Look Who Graduated!

No, I'm not talking about Bill. That's still at least a couple of years down the road. A few weeks ago Will graduated from preschool. It was a fun little celebration.


I thought the little graduation caps were a great touch.


The whole class. One funny thing about this particular preschool class is that at least 75% of the kids were from either our ward or our stake. Will had a lot of friends to play with.


Will and his teacher Mrs. Yagow. She is really great and Will seemed to like her quite a bit.

So now Will is officially done with preschool and will start kindergarten in the fall. It's hard to believe we are old enough to have a child in kindergarten, but we are excited for him and hope he will enjoy it as much as he enjoyed preschool.

Utah Trip

Right before Easter our family got to go to Utah because Bill's brother was getting married. We were lucky enough to be able to take our time driving out, due to Bill's flexible schedule. We really enjoyed the scenery along the way, especially once we got to Colorado and Utah.






After hearing about all the snow that Utah had been getting, we were really worried about what the weather would be like, but it was really nice most of the time we were there.

Once we got there, it seemed like we were on a quest to visit as many family and friends as possible in one week. We got to stay with my wonderful mom who loved spoiling and playing with Will and Kayla and was so generous with everything that whole week


We went out to lunch with a few of my high school friends and our kids (Sorry the picture isn't the best, but thanks to Bill for trying to take one)


We had a wonderful dinner and visit with Bill's parents before all the craziness with the wedding happened


We got to visit some family graves at the Provo cemetery, and Will and Kayla got their picture taken by the really cool old tree that is right next to the graves (I can't remember if it's the oldest in Utah or what the record is that it holds, but it's a really neat tree).



We also saw a lot of my cousins and aunts and uncles, but unfortunately didn't have our camera with us at the time. Sorry guys!

One of the days we were there my mom and Bill decided to have a little photo shoot with Will and Kayla in their fancy wedding clothes. There were tons of cute pictures, but here are some of my favorites.




And of course, the most important reason we were there was because of Jonny and Brooke's wedding.


The happy couple. I personally am so excited to have Brooke in the family. She's so fun and nice, and I'm excited to get to know her.


Bil's mom decided to get matching dresses and bow ties for all the grandchildren. They all looked so cute! This picture is missing Robert. A lot of the kids were having meltdowns at one point or another due to lack of naps and other hiccups in their schedules.


I loved their wedding cake. It looked beautiful and tasted delicious.

It was a wonderful trip full of fun, laughs, and lots of craziness. We loved seeing so many people that we love. We wish we could've stayed another month just to do all the things we wanted to do and see all the people we wanted to see. Guess we'll just have to go back again soon!

Worth It

A quote that's been a favorite of mine for a long time says "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it." Recently I've applied that to being a mother. I know it sounds cliche, but motherhood is probably the hardest and yet most rewarding job I've ever had. Will and Kayla are two of the most active, hyper, funny, kind, sweet kids I know and I am grateful that I get to be their mother, even on the bad days when I feel like pulling my hair out. They keep me on my toes, they make me laugh, they challenge me, and they inspire me. And despite my weaknesses and faults they love me. Being their mother makes it all worth it.

Sweetness

I just had to quickly share something that happened earlier today, because I don't want to forget it. First a little background and a bit of confession time. Today hasn't been one of my best days. I've been a bit lazy, unmotivated, and down. Every time I get this way (which happens a little too often sometimes), I start to get emotional and feel guilty for how it affects my relationships with my family and my responsibilities as a wife and mother. When I was putting Kayla down for a nap I started to tear up a little. I held her in my arms for a minute, muttering "I'm sorry". When I set her in bed she looked at me and said "Why are you sad?" I decided to be honest and told her "I'm sad because I don't feel like a very good Mommy". To which my sweet little girl replied "You are a good Mommy." So it's nice to know that, even in my worst times, my children still love me and think I'm doing ok.