End of School programs

On Wednesday, May 19th, Joe's kindergarten class had their class play. It was called "Cows in the Kitchen". It was really cute. Joe got to be the farmer. All of the kids did such a good job! Joe got excited and messed up at first, but got on cue and did an awsome job!

Here Farmer Joe is sleeping under the bale of hay while the animals are sneaking into the house.

This is his embarrassed smile!

Farmer Joe is sleeping again!

After their play they sang us some fun songs!

Man, he looks really tall in this picture! Good Job Joe! I'm so proud of you!

That same night Sierra had her end of the year orchestra concert. It was the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th graders.

"Hey look, my mom is sitting right in front of me! Great!" ;)

Trying to watch the older kids perform! They did an amazing job! Mr. Wenstrom, their conductor is an amazing man! He's so good with these kids and loves to teach them new things. He had them playing the song "Uprising" by Muse....it was awsome! If you don't know the song, check it out on youtube. I love it!

Great Job Sierra! You are one talented young lady!

The next Monday was Grace's turn. Her class did the Little Red Hen. Because of how many kids there are, they had to do it in shifts. So they had two sessions that day and each session did the play twice, with different kids each time! The 2nd time in the morning session was Grace's turn. She got to play the Little Red Hen in her group. It was very cute! They sang us some fun songs too when both plays were done.


Grace is a performer...she doesn't usually have a problem being out in front in the spotlight.

Great Job Grace! I'm so proud of you!!
I love all my kids so much! How lucky am I to get to raise them and watch them grow up and evolve into the amazing people they are becoming!

Getting ready....for everything!

Gary and his dad went for a ride up at the farm and they ended up finding a bunch of really nice elk antlers! They were both pretty excited about it! These are some nice horns for not really trying to to find them.

On May 15th, we were at my mom's helping her go through stuff again to try and get ready for the garage sale in a few weeks, when we got a phone call asking if we could go over to the Westover lodge and help them with the roof that was being fixed. So off we went. While I was cleaning up after the crew, I noticed this nice little moose going across the lawn. It was fun to watch for a little while, from a safe distance! Gary was on the roof and was so glad that he was. For some reason moose are attracted to him! ;)

After working all day on this, that and the other we all packed up and headed to the farm to sight in a few guns and just have some fun! Mom and Jess came with us. It was a beautiful day! We had to take full advantage of it while we could! I can't believe how rainy it's been.....so when the sun comes out to play, so do we!

Girls with guns! Don't mess with us!

Grace was being funny and writing things on my oh so clean car! Hahaha! She cracks me up!

I can tell summer is almost here.....

My schedule is getting packed! There are so many things to do that some days I have a hard time focusing on just one thing! I really need to start scheduling my day better! I'm finally getting mine and Sierra's skirts and bonnets done for the Pioneer Trek our Y.W. and Y.M. are doing in July. I have an order for 180 cupcakes for next weekend for my cousins open house. All of the end of school activities for my kids. Getting the ward campout organized that is in just over 3 weeks. Helping my mom get her stuff ready for her big garage sale in just over 2 weeks. I'm not kidding when I say that ALL of my weekends are booked until August! Plus I'm trying to get some more advertising done with my desserts. That is just the tip of the iceburg! Not to mention just trying to keep up with the housework. I love my little house, but there is just not enough room or places to put everything! It takes so little to make it look like I haven't done anything all day! It's really annoying and counter-productive most days it seems. I know it will be better/worse when the kids are out of school. And then trying to squeeze in there time for me to workout and get into shape.....it's a good thing I get up so darn early most days. I am not a morning person, but it's the only way I can get 1/2 of my list worked on! Okay, I feel better now. That's enough ranting. Now it's time to get on with my day and get something accomplished before the kids get up.

New hair cuts

I finally got the 2 girls in to get their hair chopped off! Emma still had lots of fine baby hair and it had stopped growing and was just breaking off at the ends....plus it's really thin still so it was kinda stringy and didn't ever look like we brushed it unless it was pulled up or crimped! And Grace has a ton of hair. It's straight on top and really wavy/curly underneath and such a pain in the but to take care of.


Grace with her haircut! She's so happy it's short again! It just looks so cute on her to have it frame around her face like that...plus it just piles up on itself so nicely...see below!

Emma's hair had gotten pretty long. Here is the first piece that was cut off. I'm so glad...it's so cute short and will be so much easier to take care of this summer!


She loves it too! Yeah!

Lookin' good girls! It was funny when we first showed up, I asked them who was going first and they both pointed at one another with Emma saying "Grace!" and Grace saying "Emma"! Hahaha! I made Grace go first because she is older and more "experienced" with having her hair cut. When Emma was in the chair she had a nervous smile the whole time. It was so cute. We'd ask her what she thought and she'd just smile and kinda shrug her shoulders. I think she was scared and excited all at the same time. Now she is just happy to have her hair cut and is out in the neighborhood trying to show it off! Love them!

Happy Mother's Day MOM!!

My mom is amazing! She's known happiness and heartache, joy and grief, yet through it all she's still the best that I could ever ask for! Some days she's so strong and full of energy and ready to do so many things....other days are too much and she just needs someone around to be a shoulder to cry on. I'm so grateful to get to see her at her best and her worst and everything inbetween. It helps me know and be okay with my strengths and my weaknesses. It's okay if things aren't always sunshine and roses. The rain is good...it helps the roses to grow! I love my mom. She is always there and always has an answer when I want one or an ear to just listen if that's all I need. She's a great cook. She's sarcastic and funny. I'm so much like her in so many ways and I'm so proud that I am. I'm grateful for all that she has or even hasn't done for me. She pushes me when I need pushed and just supports me if I need supported. I love how much she loves my kids. She can spoil them rotten and send them home to me. She's become one of my best friends. I was such a Daddy's girl growing up that I didn't really spend a lot of time with my mom, but as soon as I became a mother of my own, I definitely began to lean on her a lot and continue to do so to this day. I love you MOM! Thank you for all that you are! ~Niki

Check out my new blog....

I've started a new blog to advertise Desserts On Demand a little bit more. It's a work in progress! But check it out! Thanks!

Sierra turns 12!

Can you believe it? I can't! Sierra is 12!!! Holy Cow! When did I get so old?! I'm only 31! I don't really feel old....how do I have a daughter that is in Y.W.'s already?! Okay, I feel better now. ;) Sierra had a great birthday week. I say week because I let her skip school on Wednesday and we spent the whole day shopping for her. My mom and sister came along, and we had Emma tagging along too. It was a wonderful Girl's day out! We met up that morning at D.I. in Rexburg where Amanda and I kept Sierra pretty busy in the dressing room for a good hour! We were all really happy she only had her walking cast so she could take it off to try on everything....but it was a lot of hopping on one foot for her! She tried on a LOT of clothes....but ended up with a LOT of clothes. She was due. She ended up with a bunch of pants and capris, tees, a jacket, shoes, socks, underwear and then to top it all off.....she got her ears pierced! It was always the rule growing up in our family that you had to wait until you were at least 12 to get your ears pierced and I have stuck to that too! She was SO excited to finally get them pierced. Lucky for her, her birthday is in April and has the best birthstone ever....the diamond.....so naturally that is what she picked.


Sierra with her loot!

Proudly showing off the tiny stones in her ears. She had some extra money so she bought a couple of pairs of earrings for herself. She can't wait to get to wear those ones too.

So, on with the birthday week. Friday night she had a few of her friends come sleepover. They are all so goofy! It was a lot of fun with them all there.



While they were going through things looking for candy, they happened upon a few leftover fireworks and sparklers. What's better than fireworks for your birthday?!





They had fun giggling, talking, trying to scare one another and all the other girly slumber party things. I made Pink Lemonade Pie with raspberries for Sierra....that is what she requested...she doesn't like cake very much. The next day, her actual birthday, she was able to go to E.F.Y. up at BYU-I. She LOVED it so much. It was a great birthday for her! I love her SO much! She is such a good kid, she 's so smart and loveable. She's a great babysitter(for me and others)! She's kind of an "old" soul. I am so proud to be her mom! Love you Miss Sierra!