Happy Birthday Amanda!

I can't believe it's been 15 years since one of the most amazing moments of my life....I became a MOM!! There's just something a little tender about your first. She's been studying to take the driver's test...hopefully this week. Can you even believe it??? Of course it's just the permit so an adult will have to be with her...but still!!!!! Bring on the GREY (is it gray or grey??? How do you spell that anyway??...MOMMY!!)

The good ole...you get to choose a special restaurant! Of course we went out Friday night because her actual birthday was on Sunday....Fast Sunday to boot!

Hmmm....Should I be worried about my kids???

Had to stop at Moonstruck for a Mint Tingle....ohhhh my...soooo good!

The cake...Amanda chose a key lime cheescake.


Oh yeah...the wish is in the bag!

Flowers from her favorite boys (at least for another 10 years..hee-hee)....Bob and Nathan Oh, and as a side note...daffodils are Amanda's FAVORITE flower. I think they match her personality just perfect. Couldn't think of a better flower myself!

The gifts....all "right" shoes. Can't wait to get the cast off! Nathan cracked me up when he piped up with a, "Yeah, they got a deal...they were all half off"....ha! Get it?? "Half" Ha-ha-ha...oh, that kid's quick and clever little mind.

My "mother" heart is so full.

Sooo....I just have to be a little sappy for a moment....Tonight Amanda and I went to the General Young Women broadcast. I loved getting dressed up and having a daughter who was excitedly pushing me out the door. The stake had a dinner for all of us before the broadcast and Amanda was honored at the dinner for achieving her Personal Progress this last year. It was so adorable to see her hobble up there on her crutches. I was just so happy to be there with Amanda. During the broadcast the young women choir sang I'm trying to be like Jesus. A wonderful feeling that's hard to describe came over me. I was looking at all those beautiful young women singing and thinking that EACH one of them glowed with beauty. I had been to a highschool assembly earlier in the year were there were young women sitting all together...but, I didn't see the same glow. I noticed that a lot of the young women that were singing were wearing their personal progress medallion or torch necklace. I then looked over at my daughter sitting next to me and saw that same glow. She also had on her medallion and looked absolutely radiant. Oh, my....tears just came to my eyes so quick! My heart was soooo full. How blessed I am. I have the most amazing children! I don't notice sometimes because I'm so use to them and how much they radiate the light of Christ. I just need to take a moment to write how truly amazed I am at the simple everyday blessings that are a part of my life because of my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The words of encouragement and the charge to stand steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works by an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ is more of a blessing than I realize. I will treasure these moments with my daughter forever!

Everyone's Dream Spring Break Location....Day 3

Bob's body is feeling it today! He's told me about 20 times that he's definitely keeping his day job. We spent the day screwing down the backerboard, taping the seams and then we started to lay the tile. Wow! We definitely don't know what we're doing....so, if it turns out, it will be a miracle! This will be my last update for a couple of days since I won't be able to get to the den until the tile dries (I know, I know, life will be a drudgery without these daily updates - ha!) Well.....cross your fingers!!

Good morning Angels! They're ready to secure some backerboard. Look at Bob....doesn't he look like his body is totally sore...poor guy.

Let the mudding begin.....it's looking good so far...now will it actually work??? We should have hired someone....never again!!

Everyone's Dream Spring Break Location....Day 2

What would take a normal person a few hours to do.......we took ALL day! The people at home depot and the videos on HGTV showed a person using a scoring knife to "score" the cement backerboard a couple of times and then you just "pop" it to make the cut. Well.....it looked and sounded easy but we must have been doing something REALLY wrong because it didn't work that easy for us. After spending several hours making a few simple cuts, we threw down whatever items we had in our hands and yelled really loud....ROAR!!!! (felt good!) Then we headed to Home Depot to purchase a Roto-Zip. Boy, that worked ALOT better. I would highly recommend cutting the board that way instead of the scoring tool...blug!

Bob would get so frustrated because he'd measure twice and cut once and the stinky thing still wouldn't fit right. I think he's off a bit on his cutting eye :)

Here's Bob Villa Jr.

After and ENTIRE day...this is all we got

Everyone's Dream Spring Break Location...Day 1

Whoa....this is the BEST spring break yet! Who needs Hawaii or the Bahamas?? The kids were soooo excited to give up their Disneyland vacation so they could lay tile floors!!!...NOT!! Ha!! Amanda's foot accident created a slight problem as far as the "fun" stuff goes....so we opted to stay home and get some much needed home repairs done. Bob still took the week off ....so, we've been hard at work. We thought we'd still give a day by day travel log of our adventures. Warning.... it's an "edge of your seat" thrill ride adventure!! Here's day 1...

The start...matted down and gross carpet in a high traffic area....path from garage the kitchen

Now this actually is a boy's dream...and their specialty! DESTROY

Turned out to be a little more work than just pulling up carpet. There was some chipboard that needed to come up too....took ALL day long because there were staples every inch or so....big long ones...ARGH!!

Hey....can't a guy have a little privacy? I hope it doesn't back flow :)

The HOPPING clean up crew. What a mess!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! We sure did have a great "Saturday" celebrating Easter "Sunday". :) The 2 Oregonian Ordyna families came over to our house for some feasting and finding. I'm so glad that it was at my house because Saturday morning I finally thought...."Hey, I should get out my Easter decorations!" (well...actually....Bob should get out my Easter decorations - ha!) I can't believe what a waco I've been lately. Instead of things calming down because of Amanda's foot....things have doubled (maybe quadrupled). Well.....Get ready for a slew of pictures....it's the best way to describe how much fun we had. Here weee goooo!!!

We started off the afternoon all nice and calm (and beautiful)....these are the only 3 girls of the cousins up here.....they've got to stick together!

But then........LET THE GAMES BEGIN! I think that competiveness runs in our family...no recessive genes here! Get those eggs!!

We had to think of Toby's fun too!! After the eating and egg hunting, we headed up to the dog park. It is an experience everyone needs to experience. So....do you think Toby is having any fun? It even looks like he has a smile on his face. He is a riot to watch run around while a group of dogs chase after him. What a life!

Next, we went to the "Human" park (had to leave Toby in the van). Even the crippled got in on the fun. Amanda just can't sit and watch!

Try and knock Nathan off. I just thought this was a fun picture :)

Ummm.....Big Guy in a little toy. Oh, the ideas that are going through my head right now for this picture....for the sake of family relations....I'll restrain. :) Dan you're the best!

Now here's a dang cute couple!! Getting to be old geezers....well at least according to the kids.

SHORTEST LACROSSE SEASON EVER!!

Last night was Amanda's 1st high school lacrosse game…She was soooo excited because she made varsity and was starting. It was raining pretty hard so I opted not to take the camera....so no pictures of the game....but....I was pleasantly surprised at how good she was. In the first half a girl fouled her and she felt a pop in the top part of her foot and then there was a lot of pain. Of course she continued to play….stinker. After the game she was limping a bit and told me her foot hurt. This morning she could hardly walk. It didn’t "look" like anything was wrong and she could move her toes and stuff. What do we do?? So, after much debate and a lot of saying, “hmmmm” Bob called the doctor and off we went. It ends up she severely injured/tore a ligament in the top of her foot. The doctor praised me for bringing her in because if she would have continued to use the foot, she would have had some permanent damage and would probably not be able to play sports or run much for the rest of her life…..Oh my goodness…that’s a little extreme!!! (But....I must say... I FINALLY felt so proud of myself for making the right decision to go to the doctor!! Usually I take my kids into the doctor and leave with a "you're an idiot, it's just a cold" look from the doctor.) Okay...back to Amanda....she got a hard cast, some crutches and a boot thingy to wear and is suppose to stay off of it for 3 weeks. After that, they’ll re-examine it and probably put a brace on it and she’ll go through some physical therapy. Can you EVEN believe it??? One good thing for me is that my schedule just significantly freed up....but...poor Amanda. She's always so active and happy. It's a really tragic bummer!!! (For the above picture, I had Amanda put on her uniform and gear because I NEVER got a picture of her playing....another bummer)