Bella's 2nd Birthday

Can you believe our Little Muggies is turning 2? She looks so happy to be one year older (well 7 if you count in dog years)

Yes, we are still one of those families who celebrates our dog's birthday... get over it. 

For breakfast we made Bella her favorite... Bread crusts. 

Our kids love toast for breakfast but they hate the crust, so we have to cut it off and usually Bella is right there to beg for a little piece. 

We took Bella to Petsmart to pick out a toy. She already has so many things but we ended up buying her a dog puzzle

Then we watched a dog movie for Family movie night. 

A few days later we had Grandma and Grandpa over for Bella's favorite dinner: Hobo dinners. 

Which she loved. 

And for dessert she got her own little doggie cookie. 

At two years old Bella loves: Sleeping. Seriously the girl can sleep all day long. She loves snuggling with mom and dad in our bed at night (which we swore we would not do when we got her...oops). Bella loves all sorts of human food, but her favorite is "nummy dinner." She knows quite a few commands like sit, stay, come, bang (play dead), party, bark, and our favorite.... High five. She loves people, but is scared of other dogs. Most of the time she likes her walks, but sometimes gets scared if we go at night. 

Oh Bella, we love you so much. You have brought so much joy into our family. 

Mother's Day

Mother's day weekend started out so fun because I got to watch my kids all doing what they love. The girls had their last dance competition, so we watched Makayla do her solo one last time. She did the best she has ever done and we are so proud of her. 

Then Saturday was a fun filled day of dance and basketball. The girls had their team dances and we loved watching them onstage one last time. 

In between dances we went to Caden's last basketball game. They had the best season and took 2nd place in their division!! Caden got a new high score this season and had so many good assists and steals. He is one fierce player on the court, which is so funny, because he is so gentle at home. 

This is such good group of boys and I hope they play together for a long time. 

Then it was back for more dance. 

Sunday the kids and Tyler made me breakfast and got my favorite drinks. 

Then I got to open presents and the kids spoiled me with so many great things. I got new perfume, capris, home made gifts and the sweetest notes. 

After church we were off to Tammy's house for a party to celebrate all the moms in the family and Grandpa Collard's 90th birthday. 

And I can't forget my mom. We celebrated her mother's day and birthday a few weeks ago. 

Thinking about my mom is hard. I miss her, even though she is still here. I miss being able to have someone to talk to and to share all the good and bad things that come with life. I can't remember the last time my mom called me just to talk, and that hurts. I see my friends with their moms and I'm jealous because my mom doesn't know who my kids are and she's starting to forget who I am. Even though I'm almost 40, I still need my mom, and I am just really missing her right now. I try to hold on to all the good memories I have with her like how we would go shopping and to lunch at Taco Time every Saturday. I remember the times we would go to the library and check out a stack of books and then go home and read on her bed. I loved the girls trip down to Mesquite we braved the horrible snow storm and how my mom won $800 that night. I admire my mom's courage and sacrifice as she helped to take care of her mom and dad and sister as they were passing. I've learned a lot from my mom from her example. She wasn't perfect, and there's a lot of things I do differently because I learned from her mistakes, but she is my mom and I love her... and I just really, really miss her. 

It's Starting to Feel Like Spring

What a crazy weather season we have been having. As we enter the end of April it is finally starting to feel more like spring. I snapped this picture on the way to work. Check out that amazing moon. 

Caden is so creative and smart because he figured out how to manipulate angles with my camera and made it look like Bella was driving this Lego car. 

How cute are these two working on the computer together. 

Brynnli had two of her friends, Hazel and Audrey, over for a late night. These girls are so cute and so funny. I could hear the three of them just giggling the whole night. 

We love watching Caden play basketball. His team is improving so much each game. They even got to play a double header at a tournament. 

I really love Caden's coach, Mike. He is patient with the kids and will often pull them out to explain how they can play the game better. 

Guess what we got again this year? Lagoon season passes. We finally made it up to Lagoon and our first ride was our favorite: The white roller coaster. 

Guess who is finally tall enough to ride Cannibal? Brynnli!! She wanted so badly to ride it last year but she just wasn't tall enough. She finally got to ride it and even though she was scared, she didn't let it show. After the ride she said it was amazing and she wanted to ride it again. 

We met up with the Jones family and these cute kids ended up riding Tilt a whirl 7 times in a row. I don't know about you, but I would throw up after riding it one time. 

Love all the pretty rainbows we have had with all of our rain storms. 

Makayla had her last solo competition and Craig and Terry came to watch. Grandma cried, of course. They were so proud and impressed with Makayla's dance. 

I think what I love most about dance is that the girls have made some great friends along the way. 

And you know it's officially spring when my favorite tree blossoms. 

We headed up to Lagoon one more time this month. 

Do you know what makes waiting in line go so much faster? Playing hand games with daddy. He is such a good sport.