Excuses, Excuses, Excuses...

I can't believe this month has come and gone already. (And I don't know why each paragraph has a different font nor do I have the energy to fix it.;) I have been meaning to blog every day for the past 20 days or so but something would always come up and then I would be too tired to SIT at the computer and type. Pathetic, I know.

No really though, I have a good excuse. Actually, a FEW good excuses for not blogging.

My 1st excuse...

I have three kids. Enough said.

My 2nd excuse...

Ryan is on his last rotation and graduates next Friday!!!! August 6th. Can't believe he will be done with school and we will actually become contributing members of society and tax paying citizens. FINALLY. I have always wanted to pay lots of taxes, I was almost feeling left out. ;)

My 3rd excuse...

Ryan and I have been on the lookout everyday for jobs. He has had a few interviews here and there but nothing yet. We realized however that we weren't being as aggressive or proactive as we should have been the last month. So this week we have already seen some progress with job openings.

My 4th excuse...

I have been training for a marathon and since I have been running so much I have been extremely tired. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday my friend, Emily and I have been running. We have been running 12, 14, 15, 16 mile runs on Fridays. This Friday we are up to 17 miles. Just thinking about it makes me tired and ache with pain. But it is also so empowering to be able to run that far and I feel good... inside that is. I can't say the same thing about my outsides. I have bad knees so my knees are always sore and it's very painful to even walk for the next couple of days after a long run. But I keep pressing on anyway because as my husband says, "I'm crazy." My 5th excuse...

We went to Boise because one of my best friends from high school, Krista finally was able to have her husband with her after more than a year of being a apart! It was so good to finally meet him and see them together. They are such a cute couple and I am so happy for them. And Krista looked so beautiful. (Love you Krista!) It was so nice to catch up with some old friends too. I have known most of these girls since middle school and they were beautiful then and even more beautiful now! Kaitlyn, Shannon, Krista, Hayley, Me, Rory

Dan, and Brad

Emily and me

While we were in Boise we got to stay with some good friends of ours, the Morin Family. We always have such a great time hanging out with them.

We went to a water park in Meridian and the kids had a ton of fun splashing and running through the spraying water fountains.

Even Emily got in on some water action.

Brooke, Kade, Madi and Avery enjoying a movie together.

Joanna and I were able to get away for a girls' night out to the movies. We went and saw what else but Eclipse!

My 6th excuse... We had a Cherryholmes family reunion. It was great to see my grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles on my mom's side that I haven't seen in a few years. Such good memories were made!

Cousins and sisters-Me, Tracy, Celeste

Lauren, April, Lindsay

And finally my last and 7th excuse for not blogging in awhile...

Ryan and I were asked by our bishopric to build a float for our stake in the 24th of July, Pioneer Day Celebration Parade. It was a BIG job. So we have spent the last month almost every night planning, measuring, drawing, cutting, paper mache-ing, painting...did I mention, PAINTING!? Yeah, lots of painting and then building the float.

Our stake president wanted something totally different this year, completely opposite of Pioneers! He said and I quote, "I am tired of handcarts." So we thought Harry Potter would be a fun float to do, because kids love Harry Potter! We made a castle with 4 towers on each corner. Here's a few pictures during the drawing up process... Ryan did most of the drawings and I did most of the painting...

I made this sign for the front of the truck...and my friend Pam helped me glue it all together. Here is Pam's son, Marshall. He and I are great pals and we got to ride together in the back of his grandpa's model A truck. It was pretty sweet. Marshall would lean over, hug me and say, "We're on a date." haha! He is such a sweet boy. I just love their whole family. And here's the stars of the show... Ron, Harry, and Hermione. (Jo, J.C., and Nicole) Harry, Hagrid and two house elves. Ryan was Voldermort. And here's pictures of our finished float. Our Hogwarts Castle And Amy Schwope did an AMAZING job on the Whomping Willow Tree! It looked incredible!

***A special thanks goes to Amy and Lance for helping us with the planning and design of the float. The Hill family...Pam, Alan, Melissa, Nate, Marshall, and Spencer for letting us use their trailer and garage to put it all together. Thank you Pam for making the flags for the castle. And to Alan, Mike, Duane for helping us stabilize the castle onto the trailer. Thank You! A BIG thank you to brother and sister Atkinson for being there to help put it all together as well. And another BIG thank you to the Smith family and to the Bishop and his wife for helping us with the painting of the many clouds and putting it all together! THANK YOU!!! And guess what?!?!

We won Judges' Choice Award! Whoo-hoo! I am sure after reading this post you are ready for a nap. I know I am ready for one. If you like to belly flop onto the couch for a nap then here's Avery demonstrating how that can be done...

Or if you prefer a more upright position while napping, Madisen perfectly demonstrates that here...

Sweet Dreams and Happy Napping!

Painters Gone Wild.

I let the girls paint at the kitchen table, after 10 minutes or so, I hear them laughing like crazy lunatics! So of course, I had to go and see what was so funny. And this is what I found...




They were painting each other.

Just (a few weeks ago) Married!!!

This post is long over-due. I actually started it about three days after the wedding and never posted it. Anyway, Ryan's little brother Sean got married on June 13th to a fabulous girl, named Janette.
The wedding was beautiful. Janette was beautiful...heck, even Sean was beautiful!! ;) Here they are dancing their first dance as a married couple. Congrats to them! We love you guys!
Awww...
Can you see me? I was getting my groove on and someone took a picture on my camera...(Jerry!) haha.The D.J. dancing to Michael Jackson's hit song, "Thriller". And there is Ryan's second cousins dancing together, Kaitlyn and Wylie.

Mother-Son dance. Love this picture.
Sean taking the garter off Janette...
Sean flinging the garter to all the single guys...Lane caught it. That'a kid.
The bride and all her bridesmaids.
Sean, Ryan and Nate. What a couple of cute guys!
The Family...Dad and Trudy, Janette, Grandma Hodges, Sean, Mom and Bob Graf.
After the wedding, we went out to dinner at Carraba's and just had a great time. 1,2,3, SMILE!

OK, let's try this again, Grandma...1,2,3, SMILE!

Grandma! HAHA!! After Grandma Hodges and I tried smiling at the same time for like 10 pictures and still didn't get one, we were laughing so hard we couldn't stop. So funny. I love Grandma Hodges. She is such a hoot!

Mom and Bob GrafSisters, Wendy and Margene.
Ryan and I
Dad and Trudy Hodges
Uncle Nate and Aunt Erin

We had a great time in Colorado seeing family, having our own hotel room for two nights ;) and just hanging out with everyone that we really didn't want to leave, but we missed our girls so we decided to come home.