Mother's Day

 

Since it was Mother's Day, I didn't have meetings before church and that meant I got to try a new hairdo on Ava!  This is a bun that I saw online that you French braid...I love how it turned out!

 

I think it's really fun to try new things, so it was a little treat for me!!

 

After church, we popped some popcorn, made special drinks and sat down to watch a show we love to watch on Sundays.  Then Greg and the kids gave me some gifts...

 

These are earrings that Zach made for me in his after school art class!!

 

He was so excited to give them to me.  It was very, very cute.  I love these earrings. 

 

I put them right on!!

 

Ava drew me this picture.  Here's the front...

 

And the back.

 

Greg got me a new pair of silver hoops!  I lost one while I was swimming in the underground caves in Mexico...silver hoops are an earring staple!  I was very excited to get these new ones!!

 

Ava also picked these flowers and potted them in this pot.  She was cute because she knows they won't last long, but she said I could enjoy them for as long as they last.  Cute. 

 

Andrew wrote me a great card and gave me an IOU for a movie I have been wanting.  I felt very loved and pampered.  Happy Mother's Day to me!!!

School Talent Show / What'd Mr. Kopp Say?

 

The PTA bought our school a stage and the talent show was the first time we put it up.  We are thrilled to have it and I'm super happy to have been a part of getting it for the school. 

 

Here is our group - right before the talent show started!  Zach and Aiden wrote a parody to the song 'What does the fox say?', called 'What'd Mr. Kopp Say?'.  Mr. Kopp is their 4th grade teacher!

 Here come all the kids...getting ready to watch the talent show at school. 

When it was their turn, Ava and Elliot were waiting on one side...

Aiden and Zach were on stage singing and Griffin was waiting on the other side. 

 

 

They were waiting until the end of the song where they sing about Mr. Kopp passing out taffy to the class.  Then Ava, Elliot and Griffin came out with their Mr. Kopp masks on and threw taffy into the crowd!

 

Let's just say that the crowd went wild!!  The kids did a great job with the song and it was so much fun when we went back in the evening for the 2nd show because some of the kids were singing along with the song and then ran up to the front to try to catch the candy!  My kids were thrilled.  I was really proud of all the work they did and how well they performed.  It was awesome!

 

 

Here they are with Mr. Kopp after the show.  Ava is the Mr. Kopp on the far left, then Elliot, Aiden, Mr. Kopp (the real Mr. Kopp), Griffin and Zach!!!

 

If you'd like to see their performance, you can click the link below  to see the video on youtube!!!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9-37fSRsTQ

Baconpalooza

We went to Baconpalooza last week at UMD!!  They had about 12 different dishes you could try and then pick you favorite dish (with the winning restaurant winning a trophy).  It was fun, and there were some tasty things, but it was SO crowded!!  We decided that next time we are in the mood for Baconpalooza, we'll host it!  Baconpalooza at the Bacon's!!!

Jamberry Nails

 

On Wednesday I tried jamberry nails for the first time.  My friend Tamara was showing them on FB and sent me sample (she is selling them).  They are kind of like vinyl stickers.  You heat them up with a blow dryer until they are soft and then stick them to your nails.  Then you trim them and reheat them until they adhere.  They use a real heating tool and special things to make them stick, but it worked great with just what I had at home.  Ava is always, always up for anything to do with her nails and she was patient with me while I figured it all out!

 

Here they are up close...aren't they fun??

 

I just tried one on me...kind of wild, but so fun!  They are supposed to last for 2 weeks, and I'm excited to see if they really do.  I think they are going to be a great addition to my nail stuff...and Ava can't wait to go online and pick out some patterns!  I see jamberry girl time in our future!!

Seis De Mayo - aka - Salsa y Salsa

 

 We had a Relief Society activity last Tuesday night - on seis de Mayo!  We had a salsa y salsa night...salsa dancing and salsa treats! 

 

We had a bunch of different kinds of salsa and chips for treats...

Including these 2 fruit salsas I made.  We served them with cinnamon pita chips and whipping cream.  Yummy!

Here's the gang learning some salsa moves!

 

Michael and Elsie show me how it's really done!

 

Stretching out in a circle after the lesson...

 

We had a great time!!  Lots of laughs, an hour of exercise, trying new things, and spending time together...what a great way to spend a Tuesday night!

Prom alterations

Elsie asked me if I would do some alterations to Sophia's prom dress.  It was too long and strapless.  She wanted me to take the length off the bottom and then make sleeves with the fabric. 

 

It was a bit of a tricky fix because the dress is silk.  On top of that, the bottom of the dress is flowy, and the top is ruched.  There wasn't much fabric, but I was able to use every last bit and make these ruched cap sleeves.  I even used the liner that I cut off and lined the sleeves!  I was so pleased with how it turned out.  I don't think you would ever look at it (even up close) and think that the dress wasn't intended to look like this.  That makes me really happy!!

 

Sophia was thrilled with the dress (and so was Elsie)...What more could I ask for?!? 

 

 

Zach's Jr. Great Books

I finished up Zach's Jr. Great Books group last week.  We had a great time during our 2 months and read and talked about a lot of great stories.  They were a really nice group!  I love the opportunity to spend time with my kids during the school day and am grateful for being able to work with this program again.  Next year will be my last with Zach...almost the end of an era!

Happy Birthday Debbie!

 

 

We went down and met Jim and Debbie last Saturday for Debbie's birthday.  We dropped the kids off to play with their kids and drove downtown and headed to 112 Eatery.  We ate so much delicious food and enjoyed it!  This was dessert...mmmmm!  We were there for 3 1/2 hours...great food and great company!

 

Debbie was taking a picture of me, so I took a picture of her!  Take that birthday girl!  I'm so glad that we got to celebrate together and for our friendship!!  Happy birthday friend. 

 

On a side note...

 

 

On the way down to their house, we hit a bird on the freeway.  After driving the rest of the way down, dropping off kids, driving into town, and eating a 3 1/2 hour dinner, we got in the car and started driving to take the Zollingers home.  It was dark and we noticed that the light wasn't working very well.  We thought that maybe the bird had hit the light and broken it or knocked it out of alignment.  When we got to the Zollingers, we got out and this is what we saw!!! Ahhhhh!!! The bird (a big grouse) that hit the car, pushed the light in and then got caught as it moved back into position.  Yep, we drove around with this on the front of our car for a solid 6 hours!  Yuck.   

Stake RS Training

I had a Relief Society training meeting last Saturday and these were the centerpieces on the tables at the luncheon.  The flowers are cupcakes!  I thought it was such a great idea.  They were going to throw away the pots and Styrofoam balls because they had frosting all over them, but I asked them not to and took them home!  Score for me...now I can replicate this without any real cost...I knew it was going to be a good training!

An unplanned timber

 

On Monday we were about 36 hours into a bad storm (up to 55 mph winds) when the kids came home from school.  Ava walked in and said, "the wind is lifting the grass up in the front yard".  I looked out the window and watched the wind blow our 60 ft pine tree hard enough that the ground came up over a foot...the roots were lifting the ground up as it was getting ready to fall. 

 

I was in a panic and tried calling a few tree companies we had used in the past.  There were so many trees down that I was way, way back on their list.  I appealed to Brad (Brad's Tree Service) and explained that our tree hadn't fallen yet and that I was trying to get it cut down before it fell on its own and did huge damage.  Luckily, he came and looked at it and was willing to get his lift.  It was scary to watch, but even in that storm and wind, he got up and started to cut the branches off of the tree.  

 

He worked his way up, with the tree swaying up to 2 feet away from him.  He got as many branches off as he could and then was finally able to cut the top 20 feet off and get it down safely. 

 

Then he cut the trunk down piece by piece.  I was so relieved when the tree was down!  It could have been disastrous to have it fall on its own.  Brad came and cleaned up the rest of the tree the next day (so it would be done in time for our house showing on Wednesday) and now we have a new, completely unobstructed view of the house from that side...bright side, right!?  It was a stressful few hours, but it ended the best way possible...for the situation.  We consider it a blessing! 

2502 E. 7th Street

 

We put our house up on the market this week in hopes of being able to move into a house just 2 blocks away.  It's a short sale house with lots of possibilities and lots of room to acquire equity.  It will put us in a really good financial position and were excited about the chance to make it work.  It's always hard to leave a house that you have put your heart into, but we really feel like it's the right time. 

 

We had a really wonderful photographer sent in by our agent and she took these pictures for the listing.  I asked, and she was kind enough to give us a copy of them!  It's so nice to have pictures that really capture this house and what we've done.  We love this house, and we know we'll love the next one too!