Nate's First Paid Job!!

Well, it's kind of a job, but It was paid by me... LOL...

Nate's been begging for a couple years now to mow the lawn to earn money. The weather has FINALLY stopped raining, and we're able to mow the lawn. Charley taught him how. The downside is that our lawnmower isn't self propelled, and our front yard is sloped so Nate had a really hard time pushing it up the hills. I think he now knows why I DISLIKE mowing the lawn!! Believe me, if I would've thought he could handle the lawnmower & the hills earlier, the job would have been his!

Fortunately, the back yard is nice and flat. Rectangle shaped with no obstructions to mow around. (Now that the giant swing set is in Idaho). So, he was able to mow the back lawn and earn a few extra dollars. I had to take a picture though, just because he looked so grown up doing it.

Friday the 13th!

So I have never been a firm believer of bad luck on Friday the 13th. I changed my mind today.

Driving to work for some reason I took a different route to work. I went up Bangerter. One light up I see a motorcycle cop pulling out behind me.

"Uh-OH!" I start thinking to myself. Ok, I wasn't speeding. My seat belt is on. I'm not texting. My plates aren't expired. What on earth am I getting pulled over for? As he directs me to pull over to the LEFT up ahead, there's already 5 cars and 5 more motorcycle cops. He walks right up to me and says "The reason I pulled you over is because you were speeding"

Now, I know they probably get this all the time, but I was shocked!! I never speed! LOL. In fact when I called Charley to tell him that I got a speeding ticket, he laughed. And said, "You don't even go 65 on the freeway!" No kidding. I wasn't in a hurry, I didn't pass anyone. I really think he was up in the night.

But, needless to say... I'm 36 years old, and I got my first speeding ticket today.

Why oh Why...

... is it so hard to blog?? I'm stumped. Believe it or not, I love to blog. I love to read them and I love to update. But for some reason, I'm averaging about 6 months between posts!! I think what happens is I just get so behind that I just get overwhelmed. So here's my attempt to get back on the blogging train.

It's Mother's day. Every time Mother's day comes around, I feel so honored and grateful to be a mom. I am a mom to a wonderful 11 year old boy. I really thought I would have more children. I didn't want to stop after one child. Apparently Heavenly Father had other plans in store for me. When I divorced, I thought my dreams of more children were over. I have since been blessed with two beautiful step daughters. Although I have no idea if more children are in store for me, I am grateful for what I have. A family who adores me.

I have had a wonderful day. Time spent with family. At church I watched as Nate sang with the primary for the last time on Mother's Day. Yes, I practically had to push him out off his seat to go up there, but when I asked him to go up and sing for me the last time, he did it. And he did a great job. It seems like just yesterday I was so excited to watch him sing on Mother's day for the very FIRST time!! Watching him, I realize that he is the reason I strive to be a better mom every day. He needs me and depends on me, and even though he may not realize, he motivates me to be a better person.

Nate's Recital

It's that time of year again- Spring Recital!

Nate participated in his 3rd recital. I remember back to his first recital. He had only been taking piano lessons for 6 weeks. It's amazing what they learn in a couple of years!! I even watched his this year's recital vs. last years, and can really see the improvement a year makes.

This year's recital was at Riverton music again. Nate's had a lot of support from family. Charley and I were there as well as Dave, Dayna, Dayna's 3 kids, Grandpa R, and Grandpa M.

He looked so handsome, and he did awesome!!

Birthday Weekend...

36. Not a milestone birthday, but I did have a wonderful one. My actual birthday was on Monday, so it was more like a weekend of celebrating.

Friday started with these. Charley ordered them to be delivered on my birthday, but I guess the place messed up and delivered them early. Either way, they sure were yummy!!

Friday night we were able to go to the Grizzlies Hockey game. We bought these "Pass of all Passes" from Groupon. They are season passes to Raging waters, select Real Salt Lake games, Select Hockey games, Season passes to the Blaze (indoor arena football), Rocky Mountain Raceway passes... and some other fun things. All for $39 a person. It was such a great deal.

Anyway, back to the game. Michelle's family went with us and she had an extra ticket so we were able to bring Tyler. They boys had so much fun. They made a poster for one of the radio DJ's that was there in the luxury suite. They were trying to get an invite! The other side of the poster said "The guy behind me can't see" Which was such a true statement! Who wouldn't invite these cute boys to the suite?? Well, no invite, but they sure had fun trying!

They had this Quick Cash place there doing a "Spin the wheel" promo. You got to spin the wheel and if it landed on "BOX" then you got to choose one of the 8 boxes. 1 of the boxes had a ring in it, the other 7 were empty. Charley spun the wheel and won a marquis diamond ring. Then Nate goes and spins... lands on box, and can you believe he chose the correct box too? He also won a ring. Me, what did I win? Oh-- $5 of my next cash loan. Guess I'm not as lucky! We actually took the rings to the cash store the next day and sold them for cash. Nate is going to use the $30 they gave us for his ring to buy a DS game.

Saturday was the George Strait/Reba concert. I was SO excited for this!!! A friend at work, her mom works for Larry Miller and was able to get us presale tickets-- so in other words we had awesome seats. I have been waiting for this concert for so long. When I found out that they were coming to Salt Lake the weekend of my birthday, I told Charley that was all I wanted for my present. So like a good husband, he took me :)

The concert was awesome!! It was over 4 hours long. With two HUGE stars, how could it not be though. Reba came out first. She was beautiful as always. George closed it out. But as I always say, it's a good thing he sings well, because he's not so entertaining. He doesn't get into it much. We actually left during his encore because it was 11:30 and we were starving. And on the way home, it was a blizzard.

When we got home, our car looked like this:

And yes, that was on April 2nd. What a crazy spring we are having!!

Sunday was conference. Have to admit, it's my favorite Sunday of the year. I love being able to lounge around and watch conference on TV. And, it's always the weekend of my birthday. So, if my birthday is ever on a Sunday, I don't have to get up and get ready! I get to relax all day!

And Monday-- finally after a weekend of celebrating, the day had arrived. I did have to go into work at 6 AM which was not so fun. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a morning person. But when I arrived at work, this is what greeted me:

Going in early does have it's benefits. I did get to leave at noon! I went and met my family (Mom & Dad, Erin & boys, Tyler & Bryan, Michelle & Kelly and Charley) for lunch at Applebees. It was so nice to be off work early, and visit. No rush to be anywhere. After that, I went home to relax. Soon after, a knock at the door-- It was Heather & family bringing me yummy cupcakes:

Aren't the Mickey sprinkles adorable?? And Rocky Road Ice cream. Boy, do they know me, or what?? After they left, I met some friends (Stacey, Denise, Carlos, Christian, Ellie & Janine for dinner at Mandarin. Love that place. But it's kind of pricey and far, so we don't get there often. About once a year on my birthday!! LOL.

So, as you can see, I had a wonderful birthday & weekend. So much packed into it, filled with my wonderful family and great friends. Thank you to everyone who sent me cards, called me, text me, and sent FB messages. You all truly made my day brighter!