Memorial Day fun

Can we count this as the first day of summer? Nah.  This is a holiday.  Even if the boys still had school they would have school off today.  

Today, I started my day with Melanie Iverson on the bike.  We biked up Paseo then went north on Tramway then went flying down the Tramway hill.  It was a blast! It took us a long time to bike up the Paseo hill up to Tramway, but we made it.  23.5 miles on the bike!  Great way to start Memorial Day.  We saw a deer and a man running carrying two flags, one folded and one waving behind him.  Very cool start to our day.

After the bike ride, I came home and at breakfast then grabbed two blankets to try to warm up.  I feel asleep until the boys came down stairs around 8 AM.  We ate a nice little breakfast then went to track practice. We ran a nice 3 mile run at Alameda open space.  We usually run at a different location on the Bosque.  It was such a gorgeous day.

After track practice we headed over to a friends house for a Memorial Day BBQ.  It was delicious.  We played a new game that used my lacking vocabulary skills.  My boys had the best time playing out side and in the basement of their home.  Every time we leave, my boys beg to move to a house with a basement. 

Once we got home, I immediately feel asleep again! HA! Two naps in one day is hard to beat.  Once I woke up, I promised the boys they could pick something from our "one fun thing" list.  Today they picked a scavenger hunt.  It was so funny to put it together.  I kept their best interests in mind. 

I made chicken noodle soup for dinner and they love it!  All in all, this was a great start to summer!

School's out! Let's party!

School's out! It was finally the last day of school!  This school year has been great, but has not been with out great challenges.  I love summer.  I live for summer.  I always forget how depressed I get during the winter months.  I know my kids love summer, as well; however, mostly because they get to stay home and just be kids.  This thought always makes me think twice about actually sending them to school.  They would be fun to home school.  I know it would be challenging, no doubt.  

We started a tradition a few years ago for the last day of school.  We have a huge water balloon fight and jump on the trampoline.  We invited our friends over to the "epic" water fight.  I love that the word epic is huge right now.  Every time we did something the kids shouted out, "This is gonna be epic!"  I loved it!

This last week of school, the boys got to dress up each day.  They had crazy sock day, inside out day, water day, and a talent show.  I am so glad the last week of school was filled with fun events.  Those are the things I remember about school.  One day, when I was in school in Maricopa, Arizona, we had a "snow day".  The school paid for someone to bring in a snow machine so we could play in the snow.  That was such a fun day!  Most of the kids had never seen snow before.  

I missed all of the events this week as I was working an event as a photographer.  I worked from 7:30-5:00 every day.  As I was missing these events, I was just reminded that I truly made the right choice nine years ago to be a stay at home mom.  In my early twenties, I made the comment that I would never be a stay at home mom and that I "didn't like children".  That was all a bold face lie.  I secretly yearned to be a mother and stay home with my children.  I love watching my boys grow and change.  I love being a part of their every day life.  I love that my husband is willing to sacrifice his time and work six days a week so that I can stay home.  I am truly so blessed.  I don't want to miss and single moment of my boys lives.  I take a million photos and videos just so I can have a return ticket back to those special moments in time.  

Friday, I got off work early and was able to be home for their epic water balloon fight.  Such a fun occasion and, of course, I took a million photos.

Happy first day of summer!

I am so glad my parents were here to help with my boys this last week.  There is absolutely no way I could have been at a conference all day and still been a Mom.  These boys have too much going on and staying on top of everything is a full time job.  While my parents were here, they took the boys to track, swim team, and school.  My dad fixed all my sprinklers, planted tomatoes and strawberries, dug a pond, and helped fixed the garage!  They were able to attend the temple twice while the boys were at school.  My mom did all the cooking and cleaning.  There were never dishes in the sink!  My mom even helped me clean the entire downstairs of the house on Saturday.  She also played for Melanie and I to sing in church on Sunday.  This truly was a full week of fun!  I just love my parents so much!

A Spring Recital

Wednesday, I had my piano students recital.  

I didn't get a photo of all my students together.  Rats! 

The boys played wonderfully.  Edward is getting better and better at reading music and playing the cello.  We had bahama's bucks after the recital then I stayed and helped with cub scouts.  Every single day in May has been a long day.  I am really looking forward to June when we can just relax.  I am envious of last summer. I have a few books I want to finish while the boys swim at the pool.  One more week until summer break!

Seven plus a half

That's right.  

Nolen is seven and a half today.  I nearly missed it.  I have been stretched a little thin this May and I hate forgetting milestones.  My memory reminded my that something important was happening today at approximately 11 AM.  I thought about how I could fit in everything that needed to happen today and realized it wasn't possible.  So we skipped track and just went to swim team today then headed over to a friends house to eat dinner and play.  It was the perfect half birthday celebration!

We brought cupcakes and played and played.

Nolen is hilarious!

He loves to laugh. 

Nolen loves to be the center of attention.

He is kind.

He is silly.

He tells me the same poop and fart jokes over and over again.

Nolen is eating better food all the time.

Nolen is smart.

Nolen loves school.

Everyone around Nolen loves him.

He is the life of the party.

Nolen loves youtube.

He loves playing roblox and minecraft.

Nolen still plays the piano and will start the cello soon.

He is my best get out of the house buddy.

He loves going on little errands with me.

Nolen loves sugar.

He loves anything with sugar and chocolate.

Nolen is seriously the sweetest kid, ever. Period.

Nolen is still very literal.  

He takes a lot of things as fact when they are not.

If the time is 5:29 and I round up saying it's 5:30 he gets extremely upset with me and calls me a liar.

I laugh a little inside.  It's true.  I did lie. 

I love this kid.

I can not believe he will be baptized in 6 months.  Time just seems to continue pressing forward at full steam ahead.  I can not slow time down.  

I love this kid.  I love him more than I can express.

He loves running.  He puts his whole heart into running.  He wants to be the fastest runner in the world.  I have no doubt that he will try is very hardest to make this happen.

He still wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. He wants to be the first person on Mars. I wish I could make this come true for him.

I love you, sweet Nolen William!

Happy half birthday!

Saturday's are busy days

Happy Mother's Day to all women!  

My mom sent me chocolate covered strawberries and my sweet husband made breakfast and bought me some flowers and chocolates.  As I was heading out the door for church this morning, Edward said, "My ear really really hurts!"  I took his temp and decided it was best he stay home.  Nolen and I went to sacrament meeting together then came home.

I feel asleep as soon as I sat down after church.

Saturday's are busy days.

Yesterday, Melanie and I woke up before dawn to go on a nice 13.5 mile bike ride.  It was wonderful.  The sunset was beautiful to watch as we road out and back on the Bosque trail.

As soon I got home, I woke up the boys and got them ready for their track meet.  Track meets are long days.  The boys enjoy running and I really enjoy running with them.  It is wonderful to watch them grow each week and push themselves harder every single meet.  I sprayed the boys vigilantly with sunscreen all day.  I sprayed myself twice, but spent most the day away from my bottle of sunscreen.  My legs got the worst of it.  They look like lobster legs. HA!

The track meet ended around 3:00 so we headed home.  I took a quick shower and went straight to the church for my piano/voice recital.  I arrived just as a graduation party was ending.  The graduation party hosts kindly helped me set up 60 chairs and move the piano around.  I am so grateful to their kindness.  Everything worked out wonderfully!  The girls sang great and the pianists played brilliantly! I had so much help with the recital.  I am so grateful to good friends who help with every part of making music possible.  I think the kids really enjoyed listening to every one else perform.  It is such a good experience for them to get up in front of people.  I love every single one of my students.  They light up my days!

 (This is half of my students, the other half perform on Wednesday)
The recital ended just before 6:30.  I cleaned up the gym and kitchen then headed home.  We had planned the most magnificent date with the Iverson's.  We sat at the chef's table at Los Poblanos farm.  Stephen and I ate there for our anniversary back in March and our server mentioned we could eat with the chef.  I could not turn down  the opportunity.  

The food was DELICIOUS! It was so well prepared.  It was mesmerizing watching the kitchen work seamlessly.  We had a 10 course meal and every bite was different and delicious.   The food is all (mostly) locally grown and sourced.  The cheese we had was from Tennessee and I think that was the only thing that was from out of state.  The chef said he worked with many local farmers to provide the food for the restaurant.  I loved learning about how they prepared the sauces and vegetables.  I wish I could have the patience to prepare food that looked good and tasted good!

We were in such good company.  Although, I would have liked to face Melanie and Paul, we still had a great time talking the hours away as we were served different dishes.  We had trout, lamb, artichoke, duck, mole with veggies, Halibut, pork chop, blue cheese with raspberry sauce, and a taste of every dessert on the menu! 

If you live in Albuquerque, make a reservation for the chef's table at Los Poblanos farm.

(All photos of food taken by Melanie Iverson)