Kindergarten Graduation

Karlee has grown up way too fast. She graduated from Kindergarten and performed a program with her class that I got to go and see. It was so fun to watch her sing all the songs she had learned that year. She even sang a song that made Grandma cry! Now it's summer time and she can't stop talking about being in 1st grade!

With Grandma after the program.

Karlee with Mrs. Best. She really was the Best kindergarten teacher!

Dig a Little Deeper

Last week Karlee had 2 dance performance nights. She had so much fun! Her class danced to a song from the Frog Princess called Dig a Little Deeper. Aren't they the cutest Princess Frogs ever?! Karlee did such a great job both nights. Her teacher Sara Harding, who some of you know, is fantastic! Karlee has absolutely loved being in her class. We couldn't have asked for a better year of dance.

On stage dancing away!

My view the whole freaking night. Seriously? Who has a head this big?

Karlee's final bow.

Thursday night after the performance Karlee noticed some of the girls receiving flowers from family. She was so jealous about it. Well I bought some for her for Friday night so that her Daddy and Austin could be there when she got them. She was so excited!

So, every month since November of last year my friend Sarah Lingwall started a Temple Tour through our grand state. We started at the Logan Temple and have made it to the Oquirrh Mountain this month. We weren't able to go with Sarah because of Austin baseball game schedule so we went the following weekend to keep the tradition. This has been such a blessing and I am so grateful to have a friend like Sarah to get this going. It's something I look forward to every month.

For Mother's Day I thought it would be fun to go to Liberty Park and let the kids play on the cool playground. It was a lot of fun! Here's Karlee climbing on some odd contraption.

Jason and Austin took advantage of the wide open spaces and played a little baseball.

Jason decided to start feeding the sea gulls. Once he did that we had quite a group waiting for something to eat. The kids thought it was pretty cool to throw food at them!

Here is my cute family!

Last night Karlee had a dance performance and she has another one tonight. She danced to a song from Princess and the Frog called Dig a Little Deeper. It was so cute! She did such a great job and I can see how much she loves to dance!

My new Mother's day Tradition

This is my second year doing the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on Mother's Day weekend. It is one of my favorite things to look forward to. My friend Kerri Huff asked if I would like to join her group last year in support of her mom, Jeanie. Kerri and I have been friends since the 2nd grade and I practically lived at her house during the summer. Her mom in a way is my 2nd mother. Jeanie has had breast cancer twice and it has spread to her spinal cord and liver. She is on chemo to basically live at this point. She is absolutely amazing and walked the full 3.1 miles Saturday! There are thousands of people there supporting family and friends who have had breast cancer and it is so amazing to be a part of it!

My friend Julie came with me and she was nervous as heck! This is her first race and she almost chickened out. Thank heaven's she called me for a ride so that that didn't happen! It was so much fun to have her join our crew!

Julie and Me-self

Kerri, Julie and Me

BFF's Jess and Kerri!

Silly pose!

Kerri, Shannon and I

Jeanie, Shannon, Kerri, myself and little Charlotte.

It feels so good to be a part of something that raises awareness. I plan on doing this until the day I die and hope that one day my family will join me in this.

Oh and last year I posted a picture of Kerri and I together from the race as my photo on facebook. I had commented on my Mom's facebook page and one of her friends asked if she had a lesbian daughter! Ha ha ha ha ha! Couldn't be further from the truth! So if you are wondering why I have on makeup and earrings it's because I wanted to be the girl in the relationship in case someone asks my mom again!

Field Trip!

Thursday last week I got to go with Karlee on her field trip. We went to Ivy Farms which is basically right behind our house. The kids were so excited! I'm not sure if they were more excited to ride the bus or see the animals but they had some fun! This is a picture of the girls I was in charge of. Starting at the left is Bailey, Karlee and Clear. (no that's not a typo, her name really is Clear, pot smoking parents I'm sure! lol)

The bus started going and this is the happy face I saw!

The kids learned a lot at the farm. They learned about the kinds of eggs birds lay and the different colors they can be. They each got a turn holding an egg.

And you thought you were having a bad hair day!

They had all sorts of animals on this farm. They had camels, pygmy goats, donkey's, cows, pigs, chickens, geese, and rabbits. There was plenty to see.

The kids were a little nervous petting some of the animals because they were crazy for attention. They finally got the courage to stick their little hands through the fence eventually!

I thought this was sweet! Cute momma and her baby.

It was a fun and cold day!

It's raining, it's pouring

I know it might sound dramatic to say when it rains it pours but sometimes that's how I feel. I just got back from the doctor's and let's just say I'm a little overwhelmed. 2 years ago I had surgery and found out I had thyroid cancer. It was a big shock and came with some big bills. I have since recovered from surgery, had 1 radiation treatment and 1 follow up body scan. I thought I was done. Um, that couldn't be further from the truth. I guess I expected my doctor to be the one to call and tell me the next step in cancer screenings and what to do. I learned today that it is definitely my job to be the pro active one in this. So, today I went to a new endocrinologist (since my old one transferred clinics) and we went through my history. It was a really long appointment but I feel good that the Doc was thorough with everything. He said I need another full body scan to make sure that ALL of the thyroid had been killed and that really the cancer is gone. Then after that it will be a periodic ultra sound to cover the bases on cancer screening. So here we go again, another 2 grand scan which means another hospital bill to add to it all. In fact, we are still paying for the body scan that I had 1 1/2 years ago. Besides the fact that I am paying for an endoscopy which I had done about a month ago because I couldn't swallow and my portion is a whopping 1200 bucks! You see, when it rains it pours. Jason said we will be fine and it will all work out, and I'm sure he is right. But in the thick of it all you start to wonder if that can be true. I know that because we pay our tithing and we are trying to live the principles of the gospel that we will be blessed and things will work out. I just need to practice relying on my Heavenly Father for these things. Which brings about a totally different topic that I will tackle another day. For now it's raining at my house and I pray soon that the clouds will lift and we will see the light at the end of all this. Through adversity comes strength. I will push on and do my best not to dwell on the negative. I am grateful that I am healthy.