congratulations graduates!

another school year has come to an end!  well, not for me - why did i choose a year round school again?  geez... my nephew Sam graduated from snow canyon high and is also turning in his mission papers!  he should be getting his call sometime this summer and we are so excited for him!  i forgot my camera as i was rushing out the door... but we are so proud of him!  way to go SAM!

miss katie also graduated from millcreek.  she was working on her packets until the bitter end, but she made it!  good job katie girl! (she sung her class song and did wonderful!)

everything but t-ball

t-ball is now over.  some days he loved it.  others not so much. but now that it's over, he wants to play again!  he was able to be on a team with one of his/our friends.  he ended up on joey's team who is one of my good friends from softball and his son is the same age as jorel so they got to play together! it was comical at times.  definitely entertaining.  it was really hard to pick the best pictures... this is really only a small amount from his 9 games... eek, i just became one of THOSE parents! haha

tumbling

along with jorel doing t-ball, i also signed him up for tumbling class.  i was hoping he would spend a little more energy there, but everything is a competition to him.  so that's exhausting for me.  at least i can't sit in the class because i'd probably be yelling at him to be nice.  some days he can't sit still.  some days he can't be quiet.  but he does a pretty good job jumping around.  i mean, he does it anyway, might as well develop some good skill, eh? 

and lets face it, he can be kind of a pest.  but we love him anyway!

park time

sometimes, you just need to take pictures at the park.  it's also hard to get back into the swing of things and enjoy everyday when such terrible things happen.  today, we will try to embrace the happiness that these kids have.

 i mean, come on, is this not my kid?!  

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!