Grandpa Sakota/Las Vegas

So much has happened in the last month that I need to journal about! I'm so behind!
A couple weeks ago, I had my breaking point. I was overly stressed about work, Hailee's dance was pretty much taking over our life, Chemistry I was studying like 5 hours a day and still not getting it, and I had just found out my grandpa Sakota had stomach cancer. He was 88 years old so not much we could do and the doctor had said he only had a couple weeks left. We were headed to Las Vegas for a week and then back for two days and then off to Nova Scotia for three weeks. I was stressed about when he would pass and if I'd be home for everything. The night I found out about G. Sakota I just broke down and none of my kids really new what to do. They all gave me a hug and then just left me to be by myself.....except Ashlyn.

Ashlyn is like a little mother. She loves to take care of people. Zack always goes to her when he needs something and she tries to lift him up, but he weighs a lot more than her, and get him what he needs. Well, I was laying on the bed and she is just rubbing my arm and she starts to talk and she says

"Mom, I'm sorry. That's just how life is sometimes and well,............big girls don't cry."

O.K. she's 5! It was the cutest thing ever.

So back to my Grandpa. He passed away on our way to Las Vegas and we ended up having to come home a little early. We were in Vegas for Hailee's Nationals dance competition and two of her dances ended up making it to the finalist which meant they had to dance in the big gala show and then from there it would be determined which place they got. That was a hard decisoin for Hailee. She told me that no matter what happened she wouldn't miss the funeral, but then didn't want to let her team down either. When the second dance made it to the finalist is when it was decided that she couldn't let her team down. So she eneded up staying with a friend. One of the dances ended up taking first place, which was a huge trophy and $2500! She was so excited! I was so proud of her!

I always looked up to my G. Sakota and always wanted to please him. I know he is in a better place and he will be greatly missed.

Ashlynisms

My girls absobluetly love to help me pick out my outfit for the day. They get the WHOLE thing. Shoes, belts, earrings, watch, rings, hats, EVERYTHING! The other day Ashlyn was helping me pick my clothes when she said:

"Mom, you are so rich with clothes!"

Me thinking "Don't EVER let your dad hear you say that!"

So I'm a little behind...........

who cares right? Well, to be honest it is actually driving me crazy that I haven't been able to post for 5 weeks. And it's driving Brad crazy too. Isn't that funny? He loves reading my blog at work. I think it's cute. So what's been going on in my world lately? Well, we had the big Dance Depot dance recital. Let me just tell you, its crazy! Seriously crazy! Can you believe there are mothers that go to the civic at 8:30 a.m. and sit there ALL day until it starts at 6:30 p.m. to save seats for their family? And might I add you HAVE to be sitting there or all your seats you've saved are gone within minutes. And yes, I am one of those insane mothers that goes to the civic at 8:30 a.m. and saves seats for my family. I know, I know. My girls did absoblutely awesome! and I loved watching each of their dances. Ashlyn was in one, Paige was in two and Hailee was in five (i think).....Oh I can't forget that Brad was in one also. They asked the dads of the team if they would do the surprise number this year and Brad was such a good sport. He totally did it for Hailee. Check it out on U-tube under dance depot dads.










I've also been coaching Hailee and Paige's fast pitch team with the help of my hubby and I absobluely LOVE it. And we've won every game so far. This is the first year they've done fast pitch and they're really liking it a lot. Don't have any pics yet.

Oh and one last thing that has occupied probably 4-5 hours a day lately is my chemistry class. Yea, I know, I know. I decided I needed to go back to school to get my nursing degree. I got a lot of my classes done when I went to Ricks College and after chemistry, I have four more classes to take before I can apply to the nursing program. So it doesn't sound too bad right? There are ups and downs. I'm definately not as fun as I use to be. Just ask my sisters and friends. But Brad and I really feel good about the decision. So wish me luck. I will definately need it. After chemistry is over,July 1 and counting down the days, we're going on a month vacation that I can not wait for!

Ballet Recital

One word to describe Saturday....INSANE. We started off with Paige having dance practice at 9-11 a.m. Ashlyn had a soccer game at 11 a.m. Hailee had a dance competition in which she did all five dances at 12 p.m. to like 6 p.m. AND her end of the year ballet recital which she had to be there at 5:30. It didn't start until 7:30, but I went at 5:30 like a good mom to save seats for the fam. What did I do for two hours? I thought I would sit alone and enjoy myself, but instead I did what I do best....SLEEP. I felt pretty embarrased when I woke up with my head back and my mouth wide open to a lady asking if some seats were saved. I really felt like I was the one doing all the dancing and soccer playing. I honestly don't know how Hailee was able to function and do such an awesome job after the busy day she had. I'm so proud of her and all that she is able to accomplish. Now if we can just work on her little attitude, which I feel she needs adjusted.

And to top all that off, we went to the 10 o'clock movie with Jeff and Lindsey after it was all over. We saw Ghosts of Girlfriends past, which I couldn't have asked for a better way to end the night.........Matthew. And yes, I did dream about him.
Here she is at her recital. She did marvelous.
Her and her dad messing around. Brad wouldn't let me post the picture with him in his tights lifting her.
She gets that from her mom. yea, right.

Her and one of her friends at the competition. More dance picture to come later.

Motorcross

A couple months ago, we were introduced into the "dirt biking" world. A few of our neighbors all have dirt bikes and we were feeling a little left out.....not really. We just thought it looked like fun when they were out riding in the back yard. One night one of our friends asked us if we wanted to go to motorcross in SLC. I think they felt sorry for us :) Not really knowing what it was, we said yes. So two weekends ago we went down and met some of our friends there. Talk about a blast. I don't think Brad and I have ever laughed so hard. They are such great people. Thanks for putty up with us. Tai Pan, Ikea, Cafe Rio, great company, P.F. Changs (oh wait, we didn't go cuz of an hour wait. Very disappointed) what else could I ask for.

Well, the big news....Brad bought a motor bike when we were in SLC! I think Zack was the most excited out of all of us. We called him on the phone and told him and that was the first thing he said to us when we picked him up. He wanted to ride it right then and bawled when he couldn't.

I was a little nervous for Brad at first because he did not have a good experience the first time he tried to ride one. He totally tipped it over on himself. So the deal was he could get a dirt bike if he didn't get hurt. Good deal right?

Motorcross? Awesome! It's amazing to see all those motorbikers ride and do jumps and NOT crash into each other. So......now I want a bike! Crazy isn't it?

Pizza and Bowling

I haven't blogged in several weeks and heres a few enteries to catch up from the last little bit.

Linkin, my little sisters boy, had his fourth birthday last week. It's crazy how it's so meant to be that he is with our family. Mandy had a really hard time getting pregnant and after lots of test and procedures they had to come to realization of not being able to have kids. So they adopted. They were with an agency for about a year and nothing happened. They switched to a different agency and within a couple days, they were flying to Texas to adopt they're first little boy. After about a year of having Linkin Mandy got pregnant with her second which was a miracle and now she is pregnant with her third. Isn't that crazy how that works. So we celebrated in Rexburg with Pizza and bowling.

I'm amazed at how well my girls did. I'm pretty sure they're better bowlers than me. Can I just say I"m so glad they got their cordination and athleticism from their dad.

Ashlyn Soccer

We decided to sign up Ashlyn for soccer this year. She couldn't wait til her first practice. I didn't know how she would like it or if she'd even go out and play, but after her first practice, she couldn't wait til the game and asked every day. "when is my game?" "How many more days til my game?". After her first practice she comes up to me and whispers in my ear "Mom, I'm the best player." We don't have to worry about confidence with this girl.