Something to look forward to!

I don't know if anyone has noticed my little widget at the top of my screen, but I am super excited about it! :) On Oct. 26th this year it will be me and kalebs 15 year anniversary, and kaleb decided that we deserved a trip! I readily agreed. We decided we would love to do another cruise, so we started looking and talking and dreaming. There were MANY cruises we would have loved to go on, but we decided on a 9 day mexican riviera cruise, leaving from LA on Oct. 21rst. We will save a lot of money being able to drive there and not having to fly. I know we are going to have a great time, I am so happy to have something to look forward to. So if any of you have been to any of these places and know of something great there to see or do, please pass on the info!!

Itinerary:

Friday, Oct 21	Los Angeles (San Pedro), CA		4:00pm
Saturday, Oct 22	Fun Day at Sea
Sunday, Oct 23	Cabo San Lucas, Mexico	10:00am	6:00pm
Monday, Oct 24	Cabo San Lucas, Mexico	7:00am	6:00pm
Tuesday, Oct 25	La Paz, Mexico	8:00am	4:00pm
Wednesday, Oct 26	Mazatlan, Mexico	8:00am	6:00pm
Thursday, Oct 27	Puerto Vallarta, Mexico	8:00am	6:00pm
Friday, Oct 28	Fun Day at Sea
Saturday, Oct 29	Fun Day at Sea
Sunday, Oct. 30	Los Angeles (San Pedro), CA

Dance, Dance, Dance!

What a truly fabulous, wonderful weekend! I am always sad when it is over, and always ready to look forward to another year of dance! Me and aliah both had our dance concerts this last weekend, I was super sad not to be able to go to hers, but I did get to see her at her dress rehearsal and she was awesome!! She really is such a good little dancer and completely adorable. Here we are both getting ready to head to our concerts!

I mean, really, isn't she the cutest thing ever? I never feel as happy and proud as I do when I am watching my kids do something they love. It is such a great moment for me as a mom. I love it.
I got to dance with the greatest group of woman this year. We all had so much fun together. My friend robyn joined me this year and we had so much fun dancing together. What a blessing dancing has been in my life these past 5 years. I can barely put into words how much I love it. Here is OUR dance class in costume. We danced to You don't own me from The First Wives Club, I love love loved this dance. So much fun.
This is ME in costume! These were by far the coolest costumes I have ever seen. This is a full black body suit with wiring and we had a button to turn them on and off. It doesn't even do it justice til you see it in action. Really, the funnest dance ever to watch. here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIVq0OI8zL4Posing with my girls! :)
Here I am in our opening number costume. We danced to the Glee version of Don't Stop Believing.
What a bunch of hotties.
Just me. I have definitely decided that my goal until I start dance again in the fall is to try to get in better shape and lose some inches. I hate seeing myself on video and not liking what I see!!
5 years of dancing now, and I can't see an end. I can tell I am getting older, my body did not like doing 15 dances in 2 days. I have never been so sore. I woke up this morning not sure I was going to be able to roll out of bed. :) But, it is all worth it. It makes me so happy to be able to do something that I love. I consider it a great blessing in my life. I hope all of my kids can find something like this in their life that they will have always, when they are grown and married with kids. I think every person needs something like this in their life, I am blessed to have found mine.

Thanks to all those who came and watched and supported!! Especially my hubby and kids. My house and laundry are never so neglected as this week of the year!!

C-R-A-Z-Y!!

That spells crazy!! Which is exactly what my week is going to be like. But good thing I like this kind of crazy! All the crazy this week is actually things that I like/love, and I get to do a little bit of pampering of myself too. I bought a gift certificate WAY BACK in january to get an infrared body wrap and an infrared sauna session (it only cost me 10bucks!) and I am going to use it this week, because the lady says you should lose about a 1000 calories, which can only make me look better in my dance costume, and believe you me, I need all the help I can get!! ;)

But here is what my week looks like:

Shuttling kids back and forth to usual stuff, fit in 3 dance practices, young womans planting flowers at the temple, YW garage sale, 5 dance concerts in two days, aliahs dance rehearsal, get hair done, get spray tan, spa treatments (I'll let you know how it is, I've never done it before!), on top of the other usual stuff: cook, clean, laundry, spend time with kids and hubby and friends. Believe me, I am not complaining. All of these things are a blessing, I am so grateful that I am able to dance and make this a part of my life, even though it means a little bit of hectic now and then and a little bit of neglect to my family and home for a week, but they support me in it and it makes me so happy. Even though I will truly be exhausted by this time next week (the older I get, the more exhausted I am!) it is all worth it!

My how you've grown!!

Sept.

January
May
Here is 8 months worth of growth. Its slowed down a little in the last few months. I am desperately in need of getting my hair colored before my concert.

Oh...speaking of my concert, if you are interested in coming, go to www.coveycenter.org and look under Jive to purchase tickets. The concert is on Fri May 20th at 6 & 8 pm and Sat 21 at 2, 6 & 8 pm. You can purchase tickets online or down at the covey center for arts. I am super excited, only 10 more days!!!!

Being a mother on Mothers Day

So, I think its a little ironic on the day that we celebrate our moms and being moms and moms everywhere, is the day that I was DONE being a mom!! :) The last two days my youngest two kids have been less then well behaved. As in: they are the devils!!! :) I was tired of them, plain and simple. Sick of listening to them fight and whine and cry and bicker and basically leaving me feeling very unsympathetic towards either of them. I told my hubby that I was ready to run away. He laughed. But.......after some love from all my kids, and some really good talks today at church, I was feeling that overwhelming feeling of love and gratitude towards my kids again and so thankful to be a mother.....but I will not lie. I was so glad to get them to bed!!!!

XOXO to Celine, tage and Aliah. I am a mother because of you, come what may.

How I feel today....

1. happy: the sun is out again.

2. tired: from the late night of bunko. totally worth it.

3. relaxed: i stayed in bed an extra hour this morning and read.

4. fun: going on a field trip with aliah.

5. relieved: its the weekend, I am sick of school.

6. missing: my sisters and my nieces and nephews who live far away.

7. wondering: if my brain is ever going to get itself right.

8. hungry: taco amigo anyone??

9. burned: i got a little TOO much sun yesterday.

10. wishful: I have to wait a whole 'nother month for bunko again??????

Hope your all having a happy, sun filled, taco amigo and dr. pepper kind of day. :)

Life goes on....

I guess that is one thing you can say in any situation, life definitely goes on, no matter what. It still seems weird that I don't have to plan my week around work anymore, I have 5 days to get it all done. I still feel a little bitter about it, but, someday I hope to look back and see this as a blessing. Maybe it is pushing me in the direction I need to go. I have really thought a lot about what I want to do, I have some ideas in my head that I am excited about, but we will see if they ever work out. So, as of now, I am going to enjoy the summer being home with my kids. I think that is what I am meant to do right now. I don't have to figure out the job thing this very second, because that's how I was feeling after I was let go. I needed to find something else NOW! But, I am realizing I need to take my time and really think and pray about what direction I should take. And I definitely should enjoy the time with my kids and hubby. So, my heart is a little lighter today.

Here is the promised picture of Aliah FINALLY wearing her easter dress. She was so happy.

My sister Trish flew in last week to attend Womans Conference with my mom and my other sisters. We had a great few days. I got to attend one day of the conf. and I really did enjoy it. The speakers were wonderful and it was a great experience. And of course I love being with my mom and sisters. I think we are planning on doing it again next year.

On saturday I went up and met my new nephew Knox. My sister katie had him at the end of april. He is completely adorable and such a good baby. I am so happy for my sister. Of course it just wasnt the same without April here, the one sister missing. But, she is coming home in 3 weeks for a visit and I am SOOOOO excited!!!!
Life goes on. And mine is. I have my dance concert coming up on the 20th and 21rst, which I am so excited about. I will always have a great love for dancing. 5 more week til school is out, hopefully summer is in full bloom by then! I have youth conference and girls camp, lots of things to look forward to. Life is good.