ok so....

....if Brynlee does not make an appearance before Monday the 1st at 6pm

Brittnee will be induced then.....

My crazy life....

As you can see the month of May has been a tad bit busy!

(HUGE understatement!!)

I had to start this book just to keep up with everything. Hopefully things will slow down but I will be keeping the book. It sure has helped me make sure I get everything done each day that I need to. There are alot of things that did not even make the book but somehow, someway, we got it all done and lived to tell about it.

First day of summer...

8:39 am.......

Great Weekend, well almost.....

We sure had a great weekend with all of our family and friends.

It was very very busy but that left us spinning with tons of fun.

There were a few glitches in as much as kids getting sick and such but other then that things went great!

First we had most of the family arrive to share graduation with Hayden. We all had to pack into the gym because of the rain outside but it just made things alittle cozier...Gerri's baby Jessie got sick with a high fever and had to go to the doctor and was not able to make graduation but we were sure glad to have them here just the same.

It was a surprise for all of us because we did not know Gerri and Jessie were coming and when they popped out of the motor home with grandma, grandpa and Scott it was a delightful surprise.

I'm sure there were many times during the weekend that Gerri wished she had not made the trip because Jessie had a high fever and was not feeling well but just so you know Ger, we are really really glad you came.

When Bryan and Liz got here, Davin had a fever too but it was not too bad at that point so they came to graduation with us.

But by Friday Davin was doing much worse.

After a trip to the clinic and then another to the hospital they ended up admitting him and so Bryan and Liz ended up with the most expensive Room on the mountain for their little vacation...

Davin stayed overnight with a case of strep and Pneumonia but was released the next day JUST IN TIME for Liz to make it to the baby shower.

Saturday afternoon we had a wonderful Baby shower for Brittnee and Brynlee that was thrown By Britt's friend, Kacie Flake and my good friends Kathy and Lisa.

It was all wonderful and we had a great turnout!

thanks everyone who came!!

Sunday we all went to church and then over to the place the family was staying to socialize and play some games.

Good times were had by all...

Taylor and the little boys got to spend the night and fish fish fish with their cousins, as Jamie, Warren and their boys got here on Saturday morning.

So as thing were winding down today and everyone was leaving to head home we were just beginning to get our breath back when Quade came into me showing me his hand and saying "Bleed!" YEP sure enough he had cut his hand with a letter opener (that he broke) so off to the ER to get some stitches...

funny how the only time anyone gets hurt around here its on a holiday!!!!! so its been a very fun and eventful long weekend! we hope you and your family had a great time too!

pictures of each event are posted below

graduation...

Graduation went great! It did have to get moved inside because of rain but other then that it went off without a hitch. We must have taken 100+ pictures with him and what felt like every friend he has ever had LOL. These were taken before graduation started.

Hayden and Tyler

Hayden and Megan

Hayden and Jared (who he walked with)

and then we had the ceremony which included the senior video

(which is my favorite part)

lots of pictures of these kids through their school years. Also some silly video from some of their skits, one in which Hayden was "Mr Rogers" and then they did the baby picture/Senior picture for each student. This is the part that always makes me cry, I'm a big baby but apparently I was not the only one that night! lol. It was fun seeing the baby pictures of alot of his classmates and actually recognizing them because we knew them way back then.

Here is the video of him receiving his diploma.....he received a

college prep/vocational diploma

And at the end when they turned their tassels and threw their caps

after the ceremony, it was like playing a game of wheres waldo (do you see him?)

Oh there he is!!!

We were very grateful to have so many family members come for graduation....

we had Grandma and Grandpa Jones, Scott, Gerri and Jessie, Granny, Lynn, John, Tammy, Natalie, Bryan, Liz and Davin, and Debbie and Kyle.

Hayden and His Granny

Hayden and his Dad

Hayden and Aunt Tammy

Hayden and Brittnee

Hayden and Coach Knaust

And last but not least....Hayden and his Mommy!

We are so Proud of Hayden and the good, fun, intelligent kid he is!

WAY TO GO HAYDEN!

it sure has been a fun 19 years! ( So far!!)

The Baby Shower....

Pictures From Brittnee's Shower....

Kacie Decorated These letter and they were soooo cute! she did a great Job with everything!

Thanks Kacie!

She put up this cute little clothes line with Brittnee's blessing dress

(which we HOPE will fit Brynlee)


We played a few games...this is the one where you measure the moms belly and see who got the closest measurement to the real thing...


Brittnee opening the bags to a "guess what baby item is in the bag" game

Liz dominated and is the QUEEN of shower games!!! lol

Brittnee sitting with Sandi (our neighbor)

and Stephanie (Brittnee's good friend from high school! )

Thanks for coming girls!


A few of her many gifts....now she is officially all set and ready to have this baby!

Brynlee...its time to come out and play!!

A hand made quit from her Grandma Jones

every girl has to have a bathtub for soaking!

Some of our guests.....

Grandma and Kacie

Tammy and Jamie

Kelsie, Kathy, Sherrie, Lisa and Sherice

Wendy and Madison....

Aunt Lynn, Liz and Gerri

and a sleeping baby Jessie
Here are the cute letters that we put up on Brynlee's wall after the shower

here is the link to Kacie's crafty website where you can buy some letters of your very own

http://ldbuglane.blogspot.com/

OHHH Quade....

What would a holiday weekend be like around here without ending in a trip to the ER?

as you read above...Quade cut his hand this morning and needed some stitches

3 in each cut...it will be a bear getting him to leave that bandage on for 2 or 3 days and then we have to hope he does not pick at the stitches over the next 14 days!

Quade's lovely new accessory!

Award recipient's

With the end of the school year comes Awards Ceremony's, banquets and Assembly's...

we had the pleasure of attending the Track banquet last night where Hayden was given the awards for Most Improved and Hardest worker.

being the proud parent that i am i made Hayden take a picture this morning, after he had been up all of 10 minutes before he walked out the door...as you can see, he was not totally thrilled with the idea! LOL

Our next recipient is non other then QUADE!!! he had an assembly on Friday where he received the most improved student at his school! way to go QUADER-BEAR! (much much kudos's go out to his full time aide Feliz! without her he would be no where near where he is today!!)

Final track update....

The State track meet is over and here are where things stand....

Hayden competed in the 4x800 on Friday and his relay team took 7th in the state in this event.

On Saturday he competed in the 1 mile and took 11th place with a time of 4:42 which is 12 seconds faster then he has ever run it.

After that he ran the 800 ...there were two heats. in his heat he took 4th but the 2nd heat blew out the first heat and all 9 guys were faster then the fastest 2nd heat guy(still following along? LOL)..so Hayden ended up with 13th place in the 800. His time was 2:07. We were hoping that he could have taken a few seconds off his best time of 2:06 but it still would not have mattered because everyone in the 2nd heat did it in 2:00 or less.

Still not too shabby for a kid who just started running in February of this year.

and even though it was 11th and 13th....it was 11th and 13th overall at STATE!

The big news came at the end of the meet when they announced the overall 3A Boys and 3A Girls State Championship teams.....

Blue Ridge Swept it with both our boys and girls taking state!

WAY TO GO BR!

Running the mile....
Team Champ trophies!

Finally....after 4 years and several sports, he proudly holds a State Championship trophy!

He has worked hard to have this in his hands....

Nothing like a last minute win to finally clinch a State Championship!

ohhh, and winning comes with benefits! lol

Hayden with his 4 favorite coaches!

A little video of the trophy presentation....

Track so far...

Hayden's 4x800 team took 7th in the state. Not too shabby. They give medals to the top 8 teams. He has the individual 800 and 1 mile events tonight. SO GOOD LUCK Hayden...

No baby news yet...Brittnee is in the valley with us and so far everything is A-ok....hopefully she is one of those lucky ones that walks around dilated to 2 or 3 for several weeks LOL

Will update with more track news after tonights events.

Taylor's Concert...

Taylor had her final band concert on Tuesday night

She did a GREAT JOB!!

Super Senior.....

Austin had his Super Senior Ceremony on Tuesday...it was wonderful as usual. Only two more of these before he graduates "FOR REAL"

Mr. Ball had some really nice things to say about him.....
Here he is with his best friend JOSH
Way to go AUSTiN!

Front page of the Albuquerque Journal today.....

~James & Brittnee~

Good Bye~for a while
Click to view full screen

Oh what a weekend (month!)

This has been such a crazy, crazy, busy month! My days on my calendar are so full that i had to get a planner just for the month! Everyday is full of things to do, places to go and people to see!

This last weekend was really full, hence the late mothers day post ....

but today there is something i really need to mention....

Things have really been up in the air with James Deployment...first he was going, then maybe he wasn't (this happened more then once), then maybe he was staying behind in the rear detachment and then.....yesterday Brittnee called with the news that he would not be staying home and he would in fact be deploying tomorrow. This has all been a very emotional roller coaster for them. She is, as i write this, at his "Yellow Ribbon Ceremony" this is the final ceremony for the soldiers and their families before sending them off to the war. As i said...this is a very emotional time for her, without the fact that she will be delivering a baby within the next 3 weeks. So as you can see James will not be here for the arrival of his baby girl and that makes me very sad for him and especially for Brittnee. Every wife wants their husband when they are going through something like this, ya its nice to have your mom with you but ultimately you want your husband. I cant imagine, having delivered 7 babies...not having my husband there for each one. So please, please keep this little family in your thoughts and prayers...especially today but through the next several weeks and months. We are learning the hard way how unpredictable being a soldier can be. We all go to work grudgingly everyday but we have no idea how hard we could have it.

Time to go home....

The Exchange year is almost over for our students who have been here this year with the exchange program. Last night we had a really wonderful closing get together with our kids here in this area and their families...it was very emotional. i love these kids and as always am sorry to see them go, but they WiLL be back...they always come back! A great big shout out to all their host families for being such fun, kind, caring, step up to the plate, people! you guys are the BEST!

Congrats to you guys for making this a great year and being great kids!

Becca, Anna, Oda, Monika, ida, Hilde and Philipp

Mother' Day

i (i will just appologize up front as my capital i is not working lol) spent Mother's day alittle differently this year.....

Because i was in Payson for the track meet on Friday and Saturday i decided just to stay over with my mom...and as long as i was half way to Prescott i decided to go ahead and head over for Jason and Kristi's baby's baptism on Sunday....which was Mothers day...

soooo long story short....i was able to spend mothers day with MY mother this year, which was a great treat!

i know this is late but i wanted to mention a few (a very small few) of my favorite mothers

Kristi and Keeley after Keeley's baptism...Kristi is a fantastic mother and makes REALLY beautiful babies!

My mother in law who is a shining example to me. i want to let her know that i truly admire her for the women that she is! She has done such a great job raising 4 fantastic kids (i am the beneficiary of her hard work!) thank you so much for loaning your son to me indefinitely~

To my sister in law, Gerri....i thought about you alot on mother's day and wanted to wish you a happy happy 1st ever mothers day to you! Gerri is the same age as me (sorry for revealing that Ger! LOL) and she just received the opportunity to experience being a mother for the first time this year! im SOOO happy this beautiful little one came to you and you are an exceptional mother! oh and you make super cute babies too!

This one is hard for me.....to my 1st baby and Daughter, i wish you a very happy 1st (almost) mother's day! what an experience to have your first child expecting a child. I don't know where the time has gone. Brittnee, i know you will be a beautiful, loving mother and i look forward to watching you take on this new roll.

and i'm pretty sure you made a beautiful baby!

and last but most important....
to my mother,
words can not describe how i feel about you
i am such a lucky lucky girl to have had such a wonderful, loving mother through out my life
one who shares her time, talents and grace with all of her children and grandchildren equally.
who strives to keep peace and harmony in her family
you are the most EXCELLENT mother a girl could have!
i love you with all my heart!

oh, and i know you make beautiful babies!!! LOL

also wishing a happy mothers day to all the other really important ladies in my life....from grandma's to sisters to good friends! i hope you all had a super fantastic day and i hope you know that you are special to me!