Con-graduations!

It has been a whirlwind weekend, and it is just now slowing down its pace. We had a busy and quick trip to Mesa to visit my family and help celebrate my brothers graduation from college (CONGRATS Justin!). We left Friday morning to Mesa and arrived after an uneventful drive (the best kind) at about noon. The kids all wanted to go swimming in Grandmas "pool", and so we let them have a quick dip in the jacuzzi before dinner. We got them changed into their PJ's just in time for the babysitter to arrive. At 5:30, we (David and I, with my mom and dad) met my sister Heather and Jacob over at Mangos mexican resturaunt (the BEST mexican I have had in a LoNg time...YUM!!!) We had a great dinner and then drove over to Hale Theater where we got to see a very funny play called "Charly's Aunt". It was a great evening, topped off by seeing the new water park across from the theater, and the kids all tucked in bed by the time we got home. Anytime I don't have to do bedtime, it is a great night! David left to play Halo with all the boys, and I went to bed.

Saturday morning, we got the kids ready for the day, went to the park (good ol' Chapperel, or as the kids call it, "the Yellow Park") and then went over to Wal-Mart to the photo studio with my mom. We took Betsy and Jay in for an update to thier pictures. Betsy's last picture taken was when she was 8 months old... and Jay is only about 10 hours old in the last photo we had of him, straight from the hospital. A little behind.. I know! The kids did really well, smiled great for their pics and we hurried home. We enjoyed a couple quiet hours while most of the fam went to the ceremony to see Justin "walk". We decided to stay home with our 5 small kids that wouldn't have sat still for a minute. Wish I would have decided to go, but I don't think David would have liked that too much =).

At 5pm the whole crew showed up at my moms house and we had a graduation BBQ and a nice FHE on temples. The kids had tons of fun running wild with their Barton cousins, and I enjoyed visiting with my family. At about 9pm we got the kids in their PJ's and hit the road back toward Snowflake. We traded drivers every-so-often, stopped to take a cat-nap in Payson and made it home by about 1:30am (I think, but I was sleeping so I don't really remember seeing a clock). We got home, threw the kids in their beds, and collaped in ours. NOTE: Do not drive over the rim half-asleep!!! BAD idea. We are all alive, no problems, but GOSH was I tIrEd.

On Sunday...Mothers Day, I slept til about 8am, stubbled out of bed and found that David had got me a brand new set of red canisters for the kitchen. They are really cute, and just my style. I love it when that happens! The kids gave me pictures they had drawn me, and we all got ready for church. It was obviously the Mothers Day program where I cried like a baby. The Primary kids sang "Mother, I love you", and I played the piano. Then Nathan and I sang together "Mother, Do you love Me?" He did such a super job, sang really well, and he carried the song pretty well when I had to stop to cry. I have such a sweet boy, and I was overwhelmed by the feeling of how much I really do love my Nathan. When we got home from church David allowed me to have a nap (unheard of!) and I slelpt until it was about time to go to chior. I got up, went to chior, and came home to dinner on the table. What a great hubby I have. =)

Yesterday (Monday), I focused on getting un-packed from our trip to Mesa, and getting the house straightened up after my incredibly lazy mothers day. I took Aubrey over to the school to have her "Kindergarten Placement Test". She seemed to do okay. They didn't let me in the room, but according to her, they threw beanbags back and forth, sang the ABCs, and talked about shapes, numbers and colors. She said that she had fun, but it wasn't long enough. She wanted to "go to school!" The primary choirister came by in the afternoon and we planned and talked about the next couple months in primary and what we wanted to do for music. It was nice to get a plan and be a little more prepared for what is coming.

Todays plan is to climb and defeat my mountain of laundry. I have 12 loads right now waiting. 12! YUCK. I really don't like laundry. At least I get a break for an hour or two when we all get to go to playgroup at the park. I am looking forward to that. So, with that, I must get to it. UUGGHHHH!