's to making 33 FABULOUS!!

Brooklyn's dance recital

It's there anything more that you wish you could do that spend your birthday night at your child's dance recital????

Brooklyn had her end-of-the-year dance showcase, which is always a fun one!  She got to dance in three numbers~

*production number pom routine - all four company teams* 

The Way You Make Me Feel / Michael Jackson

*junior company lyrical routine*

Dream / Priscilla Ahn

*junior company African dance*

Waka Waka / Shakira

The most fun part of the night ~ traditionally, there has been a "surprise guest appearance" dance once all the girls are done with their performances.  This year, it was the MOM's turn!!!  We held secret dance rehearsals every week for three weeks to perfect our routine.  It was extremely out of my comfort zone since I've never taken a dance class in my LIFE!!  We dubbed ourselves #therealdancemoms and had a blast out there as we danced to a medley of songs; I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack), All About That Bass (Meghan Trainor), Whip It (Devo), Shake It Off (Taylor Swift), I Am Woman (Jordin Sparks).  I knew Brooklyn would love it and I was right!

Brooklyn worked very hard this year and made improvements in her dancing.  It's so fun watching her move up there on stage!

As usual, she had a little fan club there to watch her final performance!  

Emily (and grandma Palmer, who we didn't manage to get a pic with...)

Grandpa & Grandma Hamilton

And her biggest fans of all!

COMPANY DANCE PICTURES 2014-2015

junior company

Freestyle Dance Company

Gavin plays baseball...reluctantly

Where to start with this one....... *sigh*

Back in January, I registered Gavin and Preston for baseball.  I remember Gavin saying last season was his last but I figured that time had passed, he'd probably forget about that and we'd be good to go for another season.  Boy was I WRONG!!!

Gavin was NOT happy that I signed him up for baseball again!  He said that he would not play, he never even wanted to play.  I argued with him that the money was already spent and that he WOULD play or there would be consequences.  It was a fight to get him to the first couple practices, there were tears and yelling, it was a mess!  I was determined that he was going to play no matter what, but then I stopped myself.  All this contention and chaos for what?  The money didn't really matter.   I let him know that I was sorry and that I wasn't going to force him to play baseball if he didn't want to, it was his choice.  And guess what?  He decided he would play.

Gavin is on the Greensboro Grasshoppers this year in the rookie division.  He even has a friend from his school class on his team!  His coach is very patient with him in working on his hitting skills.  He's gotten a couple of hits already, he just never does it while I have the camera out!

Look at that cute smile!

***Note to self- ASK Gavin if he'd like to play baseball before signing him up next year. ;)

LUCKY 13!

We celebrated our anniversary by eating out at Fleming's Steakhouse Friday night and WOW, was that an experience!  And I literally mean an experience.  They do not rush you at all!  We spent about 1.5 hours there, fully enjoying each course of our meal.

Our waitress recommended tenderloin carpaccio for an appetizer.  That red stuff is super thin sliced RAW tenderloin.  I was sure I was going to keel over and die from eating it, but it was surprisingly good!  And I lived!

The spread - oh my gosh, it was all so GOOD!!   I ordered the lemon rosemary chicken with spinach gnocchi, Matt ordered the biggest bone-in ribeye!  We shared the Fleming's potatoes and grilled asparagus.  Mmmmmm!

Meat and potatoes, meat and potatoes!

Dessert, chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream

They left this anniversary card, a box of chocolate truffles and a gift card for us

I'm grateful that Matt still loves me after all these years despite the fact that he often comes home to a disastrous house, I spend too much money Target and buy the kids too many clothes, I let the laundry pile up so high until we're in dire straights, I often don't know what we're having for dinner, I nag, I whine, I yell.

But I still love holding hands and I cherish quiet time together, when we get it.

He tells me that I'm beautiful, no matter how I feel about myself.  He always kisses me before he leaves for work, even if I'm still sleeping.

I'm a lucky lady!