Christmas time is here!

It's time to celebrate Christmas again! At our family party, Santa gives hugs to the children after they all get to sit on his lap:)
















It's also my sweet niece's birthday in December. This year, she had a Dumbo party. She's already 3 years old!

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime? (Part 4)

Oh what do you do in the summertime when all the world is green?















Do you spend time with friends?
















Or work til day's end?


















Or welcome new babies? 'Oh my!'

Is that what you do?
















So do I!

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime? (Part 3)

Oh what do you do in the summertime when all the world is green?


Do you eat jelly beans?














Go to the rodeo with your cousins?

















Or take your new jeep for a ride?














Is that what you do?
So do I!

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime? (Part 2)

Oh what do you do in the summertime when all the world is green?


Do you march in a parade?




















Or sell lemonade?














Or take time to learn how to drive?




Is that what you do?






So do I!

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime? (Part 1)

Oh what do you do in the summertime when all the world is green?



Do you swim in a pool to keep yourself cool?




Or watch the sunset in the sky?















Is that what you do?

So do I!

Cannon's sleepover!

Every summer, I love to have my nephew Cannon come for a sleepover at least once. This time we got the extra bonus of being able to be in a parade as well.


Cannon decorated his scooter last night.





Then we washed the truck and the lawnmower.

Then we decorated the lawnmower.

This morning we lined up behind the firetruck and paraded around the neighborhood. Cannon was first in line after the firetruck.















Harper got to 'drive' Johnny's truck in the parade.


















I rode the lawnmower and threw candy.




Michal and Grandma cheered us on and took pictures at several locations during the parade.



Then we got to eat breakfast and play pioneer games.



We had a great time:)

I love my Cannon boy!

I put the 'Hunk' in Bohunk

Last night we had another 'Bohunk' party at my house. We are a family of Croatian descent and we are proud! My great-grandparents Ivan and Manda Matievich immigrated from what was then Yugoslavia in the early 1900's. They had 9 children, one of which was my Grandma Kate. Those 9 children have all passed on now and we're feeling the importance of keeping the family together more and more.
It was great to visit together, look through old pictures, tell the family stories again and also share information about important family dates so our family records can be correct.

We had a great time. And we even have matching t-shirts!

My Guy!

It's my cute husband's birthday today. Here he is with his sweet mom.
He's the best! He's the most patient, caring, kind, charmed, loving, selfless, nice, soft-hearted, calm, easy-going, helpful, handsome, hard-working, sweet, gentlemanly guy on the planet. I love him so much!
Happy Birthday honey!

Uncle Jay Tastes Like Jelly Beans

Harper loves her Uncle Jason. She and her mom came over to our house last Saturday for my birthday. Harper found out that Uncle Jay wears velcro strap shoes just like she does.

When Uncle Jay offered Harper some jelly beans that he had in his pocket, she couldn't refuse because they're her favorite.



Harper wanted to watch Cinderella so Uncle Jay went and got the video and they snuggled on the couch, ate jelly beans and watched the movie for awhile.

After they left, Piper sent me a text to tell me that Harper had said, "I love Uncle Jay. He tastes like jelly beans!"

It's my birthday!

It has been a long time since I remember waking up to snow on my birthday. I look mad in the picture because of the glare of the snow off of the sun.
My cute husband fixed the kitchen sink faucet that I broke, bought me a new android smart phone, took me to dinner last night, took me to breakfast this morning and bought pizza for dinner.











My daughter's boyfriend bought me a Baskin Robbins birthday cake. My cute friends Pamela and Cherie from school gave me gifts and well wishes. I got calls from my family and friends and many Happy Birthday posts on facebook.

Piper and Harper came over to visit and so did my cute neighbors the Newtons. I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. I'm very grateful for all of my blessings. And next Sunday is Mother's day so Johnny will be calling from Indiana!

Easter 2011

Our traditional Easter day includes a barbecue at Grandma Thackeray's. Jason's usually the grillmaster and there's always plenty of good food. The weather was a bit chilly this year but we did OK.















Then, the big kids hide plastic Easter eggs for the little kids to hunt in Grandma's back yard. They are filled with candy, money and toys.

Dianna got a sour piece of gum:)

Elder Thackeray sent us pictures of his Easter in Muncie, Indiana. They made Easter cookies.

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Deep in the Heart of Texas!

Jason, Michal and I went to Fort Worth, Texas for 3 days for the next part of my teacher of the year competition. It was Michal's first time flying! It was fun to watch her face as the plane took off. She decided she didn't really like the feeling of flying because she felt so out of control.



We stayed at the Fort Worth Hilton and enjoyed roaming around downtown and trying out some of the local restaurants. Thursday evening I had an interview with the committee for the Teacher of the Year. Thursday night we ate at Mi Cocina, a popular Mexican restaurant. It was very good. I just couldn't handle the salsa because it was too hot. But I'm a baby about that anyway.



Friday I had workshops all day so Jason and Michal did some more exploring except when it was time for the luncheon and the awards were presented. There were six candidates for the Southwest Region Teacher of the Year.


Yo Azama from California won the award. He teaches Japanese. He was super excited about winning and will now be a candidate for the National Teacher of the Year. It was great to meet so many wonderful foreign language educators and learn some new teaching ideas for my students.


On Friday night we took a cab to the Stockyards and ate at Cooper's BBQ. We couldn't believe our eyes when we were shown the choices for meat! They just slice off a hunk of whatever you want, dunk it in their famous barbecue sauce and slap it on a cafeteria tray! Then they weigh the meat and you pay for it by the pound. You can get baked potato and fixin's, drinks, cobbler, and there's this giant pot of beans that has whole jalapeño peppers floating in it, plus a giant jar of jalapeño peppers on the picnic tables! The cashier hands you a piece of freezer wrap and says "This is y'all's plate. Y'all eat on the shiny side." It was a hoot!


We explored the Stockyards some more. It used to be a slaughtering place for cattle but now they've turned it into shops and restaurants, etc.

Check out this cute, old couple singing "You're Cheatin' Heart."


There was also a guy there with his longhorn steer offering photo opportunities.
It's easy to start saying y'all when you're in Texas! Everywhere we went it was "Hi y'all", "Bye, y'all", "What would y'all like?", "Wher're y'all goin'?". But my favorite was this cute gramma lady who rode with us in the shuttle from the airport to the hotel the first day we were there. She was from Indiana! She said, "Wher're all a you'uns from?" I wrote it down and she asked me if I was accusing her of being a redneck. I said absolutely not! I just love language. It's fascinating!

Another one-year anniversary

Johnny's temple endowment day was one year ago today. It was a beautiful day. We needed to be at the temple by 5 am. The guests were invited to the 7 am session at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.
I'll never forget watching his face as he experienced the wonderful Spirit of the Lord in the temple. We were grateful for the friends and family who got up so early on a Saturday morning to share this day with Johnny.



He has now been on his mission in Indiana for 10 months. Can you believe how fast that has gone by? He is serving as a district leader in Muncie, Indiana. He loves everything about being a missionary and is so excited about sharing the gospel. This is a picture of him with his companion Elder Bijou.


God is the best!

One year ago today

My daughter Michal got a phone call at 7:30 pm saying that her best friend Maquelle had been in a car accident. She picked up her purse and ran out the door saying "I have to go to Idaho." Then she said "How do I get to Idaho?" I told her to just hold on a minute and I would drive her there. We picked up Maquelle's mom on the way and drove for 4 hours. We stopped at a little hospital in a town just south of Mallad. It was there that we found out Maquelle had been thrown from the car and killed in the accident. Maquelle's mom and my daughter both fell completely apart. It was horrible to watch. I couldn't think of anything to do but pray in my heart that somehow God would bring them comfort. I told the doctors that we wanted to see Maquelle. They said we'd have to wait because they were still working on her at the mortuary. We were finally able to go there after what seemed like hours. I'll never forget feeling my daughter's heartache as she looked at her best friend lying there in the funeral home. Maquelle just looked like she was asleep and if you shook her she'd wake up. Her face was perfect. She didn't even look like anything had happened.
As we drove back home, Michal was calling and texting all of her friends to meet at our house to support each other. We got home at about 4 am and Michal's friends and my mom were there.
God bless them all.



Michal and I spent today together and kept busy with LaCinda's baby shower, some shopping and eating lots of garlic at Chinese Buffet:) Tonight, we went to Maquelle's grave to light some candles and remember. It was raining and cold and the wind was blowing so the candles didn't stay lit but Michal just said that was Maquelle having her way.
It's going to be allright. It's just hard to see my daughter still hurting so much. She is strong, though and she knows that Maquelle is OK.

Bird Man

Here's my cute husband feeding 'his' birds. He loves to watch them out in the back yard. He doesn't want them to go hungry in the snow. I'm sure he'll have them named soon. Isn't he so darling!:)