"IT'S SO HARD TO SAY GOODBYE AND LET GO"

My student teacher's last day was Friday!! It was so sad! I will really miss them both. They have been with the class since the beginning of the year. So we all have bonded. My class and I will truly miss all they did for us. They really were outstanding and did so much work on behalf of the students and myself. I will miss them more than words can say. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know Sarah and Sienna. I hope they had a good experience and learned a lot. I know I did from them. Monday I go back. I honestly am ready to go back and be the teacher again. I have missed the kids also. But I truly will miss the extra set of hands, the friendship that grew and all the new and fun ideas (and energy) they brought to the class. I just wanted to post this tribute to them. We love you Mrs. Brown and Miss Vanwagoner. Hugs
to each of you and another big THANK YOU for a job well done. Come visit us soon.

OH THE THINGS WE CAN DO WHEN GRANDMA AND GRANDPA BABYSIT!!

We love babysitting the grand kids. Sometimes we babysit Kassie and Ryan's kids and sometimes Betsy and Gentry's kids. And sometimes we babysit them at the same time. The past few weeks that we have babysat we have had lots of fun. These are some of the fun things they do when they are hanging out with grandpa and grandma. Alyssa wanted to make pudding. I didn't have instant and so I told her we could make that another time. She was persistent and after looking in the pantry found some cook and serve vanilla pudding. So she helped me make that and then she got this great idea to make ice soup. It's really easy grandma all you do is get a cooking pot, ice, warm and cold water and it's done. She kept adding and adding and then it was finally done. She gave me a bowl and then talked Brock into one. He said it was good but he wanted strawberries in his. So he had strawberry ice soup. YUM! Want the recipe call Alyssa. Then Jordyn got this great idea to pose for some pics. using her fake camera and then I went and got my camera to take the real pics. So they are posing for the pictures. She told her mom that we took some really cute pics of them with grandma's real camera. Brock caught a potato bug and put it in a jar. He babysat it for a few hours then he went home. SHH!! Don't tell Brock but the bug did not make it:). Bridger and Jordyn love to play horses when they come. They bring them and we race them and set up poles and barrels and then grandpa is our trainer. We even go to Rodeos. What a blast.! Jordyn was dancing with Alvin and the chipmunk movie and later the kids went down stairs to play more horses and play store. Kamri is such a good sport to play with the kids but she loves to be on the computer and play webkins, listen to music, or browse e-bay and I-tunes. Brock and Boston love movies and so when they come they like to watch movies. They love to eat popcorn of course while they are watching. My niece Shalece sent down some marshmallow popcorn that we tried out it was yummy!! Thanks Shalece. We bought a big screen T.V. about three years ago and the kids love, love, love to play in the box. It can be a house, a boat or whatever. It almost bit the dust today but Kamri and I fixed it with duct tape. Hopefully it will last another three years. Today grandpa was working in the yard and Bridger went out to help him. He thought he was pretty big boy. He is a great little helper!! Bridger Grandpa says thanks. We also had an inside picnic today. It was too cold for grandma to go outside so they ate their picnic inside and watched a movie. Grandma and Grandpa have so much fun when the grand kids come. WE LOVE OUR GRAND KIDS. We will see them again tomorrow. We are having everyone over for dinner in between conference. Will post more pics of that tomorrow. Sorry the post was forever long but I am a grandma and love to brag about the grand kids. We are so lucky and very blessed. The hands are you guessed it old grandma hands mine, Jordyn and Bridger's

Mikesell Easter Family Traditions 08

Easter traditions so much fun!! Each year on Easter or around Easter we get together for an Easter Egg hunt! This grandkids get so excited even if they have been to 2 or 3 the day before. Easter Sunday was the day this year. All the grandkids came over with their parents. They sat on the stairs outside and then on the count of 3 they all took off!! Of course they all got plenty of candy as well as money for the dollar store!! A few years ago Kim and I decided to give the grandkids each a swimsuit for Easter instead of a toy because the Easter Bunny takes care of that. So from then on the family tradition is Swim Suits for Easter and this year they got flip flops to go with them. So there they all are sporting their swimsuits from grandma and grandpa. HAPPY EASTER everyone. Hey Betsy and Gentry how long until the pool opens??

Spring Break with Family/ Jump on It

Spring Break OH what fun!!! My sister Pat came down with her granddaughter Cassie. It was so much fun to have them down here. We took Kassie, her kids and Gentry's twins down with us. We missed Alyssa she was at a birthday party. We went to a place in Orem called Jump On It. There was a bunch of trampolines side by side so the kids could jump from one to another. They also had blow up slides and blow up "Jails" that is what Brock thought they were. (Enclosed blow up trampolines).

The kids had a blast! I did too! I even did a few tricks of my own. No photos however it would be a little embarrasing but the grandkids thought grandma was awesome:). Same tricks I showed Gentry and Kassie growing up:). Pat's husband Jim and Kim sat on the side lines and watched us. We had a great time. On our way home we stopped at Chick-filet (sp) Betsy Gentry and Alyssa met us there for dinner. Then off to Pat and Jims hotel to swim. The twins went home and Alyssa stayed with me. Kim and Jim opted out of swimming. After the swim Alyssa came over to grandma's for a sleepover. Neither one of us lasted too late we fell asleep watching Enchanted. Early the next morning we went down to the Easter egg hunt in Riverton. You will have to check Betsy and Gentry's blog for pics of that. Kassie went to one later so check her blog for that too. It was a fun two days. Easter is tomorrow so more pics and blogging then.

Making cookies at Grandma's house!!

Betsy and Gentry were out of town so their kids were staying with Kim and I. It was Kassie's birthday and so we had their kids too. So with the whole gang over, we made Valentine cookies. I honestly think this is more fun for me than them. It is so fun to see what they create and how they decorate with hundreds of sprinkles, more sprinkles than cookies actually. I hope they remember the fun we had. They are a bunch of fun, fun kids!! Each with their own personalities but we love them all so much!! Thanks for the fun times and memories made with Grandma.

Our Valentine Baby!! Happy 30th Kassie

Thirty years ago our beautiful baby girl was born. I was thrilled to have a girl!! Cute dresses, bows, and all that comes with having a girl. We brought her home on Valentines Day!! Best Valentine gift we have ever got. She was such a fun baby. Always so happy (except for a few tantrums now and then). Kassie sure has grown up fast it seems like just yesterday she was tiny. She has grown up to be just as fun and beautiful as the day she was born. We love Kassie because she will do anything for you. She is very giving and loving. She is such a great mom and her children mean the world to her (As well as Ryan) . She is so thoughtful and always thinking of others. We could not ask for a more wonderful daughter than her we have been truly blessed. Happy Birthday Kassie we love you so much!!
Love Mom and Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR BEAUTIFUL VALENTINE BABY HAPPY 30TH WE LOVE YOU!!