Mother's Day

Mother's Day.... on this day day for many years I did not want to go to church and ended up crying in a bathroom stall more than once after talks about mothers droned on and on. I love the chance to thank my mom and make it a special day, and also for my family to do that for me! But it's also a hard day. I remember the pain of wishing I was a mom so bad and having no way to fulfill that desire. And even now I wish I was a mom with 3 kids. I wish a lot of things. But I'm also thankful for my sweet, special daughter and the chance to be her mom. And also for my wonderful mom who has been there for me no matter what and I know would do anything for me. It's just an emotional day. 

We wore our matchy skits I made (well, helped make--thanks again Jacqui, Cheryl, and Chandra!! :), and while I originally had bigger plans for fancy matching hairstyles, last minute travel plans changed it to this! Which was still fun. Ashlyn thought it was so neat that we matched. She pointed it out to me like 20 times at church. 

Collin made me dinner....and at my request bought some gourmet cupcakes. Here are 2 of them, with a pretty face as well.

And of course we couldn't end the Mother's Day post without some Mommy-Ashlyn selfies. Lucky me hanging out with this sweetie every day!!

April

April was definitely consumed with work for me! But here are some pictures of other fun things that happened;

Had to get a pic of the pretty hair..... this style only takes me an hour believe it or not! And we added bangs this time which I loved! :)

We went to WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The exclamation points say it all. 2nd row of the balcony, dead center. My 2nd time seeing it (San Fran in 2007 was the first), Collin's 1st. I had to tell him the entire plot of The Wizard of Oz in 2 minutes right before it started when I realized he had never seen it. And as the show went on I realized, yeah, it is kind of important that you've seen that movie! ha ha. I loved it SOOOO much. Just as great the 2nd time!

Threw a party for my buddy Cheryl. Love this girl! She is our YW president too, therefore we spend a ton of time together outside of friend stuff! You most certainly can't go wrong with Costa Vida and a donut cake. We had a skirt-sewing night at our friend Lindy's. I think if I say I didn't get home until 3:00am that can sufficiently sum up how much fun it was! ;)

"holding" a baby rabbit at the park. She let it leap away right after this, got too freaked out that it actually moved! so funny.

Sunny day! I have been walking in the shoes I'm breaking in for Europe on the few nice days we have had! Then we always go feed the ducks at DeMeyer park. 

Quick date night at Bar Gernika after my piano recital! Oh croquettas, you are divine balls of fried heaven.

This is Ashlyn with her treat for being so good at her first dentist visit! I didn't get any pictures because I had to sit her on my lap the whole visit, she was afraid of the chair! We had THE MOST FABULOUS hygenist though--a guy who used to live in our ward. Loved him. Sadly the x-rays showed she did knock her front teeth hard enough that they will turn grey and probably abcess and need to be pulled someday, but for now we will cherish them! Anyway, I would be good at the dentist too if I knew I got a chik fil a milkshake afterwards!!

Alex came to visit! It was a quick visit but fun. Pretty sure it's the most one-on-one time I've literally ever spent with my baby brother in my life! No better time than now! :) The 3 of us hiked Boise Table rock! (you Eastern Idahoans know why I need to distinguish which Table rock!) We also got Jambas, went to a senior recital, and went to Tango's for empinadas while Alex was here. It was really fun! And I love these pictures from the top of Tablerock!

Empinadas at Tango's! More fried deliciousness. Thanks for visiting, Baby!

District Coach of the Year

Collin was awarded the District III coach of the year award this year. He got it once before.....back in 2007. Even though they have now won District Championships for 5 consecutive years, this was his first time in that winning streak to actually be the coach of the year. If that gives you any indication of how much this award is based on actual team success!

Anyway, they have an awards banquet for all the fall/winter coaches of the year. It is in Caldwell at the Elks Lodge. If that gives you any indication of how classy of an event it is! :)

I actually taped his speech and hope to post it on here. We jetted out of there as soon as it was over as it had already been 3 hours we'd been there. But it was worth it to actually get to hear him say a little. I really am so impressed with his work ethic and dedication every day. Even though I am a whiny baby about it way too much, underneath it all I know he's a super special individual! I'm glad I got to go see the little ceremony. (and thanks to Lindsay for keeping Ashlyn all 4 hours we were gone!)

Shop Talk

Spring is a busy time in everything....sports, school, music! April was insane for my job for some reason. Even with only 13 students I seriously was working round the clock, if it wasn't family responsibilities it was piano stuff. Certificates, judging sheets, progress reports, recital stuff, tests, prep for adjudication, etc. etc. etc. It wore me out! But it's worth it to get back judging sheets that say my students are on the right track and see them perform confidently in a recital. With such few students I am super lucky right now that they are seriously all awesome!! 

I found a few pics on my phone for when I had to go shopping or needed my lists away from home. Just some samples of the things I was organizing! It was fun stuff! I mean who's job is to buy candy bars and balloons and ribbons?? Mine!

I also stupidly signed up for 3 lessons with Del at BSU in April! What was I thinking??? Finding time to practice a few advanced songs just added to the craziness! And in the end I didn't even end up performing at my studio recital this year, even though for once I had been practicing so much. Oh well! I do love having my own piano lessons so much when I get the chance.

It is so fun that little Missy is old enough to help me run errands for most of this stuff now! Well I mean, run errands without causing me a minor heart attack due to stress! When we picked up recital balloons I let her pick one out for herself. Tiger print it was! I love the sassy pose too. 

Awww. the best night of the year. Getting to see all my little students and their families together. A couple of these students have been with me for over 7 years now! That's longer than I've lived in my house! The recital was awesome. 

Me and my two seniors! They are both doing senior recitals! Unreal. But so, so fun to help them get ready!

A gem sent to me from one of my 7+ year students. This sweetie started when she was 4!! By now it seems like she's my own kid. :)

And to sum up....after all this business was over, I pulled out my gigantic collection of pop and movie music and all my "kids" are having a blast learning Star Wars, Frozen, Firework, etc.... what a great job!

Easter

We had a fun low-key Easter. 

The Friday before, my buddy Lindsay hosted a fun little Easter playdate. Part of it was an Easter egg hunt. I was surprised at how little Ashlyn cared about finding the Easter eggs! Everyone was supposed to find 12 and she was done after like 8, so I had to cajole her into finding a few more. I think it was mostly because around egg # 8 she discovered that the eggs had candy inside. No surprise there!

Saturday we did have Easter baskets but somehow I have no pictures from that. My family always did baskets on Saturday and I like that idea and hope to do that same thing. I also did the same thing my family did as I was growing up, and hid a bunch of jelly beans and robin eggs all over the living room and kitchen for Ashlyn to find. Again, not that interested after the first few because she just wanted to eat them. Maybe next year there will be more thrill in "the hunt?" Oh well, it was fun anyway. She got some candy and a little stuffed chicken and a coloring book, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, etc. in her basket. Collin got some Adam Sandler movies and candy, and I got Mini Eggs since I am the one who filled the Easter baskets. :)


Easter Sunday was fun too, I ended up getting Ash an Easter dress at the last second because I found one I loved at Target. (surprise surprise) She looked adorable as always. I love that she is getting old enough to at least stand in one place for a minute for a picture....even if not smiling.....

Of course by the time we got to picture with Mommy time she was digging into the bribe we had offered for getting pictures taken.... a package of Peeps. Happy Easter!