Treats and Stuff

My cute friend brought me this delicious cupcake from 25 Main in St. George. 

I'm not a big cake/cupcake lover, but these cupcakes are FABULOUS!! 

Good thing I don't live there because I may eat one every day. 

We're keeping busy with end of school stuff: homework projects, detention, year end shows,

games, practices, parties, Lagoon day, fitness day, graduation prep.  So happy its near!

Countdown

~8 school days left for me

~ 8 days left of high school for Tanner

~13 school days left for everyone else

~14 days until Tanner graduates

~18 days until everyone is off for summer

CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day

I'm so blessed to have such an amazing mom!  She's my cheerleader, my teacher, my helper, and my friend.  I'm grateful for her loving example and her desire to always be there for all her children. 

I love you Mom!

I'm also grateful for a wonderful Mother-in-law.  She raised an amazing man that I'm lucky enough to call my husband.  She's always made me feel included and treated me just like her own.

Love you!

And, of course Mother's Day wouldn't be complete without this crazy bunch of kids who made me a Mom!  I remember from when I was young that when I grew up I wanted to be a mom.  I love each of my kids fiercely, words cannot even begin to explain the love I have for them.  Sometimes I feel that I'm failing miserably, yet they still love me.  Thanks for making me a mommy, I love you!

Saturday & A Turtle

Jo made this cute turtle in her sewing class.  She did a really great job, except she forgot to put the legs on LOL!  She was laughing when she told us that.

We took Spencer clothes shopping for his birthday.  That kid is going through a major growth spurt and is growing out of all his clothes.  He really wanted a suit for his birthday which is what we planned on getting him, but then Tanner said he could have one of his suits.  So, instead he got some summer clothes which he needed too!

We also took Tanner's suit back to have it tailored.  When we got it, they didn't get the measurements quite right.  We're hoping for a better fit the second time around.

We had plans to go up the canyon and have a camp up (as Penny would say).  Unfortunately it was a bit chilly and rainy.  So, we decided to stay inside.  We ate hot dogs and made smores.  Tatum and Penny had some fun games planned.  Papa and Penny were mummies!

We also made a human pyramid! 

Fun family times, just what I like!

Senior Soccer Night

Senior Night for soccer was last Friday.  They got to play under the lights for their last game and there was a huge turnout from family and friends to support the boys.  The game was awesome.  We had some great goals and it was a great game to watch.  So strange that this was quite possible the last soccer game we will see Tanner play for a long time.  We've been watching soccer since he was in Kindergarten.  Soccer has been a big part of our life: watching during the hot summer and cold winter, traveling to various places to watch, cheering and celebrating, nail biters, disappointment, victories, life lessons.  I'll miss it all!

We got to go out on the field with him at the beginning of the game to celebrate and pay tribute to the wonderful boys that we have.  There are 11 seniors this year and I think 5 or 6 of them have their mission calls.  How awesome is that?!

I tried to get an action shot, but it's so hard.

Love this boy and his love for soccer!

Happy 15th Spencer

This guy turned 15 on May 5th.  He's my little Cinco De Mayo Boy.  For dinner he wanted meatball sandwiches, and for his birthday treat he wanted No-bake Cookies.  Easy enough!

15 things I love about Spencer:

~he's tender hearted

~he loves to play rugby and football

~he's very smart

~he loves history

~he fulfills his priesthood duties

~he gives great hugs

~he's a good cuddler

~he's a great friend

~he does well in school

~he likes to make people laugh

~he loves his family

~he can't wait to get his permit

~he also enjoys basketball

~he does his daily scripture study and says his prayers

~he will always be my little Spence!

Baby River

My brother became a daddy for the second time.

Little precious River Michael was born on May 4th weighing 7 lb. 8 oz. and is 20 inches long.

So excited to have another Arhets boy!  We haven't had one in 40 years and are so glad that the
Arhets name will now continue on.  I can't wait to meet this precious baby boy and to give him lots of snuggles!

Other Happenings

We went to the YCL retreat a couple of weekends ago.  The girls got some good stuff planned for camp, we played some games, shared some spiritual messages, ate good food, and watched "Once I Was a Beehive"  Super cute movie.  Despite the fact that Kenzie didn't want to go, I think it was a success and she even ended up having a good time.  This is a great group of girls and I know they'll be good leaders to the younger girls who go to camp this year!

Doing a little missionary shopping. 
It's a start, but we have a long way to go before we have everything he needs.

My stupid foot is broken:(

I've been hurting since November, but since I'm totally a doctor I did a little self-diagnosis and determined that I had plantar fasciitis.  I have it before and this is what it felt like again so I thought I just needed to be patient and that it would eventually go away.  Well, I tried everything: massages, rolling my foot on a frozen water bottle, got nice new shoes with good support, bought inserts for my shoes, bought orthotics, got compression socks and a massage ball.  Nothing worked!  After months of hurting, my friend told me I should go see a Podiatrist and get a steroid shot.  So, I did.  When I went for my follow up and told him that I felt the same and had gotten no relief, he said that he wasn't almost sure I had broken my foot instead.  Now I get to wear this awesome boot for 3 weeks.  If I still don't have an improvement than I'll have an MRI to see if I need surgery.  I'm crossing my fingers and saying my prayers, because I CAN NOT have surgery.  I've got no time for that! 

Hopefully this works.  I really need this to work.

Tanner competed in the Mr. Spanish Fork contest.

Here he is in his lovely swimsuit portion of the competition. 
He didn't win, but had a fun time being a part of this crazy fun tradition.

Prom 2016

Tanner's Sr. Prom

Tanner & Alex getting ready to go pick up their dates.

Aren't they handsome?

Tanner & Sarai

At first Tanner wasn't going to go to Prom, but then finally decided to ask someone.  I'm glad he did.  He shouldn't miss out on his last high school dance.  They ended up having a great time!

Tanner's cute Prom group.

They had a great time together.  They went to the Provo Beach Resort for their day date.  Ate at Tucano's for dinner.  Went to the dance, and then ended the night sitting around the fire roasting marshmallows.  So grateful for good friends for my kids!

Only sad news about the night was that Kenzie didn't get asked to Prom:(  She really wanted to go.  But, she made the best of it.  One of her friends didn't get asked either, so they spent the day together hiking, getting their nails done, going to the movies, and eating out. 

I'm Trying

Sometimes this is really hard to remember.  But, I know it's true. 

Jesus knows us and knows what we can handle. 

We just have to have faith. 

I'm Trying.

Other Cruise Fun

I'm pretty sure the favorite for dessert for almost everyone was the Carnival Melting Cake with vanilla ice cream.  It was fabulous!

The towel creations were always fun to come back to each night!

All packed up and waiting for our turn to leave the ship.  It was a great trip and no one was ready to go back.  I would've been good to cruise for a few more days. 

I guess we'll just have to plan another one!

Kenzie and Kelly had to get swim shirts because they were both little crispy critters.

Beautiful, blue, Grand Turk!

My sweet Kenzie!

I'm so glad we were able to go on this cruise together.  It will definitely go down in my books as one of the best family vacations!  Memories were made that will last a lifetime.  So grateful I got to experience so many fun and wonderful things with those most precious to me!

Sea Day 2

Our waiter for breakfast had some fun with the kids.

He decorated them with napkin that were folded different ways.

Cute girls...

...and handsome boys.

We woke up early before breakfast and went and had a massage, it was lovely. 

I wish I could get one all the time. 

Miniature golfing.

The girls took a dance class and of course had to have a photo op with the cute instructor!

Our last dinner on the ship was full of entertainment. 

Tanner even hopped up and did a little dancing!

Our waiters were super fun!

Dress Nights

We weren't very good at taking pictures our first dress night. 

Sooo, we took a picture of a picture. 

Second dress night.  Waiting for the kiddos to get ready.

Love this family of mine!

Beautiful Day!

The kids got along pretty good the whole time.

Good looking couple!

Cruisers!

Conch

Conch

One of the guides showed us how to clean a conch.

Super weird

After he cleaned it and rinsed it off, he out pieces for everyone to try.  You can tell by the look on Spencer's face that he did not enjoy it.  I didn't either.  It was super duper salty and kind of crunchy.  I spit it out.  I was surprised because the conch fritters we had on the ship were good. 

Raw, not so much.  But, we had to give it a try to say that we did it.

This pretty much sums up our conch eating experience.

Grand Turk Sting Ray Encounter

The sting ray encounter was awesome!

Cheese!

The girls wanted to go together.

I love their faces in this one:)

I was so proud of Tanner.  He acts pretty tough, but he was actually very nervous to do this.  Once he was in the water and saw everyone else doing it, he was okay.  And, he actually liked it!

See that smile?!

After the whole group was done, we stuck around and played some more.  The 2nd ray that we interacted with was huge!  We got to feed it squid, which feels super weird.  The guides were great and it was so fun to be able to spend extra time in the water with these amazing animals.

Good times in Grand Turk.

Jo loved it!

Nice sting ray back massage.

Spencer was actually the first in our group to jump right in and want to hold the ray.

To make the day even better, we saw some dolphins on our way back to the ship.  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture, but I'll remember it forever!