Blast from the past...

Recently I had a good friend post a bunch of pictures on facebook from our elementary school days... 3rd grade (my teacher ALWAYS referred to me as ANNEMARIE'S sister) 4th grade

5th grade

These are pictures of me with my friend JaNise Gubler...we were BEST FRIENDS (she's still is a great friend) We spent so much time together from the time we were three until I moved the summer I turned 16 (we still hooked up occassionaly) sooo many memories flooded mt brain when I saw these pictures. We were master hula-hoopers and roller skaters. I LOVED going to the skating rink.

We were roommates at OAKCREST beehive camp...

this is obviously at the end of camp...I don't even remember my hair being that short!

PAY IT FORWARD...

Copied from my sister-in-laws blog...

Pay it FORWARD--
How it works:
The FIRST THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive at some point during this year a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive will be a total surprise--to both of us.

The CATCH is that YOU MUST PLAY TOO! Before you leave your comment here, write a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (you can cut and paste these instructions). Then come back and let me know that you are going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift. It's THAT easy!

Remember, only the FIRST THREE comments will qualify.

Good luck!

More February fun...

This is my crazy kids on Valentines day...I love that Britt is so wild and I love that Ally is being goofy. The night before Britt went to the store with her good friend Gina and the bought matching crazy outfits to wear to school. Jay is as "valentiney" as a boy can get with the red & white shirt.

On presidents day we went and played in the snow near a little town called Strawberry. It was actually snowing pretty hard that the pass was closed. We pulled over and found a school field and had a great time making snow angels, throwing snowballs, making a snow man and body sledding down hills. The kids had a great time. On the drive from our house we discovered a cheese factory. We stopped and bought some cheese & bread and some salami roll. It was yummy! On the way home we stopped at IHOP and got hot chocolate and some all you can eat pancakes (for everyone but me yuck!)

this is what Britt came home to after our day in the snow. Revenge sadly was taken out on her rather than me! It's all in fun and Britt thought it was pretty funny ( and is still plotting her next move) I thought it was hilarious that they taped her phone to the wall and taped her pillows together. P.S. I'm still vacuuming up shredded paper!!!

Ward primary activity. Jay is officially the oldest kid in primary and loves every minute of it. This is one of my kids favorite babies in our ward. Her name is Rebecca and she is sooo cute!

This is me enjoying a day off from gurading (per my sons request to take a day off) we got to enjoy "muffins with mom" at the kids school. Last year they just brought me a muffin and we ate it at my crossing corner but the kids really wanted to go inside this year so I took the day off!

This is Ally dressed up like Jackie O...she had a famous person report and speech. It was extra credit points if you dressed as your character and of course Ally was all over doing that.

DID YOU SEE THE MOON AND VENUS ON FRIDAY NIGHT...

My mom & dad called me up and told me to go look at the moon...at first I couldn't see anything so the kids and I came in to look online to see if something "special" was happening. We learned that Venus & the Moon would be aligning to the visible eye. We went back out at different times through out the night and got to see it from our backyard. It was pretty cool!

We have had a CRAZY BUSY February and it doesn't look to be slowing down for March! We all love it and are enjoying everything we're involved in! Life is good here in Pleasanton!

Jay's scouting adventure...

Jay earned his first-aid merit badge today. During the month of February his troop has been learning all about first-aid. Today for their merit badge pow-wow or Saturday activity, they went to a local park and had a bunch of MOCK accidents that need to be assessed! All the boys had a great time. Kind of disgusting, but quite effective!

My other children...

I was looking through my past posts and most of them were about Britt's going ons...Some might think I have only one child. I thought I'd dedicate this post to my two other amazing kids.

This year Jay is in 5th grade. He is really enjoying it (I think he's secretly wishing he were done) I can't believe it's his last year of elementary. MAN the time really has flown by. He LOVES playing the TROMBONE...I don't think he could have picked an instrument that better suits his personality. It's a perfect match and I'm thrilled he loves it. I don't even mind the practicing. He is going to be in the school play (again) and we are dying to find out what part he will get...you can bet I'll do a post about that =)

The kids had a great time going to the SNOW for President's Day. Sadly, none of them really remember the snow, so it was fun to see them excited about playing in it and making snow angels and a sad little snowman...those pics will be in FEBRUARY PART 2

Ally is in 2nd grade this year and LOVES school. She is very outgoing and VERY bright. I think she probably is my most serious student at such a young age. I think it probably has to do with her teacher Ms. Vernon who is EXCELLENT and she's had this group of kids for two years now and she has taught them AWESOME study habits. I love it. Above is what happened to the girls room while we were playing in the snow...(there will be more about that too) Ally thought it was great!!!

For Valentines Day Ally's class had secret pals...Ally's secret pal was Karin who actually ended up having Ally also. The two of them thought that was the funniest thing EVER!!!

The other night as I was walking down the hall with an armful of laundry to fold I noticed Ally had "snuck" a reading light and was finishing her chapter book that she DID NOT want to put away earlier. Who can get mad when their child WANTS to continue to read. It was such a KODAK moment. I love ALL THREE of my kids and I am trying to SLOW down and enjoy each moment with them...moments seem to be going away as they get older so I've made it a goal to TAKE as many as I can with them. I LOVE THEM TO DEATH!!! They truly are my greatest TREASURES!

February fun...part1

This month has been filled with lots of activities and fun. Our ward had a Chilli cookoff fundraiser for the YW and Scouts. Britt donated a service of making cards and Jay took mint brownie bites to auction. While our family was enjoying FOOD FOLKS and FUN on the inside there were a few scheming SCOUTS outside having fun TP'ing the inside and outside of my car....that's where the fun really begins!!! A few days after my car was innocently attacked (ya right this is me we're talking about) the youth in our stake had a dance...I had arranged to attack the rooms of the two GUILTY young men. Britt was a very willing helper. I had arranged to do it as soon as the boys left for the dance so that I wouldn't be too late to the dance and arouse suspicion...

I enlisted the help of my talented sister in writing a poem about the adventure and taped it to each YM door...

This is Britt probably enjoying herself a little too much attacking Jordan's room
This is a picture of Nathan's completed sabotaged room...when we got to the dance the boys were teasing me that they had gotten me a few times and I hadn't done anything to them. I failed to mention above that on Tuesday after a RS meeting I came out only to find that my car had been SERAN WRAPPED...no problem I recycle :-) While at the dance and being teased constantly that I "suck" and that my "coolness" level had dropped I pulled out my camera and said "you guys want to see what I did tonight..." the boys went ash in the face and were totally shocked. It was a priceless moment and my "coolness" level was elevated once again(at least I like to think so) This has been too fun and it's only just begun wait 'til part 2...

We had a 3 ward New Beginnings this year and it was sooo much fun. We had the theme "GO FOR THE GOLD"...being that the new VALUE added of virute is gold we thought we'd have and OLYMPIC theme. We asked each girl to dress in one of the value colors and then had appointed individuals to carry a "value flag" each girl wearing the said color marched behind that flag (much like the olympics and the countries carrying their flags) while the girls were marching in we had the olympic theme music playing...I was really surprised at how much this touched me...it was pretty amazing.

Britt wore one of her favorite colors GREEN which represents KNOWLEDGE. All of the girls sang the song Let Virture Garnish Thy Thoughts Unceasingly. It was a great night. We then had a Laurel from each ward introduce the Beehives that had come in this year while a slide show(that I put together...pat myself on the back) played with random slides of each Beehive.

This is a picture of our Chilli cook off...the YW sang a few camp songs and then passed out the auctioned off desserts to the highest bidder! This is a fun tradition in our ward!

After the cook off a couple in our ward had asked for a few youth to come and wash dishes from a dinner party of 52 people...not many of the youth were very excited so I volunteered Britt and Jay (and the rest of our family) to go and wash dishes. It took us a couple of hours and each of the kids earned money to go towards Girls Camp and Scout Camp. We got invited to go and have dinner with this family the next day and REALLY enjoyed spending time with them and getting to know them better. It was a fun filled evening...I love hanging out with people!

Stay tuned...our February adventures are just beginning!!!

Life is good...

There is a song that has the line..." I said all that to say all this..." My last post some might have thought I was complaining...in reality I wasn't. I love that my life is soooo busy! I recently read in my kids school newsletter the quote" Communities have the schools they deserve" I couldn't agree more. I think that philosophy applies to everything in our lives. Wayne and I are very blessed to live in such a wonderful community for our schools and for our church activities. The caliber of people in this community make going above and beyond truly a pleasure! Our programs show how amazing this community really is...I am privileged to be among them!!! This is a picture of the MP room decorated and crowded with people at Noodles & Notes

Here are a few with those in my life who make it all worth while and truthfully make it possible!!! Wayne was on sauce and meatball duty! He was such a help to me through out this whole ordeal. In the middle of the evening I needed more dollar bills for the auction tables and he ran QUICKLY to the store for me!! Thank you! Thank you, to my wonderful husband and family!!!

Here is a lovely picture of my SUPER TROUPER girls. I have video from this night, I need to take the time and post it on my blog...IT'S HILARIOUS!!!

My sweet sister flew into town for ONE day just to see Britt in her play. It was the day that the cast did it 3 times in a row (once for each grade level) Anne bought Britt lunch and an adorable ELEPHANT holding a "clover"! It was so fun to have her be able to come. I don't want my parents to feel bad...they came on opening week and saw Britt perform. I will do a post all about that weekend later...I have lots to blog about!

My life is great, I love being so involved and I would do all of it again and again and again!!! The kids are totally worth it!!!