Jaden's Arrow of Light Ceremony

Jaden received his 'Arrow of Light' award in scouting this past week.  He has been working hard with his leader and the boys in his pack to achieve this.  The ceremony was really cool and Jaden felt special as his Grandma North and Grandma and Grandpa Brown were able to come support him.  Here he is receiving his feathers.  He is sitting second from the right.

Trying not to smile for the camera.

Look at the cool boards with a real arrow and arrowhead each of the boys received.  This part was so exciting for the boys!

Feeling the love!  Left to Right:  Matt, Grandpa Brown, Jaden, Grandma Brown, Maddie, Grandma North, Me, Rendon.  Way to go, Jaden!!!!

ECLIPSE!

So if you know me at all, you know I DO enjoy the Twilight series.  I enjoyed the books a lot, and I enjoy the movies mostly because the books were so good.  The movies never quite compare to the books, but hey-whatever!  I mostly enjoy all the ridiculous chaos that people tend to create when the movies come out so I go and be a part of it because that's half the fun, right?!
And of course reading the books and watching the movies has been something that Maddie and I do together and it's kind of a fun way to 'bond'.
I have a very obsessed, over the top friend, Amanda who really gets into all the mania.  Her daughter, Kamri is one of Maddie's really good friends so we decided to 'Eclipse it' at midnight on opening night.  Here I am with Amanda, her sister, Hannah, and Rendon.  Notice his shirt: "Twilight Baby".  I got that for my baby shower!  :)  (No, he didn't attend the show with us).

Amanda (my obsessed friend on the left) scored us some tickets to an earlier show before our midnight show with our daughters.  Here we are in the car on the way.  Getting excited!

The movie is about to begin.  Notice the cute cups?  They were $5 each dang it, but how could you pass that up?!

And here we are at the midnight show.  Actually it started at 12:35am...crazy?  Yes!  Will we do it again?  Definitely!!!!   Kamri, Amanda, Me, Maddie.

All in all the movie was really good.  They get better and better and it's a lot of fun to be a part of the craze!

Fast fingers

Well I feel horrible because I was straightening my hair on the couch with Rendon nearby.  Of course, he's at the 'grabby' stage and boy is he quick.  He grabbed the flat iron for a split second as it was going through the air up to my head.  I swear it was so fast, but he still reached out just enough to grab it.  He cried such a horrible, painful little cry and I just felt absolutely awful.  Luckily we iced the fingers and he seemed to calm right down but the pain came and went for two straight hours.  It seemed like two straight days.  Poor baby.

And here is after the blisters popped.  The hard part was keeping his hands out of his mouth and keeping his fingers clean and dry all the time.  Rest assured I will make sure I do my hair in the bathroom away from the baby from now on!!!

Commencements

Wow, time just doesn't stand still for anybody!  I can't believe Maddie is done with Middle School and on to High School!  She had her 8th grade graduation at Excelsior last week and was called up with some other students, to be recognized as receiving only A's and B's all year long.  Go girl!
Below: One of her favorite teachers, Mr. B- addressing the 1st graduating class @ Excelsior Academy.

Here's Maddie accepting her plaque for good grades all year long.  (Maddie, you kinda look short!  :))

And here is Maddie with her beautiful flowers she received from her Grandma North and Aunt Pam.  Well done, Maddie!!!!!

In other graduating news, here is my niece, Mindy Beckett (as Valedictorian!) giving her graduating class of 2010 some fantastic advice and hope for the future!!!  You did so great, Mindy!

And here is my nephew, Andrew Beckett who left just yesterday to the MTC and then off to his Mission to Orlando, Florida!   ....Oh and in case you're wondering why there are two Andrews, the taller Andy is his cardboard cutout that will be accompanying his family to  togethers and whatnot while he is away!

Rendon is six months old!

Here's my sweet, baby boy.  Man this kid melts our hearts on a daily basis.  He is such a happy tiny person and he giggles and laughs and chatters his little head off.  And his hair isn't coming in anywhere except the very top so it looks like he's got a mohawk.  He slobbers all over the place but we don't care!

Dance, dance!

These first two pictures are taken right before Maddie's dance recital.  She performed two numbers and unfortunately, I didn't get her in her other costume before she changed.  On her second dance number, Jaden joined Maddie and performed a cute dance.  I was unable to upload it here for some reason but it is on my facebook!

Here is Maddie and Allie at their dance competition last month where their team took third place!      Can you tell they are proud to be a part of Grantsville Dance?!

Piano Recital and Mother's Day

Well, to make a long story short, Matt bought himself trees for the yard and tried passing it off as a Mother's Day gift for me (he's been wanting more trees for a while now!)....and I pitched a tiny fit. I told him earlier in the week that all I wanted was a thumb ring since I lost the one I had a while ago. Well, he must not have heard me correctly. I'm thinking he must have mistaken 'thumb ring' for 'green thumb' which would explain the trees. Nice try, honey! So I came home from church on Mother's Day to find some flowers and a card with money in it! Hooray!!!!

When the kids and I came home from church, Colton was over so I was able to get a picture of all my kidlets together for a Mother's Day picture.

And last but not least, Maddie and Jaden had their Spring piano recital on Saturday. My cute niece, Mindy has been their teacher this year and we will be so sad to lose her since she's going away to college in the fall. We love you, Shoobie!!!!