Midvale Elementary

I went to Midvale Elementary when I was a child. It was a great school and I had some wonderful teachers. I met a lot of my friends there that I'm still friends with today. They're tearing down Midvale Elementary to building a new one a block away. So they had an open house to celebrate the school. My friend Jessie and I went. We've been friends since first grade. In fact, this is the room we met in. Our teacher was Mrs. Kemp.

This is the inside of the classroom.

This is outside the classroom. Everything seems so small now. I remember feeling so overwhelmed at the size of the school when I was little.

This is the first stage I ever performed on. We had a program every year. There was even one year when Margo Watson came and led a special choir of students from every grade for a special concert. I was in the choir (pretty much anyone who wanted to be in it was in it) and my mom played the piano for it. Such memories!!

Agent P loves the stage!! Here he is performing on the same stage as him mom did many years ago.

A Day with Thomas the Train

I'm very behind on my blogging. So please bare with me while I post 5 or 6 posts today.

A few months ago we took Agent P to the Heber Valley Railroad for A Day Out with Thomas the Train. He really loves trains or "choo choo's" as he calls them. So Hutch and I, my parents and Hutch's mom all went to ride Thomas the Train.

Here's Agent P and I in front of the train poster.

P's favorite part was riding on the train. He got very impatient waiting for it to arrive.

Waiting with Grandpa to be able to get on the train. You can tell by Agent P's face that he does not like waiting.

Looking out the train window. (side note, yes my child is on a leash. Don't judge. You would too if you saw how fast he runs.)

So excited to be riding on the train!!!

Looking at everyone outside the train.

There were many activities for kids. Right after the train was a hay maze that he loved running through. This is P playing with bubbles. He LOVES bubbles. He also got a train temporary tattoo that you can see on his arm. He loved showing it off to everyone.

Afterwards we went to an ice cream shop that has a train going around the ceiling and this train outside. He thought it was fun to climb all over it.

Playing with Grandpa again. They are buddies. It's usually the two of them against the rest of us. :)

Cookie Monster

This is Agent P's theme song. I love this re-make of "Call Me Maybe". Agent P is our own little Cookie Monster. He's so adorable when asks for one that you can't help but give him as many cookies as he wants. (I think he knows he's that cute).

50 Shades of Magic Mike

I came across this blog by Melissa Jenna talking about the book 50 Shakes of Grey and the movie Magic Mike. She is a Christian and she points out that these two things are inappropriate. Please read her blog. I do agree with her. I've never had the desire to read that book or watch that movie so it's nice to see that there are others out there that feel the same way.
 http://melissajenna.com/2012/06/30/50-shades-of-magic-mike-in-which-i-am-very-uncool/

"It is our responsibility, as daughters of the Heavenly King, to remain set-apart from the poisons of our culture, to rebuke temptation, and to celebrate and honor righteousness."

Water Fest

I've been trying to eat healthier, exercise, etc. I'm trying to make my life better. In doing so, I've realized that I need to increase my water in-take. I do drink a lot of water at work but I know it's not nearly as much as I should be drinking. I found an idea on pinterest on how to make sure I get a good amount of water. To guarentee I get at least 2 liters of water while at work, I have a 1 liter water bottle (I purchased this years ago I think at Target or Shopko or Harmons) that I marked times I should be done drinking certain amounts of water.

As you can see, this first side shows how much water I should drink by 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and I should be done with the bottle by noon.

On the other side, it shows how much I should be done by 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and finish the bottle by 5 p.m.

This is the first day I've done this and I already feel the difference; and not just from the amount of times I've used the restroom. :) I'm more alert, have more energy and I'm not snacking as much as before. I think this water thing is going to be a good thing.

Fun Visitor

Today I had some fun visitors come to my office for lunch! Hutch and Agent P stopped by. Since there are only three of us in my office now, P had a lot of fun running throughout the empty offices.

Here he is drawing on the white board in one of the offices.

He found the "Twinkie Box". He loved to take the lid on and off. He acted surprised the first few times he opened it, then it became "peek-a-boo" with the treats.

He wanted to look out the window so he found a spot where he could lay down and watch the cars.

Answering phones...

doing my work...he's hired!!!

It's always fun to play with Hutch and Agent P, even if it's only for an hour on my lunch break.

Mothers

I'm currently reading a book called "We're Just Like You Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle." It's hilarious! I'm laughing out loud through the whole book. Then I hit a chapter about mothers day. She (the author-Celia Rivenbark) talks about making her mother an ashtray in school for mother's day, then the next year making a piece of art out of a paper plate and macaroni. She talks about how as an adult she is usually rushing at the last minute to get gifts for her mother and mother-in-law and she sees her 4 year old daughter spend weeks working on an art project made out of rocks, feathers and colored paper that she puts her heart into. She talks about how she needs to go back to the macaroni magic. She states,

"So the macaroni magic will not be craft induced for me. Maybe not for you either. It can be simply sitting and talking under the sycamore tree in the backyard of the home you grew up in.
On day, it will be my daughter who will be scowling in line at the gift-wrap counter, and she will have long forgotten a sunny May afternoon when she was four and so excited about her Mother's Day project that she couldn't even sleep the night before.
That's life. I know it. And I know something more: that on those long days when we in the sandwich generation feel squeezed and spent and are tempted to grouse about being either mother or daughter, we should be fall-on-our-knees grateful for both.
Because the trush is simple. Our time is fleeting and dear. As a good friend explained it, one day it is our mother who is buying us the Chatty Cathy that we begged for; the next, or so it seems, we find ourselves taking a baby doll as a gift to a mother in the nursing home. It has always struck me that women in nursing home beds almost always have baby dolls in their rooms. I suspect it is because they remind them of the happiest time of their lives. I know it is mine.
One day, in a hospital room somewhere, you will hold a hand that you can't even recognize anymore. It may be thin and dry and tiny, the rings way too big even with the guards you bought for her at the jewelry store.
Look closer and you'll recognize the hand that pushed you in the swing, the one that felt your burning forehead when you were sick, the one that stroked your hair the first time you had your heart broken and cried for a solid three hours.
For all of you mothers, for all of you who want to be mothers, for all of you "other mothers" who nurture children not your own, may you have a lifetime of Mother's Days filled with your own brand of macaroni magic. I plan to."

I sit here with tears streaming down my cheeks thinking about all of the mothers I've had in my life. I'm so grateful for each and everyone of them. They have made me who I am today. I'm most especially grateful for my own mother. She has spent the last 32 years telling me I'm beauitful, I'm talented and I'm loved over and over again. And even though there are times when I don't believe it or feel I deserve it, I love hearing it from her because I know she truely means it. Mom, I love you with all my heart and words can't express how much you mean to me and how thankful I am to our Heavenly Father that I have you. I hope that you never forget that and that you never forget that I'm always here for you with any help you may need; no matter how small or large. You are my first best friend, my first confidate, my first example. I'm truely who I am today because of you. I hope to bring the macaroni magic back into your life.