Luke Nugent Memorial

if you hadn't heard yet, one of the reasons that luke chose to take his own life was because he was bullied.  it seriously still makes me so sick to my stomach.  i know there is only so much we can do to stamp out bullying, but i hope that we are all making it a big part of teaching this to our kids.  please don't be a bully.  and if you're being bullied, please seek help.  

my brother and his wife were able to address the school board yesterday and ask for help to get rid of this problem.  let's help them make a change, not only in carl junction, missouri, but all over the world.  bullying is not okay.  we have enough to worry about what our kids are facing.  bullying these days doesn't get turned off.  with all of the social media and cell phone and any other devices our kids might have, bullying can be a 24/7 ordeal.  i know we can only do our best to educate our kids on this issue, but that's all that is being asked.  

if you haven't already, please visit www.lukenugentmemorial.com and read up on the changes that Mika and Jessica are trying to make for their only son.  also please visit and like his facebook page here:  www.facebook.com/LukeNugentMemorial?fref=ts 

that kid was always trying to make a difference.  we miss you, luke.  

my parents also planted a dogwood tree in our yard in honor of luke, because that was one of his favorite trees.  my mom made the garden beautiful and it will be exciting to see that tree grow.  

kite festival

on saturday was the annual kite festival held in st george.  they do this to help promote reading in schools.  we decided to take the kids down to enjoy the festivities.  i had never been before and heard it can be pretty cool.  there was a lot of stuff going on.  they had the area to fly kites, but they also had a bunch of inflatable toys and a stage where there were non-stop performances all day.  we got there around noon, got jaxan her free kite and went to the kite area to have a picnic.  the kids flew kites - it was almost too windy at times, and then you would see all of the kites just fall right out of the sky.  but it was successful none-the-less.  we let the kids do 2 inflatables each and then grabbed snow cones and headed back home.  

new car

i made my very first car purchase yesterday!  i didn't realize how frustrating that could be.  i was feeling really bummed because i felt like i wan't going to find anything that suited me for the price range that i wanted, but came across this toyota highlander and kind of loved it.  i feel safe and i fell like it is a reliable vehicle.  i'm so excited to be able to drive my new car around! 

on another note, mike's little sister is often in and out of the hospital.  well.  this time she go her appendix taken out.  mike and i spent the night over there one night so that his mom could get some sleep in a real bed.  hope for a quick recovery for her!

t-ball

t-ball has started!  his first game is today.  and i think i'm a bit more excited than he is, but hopefully it'll catch on.  go pirates!

this warm already?

i can't believe it was warm enough for us to go swimming already.  mike has a pool in his complex.  i hope he knows i'll be spending a lot of time there this summer.... 

easter 2013

one of the funnest parts about spending time with someone else's family so much is to pick up on their traditions and the way they celebrate the holidays.  mike's family does the egg dying thing big time.  i don't remember it being such a big deal in our family, i mean, we did it, but i don't think we boiled 5 dozen eggs.  we ended up hiding 56 eggs in the house for the kids to find the next morning.  mike said that wasn't that many, but in their little place, it was just enough.  i added our own tradition of getting our own box of cereal to the mix.  it was always such a special treat for us.