School's out, Scream and Shout

Welcome, summer. Goodbye to school. Thank you, Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Miller, and Mrs. Hargrove, as well as the teachers at the middle school. Audrey is sad, mom is glad, boys are screaming and shouting (at each other, at the homework mom gives them, at having to do chores, etc.). Time for adventures!

Introducing Supergirl!

I am so proud of my daughter. She is well rounded, beautiful, smart (way, way, smart), she is a great helper, and she thinks of others. The last week of school, she decided to cut her hair and donate it to Locks of Love. So, mom kinda sniffled as the scissors snipped away, but it is SO cute and fun and check out the curl in the back! It will be great for summer, it wil help a little girl who is losing her hair, and it has taught us all about serving others. I am so proud to be her mom... (sniffle, sniffle)

What a week...

What a fun and crazy week last week! Soccer games were exciting and stressful, teacher appreciation was appreciated, Joe's Crab Shack was yummy and fun, mom and daughter activity day was attended without mom, and mom was sick. Then I got sicker. And even sicker. Isn't there a rule that says mom's can't get sick? Or is that just the family rule? Oh, well... at least I'm finally getting better!

More awesome teachers...

From the kids...

Thank you to Mrs. Pincock, Mrs. Harrison, Mr. Davidson, Mrs. Melton, Mr. Kelley, Ms. Yawn, Mrs. Bohman, Mrs. Haines, Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Mickelsen, Ms. Miller, Mrs. Hargrove. Thank you for helping us become what we are!

It's Teacher Appreciation Week

As a sucker mom for PTA, I have the opportunity to help with Teacher Appreciation Week this week at our school. So, to all you parents out there, PLEASE take the opportunity to thank those teachers who positively influence our children's lives and our lives. They do so much with very little thanks and a whole lot of complaints. Let us teach our children to appreciate the effort that others take in teaching them!!!!

Thank you to: Mrs. Wirthlin (3rd grade), Rita Yarbrough who believed I could DO math, Claudia Wright, Alan Parrish, Bob Rasmussen, a college history teacher whose I can't remember but who taught me to think outside the box. Briana Zenger, Brent Cox, Sara Saxey, Heather Cook, Hanh Auduong, Hoa Kim Duncan, my husband and my children. We all teach is many ways.

I was once told, "a teacher is a teacher as long as someone remembers them that way."

A Star is Born!

Audrey is a star! She participated in the Fourth Grade play and did a fantastic job as the goddess Timpanogas. Wish I had better pictures, but alas, the lighting in the school gym is not conducive to great pictures. I was so proud of her, though! She did a great job, as Mrs. Witt-Roper, Ms. Yawn and Mrs. Bailey all agreed! Way to go, my star!

Fun Pictures

Fun pictures of spring, Carson surrounded by kids, pretty ladies, crazy kids, and our Easter Egg Hunt!

Good luck, Minh and Cami!

Our good friends, Minh (Nathan) and Cami are moving back to Kentucky for a new job. Congrats to them, but we will miss tham (as will her mom!). We know they will be a blessing to the people back there, but they leave a hole in our little Viet group! We love you guys!

Happy Birthday, Lance!

Lance is a lucky little tyke! He got 2 birthday parties - one with family, squeezed in between soccer games, and one with friends during the time a soccer game got cancelled!!!! Lucky kid. He really raked in the presents, and got 2 yummy cakes (one of which dad took him to the store on mom's order and picked the yummiest chocolate cake! mmmmm). He is now six, sweet, sassy and smart. (Or smart - aleck?!?). He likes to build things (legos, Bionicles, tinker-toys), his favorite color is ORANGE, he loves his friends, bacon, watermelon, ice cream, wrestling with dad, playing the Wii, dogs and his pet rat. I'm glad he is part of our family, because it sure wouldn't be the same without him! Love you, Lancey-pants!

Hello...is anybody home???

OK so we've been busy the last couple months. Here's a brief recap...

Over President's Day in February, we went down to St. George for a soccer tournament. Todd's team did well, it was beautiful weather, we had a great time, and we got to see Hoover Dam where part of Transformers was filmed!!!!

I had the pleasure (?) of speaking in church about family history.

We had the great honor of welcoming home Staff Sergeant Matt Brooks from Afghanistan. It was our pleasure to be there with their family as he came home! May God bless this country and those soldiers who sacrifice for our freedom...

Thao's mom got married!!! Congrats to her and Quy! What a fun thing to experience.

My crocuses bloomed, then it snowed, then the daffodils bloomed, then it snowed, then the trees bloomed and it snowed...can we see a pattern here?

Lance lost his first tooth! Then his second!

We went to Moab in mid-March for Thao and Todd to run the Canyonlands race. Thao ran the half-marathon, Todd ran the 5-mile. They both did great, especially Todd! (sorry, honey). We explored the Price Dinosaur Museum, Nine Mile Canyon, and hiked to new places in Moab. It was beautiful and very, very nice!

Audrey was accepted into the Advanced Learning Placement Program for school next year. She will be attending Westland Elementary instead of Heartland. We will be sad to not be with Heartland next year but this is a great opportunity for Miss Smarty Pants!!!!

General Conference came and went and we celebrated it downtown again. Have you ever noticed that it usually is bad weather on Saturday, but rarely on Sunday?

The Tran family got to sing "I Feel My Savior's Love" on Easter Sunday in sacrament meeting. Lance, especially, was AWESOME!

Annual Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard was a blast. It amazes me that after 40 minutes of hiding eggs, and who knows how many hours of filling eggs, 400 of said eggs can be picked up in 14 minutes...

Whew! Now we are caught up!

Puppetering ROCKS!

Audrey and the Activity day girls in our ward decided to put on a puppet show for our ward. They began making their puppets and creating a script for the army of Helaman and Samuel the Lamanite. Todd was asked to be Samuel, both the real person and the puppet. Aaron was asked to help with the army of Helaman. They performed their show on Saturday and it ROCKED!!!!! I wish I could have recorded it, but all you get to see are pictures. What a fun experience for them and a fun way to expand their talents!!!!

Happy belated Birthday

Aaron is 12! And what a week! His birthday was on Monday, we had frozen pizza and soccer practice, he had a big ole party on Friday (what was I thinking to have so many 12 year olds over!?!?!?), and he recieved the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday, with family over for dinner afterwards. What a crazy, fun week.

I'm am so grateful to claim him as my son. He is thoughtful (most of the time), crazy fun, a wonderful cuddler and back-scratcher, a fantastic artist -very creative, a great soccer player and a worthy priesthood holder. He loves animals and Yu-gi-oh cards, and he is a joy to have around. Our family would not be complete without him. How blessed I am to now have 3 priesthood holders in my home. He and Todd walk around saying "hey, deacon" to each other!

Happy Birthday, Aaron - you are AWESOME!

My "New" Bathroom

OK, I have so much to do today, and what do I do? Blog...

As I was cleaning my bathroom, I noticed the shower curtain was gross, and my rugs were falling apart. So, wa-la!!! My new, bright bathroom!

Question...

I have been listening to the news and radio and hearing alot about Pres. Obama, etc. Constantly I hear about how historic an occasion this is, and Ken Burns (the documentarian) said this is a new era.
So my question is this: He is our president, he is a man, he is HALF BLACK; why is it so historic? Does he have special powers no other president has? Does the color of his skin make him more powerful? Or does it not have to do with his skills as a president, but rather, the fact that a minority was able to become commander in chief? I have nothing against his color, heck, I married a minority, but I think people are making to big of a deal of the fact that he is HALF BLACK. This segregation is what causes all the problems we have relating to minorities. If we could just see people as PEOPLE, rather than black, white, Asian, poor, rich, Mormon, atheist, wouldn't that solve alot of problems???

On a somewhat related note...
No matter WHO we voted for, Obama IS the president. We should support him, because he has a dang hard job. We don't have to like or agree with him, but he IS our president.

Enough of my soapbox...

Two Words

I have a BEAUTIFUL friend who picks one word each year to work on (ie: perserverance, patience, simplify, etc.). I have taken her idea and tweaked it.



My children amaze me. They are constantly blowing my mind with the things they can do and the potential they have. Also with their misbehavior at times, but they are, after all, children! I am blessed to have been entrusted with thir care and I want to help them understand how much I love them and believe in them. So I am going to pick TWO WORDS that I feel describe not only WHO they are, but HOW I feel about them.



My daughter was the easiest: BRILLIANT AND BEAUTIFUL, both inside and out. She can do anything, and she has a very loving, nurturing spirit. I'll let you know when I figure out the boys. I was thinking SMART and Sassy or slimy or silly for Lance, but I'm still working on that...

decoration ideas...

These are some of the ideas I have for decorations for our Tet party. This is for the stage (the curtain will stay closed - it is turquoise). PLEASE let me know which one you like best. Also, the easels would hold the paintings (pix of which follow). It is as close to scale as I could get. I would love to light the Chinese lanterns if I can, and the round ones vary in color, so can be switched around. The square ones are only orange.

Thanks for your help!!!!!!!

Family Home Evenings

hehehehehehehe...

A few months ago, my children were not participating with a good attitude during Family Home Evening. Mostly, they refused to sing. So in a fit of inspiration (?), I told the bigger ones (ages 13, 11, 9) that if they did not sing and sing well I would have them participate in Ward Choir practice.

So, both at Thanksgiving and for the Ward Christmas program, myself and my children were part of the Choir. Todd sang baritone, Aaron tenor and Audrey and I were sopranos (which was challenging for me). It was a fun experience and apparently we added alot, because we have been asked to come back for the Easter program! My children now sing well during FHE!!!!

NEW STUFF!

Here's the new stuff in my life...

Our good friend and adopted sister, Hanh, had her baby girl on Tuesday, January 13th. Her name is Analise Thien Y Auduong, and she is oh, so cute! I got to hold and cuddle her! However, you will not see any pix anytime soon of anything, because they borrowed my camera (left for the hospital too fast) and I haven't got it back yet!

Year after year, Thao and I promise we will go on vacation for Vietnamese New Year, so we won't have to decorate, help, clean up, organize, etc! Yet again, this year, we are missing the boat and will be setting up, decorating, organizing, directing, dancing, cleaning up at Tet on Saturday. So to all of you, Cung Chuc Tan Xuan! (happy new year)!!! Yippee for us. It is fun, but alot of work...

Futsal (indoor soccer is the best explanation for you un-soccer people) starts this Thursday. I am conflicted, because I seem to be far more organized during soccer season, but it is chaos. So, onward, ever onward.

Audrey and Lance have finished their testing for the Advanced Learning Placement program in school. The both said it was easy, and seemed to enjoy the challenge. Come the end of April, we will have decisions to make about where to put them with their schooling. I always thought that parents with special needs kids really had challenges figuring out how to help their kids but now I realize that really smart ones are also "special needs" and it is every bit as challenging. I have learned to be flexible and willing to do what is best for MY KIDS. I am responsible for them and to help them succeed, therefore, my priority is what is best for them...

We have a couple new families in our little Vietnamese church group. They are not members, but have been coming to Church and getting involved with our little group. It is wonderful, but difficult, because Thao is the only native priesthood holder left in our group. He also has been translating during Sacrament meeting and so he doesn't sit with us anymore. It's a little overwhelming and our Sundays are WAY busy (sounds like the rest of our lives). I worry about my sweet hubby multi-multi-tasking, but I have faith that blessings will come as we meet the challenges (good and bad) that Heavenly Father sends our way.

It is a wonderful new year full of tons of potential! Yea for us...

Thankful Tuesday

Perhaps it is the season, perhaps I am supposed to be learning something, I don't know, but lately I feel very humble and blessed.

The last month or so we have had several close friends have health issues. One of my Young Women (from years ago) is struggling with the fact that her husband has colon cancer. They don't have any kids yet, and they are both young. One of my kid's favorite teacher's wife has Stage 3 lung cancer. My best friend's hubby had to go in for surgery to remove a lump (luckily benign), and ended up with complications. A fellow soccer mom is undergoing chemo right now. My beautiful friend in Vietnam just found a large lump in her breast. "Grandma Joan", a close family friend, is fading. My dad's best friend recently passed away unexpectedly.

I feel for these wonderful people and their families, and rejoice in the lives they touch each day. How grateful I am to have been touched in some way by them. And how grateful I am for mine and my family's health. I hope that by living my life to the fullest and appreciating what I have will honor my friends and their families.

My hopes, prayers and thoughts are with each of you...

Help...

Does anyone have solutions or suggestions of how to deal with a very angry 5 year old? Lance gets soooo angry sometimes, and I try to cuddle him, distract him, put him in time-out, read to him, threaten him, etc, etc, etc. He gets this growl on and runs around hitting or saying he'll kill someone. Should I just beat it out of him????? (JK sort of!)

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