Another school year gone!

Sophia's "cheese" face & and favorite outdoor pastime
Boston at his school music performance, behind his "girlfriend" Emma!
Aubrie at her music performance (Hawaiian shirt required!:)

Monday started a long week of wrapping things up! It included getting the house back in order, from the weekly "weekend tornado" that blow through our house. By the time I was done with that it was already time to pick up Ethan from school. Ben was here working in the office, so he did that for me while Sophia was still enjoying a long nap. Monday afternoon I took Aubrie to dance so I could get some more details for her recital. I'm sad we are going to miss it!:( She has been working hard, and this year she will be in two of the dances. She has been so grown up about it, not wanting us to miss our trip to Havasupia. I'm so proud of her!

Dinner didn't work out as expected, there only ended up being enough for the kids. We decided to do FHE and go get something after the kids were in bed. The FHE lesson was on Family. I told a story about "contention monsters" and "angels" and the kids had to run around and find them (the were colored pieces of paper). They had a good time. They taped them up on the wall to remind them of the lesson. After the kids were in bed, Ben and I went to Paradise Bakery for dinner, where we scored a free BLT and 4 free cookies. Guess it "pays" to go right before closing! When we got home we watched the season finale of House, and then I stared reading the "Host"....Stephanie Myers (writer of Twilight) new book. It started off really weird, but it getting really good now!

Tuesday Ben went to Tucson to train a new employee, so it was just me and the kiddo's! The morning started off with an early luncheon with friends to celebrate Erin and Cherice's birthday. We all brought the kids, so I was trying to squeeze a little socializing in between chasing Sophia around, saving her from all the sweet kids who couldn't resist "helping" her out, and trying to detach Ethan from my leg. He still sticks to me like glue when we are in a new environment. The food was yummy, and actually wish I had more time to eat a little more! It was nice to be able to celebrate the birthday's! What a fun group of friends!

After a few hours, I ran home to get Sophia home for a quick nap before school got out. After school we just hung out, which was so nice. The kids played and I read my book! I love the last week of school....NO HOMEWORK!!! NO STRESS!! For dinner I took the kids to their choice; Paradise Bakery. That made two days in a row, for me. I'm not complaining! I got the new summer salad, again! It's so yummy! The kids all did well; happy to have their "special" mac and cheese (I swear it's the Kraft) and their cookie! After dinner, I got a few Paradise gift certificates for teachers, and then we ran a few small errands. The kids went to bed easily. I got to read more of my book!

Wednesday had a crazy start. I had to get the kids going in the morning, and take them to school. Right after I dropped them off, I headed to Fry's with Sophia and Ethan to pick up two dozen donuts (in all my morning glory) for Ethan's class party! I then ran home and quickly got ready for Ethan's 9:00 presentation and party. Ethan was so shy the whole time. Luckily, once in awhile, he would forget that he was in front of everyone and start singing the songs out of habit. Half of the recording was him just standing there with his hands in his pockets. The song he picked as his favorite song was "I'm a Little Teapot" and he actually sang that one. He also said the thing he learned in preschool this year was "Lions Eat Wolves". Funny boy! He has done so well this year, though. He has grown up so much, and has learned so much! I'm very happy with his progress.

Ethan with his teacher, Ms. Sarah!

After Ethan's school party, we hung out at home until Aubrie and Boston got out of school. It was such a nice, cool day! Ethan played a little outside, and had fun watching the landscapers work on our fire pit! He loves building things and watching people build things. He was in Heaven! The kids didn't have piano lessons this Wednesday, so we had another relaxing day after school. I was LOVING it!! We hit Sonic for dinner, one of our spots when Dad is out of town. It's one with indoor seating, though outdoor would have been just as nice with the overcast weather. Ben got home later that evening, early enough to help get the kids in bed. I had some Walmart shopping to do, and after talking to Terri, we decided to go together. We ran into a few people for church, and here we are at 8:30 at night, shopping at Walmart together. Such exciting lives we have. LOL Actually, we had a great time!! Any excuse to get out, and catch up! When I got home, Ben and I watched American Idol. I was shocked by the outcome, but not disappointed. They were both great artists! Better than last year, for sure!

Wednesday night, Boston earned his 40 quarters , for the Disneyland jar, for reading all the Junie B. Books these last two months! He had to finish them before school got out to get the quarters. Talk about pushing it to the last day!

Thursday morning started with an early wake up call from Boston. I forgot what he needed, but I remember when I got up to help him my head was spinning. I figured I got up too fast...I was wrong. When I finally got up for the morning, my head was doing the same thing. It was the worst Vertigo I had ever experienced. It was awful! I was getting so frustrated because I was planning on going to the kids end of the year parties and assemblies. I couldn't even stand. Ben took Ethan and headed to their school, and I put Sophia down for her morning nap and I joined her. I woke up at 11:30 feeling 100 percent better. Weird! I was glad to be feeling better, and quickly got ready so we could have a fun family day. It was time to celebrate school being out. The kids did so well, and had such a great year. Aubrie got the Joyful award and Ben overheard her teacher telling her that she was so glad to have her in her class because she was always so happy and joyful! I gave Aubrie a hard time, asking her if she could be joyful in our house all of the time! LOL Boston got the "Trustworthy" award. I had to explain to him what that meant! Ha! Ok, I can't believe that Boston's first year of school has come and gone! He has come so far!

Aubrie and her teacher, Ms. Johnson
Boston with "Emma"....see how his personality changes!:)

We tried starting our fun filled day by going to see Indiana Jones (not my idea, b/c we had Sophia). The movie was practically sold out, so we decided that wouldn't be a good idea! (I wasn't disappointed!) Instead, we took the kids to Castle and Coasters. As soon as we got there it started raining, so we decided to let them go to the Arcade. They had a great time in the Arcade. The spent about an hour in there, and they walked out with some pretty cool prizes. (Comparing them to the awful trinkets they offer at Chuck E Cheese of course)

After the Arcade, the raining had stopped and so we were able to play some miniature golf. It was the first time we played miniature golf with the kids. They had so much fun, and so did Ben and I! (We had a little competition going!:) They kids kept getting better and better with each hole and were wanting to do a second round when we were done. Sophia did amazingly well, sitting in her stroller the whole time, and we weren't about to push it. She had been up for over 4 hours, and we had to get her down for a nap!! It was such a great family time, and I'm looking forward to taking them again. It's so fun that we are able to do these things now that they are getting older! The rest of the day we hung out at home; swimming, watching TV, etc... and then we went for Baskin Robins after dinner. What a great family day!

Friday Ben, Aubrie, Boston and I went to the Colyar funeral, while my Mom stayed home with Ethan and Sophia. The attendance at the funeral was huge. The overflow was all full, so they had other rooms set up with Closed Captioning. The funeral was wonderful. The musical numbers were amazing, and the Eulogy was so great! It was so well rounded. It had us laughing one moment and crying the next. The Spirit was so strong. What a wonderful way to honor him. The kids were a little antsy at the funeral, and they had to sit on our laps, so that made it a little hard. I was mainly frustrated because I thought they weren't listening, and I was wishing we hadn't brought them.

For dinner that night, we took the kids to the Outback. While we were eating dinner Ben and I started talking about some of the talks at the Funeral. The kids started to piping telling us their favorite parts about Ben's Colyars life. I couldn't believe that they were actually listening. It's amazing how kids have that art of seeming distracted and disinterested, but then remember what was being said, or taught. After hearing them go over everything they liked hearing about his life, I was so glad we brought them.

After dinner, we brought Sophia home and put her down for the night and then we took the rest of the kids to Indian Jones (BTW my Mom was home watching Sophia. LOL). The kids were so excited for the movie, as were Ben and I! The movie wasn't as good as we hoped it to be, but we still had a good time with the kids! The kids always like going to the theatre because they get the popcorn, soda and candy! Ha!

Saturday was another laid back day. Aubrie went out with my Mom for the day, and Ben and I took a trip to Walmart. I should start adding up how much time of my life I spend there in a year! LOL (That and Target!:) Aubrie worked my Mom, convincing her to take her to Justice. She scored a new skirt, and she used her own money for another Webkinz! I wasn't too happy about that, and threatened to not give her allowance anymore if she was going to spend it irresponsibly! Do I let her choose for herself and live with the consequences, when a year from now Webkinz is old news and she is stuck with tonz of them and no money...or force some responsibility on her?? Ugh! Parenting is so hard sometimes! Ok...most of the time! Anyway, Aubrie was happy with her new loot, and all the kids were happy that it was Mom and Dad's date night! They are always ready to kick us out of the house, because that means fun times with Grandma Beverly. Pizza, movies, hide and go seek...you name it!

Ben and I met with the Jarman's, Headricks and Wrights and headed over to an Italian restaurant called Alto. It's one of the Hyatt Resort restaurants at Gainey Ranch, in Scottsdale. Brian wanted to surprised Erin, with a little birthday celebration. They had gone there for Prom and when they got engaged, so Erin was a little suspicious of the venue!! But she had no idea we would be there. The dinner was nice and the company was even better. We had a great time! After dinner, they gave out free passes for the Gondola rides. We stuck around with the Headricks and Trimbles, for the ride. It was a great night for it! Saturday was another cool day!!

We got home around 11:00, and Ben headed off to the Jarmans for fight night. I did some research on the computer, fishing around for the possible location of the new Phoenix temple that was announced that day. (I'm so EXCITED) I couldn't find anything, and then ended up looking at hairstyles of all things! Ha! Yeah, I'm bored with my hair!! So ready for something COMPLETELY different! I hope I'm brave enough to try something! LOL Ben got home around 12:15. He finished reading The Peacegiver and I read some more of The Host. I finally got to bed a little past one!

Sunday was a busy day! Sacrament meeting went well. Ethan fell asleep, and Aubrie and Boston behaved themselves. Sophia was all over the place, but we only had to step out with her once when she fell off the pew and another time at the end of the meeting. Though the kids were doing well, I was having a hard time focusing on the talk. I was trying, but my mind kept wandering. Oh well, what can you do? In YW, we did a little tribute to some girls that just graduated. Erin did a mini slide show (very cute) and then we gave them a book on Temples and a temple envelope. We are really going to miss those girls!

After church, the day went fast. Ben had home teaching, then I had visiting teaching, then it was time for dinner. After dinner I quickly had the kids make Happy Birthday posters for Steve, and then we had a few moments on the teeter totter, before Ben's parents showed up. After they left, our Home Teachers came, and then the kids finally got to play Battleship. They set it up right before dinner, and had to wait to play. Aubrie and Boston had a great time playing that game. They finally pulled themselves away for some swimming, and then the boys watched Evan Almighty, while Aubrie and I played Battleship! I hoping that they will enjoy playing nice quiet games this summer! LOL

Well there it is...a week of our life! The entry sure seems long when you get so far behind. If you have gotten this far, sorry if I bored you! LOL