May 12

Oh how these people make me laugh.....some of my friends from the Village Green during a rehearsal. For the record - I'd love a Mickey Mouse hat like that.

May 11

The twisted Azalea tree. This pic is for you mom and dad. This is the tree we got to deliver to Grandma for Mother's Day. Hope it was okay - I sure thought it was neat.

May 10

Q: How many Cannons does it take to retrieve something from a tree in a park?

A: As many as you see.

We went to Logan for a picnic to celebrate Mel's graduation. We had a great time. We froze - we ate - we played games - and Eric saved the day by rescuing the game piece from the tree.

May 9

Happy Mother's Day! I hope that everyone had as great of a day as I did. It was truly fantastic. My sis Liz and her husband Zech were visiting. Thanks Zech for taking these pics of my greatest joys and blessings. I'm so privileged to be a mom to two incredible little boys. They showered me with homemade cards and a tulip picked from Great Grandma Cook's yard and they each gave me a candle. Eric gave me some great flowers and a card with a coupon for patio furniture! He also made me the most delicious dinner of grilled salmon and corn on the cob and salad.....yummy! My favorite part was getting a hug from all three of my little family. We had church and then we went for a walk up by Lagoon and then we visited my Grandparents. It was a wonderful day. I'm so blessed to be a mom and to have such a wonderful mom and to know so many wonderful Grandmas, mother-in laws, and mothers. Pull out the cheddar.....I could keep going on and on and on about moms.......

May 8

Here's our Mother's Day cards we made for the grandmas this year. A photo of the boys licking chocolate with the caption "You're as sweet as chocolate pudding Grandma" surrounded by a fruit loop flower completed the cards. The boys each decorated one side of the envelope. This kept them busy for quite some time, and I loved going to town on the Fruit Loops while they decorated and colored and had a great time.

May 7

I feel like it is cheating spreading out my Cinco pics over three days....but that is exactly what I am going to do. By the way, I wore that sombrero all day....even when I got dressed up for a dress rehearsal in black concert garb....I topped it off with the Sombrero. Being festive might be one of my fortes.

May 6

Like mother - like son. These are some bonus 26th Day before June pics. It cracked me up - Cade and I are making the same face in these photos. I wonder whose kid he is???

May 5

Happy 26th day before June!!!!! Oh, and Happy Cinco de Mayo too! We decided to have a little party. In addition to eating tacos, we made pinatas. We took paper bags and decorated them and then stuffed them with candy and newspaper. We tied them up and hung them over one of the balcony railings upstairs. We had a proper blast whacking them, and then we proceeded to indulge until we were in our candy comas. It was a great Cinco de Mayo party indeed!

May 4

I decided to let Cade try out T-Ball for the first time. Phew am I relieved! I don't think that I'll be turning into a soccer mom toting her boys around after all. I think Cade inherited my athleticism (rather lack thereof..) We will see though - he is a determined little guy and he learns most everything pretty quickly, so even if he doesn't hit the ball as far as the others yet..... be is enjoying it though, and that is all I care about! As the kids all lined up I noticed that all of them had a number on their back.....all except one. Someone had "Rockies" on their back. I started laughing and thinking about the poor kid whose crazy mom put their shirt on backwards.....until I realized that the poor kid was mine and I was the crazy mom!!!!!! This is going to be fun. My poor kids are destined to be humiliated ad naseum by their silly mom.

May 3

I'm very sad. We tried to go to Nickel Cade. It is an arcade type place where surprise surprise all the games are a nickel. I don't know why, but I love these places. Maybe its because I never went and played these games until I was about 12, but I really adore skeeball. Unfortunately, I found out that David has developed an intense fear of places like this. He cried and cried and cried from the moment we walked in the door and until we left. I tried to calm him down, but he wouldn't. He wouldn't ride any rides, or play any games, or let me set him down - and so we left. I don't get it - Nickel Cade is even less scary than Chuck E Cheese. The lights are all up - there is never anyone there because it is older and too many moms are germaphobic of the old games (just wash your hands silly moms after you play!) I guess we are banished from Nickel Cade until further notice from David .... :(

May 2

These were actually taken on some Friday in April. We went to the Red Butte Gardens --and I am in love with them! We went for their celebration, and they were giving away free trees you could plant. Unfortunately, it snowed like crazy while we were trying to look at the gardens. In a way it was kind of magical seeing tons of tulips falling over from caked snow on them, though. The boys each got to plant a tree, and we will be going back when we can go without winter coats. I fell in love with the Children's Garden - and that umbrella tree with tree stump chairs is going to be in my backyard one day - just wait and see. If anyone knows where to get tree stump chairs like that please let me know!

May 1

My sister Becky came to visit for the weekend. I roped her and her son into coming with me to a Kid's Health Fair. We ate free fruit and the kids played on the jumpees and we freezed in the nice freezing spring weather and snow. The highlight of the trip? Free toothbrushes for everyone! I love to brush my teeth.

April 30

I had my dress rehearsal for the A'Olian Modes performance of "Musical Madness." I get to play a Victory Borge type piano playing/Baritone singing chick. It is kind of fun. I get to play some PDQ Bach, sing some Bass on Rock songs like Sweet Dreams are Made of This, and I pretend to blend on some King Singers music. Singing is certainly a challenge for me. It really doesn't come naturally, and unlike the piano, I'm pretty self concious about the croaking noises I produce...but they sure are a fun group of people that I get to hang out with. Hooray for fun friends and lots of laughter!

April 29

I'm a complete succor for a free carpet cleaning. I always have a spot by my entry way from the garage that drives me nuts. (Stupid house builders should've put annoying but practical tile in the entry way....grr....) Anyhow, even though I vowed after the last 2 1/2 hour presentation from the Kirby vacuum salesmen that I'd never let them in again....I caved. My first Kirby salesman experience was in CA - I was pregnant and ready to throw up the whole time. I sat on the couch eating ice cream and moaning. My 2nd presentation was just this January - I had pneumonia, and had no voice so couldn't talk. I sat on the couch coughing and halfway sleeping. This time? At least the sales lady was hilarious and she let my kids play with the cleaning bubbles for a long time. They had a blast, and I got my carpet cleaned again. In case you were wondering - is the Kirby a great vacuum? Sure. Will I ever pay 2,000 bucks for it? Not on your life! Yes, I know I see the dirt piles you pull from my furniture and carpet, but I don't have allergies or asthma and a little dirt never hurt anyone. I am no disgusted or shocked by my family's dirt. Dirt is what makes the world go 'round. So yes, Kirby, you can keep coming back and cleaning my carpet for free, but I probably won't ever buy your vacuum from you.

April 28

Haircuts make me happy. Especially when I have a friend who comes over to my kitchen with only two hours of warning, and cuts it for me pretty darn cheap, and incredibly cute. Too bad I can't get my hair cut every time I have a bad day.....it does put me in a good mood, but I'm afraid I wouldn't have any hair left. Thanks Marcy for another great cut!

April 27

I always get the most interesting manicures. This is the latest one I got for free from the teenage babysitter's friend. She offered to do my nails in a french manicure, and I got these great colorful tips. It made me laugh. One of them glowed in the dark, too. I took off two other bandaids just so she could do this. I always have bandaids plastered on my hands (infected fingernail, rug burn from moving a beanbag, papercut....etc...etc....etc....) So score another interesting manicure for me. Past manicures of note: Black toenails, and super duper expensive manicure in Washington D.C. (compliments of my mom's cousin) from the same lady that did Hillary Clinton's nails for the inauguration while I sat next to Linda Carter - Wonder Woman who was getting her hair colored. I've only ever had my nails done five times in my life, too......

April 26

I have found a new love. The Salt Lake City Library is my new love. I love love love LOVE love their library. I can't believe it took me two years to go and explore it. As much as I love libraries, I just hadn't made the trip to go to the downtown SLC yet. I have cards at both Weber and Davis County libraries, but overall I am somewhat disappointed with both their library systems. I am disappointed, but I still love them. I love all libraries regardless of their inadequacies. They were having a book sale at the City Library. For five dollars you could load up a giant brown bag of books. We got about 40 new books (like we needed them....) but I was so excited. We went to the children's nonfiction center and my boys went crazy. We have asteroid books, money books, president books, history books, travel books, early readers, etc...etc...etc... David's favorite book he made me get: "Women can play Basketball too!" He is very attached to that one......hmm.....I could say so much about our library trip. (I lost half my remote control to my car, I went to the old library first and had to be redirected and someone made sure I knew I was in Salt Lake, and we only had 30 minutes because we parked at a meter, and the elevators are a kick in the library....etc....etc...and etc...) I think instead I will just say that I loved the SLC library soooo much that I have already driven down their two times this week to hang out at it!!! I'm ready to pack up my house and sell half my belongings to move into downtown SLC just so I can get one of their library cards for less than the 80 dollars a year it costs me now. To life, La Chaim, and libraries!

April 26

Vitamin Debby.....err...actually.....Vitamin D. Does anyone need any Vitamin D? I now am the lucky owner of 8 bottles. Oh, I shouldn't have bought that many, but I did. They were on sale for $5 at Walgreens. I was able to 8 five dollar coupons from Nature's Bounty.....so I only paid 16 pennies for each bottle.....but then.....I got a $5 register reward back to use at Walgreens. I now have $40 to spend at Walgreens, and it only cost me $1.28! I think I made just a little bit of money off of this one. Shopping to make money is rather fun.

April 25

These are pictures from a kid's safety fair that we went to at the Fairgrounds on Saturday. It took me an hour to find the fairgrounds (stupid GPS didn't have it listed, and stupid totally reliant GPS location finding me can't go anywhere without it!) Once we arrived, we had a lot of fun. We got free child ID kits and visited multiple kids safety booths. I talked to several of my friend's from the MOM's Club I used to be secretary for and we played lots of games, talked to Star Wars figures, and entered a couple of drawings. (I did end up winning something pretty big too!!!! I will give another post on that later. After climbing on helicopters, and firetrucks, and eating lots of candy, we headed home. I like these outdoor kid's events.

April 24

I had my spring piano recital in the morning! Yippee! I don't have very many students, but the ones I do have are really fantastic. They all did a great job. They played by memory, kept going through any rough spots, and gave great bows in the end. I was happy how it turned out. We used the library auditorium for this recital, and I liked not being able to provide any refreshments :) I did give them all a Symphony Bar as a treat afterwards, but it was nice to not fuss with drinks and others junk. There was quite a mix of music, from Beethoven to Star Wars, and Grieg to Taylor Swift. I make them do some songs that are classical, but I always let them pick something they want to play too. In the end, I think it was a great recital. I got a teary-eyed grandma of some of them coming to me telling me how great it was. Quote: "My daughter isn't just wasting her money on lessons any more. She is paying for someone worthwhile." Even if she is a possibly prejudiced grandma....it feels nice to have your teaching validated. I love teaching and really do care a toooon about my students and their progress. Now onto summer. I am thinking we are going to have a practice competition this summer, and maybe just maybe some of them will still practice.