A Patriot

I was sitting at work today when I got a mysterious call from the front desk telling me that the Department of Defense was there to see one of my employees. I got a little nervous as to what that meant, I was hoping he wasn't in any kind of trouble. A few minutes later, my employee, my boss, and a mysterious gentleman came to my desk to present me with an AWARD! Boy was I shocked! Turns out my employee, Brad, had nominated me for this award because I have been "supportive, encouraging, flexible and understanding" in dealing with him and him being an Iraqi Vet. I tried to tell them that I didn't think I had done anything special, they assured me that I had. Wow. This gentleman also told me that in addition to my cool "patriot" pin, I had won a special flight on a refueling mission, this "once in a lifetime" opportunity had my knees shaking just thinking about it...so we will see if I actually take him up on his offer.

Here are a few pics of the event...this was taken via camera phone from my Assistant-Coach, Emilyn...so I hope you can still get the idea.

Here is me and Brad. I have been his manager for almost a year now. He is a great asset to my team. I have watched him make big improvements over the year in nearly every single area. He ended number one in the department in January and he was even voted MVP by the team for February. He truly does care about helping others on the team to be more successful. I am lucky to have him on my team. I guess it is nice to know that he thinks I am doing a good job too. :)

Here is a picture of me, Brad, and the Department of Defense Dude, Ran (yup-Ran). (sorry we were looking at the camera Ran had brought for his newsletter.)

Here is a picture of the award. Pretty nifty, eh?

My childhood second family

I grew up in West Jordan. I lived in the same house for the first 20 years of my life. I had a great childhood. There were lots of girls my age in my neighborhood, so I had lots of places to find friends. It was good times. My closest friend by far was the gal across the street, Heather Davis. Her family was like my second family. I had known her all my life, we had countless sleepovers, we danced together all our lives, even dated brothers for a very short time. We spent SOO much time together throughout all of our schooldays..I could go on with a million stories. Well, anyways.. her parents (Brent and Stephanie) are kind, supportive, easygoing, and loving. I always felt like one of theirs! I babysat the two youngest girls, Traci and Michelle. Trevor the one and only boy, was just like the younger brother I never had. Well, two weeks ago I was invited to Michelle's bridal shower. The little girl I babysat has now grown into a beautiful woman about to be married! I was so excited to go and see the Davis's again. Our house across the street was sold about 8 years ago, and although I see them every now and then, I don't see them as much as I would like to! This picture (sadly) is very blurry, but I wanted to try to show everyone how beautiful Michelle is. Here are the four of us..my mom, Michelle, Heather and Me.

Me and my two moms! My real mom, Anne and my second mom, Stephanie.

Me, my mom, Heather, and her newest 4 month old baby girl.

I am proud to still call the Davis family, my second family. Heather is now a wife (of the boy she waited for while on a mission, whom I consoled during) and a full-time working mother of four girls. Even though we were very different, we were the best of friends, and although we rarely see each other, I hope we are always friends.

Transformation

For most of his life Jamie has had long, shaggy, crazy hair. I always felt torn on whether or not I should cut it. I sort of felt like it was part of his personality. AND not everyone can grow thick beautiful hair like he can. BUT...it was getting a little out of control and he kept complaining about hair being in his eyes, so I FINALLY caved in...here are some "before" shots:




Matt came with me and I thought we would just give Jamie a trim...Matt told the lady a #2 and I had no idea what that meant..I didn't know how short it would be! I don't think it has ever been this short. I almost cried when they were done! Here are some "after" shots. He looks like a totally different kid! What do you think?





Yup, the kid actually has EYEBROWS!!

This was too funny to me to not share. Lauren has decided that Dora "is so last year", so she has given Jamie ALL of her Dora stuff, and she had a LOT of Dora stuff! One was this purse. Jamie thought it was a great invention for carrying his cars and helicopters around. Which actually does beg the question, why can't boys have purses?! LOL!

Lauren's birthday weekend! (warning, lots of photos)

There is not really no such thing as "birth-DAY" at my house...more like "birth-WEEKEND"..especially when it comes to our kids. Lauren's birth-weekend was no exception! Forgive my long post. I wanted to document our super fun weekend!

The day before her birthday, we had Parent Teacher Conferences. Lauren got rave reviews as always, it makes me so proud. I realized that we were "twinners" that day, and not on purpose at all! Her teacher musta thought we were a little crazy. LOL!

As a kid, I remember waking up to a table full of presents, I enjoy carrying on the tradition, this is what Lauren woke up to on her actual birthday.

Matt and I both took PTO on her birthday and we both picked her up from school, she was excited to see the whole family pick her up.

We also suprised her by taking her to one of her favorite places to eat! IHOP or IPOD as she calls it. Matt looks so handsome in this picture and Lauren looks tickled pink!

Then we came home and she got to open her presents. I think that she liked the jewelry box that I decorated!

After opening her presents from Matt and me, I bathed her and took her to get her 6 year pictures taken..(see previous post for those shots).

Then we went to the West Valley Fitness Center for her birthday party. Here is the cake she chose, "Sponge Bob"! I couldn't talk her into anything girly!

The kids had a great time playing in the "Edutainment" room.

The mini-grocery store was a hit with all the kids.

Jamie loved the cash register!

Renting the place was affordable and came with pizza, drinks, and cake! Here is everyone enjoying the pizza.

My sister Sarah and friend Beth not only matched each other, they also matched the color of the tablecloth! So cute! I love these girls and couldn't have pulled off the party without them!

Beth's daughter, Harbor had a fun time playing too...I hope Sarah had fun in the jungle gym as well. Maybe she even loved playing like a little kid again!

Everyone sang Happy Birthday to the birthday girl. She loved being the center of attention.

Here is Lauren and her friend and neighbor, Chrystie.

Lauren and her friend and classmate, Morgan.

Lauren and her cousin, Brookie, Morgan and Aunt Sarah.

Lauren and her friend Sammy from daycare (whom she misses very much!)

Jamie had no fear when it came to climbing.

Lauren had such a good time and was SOO tired that she quickly fell asleep in my lap! Awww! She doesn't do that very often, so it was a nice treat for me. Where did my baby go?

I don't know what he was thinking but I caught Jamie after he had ripped off some or the stickers to my jewelry box! DOH! Luckily, I was able to fix it quickly with craft glue!


Saturday, the next day we went to a birthday party for Matt's cousin John's son. They had lots of festivities going on. One special thing was a clown who painted faces. Lauren had to have her face painted like a cat!

Lauren even got to be the clown's assistant as she did her magic tricks!

Jamie had a blast just playing with his cars on the gym floor.

They also had a pinata. Look at my cute fam waiting for the candy to rain from the sky!

Lauren waiting to hit the pinata.

SHE actually is the one who knocked it down! What a strong girl!


On Sunday, we ended her birthday weekend by taking her to her other favorite place to eat...RED LOBSTER!

She LOVES the lobsters in the waiting room!

They even offered to let her touch one!

She actually picked out a girly cake for her family birthday party.

Everyone singing "Happy Birthday"!

Here she is with her Uncle Stephen and Uncle Collin.

Here she is with her Papa Leo and her Grandma TT.

Posing with Aunt Kristen and Uncle Dave.

Here she is with my parents and sisters and her little brother!

And here is a shot of her and her parents. She is such a sweet little girl. She is just the apple of our eyes. We love and adore this little princess soo much! I hope that her 6th birthday is one she will always remember!

We love you Lauren! Okay, now no more getting ANY older!