Kindergarten...Here I Come!

Today I took our youngest daughter, Madysen, to Kindergarten Orientation! When people say they can't believe how fast kids grown up...it's because it's true. Madysen turns 5 this June and she couldn't be happier! When the letter came in the mail inviting parents and their kindergartners to orientation, she was beyond thrilled! I read it to her in the car and she was squirming and giggling in her booster seat, hardly able to contain her excitement. :) When our daughters were born, I often daydreamed about the milestones they would reach in life and where we would be at the time. Each time these milestones arrive, it's always bittersweet to reflect back on the years that have passed and how much our children have changed. When we arrived at Kindergarten Orientation, we turned in the usual school forms and picked up another packet of forms. Madysen was given a book that read, "Kindergarten, Here I Come!". They also gave all of the kids a box of crayons and a name tag.
We sat in the gym and listened to the Principal speak about the upcoming year before hearing a few of the Kindergarten teachers speak. Madysen turned to me and asked which one her teacher was going to be, and of course I told her we would have to wait until school started. They invited the kids to join the teachers on a tour of the classrooms while us parents listened to more jib-jab from the District Health something-or-another. Lol I would have rather joined Mady on her first tour of the kinder classes so I could see her reaction, but then again this must be one of the moments where we have to learn to let go. :0( After the kids returned, they concluded the orientation with donuts and milk for refreshments.
I do have to say that I'm really excited that Mady will be attending the same school as Sariah next year. I mentioned in a previous post that Sariah was accepted into the advanced learning program and so she'll be changing schools for the upcoming year. They instructed parents that any child with siblings would have to be placed on a waiting list. Well, we headed on over to the new school and immediately placed Madysen on the list because it was imperative to us that they attend the same school...especially with it being Mady's first year. You can imagine our excitement and relief when we received the call that Mady had been accepted. I'm sure by the time the new school year approaches, we'll have gotten over the fact that our girls are growing up and that it's time to let go just a little. But then again, is that even possible? :)

Museum of Ancient Life

Yesterday I finally had the chance to be a chaperone for Sariah's class field trip! Ever since Sariah started school, I've always volunteered to go on the field trips but they've always had a surplus number of parents who wanted to attend and I never got the chance. When the notice went out a few weeks ago informing the parents that they would be needing chaperones for this upcoming fieldtrip, I jumped at the chance! The school district here requires that any volunteer parents have to complete a mandatory background check and fingerprinting. It was a bit odd to me (because it was never required in CA) but I'm actually really happy that the school district takes precautionary measurements as far as who can chaperone these students on field trips.

We woke up early on the day of the field trip to get ready and to pack our lunches. Sariah was really excited and since it was picture day too, she wanted to look extra pretty...as if my little gal isn't pretty enough. Ü We arrived at school and I headed over to her classroom where I met my little group of only 4 kids! That was good enough for me. :0) We loaded up on the buses and headed over to The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. Sariah and I hadn't been there before so we were both pretty thrilled!

We went through so many rooms and awesome exhibits. There were several other 4th grade classes there as well so it was a bit chaotic overall. I had to make sure the kids answered specific questions from the papers I had and between writing down their answers, taking photos and keeping track of my 4 little 4th graders, I barely had time to really enjoy the exhibits! We're definitely planning on going back as a family and we're going to make sure it's not on a day that any of the schools are visiting. Lol! The dinosaur fossils were amazing and the kids really learned a lot and enjoyed themselves. After a few hours, we settled down for some lunch and visited the museum gift shop where I treated my little group to a few souvenirs. :) Another great day in the books.

Busy Birthday Weekend

What's better than celebrating a birthday on a weekend...celebrating three birthdays! This weekend was a pretty darn busy one. We spent Friday evening helping my aunt set-up, prepare and decorate for her sons' birthday bash. She asked me a few weeks ago to create an invitation flyer for her sons who were turning 16 and 18...and how cool that they have the same birth date?! Royal & Kingzlee are die-hard Steeler fans and so it became the subtle theme of the party and invitations.

After setting up we quickly got into preparing an array of foods and desserts which included croissant sandwiches, egg rolls, chicken salad sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, dipping veggies, chips, Steeler cookies (they were super cute), several varieties of cupcakes, mini cheesecakes, and a chocolate fountain with strawberries, shortcake and pretzels for dipping. My absolute faves were the croissant sammies and the egg rolls...delish! Ü

It didn't take long before the party was packed. I mean...Stake Conference Youth Dance packed! Lol The music was really good too. When the crazy teenagers weren't being wall flowers, they were up and getting their groove on! We had to leave before the party was over but we scored tons of food to take home because all the teenagers were too busy trying to be "cool and cute" to eat. Haha Lucky for us! Ü

On Saturday we had dinner plans to celebrate the 30th birthday of one of my besties (specifically my sisters best friend) Verona! I got together with Verona and Gloria that afternoon to make cupcakes for the dinner party. I created the invitation a few weeks before and whipped up some matching cupcake wrappers on photoshop for the cupcakes. Ü They turned out great!

Fred had to work that evening so it was a bit of a bummer having to fly solo, but it's hard not to have fun when you're in the company of awesome friends and family. Ü We met at a Japanese Restaurant-Ichiban. The restaurant actually use to be an old church! The sat us in an upper loft area where we sat Japanese-style on pillows. They cheated a little bit because there was an open area underneath the table where we could stretch our legs. Lol The decor was really cute and the restaurant still had a few hints of the little chapel it use to be. I had steak and some sushi that was pretty good. After spending some time laughing and chatting, we sang "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girl before having a few photo ops and heading back home. It was a great evening and I think the only thing missing was having my sisters there to join in on the fun. We love you Verona...Happy Birthday!

Jazz vs. Blazers

As you may remember, Sariah recently played in the Jr. Jazz basketball league here in Utah. After the league is over, all of the kids who participated, received a trophy and tickets to a Jazz game! After receiving those tickets, Sariah took it upon herself to tape some (pretty big) reminders on the wall next to her bed so she wouldn't forget about the game. Ü Her tickets were placed ever so carefully in her jewerly box and she's been looking forward to it ever since.

That day finally came yesterday and she couldn't have been a happier girl. Ü I have to laugh a bit at her new found love for the Jazz team. It all goes back to her uncle Sherman who is a die-hard Jazz fan. I mean...when you have a tattoo of the team mascot on your leg, that just might be an indication that someone really loves their team. :0) We (her parents) are neutral when it comes to NBA teams so apparently, it was only fitting that she go with her uncle's team. Ü Sariah has even taken to memorizing all of the players, their numbers and some of their stats in the past few months. Ü It's all really cute if you ask me.

We made a quick stop to drop off Mady with Aunty Fanua and her little cousins before heading over to the Energy Solutions Arena. Sariah picked out a few things at the Fanzz shop and we grabbed some pizza and waited for the game to start. I was so glad that I remembered my camera bag (because I've been forgetting it quite often lately) and what do you know when I opened it up?....Yep, had my extra lense in there but no camera in sight. I was pretty bummed. I had to resort to a picture or two on my not-so-dependable blackberry but Sariah didn't mind at all. The Jazz ended up losing the game 87-98 and even when they were down with 2 minutes left in the game (I wanted to get a headstart to our car lol) Sariah insisted that we stay and so we did. Ü

Sariah had a really great time cheering for her team and she's already looking forward to going to another game soon.

Photoshop Compulsion II

Still loving Photoshop! Ü One of the things I'm most proud of creating recently (as mentioned in a previous post) was a photo book for my grandparents' 50th anniversary. It took over 60 hours to create each page from scratch, but it was worth it. The final product was beautiful! Haven't had much time to work on as many projects as I wanted to but here are some of my recent designs! Ü

Check out the photo book here!

(Above Photos: Movie Invites & Popcorn Tub Cupcake Wrappers) (Above: Monogram goody bag tags for my best friends birthday with matching cupcake wrappers! Ü)

(More invites and cupcake wrappers!)

(Above: Little League Baseball Banner)

(Above: Gold ribbon was used as an accent & tied above the photo on the final invites)

P.S. If you didn't catch my creations from my Photoshop Complusion post a few months ago, you can see it here!

Disney On Ice

Fred has had some of his family visiting from Hawaii this past week and a few of us girls decided to take the little ones to Disney on Ice! Luckily for us his cousin, Cita, got a discount through work and we were able to get tickets at a great price. The girls were really excited to go especially since it was their first time. Before we go to events or parks I usually look online for reviews and tips and one of the things I found was a suggestion to buy some Disney light-up toys of some sort before going because the vendors at the show really hike up the price. I actually thought it was a pretty smart idea and originally planned on doing it. Well, things don't always go as planned and I forgot to stop by the store before we left. When we arrived the first thing we saw were several booths with...yep, light up toys and gifts galore! :0) We (myself and their aunties) bought the girls goodies and a few other things and in the long run...I don't regret not buying the toys in advance. It was priceless seeing how happy the girls were and how much they enjoyed being in the moment. The Disney on Ice show was entertaining and the characters really came to life. After the show, with Mickey ears and leftover Kettle corn in tow, we stopped for a late dinner before heading home. Our two little girls fell asleep that night with dreams of far off places, singing princess and Disney magic.

Hiatus

I think it's safe to say that my blog has been...neglected. Now, that isn't true in it's entirety. I have, in fact, been starting posts..and saving them. Ugh. Why can't I finish and where did all my time go? Hopefully my blog can come to life soon and maybe I should start from here instead of trying to play "catch up" all the time. I feel better already having written just this! Soon enough I'll be back on track because I'm sure all of our many readers are excited to see what we've been up to. LOL (total sarcasm there). Stay tuned!