Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Find a Horn...

Jake left his french horn at the UVU McKay Events Center yesterday after his graduation.

He remembered in a slight panic during his celebratory barbeque.

He was afraid to tell his parents so he told his Aunt Cristina and Uncle Jonathan.

His uncle told me and we concocted a plan to try and get it back before Lee found out.

(Lee was on such a high with Jake's big day and seeing old friends I didn't want to upset him.)

Well, Cristina and Jonathan went to UVU to check things out.

It was no where to be found.

Timpview High School's graduation was going on at the time so they couldn't check the stage area so they left their name and number with security and came back to the party.

Later, after the THS graduation was over, I took Elisabeth, Jake, and Scott to UVU to look some more.

I dropped off Jake and Scott and Elisabeth and I went to the offices at the McKay Events center.

They informed me the horn was found and that they already called Jonathan and he had it.

Whew!!!

So, we went out amongst the sea of Timpview families looking for Jake and Scott.

We found them finally and headed for the car.

Scott found his friend Jose and he and Jake went ahead a little bit.

I then hear them yelling to me,

"Mommy! Mommy! Look!"

I start looking around, a little confused, and they said,

"Look! Donny Osmond!"

And there HE was!

Donny!

About 10-15 feet way!

I was stunned.

I stood there with my hand over my heart with the stupidest look on my face.

I said to Elisabeth,

"Should I go up to him? No, I look like hell! Crap! And I don't have a camera!"

So, I stood there, looking like a complete idiot I'm sure.

Elisabeth said that it would be kind of weird since I didn't have a camera.

So, I stood there, hand over heart, with a goofy smile on my face until he got into his car and drove away.

So, technically,

I saw him.

Didn't actually meet him, but I saw him.

He was shorter than I would have thought but he looked so good!

Very handsome!

I told Scott that he'll be transferring to Timpview next year so I can run into Donny again sometime.

He didn't go for that.

Dangit!

Simply Amazing.

Here is a condensed version of Jake's speech he gave at the PHS graduation yesterday.

Way to go Jake!

You are amazing!!!

Catch Up Post

To say things have been crazy lately would be a total understatement!

I haven't kept up on my poor little blog because, well,

something had to give.

Here's some of what's been happening (in a big, long nutshell)...

We had Jake's Seminary Graduation.

(It looks like Lee and I are standing in holes. And I had heels on! When did these kids grow so much?)

Way to go Jake!

***

We also went to Emma's preschool graduation at Center Stage.

It was awesome.

If you're looking for a preschool, this one is excellent.

Emma has learned and grown so much since attending here.

I can't thank them enough for all they've done.

Look at those cute cap and gowns!

That same day Emma received her orange belt in karate...

(Just so you know,

she "knows how to fight, but chooses not to!")

and she was Dorthy in her dance program.

She was such a cute Dorthy!

***

Emma turned 5 on Saturday!

We had a family picnic at Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove.

(I'll write another post about this fun day!)

***

We made tin foil boats in preschool.

And guessed what would float or sink...

I love preschoolers!

***

On Memorial Day, we went to Fort Williams Cemetery to visit my Grandparents' grave with Grammy and Papa.

Doesn't my dad look good? He's still struggling, but things are looking up!

It was a good outing.

(even though Scott and Cole don't look like it!)

Max was very interested in hearing about my grandfather's service in the Navy.

It was great spending time remembering both of my grandparents.

***

We went to Jake's Senior Awards night.

It's amazing the things these kids are accomplishing!

PHS is such a great school.

This class received over $2 million in scholarships so far. There's even more coming in.

Pretty amazing!

More fun to come...

18 Already?

Happy 18th Birthday Jake!!!

I know you don't like a lot of attention brought to you

but indulge me on this special day.

(It's the least you can do after what I went through 18 years ago! You know, bringing you into the world and all...)

I could not be more proud of this boy!

Here is 18 things I love about the amazing Jake...

1) He is a looker. I wish I could put up my favorite picture of him but I promised I would never post it online even though it is awesome! If you're ever at my house, it's on the piano, framed.

2) He is funny -- hilariously funny.

3) He is super duper intelligent. (I know what you're thinking, but no, he doesn't get it from me!)

4) He plays a mean french horn.

5) He knows what he wants and isn't afraid of working for it.

6) He worked his butt off to be one of only six students to finish the IB program at PHS this year.

7) He was asked to try out to speak at his graduation and was chosen! Yes, he'll be delivering an incredible speech Friday.

8) He shares a birthday with the late John Wayne.

9) He loves mountain biking. He and his friends started the cycling club at school.

10) He finished in the top ten of his class.

11) He is strong.

12) He is wise.

13) He is a great example to his younger brothers and sister.

14) He is a good golfer.

15) He keeps his room neat and tidy 95% of the time.

16) I think it's really funny how he hates (HATES) butter on his hands.

17) He loves ping pong.

18) He has an incredible singing voice (even though he doesn't think so!)

I feel so blessed to be his mom.

I can't wait to see the amazing things he'll be accomplishing in the years to come!

I love you Jake!

Happy Birthday!!!!

Cheapness Strikes Again

Yes, being cheap doesn't always save you money.

I designed Jake's graduation announcements and placed an order to have them printed through an online printer.

Long story short...

They turned out CRAPPY!

It looked like they grabbed some old cardstock and printed it out on a cheap home printer.

I was so disappointed and

not looking forward to Lee's "I told you so!"

(He didn't think it was a good idea to order them online).

Since it's only two weeks to graduation,

I needed announcements.

I decided I'd start from scratch so I redesigned them and went to trusty Sam's Club and they were able to produce something presentable.

Jake liked how they turned out so that's all that matters.

One less thing to worry about.

P.S. I am getting a refund for the crappy announcements--minus the shipping and handling of course! So, I'm out $14.95.

Yeah, being cheap doesn't always pay off!

It's time...

You know it's time to do something about your weight when...

1) You're watching "Biggest Loser" and your 4-year-old says, "Mommy, you should go there!"

Thanks.

2) You buy a pair of non-stretch jeans and can't handle wearing them for more than a couple hours.

3) You tell your husband that you did one of those stupid Name Generator things on Facebook to find your Barbie name and when it comes back as Sumo Barbie your husband laughs and asks you how they knew and did I have to enter my weight. I'm still mad at him.

4) You're watching the "Biggest Loser" finale and your 16-year-old is disgusted on how much these people weighed and then you realize, you weigh more!

5) You realize that your stomach is bigger than your butt! Yikes!

Yeah, it's time.

So, this summer will be dedicated to living a more healthier, active life. Hopefully, along the way, I can drop a few pounds.

It's time.

The Garden - Part Two

The time has come to start planting our garden.

We were told by a nice man at the nursery that we could plant seeds as long as they don't sprout (or germinate?) until May 15th.

I'm trusting him because

we haven't a clue what we're doing.

First off, you can't have a garden (in my book) without markers.

I was trying to figure out a way to do this when I remembered a craft I saw recently where this lady made candle holders out of recycled old cd covers.

I thought that would be a great idea since we have a bazillion of them hanging around our house.

Emma and Max helped make them out of construction paper and we taped them shut with packer's tape.

And there you have it!

They are colorful and cute if I do say so myself!

Then we planted our little seeds.

Max has really gotten into this gardening thing.

He waters it every day without fail!

Crossing my fingers he'll still be into it when the weeds start coming.

Cole wanted proof that he's been helping too.

So he jumped into this picture.

What a ham.

Little did he know I already got one of him working hard getting the pumpkin patch ready.

We need to get more fertilizer before we can plant the melons and pumpkins and we're waiting a little longer to plant our tomatoes and peppers (those will be from plants) but it's coming along! We can't decide what to put in between the squares of the garden. We were thinking just sod or maybe pavers. I don't know yet. As you can tell we still have a lot of work in our yard but

one step at a time!

Now, this is where the faith comes in.

I can't wait to taste those yummy veggies!

Jake's Prom

I think I've learned something about teenagers...

They do things on their own time.

Nagging really doesn't help.

I've been bugging Jake for months now --

"You WILL be going to prom this year!"

"Who are you asking?"

"Oh yes you are going to prom!"

"It IS a big deal!"

I didn't think he was going to do it and I was sad he'd miss out on yet another high school experience.

Well, out of the blue, when Elisabeth was home for Easter, he enlisted her help in asking a girl to prom.

He asked in such a funny way!

You know the Dixie Chicks song "Some Days You Gotta Dance"?

He dubbed his voice into the song so it went like this...

"Some days you gotta dance [WITH JAKE]

Live it up when you get the chance [WITH JAKE].

When the world doesn't make no sense.

And you're feeling just little too tense.

You gotta loosen up those chains and dance [WITH JAKE]."

And then at the end when there's some instrumental part, he said,

"Come to prom, with Jake -- Jake H."

You can imagine how funny it was if you've ever heard his deep monotone voice.

It was great!

She answered back with George Strait's song "Check Yes or No".

(Obviously she checked "yes"!)

It was interesting getting him ready.

He didn't want to wear a tux.

He's so not a flashy kind of guy and just didn't want to.

He didn't understand why his black suit wasn't good enough.

He's right. I mean, why waste money on renting a suit when you have one.

I did rent him a tux shirt and a bow tie (a bargain at $15) and honestly, it didn't look bad. I doubt anyone even noticed it wasn't a tux.

They had a great time and I know he's happy he went.

Provo High has a tradition where they have a Promenade. Lee, Max, and I went. It was fun to see all the couples all dressed up!

Jake really didn't like that part (you know, the whole drawing attention to him thing) but he did it.

Aren't they cute?

Jorgena looked beautiful.

She's such a nice girl! I'm glad Jake asked her (finally!).

I went looking for him after he walked and I found him with Jorgena's parents taking pictures. He didn't know I was there and I watched him for a second.

It was so fun seeing how he acts around a date and her parents.

He was charming and so respectful!

That was good to see!

It's hard to believe my little boy is all grown up.

Time does fly!