Hill Billy Father's Day

It's a Hill Billy Father's Day! Yepper......we came, we saw, and we hunted raccoons with our bare tooth. We tossed our manners out the window this Father's Day and celebrated Hill Billy style. The fellers had to play a banjo and make up a song, prepare for their raccoon hunt, and have a pie eating contest. The prizes (cash) were won evenly among the fellers. We laughed, we snorted, and we talked with our mouths full. Because we could. It was definitely a Father's Day to remember. We missed Tyler and his fam as well as our dad, but we still had fun. Yee haw!

The Famn Damly
Piggy Sista's from the Park (trailer park)

Momma Rae and the Pie Brothers Classy

Ode to the raccoon

John is an awesome dad. We love him for always making our trailer payments and keeping slop in our bellies :)

Annie

To say that Adessa loves "Annie" would be an understatement! She loves the movie and like every other girl on this planet is terrified of Miss Hannigan. When Granny Great saw that Annie was playing at the Empress in Magna she bought tickets for the gals. The Empress was a perfect theatre to take a 4 1/2yr. old to (unlike our experience taking her to "Fiddler on the Roof" at Hale). They sell popcorn, cookies, candy, and the cast lines up on the street after the show to bid farewell to the patrons. Addie loved it. I had to shush her a few times while singing the songs. Truth be told, she would have been an asset to the production :)

Here are the gals

Shammy, me, Addie, Gucci, and Great

Little orphan Addie

Little piggie and big piggie

Very excited
You can see the intensity in her little face, she was so excited

The show was okay, entertaining, and inexpensive. However, the occasion was a blast.

Put it Together

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Yep, we are moving to London. John's job is relocating us to the UK (pending we approve the relocation package). They have given us an opportunity that we cannot refuse. YES, I am sad, horribly. However, I cannot deprive my hubby of this opportunity and growth. It will be good for our family. More of the tears and mushy gushy sadness to come. In the meantime, I have to sell my house, cars, and put half of everything I own in storage. Just think of it like this, y'all will have somewhere to stay if you want to go to London :) Tally hoe.

A Date

John and I have reached that mark in our marriage where the non-verbal is used more than the verbal. For example, we go to a show that has an actress enter the stage who is cross eyed, John and I turn to each other with a cross eyed look and squeeze our cheeks to keep from laughing. That pretty much set the mood for "The Three Musketeers." It was a bad show, but a fun date. We were glad that Timmy and Rashawn could join us. These two awesome parents deserved a date night out and it was fun to spend the evening with them.

Puppies, Clouds, and Playgroup

Gucci's neighbor has a daughter that does a dog rescue. Whitney can get you pretty much any type of dog you would want that would be conducive to your family. I am not a dog person, or a pet person. I have issues with smells.....and animals smell. Kindergarten did me in when my music teacher had hamsters that produced an odor that rivaled the State Fair. I wanted to hurl each time I went in her classroom, and that was the end of me and animals. I have always had cats, dogs, birds, etc... but I don't like to pet or hold them. Addie LOVED the puppies. No dog for us, just admiring the puppies. If you are interested let me know and I will get you Whitney's information.



I love clouds. Grandma Great and I were walking around the Parade of Homes the year of the Tornado. Great kept commenting on the clouds and how strange they were. We love it when the clouds wig out and do something strange.

Every week we go to the park for playgroup with the women in the Ward. We always have loads of fun chatting and lunching and letting the kids run about.

Emma Lou "Purple Pig"

Laura

(just a few more weeks until baby Leif is born)

Millie Moo Moo
Kristen

The Pink Piggie and the Purple Piggie

Memorial Day

Adessa and I went with Grandma Gucci to decorate the graves. Each year on Memorial Day we go and visit my grandpa's grave. My mom has always decorated grandpa's grave with pinwheels for each child and grandchild. This year she did not write about the kids, but grouped us together as our own little families. To say that it has been a hard year for my mom with my parents split would be an understatement, but she is strong and will pull through. I can't imagine how hard it would be to go through hell without a father's shoulder to cry on. My dad is living away, but I am sure that he would at least listen to me cry for a moment and then move on. Just knowing that he is there has its comforts, but having him completely gone would be super hard. Just another reason to admire my mom. I sometimes wonder if it would be harder to lose a parent or a child, I guess in different ways we experience both before death.





I love seeing the families out with flowers and tears honoring those they love and miss. I miss my grandpa a ton, he loved me unconditionally and hated every boy I ever dated. A perfect grandpa right? My grandpa took me to the coffee shop every day, let me play in his work shop in the saw dust, allowed me to splatter the peacock eggs on the barn, make tree huts, pick whatever I wanted out of his garden, and eat anything in his fridge. I could be as loud as I wanted, as wild as I wanted, and I could sleep the night whenever I wanted. Every night was pork chops with potatoes, and Pepsi out of the bottle. I wish 100 such grandpa's for my kids.





My fathers parents are buried in Meadow which is a 2hr. drive so I don't get to visit them every year. My Pearson grandparents passed away when I was young so I don't remember them as well. Granny Pearson came to the states from Sweden when she was in her early twenties. She was disowned by her family, but didn't hesitate about doing what was right. She was a strong woman who loved the gospel. Grandpa Pearson was 6'4" tall and had a deep gruff voice. I was scared to death of him. I would like to think that I have some of each of their qualities. All of the good qualities and none of the bad right ;) I hope you all have the chance to visit and honor the graves of your loved ones who have passed.

Graduation Day

Yep, I bawled like a baby through the whole entire thing. I wish I could keep the tears back, but I can't. Addie lead the Blast-Off, they sang, performed the nursery rhymes, they danced, played instruments, and showed they were ready to move on to Kindergarten. *sniffle* Adessa has 1 more year of Pre-School, but she loved this year with Ms. Char. Everyone in Adessa's class moves on to Kindergarten with the exception of Adessa. Ms. Char was a gem to take Addie being a Sep. 20th Birthday, Adessa definitely needed something and Char was it. Love you Ms. Char.

My little piggie is becoming a big piggie. It hurts my heart, but I love watching the sweet and caring little girl she has become.

Gucci's 60th Surprise Party

The Gucci is 60! For Gucci's 60th John and I put together a surprise dinner for her with Shaman, Dode, and Great. We are few in numbers, but we still have fun. John went all out and made a fabulous grilled Salmon on Cedar planks, grilled brown sugar/cinnamon pineapple, and rice dinner. He also made Pina Colada's, and I whipped up Gucci's favorite carrot cake with nuts and raisins for dessert. We cannot even begin to express just how much the Gucci does for us. We love her! Gucci is wonderful with the kids, she is always calling to see if she can take them and give us a date night. Gucci has fun parties, and a raging testimony. We are beyond blessed to have such a wonderful matriarch. We would have fallen apart as a family without her. We love you more than you will ever know and than we could ever express.

Now, the real celebration begins when she takes us all to Disneyland to celebrate the BIG 60! October, here we come.

Concert Time

It is concert time! Adessa has had a fun year in dancing school because we have been able to take Emma to West Valley with us for dance. Emma lives across the street and she and Addie play really well together, taking Emma with us is easier than not :) The girls have loved dancing and hanging out at Grandma Great's house while I teach my classes. Great allows them to eat as many "Swiss Rolls" as they want, and they love racing through the house playing in Great's beaded necklaces. Saturday was picture day so I snapped a couple pictures of the girls in costume and performance make-up, we also had Jazz Attitude try-outs where we had 79 girls audition. Crazy busy. They all did a great job at the audition, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Our concert is at Hunter High School on Thursday and Friday night at 7:00 p.m. We had our stage rehearsal at the High School last night and it went swimmingly. I was really proud of my classes and my daughter (Emma too). Addie and Emma are dancing to "Gitchy Gitchy Goo" and are the second dance in the show of 30 dances and a finale. Our show opener is "Bad" and it is awesome! We are doing a Michael Jackson Anthology for the second half of the show. I have 2 dances in the beginning of the show and 2 in the Anthology. I love teaching, I love dance, and I can't wait to see my piggies perform from the side of the stage. If Addie doesn't remember her dance she will just stand there looking beautiful. I must admit that I did what any good mom would do and bribed her with "Chucky Cheese" if she looked at the audience and not the other dancers, we'll see how she does. Soooo, as we dancers and performers say, "Break a Leg!"

A Farewell to Bowling

That's right, my beloved bowling has come to an end! I have loved my busy Wednesday's bowling with these amazing women. Most days we laugh, a lot. Somedays I cry. These friends have been so much fun to solve the worlds problems with and guzzle down Diet Coke. Did I mention bowl? Oh yeah, we do that too. Apparently we do that pretty well, this year we won a prize for our High Average. Yep, 5 bucks a piece. Today I walked out the door with $13.75 in my wallet, not bad for a girl who chats and bowls on the side :) I will miss these lovely ladies this summer, but look forward to starting up again in August. Gooooooo Pin Pushers!

Party!

Yep, we do bowl.

Walking the walk

We wanted to send a video of Willie walking to his Crappa, but the file was too large for the email. Therefore we are posting it. Walking, waving, and getting into everything.....sigh.....exhausting. But I love him. Squish!

Mother's Day

I know that Mother's Day is difficult for a lot of women. Many women suffer with the lack of ability or opportunity to be mothers while others suffer with feelings of inadequacy and failure. Let's face it though, we are all here because of a mom. Therefore, this is a special day. My own cute little family surprised me with breakfast in bed (Adessa was elated), my sweet dad who is living in Ohio sent me a beautiful bouquet, John bought me a new washer and dryer (for the next 5 years worth of presents), and my mom took the gals to see "42nd Street" at PTC. I feel so grateful for my wonderful family. With tears in my eyes I can honestly tell you that I could only aspire to be 1/10th of the mom my mom was and is. My mom has always gone above and beyond to make life fun, special, and memorable for us. My mom always supported us in anything we wanted to do. I remember going into her craft room when I was no older than 8 years old, cutting into whatever fabric I could find, and hot gluing it together to make an outfit for my little sister. She never was angry with me for making messes to express my creativity. I try to remember this when Adessa is playing with glitter and paper, the creativity and self expression is more important than a clean kitchen. My mom delivered balloons on our birthdays to the school, made us green milk on st. patty's day, and had a special pillow with a pocket for valentines that she would slip treats in during the night. I feel exhausted even thinking about what she did for us in addition to operating a business, serving in the church, being a daughter to a mother dropping by each day, and a wife to a very busy travelling man. Mom, I love you. I know that in me you have created a monster, but I promise you I am a monster trying to emulate the best. Not an easy task. Happy Mother's Day to all of you BEAUTIFUL women in my life. I admire and respect so many of you friends in the blogosphere and thrive from your examples and friendship. If you aren't a mother than happy day to the Woman who made you great!