Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

Can't wait to put my arms around you, again.

For all of you scouters out there...

I'm going to start blogging all of the invitations and other crafty things that I fill my days with. Here are my Arrow of Light invitations. The theme is 'Leave Nothing but Footprints'.

Cali Baby!

To celebrate the big 3-0, myself and my oldest, dearest friends decided to take a celebratory trip down to San Diego for the weekend. We stayed at the Pierson condo on Pacific beach.

We left late Thursday and didn't arrive in California until after 1AM. That pretty much set the tone for the entire weekend, staying up late with scary movies, frozen yogurt and ridiculous stories that had us in stitches (I would have never used that phrase in my twenties).

So we discovered that none of us, despite our age, has really changed that much since junior high. Emily(Pierson) is still the easy-going one driving daddy's car;). Val is the one who has us laughing nonstop, and often at her own expense. Emily(Sharp) is the incredibly likeable one who could make friends with anyone. Meredith is the super quick one, with both one-liners and jumping out from behind things! And I, well I just get to enjoy all of them.

Thanks, girlies, for a memorable trip.

Thanks, Natalie! We love it. Crisis averted!

A Cut Above...

The bad news- Today, Casey and I had to confiscate every pair of scissors from around the house and hide them in the most unsuspecting cabinet.

The good news- Sofia is rockin' a progressively punk, short on one side, long on the other, trendy haircut.

Stay tuned! Natalie is fixing it tomorrow.

Easter Sunday

I love Easter. I love the cool, morning air and the wet grass. I love how it seems to usher in spring. I love the CHOCOLATE! I love how excited my kids wake up. And I love the reason we celebrate Easter.

This year, I was lucky enough to have Sara, Lance and the kids along with my dad and the Greg Skidmore fam over for brunch. Thanks to the egg casserole, lemon raspberry cake and CHOCOLATE, I am toting a couple extra happy pounds this week.

I still vividly remember my last Easter with my mom. Thanks to the Savior's gift, we will be with her, one day, forever. Did I mention, I love Easter?

Is it just me, or...

April...so far

Yesterday, I sat down to write a summary of the past couple of months and my mind was blank. Could I really be forgetting the small events in my life just as quickly as they come? It actually made me quite sad. My sister has always been such a good documentor of 'the little things' in life. Today, I am deciding to emulate that quality.

I'm afraid that if I wait to long to make these brush strokes, my canvas will dry and that little bit of color will be missing. So here a few strokes from April, so far...

Sofia fell down the stairs and broke her elbow resulting in a very long night from Urgent Care to ER to OR. Three pins and a purple cast later, and I have the meanest little girl that I've ever had the privilege of meeting. When did that become a side effect of a broken arm?! Don't fall for that sweet, sad face. In Marley and Me, the dog sitter said, "That's not a dog. That's evil with a dog's face,". You know where I'm going with this.

Even so, my heart broke for her and I'm amazed at how tough she is. (In honor of the cast, let's make that a big purple stroke.)

And... Chance hates his new dog bed. He'd rather sleep outside. But, we have temporarily halted our hunt for a new bed for Lila.

Happy birthday, Dad.

You've been there for each of the most important events in my life.

Thank you and happy birthday.

Cade's Birthday Party

STRATUM

So much fun.

The best part... the confused looks on all of the boys faces as I took them out one by one from my sniper position.

Happy birthday, Cade. You're a Bear, now!