Preschool Graduation

Rachel greeting her friend Scarlet and then proceeding to play! Rachel with her teachers: Mrs. Lavelle, Mrs. Snyder and Mrs. Sana. They presented each child with a class picture and on the other side a picture diploma. The proud parents and little Jaders. Rachel with her best friends: Kennedy and Julia. Rachel and Grandma Taz. This morning was Rachel's preschool graduation. It was held at a park close to home and we were planning on staying after the ceremony for a picnic and playtime. Unfortunately the cold, windy weather had other plans for us. After the ceremony, bubble fight, and a short play time on the playground, we headed for McDonald's for some playtime. Rachel has had a wonderful year learning and putting on various productions. The teachers put together a CD with 761 pictures on it which they had taken over the year along with a DVD of the different plays, parties, field trips and songs they've learned throughout the year. It was special to sit down with Rachel and see her face as we watched her memories. She will be going to this preschool again next year for 3 days a week preparatory for kindergarten. I am looking forward to new memories they will make for us! Congratulations Rachel!

More Memorial Day

More Photos...sorry they wouldn't all fit! Rachel jumping on the trampoline with Mayson. She enjoyed watching him do flips and other tricks. Mom and daughter chillin outside! Rachel wanted to dance for Ashliegh, but only if I danced too...unfortunate for the crowd. Jayden and Ashliegh having some girl bonding time.

Memorial Day Fun

Mayson, Ashliegh, Allyson and Rachel hanging out and playing the Wii. Elena and Jayden checking on the boys doing the BBQin! The boys cooking our yummy food: Ribs, Chicken and Shrimp. Elena and Me. Rachel and Lilly. They are so cute together; I think Rachel wanted to take her home. (So did I!) On Memorial Day we went to Shoreline to have a BBQ with some good friends of ours. We had a blast; especially Rachel! It's always fun to eat good food in good company!

My Big Girl!

My little angel decided to start pulling herself up onto furniture and toys a couple of weeks ago. She is anxious to walk and play with her big sister! The funny thing is that once she is up she can't get down...she's stuck in the standing position until she's tired of standing and whines for help. Gotta love her!

A Day For Celebration

Mother's Day was very eventful this year! To start the celebrations, Brett and I took his Mother to our favorite breakfast place: Maltby's Cafe on Saturday morning. This was not only a fun adventure with yummy food, but there was no clean up and I could relax! Later on on the evening my Mother and I went to Olive Garden for dinner and then to a movie: "Made of Honor". Dinner was delicious (again no clean up), and the movie was cute and fun. Sunday morning we went to church and enjoyed various musical numbers (none from the primary children:( ) and then received pansies to plant at home. Mine is still in my window sill about to die. I'm not very good with plants:) Sunday evening we we went to my brother Lance's house where he made my Mother and I chicken Alfredo for dinner. Dylan and Jonathan pitched in with the clean up while Brett and Bob slacked off!!! At least I was able to relax and enjoy the evening; although I did get a little ancy not having any responsibilities! My brothers had to kick me out of the kitchen! We took 3 pictures of the family; none turned out. In each one Dylan was either tickling me or making funny faces. In this one he thought it would be funny to put his finger in my ear...Love YA! I hope all had a wonderful Mother's Day! We are blessed to have this most sacred calling in life and should be enjoying every minute of it...well almost every minute of it:):):)

8 months!

Time is passing too quickly! Jayden is already 8 months old!!! She started crawling backward at 7 months and is now crawling frontward:):) She is laughing and playing, trying to stand up on her own, which looks more like a bear crawl, and thinks the world of Rachel. She is no longer a snuggler unless I force her or she is super tired. She would much rather be on the floor moving around and being curious. She is too cute and makes me smile everyday!

Bedtime Picnic

Rachel was supposed to be getting ready for bed so we could watch a short movie. When I went upstairs I found her making a special picnic for me. It was so cute, so of course I couldn't get mad. We ended up spending the rest of the evening playing in her room, which was much better than watching a movie anyway! Isn't she just adorable?

Called To Serve!

Today was Stake Conference and the new Stake Primary Presidency was announced with Sarah Platteborze as the new Secretary! I'm so excited but also a little nervous. I've always told Brett that it would be fun for me to be a secretary instead of a school teacher, so now I get to find out. Wish me luck!

SERIOUSLY?!?!

Pinkalicious!

Rachel checked this book out from the library, it's pretty cute. This girl and her mom make pink cupcakes and she eats too many and turns pink, of course! We decided that we should make pink cupcakes. Rachel only ate one that night and when she got up in the morning I asked her, "Rachel, did you turn pink?!" She looked down in shock at her body and then laughed at me: "No mom, that's just silly". I thought it was a precious moment and she was so proud of her cupcakes. I must say they are delicious, or should I say Pinkalicious!

Summer Memories

These pictures were taken on Saturday when the sun was shining... It was beautiful! Now they seem like memories of long ago. Come back sun, we miss you!! As luck would have it the weather man is talking about snow this weekend?????

Weston, Oregon

My mom, Rachel, Jayden and I went to Oregon to visit my Grandparents. Rachel was spoiled to no end: eating cookies and candy. Grandpa even let her drive his pick up truck (too bad I didn't get a picture of that). It was the smallest town I've ever seen, but we had fun playing games, riding horses (Grandpa & Grandpa) and being silly with each other. Hopefully we can visit them more often so Rachel will remember them. It was awesome to have 4 generations in one house hold! Help...two slide shows AGAIN!!!! What am I doing wrong???

A Day in the Life of a Preschooler

So, Brett and I were able to go to Rachel's Preschool and be one of the kids. It was such a precious time with our angel and we loved every minute of it! They are acting out Thumbelina for the month of March, so those are the last few pictures. Enjoy! (Sorry about the two slide shows. I cannot figure out how to delete one. any suggestions???)

Spring Snow!

I cannot believe it...there is snow outside!!! It's been snowing for a few hours straight now, and just barely sticking, but I am in shock there is snow in March (almost April). I guess this means only one thing: hot cocoa tonight:):):)

Easter Fun!

Rachel was pretty excited to see her Easter basket Sunday morning...she even got into Jayden's "for her". It was pretty cute. We had a great EARLY day...church (where I sang in sacrament, taught my primary class & did sharing time! How relaxing). Then we did have some relaxation at Brett's mom's house where we had a yummy ham dinner, and had MANY Easter Egg hunts for Rachel...she was overjoyed. Unfortunately they were inside due to the wonderful pouring down rain here in Seattle! We hope everyone had a great Easter and we are grateful for our Savior and his love for us! (Sorry my pic.'s are so weird, I'm still learning:):))

The ABC's of Sarah - Tagged To Tell All

I've been tagged by my friend Mindy to do this ABC thing, so I'll give it a shot! A- Attached or single: Attached B - Best Friends: Brett, Tamra, Nena, Michelle (people I can be my true self around!) C- Cake or Pie: cake in the form of cupcakes or chocolate cream pie, yum! D - Day of Choice: Sunday; I love to go to church and see friends, relax and eat dinner with family. E - Essential Item: pictures, I could not live without them! F - Favorite Color: Right now I'm into blue, black is a classic, but they're all good in certain shades:) G - Gummy bears or worms: sour worms H - Hometown: Everett I - Indulgences: Almost any food (I'm an addict). Right now I'm into Everyday Italian J - January or July: That's tough: I love hot cocoa in January, but I LOVE seeing Emily (my big sis.) in July! K - Kids: Rachel and Jayden: my two beautiful girls L - Life is not complete without: People to share it with (and food) M - Marriage Date: August 22, 1998 (10 years this year!!!) N - Number of siblings: 5 O - Oranges or apples: Oranges if I don't have to peel them, although apples dipped in caramel is yummy too! P - Phobias or fears: My greatest fear is having one or more of my children taken from me. (I have to agree with Mindy on this, which is why Istopped watching all the CSI, and Without a Trace type shows) Q - Quotes - I'm not good with this. The only one I can think of: "To be or not to be? That is the question" From Hamlet. R - Reasons to smile: My angels. I also love to surprise people (in a good way of course) Their reaction makes me happy and I smile...and being silly with Rachel (like right now!!) S - Season: Winter: again, love the hot cocoa and snow (as long as you have all the right gear!) T - Tag some friends: I've never tagged anybody... maybe Emily Nedry and Carlie Barlow. They are both new parents, so maybe they will need something to do :):):) U - Unknown fact about me: I'm kinda an open book... I used to dress in black and smoke in high school. OH... and this is very BAD so please no one hate me, but I love watching The Girls Next Door:(:(:( V - Very favorite store: I'm a Gymboree addict and I LOVE Anthropologie, although I've never actually bought anything from there before. W - Worst Habit: It is so embarrassing but if I am being honest I would have to say my picking. I have an awful habit of picking at my skin. Again, I'm right with Mindy on this one. It's the worst habit ever!!! I've the same patch of stuff on my chin because it won't go away from all my picking!!!) X - X-ray or ultrasound: Ultrasound...especially when pregnant:) Y - Your favorite food: I love food!! Don't make me choose... how about a food I don't like: Mushrooms!!! Z - Zodiac: Cancer

I'm Off Probation!

Welcome back to the world of blogging!!! My blog was under review because blog spot thought it was spam. Don't ask me, I have no idea how this all works!!! Anyway, I'm back and I'm posting like crazy....don't worry Mindy I'm working on the ABC thing and it will be posted soon.

Bathroom Fiasco

The other night Rachel was supposed to be brushing he teeth and going to the bathroom: getting ready for bed. She calls me in the bathroom to help her and this is what I find. It might be hard to tell from the pictures, but that i s TOOTHPASTE all over her towel, the counters, and mirror.I stood there for about 2 minutes trying to calmly think of how I was going to handle this. I said, "Rachel, you are lucky you have a nice mom and that I don't spank you right now" That was probably not the best thing to say, but I was a little mad. I told her that she just wasted money and that next time we buy her toothpaste, it will not be the princess kind, but regular toothpaste (boring!) I then grabbed my camera and took pictures as Brett is looking at me like I was crazy. I told him this would be a great post for my blog and he laughed. We all started laughing and cleaned up the mess and went to bed. Just as a side note, the next night I asked Rachel if I needed to be in the bathroom when she brushed her and she said, " No mom. And I'm not going to put toothpaste in the sink anymore, I promise." What a sweetie!!!

Yard work

So we have decided to try and make our backyard look a little nicer so we can have more BBQ's at our house this year. Our first job is to move our big toy to the other side of the yard. My brother Dylan and Rachel have started to dig a spot for it...I can tell this is going to be a long process, what was I thinking???