Celebration Time, Come on! Celebration Time, Come on!

Yeeeaaaaa! Minnie made it! She graduated from High School and Myles and I just could not be more proud or excited for her. Congratulations Minnie, and welcome to the rest of your life  :)

We had a lot of fun planning the graduation party, we spent months getting things together and planning the decorations, dinner and cake. At least I had a lot of fun. Party planning is so totally my thing, I think that the planning is far more better than the actual party and this party was pretty AWESOME!

I was lucky enough to find green and white
at the $ store, so I could decorate and
be thrifty!

It was very green inside!

Thanks to the wind we had to keep our
decorating inside, still we had balloons
confetti, streamers and banners,
the works!

Minnie spent a lot of time not doing her collages, you know how it is, she is a procrastinator, always has been. Anyways, she didn't get her last one quite finished, that's OK, they turned out pretty good.

This collage begins at 0 and goes to age 1

These are the middle years

Some of her High School Career

Thanks to the wind our yard sign was moved indoors.

Natasha aided me with her time and talents by putting the tables and centerpieces together. Shes so awesome!

She takes a lot of her own pictures, this is one of my faves

I loved her graduation outfit! She looked great!

We spent a lot of time planning her cake and a lot of time finding the pictures to put on the cake. She wanted to have a picture of the first day of school for every year of her educational career. It was quite the task to accomplish this as my pictures are not all organized yet (I really don't know why ;}Hmmmm) I think that the cake overall turned out pretty good. I however, being the way that I am, could not bear to cut into my masterpiece for 2 days after her graduation. I used ALOT of chocolate frosting on the inside of the cake because I don't like decorators icing,  it was super super yummy!!!

I tried to get pictures of all sides so that we could see all of the pictures. We used the first day of school picture of her senior year for the topper on the cake. If I do a cake like this again, I will need to make all of the pictures the same size and shape so that the cake will be more uniform. It will look much better then, but hindsight is always more accurate information than foresight!

Now about the BBQ, We had a great time visiting with family and friends, cooking and eating. I was going to get a picture of the table full of food but everyone dug in before I had the chance! Which, hey, that s OK, I wanted everyone to have a good time and leave full! By the way, I could not have pulled this off with out the help of my amazing husband Myles, my awesome girls and boy, my loving devoted family and my wonderful sensational friends. Thank you thank you thank you one and all. They helped cook, clean, decorate, prepare food ect ect. They did it all while I decorated a cake. By the way, just so that you know, its really hard to have a graduation and do all of the end of year activities with your school kids, almost down right impossible I might add!

Little Jakey

The wind calmed down enough to hang out on the patio

Brad, Bella with Donna, Allie, Maria, Lilly

Tiffany, the kids had a good time playing on the swing set and
out in the field doing those things that kids do.

Clayton chowing down with his cat Midnight.

Chell Bell hanging out with grandma (not pictured)

Grandma hanging out with Chelsea (not pictured)

Kamie, Joely, and Kayla

The kids and I filling out grad cards for our friends, of course
we left them at home and they're still here, OOPS!

Natasha being Tasha, Beautiful isn't she????

Lauren and her sweet boy Ryder

Joely helping out with Allen

Allen likes climbing in and out of the doggie door, Cheap entertainment!

Minnie's friend Tori Barger who moved away to Idaho, she graduated
this year also.

Heather and Tyson

Brad and Kathryn

Scooters and pogo sticks......

Clayton, Luke and Eric on the swing set

Eric

Just swinging around

Donna

My brother Stacey and his youngest boy Korbin

Myles, just hanging out

I decorated Minnie's car PutPut with some window marker!

Going to get her diploma!

Here we are at the Graduation Ceremony. For as many kids as there are in the class, the graduation actually didn't take all that long, well, except for that one speaker........

Natasha White a friend from LES, they practically lived at each others homes!

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It was sooooo exciting to watch our baby walk by in her Graduation gown to her seat.

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2 Helicopters from base flew over us during the National Anthem

After listening to all of the windy speakers are kids were finally able to  receive their diplomas.

Zack, they moved so darn fast it was really hard for us to get a good shot. :(

The shaking of the hands

and then the hand off of the diploma and an award winning smile while posing for the camera.
Isn't she just so darn cute!

Natalie and Kerry sat with us in the main seating with mom and dad and Myles and I

Everyone else sat in the nosebleed section. Actually they didn't even get seats :( sorry guys, You're pretty good sports!

Proud parents with our magnificent daughter.

Daddy and Daughter, they were buds from the get go.

Its a mother daughter moment as well.

We're proud of you both.

Most of the gang!

We let the little kids stay home and babysit the even littler kids so that mom and dad could have some peace during the graduation, which I'm so glad that we did things that way, except for this moment, most of the family is missing. :( Its kind of an empty picture but still full of joy and pride!

Kamie and her girls

Grandma and Grandpa with their 2nd grandchild graduate!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for everything, we love and appreciate all that you are and do for our family!

Well, that's pretty much it for the night. Some people left early so we couldn't get photos of them with Minnie. Minnie headed off to her Grad Night and the rest of us headed home for a visit and then off to bed, after all, not everyone can stay up all night partying!!!!!

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Chelsea; Officially a Teenager

Chelsea is now 13 and growing up into quite the girl. She doesn't belch nearly as loudly nor as often as she used to and she's began dressing herself up a lot more. Naturally she doesn't need make up and fancy hair to look beautiful but as young ladies grow up they tend to beautify themselves up even more, accenting their natural beauty with some color and hairdos. Chelsea, besides being one of the fabulous cooks in the house and a natural with her little brothers is just awesome! She is learning to play the violin, still playing soccer and a top student with her grades and attendance. She makes a mother and father proud to call her daughter. Chelsea has bragging rights on the soccer field as not only being a great player but also as being the one in the family to get us all started in this great, fun, busy and competive sport, she's the soccer pioneer that turned us all into a Soccer family!

She went to Girls camp as a 2nd year this summer and had a blast at Mammoth Lakes. She enoys going to the temple with the youth, which is a choice that really makes me proud.All in all, shes's an awesome girl, her parents are proud of her and appreciate her sweet spirit, her company, and her sense of humor. We love you pink monster, you'll always be in our hearts!The only part of Chel Bell's cake that turned out well was the inside and the peace sign on the top. I was very disappointed with my tie dye as it didn't turn out at all and the purple just turned everything a muddy brown :(. I'm so sorry Chelsea, I wanted it to be awesome for you and it wasn't. ;{

Natasha; of driving age and seeking employment.

Natasha turned the BIG 16! This is so totally a big deal because she can get her driving license and a job! :)

Ta Ta continues to be my miracle cleaner and organizer, I don't know where she gets her skills from but they sure come in handy, I appreciate knowing that I can ask her to clean and muck through a section of the house and she will have it all done, organized and in tip top shape all in a matter of minutes, shes awesome. Of course her organizing abilities are not the only thing that we love about our Sashee girl, she is kind and generous with her siblings, friends and her parents. She works hard in shool and keeps her grades good, (they'd be even better in a few of her classes if she could convince her teachers to love her as much as we do! (:  ) She shares her earnings with her siblings, which really makes us laugh because she would rather go out and spend her hard earned money on lunch for everyone rather than cook it at home!!!!

We appreciate her willingness to serve and take care of those around her. We love her smile, and adore her ability to have fun.

Natasha went to Girls camp this year as a Junior leader and I was bursting at the seams with all of the praise given me by her leaders, they were so impressed and proud of her, she did a great job and she enjoyed doing it, what can we say, Sashee's just a totally awesome daughter.I had a lot of fun decorating her cake, we used a yummy whipped frosting and put premade little purple flowers all over a sqare cake, it turned out just like I had visioned. I loved it!

Minnie, Zack, Prom

Prom was so exciting!!!!! First off I loved shopping for a dress with Minnie, she has such a good sense of style and what to wear to flatter her and what NOT to wear, thats an important thing to know! Except for the fact the the little boys were with us and were very tired and hungry and mostly tired, we had fun.

On top of that the prom couple decided that it would be a great idea to have their dinner with both sets of parents as Zacks house, he wanted to cook for us.

Isn't she Goregous!

It was awesome! Plus it saved them from having to drive all around showing each other off to their parents before prom, we were all right there with our cameras driving the teenagers crazy, as is our right.

 Plus we got to hear the story of  how Zack was so particular about his tux, he made sure that his tie matched Minnies dress, and then, when he was getting Minnie's corsage for her, he asked the clerk to see the ribbon so that he could make sure that the ribbon matched her dress exactly. Thats just so sweet! :)

We all watched as the boys held the doors for their girls and then, waving and smiling they all loaded up and drove off into the night for an evening of laughter, dancing and no curfew. Thats what you get when your parents know that you will make good choices! They reported the next morning, well it was actually afternoon, that they had a great time, they danced, they laughed, they didn't look at the decorations or even take notice that there were any, had their official prom picture taken, ate hor d vors and came home at a decent hour. All in all I think that is was a very successful evening and just as exciting for mom and dad, who were sending their first daughter off to prom, as it was for the couple going.

pictures to post soon

Madison; 11 in 2010

Maddie, Maddie, Maddie, Where would I be with out you? My helper at all times of the day, my back massager, my little sweetie, you are the best! I love your smile, I love your littleness, I love your achievments and all of the hard work you do to accomplish the things that you do.

I was so impressed with you for setting a goal to be on A honor roll all year long and for achieving that goal. You are an awesome sister to your little brothers and to your sisters and a great daughter to your parents. You are a good friend to your friends and that is very important. We all love you Maddie Marie. Happy Eleventh!

After all of the presents were opened Clayton threw his arms out and says loudly "What, No more presents!"Kylee and Chelsea decided to be smoking goofs, Kylee actually got burned from the wax.

Minnie's Prom Collage

This free picture collage created with Smilebox

The Big Pig Fight

I hope that I didn't get your hopes up with the title, I don't have any pictures of a pig fight. :{ Sorry, we were all way toooooo busy watching it to take any pictures :) ! At out Reno show, NJLS we missed Grand by a pig fight! Madison's pig was involved in a huge fight that took 3 men with boards (thats what they break up fights with) and several minutes to get the situation under control. The average fight is about 30 seconds, this one was several minutes! Needless to say Madison was penned and given 2nd place which was good. The Reno show is a lot harder to win, even though we did get Grand there last year with Minnie and her pig Winston!!!! Not to sound all country on you but Myles spoke to the judge later and he said that he liked Madison's pig a lot better than the 1st place pig but he couldn't risk having that pig back in the ring for the final drive sooooo, we may have missed a 2nd grand but oh well, that just how the ball bounces. Disappointing but alright.

Any how, Minnie received a 2nd in class, Natasha, 3rd in class, Kylee 1st in class, Madison 2nd, Chelsea ? and Lindy ? . During Showmanship We did horrible. Kylee's pig was fighting this time and she was just sent from the ring and then excused right away. I was bummed for her because watching her from the sidelines I could see her working hard to do a good job, the fight happens and she's penned instantly and her shoulders fell and I could tell she was disappointed. Thats the hardest part about being a mom, seeing your kids hurt or discouraged. Any how, Madison was the only one (not surprisingly she was allowed to show someone elses pig for showmanship) who makde it to the final drive for showmanship. She got 6th place, everyone else got a blue or red ribbon. Lindy did a great job showing this weekend, she went out and worked her little heart out and the judge had good things to say about her on both days, I was very proud of her.

We don't have any pictures of her showing this weekend because the camera man was too busy dealing with a rogue pig when she was showing. We don't have any picts of Maddie for the same reason. We are so pathetic I know!

One of the best parts about this weekend was some very special friends came to visit us and watch the girls show. Thanks so much for your love and support Donnie and Sandra!!!XOXOXO

On the last note, this year at State Fair, wich is in August, will be Minnies last show and your last chance to watch her in the ring!!!!!(hint hint)