My mom's surprise party is after "May is too Crazy"

May is too Crazy!!!

Payton's 2nd grade programPayton friend Lauren

Payton loved his teacher, Mrs. Westover

Payton gave me the cutest book it was a journal that he kept at school, I love it!

John, Lydia, and marcus at Marcus' kindergarten graduation

Brigham being occupied by a popsicle at the boys baseball game, we have one Mon, Tues, Weds, and Thurs.

John and I with John's sister Kris' baby sydnee on her blessing day

Lydia telling Uncle Ryan how her brothers don't let her play with them

Kaitlyn and Brig

Payton, Bryson, and Brielle celebrated their b-days together at Jump on it, and chuckt cheese. Thid is Lydia at jump on it

Love the costco cakes

ok, we were at chucky cheese with Toby and Josie Christensen, and Toby recognize a BYU football player he played with, and I guess he went on to play pro, so we had him sign Payton's football he got for his birthday. I don't remember his name, I'll have to ask John and get back to ya.

Payton in the ZONE

Greg we know how much you love CHUCKY CHEESE

Michelle and Brigham with their cute matching outfits

What a busy month, I am still trying to get the post done for my mom's birthday surprise, the biggest day ever, it was so much fun, but it'll probably be under this post so keep checking for it, hopefully tomorrow I'll get it up.

The surprise of a lifetime

About a month ago Grandma J thought it would be a fun idea to celebrate my mom's retirement from teaching 26 years of violin. In 1983, my mom decided that she wanted all four of her daughters to play violin. She bought two violins for Laur and I, and then bought a tiny little violin for Michelle that cost $250 (Laur has that violin, and has taught all three of her kids on it). She started teaching us, and decided to teach others. Her first students were the Kelly girls. Their mom did hair, so my mom just traded violin lessons for hair care. She taught using the Suzuki method. For the rest of my child hood I grew up listening to violin music .
As I was calling her old students, I was able to hear just how much she truly had an impact on all of their lives.
Well , with much planning, we were ready on Saturday. Laur and her family drove to St. George Friday night, and we all headed up on Saturday. We got there, and spent the day setting up and getting ready. I can't believe we kept it from my mom. Jordan was at my mom's on Saturday helping his dad work on my parent's deck, and my mom said after later that she was a little sad he didn't say anything about it being her birthday. (Good job Jo!) Well, we got it all set up, and there were probably 70+ people there ready to surprise her.
My dad took her out to eat along with Grandma and Grandpa J, and Grandma M. Grandma had told my mom earlier that she wanted to go to a concert that was being held at the City Hall.
They finished eating at 6:30, so my dad was sweating trying to think of how to stall for 30 minutes. We told him not to be there until five to 7:00. So he sat in the car for a while and slowly ate his mint he got from the restaurant, and when my mom asked why he wasn't going, he slowly put his seat belt on, and started going. To make life harder for him, we called him and told him we needed him to stall longer, and so he told mom he had to run home and get something for my brother Chris, and that did not make mom happy, she hates to be late especially when they are going somewhere with her mom. Then, I think he tried pretending he got sick from the restaurant and needed to find a restroom and literally stopped the car and started walking down the road. :) Oh dad, we love you and your efforts!!!

Well, they made it, and we were ready, and mom had no idea. It was so wonderful to surprise my mom like that. I tried so hard to add more clips of the program, but was unsuccessful. I think they were just too long. The first video is of course my mom's reaction. Then, we started the program. Dad got up and gave a few comments, and then two of mom's recent students played the violin. Then Doug (my oldest brother) got up and talked about mom telling him to practice the piano so he could palm the basketball one day. His daughter Sydnee(aside from being the best dancer/gymnast) played the piano, then Bryson(Michelle's boy) played the piano, and the second clip is of my Marcus playing. Laur's three kids; Caden(7), Matthew(4), and Sadie(2) got up and played the violin, so so so cute!!! Then Chris(my brother) got up and talked about playing the cello, and told of how he'll never forget- E 2 2 3 11 A 1 2 3 E E E. (that is one of the Suzuki violin songs we heard mom saying over and over in lessons). I told him I'd write down some stuff I wanted him to mention, but I knew he didn't need me too, he did a GREAT job, very touching and you could tell he loved his mom very much. Then Laur played a beautiful solo on her violin. Then Greg(my baby Brother) got up and gave a few comments, he did such a good job, he's got such a special relationship with my mom, he showed such gratitude towards mom, I don't think there was ANYONE who wasn't crying. Then Serena(mom's student), Lisa (mom's student), Laur(her daughter), Michelle (her daughter), Maryann(her daughter), me, Amberly(her niece), Graig(her student), and Taren(her student) all got up and played the Bach double duet. It is a graduation piece. Then, I got to introduce Serena. Serena flew from Los Angeles to be here. She is incredible! She started when she was three. Her family came to America from Korea, and my mom was a wonderful friend to Serena's mother. Serena was a natural, and graduated all of the books from Suzuki so fast. She has become a professional violinist, she has played in many, many orchestras, and her achievements are far too many to write. She has played for many movies, and is in an upcoming movie. Serena stood up and gave a very touching tribute to my mother before she played. I wish so bad the clip would have worked to upload on here, it was absolutely breathtaking. You have to pay a lot of money to hear someone like her. Her violin piece was AMAZING, and I still might keep trying to put it on here, because I don't think very many people have heard anything like it. Well, after Serena, we asked my mom to say a few words. She said, "This is Heaven". She was just taking it all in, she wanted to look at everyone, and in the middle talking she'd recognize an old student, and ask about them and what they were doing. My mom is such an inspiration, and to have a role model like her to follow is good and bad. Good, because I strive to become a daughter of God like her, and her example helps me through many of my own trials. Bad, because oh I want to be lazy sometimes, and I try to remember when I have every not seen my mom working hard, and I can't. Then her kids and spouses and their kids(all 29) sang, "Thanks for the music".

It was a perfect night, and I just want to thank all those who helped make it possible. Thanks Grandma for the idea and for getting us the perfect place to have it. Thanks to all those who helped with refreshments. Thanks to all of her students who made such an effort to be there to celebrate with us. Thanks to Laurie for spending so much time remembering the little details, and making the beautiful program. Thanks to Cam for making the dvd that was playing by the refreshments. Well to end the most perfect night, my mom drove away in a brand new SUZUKI car!!!! What a night!

Brielle's Dance

I sure hope this worked. I don't think the sound did, but one of the things that made me sad to leave American Fork was missing seeing Sydnee dance. I loved going to all of her dance recitals, cause she was the best one and was so animated, and good. Well, now we've got Brielle to watch here in St. George. She surprised even her mom, she was so, so, so cute, and fun to watch. Good job Brielle, I can't wait to go to your next recital!!! Brielle is the second to last girl on the second row to the right. I can't wait to get Lydia dancing, Jayni and Lydia have ballet class next week. Natalie Jackson(Brielle's cousin)is right in front of her.

Happy 8th Birthday Payton

Payton loves Star Wars. He was showing off his moves in this picture(age 6)

Ok, I do hair for a living, so everyone of my kids (except Brigham of course ) has had this process done, Payton was just not too thrilled. He was 3 in this pictureHe is 2 years old in this picture

Payton is obsessed with Spongebob!

Happy birthday Payton!!!!

Mother's Day--Should be every DAY!:)

Payton's mother's day book

I would definitely prefer a dog, but I guess a cat is more motherly

Payton playing basketball, and mom running I guess it's ok for him to think that's my favorite activity

I know mother's day is not about the gift's , but oh how this makes me want to be a better mother! When we built our house a year ago, I convinced John that we had to have it plummed for central vac. I swept my wood floor, and vacuumed my floors with my horrible vacuum for a year, so this was a very very exciting giftJohn woke up at the crack of dawn(our church is at 9:00!) to make me his famous YUMMY 'Bread pudding' . This time he mixed up a little cinnamon frosting to put on top oh oh so good!
These are my Boys, so perfect. Marcus couldn't wait til Sunday to give me his gift from school, so I opened it on Thursday. He was so excited because I mentioned that all I wanted for Mother's day was chocolate, and he made me a chocolate hershey kiss necklace. He also wrote a cute book, "I'll love you forever . My mom is beautiful because she has pretty hair. My mom always says Clean your room. My mom and I like to play duck duck goose. My mom's favorite clothes to wear are her pink shirt. My mom really loves to play hide and seek." I really need to take a picture of Payton's book, because the art work is so good. Brigham is now sitting up by himself, so that is a great mother's day gift!!!
Lydia, oh Lydia, what would I do without her? She is such a joy and keeps motherhood ENTERTAINING!!!
This has nothing to do with mother's day, but Payton made this cute letter for his teacher, he is such a thoughtful boy!! "Dear Mrs. Westover, Thank you for all that you had done for us. You are the best teacher ever. I love you, and thank you for teaching us math and you are very nice. Love, Payton.
This is what makes all the days soooooooooo worth it!

The Hurricane half marathon

Ok, on Monday, I decided to sign up for the Hurricane 1/2 marathon. I thought about doing it for a while, but it wasn't until Lisa (my friend from up north) told me she was running it and wanted to get together while she was down here, that I decided I would do it. I ran a full marathon 12 years ago it was such a spiritual experience for me. I think EVERYONE should run at least one marathon once in their life. For me, when I saw my family at the end, and then my dad at the finish line, the feeling I got when I collapsed in my father's arms was so strong, and I knew that that was what it was going to be like when we return home to our Father in Heaven and collapse into his arms, and hear him say, "Well done!" That was 12 years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Well, so on Wednesday, I convinced Maryann to run 9 miles with me, and then I tried to register her, and couldn't, and I emailed and called Hurricane city, but no luck. Friday Lisa went to pick up her packet from the Hurricane office, and called me and told me they had extra registration forms!!! She registered Maryann, I was so excited. Saturday morning I got up at 4:15 AM, and went and picked up Shannon, and then Maryann, and we headed over. It was a beautiful run, and I really enjoyed it. I felt great the whole time, and to run with my sister was so great. In fact Maryann said that the night before she had a dream that Michelle (7 months pregnant) signed up and showed up to run with us, if anyone knows Michelle, that is not surprising, she probably could've ran it. She was at the finish line to greet us though. It was a great run, but I'm not sure about the St. George marathon, today I woke up with major back pain. What is wrong with my back, I hate thinking that running is not good for it because that is what I love to do. What do I do? I also have something going on with my right knee, I hate getting older!!!! The end came sooner than I thought, I was excited that I never really hit a wall.

Maryann, so graceful!

I love that all my sisters are so active. Maryann was never planning on running a half marathon until 3 days before, and she did GREAT! We both ran it under 2 hours, I ran it in 1:52, and Maryann ran it in 1:53.

The girl that got me motivated to run! Thanks Lisa, I really had a good time running with you.

Two girls from my ward ran, this is Shannon, and Sara also ran, but she had to get to a baptism, so I never got a picture with her.

ANYONE NOT RUNNING?

Ok, this may be a long shot, but I registered to run the 1/2 marathon in Hurricane this Saturday, and I convinced my sister, Maryann to run with me, and I went to register her, and they are closed!!!!! Does anyone know anyone who signed up and is not running, and she could take their spot? I'm really bummed, because I ran 9 miles with Mares on Wednesday, and I was so excited to run with her, all we need is their confirmation number, and of course we'd pay for the spot!!

HERE COMES THE SUN

I love girl's weekend! This last weekend, the Keilman girls came down for the weekend, and invited me to join them for their getaway. We went hiking in the morning, and got a great workout, and got a LOT of sun, oh boy did we get plenty of sun, and poor Annie even got some blisters.:( We went shopping, and stopped at Nielson's to get the best custards EVER!!! I had a great time, thanks for inviting me girls. Sue Keilman has 9 children, 6 GIRLS, and 3 boys. This picture is of Rachel, Annie, Debbie, and Amy. Becky came down also, but she just is pregnant, so she decided not to run up the mountains. Sara was the only daughter missing this weekend, and we also were missing the three daughter-in-laws.

Silly picture of Amy and I, but here is the most dangerous, but most beautiful flower down here. The fishhook cactus is what is called, so watch out for it while hiking.:)