....coming to the end of another school year...

It's been far too long since I've blogged about the girls. It's often on my mind, but keeping with up with a crazy work schedule and a family has been a challenge over the past several months.

The year started out with a celebration of Mia's (their niece) 2nd birthday. Mia moved to Wyoming just a couple weeks later and we sure miss her and her baby sister Talia.If you'll notice...Jess is sporting a new look.

In February Jess's class got to go to a local dairy. She had lots of fun despite the fact that she didn't feel so well...she was recovering from a stubborn ear infection.

Jessica and Mariah are great friends, but you have to keep your eye on the two because the combination spells "t r o u b l e". They've been known to do things like start water fights in the girls bathroom. Needless to say, Jessica is no longer allowed to go with Mariah to the "ladies room". Jessica has always loved animals...
....animals of every kind. She has no fear what so ever....












Winter flew by, filled with soccer games, keeping up with school work and Lisa having to go out of town more often than she cared to. Easter was upon us before we knew it. It was fun to take Rachel shopping for her Easter outfit...it can be difficult to find modest dresses, but she's so cute and everything looks adorable on her. She has really blossomed in to such a pretty young lady.



The Easter Bunny hid baskets full of the usual candy and eggs filled with cash and even remember Nala this year. The Easter Bunny brought Nala a new pal. This puppy is a Fox Terrier/Queensland Healer mix. We thought we'd give Jess the opportunity to come up with his name...we assumed that she'd suggest names like, Blackie, Whitie, Spot, but she surprise us with with Jaxon....Jax for short. Having Jax around has sure livened up Nala and given her a companion for those hours that we are away. We are enjoying having him around despite the fact that he turned out to be vegetarian. It's been a game to try to keep our garden alive. Our tomatoes are surviving, but he's torn out all of our peppers (bell and hot), cucumber, cantelope and a lot of our onions. The tomatoes are finally coming in like we had hoped. We hope to have enough to can or freeze.


































In March Ally came out for 10 days to visit before her school started. She helped the Greg out while I was on a business trip in Santa Maria, CA. She was a lot of help and she gets along great with the girls. A couple nights before she left, we took her to the same place we took Clint when he visited.














There we had our dinner outside, the girls danced to the live band (a good one I might add). We also roasted marshmallows over the open fire. We had a great time.

As you can see...Rachel had some more important conversations going on than conversing with family










It's hard to believe that Jessica turned 6 years old this May
We took pink cupcakes (yah...I was surprised that she chose pink...she usually goes for the blues and greens) to her class room where she was treated like royalty for the day. Each one of her classmates made birthday cards and gave them to her one by one. Many of the kids taped goodies like, cracker or cookies from their lunch, pencils and one boy even chose a ring from his trip to the treasure box that he had earned that day. It was adorable to watch. Jessica is well liked in her class. She has even been the only girl invited to a couple of her boy classmates birthday parties.

That evening we invited our good friends, the Davis's over for dinner. Jessica chose salmon for her birthday dinner (yup...her favorite). We had cake and ice cream and opened presents afterwords. I think she had a nice day and felt how special she is to all of us.














Thank you to everyone for the generous gifts and cards! She got a kids computer, kids camera, some adding flash cards, some barbies, princess bag and birthday cash

Then end of the school year is drawing to a close. Rachel had a dance recital for her dance class. She performed in two separate numbers. Although Rachel has the moves enjoyed herself and learned a lot, it doesn't look like she'll be going on the next level...it's not quite her thing.





The next concert was for Girls Ensemble. Rachel has an amazing voice and really enjoys participating in a choir. She may continue with this program in a year or so, but not this next year. She has too many core classes that she needs to take. She'll always participate in the ward choir though.


Last Thursday was Jessica's Kindergarten class year end performance/graduation. Her class was assigned to wear yellow (if you couldn't tell). She practiced and practiced her class songs over and over... this is her at home getting ready to go.



We were very proud that although Jessica had a hard time standing still and facing forward...she did stay in her place. A few months ago...she would have been running around the stage.




Jessica with her ever loving and patient teacher, Ms Gras. I'm sure that Jessica will always remember her Kindergarten with fond memories. Class of 2021.........CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???

After lots and lots of testing of every kind, Jessica was diagnosed with ADHD and at risk for some other problems. During all of this testing we found that Jessica needed glasses...her left eye is worse than her right...so she has to wear glasses full time until she's about 10. If she doesn't, she could permanently damage her eye sight. We learned that she has perfect hearing, but she needs speech therapy. She also needs occupational therapy to help her develop her fine motor skills. After all this testing and several conversations with teachers and counselors at school, it was decided that Jessica would promote to first grade. Turns out that she will have more resources to accommodate her needs if she promotes.

Rachel has amazed me with her intense desire to do well in school. School doesn't come all that easy to her, but out of sheer determination and Greg's support in developing good study habits, Rachel has exceeded in every one of her classes this year. Teachers and students a like love Rachel to death.

The thing that amazes me about Jessica is that she is ALWAYS happy. She struggles and often tempted to give up in school, but she never never gets down....she is a joy to have around.

To celebrate the successes of the girls over this past year...we went to eat at a new Mexican restaurant and we bought movie candy and headed to see "Night at the Museum"...and Jessica didn't get up once! We had a great time!

Rachel is so nervous about her finals this coming week that she can hardly eat. She has been diligently studying so we are sure that she will do great. Come Thursday she can breathe a sigh of relief and go out with friends for lunch after school to celebrate the ever so awaited end of her Freshman year. Jessica on the other hand...will probably be a bit sad as she has thoroughly enjoyed getting up every single day of being in Ms Gras class and playing with all of her friends. But we'll plan some fun activities to keep us occupied until the next school year begins.......