Monday, May 30th--We did our annual camping trip to Palisade State Park, in Sterling, UT. We came home on Monday pretty early and decided to go visit some graves of family. The morning started out HORRIBLY cold and rainy. On our drive home we even hit some snow---pretty scary when you're pulling a camper! Even with the chilly weather we ventured out to the graves. Our first stop was in Sandy to visit my Grandma Van Otten (my moms mother). I haven't been to her grave since Elise was a baby. It was windy, rainy and COLD but I was so happy I went. I was surprised no other flowers were at her grave since there is other family in Utah but I was able to pick up some beautiful mums. I miss her so much. She's one of the rare few I have ever known that loved unconditionally. She passed away when I was 16. My Grandpa Van Otten is still alive at 95 years old. His memory is not so great but he's doing well, considering his age.
Our next stop was in Midvale to visit Nate's Grandpa and Grandma Mlaker (his moms parents). By now if was hailing outside and the hail was big enough it was hurting us so we quickly looked, took some pics and ran back to our car. Nate's grandma was very much the same as my own and I know he misses his grandparents as much as I do.

Saturday, May 21st--As you might remember, Elise received a butterfly kit for her birthday, back in March. Nate ordered the caterpillars after we returned from Disneyland. They arrived on May 11th. It took only 10 days for them to form cocoons and hatch. It was quite an experience to watch the whole process. Elise got 5 caterpillars and all 5 formed cocoons and hatched, all within 2-3 days. She loved taking them out of the little netted cage and let them perch on her finger. Once they were all hatched it was time to release them. We have beautiful honeysuckle bushes blooming right now so I thought it would be a good idea to release them nearby. When we went outside, many of the neighbor kids were out playing and got to watch her release them. It was a great! Elise is already wanting to order more caterpillars! She even named the little cuties but I can't remember the names.

Wednesday, May 18th--I love going on fieldtrips with my kids. They are always so fun! Elise's class fieldtrip took us up to the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine. Holy moly it was snowing! There was so much fog we couldn't even see into the large pit. We spent some time in the visitors center where we watched a film and then looked around at all the many displays. I had a group of 4 girls I was in charge of, including Elise. The visitors center was small and we had some time to kill after we saw everything so, naturally, the girls wanted to go to the gift shop. Ay yi yi! The girls went crazy. Of course, Elise begged me to buy her something. Instead I got a few things for her cousin who lives in Hawaii, things I knew he would love. We were suppose to eat lunch close-by at a park but the weather was so awful--who would have thought, in the middle of May, we'd still need winter coats! We rode the bus back to the school and ate lunch in the classroom. Even with the crazy weather we had a great time!

Friday, May 13th--We have some wonderful season passes called The Pass of All Passes. It includes two fun parks, minor league baseball games, and a water park. For as cheap as they were, we've gotten our moneys worth time and time again. Today, we went to Trafalga. It's in Lehi. It has some outdoor rides and minigolf and inside is an arcade, mini golf and laser tag. The great thing is, because we have the passes, we don't feel like we have to stay for a long time at these places. Today was mostly riding on the rides outside and 1 round of laser tag. Nate and the kids wanted to do the bumper boats. LOL! They got drenched! And, of course, Brady drove Nate and himself into the fountains to get soaked. It was great to watch and be thankful I wasn't getting wet! It was pretty hot so we left and went to eat at Iceberg and ended our dinner with some yummy shakes and ice cream cones.

May 12th--We've been begging, begging, BEGGING Brady to learn how to ride his bike. We've bribed him with so many things we pray he won't remember them all. My good friend and neighbor, Ashley, has a special "knack" for teaching children how to ride bikes. I, on the other hand, have no such talent so I was happy to turn that responsibility over to her since she offered and was willing. A few months ago, Brady had tried to learn with Nate but ended up falling and was turned off on learning. One of the other problems for this poor kid is that he's so tall we had to get rid of the little bike with training wheels and upgrade to a big kids bike, making it all that more difficult. For some reason, he decided today was the day. He had been saying this for a few days but would change his mind. Ashley convinced him and away they went. It took a little time but......SHE DID IT.....HE DID IT!! I was jumping up and down cheering! He was pretty wobbly and nervous but she had him try it over and over again. It was awesome! Ashley has now dubbed herself "The Bike Whisperer" and I totally agree! WAHOO Brady!

Sunday, May 8th--Mothers Day was wonderful!! As per my request, Nate cooked dinner. He asked what I wanted and lasagna sounded great. He decided to try no-boil lasagna noodles. Never tried those before but we don't recommend them. The noodles were rather tough and extra chewy. However, as with every time one of us cooks lasagna, we always make two pans and freeze the other. The second pan was loaded up with extra sauce and when we cooked it a few days later, it was pretty good. After our dinner, we went over to Nate's parents house for dessert and to visit with family.
I'm so thankful to be a mom and to share my role as parent with such an amazing man. We have our ups and downs but I really have a wonderful family that I love more than anything! This is my 10th Mothers Day! I look forward to many, MANY more!