The hot air ballons

Early on Saturday morning Hillary and I went out to see the balloons fill up and launch. No one else wanted to get up that early - even with the promise of breakfast afterwards at the fire station. We haven't been able to do this for a couple years due to the rain - but this year was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better more beautiful day. I think the balloonists would have liked even a hint of a breeze - but for those of us on the ground it was perfect.

Most of these pictures were taken by Hillary. She has quite the eye for photography sometimes. Later this week I'll show you some more of her work.

I love that in some of them you can see the snow covered mountains in the background. I saw on the news that one of the ski resorts is open for skiing in June. Crazy times.

I wore just a jacket - but Hillary refused to put on a shirt with sleeves -so she needed her blanket.
The pink pig is always Hillary's favorite.

Hillary loves this balloon with the giant leaves on it. She took this one.

And obviously she took this one of me and the balloon.

I just love these shots - all sky and balloons.

As promised...

Here is the first of many posts to come this week - all about Art City Days which ended spectacularly last Saturday.

We started of on the 4th participating in the Nestle 5K. I only have one picture - all of us before the run. We all finished - and we all finished in under an hour. That's way better than last year and we were all proud.

That evening we went to the rodeo. It was a typical small town rodeo - not near as fancy or big as the ones in the surrounding towns - but fun still the same.

This is the cash calf competition. Basically they take a poor little cow - tape a bunch of money to it and let the kids chase it. Whatever you can get you can keep. Connor and his friend Sam did it.

See the guy in the black t-shirt sitting on the gate? Right in front of him is a tall kid in a purple shirt - that's Sam. The hair next to him is Connor:)

Here they are at the very end - empty handed:( But determined to try again next year.

I didn't get any pictures of the mutton busting - but Hillary is extremely interested in doing it next year. For those who don't know - it's pretty much little kids riding sheep around as long as they can hold on - which varies from about 1 second to 15-20 seconds. She has already informed me what exactly I will need to buy her in the way of clothing. A sparkly red shirt, white pants, blue sparkly chaps, pink cowgirl boots and a pink cowgirl hat with a tiara that fits on it. Plus after the parade - she added a horse to the list. At least she dreams big.

The Children's Parade

This week is Art City Days. Possibly the most fun week in Springville all year long. We did the Nestle 5K last weekend and it was super fun. We also went to the rodeo - that's a whole post in itself - hopefully as soon as I remember to download the pictures of the camera:) I love doing things as a family and supporting our community at the same time.

Today was the Children's Parade and Bre was kind enough to take Hillary and her friend McKinnley over because I had to work.

These two girls have become best friends since McKinnley moved in across the street a little bit ago. Hillary has a lot of friends - but none in walking distance of our house until now. And she is certainly enjoying it - they spend every moment they are home and awake together it seems.

I love it when you catch a photo that shows just how happy they are.
Hopefully there will be more posts and pictures as we gear up to attend two concerts, a magic show, the hot air balloon festival, the fireman's breakfast, the parade, the craft fair and anything else we can squeeze in in the next 36 hours. Should be good times:)

A week of milestones - big and small

So the last week or so has been kind of traumatic for me as mother. Sure I've been proud. But it's hard to watch your babies grow up and it's weeks like this that remind you it's happening faster than you'd like. So we'll start at the bottom of the stack.

Hillary graduated from Kindergarten.

It seems every grade has a "graduation" these days. It's really just a chance to sing for the parents and give certificates out. They sang animal songs and she was great. I was able to sneak away from work and be there - but I got there just as they were starting so I had a crappy seat in the back. Luckily the little boy on her left was pretty naughty so he was always leaning over or something so I could see her most of the time:)

He in her little hat.

Connor graduated from 6th grade.
This was their official sixth grade program and they did all disney songs. It's was great and for the first time - Connor actually sung most of the songs (not the girl ones - yuck!).

Unfortuanately he's short and they foolishly put him in the back so I couldn't see him most of the time - except his little head when everyone was lined up right. But he did a good job.

This was after he got his certificate and sat down between two girls who kept poking him in the stomach so he would laugh.

Cute graduation pictures huh? They didn't do that when Bre was there.

This is Connor and his friend Christopher.

Breanna finished out the school year strong with pretty good grades. But her biggest accomplishment is that she graduated from a lerners permit to an Official Driver's License yesterday. She only got docked one point on her test and you are allowed to lose 21 so she did really well. The best part....I no longer have to make my own diet Coke runs - she does it for me:) And it will make the summer so great - she can take the kids out to do stuff while I work - sad for me - great for them.

And for those of you keeping tabs - my clot is almost all gone. They will do another CT scan next month and hopefully it will be all gone and they can move forward with taking my gall bladder out. My favorite GI doctor - Dr. Beisinger - is participating in a Race Across America next month. They are biking from CA to MD. Insane - I know. So if you get a chance to cheer them on anywhere - please do so. He is part of Team Donate Life - Liverators.

Not one of mine - but cute just the same

Since I have failed to take any pictures of my kids lately and have been wanting to post - you get my nephew Tasman. He plays t-ball. He seems very serious about it - but I think he is serious about most things in life. It's just how he is. It makes him even cuter.

His mom says he did awesome at his game - getting hits of the T and off the pitcher. So Go Tasman!! I so wish we were close enough to come to your games.

PS - If I suddenly received pictures of my other nephews or nieces in my inbox - I'd be super excited and probably post about them too:)

I am writing this post from my hospital bed. Yes I realize it says something that I have to be hospitalized to have time to post - but it is what it is. Anyway - I was just reading a blog I'm fairly new to and came across a post I felt it was important to link to. So Head over to Telling Dad and read this post. Continue to go back if you're so inclined as most days he's pretty funny. But even if you don't go back, take time to read this particular post. Then take time for your kids. It's quite possibly the most important thing you'll ever do. I know my kids are the very most important thing in my life. They are the reason I get up every day and do what I do. And I hope they know that. I have three rugrats ranging from 5 to 16 years old, and most day's I'm not sure they even like me - but I hope they realize I will always love them no matter what. And that every time I get knocked down they are the reason I get back up. I love you guys. --Mom

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I hope you wore green to avoid getting pinched!