Dad & Mom

Todd turned 40 this last weekend.

I know! He doesn't look a day past 50!

Just kidding, sweet chunks!

He refused to have a party and he had to work all weekend,

so our celebration included

WAKING HIM UP FROM A DEEP SLEEP &

GIVING HIM PRESENTS &

TAKING HIM TO "AVENGERS" (loved it!) &

HOME-MADE TACOS!

His presents included about $100 dollars worth of gag-old people supplies.

The sad thing is.. Todd was way excited for all of his presents.

His most favorite? Ensure drinks, of course...

My favorite was his blood pressure cuff and all of the

"Help" medicines..

Take a look at all of them.

Seriously, I cracked up.

Luke picked this out for his Dad.

I don't think Todd was quite awake for this picture.

Poor, sleep-deprived old man.

All of these apply to Todd.

And typically on the same day.

This is about a 2 day supply of medication for him.

And my family's all-time favorite..

HOME-MADE GRANDMA FARM TACOS.

And, then we had to have some cake.

Or pie, as it were.

KEY LIME.

We didn't have 40 candles... I know, I am lame.

And then for the MOTHER.

Oh yeah. I got spoiled.

My cute old man lover built me this...

LOVE IT!

We will be breaking it in tonight!

Steak, potato salad and fresh fruit!

Bring on Summer-we are ready now!!

Maddie also made breakfast for me.

Sadie and Luke served me my coffee cake and eggs and toast in bed.

It was fabulous.

Maddie also gave me a cute picture frame with pictures of our family.

She IS going to miss us!

Tanner cleaned up the kitchen after Maddie made breakfast.

And I didn't even have to re-do it!!

Great day at church, where I got the cutest purse-shaped notes from my babies..(see below)

Then we went to dinner at Jodi's and had a yummy myzthra spaghetti dinner.

Kids had fun with cousins...(see below)

I LOVE ME SOME MOTHER'S DAY!!

Oh yeah.

That is my princess.

My precious child... holding a rat.

A rat.

Of course Jodi has a pet rat.

And of course, my daughter thinks it is a different looking kitty.

She loved that rat as much as any rat deserves to be loved.

Tanner doing what he does best... pestering his sweet cousins.

I don't care what anyone says..

This is the best present of all.

My favorite is Sadie has somehow gotten the idea that I don't like to clean..

Hmm... whatever gave her that idea.

Is it because she, at the tender age of 5, is our dishwasher?

So cute, I died.

Translation:

My favorite food is: Salid (salad) 

The thing I cook the best is: tatrtost (tatertots)

My favorite thing to do is: runs

I don't like to : yrdwrk (yardwork, obviously)

My job is: maks pepol fil betr (makes people feel better)

I love him because: Im hr sun (I'm her son)

Died. dead. died.

Maddie's cute present.

That never got completed.

Until I completed it.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

3 days

On a Monday, I went to the zoo with the kindergarteners.

Let me just say 

I am sure that the animals were very glad they were caged.

Swarms of 5-6 year olds, excited to be at the zoo and

wound up from the long bus ride.

CRAZY!

I had a lot of fun with Luke's little group.

The animals were very active (the real animals).

Mornings in the spring are the best time to go to the zoo,

All of the animals were active and eating and playing.

And then Tuesday,

I received these beauties.

Can you stand it?

Peonies are my favorite!!

And then Wednesday,

I received these.

Can you stand it?

5 pallets of sod.

Oh, yeah!

We worked from 11:00 a.m to 7:00 p.m. to complete our new lawn.

It was totally worth it.

Our backyard is finally looking like a yard and not a junk pile.

Todd and I felt like we had been hit by a bus, but we got it done.

Maddie's foot problem

What a weekend.

My beautiful 17 year old daughter decided she wanted to go to her Grandma's house.  Todd and I had too much going on to go, but she talked us into letting her take all of the rest of our posterity on a 3 hour car ride to my parents house.

Me:  "Maddie, you realize you have my entire life in the car with you?!  Please (in a begging tone) be soo careful!"


Maddie: "MOM!  I know how to drive (in a very teenaged annoyed voice)!"


A few hours later, in a corner of the house...


Todd: "Maddie... I am begging you not to speed.  Please (in a threatening voice) don't get a ticket!"


Maddie: "DAD! I don't speed!"

So... I said a prayer and let her go.

I trusted that things would be OK.

And they were, until Maddie got pulled over for going 15 MPH over the speed limit.  Unfortunately for my sweet girl, it is her 3rd speeding ticket in about 18 months.  The child has a lead foot.  She is always in a hurry to get where she wants to be and is slightly unaware of her tendency to speed.  We thought her having to pay for the first 2 tickets would be enough.  In fact, after the 2nd ticket, she was grounded from her car for 1 month.  But, that lead foot got the best of her...

So, Maddie is no longer a licensed driver.  Well, she is still licensed, but she no longer has a car (she is selling her car to Tanner-ultimate punishment) and no longer has driving privileges.  It sounds like she is going to either have to pay $1,000 dollars a year to stay insured with our family OR give up her license.  It turns out that if you have a license, you must have insurance even if you are not driving.

I think she is going to turn her license in.

What a crazy dumb thing to happen to my daughter right as she is going away to college to start her adult life.  So sad to see your kids suffer consequences, but, we realize it is for her own good.

She has been a dream--no whining or begging for another chance.  She knows she messed up.  She is realizing how lucky she was to have a car, be insured, and have the freedom that comes along with a car.  We all feel like maybe it is a blessing in disguise.  No worries about gas, repairs, or accidents.  She will be the cute little coed on the beach cruiser down in Cedar City.  I can just picture her now with her cute bike, a little basket of groceries on front, a little bell to ding-a-ling at the cute boys in her way... Seriously, it will be awesome.

But, in all seriousness- There are lots of ways to get around in this life.  The following are examples of ways that Maddie has gotten around and can still use to get from place to place without getting a speeding ticket.

She almost biffed it here.

But.. NO speeding tickets this day!

I forgot when I picked this picture that about 10 minutes after

I snapped this shot of her and Todd, she rolled the 4 wheeler down a ravine.

But, no harm, no ticket.

Sledding--what an efficient way to move.

Obama would be so proud.

Another very successful motoring of her own body to another location.

This is my favorite.

I think I shall send her to SUU with a bonnet and a hand cart.

All of my worries would be over...

no sunburn & no boyfriends.

This would be an option if she wasn't horribly allergic

(to taking care of an animal)

This would be helpful if we lived in Waterworld with Kevin Costner

So.. on Monday she bummed a ride to school with a friend.  Another friend brought her home on Monday afternoon.  On Tuesday, another bummed ride and in the afternoon she jogged home from school (about 3 miles away).  DO NOT JUDGE ME!  What are we teaching her if we rescue her??  By the way, judgers, if she comes up with no way to get home and does not have her running shoes with her, I will come get her.  Tomorrow, I have to take Todd to a colonoscopy (yummy) right by her school, so she will get a ride tomorrow morning.  Tender mercies are flowing to Madison.

It is going to be an interesting few weeks until graduation.  Maddie might just be ready to run a marathon at the end of this month with all of the miles she is going to be putting on her legs.

And to all of my followers who are yet to have teenagers...

Laugh it up, Chuckles!  Let's talk when you have a teenaged daughter and a teenaged son.  I am sure you won't be laughing so hard at my plight. Yeah, enjoy your sweet children who drive toy cars and who only want to go one place... McDonald's for lunch.  Just you wait...

or...

If you find yourself judging, just STOP IT! Those immortal, timeless words from a month or so ago will never get old to me.  You may have perfect teenagers and they drive perfectly and smell perfectly and behave perfectly and I would just say to you... You are boring and I bet no one laughs at your blog.

I love my Maddie-her lead foot and all.  She is a beautiful, lead-footed, smart girl who is going to do something wonderful with this life she has been given.  It is not going to be centered on operating a motorized vehicle of any sort, but it will be wonderful.  Maybe, I am wrong.  Maybe she will use that lead foot of hers to become another Danica Patrick.

Heck, that would be OK with me.  Totally redneck enough for my side of the family.  Or maybe she will become a famous rich person who only rides around in a limo. Which I guess would be OK as long as she was able to get in and out of it without showing her privates to the photogs trying to get a shot of her.

Or maybe she will be the perfect lead-footed Maddie that she is right now...no license, no car, but ... hey, she still has her looks!

Luckily, I think I know what Maddie's future is and it does my heart good...

MOM JEANS AND MINI VANS!!

YOU GO GIRL!! JUST TAKE IT A BIT SLOWER!!

Maddie's last YMAD meeting

We had the pleasure of going to the Gallivan Center one night last week and getting together with the YMAD teens and their families.  We watched wonderful videos, put together by each of the 5 groups of teens.  The adult leaders talked about the continued impact that the YMAD teens had on the village and schools.  There continues to be improvements made to the schools with funds and supplies that were left there, distributed by a local man who was YMAD's liason.  He wanted the group to know that hundreds of people come out to the work days now-he attributes that to the good example of the YMAD kids.  Everyone in the community now seems to have caught the bug-- giving and helping is good and makes people happy!  One leader, Kathy, talked about how she was a bit nervous the first few nights.  She was worried that even with the guards that were there for the groups protection, that something bad could happen.  She mentioned it one morning to the Filipino driver-how she had not slept very good due to worrying about the kids.  That cute man looked at her and said, "Mam, (kind of like our ma'am) no one is going to hurt those kids.  They are all of our kids now."  It really touched Kathy and I am so glad she shared it at this gathering.

It was a gorgeous night and we had a great time with 

these cute little girls.  Some of the group called them

"The Triplets".

Even though they are as different as can be,

the really do love each other.

They claim to have had NO fights the entire time.

Amazing!

The girls and their moms.

This is how Jeanne said you are supposed to pose for pictures. 

You stick your chin out so it stretches your skin and you look skinny.

Or weird.  Or both.

Maddie and her bestie, Gabe.

Of course, I am an idiot and didn't make sure to charge my good camera so it was out.  I had a bit of space on my dumb little video camera and so these pictures are dumb, but will help us remember this night.

They forgot "holiness give me!"

$142 dollars will get you...

• A nice, comfy bed.

• Use of some very expensive wireless headphones.

• Laughing gas ("yeah baby, yeah")!

• More space in your face.

YEAH FOR MORE SPACE!!

Of course, the stupid tooth fairy happened to be sleeping on the job again...

FORGOT TO COME THE FIRST NIGHT!

Maybe that tooth fairy is a drunk.

Come to think of it, I am actually quite sure she is a drunk, 

because she left $7 dollars for these teeth

when Luke would have been perfectly happy with $1.  

Stupid, drunk tooth fairy.

Being Mom

It is seriously the best job ever.

All I have ever really wanted to be was a MOM.

Now I am one.

A MOM.

And a MOM to 4 children.

I can't hardly believe it.

I am so blessed.. so busy, so stressed, yet soo blessed.

I love all of my munchkins, but today was about Luke.

The kindergarten classes did a program for the moms and then right after the program we got to eat lunch in the cafeteria so our kids could see what it will be like next year when they are upperclassmen (a.k.a. 1st graders).  It was really fun to spend the morning with Luke.  He is just the yummiest little boy.  I can't believe I get to be his MOM.  So lucky.

Thanks to my little "Lukifer".  I never thought I would enjoy elementary cafeteria food so much.