Over the Hill...I turned 30!

Last Saturday was my 30th birthday and my family and friends were so awesome to come celebrate with me!! I've heard a lot of people say that it was hard to turn 30, but I haven't had any trouble with it so far. I am right where I wanted to be at 30...if not more so. I feel so blessed with my family, friends, career, not to mention that I am going for my dream to be a psychologist and I am actually getting closer to it. I have the best family and friends a girl could wish for. Thank you everyone.




Little Mommy Camryn gave Cortni's daughter Avery her bottle while Mommy got to enjoy the festivities.
We all had a good time sitting around talking and laughing amongst the tiki torches. They were an added affect that turned out really neat.
The boys cooked up some of Mark's famous fajitas for everyone. I saw lots of people going back for seconds!

Tina, from across the street surprised me with this beautiful and delicious cake. Didn't she do a great job?
Ha ha...need I say more? My friends are so fun. I love you girls!
My best friend Amanda came to celebrate with me too!! Camryn just loves Amanda!

Mom and Dad stuck with us as long as they could. I'm so glad they came. I love my parents.
Donna and I posed for a shot. Immediately afterwards I dropped her...hee hee. I didn't put that one on here though.
The lovebirds, Donna and Dave. They make such a great couple. We really like Dave for her. He makes her so happy!!

Well, that's about it. I didn't get a shot of everyone who came but I sure did enjoy my party and I thank everyone for coming. Now I get to start thinking about what kind of party I can give my husband when he turns 40 in a few years. Does anyone have any black balloons I can borrow? ha ha

Cody and Camryn Get Older

Last weekend was BU-SY! First of all, both of my kids and I all have our birthday during the same week. (Yes, I am crazy because my kids are only a week and 7 days apart. I don't even remember the first year because it was like having a set of twins.) Anyway, we always have one party for both of them and since this year I turned ahhem...30, I got the big party. So, since all the family was already here we had their party in the afternoon and then mine that evening. Here are some pictures from theirs.



Camryn loves music and wanted a radio of her very own. She's gotten a lot of use out of it already and I think she's heard, "Turn it down!" more times than I can count.
Cupcakes anyone? The kids got them all over them but they sure did enjoy eating them.

Poor Julie. She got volunteered by Camryn to put together the highchair for her babies that Aunt Donna got her.
Gotta love opening all of those kids' toys. Man, they could make them easier to open, couldn't they?
There was a common theme with Cody's presents...Anything that shoots. The kids had a ball NERFing each other.

Goodbye Summer.

Sadly I say "goodbye" to the best summer that I have had in years. The kids and I did so many fun things together and my sister Donna came to see us too. I tried to make the most of this summer by not taking any classes and just soaking it up because I have to work in the counseling clinic in Commerce for my practicum for the next two summers. As much as I know I will LOVE that and the fact that I am actually going to be able to practice what I have been learning for the past few years, it will take me away from my kids more than I would prefer.

I ended my summer with a few activities, not to mention my birthday which I will post separately. Below are some pics from that last week:



Aunt Donna and Camryn at Hawaiian Falls.

Me and my babies enjoying some much needed shade (and sweets!)

Cody trying to teach his sister how to ride her bike without the training wheels. He was more patient than she was.

I whipped up some cutains for my classroom. I decided to go "Wild" this year and do a theme with animal patterns. I made a tree in my room and have vines hanging from the ceiling. It's my favorite classroom set up yet.

Here is Cody standing proudly in front of the scariest ride at the water park. He actually liked free falling...I am worried!

I'm sure I won't be able to post as often now. School's back in and I am taking two graduate classes...one of which is statistics online and from the first week I can tell that he is going to be working us hard in that one. Oh well, it's a means to an end, right?

Family

This past weekend my family celebrated my Grandmother's 80th birthday party. It was very nice and I also got some good family pictures.

This is my sister Donna and her better half (ha), Dave. Don't they look cute together? We love Dave!!
My cousin Anthony joked, "Let's go play hide and seek." That's because we use to always play that at Nannie's and look at us now all grown up. From the left: Donna, Anthony, Me, and Zach. It was so nice to visit with my favorite cousins again. We don't see nearly as much of each other as we should. Maybe we had better change that!

Of course there had to be a picture of me and Camryn. There always it. The bandaid you see on her forehead is covering the stitches she received Thursday night. Poor baby...she tripped and hit the entertainment center and gashed her head. We spent several hours in the ER where she had to get 2 stitches under the skin and 5 on top. She was very tough though. Cody was more upset that she was about it.

This is me and my much taller (yet younger) sister Donna. She is also my friend. I love you Donna!

1st Visit from the Tooth Fairy!!

Last night Cody had his 1st visit ever from the tooth fairy! Here he is minus one baby tooth.

Somewhere Under the Rainbow....

Last night I went outside to see the most beautiful rainbow. It was a complete one and a picture cannot really portray what it looked like. Rainbows always remind me of my wedding day. On the way to our hotel on the night of our wedding there was also a beautiful rainbow in the sky. I remember thinking that God was sending us a special promise on that perfect day and now I am reminded of that promise each time a rainbow spreads across the sky.

Look who I found at the end of that rainbow......

Rock Band Night

Back in the day, I used to think all of my teachers just went to the school and back home. That's who they were all of the time...just teachers. We'll, let me tell you- Teachers know how to have a good time just like anyone else. Last night the gang (We don't have a formal band name yet...more to come) got together at Cortni's house for a gig.

Our little apprentices had to warm up the instruments first... Check-one, two...
Yes, you do have to concentrate. It's serious stuff. You don't want to miss a beat!
Watch out...he's on a 300 note streak baby!
Coochie, Coochie, cooo....Dana and Avery looked soo cute!
Dana's husband Alex rocked out too!! Yeah baby.

We really enjoyed catching up since we haven't all been together since school let out in the spring. We may have to do this again after school starts and the kids start making us Crazy. :)
Thanks Cortni and Adam for hosting!

Rock band Night @ Cortni's

Here's a video of some of the action. Isn't Barb rockin' on those drums. She's on Fi-ya!