Graduation & Mother's Day

After 2 1/2 years of hard work, I went to the commencement ceremony for the University of Phoenix on Saturday - Bachelors of Science in Business/Marketing! I still have 3 months left of classes, but walking definitely gave me the energy I needed to finish. The strange thing is that when you see so many around you that kept going to get their Masters degree, it makes you feel like you shouldn't stop - if they can do it, so can I! Of course, I would need a break because I cannot go non-stop, but I think maybe I should keep going... :-) Aaron was adorable and was so proud - he bought me the camera that I have been obsessing over, a new Canon EOS Rebel XS/1000D! I love it and have been taking pictures nonstop. I would love to take a class to know how to use it better, but I will wait until after regular classes end...

Mikel kept talking about how proud she is of me and it just completely melted my heart. That girl is so sensative and so aware of feelings and emotions that she just makes me want to cry. She is truly amazing!

Sunday was Mother's Day, so the kids made me breakfast in bed: pancakes, coffee, and some sort of apple tart dessert thing with extra sugar and marshmellows that I couldn't bring myself to try. Their cards were amazing, though, and I love those the most. Conner is turning out to be quite the writer and he wrote the best poem:

"The breaks, the bruises, the scratches, the cracks

The kissing them better, and doing all that

The stealing our noses, the putting it back

The making us happy, the making us laugh
We've made you smile, we've made you proud

We've made you upset, we've made you frown

To the chef of gourmet 30 minute meals

To the patient, loving heart we steal

Today you only need one thought

We all love you forever mom"

I got all teary when I read it. Of course, Nik's signing the card was, "I am handsome and you are pretty." He is such a ham! Mikel made a great Mother's Day magazine at school and included tidbits like, my mom is a great cook, takes good care of me, gets her exercise by running up and down the stairs, and loves to shop at DSW. SO CUTE!

Then the whole fam came over to the house and we had pork carnitas tacos and magaritas. Food was AMAZING and of course company couldn't have been better.

I am so lucky to have the wonderful family I have...

We will miss you Lucky Blue

With all that is going on, we decided that it is best to give Lucky Blue to a family that could train him and spend more time with him. He was an adorable pup, but definitely more high maintenance that Tyson, and we could not devote the time to him that he needed.

We found a family through KSL that seems perfect. They love the outdoors and have a huge yard for him. They had an Aussie that just died of old age, and their Golden has been lost without a playmate. It was a much more emotional experience than we thought it was going to be...he has really become a part of the family. But it really is what's best...

I think Tyson will be fine. He loved playing with Lucky but was often annoyed that he had no free time away from him. I think he really enjoyed being an only child.

The Closet Project

Anyone who knows us knows that there is always a project going on in our house. This time, we started the "Closet Project." The closet in the master bedroom was TINY! How they could call it a walk-in was beyond me. Luckily, I have a brilliant husband who knows how to make things happen... ;-)

The laundry room was right on the other side of the "closet," so he ripped out the wall between, moved the washer and dryer downstairs, after building out a new space for them, and designed and built his own custom closet. It has been very frustrating for both of us not having a closet for the last few weeks, but this has more than tripled the closet space and should be complete within the next week or so.

How awesome to have such an amazing husband that not only has visions of improving things around him, but who actually takes the initiative to make them happen. I know I bitch sometimes (ok, a lot) about having different parts of the house a disaster during the projects (including our yard right now, with the pile of walls that were torn down), but I really do appreciate all your hard work and I love the end results. I love you honey - thanks for everything!

New Year's "Resolutions"

So, every year we talk about things that we want to change from the previous year, but there was actually a lot I loved about 2010! Aaron and I got started with all of our remodeling work on the house and I really love that it is starting to take shape as a place that feel like home. No one has had major health issues (except that Nik got his tonsils out), we still have our jobs, and the car that is paid off lasted another year! :-)

That being said, it was a difficult year with Baylee - 13 is a tough age for girls and it makes it worse when you have a split family and are hearing different messages from both sides. As for her ADD, we increased her medication closer to the suggested dosage which has helped some, and moved her into a charter school; extra face time with teachers, increased accountability for her actions, and being able to carry her backpack to classes has been incredible so far. But she is still so sneaky and deceitful, which is hard to deal with. Anything we tell her not to do (going into our room, taking our things, eating in her room, etc.), she automatically tries to sneak around and do. No idea how to stop that, but at least she is really bad at it so we always know when she has been at it!!

As for 2011, these are things that I would like to accomplish:
I would like to finish school. I would like to start taking better care of me, by exercising regularly (by myself if I have to), and by calming down, de-stressing, and not taking it all so seriously. I would like to spend more time doing fun stuff with the kids, including taking our first real family vacation. And most of all: I would like to make my relationship with Aaron a bigger priority - a great start would be reinstituting date night and not letting anything get in the way of our spending that time together.

Summary of Christmas 2010

This year was great for so many reasons! Conner was home for Christmas Eve and day, so everyone was together; I was able to surprise Aaron with his gift; all the kids seemed truly grateful for what santa brought them; and we got to spend a lot of time with family.

As kids get older, it is funny to see their gifts get smaller and fewer while the bills get higher and higher!! Con and Bay didn't have as much to open this year as Mikel and Nik did, but they were very patient and realized what was happening. Bay's "big" gift was tiny, so it was fun to watch her open slippers and books while everyone else got fun stuff, and then when she hit her stocking, BINGO! There was her new iPod. Mikel was expecting her DS so that was not a big reaction, but when she opened her Ivie and Bean books, WHOA! It was so funny...

I never get to surprise Aaron, but this year I got a gift card from work and was able to be sneaky and get him the PS3 he has been talking about for a year. And Aaron got me great jewelry this year - a garnet and quartz necklace with matching earrings and an AMAZING watch. He is so awesome :-) My boss also got me a gift this year which was so great - he bought me a Wii! I have been wanting one for a long time, but since I didn't know how often I would get to play it, didn't get it for myself...

Main gifts from Santa:

Conner - Electric guitar with amp & case

Baylee - iPod and docking station

Mikel - DS, Barbie Jet, EZ Bake Oven

Nik - TONS of Star Wars and action figures (Santa went a bit overboard) and a Mobigo

OH! Can't forget the dogs...Tyson Bear and Lucky Blue had a great Christmas too... :-)

Pre-Christmas 2010

Surrounding Christmas this year, as every year, there is a myriad of events leading up to the big day. Starting early in December, we have the Hooley-Fest which is the giant friend and family Christmas party that Aaron's parents have thrown for the past few years. It is a great excuse to get all dolled up and have some Christmas cheer!! Then there is the Nutcracker, which all the girls in the family get dressed up to see. It has been a tradition for the past 4-5 years, and we all look forward to it (though this year, I didn't take my camera to get the picture by the giant nutcracker!) Then there is the Santa Breakfast at the country Club, which was layed out in my last post.

This year, Torri started a new tradition of having friends and family over to bake cookies just before Christmas - which was a BLAST! So many people were there and we were all in the kitchen, but everything moved so smoothly and tasted so great. I hope that one continues as well... :-)

Then we had Christmas Eve at Jess' house, with a great dinner & conversation, and kids getting to open their Christmas jammies and sing Chrsitmas carols. They actually went out caroling to the neighbors this year and had a great time!! Unfortuantly, Sierra and Brinley weren't with us that night, but they got to rejoin the family the next morning...

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Santa

On Sunday, we went to the annual Chirstmas Brunch with Santa at the country club. The kids look forward to it every year!! Santa and Mrs. Clause arrive in a helicopter to save the strength of the reindeer for Christmas Eve. Mikel is convinced that this is the REAL Santa, since he flies in, looks so great, and brings Mrs. Clause. All others are elves who are just helping out.

Conner and Baylee refused to sit on his lap this year (last year was a HUGE struggle), but they posed nicely for the picture. It is hard to see the kids getting older, but at least they play along nice for the little ones. As long as they remember that Santa represents the SPIRIT of Christmas, and that never goes away, then I am ok with them not thinking he comes down the chimney... :-)