EMMA'S GRADUATION AT THE BELLS!

 Well what are you going to do when it's your first child's graduation and the world has shut down?! I think most people mourned the loss of it in their own way, but when you have 12 dedicated moms who are all good friends...we aren't going to sit this one out and miss this opportunity for our kids. Having to wake Emma up and tell her that graduation is canceled and watching her cry was hard enough, I wasn't going to sit by and not do anything! So...we rolled up our sleeves and got to work! Me, Megan, Michelle and Kati started brainstorning things, then we added in a few other moms, had a planning meeting and we were off and running! We were going to host a graduation for 50 of our kids and their families! Everyone would have to RSVP to make sure we had enough food, we were catering Hawaiian BBQ, we had hula dancers, fire dancers, Soda Rush truck, we made a stage, balloon arches, a photographer, I reached out to the principal and he was so kind and help me (by sneaking it himself) pull off an epic surprise and got all the kids stols, tassles, awards, PHS graduated program, cords, letters, etc, Mr Serrano wanted to come but knew it would upset people so he asked if he could write a letter instead to be read to the graduates (he LOVED our idea and was so grateful we were doing something for the kids), we rented tables and chairs, had center pieces made out of toilet paper to look like a cap, leis flown in from Hawaii, Eric built us a pallet wall, a dessert bar, we did the Pledge of Allegiance, let Brintley the class president give her speech, we had an announcer and each kid was called and recieved thier dipolma, there was an after party, it was everything we dreamed it would be and more! Parents, grandparents, siblings, everyone came, everyone was grateful, I got to cry when I watched Emma walk across the stage...she did it!!! She was amazing!! She achieved so much in her 13 years of school - we could not be more proud of her!! I will forever be grateful for this team of moms coming together and pulling this off for our kids! It might be the best graduation we ever attend! These 2020 seniors deserve this and so much more!! 

MMB ON COVID HIATUS!

With everything shut down - that included sports too. Eli was lucky enough that MMB still let about 5 kids go and hit in their cages twice a week for 30 minutes each. No tournaments, no regular practices, no nothin! So he would go and do that twice a week, he would hit some in our backyard, sometimes he would run a mile, etc. Then one day when I had the kids with me on a bike ride I saw this guy Jaime, who is always at Centennial Park working with boys on baseball - except this time he was working in Madden and since we know Madden and his dad - I figured if he is using him then he must be good. So I interrupted the private and got some info and then ever since then Eli has been going 2 a week to work with Jaime at the park on his pitching and throwing! He is getting really really good! Hopefully coaches will notice this and he can make the junior high team and pitch more at MMB. We are missing the tournaments though and can't wait to get back to the field and watch him play. In the meantime, here is the last of our baseball pictures we got!

FIRST TIME BACK AT CHURCH!

 It looked a little different but it felt really good to be worshiping back at church together with some ward members. We are only allowed to go to the building every other week, only half of the alphabet one week and the other half the next week and you just keep rotating. You have to sit every other row. You have to wear masks. You go to Sacrament only. But hey...it's a step in the right direction! 

MOTHER'S DAY!

With no sports - I actually got to spend Mother's day at home! For the longest time it was spent at dance competitions and then it turned into baseball tournaments....This year I got to sleep in and wake up to breakfast in bed - Jared made it but the kids delivered it! Then we moved on to present time! I got Tyler Snuggie-pons, Tyson Snuggie-pons, Twinnie-pons, Eli got me a gift card to Morenos and Emma got  us each matching bracelets from PuraVida! Jared got me an ice cream maker and the Air-Force Ones I wanted.

We hung out, watched family movies, went on a bike ride, waited for the boys to pick up dinner from Texas Roadhouse for 2 hours and then even used our ice cream maker and had homemade ice cream on top of brownies for dessert.

Loved this family of mine. Love being these 4 fart heads mom! Loved watching them enjoy spoiling me and eating the twins famous lunch!

It was the perfect day for me!

CINCO DE MAYO!

We never celebrate Cinco De Mayo....we are always to busy to do anything. This year - since we have literally nothing to do - we decided to do our own little Cinco De Mayo party at home. I decorated the table the night before, went and bought the fun Mexican drinks in glass bottles and planned to pick up all this food from different restaurants when I got off work the next day.

As I was walking out of Sodalicious, I checked my phone and discovered that I had won a mexican dinner from Boctaq and popcicles from Local Pop Co all from Jac and Libby's Lark Studios on Instagram. It was awesome!! They came out and delivered it to us and we had a fun little dinner together celebrating Cinco De Mayo. It was perfect for us to do this this year since it was the last year Emma will be home with us!

Even though this quarantine has been rough and canceled so much - For our family - it has been a great blessing to slow down, pause life and grow and bond together and become closer as a family right before Emma leaves.