Tiny Tidbits Preschool

In January I decided to open up a private preschool. I was looking for a preschool to enroll Bri in in the area and I wasn't very happy with my options. There isn't very many to choose from and they are either really expensive, really hard to get into, or they didn't teach what I thought was important. I had a small preschool in Bullfrog which the school district had hired me to teach and I still had all my supplies. I had been thinking about it for a while and finally decided to ask around and see if anyone was interested. To my surprise there were ALOT of people interested. I originally thought I would be happy with five kids, but it has grown to eleven kids, AND I have a waiting list!! I am now even considering opening another session. It has been a lot of fun, and I really enjoy it. Bri is actually my most difficult challenge lately because the coolness of having so many friends over has worn out now that she has realized that it is not just play time and she actually has to work, but I am praying she will get over it.

Each week we focus on a letter from the alphabet. In this pic, the "letter of the week" was H so we had a hat day. The kids had a ton of fun playing silly hat games.

Computer Woes

Wow, I have not posted anything in way too long. It is crazy how life can get in the way. I wish I had something extremely exciting or fun to report but life has been pretty normal lately. A few weeks ago while playing a game on facebook I picked up a virus which has completely shut down my desk top and a few weeks before that Kent's laptop stopped taking any charge at all. Both fixes will cost a couple hundred dollars at least so we are now using my parents spare laptop which has its own problems. So sadly is the fact that all my pics that I have taken for the last couple years were saved on both our computers. Most of them being on my desk top and I am not sure we will ever retrieve them again. It makes me sad that the last couple years of our lives my disappear into the cyberspace universe. I do have few things that I have saved on photo bucket, but the last time I did that was almost a year ago so anything as recent as nine months ago is gone. The new pics I have taken since Halloween and Thanksgiving luckily are still on my camera, but I don't have a place to save them currently so I will have no pics on my blog for a little while until I get this problem sorted. Computers are amazing and they have done so much for our lives, but this has taken me back and made me realize that sometimes we can become too dependent on them. I never realized how much I could lose when one decided it was time to stop working for me. Nevertheless, it really hasn't slowed my computer use down much except to make me much more cautious while using facebook. Well at least I have learned that backing up your files on a separate hard drive, frequently, is a smart thing to do.

Fun with hair

Yesterday, Aurora came home from school sick (actually she never really got there, she threw up in our car pool friends van). But, after we got her all cleaned up (and the van), we decided to try entering into a hair style contest with the extra time we had in the afternoon. We decided it would be fun to do a Halloween do since its October. We figured it out, took the pictures, and then I had to leave to do some other things. Later that night, at midnight, I was getting in bed and I remembered the contest. I knew I had to finish it because Aurora would be asking me about it in the morning. My computer was moving like tar and it took forever to down load the pictures. I was working in the dark because Kent was sleeping in the bed next to me, and I was a little loopy and the words kept blurring together, but at 2:05 a.m. I sent off the e-mail.

Crazy enough, we won!!! Check it all out at http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/ , the link is in my right side bar. Thank you Mindy and your girls for picking us. We had a lot fun.

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus came to town a week ago, and we were lucky enough to get tickets for a great deal so we could take the girls. We surprised them with their early Birthday presents a couple days before and they were sooo excited. We went shopping the day of for the perfect Hannah Montana outfits, and then we went out to eat before the concert. The kids were so happy.

As for the concert I was a little disappointed. They hated the opening act which was Death Cab for Cutie the lead singer of which is Miley's older half-brother. My husband and I like Death Cab for Cutie, but they are definitely not for my 6 and 3 year old. And as for Miley she has really grown up and the show is really more for teenagers now than most of the 10 year old and younger audience that were present. The show itself was really cool, and the kids did have fun.

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Kent's jobs

I promised I would explain Kent's temporary absence from our family so here it is. I am happy to say that in June Kent received three offers of employment from the Clark County School district in one day. He happily choose his favorite. He decided to accept a job at O'Callaghan Middle school teaching 6th grade life science. We are all very excited about it.

We did have a problem though. He still didn't have a job for the summer, and he wasn't getting anymore subbing jobs. That is when we got a call from Kent's sister asking if there was any way he could come to Blanding for the summer to help build his dad's cabin. We have been wanting to help him for the last two summers, but our job situations haven't allowed it. He still needed a job though so he made a call to a good friend of ours in Lake Powell who is the head of HR in Bullfrog. Two hours later he got a call from Halls Crossing, Lake Powell offering him a job there in the office. Hall's Crossing is only an hour and a half away from Blanding and the plan was to work there and on his days off he would head into Blanding to work on the cabin. He left right after my grandfather's funeral in June. I was very worried about it at first. Aurora was still in school and we couldn't go with him, but we have been able to visit and the time has gone by quickly. He is coming home later this week for good, and I am so ready for him to be back. The kids have had a hard time while he has been away. Here are some pics of our visit.





Swimming off a cliff in Lake Powell.





Taking the ferry across Lake Powell to Bullfrog so we could attend church in Ticaboo (Kent changed after we got there). It was fun visiting the branch, and getting to see our old friends again.





Kent and his sister Ruth working on the cabin. It is going to be really nice when it is completed.

Bishop Grandpa

I thought I would do a quick post about my dad. The second week in July he was put in as bishop of our ward. A lot of my friends have made comments about if it is weird to have my dad as bishop. Kent's teases me that I am the bishop's daughter. I don't know why he thinks that would bother me so much when I was the branch president's wife at one time. It really is not that strange. It is a little odd since we live in the same house as him, but I am 30 years old so it really isn't the same as if I was in high school. Any ways, it has been a change. The biggest difficulty is what my dad has to go through now. He has been really stressed out about it, but I think he is beginning to feel a little more comfortable. Things will get better. The weekend he was put in my grandma Shelton and my mom's sister Dianne and my Uncle Craig, and two of my dad's brothers came down for a visit with their kids. We don't see my Dad's family very often so my kids don't remember much of my uncles kids, but they had a blast getting to know them. We decided to head up to Mt. Charleston to escape the heat.

Here is Bri, she had lots of fun walking along this log as if it was a tight rope.

Here are Aurora and my cousins hiking around the mountain stream.

This is my sis-in-law Mandy and my lil' nephew Andrew.

Fourth of July and reunion

This year we had our Shelton reunion on the 3rd and 4th of July up in South Jordan, Utah. We spent the morning of the third doing a service project fixing up my grandma's yard, and then that afternoon we went to the new Oquer Mountain temple open house (sorry if I slaughtered the spelling of that). On the fourth we spent the day at my aunt and uncles doing water games, food, and our traditional auction. That night fire works. Kent was not able to go due to his job at Lake Powell (which I will explain in a different post), but we all had fun without him.

This is my aunt Robin and and Uncle Donald's beautiful back yard. They put down a huge old billboard tarp for everyone to slip-n-slide down the hill on. That is Aurora in the middle with the pink swim suit.

Here is Aurora climbing back up the slide. No pics of me and Brianna going down, sorry. My camera's battery died.

My Grandpa Donald Leland Shelton

After a long struggle with Parkinson's disease, my grandpa Donald Leland Shelton died due to complications from pneumonia on June 15th. He was 79 years old. We attended his funeral on June 20th in West Jordan, Utah. The past couple years have been very hard on my grandpa and my grandma. He has been very sick and continually getting weaker and weaker due to the Parkinson's that was taking over his body. The last year he had been hospitalized on numerous occasions. So when this last bout of pneumonia hit him, we all prayed that he wouldn't suffer any more. It was hard to say good bye even though we all know we'll see him again, but we know it was for the best. It has been especially hard to look into my grandma's eyes. They were married for 53 years, and the last couple years she has been consumed with taking care of my grandpa. Her life was my grandpa. I talked to her briefly a couple weeks ago when she came down for a visit, and she told me how much she missed him. We both had a good cry. I love my grandpa so much. He did so much for us, and was always there when we needed him. I will miss most his quite chuckle, and insight on life. He had such a strong and wonderful testimony of the gospel. Love you grandpa and look forward to day when I will see you again. Kisses.

This is a horrible picture of my grandpa, but it was the only one I could find on my computer. This is him and my grandma at their 50th wedding anniversary.

This is my grandma at the funeral service, receiving my grandpa's flag for his service in the Korean War.

Saying good bye. Starting on left- Brianna, Kent, my cousin Jonathon, my brother Brandon, my niece Alyssa and my niece Elyzabeth.

Here is Brianna, Kent , and Aurora. My girls were very close to my grandpa. Brianna had so many questions at the funeral. She made Kent stay next to the casket for quite a while while she peppered him with questions. She still asks all kinds of questions about his death. Even today she brought him up again and said that she missed him.

Bri's Haircut

On June 18th I laid Brianna down for her nap. She had a braid in her hair that was bothering her so I took it out so she could sleep easier. A few minutes later she came out of her room and said she needed to use the bathroom. She did, and when I went to help her back in bed I noticed her hair was sticking out a little weird. When I realized what had happened, I ran into her room to find pieces of her hair laying on the ground everywhere and scissors on her bed. I was so sad. Her hair takes forever to grow out, and my grandpa had just passed away and we were leaving the next day to go to his funeral. There was nothing I could do, she had to go to the hair dresser. Luckily they were able to squeeze us in.

Here is her before picture. I took this the Sunday before. Her hair was all crimped from a braid the night before, and I had teased it to give her a little poof. It was so cute we had to take a pic.

Here is the pic after she cut it. She gave herself a mullet. The other side was even worse.

Here is Brianna and my hair dresser Laura (she is awesome). Brianna had way too much fun getting her hair cut. She had a little smirk on her face the entire time, and held perfectly still for the cut, blow dry, and style.

And, here is after Laura had fixed it. Thank you Laura you saved the day!!!

Josh and Ilse' Wedding

First things first. My brother Josh got married on May 30th. It was a beautiful wedding, and we absolutely adore Ilse. My kids can not get enough of her. She is their new favorite person, and are always wanting to know when she is coming over. When she is here, they completely monopolize her time.




The nieces were all flower girls. I got some adorable candids of the girls around the temple. This is of my Brianna in the back and my niece Alyssa in front.




Here is Aurora in reverie about the day.





This is a shot of all the girls trying to get ready for a pic with Ilse.

Here is my girls again right in the middle of the cake cutting process, of course.

Catch up

Ok, so the last couple months have been a bit of a whirl wind, and I have not had the chance to blog anything. So I am going to take the next couple days and see how much I can get posted. I will warn you there is a lot.

my new camera

I have to say thank you to my fabulous husband and daughters who finally got me the new camera I've been needing since back in December when mine was dropped on the tile and broke. They gave it to me for my birthday. The girls picked it out its pink and they gave me a pink case to put it in. Brianna LOVES pink and she kept pointing out to me what color it was and that she liked it. They are so cute. SO thanks to my new camera I can start posting more photos again.

Hello 30's

It is official my 20's are now in the past and I will never see them again. I use to think 30 was s000 old. I remember when my mom turned 30; I was 9. Honestly, I am not that upset about it. I think my 30's are going to be great. I have to admit it is a little weird and it will take some getting use to saying that I am 30, but I have big plans and dreams that will make it amazing. I am actually surprised about how easy it is too say good bye, but my 20's were rather tough so maybe that is why I am looking forward to start something new and look forward to 10 years of amazing possibilities.

Payin' it forward update

I think I have finally figured out what I am going to make for my payin it forward winners. I am not going to say what it is yet because I want it to be a surprise, but I need my winners (that's you Chelsea, Andrea, and Erin) to let me know what your two favorite colors are. So please leave me a message on here so I can get your gifts started. I think you'll like it!

The Move

We have been so crazy the last few weeks that I have not been able to post anything for almost a month. I thought I would post a quick up date. We are officially all moved into my parents house. It was one of the hardest moves we have done and it seemed to take forever. It was about a week long process to get everything out and the house cleaned. I finally figured out on the last day it was because we had to spend a lot of time figuring out what to put into storage and what we could fit into my parents house, specifically what we couldn't live without. I was really slow moving at first packing because I was dreading it so much. We really are squished into this house now. Aurora and Brianna are sharing a room with my 17 year old sister, and Kent and I are holding our breath in about a 10 by 10 room where we have our bedroom and office. I will be spending my thirtieth birthday here which is where I never thought I would be at this time in my life. But now that we are all in and getting settled, things are getting back to normal. It will never be the same as our own place but it will be ok for a little while until we can figure out our next step. The kids are really enjoying being by grandma and grandpa so much.

Payin' it forward

Payin' it forward...The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though...Post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Fun, huh?Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift!
My friend Kirsten is doing this on her blog, and I thought I would join in the fun.

Happy St. Patty's day and fun with hair

Happy St. Patricks day everyone! We had lots of fun doing green things today. Kent made green eggs and bacon for breakfast and later I made green peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, mmmm yummy.

I have also had a lot fun doing the girls hair the last couple weeks here are a few pics. One is from Aurora today. I took this after school, but I think it held up pretty good. I was going to do Bri' too, but she is really sick today so she just got a quick pony tail. This was definitely one of my favorites from my favorite hair blog. Another is of Brianna of one I made up for her. She has very thin hair so I do what I can. Then there is Aurora from her Angelina Ballerina day. We call this the Ballerina bun. It is also one of my favorites from the blog. Links are at the bottom if you would like to learn how to do these yourself. I am also adding a link to my absolute favorite. I don't have a pic but check it out any way it looks way cute on both my girls.

Cute tween hair bun (Ballerina bun)

Three leaf clover

Triple twists with messy buns This is our personal absolute favorite hair do. Every time I do it on the girls they get complements. I will try to post a pic tomorrow.

My Angelina Ballerina

Last week was Nevada reading week, and each day of the week they had the kids at Aurora's school do different things. On Wednesday the kids were suppose to go to school dressed as their favorite story book character. One of Aurora's favorites is Angelina Ballerina. I like to give my kids a special book each year at Christmas, when Aurora was one I gave her Angelina Ballerina. It has become a family favorite. I decided to make the costume. I made the tutu the same way I did their Halloween costumes and then I attempted to make little mouse ear clips. I think they turned out pretty cute. Brianna felt left out so I made her some ears too.

family photo shoot

This is our tortoise Lena. She is a Russian tortoise. The kids and I gave her to Kent for his birthday back in October. She was suppose to be for his classroom, but she became more of family pet. On Sunday after we got back from Sake Conference, Kent decided he would do a little photo shoot of her and the kids. I thought the pics turned out cute and thought I would share them.

Car for sale

I thought I would do a post letting all of you know that we are selling our car. We have been putting off selling it for a while, it is Kent's baby, but we decided if we are serious about buying a house soon than we need to lower our debt to income ratio (we have two car payments). SO a little about it. It is a silver 2005 V6 4 door Dodge Stratus. It runs fantastic and we have never had any problems at all with it. It does have a crack in the back bumper, courtesy of me backing up into with our van, but other than that it is beautiful. It has been very well maintained and has fantastic air conditioning, one big reason why we are sad to get rid of it. It has only 59,000 miles on it. We are selling it for $6,400 but are willing to negotiate a little. If you know anyone looking for a pretty car that runs grate, tell them about it. You can post a message or e-mail me about it at tibbitts_2003 @hotmail.com if you have any questions.