You've Had A Birthday Shout Hooray!

Cody was looking for candles and found a 30, a 6 and then used 1 regular candle so it looked like on the cake that Don was 3061. We got a good laugh at that one.








Today is Don's 37 birthday but he thinks that he is only 34. Actually the Social Security Department thinks that he is only 36. They have him being born in 1972 instead of 1971. Psychologically that is a good thing except that if we don't get it changed then he will have to work an extra year before official social security through the government would kick in-yeah right like there will be anything left by then. Don had to go to Utah today so as part of FHE last night we had his birthday. Connor and I had to go to Vegas to doctors so Cody made dad his favorite Banana cake and wrapped his presents in festive Christmas wrapping paper. Connor and I bought him a few more things in Vegas and so Connor crammed them under his shirt as the wrapping . I never know what to buy for Don because he wants manly things like guns and stuff and I don't know how to pick that stuff out-he will be purchasing his gun soon with the thanks of those you that have sent him moola. We gave him 4 shirts and 2 pair of shorts and also 2 pair of sound reducing headphones for when he travels. You may ask why he needs 2 pair and he doesn't but I wanted him to decide which ones he likes best and then we will return the other.
I saw on a friend's blog that in honor of her husband's birthday she posted 33 things she loves about him and why he is so great so I will post 37 things that are so great about Don and why I love him.

1. He is the best dad ever to our boys.
2. He is the best husband to me.
3. He is the most unselfish person I have ever met.
4. He is very non judgmental-unlike me. He is really a Christlike person-see #3.
5. He is not a complainer.
6. He is a glass half full kind of guy.
7. He is always willing to help anyone-day or night.
8. If anyone ever is in need he would go in the hole to help them financially.
9. He is the hardest worker I know-Connor comes in a close second.
10. He worked his way up at Georgia Pacific working insane hours for years to get where he is now.
11. He makes the best fried zuchinni and spinach artichoke dip.
12. He knows everyone! We can go anywhere-Las Vegas, St. George, Provo, and he will run into someone he knows.
13. He is pretty funny even though Cody won't admit it a lot of the time. He says some of the funniest things like while looking in the refrigerator at the numerous blocks of cream cheese that I have just bought he says "Hey I think that cream cheese is on sale-Oh good you already know."
14. He knows when to quit being funny or when not to start.
15. He is very protective of me-he knows that I don't like to be scared so he goes out of his way to make sure that I don't have to be.
16. He always drives when we travel so I can sleep.
17. He has really thick hair and has to have it cut every 3 weeks if not sooner!
18. He is very respectful to me and tries to make sure that our boys are respectful to me too.
19. He is good singer even though he hates to go to ward choir.
20. He will stay up late finishing his work so that he can be around the kids when they get home from school.
21. He tries to come to every thing that he can that the kids do at school, church, sports or whatever.
22. He is a manly man-watching sports, playing sports, fishing, camping, hunting etc.
23. He is a fixer-he wants everyone and everything to be happy so he tries to do whatever he can to make that happen. Sometimes to the point that I have to say to him-I am venting. I do not need you to fix anything. I just need you to listen.
24. He is supportive of the boys and what they want to do-he does not push them into things but once they start something he sees that they finish it.
25. He helps me keep the house clean-he is not a clutterbug or pack rat.
26. He does not like shopping but will go with me when I want to. He will even try on clothes as long as we are not at Costco. He does not buy clothes for himself unless he absolutely has to.
27. He went to 27 Dresses with me and liked it when I hated it.
28. He is very sensitive to others and their pain and and feelings.
29. He has a very tender heart but does not like to show it-he calls it allergies.
30. When we were dating he drove up to Provo all the time to see me even when he had no money!
31. He tolerates George Strait on the radio all day everyday if I want to listen to it.
32. He likes to unwind and fall asleep in his chair watching TV. That used to make me mad but not anymore.
33. He can talk and talk and talk. He can say that he going to Wally's to get a drink and then not come back for 2 hours because he ran into someone and started talking.
34. He loves my family and will stay at my mom's for weeks on end during the summer so that I can be there. When he worked all those rotating shifts we would go to Provo every month when he got his 4 days off.
35. During the time right after Caleb was born and Connor was still a baby-18months- he would get up with Connor during the night while I got up with Caleb. It is affectionately remembered as 3 years of night of the living dead
36. When I was pregnant he even worried about the shoes that I would wear and called some of them "trip and die" shoes and did not want me to wear them.
37. He always follows through on what he is asked to do even when he does not want to. He has done every calling he has ever had without complaint and takes up the slack where others don't.

I could keep going but since he is only 37 I will save more for next year.
Happy Birthday Don! I love you and so do your boys!

Cody's Forensics Banquet

Friday night last week was the Forensics Banquet at the high school. It was a potluck dinner and then there were some students who performed some of their things in front of the whole crowd. I think that would be worse then performing in front of strangers. It was pretty funny but of course you had to be there. Cody's Forensics team took state and so they had to show off the trophy. I made Tara's fabulous Baked Ziti and got lots of compliments. I doubled the recipe so we ate it for 2 days even after having most of the one pan eaten at the banquet. Cody has sure found his niche with Forensics. The only bad thing is that the teacher is retiring this year and they don't know who will replace him yet.

New Website-had to make something-Abby's First Birthday. When it opens you can click on the other pictures and it will pull them to the front.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Found this website where you can make free scrapbook pages and post them to your blog or email them for free. If you want to pay the $4.99/month or $39.99 /year you can save them as jpeg or print them out for your own use. I was just messing around looking through photos and seeing these made me laugh so I used them for the scrapbook.

A Week or so in Review

Cayden waiting patiently for his turn to dance. Doesn't he look excited?
Cayden's May Day dance was last Thursday May 8, at his school. They actually call it the Spring Dance Festival up there. His class did the Hokey Pokey and finally after the last 2 years of him not doing the dance at all (I even went out there last year to help him and he still would not do it) he did the whole dance and smiled the whole time. He has made so much progress this year! Still not having any luck uploading video to this blog from my video camera but I will keep trying. (don't bet the farm though)

Friday I went on a field trip with Connor to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. I go on most field trips with him because his teachers have concerns about his diabetes and them not being totally able to handle it because they are handling their other 35 kids outside of the school setting. I had never been to Shark Reef and it was nice not to pay the $15 to get in. It was ok but a little pricey to take the whole family. The kids had a good time seeing all the different animals and fish that they had-piranhas, a white crocodile, sting rays,) and of course the sharks too. There was even a petting pond where there were baby rays minus their stingers that they could pet. I liked the sea turtles best. They have those tunnels that you walk through and above you is the aquarium with all the fishies swimming above. Makes me think of Jaws. Connor has wanted to ride the bus more and more on these field trips but the bus makes me sick and crazy so I opted to drive Don's car and stop at Walmart on the way home. I used to think (many many years ago) that I wanted to be a teacher but after just being the room mom and going on field trips with my kids these last 10 years has been plenty. I took my camera with me on the field trip but left the memory card in my video camera at home so I spent $15 on a disposable camera and have not gotten the pics developed yet.

The boys wanted to go camping Friday night out to Whitney Pocket which is sort of before Mesquite but out toward the mountains. Because we don't have a trailer it takes all day for Don to pack for a campout and then it takes the whole rest of the next day after they get back for Don to unload. With gas being so expensive and the sheer lack of desire to go sleep in the dirt we decided that the kids could campout in the back yard. They had all the gear and we had a campfire in our firepit, cooked Hobo dinners, roasted marshmallows and then they slept outside in the tents. Actually Caleb chose to sleep on the couch for personal reasons and Don stayed inside with me. Cayden and Connor were both asleep by 10:00 and Cayden stayed asleep until 4:00am when he came inside because he was cold.



Connor was up at sun up taking down camp and he had the tents, chairs and bedding put away before Don and I were even awake. Saturday was one of the few days that we actually had no baseball games. So after a fun-filled morning of trying to get the kids to do their chores Don and I went to the temple to support a friend who was getting her endowments. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner-Yummy! That is one great place to eat and then we stopped at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a delightful chocolate, caramel, pecan covered apple. We went to Costco for a few items and called to check on the kids only to find out that Cody had no idea where Connor was and hadn't seen him for 4 hours or so. Connor had called and told Caleb where he was but Caleb did not relay the message and then he left to go to a friend's house. After Cody looked all over the neighborhood and I called a few of them I was prompted to call Caleb at his friend's house and ask him if he knew where Connor was and he did. Crisis averted but 10 minutes of not knowing where your child is, let alone your diabetic child is a little nerve wracking. Connor was around the corner at a neighbor's house helping the husband dig trenches and shovel dirt-his favorite thing- and was totally fine other than not having a shot all afternoon and being really high. Next topic of family discussion-relaying messages and making sure you know where your brothers are while mom and dad are gone. After we got home I went outside to check on my garden and lo and behold I was able to harvest come cilantro and some basil. The spinach is almost ready as are the carrots. We have lots of flowers on the zuchinni and squash plants so we should have lots to eat in a few weeks.

Zuchinni flowers


Carrots

Pot o' Cilantro


Sunday was Mother's Day and unfortunately we have early church so there was no sleeping in but Don told me that the kids had promised to observe "No whining, no fighting, no arguing" day in my honor. Guess how long that lasted? When I went out to the kitchen my sneaky son and husband had flowers and cards for me. While Cody was home on Saturday Don had the flowers that he ordered for me delivered and Cody hid them in his closet. With my card was a gift certificate for new Maui Jim sunglasses that I could go and pick out myself. I went and got them on Monday. Don put on a roast before we left for church for dinner. After church we had chicken salad on croissants, fried zuchinni-my husband's specialty and my favorite-and then I went for my customary Sunday nap. After my nap, Don was getting ready for dinner with mashed potatoes, the roast and carrots, and yummy rolls from Teaxas Roadhouse. Cody had made brownies for me while I was napping and then after dinner Cody made his yummy crepes. We put peaches and whipped cream in some and then bananas and chocolate syrup in others. Cody is increasing his culinary talents.

My flowers and new sunglasses for Mother's Day.

Tuesday Cody and 4 of his friends went to Grandma Dottie's house for lunch. She used to do this alot for Ashley and her friends when they were in high school and so she decided that it was Cody's turn. She made scones for the group and had lots of toppings for them too. She even broke down and bought some Diet Coke. Don went and picked up the kids and brought them to grandma's and then took them back before the bell rang for their last class. Thanks Grandma Dottie!

Cody and mom posing as usual.

The spread.

Daniel, Jordan, Cody, Allison and Megan-note how there are mostly girls. When Ashley would come she would bring mostly boys. Funny huh!

I spent my Tuesday in a dither trying to get ready for a baby shower that was that night. A few ladies in my ward did this for my friend Serena who adopted a baby 3 weeks ago.
Look at this cute baby girl-Sydney Serena Dorsey
Laurel let me borrow her chocolate fountain and while being extremely tasty and delicious it was a major pain in the booty! Note to all those that use chocolate fountains and use chocolate chips- ***use lots of half and half!
I used almost a whole quart for one big bag (not the Costco bag either) of chocolate chips and it was totally trial and error. I do not think that I will purchase myself a chocolate fountain.
The shower was great and our friend that did the decorations is amazing so it looked so cute in the Relief Society room. We had lots of food and fun and lots of cooing over the baby. We are so happy for Serena and her family.

So are we caught up? Any question? Good, then I will bid you all adieu until next time.

Cayden Kelly Adams-Spring School Pictures

Stinkin' Cute!

I found the cutest stinking blog templates on this website and they are free!!
http://cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com/

May Day-Logandale style

Connor and the Maypole

Tininkling-Connor is facing away from the camera in almost the middle of the picture.

Stayin Alive!
Every year on May 1 the elementary school has a May Day dance. Each grade practices a different dance and then they dress up and perform it for the families at the fair grounds on the evening of May 1. The main event is the braiding of the Maypole by the 5th grade and then after the kids do it then they have a parent come and do it with them. The 5th grade also does a thing with poles on the ground called Tininkling. It is a rhythm dance where 1 kid is on each end of 2 long poles and 2 kids dance in between and on the sides of the poles while the ones holding the poles tap them together and then tap them on the ground. Kind of hard to explain but the kids like it. The 5th graders get to go first every year and then they start at the kindergarten and go up. Since Caleb is in 4th grade they were last. But the 4th grade dance is usually everyone's favorite. 70's syle disco "Stayin' Alive". After the 4th grade does their dance then they play the song again and let anyone else do it who wants to. Seriously all the 5th graders remember the dance and they all stand up and do it with the 4th graders. May Day has been a tradition here forever and they do the same dances every year-it gets kind of old for the parents but the kids like it. We videoed it but I don't know if I can figure out how to post it. I will try though and we'll see how technically challenged I am.