Heavenly

I usually am not a huge fan of m&ms. However, I am basically in love with their new pretzel ones. They are so good. The perfect blend of salt, sweet, and crunch. Delicious! If you haven't yet had any, you need to go to the store and grab a bag ASAP. Happy Monday :)

Mr. Independent

Yesterday as Mom, Suzanne, Ryan, and I were driving home from dinner, Mom said "Girls, one of you needs to bathe Ryan." As most awesome daughters do, we both quickly volunteered.

Yeah, right. In a perfect world. Rather, we quickly played a game of "Nose Goes", to which we both said we won. Ryan didn't really care, and decided that he was going to bathe himself. Now, he is only 3 (but will be 4 on Tuesday!), and so we all quickly said NO. You cannot bathe yourself, Ryan.

But clearly, we were way wrong, because he did bathe himself. We walked in the bathroom to find his clothes on the floor, warm water filled in the tub, and him in the middle of washing his hair. That kid is so funny, and does NOT act like a 4 year old at all. He came out squeaky clean, too!

Wash, Rinse, Repeat!

Strawberry Picking

This morning we all got up early to go pick some strawberries at Westmoreland Berry Farm. It was so much fun, and I'm not sure if we even picked as many as we devoured. All the kids left with bright red fingers and strawberries all over themselves. Mom also went earlier during the week and got 12 pounds of strawberries, so we bought a total of 26 pounds of strawberries in 3 days. Yum!

Don't these look SOOO... good? Take my word for it, they are.

Group of Berry Pickers! Kemmey's plus Suzanne's friend.

Rachel and Suzanne

Tanner reaching for the large strawberries!

It looks like one of those "We're Number 1" fingers.

And then, one of me. Picking strawberries is awesome.

Attendance, What's That?

It is so close to the end of the year, however June 11th cannot come fast enough. As I am still awake at 12:50 am on a school night, my motivation for attending school is completely shot. In fact, I am not going to school tomorrow. Maybe if teachers did not waste my time completing useless, busy-work projects, "preparing" me for an SOL, and forcing me to watch movies as I try not to fall asleep, school would be more enjoyable. However, since tomorrow we ARE doing all of those things, I am going to stay home, read, cook, and bake. I have a feeling it is going to be a good day.

In one respect I feel a little guilty for skipping when so many other kids continue to go and do what they are supposed to. However, I still do not feel guilty enough to go. Oh well.

My parents are the best. Thanks to them, I am proud to say that I have never, and will never, have perfect attendance.

Happy Mother's Day

Well, this is a little belated. I suppose if I was a good daughter, this would have been posted Sunday night. If I was exceptional, maybe even Saturday evening. But hey, I love her so much I wanted to make sure it was perfect--and it needed to brew a little bit. :)

My mom is great. Here are some of the major reasons why my mom is the best ever!

1. She loves her eight children and does so much just to raise and love us!

2. She is such a great example and encourages us to reach major

goals and strive for anything we want in life!

(p.s. That is my Grandma, too)

3. My mom cooks really good, homemade meals and feeds us. That is a huge task for a family of ten, and she does it willingly many nights a week!

4. She shows us how much she loves Dad, which is really important. Together they make the ultimate parent team. There is tons of love in our home!

5. She teaches us about life. She taught me a love for photography.

6. She serves. Everyone. Her kids, her husband, visiting teaching ladies.

7. She is a social woman. She texts a billion times more than I do, and she is 40. She is on facebook. She talks on the telephone. You name it.

8. She loves Lady Gaga. During the winter blizzard of 2010, she blasted her music and danced to her every single day.

9. She lets us skip school and picks us up early if we have awesome grades. This May, we skipped a day and headed to Great Wolf Lodge!

10. She loves church music and church books and church conference things. She helps her kids develop their own testimonies by sending us to EFY, going to girls' camp, and hauling us to church most Sundays.

She makes us laugh. She does anything for her family. When she gets tired, she is hilarious and annoying at the same time. She listens to eight kids fight all the time. She is mostly laid back. She is the cook at girls' camp and everybody loves her. She lets me wreck her kitchen and bake almost anything I want. She taught my a love for cameras and let me buy one of my own after playing with hers for many years. She encourages me in school, and believes in her children. She informs us, and doesn't hide anything from us. She is preparing us to be wonderful and loving parents one day. She expects us to uphold our standards and our convictions. She takes so much time and effort each day to be the wonderful stay-at-home mom that she is. She drives at way early in the morning to take me to seminary. I could go on and on, but I think everyone understands that my mom is so incredible and loving.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!

DONE.

This year I took 5 AP National Exams. Yep, five. Today I took the last one. Thank goodness. I am DONE. D-O-N-E done. Now I have to find some motivation to continue caring about meaningless projects and busy work assignments until June 11.