Princesses come in all shapes, sizes, and hairstyles

BeforeAfter




I was reading a Biography Morgan wrote this year in 4Th grade and one of the poems she wrote was so sweet I have to share it.

I AM



I am funny and impatient
I wonder what some of my friends are doing when I am at home
I hear people saying my name but they're not really there
I see shapes when I close my eyes
I want the world to have peace
I am impatient and funny.



I pretend that the world is nice
I feel happy when I'm with my friends
I touch water when it's not there
I worry if my friends say things about me behind my back
I cry (in my head) if someone is mean to me
I am funny and impatient.



I understand that Christ lived
I know that my church is the right one
I try to have people be my friend
I am impatient and funny.

At Commencement you wear your square-shaped mortarboards.

My hope is that from time to time you will let your mind be bold, and wear sombreros. ~Paul Freund

Brett is the orange robe near the middle. He was one of the first graduates to walk out, which meant that he stood for probably 15 or 20 minutes waiting for everyone to assemble. Yikes!

Brett Graduated with a 3.7 GPA, an Enhanced Diploma and as a member of the National Honor Society! Needless to say, We are extremely proud parents. He worked hard and he played hard.

I think he made good use of his high school experience.

There were the expected blow up beach balls and whales...as you can see in one of these shots. Then there's the kid we kept watching that spent a huge amount of time trying to blow up that green thing! He never got the job done before the passing out of diplomas abruptly stopped till the beach balls and whales went away. we booed at the interruption of fun...yes...it's true (hanging my head in shame) Brett was one of the last to get his diploma. Can I say right here that we love our son. He's a great kid and we'd sit through Commencement again in a second but MY GOSH! Does it have to take so blasted long??! Almost 700 kids graduated that day. That was awesome to see but seriously hard on the rear end.

PARTY AT OUR HOUSE!

Everyone likes Brett and although you don't see a bunch of teenagers at this party you have to know that all these "boring" adults respect him like crazy. Like Joe here pointing at you...he tells us all the time, "Brett's my Hero!" And he means it whole Heartedly.

OK...I'm going to explain these next 4 shots. No, I'm not. Just look at them one by one and see if you can figure out why they're so funny!

Jim...you're a dork!

and that's why we keep you around

One final word

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.~Dr. Seuss

Brett, we love you so much. You impress us every day. Go impress the world!

The Prize

The Ribbon says, "Reading makes me smile!!!"

What makes ME smile is that Morgan worked really hard all year to read for as many hours as she could to win this fun little flower. Reading isn't her fave thing to do but she kept it up and it paid off and is still paying off because reading is helping her bad eye get better! which makes me happy.

Like this flower makes me happy.

Morgan deserves this cool reading flower! way to go baby!

Morgan also deserves good friends because she's a good person.

Sweet and sensitive, she cares about others and cares how people feel. Morgan makes me want to be a better person then I am.

So she deserves good friends.

Morgan, Anna, and Victoria (She likes to be called Elizabeth...I don't know why)

Nate's home with Pink Eye. I went to get his Rx and when I came home he was passed out. I can't believe how big he's gotten. He's a great guy. It's hard to stay mad at him. Days like this remind me that

it's good to be a Mom :)

P.S. He doesn't know I took this picture. He's still not sure what that bright flash of light was that woke him up, but it was perfect timing because I needed help with the groceries!

To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action till the goal is reached.

The key is action.

And in my case the key is... Good Friends and Family pushing me when really, I'd be OK on the treadmill in front of the Big Screen!

I have goals. Not a lot, but a few. And every once in awhile I accomplish them. The last 2 Saturdays have been days of accomplishment for me.

For the last oh, I don't know 8 years or so, I've been telling myself that, "this is the year I will Run the Susan G. Komen Race for the cure 5k." But then it dawns on me...every year that I have this goal I've done NOTHING to prepare for it. Out of shape, out of time, to tired, to busy...and really... the honest truth is... I HATE TO RUN! Hate it! Hate Hate Hate it! Everything bounces, jiggles, jars. Calves hurt, Shins hurt, I get a cramp in my right side, and please! could we get a few more water stops out there???

So this year I was prepared, and I had my friends, John and Julie Hammond and Jim Andrus to push me along. Friends, who had already done this before, Friends who were kind enough to hang back with slow little me and to high 5 me at the end!

The Race for the Cure was HUGE! At least 10 thousand people it seemed. It was a giant wave of bodies, many with signs on their backs with the names of those sweet people in their lives who had either survived or had been taken by Breast Cancer. Signs like, "I'm running for my sisters Boobs!" "Save the tatas." "We are walkers for Peggy's Knockers." As clever as these people were you just have to stop, when you see all the names of all the mostly women who have just not made it. Mothers, Wives, Sisters.

We ran for them too. And it's hard to run when your all choked up. So I was excited to reach the end of the race, cause I wanted to see my sister friend Jen who was walking for a few of her relatives such as, her Mother Linda who is a SURVIVOR! and her older sister Julianna, Who was such a fighter, but didn't make it. A woman my age...Dying of Breast Cancer. I don't get it. I just don't get it.

That was my goal, and I made it! yeah me!

And then, Nancy called and asked me if I wanted to run a 5k with her the next weekend at Thanksgiving Point. I told her I would if I lived through the first one. I did, and Mike came with us to take pictures.

Did you see our time?! This was Nancy's first 5k and those long legs of hers made it hard for me to keep up with her! Especially when we walked...uphill...BRAT!

So back to what I was saying about our time. See the clock in the background? 34:27. what? really? My time last week was 36:49! So that's about 2 minutes faster than last week! Nancy's legs came in handy. wooohooo! Thanks Nance!

Just so you know, the only reason you see Nancy behind me in that shot is because she saw Mike and ran over to high five him. I was looking at the finish line and missed him all together. I'm a good wife.

We went up this flight of stairs to get to the car and the gate was locked! That's Nancy telling Mike not to take her picture. Whatever. It's Mike we're talkin' about.


I don't know whose car that is I'm leaning against. Yes that is how I look after I run. No...I don't what to know what you think about how I look.