The One With the Leo

I'm too obsessed with gymnastics.

Maybe even more than Preslie is.

Okay, that's not true. That there is something about her cute little bum in a leo running around a gym, perfecting her front roll, rocking the straddle roll, learning to vault, and excelling at the bars that just makes me giggle and be so happy.

 

I may even be more obsessed with her leos.

Oh man, I don't know why they are so cute.

Well, really everything is super cute when it's in miniature form.

Think about it, piglets are ADORABLE but pigs are disgusting.

 

Preslie is still doing gym twice a week.

Every Tuesday at Advanced Gymnastics in Nampa.

And every Wednesday at Mountain West Gymnastics in Boise.

 

Advanced is a little more recreational and fun, Mountain West is most likely the gym that will end up taking her places.

I typically have bought all of her leos at Wings Center - which is another HUGE facility that happens to do gymnastics as well. They get all of their leos in on consignment, so after six weeks if they haven't been sold they send them back and a new lot comes in. So their selection is typically much better.

 

Both of her gyms do "consignment" leos, where the other gymnasts can sell the ones they've grown out of. But if there's one thing I have noticed it is that people seem to grow emotionally attached to these leos. Why would I pay $15 for your extremely used one when I could buy a brand new one for $20-25??? I don't know maybe I'm a snob.

 

Anyway, Advanced - who NEVER has good new leos in- actually had the most adorable little leo in when Preslie went to practice on Tuesday. I couldn't NOT buy it. I mean really, who wants to give up the animal prints???

 

This is also typically how taking pictures of Preslie goes. Warm up to the camera, get super excited, and then be over it sooo fast.

 

The One With T-Ball

I was doing so well for a while there, staying updated on this little family and journaling regularly. Sometimes life happens and slows the recording process down just a bit.

Time to play catch up!

 

About two weeks after soccer started, T-ball started. This was our fist year doing any sports with Parker, it has been a wonderful learning experience and so fun to watch. Somehow in T-Ball we got roped into being the coaches.

It's a REALY long, twisted, and confusing story, but nonetheless, we became: Coach Crystal and Coach Eric.

 

I have to say it was a bit tough.

Okay it was a LOT tough.

While wrangling around 13 (yes you heard that number right) boys and girls all under the age of 6 we had to keep an eye on our two other kids. One of which, little Pax, does not like to sit still one bit.

It was really hard.

Fun.

But hard.

 

Sadly the day of team pictures was the day of Eric and my graduation. We tried FOREVER to figure out if there was a way we could finagle getting to pictures and to graduation, or even just getting Parker to pictures, but sadly there was no way. So OUR pictures of the season are a little small. We did have one mother who kindly took pictures and gave us a stack at the end of the season.

I SOOO appreciated it!

And if I knew how to scan them in to use them, I would put them on here, but I don't.

 

Parker's team was the Braves!!

And we had ten little boys and three little girls.

I'd be lying if I ever said it was terrible.

I'd also be lying if I said I wanted to coach again next year.

 

BUT really it was a lot of fun and for the most part the kids on our team were great. The actual game playing season only lasted through the month of June with two games a week. We ended up winning all but one game! Not bad for our first time, right?

 



The One with the Dual Graduation

Are we there yet???

Not about a road trip though . . . . about school!

I feel like we have been doing school for forever. And in a way we have I guess, but Eric more so than me.

 

After my second year at BYU-I when we found out I was pregnant I withdrew from school, fully intending on returning, because of health issues associated with the pregnancy. Eric finished out his associates at BYU-I and then we left for a business opportunity in Portland where he started at University of Phoenix to finish out his Bachelor's in Business Management. When he finally finished with that in October of 2010 honestly I think we both thought he was done. There were such mixed reviews on whether or not you actually needed a masters degree, and let's face it, school isn't cheap, I didn't want to go into any more debt that we absolutely needed to, and plus, when he is in school we hardly get to see him. It's always papers, and deadlines, and cramming for tests, and schoolwork, yada yada yada.

 

Anyway, it was when Preslie was admitted to the hospital, right before she was diagnosed with myelodysplasia, that Eric looked at me and said "I think this is the answer to our prayers, I should be going back to school."

 

And you know what? It was the best decision we ever made.

If he hadn't have gone back to the University of Phoenix to enroll in his Masters program, he never would have been offered a position with University of Phoenix, and without them we wouldn't have ever been able to catch up on our massive medical bill load (seriously, their medical benefits were INCREDIBLE), and without them paying for 80% of my schooling I don't know that I would have made the jump to go back to school when I did, and I wouldn't be sitting her now, a little over a year later with one degree in hand, 3/4 of the way through a second, and with a husband who has one of the most elite masters degrees in the country. It was a HUGE blessing!

 

I am beyond proud of Eric. Did you know that only 3% of the population will go on to get a Masters Degree??? And out of all the masters degree recipients at graduation he was the only one with the dual degree he received. Incredible.

 

So graduation.

Saturday, June 1st, CenturyLink Arena

It was awesome!

 

Eric's parents came down. His younger brother drove down from Rexburg, and his sister came up from Utah. My parents, sister and her family, and my grandparents were all there and somehow they even managed to wrangle together our three crazy kiddos through a three hour ceremony.

 

I'll be honest, back when I finished my associates and received my diploma in October, I didn't plan on walking through a graduation ceremony for it. Yes it is cool, in all reality I am the first child in my family to attain a college degree, and on one side of my family I am the only person ever to get one. But on the other hand, I always intended to finish a bachelors, and many people do that without ever getting an associates, so it kind of seemed like a dual graduation thing and I worried about doing it. I finally came to the realization that regardless of the extent of the accomplishment in comparison to other people's, it is an accomplishment for me! Finishing up a degree while being a full time mommy to three kids, and working 3/4 of the week was tough work! It resulted in many late nights, missed parties, and a lot of sleep deprivation. I can be proud of that!!

 

When Eric actually finally committed to walking at graduation, it kind of became a no brainer. How many couples can say that they BOTH graduated on the SAME day!!! How cool is that? I would never say that my degree rivals Eric's, and it was clear that the day belonged more to him than it ever did to me, but it was fun to get to experience graduation together, just this once.

 

We got up super early Saturday morning (cough 5am cough), got ready and drove downtown to the arena. We spent way too long sitting in lines, taking massive University photos, and talking to a million people that Eric knows, but it was worth it. Since Eric only left Phoenix about three months ago he still knew EVERYONE that was running the graduation ceremony so we had plenty of people to talk to as we waited the hour and a half back stage for the ceremony to begin.

 

University of Phoenix asked this man, Dr. Vincernt Muli Wa Kituku to be the motivational speaker at the ceremony. He has an incredible story - straight out of Africa, watched five siblings die, and has worked his way into becoming an amazing person. Eric has meant him before when he has come in to speak to his campus so they were good friends already but this was my first time hearing him, it was incredible!

Eric walking across the stage and receiving his diploma for a dual Masters in Health Care Administration and Informatics. 

Pax and Papa Lewis fell asleep through the ceremony together. This little man just loves his Papa. 

Me getting my Associates of Arts Degree in Health Care Administration

 I just love this man and all the support he has been for me throughout this last year and all the amazing things he has accomplished himself. He has about three weeks left in finishing up his capstone class, and then he is done!!!! EEEK!!! So much more time to spend with daddy and so much less stress on him!

The One With the Preschooler

Parker's last day of preschool was Tuesday, May 28th and his preschool graduation was Thursday May 30th! I am still in a little bit of shock that I actually have a child going to kindergarten next year!!! It is insane to me.

Parker's graduation fell in a crazy week for us. We spent the first part of the week planting about 50 plants, Eric built garage shelves, building outdoor tables and benches, massive amounts of yard work, massive amounts of cleaning in the house, and massive amounts of preparing for a bunch of people to come into town. Parker's graduation was on Thursday, then my nephew, Jack's 7th birthday party was Friday, our graduation was Saturday, baby blessing for baby Penelope was Sunday, and my mom's 50th birthday party is Monday. Craziness, right? Yes, I think so.

Back to Parker. Parker's graduation ceremony was adorable. They sang us all the songs they had learned all year long about sign language, looking before you cross the street, counting, and reading. It was awesome! I love being able to be a proud momma!

Currently Parker knows how to write all the letters, recognize letters, count to 100, count by tens, count by fives, and he is even starting to understand addition and subtraction as well as getting great at sounding out letters to create words! Not bad for a little man who hasn't even been to kindergarten yet! Eric and I are beyond proud of this little stud and the awesome little man he is growing in to.

Parker with his teacher Mrs. Wilkes, she was amazing!

The first of *many* diplomas for this little man!

The One With the Cookies

In complete opposition to our diets and throwing all health caution out the window, the kids and I have been making quite a lot of chocolate chip cookies. I am not lying or exaggerating when I say that we made a batch of chocolate chip cookies three days in a row. And the only reason you'd need to make them again is if you had eaten all the previous batch. Yes, I know, it's disgusting! But it's soooo good too, and the kids love it.

Last Sunday the kids and I got into making the third batch of chocolate chip cookies. I love that they are so happy to help and that they love to cook with each other.

The One With the Family Dinners

Every week we get together and have dinner with my mom's entire side of the family. My grandparents, her brothers, their wives, and their kids. It is awesome. I don't quite know how my grandparents pull this off on a weekly basis because I can tell you, I have a hard enough time pulling off family dinners the five times a year we throw them for birthday parties. They really are amazing people. My grandpa also has set up quite a little yard for all the great grandkids to play in. He has huge tractor tires dug into the ground for a little jungle gym, t-ball sets, tetherball, swing sets, balance beams, slides, and a zipline. Needless to say the six little grandkids all have a blast playing at "Grandpa Greats with the Tractors".

Parker got into quite the game of baseball with Uncle Bryson a few weeks ago. Although he is only in t-ball this year, he is already connecting and really hitting baseballs that are thrown to him! Yay Parker!

The one with the end of Soccer

Soccer is over! It was kind of bittersweet. Sure I am happy to have my Tuesday nights, Thursday nights, and Saturday mornings back to myself, but I already miss watching him run around those fields and grow. So he's already singed up for Fall soccer. And the time in between is booked with t-ball. Busy busy.

His last practice the league threw a jamboree where they had a pizza party and a TON of games for all the kids to play. Parker had a ton of fun running through the obstacle course over and over and over and over and over again. I was impressed at how well he could do the tires. And I can't figure out how to flip his picture the right way so I guess it's staying like this.

May 4th was Parker's last soccer game. They ended up winning. They finished out the season winning all but two games!! Which I think is pretty amazing considering this was the first season for the majority of the team. I was so proud of this little stud, by the end of the season you would have guessed he had been playing for just as long as the rest of the team.

The following Tuesday we had his team's soccer banquet at Idaho Pizza Company. The whole team sat at one table together and all the families got to talk and laugh and have a good time. For posterity's sake - starting on the top left: Julian, Carson McConkie, Daniel Peterson, top right: Parker, Christopher Gonzalez, Lincoln Ericson, and Boston Tuft.