Today was cowgirl day at pre-school. Meggan and I came up with this cute little outfit this morning and Sophie of course needed to be apart of the fun. Oh how I love my girls!!!

Yesterday I had SEP's for both boys. I went to Luke's first and his teacher couldn't say enough about what a good kid he is and how smart he is and how cute he is. I must say I have to agree with her. His only problem is how excited he is to be at school in the morning - but once he settles in she said he's really good the rest of the time. He is reading at end of school level already, but he needs to work on creative writing and keep sharpening his math skills now.

Tayson's teacher said that he is good about 50% of the time (I actually think this might be an improvement over the last 2 years) and that he struggles with talking to his neighbors, focusing and staying on task. Not a big surprise there. However, he is reading great and doing well in math and is improving on his writing (penmanship and creativity). So far he is doing better than before and we will keep working with him on channeling his energy.

I am very happy as a mom that both of my kiddos are doing well in school and even though there are a few bumps in the road I can see how much they are learning and I am grateful that being talkative is the worst I have to deal with right now with my kids. I'm sure this will change as they get older but I'll keep my sweet and silly boys for now.

For my birthday Todd bought tickets to Lion King. It was AMAZING! We opted for great seats slightly apart instead of bad seats together and it was so worth it. The costumes and dancing were great. I love that Todd enjoys the theater so much. And you know, 11 years ago for my birthday he bought me tickets to see Les Mis and that sealed the deal for me wanting to marry him. I love getting dressed up and going to a nice restaurant then out to the theater - it was a perfect date. Thanks Todd for making my birthday great! I sure do love you!

1. She refuses to be held or even hold my hand
2. She likes to play hide-n-seek in the rounders of clothing
3. She loses her hair bows while playing in the rounders of clothing
4. She climbs on "employee only" ladders
5. She runs around like a wild child and makes me look like a bad mom
6. She tries on shoes and runs to me to show me then face plants since the shoes are hooked together
7. She cries if she doesn't get what she wants
8. She loves to grab full piles of folded clothes that are sitting on tables right at her level
9. She plays in the front windows and might have pulled down half of the large hanging sign
10. She pulls down her shorts and underwear in the middle of the store to try on a pretty skirt she pulled off the hanger by herself.

The 1 and only reason to take her shopping:
She found these perfect shoes in her size all on her own.
I wish all of these things didn't happen a few days ago when I ran into the Gap to pick something up quickly. But they did. Oh well....at least life with Sophie is never boring.

Today was school picture day so we got up early all the kids showered and got their hair fixed. The boys had to wear jeans and polo shirts ALL DAY (which the weren't happy about). I like to coordinate the kids so that they look good on the wall.

A few fun things about this picture:
1 - you can see Allen in the garage on his bike ready to head to school
2 - Sophie put on her backpack since we were going to school

It all started this weekend with a brand new suit for Tayson that needed to be hemmed. My MIL said she would do it for me if I would just grab a needle and thread.....ummm I don't have any. What? You might ask how I mend things. I don't. Either we wear them with holes, get rid of them or I pay someone to fix it for me. Pathetic I know. But really it's just not something I can do. So there you have it confession #1 - I can't sew.

Confession #2 - I can't make homemade bread. I consider anything that comes out of my oven "homemade". Yep, if I warm up frozen rolls in the oven or make Pillsbury cinnamon rolls or bake pre-made cookie dough it's homemade. I agree it isn't made from scratch but it is still warm out of the oven and I did have to exert effort to bake it. I don't think I have ever even attempted to make bread from scratch or a cake. I did have a bread maker that I would put the ingredients in and hit start. But that is as close at it comes from me. I do make cookies and other things from scratch when I have time, but really I don't have a lot of time or patience or love for baking.

Confession #3 - I'm not good at fixing little girls hair. I have about 3 hair-do's that I can pull off. I haven't been able to successfully braid their hair or give them princess up-dos. If you have seen Sophie you know her hair is wild and crazy and 90% of the time it's in her face. I really should spend more time making my daughters look BEAutiful but it's really not a talent I possess.

Those are the big ones I can think of right now. I try to do my best to be a good mom and a good Mormon, but there are just a few things on the job description that I haven't mastered yet. Don't get me wrong there are many talents I do possess....let me know if you need a training program written up, a book read fast, a web page built or someone to go out to eat and shopping with you!

Tayson was able to get baptized with Ryan. I love that they shared such a special day. The baptism was on Ryan's 8th birthday.



The baptism was amazing. In order to get as much family here as possible we had to do it on a different Saturday than the normal Stake baptisms so we got to do a family baptism. The spirit was so strong.

Here is how the program went:
Pianist: Alex Arnold
Chorister: Grandma Johnson
Opening Song: When I am Baptized
Opening prayer: Eric
Talk about Baptism: Grandma Schultz
Musical Number: Jeannie "When Jesus Christ was Baptized"
Talk about the Holy Ghost: Mark
Baptisms
Rest Hymns
Confirmation
Bishop's Remarks (he made Christine and I bear our testimonies before he gave his remarks)
Closing Song: I'm Trying to be like Jesus
Closing Prayer: Grandpa Johnson

When Jeannie was singing the second verse of her song the spirit hit very strong as she talked about the choice they were making to be baptized and follow Christ's example. Not a lot of dry eyes at that point. She had to stop for a minute and blamed it on her pregnancy :) - it was an incredible number and really brought the spirit to the room. The talks were amazing. Mark gave both boys a CTR ring to help them remember both to Choose the Right and the role of the Holy Ghost in their lives Comfort, Teach and bring all things to Remembrance. When the bishop announced that he wanted the mom's to bear their testimonies both Christine and I said "you've got to be kidding me" loudly and in unison. It was pretty funny but then we actually had to get up and bear our testimonies which was difficult since I was VERY weepy. The program was great! I am so lucky to have so much family and so many of them who traveled to be here for Tayson's special day.

On the way home after the baptism Luke said "Mom, I felt the Holy Ghost when Tayson got baptized and when Ryan got baptized too". Talk about a perfect day for a mom. Then he proceeded to ask me how the Holy Ghost works and we can all feel him and I didn't have a very good answer for him - but I was still so excited that he felt it.

After the baptism we went back to the house and took a few pictures then went to my parents house for a luncheon. For some reason I didn't take any pictures at the luncheon so I have nothing to show my side of the family at Tayson's baptism. Dang it!!!

Just for record keeping here are the people who came: My parents, Jan, Dave, Kelly and Brooke, Steve's family, Danny's family, Heidi's family, David's family, Jeannie's family, Timmy, Mark and Kayla, Alex and Desi, Meggan and David, the bishop, Bro. Stemmons, and Sis. Tubbs (Primary pres.)

At night I let the boys stay up 15 minutes longer if they read in bed. Tayson's favorite book to read is my blog book - our family journal. He looks back and reads stories and talks about all the good times. (I am so glad I have a blog and so glad I printed it). Anyways....he was looking at one of the posts about when we visited my grandma Giboney and the following conversation took place.

T: Mom is your grandma still alive?
M: Yep, she's 97. Can you believe it almost 100 years old!
T: No-one in the whole world has EVER made it to 200 years old.
M: Sure they did, back in the bible times
T: .....pause....oh yeah, like Yoda!

Hilarious. Just hilarious. This is what happens when you have a dad like Todd. Perhaps it's because Todd tells Luke his name is from Star Wars and I say "No, it's from the bible". I'm not sure but I do know that it may not be a good thing but my kids definitely know more about Star Wars than the Bible. Shoot!

Yesterday was also Claire's first day of dance. We went and bought her some cute outfits and ballet shoes. She jumped right in with the other kids and only got shy at the end when I was talking to her teacher. By the time we got home and I tried taking a picture she was tired and grumpy and wouldn't smile - it took a lot of coaxing to just get her to look at the camera. I love that she is in dance class. I loved dancing when I was younger. I started when I was 4 too. SO much fun!

Yesterday was Tayson's first den meeting in cub scouts. He is so excited to be a cub scout. I think he looks so cute in his uniform. I can't believe how old he is getting. Seriously? When did he grow up and start riding his bike to activities like scouts on his own?