Another Birthday?

I just keep having birthday when I really wish they would stop.  I hate that I am getting older....some days I feel like I am still young and spry.  But here they keep coming so I try to make the best of them.

It was a great day.  My BFF took me out to lunch to a new restaurant in Old Colorado City and then it was off to Garden of the Gods for some picture taking.  She just got a new camera and so did I so we decided to practice tour settings and such.  But it turned out to be a very cold and windy day by the time afternoon hit and so that didn't last long as we were not dressed for the weather.  But it was fun and we plan to go again.

I loved my family time too.  I love when my kids get creative with their gifts....like the toilet paper message from K...

 M drew me a picture which I love too.

Hubby bought me flowers and gave me a gift card for a massage!  He even bought me a banana cream pie. 

We can't forget his early gift he gave me a few weeks earlier......

Yep, a new camera!  I love it and hope to be able to figure it all out soon.

It was a great birthday.....I even got these cute homemade towels in the mail from my other BFF.  I sure have a great friends.

Until next year you dreaded birthday!

Daddy Daughter Date!

I remember when I had Daddy Daughter Dates with my dad when I was little and then it seems they didn't exist anymore...until now!  K had a date with her dad for Activity Days on April 26th.  It was so fun for them to get all dressed up and have a dinner and dessert and a dance and pictures! 

I was asked to take the pictures for the leaders and I had a great time doing that.  They really hammed it up for some of these pix.  But they were so cute and I loved that she had this special night with her daddy!

School in April

As soon as Spring Break is over, it seems like school just flies by.  We usually have about 8 weeks til the end of school, but there is so much to be done before then that it feels like it goes by in 2 weeks.  There were some school events that deserve a blog post.  Normally they would have their own, but to catch up I am combining them for at least this month.

The big thing for J was Track.  She was so excited for track season this year and it was quite the let down.  With the weather being so fickle, all but one of her meets was cancelled.  I was so happy that I was able to be at that one to get some pictures.  She did awesome in high jump, placing 1st tied with a girl from her school.  It was so great.

However it was quite disappointing in the shot put.  She was so excited to throw and when it came time, she was running a relay.  And her coach sure didn't help any when he didn't try to find her or let them know she was running.  By the time she ended up at the ring, it was all over and they wouldn't let her throw.  I felt so bad for her and she was so upset....especially since this ended up being the only meet.  And she tripped while handing off the baton in the relay and so on top of all that, she was scrapped all the way up to her shoulder.  But they did do well in the relay, earning 3rd place.

Then at the league meet, she placed 4th in high jump!  I missed that meet but she did awesome.  Thank goodness that season is over, cuz that was a hard time!

Then we had M and her Track meets....there were several this year that didn't cancel due to weather.  I was able to make it to most of them....hubby made it to the league meet which I missed.  But she did great this year.  In her 2nd to last meet, she threw a new PR of 100.8 in discus...she was thrilled as you can tell from the picture.

But then, she was disappointed as she never threw that again in competition.  But she has improved so much over the years.  Next year M....next year!  It was a 2 day meet in Pueblo and she chose not to throw shot put the night before....she doesn't like that as much.  She did however throw in the next meet so I decided to post pictures of that determined face she gets when she throws...

And so it ended after a couple more meets and then league....which she placed 4th in Discus and 9th in Shot Put and therefore Lettered in that sport!  Good Job!

Seems funny to switch to basketball, but they didn't have their banquet until April, way late.  But M did a good job in that sport too.  She was a real help and support to the team and had some great plays and saves this season.

She says she is not playing next year, but we will see when the time gets here.

And from sports we go to academics.....she is smart too (in case you didn't remember that).  She was invited to the Academic Lettering Awards again this year....every semester so far! LEVEL 5!

She is so brainy...can't wait to see what next year holds!

April Conference

General Conference comes around twice a year and every year we say we should go to one and every year we let it pass us by.  One year about 4 years or so ago, we actually went and it was so much fun!  K was not old enough to go, so I stayed out with her and had fun listening to conference on Temple Square and in the Visitor Centers.  Ever since then, we have wanted to go again so that this time K and I could attend.  Thank goodness, I finally followed through on that.  We scored tickets for not 1 session, but 2 sessions.  We were thrilled and so we took a very quick trip to Utah the first weekend in April.

We drove out on a Thursday so we could have some play time on Friday.  We took a tour around BYU so M could get a good idea about the campus.

We played games and played with Ian and Percy.  We got to see Mary now that she is home from her mission too.

Then we took in the Saturday morning session....we had tickets on the balcony, but we were okay with that.  We were in the conference center and we would get to see and hear the prophet and apostles speak...live...in person.  We were all thrilled.  Since we had gotten 7 tickets for my parents to go, and since mom was not up to sitting that long, we gave the other 2 tickets away to nieces and nephews. 

After that session, we headed over to the cemetery to see granddaddy....

Sunday morning session was great too.  It was just so wonderful to be in that big room and feel the spirit of the Lord through those great men as they spoke.  We were all moved and so excited to be there.

It was a gorgeous weekend....perfect weather for conference. We have all decided that we want to go again and again.  We had to drive back after that morning session on Sunday but we are happy we had XM radio so that we could listen to the rest in the car.