Second Grade

Melody is in 2nd grade this year. She has a great teacher and Erik is in her class, plus a few friends from last year so Melody is VERY excited about that. I love that Melody loves school and is so excited to go. We did some great bargain shopping this year on clothes so I let Melody pick out her shoes....of course it was the twinkle toes that she loved. But I figure that a girl has to love her shoes :) Mel couldn't decide which outfit was her favorite so we did pictures on the 1st and 2nd day of school.

Leslie and Kerri's Big Day

At the end of May, Leslie and Kerri went through the Gila Valley temple. I got to be Leslie's escort since Val was Kerri's. We got up nice and early and I made Leslie and Kerri take pictures before and after. It was a great day! The session had a few bumps with people getting sick and new temple workers figuring things out but Leslie likes things to be a little more exciting than the usual :) After, we had more pictures with everyone and then went to Leslie's house for a yummy breakfast. I am so excited for Leslie and Kerri. It was great to get to be there with them.

Gila Valley Temple

The Gila Valley Temple is So beautiful and I love getting to see it when we travel to Safford. I am especially glad that Melody got to see the inside of it before it was dedicated. We got to talk more about temples and why they are so important. We drove down to see it with the Gardner's and got to hang out with Leslie and then take the Gardner's to our favorite place to eat, Casa Manana, while we were there.

Cinderella

In May, we took the girls out to see Cinderella. I think most of us thought this was going to be a play but it turned out to be the ballet. It was a good time. We did a princess dinner for the girls before the ballet and they all dressed up and looked SO beautiful. I think overall the girls liked the ballet but they had some interesting comments on the costumes. If I ever go to the ballet again, Debbie, I need to borrow your girls because their comments were the best!

Girls Trip/ Liz's Birthday

In April, I got to go to Women's Conference in Utah with the girls :) On the drive up it started to snow and I was pretty excited about it. I had to go out the first morning we were there and play around. We got to go to some amazing classes and I don't know if I can even pick a favorite but the theme of simplify and putting what is most important first were things that were hard to miss and really good advice. I don't know why I didnt take any pictures at BYU??? But there were TONS of ladies and it was hard to get around. We did get to see the Howard's first house and eat at the pizza place across the street. I know Donelle has pictures of that; we wanted Debbie to have a reminder of the trip since she couldn't 't come :( After the conference was over, Andrea picked me up and took me home with her and I got to have dinner with her and Jared and Kylie. It was great to spend some time with them! The next morning, Andrea and I met back with the rest of the girls and did a live temple session in the Salt Lake temple, which was great! Then we just explored temple square and for lunch we celebrated Liz's birthday with afternoon tea that Shelley had planned (aka for us, hot chocolate :) When we arrived, the hostess put a flower bud in a glass of warm water and it bloomed....you are supposed to drink the herb tea it makes. Liz was a good sport and tried it first and after we added a few sugar cubes, the rest of us tried it. I thought it tasted like eating grass...not so good. But it was fun to be in such a beautiful place and hang out with good friends. I had such a wonderful time being with good friends and getting a spiritual uplift.

Pinkalicious Party

Liz was in charge of my birthday party this year and she knows my favorite color is pink, so what better than a Pinkalicious party? We enjoyed yummy pink treats and I got the Pinkalicious book and some other Pink themed gifts and we played Just Dance on the Wii. I have to say it was pretty fun, Chrissy had the overall high score of the night, but I am pretty sure I was right behind her. Thanks for a great party :)

Tanisha's Birthday Party

For Tanisha's birthday party we had a Parisian themed night with a Julia Child spin. We had our own Julia Child (aka Jenn) come and teach us how to make a fruit tart with a flaky pastry crust, hollandaise sauce and different kinds of quiche. We had 2 different kinds of appetizers that were new to just about everyone at the party and then had 3 different kinds of quiche with asparagus and hollandaise sauce. For desert we had the yummy fruit tart and to drink sparkling french soda. I was a loser and forgot my camera so I had to steal a few pics to have something to post. It was decorated really cute, like a french cafe. Tanisha got the Julia Childs cookbook for her present and then we watched Julie and Julia. The BEST part was Leslie dressing up like a mime. Tanisha was hoping a mime would show up and Leslie was a great sport and acted the part well! Liz also got together a great game of pictionary, themed off of places in France. Shelley made really cute place cards for everyone (again, I am lame because I dont have a picture of them!) Donelle let us transform her house into a French cafe, Jennifer Pearce let me use her super cute Parisian decor and pictures that were perfect! Jenn and Leslie were amazing to shop for food and Jenn cooked EVERYTHING with Leslie and I as assistants. It was a huge group effort to pull it off but I think Tanisha enjoyed the party and everyone had some yummy food!