Christina's Kindergarten Graduation

We are so proud of our little graduate. She has learned quite a bit this year! She was "succeeds expectations" in every single category on her report card. She is reading excellent! She is brilliant with math! She is creative! She is a leader, she is well behaved, she is kind to all! I mean really... she is just heaven on earth. We are so proud of her. She is amazing in every single way.

Can I just say we got the best graduation gifts too from our Yaya and Papa! Wild Water season passes!!! Woooo Hooo!!! Thanks so much!


It really was a nice little program with a baby picture slide show to present day. Great singing from the kids, a chicken dance with parents, cake and capri suns!

I was getting a little misty eyed because we really did have a very nice teacher this year. All 5 feet of her!! She was a little firecracker! She was super supportive and even came to Joe's funeral to give Christina a hug (it was at the beginning of the year when they barely knew each other). I really am grateful to know she was in a safe environment. I loved that it was only 2 1/2 hours a day, so this will be a big and hard adjustment for me. It really doesn't feel natural for her to be away from me so long, as she's so little. Yet it doesn't feel natural for her to be with me all the time. She loves school. She loves having her friends. Ah, life. The complexities. I need to just focus on summer and all the fun we'll have!!!

I would do anything for my daughters... quote

So school's out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FOR THE SUMMER!!!!!

Love that song. Thank you Alice Cooper.

I asked Christina what she wanted me to make for her movie day and she said chocolate covered strawberries. Done.

I was taking them in when two moms were like, wow! They asked if I had done those and I said yes, my daughter wanted them. They told me if their kid would have asked for that they would have laughed and said yeah right, to which I responded I would do anything for my daughter. Then the mom was a little taken aback and said, would you do anything for me? We smiled and laughed.

I do love my children. I would do anything for them that I possibly could do. Christina was so excited and so were the kids. She was beaming when another little boy told her to tell me they were great and to tell me thanks. Sweet little guy.... still can't date my daughter though till she's 16. I digress...

Point: I feel there is nothing more important in life than making sure I do everything I can for my children. Because that is what God has done for us. I know I will come up short, but I have help from my little man on the other side and the Big Man Himself. If I teach my children about Christ and how to follow Him, then I will have not lived in vain. The best way to teach them is to lead by example and I just pray they will always know how very much I love them.

Freedom Fund Banquet

These things still aren't my cup of tea. But I'm getting used to it. Just smile and pretend to be the trophy wife that you might have been 30 lbs lighter, 6 years ago.

Plus I don't have a "real job" being just a stay at home mom. And talking to women at these things is always a hoot... "So what do you do?" "I got my degree in education but stay at home with my daughters having too much fun. It's the most important thing I've ever done with my life." "Oh... yeah. That's... ugh... nice."

We sat by the Moons! It was fantastic! An NAACP dinner and 4 Mormons at the head table, 3 of which were black. Sister Moon actually helped me went I went to the temple for the 1st time. It made the evening much funner and more comfortable.
We sat at the front table and Joe MC'd... he was the "mistress of ceremony". Fantastic misprint.

Joe really glued it all together and did a WONDERFUL job. I was so proud of him for keeping the dinner moving, for his positive and great attitude... I mean sometimes he really does babble, but this night he was a star! It was a wonderful evening!! I guess I should mention the whole evening was to honor the NAACP scholarship award recipients... and that there was a fabulous story about a midget census taker that was held hostage in a person's closet because the child overpowered him and thought he was a troll. Yes. Good times Reno!!

Tony goes to prom...

Funny story. This "thing"/wristlit above was $35. The picture makes it look much... much... much bigger than it really was. The roses were probably the size of the nail on my thumb.


She seemed like a very nice girl. If my daughters ever tried to go out of the house though in a dress like that... no comment.

Of course Tony was very handsome and we're just so glad he's a good boy.

New Places In Reno

We love to go out with Yaya and find fun new places. We stumbled upon this one on South Virginia St. It was super clean and a very pleasant atmosphere. We enjoyed some delicious treats! Thanks Yaya!!

Callaghan Park

I feel like a chicken with my head cut off. I run around having so much fun, but really I'm just a bloody mess. I'm sooo behind on all we've done! I suppose I've been trying to savor what we've been up to, but really, I just haven't had the time to update like I've wanted to.
When the weather man says it's going to snow in May (a week before June) I tend to roll my eyes. Then it snows. And kills all our plants. And my daughters are in flip flops freezing their toes off. Lesson learned!
Another lesson learned, call ahead to see if things are canceled. Not when you're there and no one else is. And after you've driven an hour.
Fortunately we ran into this great park! The sun was shining enough to warm us and we ran around in the fresh air. There was a great little creek, tons of space and fun playground equipment that I haven't seen since I was a kid!
Yaya took the girls on a magical pine cone hunt. We also got some rocks and of course spent at least 10 minutes straight on the swings. I think Maria could probably go for at least an hour.

"I'm a runner..."

Ever since the time Christina thought she was "lost" at BYU, we've noticed her talent for quick feet. Of late, she's been wanting to run so I take her to a really large outdoor soccer field and we have at it. Ok. Really. We've done it once because I'm not so much a runner. But she'll just run and run around that huge field like it's nothing.

Point: Today we were at Glen Duncan. There was a little 1st grade boy in Yaya's class because he had misbehaved. OK, rephrase, got in a fight. Well, we went out for running races and she raced him (same size) and she full on beat him twice.

....
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Sorry. Had to pause because I'm beaming so.

The first race she put out her hand so he couldn't pass her. Enjoyed that one. The 2nd time around she just whooped him. He was a great sport.

Mediocrity at it's finest....

North Valley's Night of Broadway was sensationally flat. A group of gyrating teenagers, singing off key was entertaining however and worth $5. The girls enjoyed dressing up to enjoy the fine/not so fine arts.

I was going to post video, but in all seriousness... does the world need more trash ending up on you tube? The girls and I especially enjoyed the Rocky Horror Picture Show number.... woah nell-ae... and a scene from Hair including a random boy from India pretending he could perform with passion. Sigh. Not to mention a boy doing an overly "operatic" version of Music of the Night from Phantom that gave us chills... and not in the good way.

Lock your doors at night. These children live 20 miles away and are dangerous. They crack windows.

I know my coins!!

When I went to Christina's class, I noticed a wall hanging of children who knew their coins. There was only a handful, but Christina wasn't on there and I was "irked". 1 week later, she knew her coins and was on the chart. Not to mention she knows the half dollar and gold one dollar with Sacajawea. Sheesh.
Not only does she know values, but the presidents on them and can add multiple and varied coins. Maria doesn't do to shabby either. They both learned about mints too!

We did coin rubbing art.

I tried to re-create a type of wind tunnel with a blow dryer... didn't really work. Need to get out the leaf blower and see what happens. What I really wanted was a metal detector but didn't know where to start to rent one. Sigh.

This little fellow is fabulouso. I got him for $4 at Target.... the fine motor skills of balancing was a good one especially for Maria. Normally you use tweezers and put small balls, (which is also great for sorting) however, we did coins!!

We did musical coins. However at one point there was a little too much fun, rug burn, blood and then band aids to the rescue. Amazing was a little spray of neosporin can do!

All our meals cost the girls and even some activities.

Of course, pin the bills on the banks.

All I have to say is the $1 store really pulled through on this one! Hip Hip Hooray! We know our coins!!

And yet, we still can' swim...

This was a $2 pool from Kohls. Woot Woot.

Every other day it's burning hot... then it's snowing... then it's medium... then it's snowing.

Why do I love Reno? I don't know. It is what it is. Hopefully in July it won't be snowing.

Balklava of Guilt

Pass the Couvasier Yaya. Yes, we made a booz desert for a bunch of Mormon women. Good times.

I love my mother. I needed help from my grandma, but she was tired... and that's OK. She's always doing stuff for me and I realize she's 80. Case closed. Or not. My mother "persuaded" her to help me and slave away in the kitchen.

Point: I have the best mother and grandmother ever.

We had a RS activity "A Taste of World Cuisine"... it wasn't a full blown progressive dinner, but tasters. However, our main dish was better than a mexican resturant... blow your mind. It was a fun night and I even taught a "Greek" dance. :)

So far we've had quite a few activities, all of which have been awesome. I have a great committee. We've done

Karaoke at a Rest Home

Living Up to Your Divine Potential: A Panel and RS Birthday dinner on achieving your dreams and being successful

A Blogging Night: Don't let technology sour you, turn it into something sweet! With lemon bars to boot.

And we're planning a big summer fun night, complete from grilling to desert survival 101. I can't believe it, but I'm actually enjoying this calling a lot. We've also just started a RS recipe blog

www.pyramidlakeflavors.blogspot.com