WE FINALLY GRADUATED!!!!!

After 2 years of school, Justin finally graduated with a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA). We have had such a wonderful experience here in Utah. When we were getting ready to move I was sure I would hate it here. Boy was I wrong! I have met many wonderful people and been able to spend time with family and get to know them better. I will really miss Russ and Carrie who were newly married in Hawaii (pictures to soon follow) and Amy, Jeff and the kids. It has been such a wonderful blessing to be here.





Interesting fact: Amy has seen all of her brothers and sisters come to Utah and leave. All of them have graduated from BYU except for Cameron who is currently serving a mission in Oakland, California.

Before Commencement we went to the Hinckley Building to meet Cecil O. Samuelson (the president of BYU) and afterwards we had to walk over to the Mariott Center for Commencement and the best way to get there was to cross over on the bridge so we don't have to cross in front of traffic.

Every day when we would drive Justin to school Danny would always say Nusical Nower Coser. I had no clue what he meant. He would say it right before and after we dropped him off. Finally, after months and months of listening to him say it, I figured out that he meant.

Musical Roller Coaster from The Little Einsteins. In one of the episodes, the Einsteins fly in Rocket through the sky and there is what looks like a roller coaster made out of music notes that they go through. The roller coaster has loops and turns just like the bridge that crosses over to the Mariott Center. I'm so glad I got some pictures of him on it.

Danny didn't go to Commencement but went to the Convocation for the Mariott School of Business. That was the ceremony where Justin got to walk up to the stage, get his name read, and get his diploma case. Danny sat so well. The speaker was a CEO of some company and was very involved with the Alumni Association. He was a good speaker but talked a little bit longer than I would have liked. He actually talked longer than Elder Bednar at Commencement. After the Master's degrees were read Danny and I left to go outside to stretch our legs and burn off some energy. Where we walked out there was a hill that went up to the sidewalk and street. There were several kids running up and down the hill and rolling down it too. Danny thought this was a great idea and started rolling down the hill. After a few minutes of rolling he practically rolled into this little girl who was running up and down the hill with her grandpa. Riley saw Daniel and grabbed his hand and took him up the hill too. Danny thought it would be fun to join them and for the next 20 minutes they ran down the hill each holding on to one of grandpa's hands. It was a very cute site. Grandpa had on a suit and tie and was running down the hill with these two toddlers. After about 10 minutes of running, grandpa took off his suit coat. Good thing he did because the kids' legs were starting to get tired and they would run a few feet and then fall down. He then picked them up and they kept running till the other fell down. They had a wonderful time. After they were too tired to run around, they sat down and started picking up clumps of grass and throwing them into the air. Finally the ceremony was over and Daddy found us and we went home to celebrate and ate sandwiches from Gandolfo's.

Boxes

I got home from Hawaii today. Russ and Carrie got married on the beach and they looked absoutly perfect. Hawaii was gorgeous too.

Justin and Danny picked me up from the airport and Danny was fast asleep when they got there. We came home and I was catching up on email when Danny decided he wanted to put boxes on his feet and walk around. Why????? I don't know. Just because I guess. He is always cracking me up.

Rolling Down the Mat

In this video Danny is practicing his rolling. He doesn't quite know how to do a somersault yet but he likes trying to roll down the mat.

Tumbling Continued

When class began there were stars and clouds on the sides of the balance beam. Up to this point in class we were jumping over whatever shape was put on the beam. Danny took them all and put them back onto the beam and tried jumping over them. We tried doing toe dips but he didn't like that too much. I tried doing them with him holding onto his hands but me going backwards, holding onto him and doing toe dips didn't work very well. He did, however, let me let go of him and he would shuffle sideways along the beam by himself.


This is Danny standing on the horse. There were stairs he climbed up and once he got to the top he had to hold on to your hand. At first we had to pull him towards us to have him jump off. By the end of class he would stand up there for a few seconds and finally he would hold onto just a finger. Don't get me wrong, he didn't feel comfortable just holding onto one finger but he wanted to jump and still hold on to something.

At the end of class today Suzzie blew bubbles and the kids loved it. She even blew them while Danny was on the horse and let him jump down and pop the bubbles with his body. He thought that was fun.

Tumbling

When we first got to class today Danny saw the "Mail Box". He calls it that because it looks like a mailbox. What you are supposed to do is a back bend over it. Today it was in a different spot than on Monday so Danny picked it up and moved it back to the other spot. Suzzie (the teacher) moved it back but Danny decided he wanted it by the bouncy floor so that's where it stayed.


Today is Space Day (see prior post) and so they are on the bouncy floor walking like "Star" fish. (they did under water day last week) They would jump and run across the floor and pretend they were astronauts.

The first day of class, Danny wouldn't try holding onto the bar for more than 2 seconds. He still doesn't feel comfortable with it. He does like to swing like a monkey for a few seconds then he is done. Of course when he is swinging, Mommy is holding his legs up and pushing him backwards and forwards. Suzzie is terrific with the kids. He will let her put his feet up and touch the bar. They don't stay up there for more than a few seconds but he is starting to get more comfortable with it.

Tumbling

On Monday and Wednesday mornings Danny and I go to Tumbling Tots. The first time we went was when my mom came for a visit. He was very cautious and wouldn't come and sit and do the warm up activities. 3 weeks later, there has been a drastic change. Not only does he sit and do the warm up activities he is getting braver jumping off the horse while only holding one of my fingers. His teacher is so awesome and so good with the kids. His class is really small, only 4 kids which is perfect.

Today was Space Day. We started in our rocket ship on the ground and were flying (flapping our legs) and Woosh! We dove down (and touched our toes) because we almost hit a butterfly, We flew a little bit more and Woosh! We dove down because we almost hit an airplane.

After all that flying we were hungry so we opened our legs to look like a pizza and reached up above our heads and took down from the cupboard some pepperoni or cheese or sprinkles or whatever the kids come up with. We then pat them on our pizza (stretch down our legs to our toes). Then we need dessert so we make a banana split. We kneel on one knee and stretch the other leg out like a banana. We then reach up into the cupboard and put on whatever the kids want. They pat it down on their leg to their toes. A lot of the time the kids want pepperoni and sprinkles and ice cream and whipping cream with a cherry on top.

Chitty-Chatty-Bang-Bang

Amy needed to go to a friend's house and Erin wanted to tag along. Erin waited in the car and when Amy didn't come back right away Erin came out and did her Chitty-Chatty-Bang-Bang routine and waited a minute and did it again and then a minute later did it again.

F.H.E. Family Style

Last night we had the Petersens over for dessert and ended up doing F.H.E. too. We had lots of fun and afterwards we ate ice cream cones outside because it was such a lovely evening.

The kids played Hide and Go Seek and kicked around the soccer ball. I will definately miss my family when we move to California.

Boot Scoot Boogie

I was pretty tired Sunday afternoon so Justin and I laid down in bed for a few minutes. "No rest for the weary." Danny came in and said he wanted to wear his Mickey Boots. He wore them last winter and are a size 5. He now wears a size 8 1/2 Wide. We told him to go bring us his boots. First he brought one Mickey boot and we tried explaining to him that they didn't fit and that he should get the cowboy boots. He left and came right back with the other Mickey boot. We explained the whole "too small" thing again and asked him to bring the cowboy boots. I explained they were black and had white designs on them. He left and came back with a Mickey boot. again so I got up and showed him the cowboy boots and put them on him.

Like I said, no rest for the weary. For the longest time Daniel would say he wanted eggs but when we would make them he wouldn't eat them. So... I stopped cooking them. Then Easter came along and he tried hard boiled eggs again and discovered he liked them. He and Justin ate all of the ones we made so I asked Amy (my sister-in-law) to bring some of hers over.
Danny wants blue Eser Eggs. So, as you can see he loved sitting back, relaxing eating his eggs.

Sleeping Like A Baby

Last night I went to tuck Danny in before I went to bed and I found him sprawled out on his bed with his crane.

Today I went to a Stake Relief Society activity and heard about 7 minutes of the keynote speaker I was called over to the nursery. Danny was screaming when I got there. He fell and hit his face on a chair and cut open his lip/chin area. Everyone there was freaking out and surrounded me with concern. I actually kept my cool and didn't freak out. I carried him to the car and we went to the doctor post office (that's what he calls the doctor's office. I don't know why he calls it that but he just does).

One nice thing about the doctor's office is that they have suckers, an elevator, and automatic doors. The first thing he went to was the suckers. At one time he had 3 in his hand. I kept telling him that we had to ask the doctor if he could eat have one. That made him stay calm and wait to see the doctor. The first thing I said to him was to ask him if we could have a sucker when we were done. He was very brave. He laid back on the bed and let the doctor clean his cut. When he fell his teeth were over his lip and he didn't bite all the way through his chin, just right under his lip. The doctor said he didn't need stitches but that we need to keep it moist with Neosporin for a few days.

After we came home our Relief Society President (my friend who lives 3 doors down) came over and said that the Stake RS Presidency was so concerned and wanted to make sure that we knew that the Stake would cover any medical bills incurred.

Danny decided to take a nap at 5:00 tonight. He laid down on the floor and fell asleep watching "Dinosaurs". He slept for about an hour and then was good to go. The unusual thing about tonight was that and I watched "Finding Nemo". He never watches cartoons except for Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse. It was nice to actually watch something different for a change. At about 9:00 Justin suggested we go get a treat and Danny wanted donuts. When we got home there was a message on our voice mail from our bishop calling to make sure that Danny was OK and wanted to see if we needed to meet with him about the medical bills. It was about 10:15 so I thought about not calling him back and just catching him tomorrow at church but Justin said I should call him back so we wouldn't be discussed in P.E.C.

My Cheeky Monkey

What is one thing monkeys like to do? Can you say "Excrement"!! In this case, my little monkey was in his room for room time and came out with a weird look on his face and held up his smmelly pooie hand. YUCK!!! So I went in and yep, wiped on the carpet was ..... anyway, you know.

I quickly cleaned him up and put him in the tub. After the tub I was changing him on his bed and he saw the Monkey costume and wanted to wear it. Why not? This was his costume when he was 1 1/2 and it still fit him. Right after I put the costume on I ran and got the camera and suggested that he look in the mirror. Actually, he first admired himself in the T.V. and then in the mirror (like I really had to suggest it). He thought his costume was the greatest thing ever.

Enjoy!

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GENERAL CONFERENCE

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. It was 48 degrees and sunny. Today was General Conference too. Our new prophet, Thomas Monson, was sustained in a general assembly. It was a very neat experience and when they announced his name as prophet my skin tingled and I KNEW he was the Lord's anointed.

Between the 2 sessions Justin and Daniel played outside while I ran errands. Danny rode his tricycle and when a biker with a helmet on rode past our driveway Danny wanted to wear a "hat" just like the biker. Justin took him inside and found his Reds hat. That became Danny's helmet. They had fun riding the tricycle and his car and kicking the soccer ball around.