Our girl is all growed up

Our Maya girl graduated yesterday!  It's hard to believe the sweet little 12 year old that we met six short years ago is a grown up!  We are so proud of the spunky, caring, smart, hilarious, beautiful person that she is.   I have yet to figure out what we are going to do without her this Fall, I am in complete denial that she is moving on to achieve bigger and better things.  Look out world, she is going to make an impact!

Congratulations Maya, we love you!

Extraction

Our little Danielle had to have three teeth extracted!  She was so excited for all of the money that the tooth fairy was going to bring, she never really thought about how this was going to work.  Which turned out to be a good thing, because there was no anxiety before hand.  She was so brave as they yanked and pulled those puppies out.  They weren't even close to being loose.  They were the longest teeth I have ever seen, I think the roots went clear down to her toes.

She was brave and tough the entire time, until we got home and she looked in the mirror and saw what had been done.  She started wailing, "I want my Daddy, I want my sister, I want my brother!" 

"Well, fabulous, none of them are here, but I am.  I am your mom, can I hold you?"  Talk about feeling worthless.

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!