Little softball player

 Last year Katie really wanted to play baseball but I decided I wanted her to be a little older so I told her she would have to wait until this year to play.  When it came time to sign up the boys for baseball, I couldn't believe how much it would cost for her to play.  So I decided to try softball with the rec center.  I signed her up with two of her friends so she was pretty excited.  She really liked it and had so much fun playing in the spring that we decided to sign her up for summer softball too!

 Every time she was on deck she would turn and give us a great smile and wave at us as she was walking up to bat.

 She did pretty good at bat and hit the ball almost every time she got up to bat

 She frequently played catcher in the spring.  She tried it once in the summer and got so hot that she said she was never going to be catcher again.

I love that fat little face smashed into the catcher's mask!  It is so much fun to watch Katie play softball.  I'm glad that she likes it and hopes she can stick with it for a long time!

Our first graduate

It's really hard to believe that the little boy that I just barely sent off to Kindergarten, graduated from high school.  I can still remember that first day of school.  He was so nervous and scared but he didn't cry or complain.  He just walked into the class and stood in line and looked at me with his big blue eyes.  He looked so nervous but he did it because he knew that was what he was suppose to do.  He continued to be like that throughout all his school years.  He has always been the kid who liked to do the right thing.

I wanted to have a party for Jadon to celebrate his graduation.  I decided to invite all the seniors in our ward who were graduating to join us.  Jadon has grown up with these kids

We had a bar-b-q and played volleyball and ultimate frisbee.  Everyone had a great time!

                   Most of the seniors from our ward (plus a few kids that came to the party)

The day of graduation, we took Jadon to Outback steakhouse for a late lunch.  Grandma Byers and Granddad joined us.

Handsome graduate!

Dale and Jadon

Dale, Jadon and me

Me and my little boy (ok, not so little)

Jadon and some boys from our ward that he has been friends with since 2nd grade
(Jadon, Nick, Zack and Andrew)

The graduation ceremony was actually pretty cool!  We had been told that it was always really long and boring so we were expecting the worst.  It was so neat to see all the kids come out at the beginning and to see Jadon on the jumbo tron at the Energy Solutions Arena.  I'm so proud of Jadon and all that he has accomplished.  He has always tried hard to get good grades.  He joined the ultimate frisbee team and became a good player.  I'm so excited for him to begin the next adventure of his life as he serves as a missionary in New Hampshire.  I couldn't have asked for a better son!

Mother's Day/43rd birthday

 I had a great Mother's day and birthday this year!  They were exactly one week apart this year.  The day before Mother's day, Dale took me out to breakfast at Village Inn.  It's always nice to go out with just the two of us.  My family was so nice to me on Mother's day.  They let me sleep in and got up and made breakfast.  Then after church, they started making dinner.  Every kid helped make part of the dinner and they wouldn't let me help clean up.  It's really hard for me to just sit on the couch and not help.  I love my family so much and I'm thankful for them every day!

 My birthday was on Sunday and I had a meeting in the morning so I wasn't able to sleep in.  Oh well.  When I came home from my meeting there were 4 cakes from Nothing Bundt cakes on the counter.  Jadon and Dale had a communication problem the day before and they both picked up 2 cakes.  We had yummy cake every day for a week!  Earlier in the year (March) Dale told me that he had bought Brian Regan tickets for me for my birthday.  We went  to the show at the end of April and it was so much fun!

 I had fun with my family for my birthday and Mother's day.  They are so sweet and I love that they know me so well and treat me so special on special days!