Mother's day

We did in fact celebrate mother's day and here I am finally documenting that we did.

I am working on getting out of my blogging funk.  (Ha.  I just wrote gunk instead of funk.  I hope I don't have to get out of my blogging gunk.... oh dear.)Anyway, whatever it is, I will try and do better.  In fact I have a few posts in the works already.

On to the Mother's day details.

Any day is a good day when your two favorite people give you these:



and this balloon.  She was so excited to give me the balloon that she came walking proudly into the store I was shopping at (I was banished to shop at a different store than Dan and Alayna for awhile:) and said, "Here Mom, this is for you!"  and handed me the balloon.  It was so cute to see a little floating balloon coming at me through the isles. 

Unfortunately this balloon had a short life due to a battle with a fan.  Oops.  I'll remember that from now on. 

 Dan gave me permission to order the camera bag I have been eyeing.  I am seriously so excited about my new bag.  It's perfect!

And I would be a terrible mother if I didn't take a picture with my favorite 2 1/2 year old.  As a bonus present, she decided to smile for the camera.  Sweet!

I couldn't pick just one so here are two of my favs.

A glance

The past couple of weeks have felt super busy. (What's new.) I'm sure you all are feeling the same way. And that "busy-ness" has kept me away from the computer. So here's a glance at some of the happenings (in bullet points, no less).

• Dan reached his half way mark in school. Can you believe it? I sure can't. Time has flown by. And I am happy to report that Dan is LOVING Wyotech.
• While Dan has been doing the school thing, Alayna and I have been doing the Babysitting thing, among other things. But babysitting really does take up a lot of my week. I have had a little break for a few days, and I have to admit, I am LOVING spending one-on-one time all day long with my Layna. She is the best.
• When Alayna is down for a nap, after I have straightened the house, checked my email, and exercised, I have been crocheting. This new found hobby of mine really is quite addicting. I have been busy making baby hats and shoes. I promise to show off the fruits of my labor when I am done.
• On some of the mornings that I don't babysit, I have had a chance to help in my friend/former co-worker, Kathy's, kindergarten class. Oh, how I have missed teaching Kindergarten! But it has been wonderful to go and visit and re-live my Kindergarten teaching days. If there were two of me, you can bet that one of me would be teaching Kindergarten at Beitel and the other me would be staying at home with my little Layna.
• Prom was this last weekend in Laramie, and I was asked to be my little sister, Sarah's, hair dresser and makeup person. KaLee was my "assistant hair person" as she put it and also in charge of the manicure and pedicure. It was a blast. And I have to say, she looked stunning! Her hair was pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself. In fact, I have decided that I will have to post pictures later so you can see the awesome-ness for yourself.
• One of the biggest changes recently is Dan was just made the 2nd counselor in the bishopric in our ward. I am now the single mother that has to fight to keep her child from running up to the stand to sit with her Daddy. You probably already know (because I have said it a million times), but Alayna is a BIG daddy's girl. I mean she love, love, loves her daddy. It was so sad to see her stand on my lap on Sunday and hold her arms out to Dan, saying in a very sad voice, "Dada. Dada." I have a feeling we will be out in the hall several times during Sacrament meeting for this first little while.
• I have a new (as of a few months ago) calling in our ward as the visiting teaching coordinator. I had no idea how much time goes into this calling. Especially in a transient ward like ours. This last week I made changes on visiting teaching routes since so many people were moving due to graduation. When all was said and done, we had to hand out 34 new visiting teaching routes.
• Mother's Day was fantastic! They just get better and better.

Pampered

Yesterday was my first official Mother's Day! And it was a day filled with being pampered.

First, my wonderful husband let me sleep in by watching Alayna when she woke up at 5:45am to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. (Wasn't that nice of her?)

Next, he made a scrumptious breakfast of Egg McMuffins and Juice. (No. He did not go to McDonalds and order them. He made them all on his own.)

Following the breakfast came the present opening. Of course I have already opened my present from Alayna and Dan, but they also gave me these beautiful flowers and a thoughtful card.

My mom and dad gave me a fabulous book called I am a Mother by Jane Clayson Johnson. I am already 3/4 of the way done and I have loved it! If you are looking for a good, short read, I would totally recommend this book.

And Dan's parents gave me some money that I know just how to spend. :)

The entire day was spent with my two favorite people and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Alayna was extra good at church, which was surprising since she skipped her afternoon nap.

Dan made me a delicious dinner and dessert. (Some of the food on the menu: Italian chicken, pasta salad, rolls, confetti cake with rainbow chip frosting and cookies n' cream ice cream.) AND he did ALL of the cleanup!!!

Alayna went to bed early due to no nap.

And to top it all off, I got to talk to my little brother who is serving a mission in Guatemala! (He comes home the beginning of August.)

All I have to say is...Mother's Day is the best!

I have the most beautiful daughter whom I love, love, LOVE!
I absolutely adore my husband!
And I am so grateful for my wonderful Mother! She is AMAZING! If I can even be half as good of a mother as her, then I will have accomplished something great. Thanks for putting up with me, mom.

Oh, and Happy 100th post to me! Can you believe it? I really do like blogging, if you can't tell.