Relay for Life

I participated in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life on Friday night. It was so awesome! I have never done anything like it before and it was such a great experience. Some ladies in my neighborhood put together a team in honor of some amazing fighters we have in our ward. Our neighborhood has had more than it's fair share of cancer in the last year or so, and I was so glad to help out. Our team raised almost $1500.00! The event raised almost $35,000, woo hoo! Thank you so much to those of you who contributed to my efforts, I was so touched by your generosity. I feel so incredibly blessed by the general good health of my loved ones. I hope that helping out with this puts a few more rocks in my "good karma" bucket....

The event is really inspiring to attend. They have an opening ceremony where they talk about survivors and let the attending survivors take a lap around the track by themselves and then with their caregivers. They played Mylie Cyrus' "the Climb" and I was in tears the whole time! Our little friend Sirri had neuroblastoma last year and was the littlest one out there, she is amazing!

Sirri and her mom, Lisa-Marie. I LOVE these two so much!

At about 10 pm, when it is nice and dark, they do a luminaria ceremony, where they have "HOPE" spelled out in lumaria on the bleachers and luminaria line the track, each one in honor of someone who was lost or has survived. It is really touching, they

The theme this year was "Relay on the Red Carpet," sort of a Hollywood thing, so our team was called "The Pink Ladies."
I was in charge of the decorations for our area, and here is what I came up with...it was so fun!

Our water jug cover...

Our booth...

and the cute chocolate chip cookie dough truffles I made for the bake sale!

There were so many delicious treats on hand, its a good thing I walked pretty much all night! Our team had to have someone on the track the whole time (from 6 pm to 6 am) and it really was just better to walk than try to stay awake while not-walking. Plus it helped keep me warm. Even though it is almost July, it still gets quite chilly at night and I was sure ready for a warm bath Saturday morning. My sweet hubby let me sleep as long as I wanted, and it was awesome.

Stay tuned for:

"Goats on the paddle boat."
&

"Hudson 'racing' to sleep."

Announcing the Launch of....

My photography blog! My little hobby is keeping me more and more busy (I didn't realize just how busy until I started trying to pick favorites for a portfolio!), so I decided to start a blog, so I had somewhere to "direct inquiries." Ha!
Check it out at PhotoDesignByShelli.blogspot.com

Father's Day Weekend

We had a great weekend! Dustin makes being a dad look easy, and we were so happy to celebrate him on Sunday. I'm so glad that he has such a great relationship with our kids already, and that he tries so hard to teach them to be good people. I hope they realize what a good example they have in him. He is always helping neighbor or doing project for me and never complains about his total lack of time for himself. I love that he always says he'd rather have a date night than a boys night out, and lets the kids help him with whatever he is doing. We love him so much!

Wonder where Hudson gets his cheeser from???The kids had fun giving him their presents and cards they made at home and in primary, and I loved just having a day to be together. We missed all of our other favorite dads, though, hope you all had a great day!

On Saturday afternoon, Dustin and Kennedy made a light box together. She loves to trace things right now, and has been taping papers up to the windows, so Dustin told her he'd make her one. It turned out really nice, I'm so thankful to have such a handy hubby! She hasn't stopped using it long enough for us to paint it. We are going to paint it pink, of course, and then it will be all done.

On Saturday morning we went to the Rexburg Airshow. It was very cool, this is the fourth year we've gone, and the first year it wasn't sweltering... We went to a park by the airport to watch this time, instead of at the airport, which was way nicer.

The kids went to play on the toys but this is what happened when the loud planes started up...


They both hate loud noises! Funny.

The only time they took their hands off of their ears was to eat cotton candy.


I think they still had a good time :)

On Friday night my cousins Jarred and Janae stopped by on their way to the dunes from Lewiston. It was a surprise and we were so happy to see them! We were definitely jealous of all of their sweet toys - trailer, dirt bikes, etc. While they were here Kennedy found a turtle down by the lake. We were all pretty fascinated...

Weird!

Jacey, Lisa-Marie, I hope you will still want to come and train in the lake with me. This will probably make us swim a little faster.. :)

Oh, and meet the newest member of our family, Wes the Scarecrow.

Kennedy and Hudson were so excited to do this, and they picked the name. Uncle Wes, you should be flattered, not offended. I'm sure it has nothing to do with looks. Personality, either...

I'm not sure the crows are deterred much, but he kinda gives me a start everytime I pull into the driveway. :)

The other fun part of rainy weather...

But, yay! It's gorgeous today! See you outside!

The ONE fun part of all this %$@# rain...

Sure is fun to fly through all those huge mud puddles!

Happy Birthday Jami!

My baby sister turned 17 today! I can't believe it! She is smart and beautiful and talented and my kids love her to pieces. I was rocking Hudson for a minute before his nap the other day and we had just read "Mater's Best Friend." I asked him who his best friend was, thinking he'd name one of his little buddies. "Jami!" was his reply, zero hesitation. So sweet! Jami, we love you so much, keep making good decisions, we are so proud of you. (yes, Dustin too, but he won't say it to your face...) We hope you can come spend a week with us again this summer. Hope your day is great, and you have fun indoor skydiving...you better blog about it - not just that facebook crap... :)

Grandma Visit...

We were so excited to have some visitors last weekend! Dustin's mom, Marcia, had to make a trip up to Montana for her work, and planned to spend a night in Rexburg on her way back to Utah. She ended up bringing her sister Lila (Some of you may know her as Miss Cooley from Cedar Ridge!) and her dad, Grandpa Cooley and his wife Grandma Charlotte.




We had such a good visit with them! Kennedy dragged out scrapbook after scrapbook to show off, and Hudson spend the visit dodging kisses from all the ladies. Dustin's Grandpa is one of the best gardeners we know, so Dustin was so excited to show off his work. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before (hee hee) but he's pretty much obsessed with his garden. I complained that he needed to spend less time in the garden and more on the new flower beds. So he planted squash in the flower bed on the side of the house. OK, not what I meant...

Anyway, Grandpa and Grandma hadn't seen my house yet, and Charlotte's reaction was definitely fun. I just have to say, I love that lady. She is the SWEETEST little thing, so happy and fun and a little silly. Plus, she tells me everytime I see her how "gorgeous" I am...her words, not mine. And how gorgeous my kids are, and now my house too! How could you not love her??? She's getting quite forgetful in her old age, however, so I think she told me I was beautiful about 35 times during her 18 hour visit, and the same about my house. Seriously, I did not mind! Kennedy got the same treatment, so she is a big Grandma Charlotte fan, too.

We had a barbeque Friday night, which unfortunately got rained out, but that didn't ruin our appetite. Dustin does some awesome Dutch-oven potatoes, yay for summer and cooking outside! On Saturday, after a huge breakfast (do I have an awesome hubby or what?) we took Grandma Marcia to the Teton Flood Museum and showed her the kids' room we love, while Grandma, Grandpa and Lila visited Dustin's cousins. We all met up for luch afterwards at, of course, Big Juds, where we take most of our visitors for huge, delish burgers and ice cream.

Hudson and Kennedy with Grandma Marcia...she brought Hudson some new trucks and Kennedy a whole bag full of new lip gloss. They could not have been more thrilled!

The monkeys with their Great-Grandpa Cooley and Great-Grandma Charlotte...

It was so fun to have some company, especially Grandpa Cooley and Grandma Charlotte. They were just so sweet with the kids. I didn't know any of my great-grandparents, so I love that Kennedy and Hudson get to see so many of theirs, I hope they will always remember these awesome people. Thanks for the visit, guys! Please come again!

By the way, thanks for the pictures, Lila! I'm a space case and accidentally deleted mine...

The last day...

of Kindergarten was today! I can't believe it. I feel like I am just barely getting used to Kennedy being in kindergarten and now it's over! I can't believe she will be going to school ALL DAY in the fall. I'm not going to start worrying about it yet, so moving on...

She has had lots going on lately to finish up her school year activities. I'm going to try to catch up a little in this long post, so sorry!

On April 30, the Kindergarten classes at Kennedy's school put on the cutest program.

They practiced their songs for a long time before, and I would sometimes join her if I heard her singing them around the house. "Mom, how do you know that song?" she would ask. I told her I can remember learning "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "God Bless America" when I was in elementary, and I think she was shocked that these songs weren't specifically written for her class.

This was almost a month ago, but Kennedy was so excited about it, she really has wanted me to put these pictures on the blog for her grandparents to see. It really was a darling program, with cute patriotic songs and dances.

Moving right along, last Thursday Hudson and I went with Kennedy and the Kindergarten classes on a fieldtrip to the Zoo in Idaho Falls. Hudson pretty much ran me ragged, even though we rented a stroller for part of the day. He is such a monkey. I should have left him there, he'd have fit right in!

Despite the stress, I was so glad I went. Let's just say, there was much to be desired in the way of organization and supervision. And just when I had pretty much stopped thinking to myself every day as the bus pulls away, "Will she be safe? Would someone notice if she didn't come in from recess, or back from the bathroom, or etc, etc..." Sheesh! Good thing it's summer, and I can get good and sick of her before she has to get back on the bus... :)
Anyway, it was fun, and I am glad Kennedy is still young enough she wants me to come to school stuff!

Checking out the goats in the petting zoo...(why is it always goats?)

Kennedy and Hudson posing with some friends...not sure why I didn't photograph the actual tigers and lions...probably because these guys were more entertaining!

A couple of weeks ago Kennedy had her dance party, and she was so excited! She got her 5-Year award (she is six, do the math, yes, she was so little and cute!) and the award for the most home practice time. (Which is why I was dumbfounded when she told us the other night - Lori, I hope you are sitting down- that she thinks she wants to take a break from dance next year. I really am flabbergasted. I mean, after 5 years, sure, she's entitled, but I'm not sure she understands that a break will also mean: no pretty costumes, no roses after performances, no make-up, no dance parties. We are taking the summer to think about it. Sheesh!)

Kennedy and our favorite Dance teacher, Aunt Lori

She was so thrilled with her trophies and ribbons.

She got to spend the points she earned at the "store" and was sweet, putting much thought into each purchase, and even being so generous as to buy Hudson a little car. What a good big sister!

Kennedy and I even made these cute little dancer cookies to take to her class.

I have to blog about them because they should really be called "Four Letter Word Cookies" because of how much they make you want to swear. The cookie cutter is so deceptively darling, but then you start the project and want to slit your wrists with it instead of the dough. Kennedy did about one, and I did the rest. It seriously took about 2 hours to get enough of them baked for her class of 12. Their skinny little arms and legs just didn't want to stay attached. Or come off the pan. Or come out of the cookie cutter. That is why they are a once-a-year treat.

Whew!