AJ's High School Graduation

AJ's graduation was great. These pictures tell a thousand words. He was very excited and surprised as his uncle Colt Covington showed up for the graduation. He flew in from Minnesota for some business and worked it so that he could also be here for the graduation. AJ just loves his uncles and aunts and they are truly some of his best friends. He plays games online with Colt and one of his other uncles, his Uncle Max. AJ is a people person and has always been called our AJ bear because he is so lovable. He was sad to miss his other aunts and uncles that mean so much to him but understands how life is so crazy. He was very pleased that his grandma and grandpa Glad and Covington were all able to come down for the graduation. We don't get to see them as much as we used to and we all love it when they can make it down.
AJ graduated with a diploma of merit in three areas. They are computer science, physical education and trade and technology.

Of course I had to make sure there was a picture of me and AJ.

Here is a great picture of my mom and dad. (Larry and Lavel Covington) with AJ.

Here is a great picture of AJ with his grandma and grandpa Glad.

Here is AJ with a picture with just him and his Uncle Colt.

Here is a picture of all of us. I am so GLAD to have such a great family.

The graduation was a nice event. They even gave a high school diploma to a war veteran that was shipped out to war when his class was graduating and he never received his diploma. This man was about 85 and finally received his diploma. It was quite emotional to all of us, when we realized what he went through for our country and the freedoms that we enjoy.

After the graduation, we came home and had spaghetti, breadsticks, salad and of course ice cream and cake to celebrate.

CONGRATULATIONS AJ, We love you!!!

AJ's Seminary Graduation

Here is a picture of AJ after Seminary Graduation in his new suit. Doesn't he look great. We are so proud that he made it through four years of seminary. He learned so much and had some great teachers that taught him a lot.
What a handsome kid!!!

Crazy Week!

This week has been real crazy but real fun. AJ graduated from seminary and high school and the next day we left for Disney World. I also have started school again and now that we are finally back from our trip I need to try to catch up. I will try to update my blog soon but Math comes first because I am way behind.

AJ's graduation was awesome. Thanks to all who came to help him CELEBRATE.

I'm Sick of this Weather

Can the weather just stay nice for more than 2 days? This year the winter has been so cold and so long and we have still had winter until just barely a week or two ago and then we get hot hot weather for a couple of days and now this. It is cold, cold here and it is the end of May.
This week seems like it has been the longest week and it is only Wednesday. I am struggling with the idea of AJ graduating tomorrow. It means he is grown up and will be leaving next year. It is so hard for me to believe. Don't get me wrong I am proud of him and excited but know that my time with him is so limited.

I still remember sending him to school on the first day and waiting with him at the bus stop and now I am waiting for him to graduate from high school. I am so thankful to be a mom but it is very heart breaking. I can't imagine my life without my kids at home.

This weather doesn't help all of the emotions and stress I am feeling. I am very excited that we are leaving on our trip to Disney World on Friday but that also brings a stress of making sure we have everything ready and know exactly where we need to be and when. It will be a nice and fun vacation. I think my friends here in Cedar City are ready to pack bags and come with me because of the weather we have been having.....

BIG HAIR or NOT???

Ok, I need some help here. Todd as you can see is growing his hair and growing his hair and growing his hair. If he has his way he will continue to grow it forever. He even has a friend at school that will pay him $10 if he keeps growing it. I keep telling him that he is going to get it cut when school gets out.

He is not happy with me. What do you all think? Tell me the truth.

Todd is such an awesome kid and never gets in trouble. What would you do? I just think that he looks so much better with short hair. I keep telling him that girls won't like the long hair and he doesn't think that I am right. I wouldn't mind if it looked well groomed most of the time but I don't think it does.

What do you think?

Now, I Know Summer is Coming!!

I woke up this morning and went walking with Karrilyn and it was actually not WINDY. It was beautiful. We walked four miles and enjoyed every minute of it.

I can always tell when Summer is close when there are baby lambs in the field by our home. I don't know why I get so excited to see the baby lambs, I love watching them following their mother all over. I guess that one of the reasons that I love seeing baby lambs is because it brings back memories to a time when I was a little girl and used to feed 50 or more baby goats by bottle and they used to think that I was their mother. I loved to hold them and to love and take care of them. There were days when I didn't want to do this chore, but for the most part, this was one of my favorite parts about living on a farm. I am so thankful for my great childhood memories and being taught truly how to work and to be able to work

I am so excited that Summer is on its Way Finally. It is so beautiful at this time of the year in Cedar City if only the wind would continue to STOP.

A Long Day Turned Out Not So Bad

Today was a long day. I took AJ shopping for his first suit. Yep, that's what I said(suit). We went to St George and looked at JcPenney and I thought that they tailored suits because they do in Salt Lake but they don't in St George. I found that out after quite a while of trying on suits and finding out that he is not as little as he used to be. We headed back to Cedar City without a suit and ended up going to Cardon's in Cedar. I figured they would be overpriced and that I would walk out as soon as I walked in but they weren't too bad. AJ loved the first suit he found and we bought it. He decided that he would like a suit for graduation from seminary and high school. Yep, there's goes any extra money I have for Mother's day. Oh well. He is worth it and he looked like a million dollars in it.

I also had a Young Women meeting for all of the stake Young Women and Young Men leaders in the entire southern area. We went to the Enoch Stake Center. WOW! What an evening! We had Sister Cook from the general YW presidency speak to us and it was great. I never had any idea with my new calling I would be in the same room with one of the general YW presidency. It was a very inspiring and uplifting night. In a setting like that they really get right to the meat of what needs to be happening, no sugar coating it. I came away knowing that we all need to make a difference in the youth's lives not just if we have a calling. They NEED US, all of us to make a difference in their lives.

Now that I am nursery leader in my ward and also YW stake 2nd counselor I have noticed how similar they can be and how very impressionable they can be at nursery age and also YW age. The thing that is the same is THEY ALL NEED TO BE LOVED!!!!

Hot Chocolate!

I really liked this story. I hope you enjoy your hot chocolate!!!

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups-porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:'Notice that all the nice looking; expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.
What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups...And then you began eyeing each others cups.Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to ho ld and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate we have.The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Thank the Lord for your blessings in 2008. And enjoy your hot chocolate!

I like my CUP OF HOT CHOCOLATE!!!!

I'm Spoiled!

My Mother's day started out with my kids knocking on my door at 9am. My kids brought me breakfast in bed. This has become a tradition on Mother's day and this year was great. There have been other years when the food has been not so great and we have had to try to get rid of it without the kids feeling bad. It was really nice to sleep in and then to do whatever I wanted to do all morning before church.

I really enjoyed church, even though my kids are too old to sing with the primary for Mother's day. It is nice in our ward because they have all of the priesthood sing on Mother's day every year so Mike, AJ and Todd were able to sing with all the rest of the priesthood. They sang "Oh How Lovely was the Morning". It was beautiful.

After church, Mike and the kids made me dutch oven chicken with cheese and mushrooms and Karrilyn made me homemade rolls. What a treat. They also bought me a ice cream cake and ice cream and the best part is to enjoy without making a mess. It was great.

My kids and Mike gave me flowers to put out on a hanger on my front porch. I really wanted some flowers or something outside to enjoy. My kids also gave me a necklace that said Mom on it and then a cute yellow shirt and a different necklace. I really miss all of the little cards and presents from church and school as now they are older but each one of my kids told me how much they loved me and appreciated me. I am so thankful to be a mom and of such GREAT kids.
Here is a picture of my cute kids at Cascade Falls.

I can't write about Mother's day without remembering my mom. I am so thankful for her and all she is. My mom is wonderful. She is who I pattern my life after. She is loving, kind, patient, humorous, talented and many many more. She has taught me so much as she lives her life as she has gone through many trials and continues to endure. She has taught me the love of work, love of music, gift of love, gift of patience, and many others.

Thanks mom. I love you always!!!

Through the Years I Have Learned

As Mother's day is approaching and also AJ's graduation from high school I have been doing a lot of thinking. As I look back through the years it is very hard to believe that AJ will be graduating and also turning 18. I can still remember very vividly the day he was born. What a beautiful red headed little baby. I didn't think that I could love another baby as much as I loved Karrilyn and then for him to be a baby boy too...
From the minute I held AJ(Andrew James) for the first time he has been very special to me as all of my children are and I was able to love him as much as Karrilyn.
I remember Mike coming into the hospital after working because I was still there because I had a C section so I was at the hospital longer than most women. Mike wanted to go and check on AJ in the nursery and so he did. He came back bringing AJ with him and told me that when he go to the nursery AJ was in a corner by himself and he was wondering what that baby was doing all by himself so he asked the nurse. She told Mike that that baby had been crying and keeping all of the other babies awake and causing them to fuss also. He went over to see what baby it was that was being put in time out (in a sense) and it was our little AJ.
We have always enjoyed having AJ in our family and when he was little and even know he is known as AJ bear because he is so loving and cuddly. I wish I had a scanner so I could post a picture of him when he was little, what a cutie!!!
One of the many lessons that I have learned through the years of being a mom, is to hold your little ones as much as you can and to love them to pieces because they will be all grown up when you take a minute to blink. Moms with little babies and children, are so often discouraged and frustrated with life of cleaning up messes, feading babies, and it seems that we will never have time in our life for us again, so we wish the time away while they are little and wish they were just a little bigger and before we know it they ARE and we wish they were little and that we could snuggle just once more with them.
I love my children as teenagers, but I would give anything to have them be little babies once again and be able to hold and snuggle with them.
To all you mothers with little ones, don't wish the time away, hold them tight and love every minute of it. They are only little once.

The Grades are In!!!!!

Well, the waiting is finally over. I did pass my College Algebra class. I am so glad to have it over. I didn't know if I would ever get through it. I did have my College Algebra professor call me "Good looking" though among some other things that I probably shouldn't publish. It always makes you feel good when you are my age and someone says those things. Don't worry he is a great guy, but if I was a teacher I don't think I would dare say some of those things that he said. He was an awesome teacher though. I also did well enough to keep my scholarship in my other classes, which is a good thing.
Karrilyn passed all of her classes with a C or better. You have NO idea how happy we are down here in Cedar City. My neighbors can probably still hear the screaming because we are STILL celebrating. Karrilyn has worked SO hard.

College Break! YES!

I can't believe that I finally have a break from school, but it will go by very quickly I am sure. This month will be crazy with all of the band concerts, choir concerts, and awards assemblies, along with seminary graduation for AJ and high school graduation for AJ. AJ is going to graduate on May 22 and the next morning we are leaving for Florida and Disney World. I bet you all wish you could come with us. We are going to be gone for a week and I am sure we will be loving every minute of it.
Summer session of school is going to start while we are gone but I will just have to make it up when I get back. There is no real good time to go on vacation this summer because I am taking classes all summer. I don't know if I will ever graduate but I won't if I don't continue.
Karrilyn and I are still waiting for our grades and waiting and waiting. We are so anxious to know how we really did this semester.
All of the other kids are anxious to get out of school too, but they do have a couple of fun trips to look forward to. AJ is going to SLC this week for choir they have made it to State and they are also going to Lagoon on Saturday, which is crazy because Angela is also going to Lagoon on Saturday with one of her many groups in school. I wish I could go!!!!!
Angela is going to Lagoon again next week and Todd is also going to Lagoon next week for physics day at Lagoon with Success Academy.
I hope they have left some room for amusement parks after Lagoon because we will be hitting the rides at Disney World in a couple of weeks.
I will let you know when we finally have our grades back, hopefully soon. Thanks for all of your support and encouragement through this semester with College Algebra, it has been a nightmare.

Blackhawk Helicopter Ride

Wow! What a ride! Last week I experienced a ride that I have never experienced before, a helicopter ride in a army Blackhawk.
Mike called me last Thursday and asked me if I wanted to go on a Blackhawk helicopter ride. I wasn't sure about this but he encouraged me and encouraged me and I decided to go for it. It was a great experience but I do have to say a little scary. It was so beautiful though, we went over Brianhead Ski Resort and also Cedar Breaks. The ride lasted about thirty minutes. I did get a little queasy when the helicopter dipped and came back up, it felt like the biggest roller coaster that I have ever experienced in my life and that is saying quite a lot.
I am so thankful that Mike encouraged me and is given all of these fun opportunities for both of us. It is so nice to experience a twist in life every now and then.