Our Outstanding MBA Graduate

Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!

Three cheers for Justin!

I am so proud of him and all the hard work, time and effort he has put in these last 2 years. Working full time then attending the MBA program at night, plus doing homework, projects, studying for tests, etc. was not easy but HE DID IT! And he still made time for us! :) I just have to brag for a second here, he got all A's with the exception of one B+, what a smart guy!

Here's Justin being hooded at the ceremony...


When he came walking across the stage Avery and Quinn cheered "GO DADDY" as loud as they could. That moment almost brought me to tears it was so sweet! :) They are so proud and excited for their daddy!

Picture time!!!







The proud parents...



When we got home Justin's surprise graduation present was sitting in the garage. He LOVES it!!!



After he found his new treasure he said, "I know what I'm doing for the rest of the day". Too bad we still had a celebration BBQ to get ready for! :)

And here we are at the BBQ... (my pictures aren't the greatest, I kind of forgot to get the camera out until the very end)




We had a FANTASTIC day! We are especially glad that the weather cooperated, we were a little worried when we woke up to dark clouds and rain! Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us and help make Justin's big day special for him! Three cheers for Justin!!!

I have an announcement...

Tonight is Justin's last class EVER!!!

He is graduating with his MBA tomorrow!

YIPPY!!!

I am so proud of him!

Really I'm just excited for myself, now he gets to come straight home from work every single day of the week! I'm thrilled!!!

...forgive me, sometimes I'm just selfish like that! :o)

So happy it's Friday!

My back aches my pants are tight,
my body waddles from left to right!
ooooo awwww I got spirit, yeah,
ooooo awwww I got spirit, yeah!

This little "Hannah Miners" cheer is exactly how I am feeling lately.

(I did change the second line just a tad though.) :o)

I definitely do have the spirit, the spirit of feeling great with child!

Only 6 weeks left! Wahoo!

But according to the cashier lady at the grocery store I should have delivered last week!

Cashier: "Oh, so are you due soon?"

Me: "Yeah, I'm due in June."

I have never seen a look of such shock on somebody's face before! Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped open, and to her reaction I quickly said, "well, it's at the first of June." (I think I was just trying to make myself feel better at this point!)

Cashier: "Oh, well I was thinking it had to be soon because you're so big."

Me: With a courteous smile and fake laugh I just said, "yeah."

Then she proceeded to tell me that one of her nieces just had a baby 2 months ago and, "she just carries it all out in front."

Great for your niece, thanks for sharing!

Do people think that I don't know how big my stomach is getting??? I'm pretty sure I can tell with all the bumping into counters and chairs and whatever else gets in front of me that I've been experiencing lately. :o)

Oh well, sometimes I think it's kind of funny to hear people's comments and see their reactions.

I'm just glad it's Friday and Justin will be home for the weekend so I can get out of my tight pants, sit down on the couch, give my aching back and waddling body a rest, and well, feel the sweet spirit of being pregnant! :o)

Easter Festivites

Saturday we started the day off with an Easter Egg hunt at the City Park. There were SO many people there it was crazy. Luckily, our town does a pretty good job of spreading out tons of goods all over the grass for the kids.



I know this isn't the greatest picture but I have to put it on the blog for documentaional reasons! :) Last year Quinn was TERRIFIED of the Easter Bunny and would not even get close for a picture. This year however, as you can see, he didn't mind walking right up to the Bunny and standing right next to her for a picture. My little boy is growing up!


P.S. I have no idea who that little girl is on the right, WE were next in line for a picture, her Mom just shoved her in there and got the attention of the Bunny right as I was taking the picture, NICE! I hope she enjoys my kids in her picture as much as I enjoy hers in mine! :)

When we got home from the egg hunt that lasted all but 2 minutes, we colored our Easter eggs!

(For some unknown reason this picture of the kids dying their eggs is not showing up, just imagine it here instead!) :)

All done.


Testing the eggs. The verdict is.....Yummy!


Later that afternoon we headed up to good old Cache Valley to a little slice of heaven on earth called Mendon. :) (sappy but true!) My Mom and Dad had their annual Easter Egg hunt for the grandkids, we ate a delicious dinner with the fam, and then my Mom told the Easter story of Jesus.





And NO, I'm not due tomorrow, I still have about 6-8 weeks left thank you very much! :)

Easter morning! Avery was so excited to find her hidden basket from the Easter Bunny that she woke up at 6:45 am -- you'd think it was Christmas or something! :) We talked her into waiting until 7:30 when we woke Quinn up. (we have 9:00 church!)



Some sidewalk chalk and a kite to share.





Getting a cute picture where both my kids are looking AND smiling (a decent smile anyway) at the camera at the same time is nearly impossible! I did my best!




Here is our sorry attempt to get a family shot all together.....






Ugh! LOL! How pathetic! :)

Easter Sunday also happened to be my 29th birthday. Justin gave me the surprise of the century, I am SO EXCITED!!! He gave me tickets to see WICKED!!! WAHOO!! I actually started to cry when I opened the envelope, I was so surprised, I have been telling him for awhile how bad I wanted to see it! I CANNOT WAIT TO GO! After church he made me a yummy "made to order" lunch and then gave me a complimentary foot rub. Isn't he such a sweetheart? Thanks honey for making my birthday special, you're the BEST!

Later in the day we headed out to Mom and Dad Smith's house where they had another fun Easter egg hunt for the kids and then we ate a delicious Easter dinner. Yum-O! I didn't take my camera or you'd see more Easter egg hunt pictures! he he! :)

Phew, what a long post! But afterall, we did have a great Easter weekend!

P.S. For some reason the spell checker is acting up and I can't get it to work, dang it! So forgive me if anything is mis-spelled! :)

Cars, Lists and Being Called a Cow

This is what happens when we send our kids out to the garage and tell them to climb into their seats in the car.....


.....they think they're so clever and funny!

(and no, our car is not really pale pink)

My son is obsessed with cars, keys and going to work. He has decided that one of the cupboards in the entertainment center is his "tie". That's how he says car. He gets his keys, tells me, "bye Mom, (or Holly) I'm going to work" and then climbs into his "tie" and off he goes. It's all pretty cute if you ask me!

He also loves Justin's car and calls it "Daddy's work". Whenever Justin comes home Quinney will always ask, "can I dive Daddy's work?" :)

This is such a fun age, I just love this little guy of mine!


On to my next subject:

*Lists*

How many of you make lists?

Well, I must admit, making lists is one of my favorite things to do! Really it is! I don't know, I just really like the satisfaction of crossing the item off as soon as it's accomplished or put into the cart at the store. I also like feeling organized and prepared, pair that with a little OCD and there you have my fetish for list making! :)

I make lists for EVERYTHING! Most of the time I have more than one list going at the same time. For instance, right now I have 3 going. (well, 3 major ones anyway) :)

They are entitled:

1. "Things to do BEFORE babe #3 is here!"


2. "Justin's MBA Graduation Party May 1st 2009" HOORAY!!!


3. "Things needed to finish summer wardrobe for the kids" --luckily I hit a few sales and got a little summer shopping in before I was put on bed rest or this list might be a lot longer!


Whenever I pull out my notebook or shopping list tablet Justin just gives me the dreaded look and says something along the lines of, "please, not another list". I just laugh and say, "you love me Justin!" :)

Anywho, I have been obsessed with list #1 lately. Call it nesting or whatever you'd like, but I cannot get this stuff done fast enough. They only damper is, I am still on "partial bed rest". I've decided I really don't like the word bed rest anymore!...or two words rather. I am still restricted to do heavy cleaning, lifting or even long shopping outings. Justin has been fan-diddly-tastic in taking care of pretty much ALL the cleaning, laundry, lifting and things I'm not allowed to do but we have a problem folks. He is only home a certain amount of hours in a day and with his church calling, finishing up his last semester of his MBA program (class and homework time) and taking care of the "everyday household duties" let's face it, he doesn't have much time left (poor guy) to help get things crossed off my oh so important lists. Do you see my dilemma?

We spent a good portion of the morning on Saturday, while listening to conference, cleaning out and storing Avery and Quinn's fall and winter clothes but there were a few things that needed to be washed before being stored so alas I didn't get to cross it off the list yet. I will not cross anything off the list until it is COMPLETELY completed! :)

I'm totally weird!


And finally, I just have one more thought to share on this rambling post and then I'll stop.

Lately my daughter has given me a very non-flattering nickname. It started off quite innocent and almost enduring. You see, whenever she'd get the loving urge to run over to me and give one of her sweet hugs she'd say, "ma ma, moe moe, moo moo".

Don't ask me where she got that, apparently she's just as weird as her mother! :)

Over the course of several days the sweet nickname got shortened however. Now it's just "Ma-moo" ..... and she calls me this all the time. It's practically replaced "Mom" or "Mommy" all together.

You know, really it's not that bad, but considering my current state of being nearly 8 months pregnant it's really starting to get to me. I've decided not to say anything about it or make a big deal about it to her because I'm hoping that it will just disappear as fast as it appeared.

Oh well, what's a Ma-moo like me to do?

Picture Tag

Thanks for the fun tag Trisha! This is the fourth picture from my fourth folder.


This was at the Pack's Pumpkin Patch that we go to every year with Justin's family. This was in October 2007, Quinney had just turned one in September. He was a bit clingy to me back then so setting him down on the pumpkins to snap a picture wasn't easy. This is one of about 8 that we tried to get, little stinker. At least this happens to be one where he wasn't crying! :)

Just for fun, this is Quinn at the Pumpkin Patch last year, October 2008.


He's not smiling but he was more than happy to sit in the cart with the pumpkins this time. :) It's always amazing to me to see how much they grow and develop in just a year's time. He looks so much older and bigger in this picture doesn't he?

And just for good measure.....

October 2007


October 2008


HOW CUTE! I LOVE these two kids of mine!!!

If it itches, scratch it!

Yes, I caught this fabulous candid moment on film! He he! How delightful!

update

I just had my doctor's appointment today and things have been going really well. I haven't had any bleeding for over 3 weeks now and the baby has been growing just fine. (Not to mention his mother has been growing just fine as well!....a little too fine in a few un-wanted area's!!!) :)

Anywho, the pregnancy is progressing right along and I am so so so very thankful that I haven't had any other complications. I'm still suppose to lay low and really take it easy but I did get the okay from the doc to occasionally go out shopping as long as I keep it brief. Thank goodness, it's been hard not being able to go anywhere (except church) these past 5 weeks. Justin has been so great about doing all our grocery shopping/errand running but I'm excited that now I can get out and take care of a few purchases I still need to make in preparation of the babe.

.....and also maybe a few new Spring maternity purchases for me! :)

Six years ago today.....

When I think back to our wedding day, I pretty much STILL think that I am the luckiest bride in the whole world! It's been six lovely years to say the very least! Happy Anniversary Justin Boots! :) You are so good to me in every way and I love you!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

I cannot believe how nice it is outside today. Oh, it just makes me smile! :) Spring and Summer are just around the corner! ...hopefully anyway, Utah weather can be tricky and deceiving this time of year!

My Mom came down to help me and spend the day with us. So this afternoon we decided to set up the lawn chairs on the grass and let Avery and Quinn ride their bikes and run around outside for awhile.



Digging in the dirt with their shovels, and walking Ruby around the yard were also a few fun highlights of the afternoon.



I just hope this kind of weather is here to stay this time! We shall see! :)