Last Day of School

Today was Hailey's last day of school at Entz Elementary... I can't believe she is done with kindergarten! This school year has flown by so fast. She started kindergarten at Stenstrom Elementary with Mrs. Forbus - a FABULOUS teacher. When we moved to Arizona, she spent a week at Highland High... I was not pleased with it so we transferred her down the street to Entz Elementary with Mrs. Hubbard - a FABULOUS teacher... Mrs. Hubbard is 74 years old, a member of the church, and retiring... she truly loves each of the kids in her class, and you can tell it is completely genuine. Today they had a "Jolly Rancher Rain" where they sit down and she throws tons and tons of jolly ranchers for them to catch and keep... too cute. Then she handed each of them their report card and gave them a hug, told them she loved them, and shook their hand as she handed them their report card and told them they were no longer in kindergarten, they were in first grade, and they would do great. Hailey's made some great friends while in school at Entz. It has been really fun to see her grow scholastically as well. Congrats Hailey, you are no longer in kindergarten!

The "Jolly Rancher Rain"

No longer in Kindergarten

Hailey and her friends Emi and Marie on the kindergarten playground

Hailey and Mrs. Hubbard

Xander's Broken Arm...

We've been busy at Cardon's Children's Hospital lately... Xander spent 2 nights there... two days ago...

He was playing on the trampoline with his cousin Conner, and they were playing Superman. He landed on his arm wrong, and broke his Humerus Bone... it was as supra-condylar fracture - clear across the bone and pushed off to the wrong side. At first Cody and I thought it was just out of place, so he went to Phoenix Children's Urgent Care, where they took some x-rays and then determined to ship him to Cardon's Emergency Center via ambulance... luckily they gave him morphine, so he wasn't in much pain. Once at Cardon's they took more x-rays, and determined he would need surgery, and would be admitted. He was given a room, and awaited the next morning for his surgery from Dr. Gregory Hrasky. The surgery went really well. They put 3 pins in his elbow to hold the two bones together, put a cast on, and he was sent to the recovery room. Once they could finally wake him up (by using a cool rag) we were able to go in and try to talk to him. Then we spent the rest of the day in his room watching movies and him sleep most of the day while we were thinking we would be able to go home that night. The surgeon came in and spoke with us later that afternoon, and said he would like Xander to spend another night in the hospital because he was still really swollen in his hand-and they wanted to make sure that would go down more before releasing him. So Cody spent another night in the hospital while I went home to sleep with the girls... the next morning, we found out we could go home :) He's been such a trooper, and all the nurses and staff were amazing and super friendly. For such bad circumstances, it was a great experience! We left and went to CVS to pick up his prescriptions (one for pain and the other for itchiness-Hydrocodone and Hydroxyzine)... Xander has been so tough throughout this whole process. He never screamed... he was SO BRAVE!!!! (and he LOVED being able to order his own meals to come to his room)

Utah Visit 5/12-5/15

My brother Nathan and Jason decided to surprise my mom with a visit, and Nathan was going to take out his endowments while there,... well, the American Fork Temple called and my mom answered, and my mom figured out what was going on, so she contacted us girls to surprise Nathan and Jason... everyone was going to be there! We haven't all been together in 4 years... (just prior to Jason's mission). You should have seen their faces as we started appearing.

It is so much fun spending time with my family, and I love that we were all able to be together! I also loved being able to go through the temple on my youngest brothers first time. I've been to every one of my siblings first times... its been wonderful experiences every time!

My kids loved having their aunts and uncles and grandparents just adoring over them, and enjoyed every minute of their attention.

We had my mom's famous homemade stew, played Valerie's new Wii game - Just Dance, went to Trafalga (where Hailey won the 1000 tickets from a game) (got a total of 3766 tickets), played laser tag and bumper boats, went to Porter Rockwells Steakhouse (yum!), and LOVED spending time together as a family!

We had lots of fun staying up all night EVERY NIGHT playing cards, watching movies, and reminiscing about our childhood. What great memories we have had growing up, and made while in Utah during this trip! I'm so glad we all got together!!! It was sad to have such a short trip, but well worth the 10.5 hour drive!

Back:  Jason (22), Richelle (27), Dad (50), Mom (49), Lauren (26), Nathan (19)

Front:  Jamie (24), Dogs-Ammon and Beauty, Valerie (will be 14 on May 29th)

If we lived back then...

My sister Lauren has a funny app on her phone... we laughed and played with the app with many different pics, but here is what she did with two of them this morning at 2:30am!

HAHAHAHA...

Law School Graduation

Today is Cody's Law School Graduation from Barry University in Orlando, Florida.  Unfortunately we weren't able to make it (we're visiting family in Utah), but we are SO proud of him!!!

Results

Today we checked online to see if Cody passed the February Bar... unfortunately his name was not on the list... he missed it by less than 6 points... pretty funny... he needed a 410, and he got a 404.1. We know that it was just not meant to happen, and we are so grateful that the July Bar is just around the corner! Cody knows that if he would have passed this bar, something would have happened that wasn't supposed to happen. We know everything happens for a reason, it's all part of Heavenly Father's plan for us, and we are very optimistic about the July bar! We are so grateful to have the Lord to put our trust and faith in!

Mother's Day

I got a yummy breakfast this morning... WAFFLES!!! We went to church, and the primary had put together a book with different questions for each class about their moms...

Hailey's Question: What does your Dad like about your Mom?

Hailey's Answer: Her beautiful face, eyes, and hair.

Xander's Question: What is your Mom's favorite treat?

Xander's Answer: Chocolate

For Lunch I got Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup... YUM!

For Dinner we went over to the Payne's house where Cody's whole family got together and we had yummy salad "Cafe Rio" style.

It was a GREAT Mother's Day!!!

Afternoon Movie

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson took Hailey and Xander to the movie theatre this afternoon to see Disney's "African Cats". The kids enjoyed spending time with their grandparents, eating popcorn, watching the movie, and getting slushies afterward. They love their Grandma and Grandpa!

While they were at the movies, Cody and I were able to spend some alone time with Brielle. We decided to look at some "model homes" for fun. We were surprised at how we forgot how EASY it is with just one kid! As much as we love spending time with all of our kids, it was fun having Brielle in the middle of us, holding both of our hands, just walking around the model homes.

Medical News

I took my glucose test recently and my sugar levels were high (by 5 points... they want below a 130, and I had a 135 - I knew I shouldn't have had 2 glasses of chocolate milk the day before!), so I have to go in for a 3 hour blood draw next week sometime. If I fail that, I will be diagnosed with gestational diabetes (diabetes when you're pregnant-my mom had that with Valerie). So, FUN FOR ME!!! Boo.

Brielle's been throwing up, so we decided to call the pediatrician yesterday. She said this bug is going around, and prescribed Zofran. The pharmacy gave us the generic brand of it - must be because of insurance coverage... I don't know... but we gave her a pill last night, and she hasn't thrown up since! (FINGERS CROSSED AND KNOCK ON WOOD!!!) I hate when my kids are sick. I feel so helpless and I am constantly on my knees, praying in their behalf. I wish I could take away the pain and discomfort! I would gladly take it so my kids wouldn't have to suffer.

Swim Lessons

So Xander has been taking swim lessons to refresh him from last summer,... he takes his lessons on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from Miss Allison. As you can tell from the pictures, he LOVES it. He is always smiling and willing to try new things. He has learned so much, and progresses every time. He has his freestyle down, although he loves to not take breaths. He waits and swims till he reaches a side. He is learning backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Super cute and funny to watch. Especially the butterfly stroke. At the end of each lesson he gets to choose a licorice from the teacher, and if he's lucky, he gets a popsicle too :) Way to go Xander! You'll definitely be ready for Lake Powell this summer!!!