The "latest" happenings...

On Saturday, Kylie graduated from Joy School. We had a fun little party and graduation ceremony. She misses the Kindergarten deadline by 16 days, so it will still be another year of preschool for her, but she sure did have fun this year with all of her joy school friends.

Terrence has been working on his grandpa's fishing boat and finally has it finished. We've had a lot of fun having it up here and have been fishing several times a week for the last month. Yesterday he went fishing with one of his good friends and caught several tiger musky's. This is just one of the average sized ones (10lb. 34 in.). He got bit by one of them and it is still bleeding from it. It's a pretty small cut, but it must be pretty deep for how much it has bled!

I have been working on my newest hobby. I'm not a huge fan of scrapbooking, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE to do crafts! My sister-in-law's amazingly talented mom cut me some letters for my girls bedrooms. I have spent the last two days making them cute to hang in their rooms;)

New Family Pictures

This is a total picture overload, but we were finally able to get some family pictures taken in March, so I wanted to share. I won a photo shoot in our Relief Society service auction, and just got the picture CD back yesterday. ENJOY!

WOMENS CONFERENCE

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend womens conference with my friend Angela. Her sister-in-law Jen is on the Womens conference committee and hooked Angela up big time! Fortunately things worked out for me to be the lucky one to go with her!I have been to "Time Out for Women" before with a couple thousand women, but nothing prepared me for seeing 20,000+ women packed into the Marriott center!

Jen hooked us up with AMAZING parking. This picture was taken of the Marriott center, from out car in the lot. (with out zooming in!) We were able to park next to all of the presenters, so it was so nice.

We also got floor seats in the Marriott center, and I took this picture without zoom from our seats. I can't even begin to describe the feelings we had while attending. We took some amazing classes and learned so much. The most amazing thing was seeing 20,000 women stand in unison as L. Tom Perry and Russel M. Nelson walked into the room and knowing I was so close to them. What a privilege that was!

One of the best highlights of the conference was the concert on the first night. Hearing Freddie Ashby singing in person was such an emotional experience, and I never realized that Hilary Weeks was so funny! Eclipse (a mens accapella group) performed as well and the entire audience waved their arms and cell phones to "Sweet Caroline". They also did an 80's rap medley which was hilariously entertaining. But, I have to say that the sign language interpreter was the one of the best parts of the show for me. She sat on the floor right below us and I have never in my life seen an interpreter as talented as she was. You could plug your ears and watch her (not understanding sign language) and you could tell what she was saying just through the movements of her body and expressions on her face. I had a hard time concentrating on the concert because I was so moved by her interpretation of the music.

This was such an amazing experience, and I for sure will go again! Unfortunately, I don't think I will ever be able to get such amazing benefits next time. Thanks Angela and Jen! I had a blast!!!

Easter Dresses and a case of the Grumps

On Easter Sunday, we had some major breakdowns the second we walked in the door from church, and of course I didn't think to take pictures before we left.... Then we went camping last weekend, so this was my attemt at getting pictures of their new dresses. Their Grammie Sharon bought them these dresses and socks and I am so in love with them! Of course, neither girl was interested in a photo shoot and both are pretty grumpy, so they wouldn't stand near each other without being mean, and alone...well this was the best out of about one dozen pictures. Kylie is into this new thing, where she WILL NOT wear her bangs down, and won't let me cut them, so she looks a little bald...

I did manage to get a smile out of Madison, but this is the only picture I could get of her that didnt' show her diaper...AHHHH!!! Today is one of those days where chanting "I love Sundays" all morning may be beneficial...either that, or just tune out the bad and go with a dark colored dress......

More Birthdays

I reached the quarter of a century mark! I have always thought that people were lame when they felt older on their birthday, but I'm having a problem with 25. I can no longer be described as "early twenties" and that's kind of hard for me. I guess when you consider I have two kids and am on my sixth year of marriage it sounds like I should be a lot older, but I really don't want to be. Maybe now that I feel like I'm "officially" old, I should work on losing those extra pounds so that I can at least fool some people. Most of this blog entry is dedicated to my Grandma Pabst. Her birthday was yesterday and she is such an amazing person. I feel so bad that I haven't visited her as often as I would like to. I probably saw her more when I lived six hours away from her than I do now, only 2 hours away. I was lucky enough to live only a few blocks away from her for the first 8 years of my life, and we have such great memories together. My grandma is my role model. She loves the gospel and lives her life in a way that I would think is pretty pleasing to the Lord. Her house is always immaculate and so comfortable to be in. (besides always being 80+ degrees) She is the most amazing cook and can whip up an amazing lunch in minutes with every side dish imaginable. My Grandma never slows down. It doesn't matter how tired or sore she is, she never lets people work without being there to help them. If I could grow up to become half of the woman she is...I would feel pretty content with myself. Grandma, I love you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Paybacks...Karma...Whatever you wanna call it. IT'S CRAP!

I'm pretty sure that I was involved in some hair cutting fiasco's as a child. A few of them resulted in some pretty embarrasing "fix-it" hair cuts. This is getting ridiculous though. I figured Kylie would be capable of such a terrible thing, but my sweet Madison? She is now in this stage where everything I do results in her saying "NO, I do it!" She is so independant and is really starting to test the limits. She is still so good at listening and obeying, but when I was doing the breakfast dishes this morning and heard the dreaded sound of...well....nothing...I knew something was wrong.

Her poor bangs. Thanks Trista for helping me see the positive side. At least her hair was done so it was ONLY the bangs right? Whatever! It's still CRAP!!!

Catch Up Birthday Blogging

Due to the insane month we have had, I have slacked BIG TIME! I've really been wanting to post some birthday wishes on here and haven't gotten around to it yet.

This is a picture of my mom, 20 something years ago. I don't have very many pictures of her, but decided to choose this one to show how "well preserved" she is. ;) If I look that great when I'm her age...I'll be a happy woman! She was probably my age in this picture. My Mom's birthday was March 16th. She is such an amazing woman. She's talented in so many different ways and I always look to her for advice. She will be the last person in the world to gossip and never has anything bad to say about anyone. My Mom has taught me to be the person I am today. I'm so blessed to have her in my life. My mom always helps me to put things into perspective and we have grown so close since I became a mom. I admire and love her so much. Happy (late) Birthday Mom!My sister Aprils' birthday was on April 2nd. She just turned 23 I can't believe it! She is such an amazing person. She has overcome tremendous trials so far in her life, and has been able to get through them with the Lord on her side. She is visiting from England right now and has been able to stay with me for about a month. Every opportunity alone she had, I would find her searching the scriptures, praying, and writing in her journal. She pushed me to excersize with her and it felt so great to get up and do something. She is such a strong person and I look up to her so much. HAPPY BIRTHDAY April!!! I love you.

My Mother-in-Law Sharons' Birthday is today! She is such a wonderful person. She has been a part of my life now for 9 years and it seems like I've known her forever. We get along so well and she raised a pretty incredible son. She is such a great Grammie and she talks to the girls almost every day. Kylie got to spend such a fun time with her while we lived in Louisiana. The minute Sharon would walk in the door from work, Kylie would go to her bedroom and pick her out some matching Jammies and say "come on Grammie...lets get cozy". Then after dinner, they would cuddle up in grammie's bed together and watch 'Winnie the Pooh'. We hope you have a great birthday today, and can't wait to see you again!