Our Final Junior High Function :)

Madison Had her final Dance Concert at the Junior High which is always bitter sweet!  I can't believe we are almost done with Junior High :)

Madison was really excited for this concert, she has wanted to do the family dance with her dad and this was the year.  Unfortunately her dad has been out of town so much lately he was not going to be able to attend the practices.  Fortunately she has an amazing brother who was willing to go to every practice and then help teach their dad.  There was plenty of laughter during our home practices!

Here is Brett's debut  . . . He makes a mistake for which Cole tells him that the next night they perform it he (Brett) has lost his privilege of performing and Cole will be the next time.  Fortunately for Madison she was able to perform with the 2 most important men in her life!  She loved performing with both her dad and her brother.  What a great opportunity this was for her!

Madison decided to do a Tap Solo . . . My Dad was a tap dancer and he and Madison had a Connection through dance.  She decided to dedicate this number to him.

Her program note read:  Thanks to my awesome grandpa for my tapping toes!  I hope I make you proud!  I Love you Grandpa!

We are so proud of her she did a great job and I know my dad is proud of her too!!

Now it's Cole turn to perform . . .

After the dance they walked off stage, cole told Maddy thanks for the opportunity to dance with her and kissed her on the check . . . WOW what a sweet brother!

 Brett's turn at the Family Dance

 Wahoo . . . almost done

 Maddy's Friend Frog came to watch her dance 

 Ahhh - Cute!

 Funny Kids

 Maddy's Solo

 Brett giving his little girls some flowers 

I just had to get this picture  . . .  doesn't happen very often

Madison's favorite men in her life!

This one is NOT maintenance free!

Back in the summer Maddy wanted to go blonde, and she did! She had fun with it. She really liked it until the roots started to grow out.

and so it was time for a change. . . .

It is amazing how much of a difference it makes to her appearance! She is still the same fun loving girl she was as a blonde, just a little more mysterious :)

Cole is driving. . .

Well it happened. . . Cole has reached another milestone in his life. Ahh- freedom (at least that is what he thinks)

16 and driving

This whole, "here's the keys to the car son" is not an easy task. I worry the second he leave until he returns. There is so much traffic out there it's just scary!

Luckily the kids are truly loved, Grandma Ratcliffe purchased them a car. They have to share (and thankfully Maddy isn't driving yet) but we are truly blessed to have an extra vehicle for them!

Of course she is counting down until she can

Now all I do is pray :)

I have to say it has been nice to have Cole able to run errands for us and also now we don't have to run him around all the time.

Unfortunately for Cole he got rear ended on the first day of school and the car has been unavailable while being repaired so back to mom for all of the running around. Please Bless their car is done soon :)

Madison's Last Dance Concert of the year

Dance Company had their final concert this last week. They have worked hard for these nights, after school practices, late night practices and all the practice at home paid off, they did a great job! Madison has loved participating on dance co this year and is also looking forward to next year.
All of Dance Co. just before they started their final concert together.



I had the opportunity to have dressing room duty on the final night and I just have to say I loved being with the girls. I had so much fun and was amazed at how quickly these ladies change. I thought they did an amazing job and the show was even better being backstage!

Every spare minute Maddy had this was what she would be practicing. It has paid off and she almost has them.

Madison is the farthest away. I took this from backstage.

I knew the girls would cry (this being the final time performing together) however, I didn't realize how much :) It was hard for me to keep my emotions in check watching all the these ladies crying and hugging each other. So much emotion and so many touch ups of make up!

Final Band/Orchestra concerts

It was a bitter sweet week. Madison has decided not to participate in Band/Orchestra any more. She has finally figured out she is spread too thin and needed to lighten her load.

She played percussion which included: the Timpani (the kettle drums), bells, tambourine, snare drum, bass drum, the triangle, crash symbols and whatever else was back there.

Tuning up the Timpani

Since the percussion is in the back we very seldom could see her but this night we could finally see her play the timpani and we loved it. I am really going to miss listening for her part in the song!

Madison on the bells

This is the final performance with the Granite Youth Symphony.

She is behind the red bass drum. . .you can barley see her but she is there!

This was an amazing group of kids they did not sound like they were 7th, 8th and 9th graders!

Now that was a long week . . .(and so is this post)

We have had a some very busy weeks lately and I am utterly exhausted just thinking about it! Madison was heading to bed the other night when she started screaming. One of her frogs had passed on to the big lilly pad in the sky and she was quite upset. Maddy was too upset to attend the funeral which I quickly planned however, it was a nice deep sea service over the great white throne. I said a few nice words and sent "Lilly" on her way. Her brother "leaper" is now in mourning.

Our 20th wedding anniversary was upon us and we were going to celebrate.

We spent the majority of the day with our kids.

First we attended Cole's baseball game & Maddy had dance. . . because we are parents and still have to take care of them. (life still goes on even when milestones like this is there to celebrate)

Cole up to bat

he swings. . . and got a base hit. It was a beautiful day for a baseball game. I love the smell of a freshly groomed ball diamond and spending time with my family. (minus the panic attacks I have when Cole is up to bat or making a play, so I walk to the gas station for refreshments)

For the weekend we stayed at a hotel that had a slippery slide. I thought the kids would want to come down and hang out with us and swim. Only Maddy thought that would be a fun idea. She had a fun time but the place is geared a little more for the little, little kids.

Chillin in the Hot Tub

After we got rid of the kids for the evening :) Brett and I headed out to dinner and a movie. "Date Night" had been recommended to us. What a funny movie! It was a great weekend spending time with Brett as well as the kids! I am so happy to married to my best friend and glad we have been able to put up with each other for so long :) I look forward to growing old with this man!

Brett has been working out of town for the last several months and had to head back out on Sunday. So it's a busy day getting his laundry done, fixing dinner and preparing him for the week. Cole had not been feeling well either, puking quite a bit and having a major pain in his side.

Brett was headed for the warmth in Moab (yes they have an elevator)

Brett did a little four-wheeling while they were in Moab a few weeks ago - this is on top of Baby Lion's Back

So Brett was on his way to work (in a rented Penske truck) when about 2 hours later I realized he had left his wallet home. I quickly called him to inform him of the situation. Not quite sure what he was going to do, first he was driving without his license and did not have his credit card to stay at the hotel or eat. Operation "figure this out" went into effect immediately. I had to figure out how get him money and fast. . . learned about Western Union super fast and was so grateful for the nice Smith's employee who should have been closed but stayed to help me. During the time I was running around sending off money Maddy had called to tell me Cole was still puking and the pepto I had run to the store for earlier was not helping. When I got back home Cole asked me to take him to the Doctor. Now if you know Cole he is not one to ask to go see a doctor. He thinks he can handle most anything. I knew he hadn't been feeling well on and off the whole weekend but until Sunday I had just thought he had a migraine (which he gets often). He was crawling to the bathroom to puke because it hurt so bad to stand up straight. So I figured if he asked he must really not feel well. As I called to tell Brett we were headed to the ER he informed me the rented truck they were driving had broke down. Not really sure how I could have helped him and he was helpless as to how to help me either. As we were walking into the ER I realized how bad Cole looked. He was really hunched over and very peeked. They asked him 1-10 his pain level and he said an "8" I was surprised he was hurting that much. As soon as the nurse came in Cole was asking for a bucket. I have never seen so much come out of anyone, especially when I knew nothing had been going in. They immediately started with blood work and hooked him up to a IV and gave him some anti-nausea meds. He started to feel somewhat better from that. Then they started poking around on his belly and they found a spot that made him jump. The nurse came back in and told us they were waiting on the blood work to come back but that Cole was really dehydrated -no really? did you see him throwing up. I think I could have guessed that one! When the nurse came in to change his IV he let us know that Cole's levels were extremely elevated and he suspected we would be doing some sort of surgery (appendix, gall bladder) he wasn't sure, we would have to do a CT scan first.

They had him drink the special concoction so they could see what they needed to. He had a hard time getting it all down. The nurse told us if he felt like he was going to throw up they needed to come give him more anti-nausea meds. Cole thought he was going to loose it, we called the nurse and Nothing. They never came. That irritates me so much. He powered through the rest and fought the urge to budge. By the way, there is nothing on T.V. he made me watch some show about loggers and then there was really nothing else to watch except for Three's Company. After they brought him back from the CT scan we had several hours to just wait. Brett had safely made it to Moab but was only able to go about 52 MPH so the truck wouldn't keep stalling. He then began to feel helpless that I was at the hospital without him and we could possibly be looking at doing surgery and he was no where around.

When they finally came back in with the results of the CT scan they said they could not see anything that was inflamed: appendix/gall bladder so we would not be doing any surgery. Gave him some antibiotics and sent us on our way home. It was a late night/morning for us but we made it. I kept him home on Monday and we just took it easy and he was feeling much better. I sent him to school on Tuesday and about 11:00 a.m. he called and told me the pain was back. I had already been in contact with our pediatrician and had all his records transferred up to her so she would be aware of the situation. So when he called me I called them and they wanted to see him right away. She also found the spot on his side that made him jump. She had him do a jumping jack which he did and she said if it was appendicitis he would not be able to do that. She decided to run her own tests and compare to the hospitals. With all this blood work, it's a good thing he has great veins. She sent us on our way home as well. She called us later that evening with her findings. She thinks he is dealing with a kidney infection but wasn't 100% positive in that either. His levels that were high had come down which she was pleased with but he was on a major dose of antibiotics also so I am sure that is helping. Our pediatrician's husband is an internist so she had him look at his test results as well the next day and he didn't feel it was a kidney infection. So really there is not a answer as to what is wrong with him. He has not had the pain since the day I took him to the doctor and I hope to keep it that way.

It was also a crazy week with getting Madison everywhere she needed to be as well. She is such a great kid and extremely busy! My hat is off to those single mothers out there! It's a lot of work!!

Brett came home that week on Thursday. He called me at lunch time to let me know the truck had broken down and they were being towed home. Oh my- what an adventure that was for them! I wish I would have thought to have my camera ready to take a picture when I picked them up. There was this little tow truck with a big truck on the back and three men snuggled in front of the tow truck. When Brett and his coworker got in the car they both thought there were going to die, the tow truck driver was not very cautious and almost caused and accident coming down Spanish Fork canyon. Brett was very happy to be home!

Time off

I had all of last week off and had a list a mile long of thing I needed to accomplish while I had the time!

The ladies I work with have started a book group which I attended where we chose the Hunger games to be the book of chose this month. We also decided that since it is an addicting book we should just go ahead and read the 2nd book as well. I started the Hunger games and had them both read in 4 days. Good recommendations! I enjoyed the books. Looking forward to the 3rd book since I have been left hanging! I enjoy reading, it takes my mind off of all the everyday things going on in life.

I also got to be a full time mom. Which includes being a taxi cab driver, laundry and more laundry, being at the door when the kids walk in and being able to have dinner at a descent hour. We ate before 8 p.m. every night and I didn't make a quick run to the local eating establishments because I was just to tired to cook which has been know to happen from time to time.

My biggest item on my list happened to be something I am tired of doing and have been putting it off for a few months.

I painted. . . . grr what was I thinking? After finishing the basement and painting and repainting basically the whole house last year I didn't want to touch another paint brush for a while however I had one more room that really needed my attention!

Our main bathroom

I painted it yellow about 10 years ago (I wasn't going for canary yellow which is what I got). I also don't know what I was thinking back a few years ago when I also painted the ceiling yellow. What? Every time I look in the room I keep thinking just paint it for heavens sake but just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Finally with the time off it became my #1 item to accomplish. Madison wanted it the same color as her room since we had left over paint.

I think the people at Lowe's got use to seeing me every morning at 7:15 right in the middle of their morning huddle, I have never had so many associates ask if they could help me in a 10 yards radius, and then I was off to Walmart to pick up a few items without it being crowded. That is the best time to go shopping anywhere!

Before . . . . UGH!

After

I also painted my last door, and changed my last light switch out (which I did all by myself - too impatient for Brett's help and guess what? It works Yeah me)

I also transferred some tapes to CD which was interesting to listen to. One was my boss playing the piano and he was amazing, the other happened to be a program my parents ward put on years ago and my dad was the narrator. It was fun to have my dad talk to me while I painted. I tend to think of him while I paint anyhow (not sure why) but I liked it even better this time because he actually talked to me.

It was nice to have time spent with the kids and still have time for Brett and I! We even got out to a couple of movies as well.

So needless to say, I had a great week off , I got lots accomplished and felt good about it but I also have things on my list still in need of being done. Time. . . it all takes time!

They just keep growing up!

Madison went and had another birthday. I can not believe how fast she is growing up! all she wanted was a new straightener so that's what she got. Although I really like her hair when she does it curly. She has way better curly hair than I ever have!
She is such a beautiful girl! I am so proud of her.

She had a little party and one of the girls brought over Rock-Band and the girls had a blast. I even gave it a shot. They had a fun night just being together!