Birthday fun!

For my birthday this year Devo bought me a ticket to visit my sister in California all by myself this year.  I stayed for three days and we had lots of fun even though the weather wasn't good enough for the beach.  I sprained my ankle a week and a half before I went so I was still limping a little but we managed to still get some fun in. On Sat. we had lunch at Devo's and my favorite pizza place when we lived in Pasadena called Palermoes.  We have been craving it and it was just as I remembered.  Yummy!  We went on a little hike and yes we saw a rattlesnake right at the beginning of the trail.  Terri and Troy have been telling us all about the rattle snakes they see, so I'm glad I got a picture for Jake.  We saw some movies, went bike riding, shopping, and of course for tradition, I took Britney and Lauren's place (since they're not around anymore) and got a pedicure with Terri.  I can't believe she is an empty nester.  We can't be that old can we?

When I got home Tues. night the kids surprised me and had waited up for me so we celebrated my birthday.  Emily's new tradition is to design my cake and Dad helps her put it together.  This year she made me a flower cake like the sun in Tangled.  I just love my little family to death.  They are awesome!

Dance! Dance! Dance!

Emily had her dance recital last week.  It's fun to watch her.  We think she is awesome!  She doesn't know if she wants to do dance next year but we hope she does.  She might try basketball.

Ok I finally figured out how to put video on but not all on one clip.  I don't know whether it was too long or I'm computer illiterate!  This way you don't have to watch all of them if you don't want.  

Happy Graduation

In May Jeremy graduated From UVU in communications. We helped him celebrate with a family lunch and then we had fun BYU bowling.  It was game on! We had three teams The Kids, The Boys, and The Girls. The Peterson's were victorious in all 3 groups.  I beat Britney by one point on the last ball and can I just say it is really hard to bowl when you are being heckled and you are laughing like crazy.  Jake beat the kids team.  Sam was cute he was all smiles and high fives each turn.  It was tons of fun hanging out.  And we found out later that Jeremy is actually a really good bowler. He bowled a 198 after we left.  Sure glad we played him while he was still warming up.      

Easter

Easter was pretty laid back this year.  Devon was on call so it was just us and Aunt Terri.  The kids really enjoyed coloring Easter eggs this year.  Jake was all about drawing bunny rabbits on his eggs, and Emily liked writing messages and decorating with sequins and glitter.   We would love one year of warm weather so we can actually have an Easter egg hunt outside instead of in the basement!  Aunt Terri introduced us to the Smith tradition of the money eggs and the kids loved that. 

Fun Times

This was one Sunday morning the kids grabbed my I touch and Emily had figured out how to watch movie previews with one of the apps. I'm glad she just picked the kid movies!  She loves to listen to my music and has picked her favs.   It's crazy she knows how to use it better than I do.  Jake just loves to play angry birds whenever he gets a chance.  He tries to sneak it to bed at night!

We are so proud of how well Emily is learning to play the piano.  She learned how to play Book of Mormon Stories by herself from the primary book and we have had some fun times for FHE.

Arizona

I'm really behind so bare with me while I play catch up. In March Devo and I went to Arizona for his conference. The night before we left this is what Devon came home to. Emily is very famous for her notes and pictures hanging all over the house. That night there were about 7 or 8 Dad look notes taped all the way down the hall.

On the door was this note. There was also the exact note for mom too. She was a little nervous because the last time Grandma Skinny watched the kids in September Emily broke her arm. I think most of it was that she just didn't want us to go.  Grandma was trying not to take it personally.  Grandma did a great job with no hospital visits this time and the kids had a great time.

We celebrated our 15 year anniversary in March.  We tried to go to pebble beach but the weather is a little cold and it is quite pricey, (one day).  So I tagged along with him to school.  We were able to golf at some really nice golf courses and enjoy the warm weather.  Troon North was beautiful and I played really well at Wekopa.  Devon says he needs to play Wekopa again because that was his third day of golf and he was a bit tired so his game was not quite on.  He also played in a tournament at Talking Stick (which his team won), while I enjoyed time visiting with Diane my roommate from college.  It was a fun and relaxing vacation.

Spelling Bee

At the end of March Emily competed in the 2nd grade spelling bee. 7 kids from each class participated. She practiced more than last year and was looking forward to doing much better. I think mom was much more nervous than she was. I could hardly breathe. After she spelled the first word correctly I settled down a little. Emily was really cute. After round 3 she started holding up her fingers to show us what round she passed. Last year she only made it to the 2nd round. She really wanted to make it to the top five. She ended up with 6th place and we couldn't of been prouder. But she was disappointed and she wears her emotions on her sleeve. Like her mom. She started to cry and lost it when she got to me. I think she was pleased afterward but said she could have done better. But, she was the last one standing from her class! Way to go Emily.