Why I Love our Sand Pile

Joey plays for hours on end in our sand pile!
We love that it can be a ...
1. Fire/Police Station
2. Restaurant
3. Construction site
4. School
5. Amazon Jungle
6. River
7. Antarctica (note the snow shovel)
8. Skateboard Park
9. Mountain Biking trail
10. Pirate Ship
11. An archaeological digging site for all sorts of treasures, including lost shoes and flip flops
12. I am sure there are more things it has been, the possibilities are endless

Happy Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter Weekend. We had Norm's family in town because his boys were playing in baseball tournaments. There is an awesome splash pad, stream and climbing rocks downtown that the kids played on.

We also did some yard work and planted some trees. Joey was a great helper!

Traitor or just Converted?

Now that my brother-in-law Sam coaches at Orem High School

and I no longer have any siblings at my High School

I think I am now converting to be an Orem Tiger. Joe is so happy! Life just couldn't be better. Joe's 20th reunion is this year and we have sent in our RSVP. It won't matter to me if I get an invitation to my High School reunion because I have no desire to go. I keep in contact with the few people I care about from my high school days. Plus, I guess it is a pride issue because more people from MY high school know Joe than me. If you need proof ask Joe about being in Eddie Bauer with me last October when a woman working there from MY high school recognized HIM and not ME. Need I say more?

Roar! Go Tigers

Run Run Run as Fast as You Can

Matt, Sharon, and Laura

Laura & Sam and Sharon & Matt came and visited us for the weekend. Laura, Sharon & Matt all ran a 10K .

It was a fun weekend even though Joey's soccer team, the Cougars basketball, and the Jazz lost. BOOO!

Sam, Julianne, and Laura at Joey's soccer game.

Happy St. Patricks Day

When you are 5 years-old St. Patricks Day is a big deal. Joey couldn't wait to get his green on. He thought the rule was that you got to pinch people on every body part that wasn't covered with green -- got that misconception cleared up. I loved being in the grocery store with him and he pointed out all the people who weren't wearing green. He kept asking me if he should go tell them it was St. Patricks day.

Here is a picture of Joey wearing green on St. Patricks Day.

This is a boy who loves his hoop!

Happy Birthday to Sharon!

Today was Sharon's birthday. Joey and I made her animal pancakes (yes I know the picture is a waffle, but Joey insists they are called pancakes.)

I took some great pictures with Sharon's camera, but she refuses to share the pictures. Every party needs a pooper .....

Joey made her a special picture all by himself.

March Madness

Joey LOVES basketball. OK he loves all sports. Last weekend when we went to Costco to buy some napkins we also decided to buy a new hoop. Why is it one cannot go into Costco without buying more than what was originally intended? We had Matt and Sharon were here and Matt helped Joe get it all put together.

And the finished product

Now this is a boy who LOVES his hoop -- after playing soccer and shooting hoops this is what Joey looked like on Saturday night.

Reverence is More Than Just Quietly Sitting

So yesterday in church Joey opened his scriptures and was looking through them during sacrament meeting. I was feeling so proud of myself for having such a reverent son until he leaned over and whispered ...... "Mom" then he points to the page number 1006 "That is the high score you need on the Wii for bowling to get a sparkling ball."

Money Talks for a Walk ....

For those of you that don't already know, Joey is scared, terrified, petrified, paranoid, etc. of dogs. Our neighbors have the cutest little dog named Tootsie. She is a nice small dog. When we go to their house Joey insists on being on Joe's shoulders.

So last week they asked Joey if he would be interested in helping them with their dog when they go on vacations and that they would pay him $10 a day. (Yeah, so how many of you are thinking I need that job!) They told him he would need to practice taking care of her so they would know if they could hire him. So Saturday AM they asked him to take her for a walk for $5. Joey said yes at first and then got nervous and wouldn't come near Tootsie. So Joe and I ended up taking her for a walk. Well there was no way we were going to let our neighbors pay Joey $5 for not talking this dog on a walk so Joe finally said to Joey that he had to come and hold the leash and walk her down the street or no $5. We'll money talks .... Joey did it!!!! I ran in the house to get a picture to prove it. We are so proud of him! I am sure we are not out of the woods yet conquering this fear, but we have made huge progress.

Soccer Season Has Begun

Joey had his first Spring soccer game last Saturday. He loves it and he is so fun to watch.

I Don't Need Oxygen Anymore .....

So I have been tearing the house apart for several days frantically looking for our CD case that we keep in the car. It has my Donny Osmond CD's in it and I have been having a craving to listen to him. I had thought up all kinds of stories in my head about how someone probably stole it out of our car and how disappointed they would be when they opened the case and saw CDs of Donny Osmond, Wicked the Musical, a few other musical CDs,some Mormon Tabernacle Choir CDs, etc. Well I mentioned it to Joe, remembering that we cleaned out the car several weeks ago ..... We looked in the garage and there on the lawn mower was the CD case. WHEW!!!! What a relief. I now have Donny back. By the way, Joey loves to sing along with Donny. I guess I have corrupted or converted him however you want to look at it. PS Joe LOVES Donny, too.