Birthdays graduations phones

Jared bought me a SUPER birthday present! A new phone! And not just any phone. A Palm Pixi. I absolutely love it! It is the perfect phone for me. I love the little keyboard, I love the applications, I love the lightweightedness. It is so awesome, clear as crystal pictures and screen. A camera with a flash! Internet! I actually blogged on my phone yesterday. Alright, enough about the phone, but I have been so wanting a new phone for years and this one is better than I ever imagined. Thanks Jared!!!
I really appreciate all the birthday wishes everybody sent me on my birthday. I was at the internship office all day and it was really fun to have emails pouring in. My inbox felt very lonely the next day. :) A co-worker was kind enough to take me out to lunch up in Sandy, I thought that was extra-mile nice! I went to the Draper temple with Jared after work and then to Texas Roadhouse. When we got back the kids were in bed, but Karli had made me a cake and the kids had written cards and drew pictures for me which I found in my room. Karli helped make the drawings but the sentiments are exactly how the kids said them. She is an amazing girl Karli. I felt sad I didn't see them all day on my birthday, I really have a wonderful family! My parents took me out to PF Changs Friday and my sister-in-law Wendy watched the kids.




The kids finished the school year. They all advanced to the next grade with honors. Weston's graduation was so fun, he sang all his songs so great! Jared accidentally video recorded the wall instead of the song, but thankfully we had enough tape and battery to get his last number recorded. Savanna and Fiora were excited school was out, but really miss their teachers already. Savanna has been shedding tears over leaving Mrs. Coyle, she really loved her!
Savanna has really loved all her new clothes from her birthday and wanted to thank Grandma Barrett. Fiora had pirate day the last week of school. She really looks like a pirate with missing teeth and all. Weston was a handsome graduate




Another handsome graduate was Seth Snow, who graduated from Orem high. Thankfully I was able to get off work for both Weston's and Seth's graduation ceremonies as they were on the same day. Seth was my piano student once upon a time, and he is a stellar young man, champion wrestler, bass player, soccer player, on track to get an associates degree in a couple months, and just one awesome nephew! We are proud of him.

May 17th is Savanna's Birthday

Savanna is 9! She had a birthday Weekend celebration. We started the festivities with a friend party on Saturday, we had pizza, decorated cupcakes, took turns riding the 4-wheeler, painted faces, and watched Alvin the Squeakual. There was some girlie drama, a 4-wheeler ramming into the fence, and a few friends leaving early because they had "already seen the Squeakual a hundred times," but otherwise Savanna had a fun time. (I made a promise to myself to never have a friend party again, but that may have been a rash promise.) Monday, her acutal birthday, turned out wonderfully. Jared and I took Savanna, Wes, and Fi to IHOP for a birthday breakfast. We gave her a present, and they sang happy birthday to her and gave her an ice cream sundae at 8:00 in the morning. She took treats to school, and for dinner the Barretts joined us, and brought her loads of presents! Karli even bought her a Happy Birthday banner from the dollar store and taped it on the wall. Savanna drank in the attention and love, she got lots of clothes and art supplies and a snow-cone maker so she can start her business this summer. :) Thanks family for making her feel so special on her birthday. We love you Savanna! You are a creative, fun, helpful, smart, and entertaining girl and we are so grateful you are in our family.
















Today is crazy hair day for Savanna's class, so we snapped a picture of her crazy hair. She did it all by herself with some glitter hair spray she got for her birthday. This isn't even the finished product, she kept ratting it and spraying it for another hour so it was REALLY crazy when she left. Also, here is Fiora with a butterfly on her face.

Who am I and what am I doing?

OK people. I've started this summer internship, and I have come to the realization that I was spending a lot less than 40 hours a week doing my school work. Holy committment. It just seems like each semester gets crazier and more demanding. I have never called my decision to go back to school into question until now. Its not a bad job--LDS Family Services Adoption team, its a great job and I'm learning a lot, but my "job" is to be a mom and squeeze in work whenever I can, not the other way around! Now I'm a Clinical Social Work Intern that audits files, backs-up adoption cases, and shadows interviews most of the time who squeezes in a few hours with my kids before they go to bed. Thank heavens for Karli. And Jared. He has twice had to leave his office because of sick kids. Fiora and Weston both have strep throat that turned into scarlet fever. (Yeah, Weston got it AGAIN, isn't that sort of uncommon?) He took them to the doctor this morning to get antibiotics and it turned into a three hour ordeal! I had been paid to go to a Utah Adoption Conference and had no choice but to leave my sick kids in his hands. I had to pray and pray last week for yet another confirmation that this MSW move was the right choice, and yet again I received an answer in the affirmative. So I have to let go of my worries and trust the Lord that things at home will be taken care of. I just didn't realize it would be so hard. I very much admire those moms who have to work while raising a family, no matter what the ages of her kids are. I did before, but I do even more now. Thankfully Savanna has managed to avoid the strep. Poor little kids, I hate to see them so miserable with rashes and raw noses and high fevers. Honestly the kids are transitioning better than I am, Savanna has made me a mail box and taped it to my bedroom door. She puts letters in there every day saying how much she loves and misses me. I thought it was a great idea and started putting letters in a mailbox in their room too. The girls love it. Weston doesn't really get into it much, but he draws me cute pictures too sometimes.


Mother's Day ironically fell in the middle of all this internship transition. My kids showered me with love and praise. Jared made me a stuffed french toast breakfast. We went to the Snow's house for dinner and the guys in the family made the ladies dinner. Then we went to Jared's mom's grave and had a family prayer. It was a nice day. I got my mom a big crock pot, she's never had one. Karli helped me pay for it. Mom called me when she opened it. I love my mom! She is doing such a great job taking care of my 89 year old Grandma and her five kids still at home, and her posterity is growing...my brother Justin's wife Kali is pregnant with a boy due in September, yipee!

CALIFORNIA

Here we are at Disneyland, California Adventure, Universal Studios, Sea World, and San Diego Zoo! We really hit the vacation lottery this year, the weather was unbelievably pleasant, we were healthy, and we packed a whole lot into one week with no meltdowns or catastrophes!! The first day we were all so excited, I took a lot of pictures. Savanna wrote a log of our trip in her notebook so I'll write what she reported.

Day 1: 4/26/10
We went to DISNEYLAND today. First we went on the matterhorn. Then we went on the tea cups then on the carrousel then on dumbo, then splash mt., then the pirates of the caribbean, then the haunted mansion, then we went to New Orleans Square and Fifi danced with princess Tiana. Then on the jungle cruise and Tarzan's tree house next. Then enchanted Tiki house, indiana Jones, lunch, picture with tiana and I got her autograph. We walked to Tomorrow Land-Buzzlightyear Astro Blasters, Astro Orbiters, Star Tours, Space Mountain, Bathroom break, Autopia, monorail, Captain EO, Submarine Adventure, and back through Main street (mom bought keychains and suckers even though Dad didn't want her to). After Disneyland we went to Steve and Judy's and had a chicken dinner, then they took us to Yogurt land for dessert. But poor Fifi wasnt' feeling good so she went to bed.
Moms note: we discovered a few things today, the kids' favorite rides are the simulations, the rides where it feels like you are moving but don't really go anywhere like Star Tours. They are mortally afraid of rollercoasters and we had to force them to try every ride at least once. I was impressed with Savanna she actually tried Space Mountain again. Jared and I tried really hard not to buy any food in the theme parks and always had sandwiches and snacks on hand. The lines were manageable, a few got long, but overall it was a really great time of the year to go.

Day 2: 4/27/10
We went back to Disneyland, we all wanted to do star tours and astro blasters again so we went to Tomorrow Land first. After that mom went with Weston on the rockets and dad took me and Fiora on Space Mountain again. Then we went on a boat ride through Storybook Land and saw mini villainges of Disney characheters. Then "Its a Small World" and then "Toon Town." We did the toon town rollercoaster even though it was scary. Then Roger Rabbits wild ride. Then lunch. The lines were longer today. We went to California Adventure next, it was a lot of walking. We saw "A bugs life 4D move" and then went on toystory mania and the big Ferris Wheel with rocking carriages, even though I wanted to go on the not-moving carriages. Then mom went on the screaming rollercoaster while dad go fast passes, then dad went ont he screaming rollercoaster while mom tookd us on the Sea Creature carrousel. Dad went twice, he likes the big ones. We did the river run next and got all wet. Me and Fi had to wear our jackets instead of our soaking shirts. Next we did Soaring over California which was really awesome but really cold because we were still wet. Then we walked around and a man gave a a big suffed man for FREE!. Mom said it was Casy Jr, he has a bat. Then we walked along Downtown Disney for a place to have dinner but it was too expencisve so mom and us went back to Disnelyland while Dad got food in the city. That took an hour and we waited for Peter Pans Flight ride for 30 minutes but it broke down so we went to Snow whites Forest and then sat on a bench and waited for the parade. Dad got back right before the street parade. Then we went and tried Peter Pan and had to wait again, but got in. Then we walked back to Pirats of carribean again, then Winnie the Pooh, and back to Stave and Judy's.
Mom's note: this day the excitement had abated and the kids were rather tired of lines and walking, but they were very good anyway and walked until 8:30 that day. Luckily that man who didn't want to carry around a large stuffed Casey Jr gave it to us so we could say we got a souvenir that day. Jared and I liked California Adventure but the kids still prefered the regular disneyland.

Day 3: 4/28/10
Today we travelled to Los Angeles and visited Universal Studios. first we saw Dora and Shrk and goa picture then saw a Shrek move in 4D, then we went on the study Tour (involved floods, earthquakes, exploding cars, and jaws sighing.) Then we went on Simpsons Ride, then we caught the Water World show which had a lot of explosions too. Then we walked to our locker and ate lunch because they wouldn't let us bring food into the park. Then we saw an animal show. Then Dad went on the Jurassic Park and Mummy rides (scary rollercoasters) but us kids didn't want to, so we played at Curious Georges playgroung. There was a huge ball blaster fun room. There was a water playground and Fiora got her shoes all wet, but the rest of us were all careful not to get soaked again. Then mom did those scary rides again. Then we went back to Georges playground while Dad saw 4D terminator show (mom wouldn't let us, too violent). My favorite part of Universal Studios was the Animal Show. Fiora's favorite part was the simpsons ride. Weston's favorite part was the flying zip line at the playground. We went to Steve and Judy's and played with their dog Brooky. Judy made us Lasagna. We had to say good bye to them the next morning. It was fun at their house.

Mom's note: words can't express how grateful I was to Steve and Judy Smith (Jared's uncle/aunt) for putting us up in La Habra. They were 15 minutes from Disney land and fed us breakfast and dinner every day and had soft beds for all of us and they were great company. All you local Schauers: go visit the Smiths they will really take care of you!

Day 4: 4/29/10 Sea World
Mom bought us Disney T shirts at Walmart on the way to San Diego because they were cheaper there. This day we went to sea world. First we waw the arctic and rode a ride like a helicopter through the arctic. Then we saw polar bears and beluga whales. Then we saw a swa otter presentation. Then we saw a sea lion show that was really funny. Then we went through a fresh water aquarium. Then we saw the Shamu show, killer whales, they did gret tricks. THen we ate lunch outside thepark. Then we hurried back in and found the sharks. Then saw an ocean aquarium. Them went to the forbidden reef and there were bat rays there we could pet. Then we saw a pet show with dogs and cats. Then played on a big playground with big nets and bridges and dad went ont he big rollercoaster we were scared to go on. Mom didn't go either because her head was tired of those rides. We went on little rids like teacups and dumbo only called sesame street names. We saw a 4D Sesame street movie. Then went to the penguin encounter and back to see the baluga whales again, then we were done with Sea World. Dad took us to Chili's for dinner (yum!) and treated us to Yogurt land for dessert. Then we checked into our hotel, there was a pull out bed just for me. Then went to bed.
Mom's favorite part of sea world: Shamu show. Everyplace except the zoo had a huge 4D theater in it. We always went to see the shows and had fun wearing 3D glasses and getting sprayed when it raind or someone sneezed. Really amazing effects.

Day5: 4-30-10
Today we went to San Diego ZOO. We saw the whole zoo: monkeys, orangutangs, gorillas, tigers, lions, bears, camels, zebras, 10 different types of deer, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, birds (they had lots of birds) reptiles, and a petting zoo (goats and sheep). Koala bears, wallabys, warty pigs, peccaries, hippos, fish, frogs, and porcupines. We walked the trail and took the bus tour. The weather was nice. We saw another sea lion show here, and also an Aviary Show. Those were fun. We ate lunch in the zoo and got souvenir pennies. After we walked all over, we took the express bus around also. And we took the sky tram back to the front of the zoo. Mom bought 2 churros for us to eat and share, we loved that! We went to chick fil a for dinner and back to the hotel. We played int he hot tub and pool, it was fun. Tomorrow we drive back to Utah.
Moms note: I liked the zoo because it was a lot quieter, all the theme parks thought they had to play really loud music all over there park. And the bus cut down on walking. We were all happy that the bus and tram fares were included in our city passes because it meant less walking. We probably walked 15 miles this week all over California, but it was all worth it.

THE END