Memorable MondayLast Days of School

Angela graduated and I wanted to look back on all the years that she has been in the public school.  She started kindergarten at Porter an was there for 1/4 of the year.  She finished her kindergarten year at Keller in a special ed kindergarten class.  For 1-3 grades, she attended Roosevelt Elementary in their special ed program.  She really enjoyed her teacher there.  For grades 4-6. she returned to Porter Elementary and was in special education classes there too.  From there, she attend Taylor for 2 years and 4 years at Mesa High. 

Angela throughout the years

Graduations - Preschool, Elementary, Jr. High, and High School

First Day of Kindergarten and Graduation

Pics with Cambryn

Her longest school friends was Cambryn, even though they were never in the same class.  Here is a picture of her first day of kindergarten, 6th grade graduation, and Mesa High graduation.  Cambryn was always so sweet to Angel and I'll always remember her kindness.  

Letter in Music

Angela and her letter

Angela tried out for regionals this year.  It was something that she really wanted to do.  She worked really hard and did a great job.  I talked to Mrs. Decker, her choir teacher and I decided that I would help Angela earn her choir letter.  This was going to be a project for both of us.  I can't wait to see her honored 

Ryan, Justin, and Ang at Regionals

Judge Comments

One way that Angela can earn letter points, is to attend choral performances and musicals. The choral performances were cool but the musicals were my favorite to attend.  I hope we may have started a new tradition.

Footloose

Tom Sawyer

Shrek

Wizard of Oz

Mary Poppins

Footloose

MCC Choir Concert

MCC Jazz Night - Vocals included

Watching MHS Choir at the MAC

Choir Concert at Red Mountain

Another way to earn a letter point was to support the Mesa High Fundraisers.  We attended Fiiz after the concerts.  That one was too easy, but I asked and Mrs. Decker said that it would work.

Junior High Feeder Concert

Christmas Concert

Angela also was a member of the ward choir for 1/2 and earned 1 point for that.  She also took a few vocal lessons to prepare for regionals.  She received a point for that as well.  I loved reading the comments from Bro. Malmberg and Sis. Johnson.  She also attended a couple of classes with Mrs. Decker before regionals.

Music Lessons

Ward Choir

Angela also signed up to get excited help from Mrs. Decker to help prepare for regionals.  This was another way for Angela to get some points.

Angela sang with the choir during a basketball game to get some points too.  She loved it and sang with her friends.  It was fun to go to a basketball game and watch Angela sing.

Angela sang in Sacrament Meetings, New Beginnings, and Stake Conference.  These helped Angela earn some points too.

Sang at New Beginnings

Sang on Mother's Day

Sang in Stake Conference

Angela and I spent a lot of time together as she worked to get her letter.  I'm so proud of all her hard work.  She was so consistent and took every opportunity that was available to her to earn her letter in choir.  It's not an easy thing to do and she did it.  So, she deserves a bit of congratulation on earning her letter.

Show Low Trip

Josh went to San Francisco with some classmates to present his laser game project.  While he was there, Jim and I took the girls to see Danni.  We stopped by the Soda Shop before heading out.   We had dinner at Native New York and Brigham and Danni joined us.  The next day, we took Danni to see some the Snowflake tourist sites and saw some great places around Show Low.  She had never been to these places so it was extra fun.  We also drove to Snowflake to see the temple.  I always love seeing the temples.  We even found a soda shoppe in Taylor.  Brigham got off work early so we went to Firehouse subs for lunch and bought Angela some graduation shoes.  On the way home, we stopped by the park for some graduation pics.  It was a short tip but he needed to hurry to attend baccalaureate and pick up Josh from the airport.  

Add caption

Mesa's Soda Shop

Emmy loved the kitty

Show Low Lake

Beautiful Temple Grounds

Angela's cute shoes

We had fun - until next time

Mother's Day Weekend

Danni came down to Mesa a few days before Mother's Day.  She headed home to be with Brigham the day before Mother's Day.  It was fun to have her down for some of the festivities.  Our ward made a yummy breakfast for the sisters in the ward 18 and older.  Since Angela is 18, she was invited.  I also invited Danni and Britt.  It was a yummy breakfast and Danni and Britt felt very welcomed.  The men dressed up as waiters.  The took our orders, served us, and then cleaned up after us.  We felt spoiled.  On Mother's Day,  my family spoiled me and made me feel appreciated.  During the 3rd hour, the RS invited all the sisters for a get together with food. The ward really spoiled us women this year.

Ward Breakfast

I love being a mother to my 4 kids.  I have learned so much from them.  They have taught me patience, acceptance, understanding, and love.  They have taught me how to use a cell phone.  They participate in all the activities that I plan even if they would rather stay home. They are willing to get their pictures taken just to please their mom.  I have a great family and I am so honored to be their mom.  

My family

I love to get pics of my kids on Mother's Day

I have a great mom and mother-in-law.  They are great examples of love and sacrifice.  They love their children and are so proud of their successes.  They are great friends too.  I love them both very much and I'm grateful that they are in my life.

Tribute to my moms

Teacher Strike

The teachers in AZ went on strike.  It was frustrating, but we tried to fun things everyday to have fun.

Day 1- Josh has been spending a lot of time at ASU, so we grabbed him during some free time and went to lunch and then toured the Gilbert Temple grounds.  It was great to get away for awhile.

Day 2- We went to ASU to see Josh's project.  It was really nice for the girls to support their brother. On the way home, we stopped for Subway for dinner.  Emily was our navigator.  She got us to Subway, but there was no where to park, so we went to another location.  It was quite an adventure. 

Day 3 - Angela had a choir rehearsal.  Her choir teachers found some locations so that the students could practice for the upcoming choir concert. It was fun for Angela to see her friends again.  We also went to get some drinks at Fiiz.  It was great to go get some drinks and unwind.

Day 4 - We had lunch at Panda Express and walked around the temple grounds.  The weather was so nice and since the grounds are closing, I thought this was the perfect time to walk around them one last time with my girls.  I'm hoping for one more visit, but realistically, that might not happen.

Day 5 - We went to Riperain Preserve with the Clawsons.  We saw a lot of wildlife on our nature hike.  Our favorite was the young ducks sitting close to their mom.  We spotted lots of bunnies and of course turtles and ducks.  Another fun part at the end of the trail was looking for rocks.  Joey found a rock that was placed by someone and then the girls each found one.  The kids were getting out and tired and these rocks appeared just when they needed the energy to go on.

Day 6 - Jim had planned this day to add new suspensions on the truck.  So, in order to keep the car home in cause we needed it, we planned activities at home.  But first, we had to go to Sodalicious.  Afterwards, we made cookies from cookie dough made by the YW.  The rest of the day, we just played on the computer, phones. ...  I think my girls really liked the time to just hang at home.

 

The girls started by to school on May 4 - So in honor of Star Wars:  May the Fourth by with my kids as the start school again after the strike.  Silly, I know.  But, I just had to.

May the Fourth be with my girls

I was really unhappy about the strike and wanted to have my voice heard, but kept feeling that I shouldn't express it on social media.   I found this perfect quote that I tried to follow, especially my viewpoints on the strike. I felt that my opinion is that - my opinion.  I didn't want to offend anyone, so I chose to keep my opinion to myself.  I did share my opinions with my family and my extended family however.  My family knows how I feel and that's good enough for me.