Family pics

 We headed out to the grange near our house a few weeks ago to play with my newish camera.  We took a load of amateur pictures.  These are a bunch of my favorites.  The kids did great and Shelbi came by to snap a few family shots.  I have now purchased Photo Shop, so next on my to do list is to figure out how to use it and edit some pics!  I can't wait to crop and fix some of the lighting on these.  I love photography and I am hoping that I will be able to spend some time learning how to take some great pics!  One of my client's moms is teaching a class this summer, I can hardly wait!

Pack BBQ

It finally arrived.  The end of the year Pack BBQ.  It was talked about and discussed for so long, I didn't know if it would ever arrive.  Planning and organizing a BBQ for 150+ people is kind of a big deal.  I am so glad that this feat was up to Kent and his assistants.  :)

The Boy Scout troop leaders cooking up the grub.

The line up for the goods.

Boy scouts vs. Cub Scouts.  The Cub Scout pulled off the win!

My sweet little family.

Next up:  Family Camp in June.  That should be interesting......

Summer days in May!

 A few weeks ago we had 85+ temperatures in MAY!  My Mom happened to be in town that weekend. We got to bust out the slip-n-slide and sit in the shade while the kids played.

 Umm, who turned 14 overnight?  My darling mini-me sat like this and chatted with my Mom FOREVER!  Who knows what was said, but she was relishing the one-on-one attention that she so needs, and sadly, hardly ever gets.

 This picture epitomizes my girls, Ellie modeling and being center stage, while Dani is being a sneaky sneak in the background, ready to douse her sister.

 Ellie, being our little monkey girl.

Brayden, strutting his stuff at his game.

Rank advancement

Kent in his new role as Cub Master.

My pup got a new neckerchief slide.  It is a Keen sandal.  I got this key chain years and years ago when I was in downtown Portland with my 'Couve girls.  The Keen store had just opened and they were giving away these key chains.  It just so happens it makes a damn cute slide. 

Grandma Phillips and Ellie paying close attention to Kent.

This is when Brayden was called up to get his prizes for being the highest seller for honey AND camp cards.  Thank you to all who bought some and supported him.  He more than doubled everyone's sales with $1500 of total sales.  Look out world, this boy is determined!

His prizes, a nerf shooter thing and the coveted camel back backpack.  (Kent was able to return the one we got at Costco).  :)  He wore that backpack for the rest of the night. 

Paco transitioning his role as cub master to Kent.  It was a very sweet, heartfelt speech.  Paco will be missed and Kent is nervous about filling those big shoes, but I know he will do great!  We may have to call Paco back in to do some bum shaking, dancing and singing with the boys, I don't know if Kent will be able to come out of his shell that much.  :)

Brayden's rank advancement.  He officially earned his Wolf!  What a fun year!  Next up some geocaching, BBQ and family camp!

Surprise Birthday Trip

This was a hard birthday year, 35!  (How did this happen, I don't feel that old).  Luckily, my fabulous husband made it a little bit easier with a much needed surprise getaway!  He told me the Friday before my birthday that I needed to take Wednesday off from work.  Then slowly I finally got enough information out of him that I really needed to get Wednesday through Saturday covered.  This meant I had to reschedule or cancel my clients, let Brayden's teacher know that I wouldn't be in to volunteer and I had to get someone to take over my soccer coaching duties.  I have to say, I was so excited and surprised, and I did my very best not to let my type A personality take over and freak.  Saturday morning I got up and tried to reschedule my clients, that wasn't overly successful, but everyone was excited for me and very understanding.  Thankfully, my amazing baby-sitter, Maya, is a soccer player and offered to coach our double header games on Saturday.  Yep, of all the weekends to be gone, it was the double header weekend.  Lastly, my favorite MIL was watching our children (but Kent had that all worked out).

As the days passed I was getting a little anxious, not knowing where I was going, or what to pack.  Kent is the BEST secret keeper that I have ever met.  I tried to trick him into answering my questions, but he didn't crack one bit.  Finally an hour before we left for the airport (I didn't even know if we were flying or driving), he told me we were going to LAS VEGAS! 

YIPPEE for sun and relaxation!

The M&M store that we visit on each trip.

KA was an amazing Cirque du Soleil show.  I highly recommend seeing it, if possible!

We stayed at the beautiful Mandalay Bay Resort, it was quite swanky for me.

This is when I hit BIG MONEY!  I doubled my money to $10!  This was a pretty big deal, I usually never gamble. 

Soaking up the rays at the beach/wave pool at Mandalay Bay.  It was heavenly!  I have been dreaming about this place ever since I got home.  It was the perfect temperature and the water was warm!

We made the obligatory trek to In-n-Out.  It tasted mighty good, who wouldn't take a trek for a burger, fries and shake?

A nice local took this picture (it's the only one of us together) at the Wynn resort.  We were buying our tickets to Cirque du Soleil, La Reve.  It was crazy, good.  They are comparing it to "O," most of the show was done in the water.  It was pretty much indescribable.

It was a lovely 4 days of relaxing, laughing and re-connecting with my best friend.  Thanks for the best 29th birthday yet Kent!

WTH

I will post about the fabulous trip that I just got back from soon.  But right now I want to vent about the reality of today that slammed me in the face.

First of all, I LOVE my job.  I feel very fortunate to work part time from home and help children.  But today was a day that made me want to quit.  It was nothing drastic, just dealing with people (parents).

It was a day where my schedule got  messed up (and I never like that).  I had 3 out of 6 of my clients cancel this morning, which was fine.  When I know ahead of time, I can plan my life, and I like to plan.  Having this information ahead of time allowed me to schedule in an hour long bike ride, which makes me super happy. 

This afternoon I had a no show client, which is the third time in the last two months.  Not only did they no show, but it is a client that I see for an hour.  This means I am LOSING money because I am paying a baby-sitter to be here while I am supposed to be working.  Again, not the first time this has happened.  After waiting for a half an hour and no response to my text, I did some paperwork.

My next client that showed up, (I see both of her daughters, so they are here for an hour) brought a box with TWO hedgehogs in it.  What The Hell?  As a side note:  This is also the client who brought 3 loft house cookies into my house (the super yummy, crumbly, messy kind) and said, "Eat those in here, I don't want a mess in the car."  WTH?  I had to vacuum my whole basement when they left.

Back to the hedgehogs, they were in my waiting room for an hour, how many poop pellets am I going to find?  Anyone who knows me well, knows I am NOT an animal person.  I was so caught off guard when she arrived, but I now have a million responses that I could have said to her.  For instance, "It's a beautiful, sunny, 80 degree day, why don't you take those outside?"

Does no one have common sense or courtesy anymore?

And to round off my day, my last client also did a no show.  I get that it is 80 degrees out, but could you at least call and let me know that you aren't coming?  Probably didn't need a baby-sitter for the one hour that I actually worked this afternoon.  errrggg.

I am done venting, we are off to play some soccer in the sunshine!  :)