Tri for the Stars

For those of you who know my niece Natalie, you may be proud to know that she participated in a triathlon for the STARS. Saint Alphonsus Rehabilitation Services organized a week long physical therapy camp, focusing on biking, running, and swimming. The camp concluded with a triathlon and awards ceremony.

Unfortunately, I was misinformed of the time of the triathlon and only made it to the swimming portion

Natalie standing on the podium receiving her award

All of the athletes (Natalie is on the end)

Vacation 2011

Vacation 2011: Las Vegas, Arizona, Disneyland, Manhattan Beach

Graduate #2

2011 is an excellent year to graduate! A week after my BSU graduation, katie had her Borah High Graduation


We have done nothing but eat this month. We had huge steak dinners on my dad's birthday/mother's day, & Scott's birthday. My aunt brought us over a huge hunk of meat last week so we ate that last Sunday. We went to Goodwood fo my graduation, and now we are eating again for Katie's graduation. I liked this picture...look at Parker's little face, right under Scott:)

Graduation 2011

May 2011 - I finally graduated with my bachelor degree in music (on the flute) from Boise State. And I did it with a 1 year old and a 3 year old. I am proud to say that I persevered through it with my 2 boys, and hopefully it will teach them that it is possible to get through school with little kids. Some of the hardest times were:
- when Spencer was first born - he was born august 22 - then the semester started a week later.
- the semester I was pregnant with Parker - taking almost 15 credits being extremely pregnant with really high blood pressure and also dealing with a 2 year old.
- And then this last semester was hard, doing my senior project with 2 kids - one who is 3 and the other who just turned one (at the end of the semester).
Neither kid is content, and both hate it when I try to practice - if I'm playing my flute, that means that I am not playing with them. But I did it, thank you very much:)


I was planning on starting a master's program in the fall in Flute pedagogy (pedagogy is the art of teaching),basically specializing in teaching someone how to play the flute - but BSU only has pedagogy programs in piano and voice. After a few weeks of battling it out, my professor and I couldn't change the program. So we spent my last year really studying flute pedagogy. I don't have the time to get a master's in performance or else I would do that. Performance majors need at least 3+ hours a day to practice, and I am lucky if the boys let me practice for 10 minutes.Plus I would need time to be in all of the ensembles (orchestra/band), plus do a master's assistantship program, and a thesis. Throughout my entire bachelor degree, I practiced in 5-10 minute increments, and did homework at night, so I wouldn't neglect the boys. And there is no way that I can do everything a master's would entail at night. When the boys are older I plan to go back and take all of the education credits, so I can teach elementary music, or band - but for now I plan on teaching private lessons.



The beautiful wood music stand my parents gave me for graduation

My amazing flute professor - Dr. Nicole Molumby

Myself and fellow flutist Sarah Goodenow

Trying to be festive...too much? Maybe I should have asked the duplex:)

BSU flute studio (minus 1)

BSU flute choir: Christmas concert 2010

BSU flute students, plus honor high school flute choir - with the one and only Dr. Angeleita Floyd (world renown flutist) She is on the far left side, and I'm standing right next to her:) The picture was too far away to crop everyone else out:)

My flute literature and pedagogy class, having class (and breakfast) at Elmer's Restaurant

cabin fever

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago. At that time it was still cold enough that we didn't want to go outside - since then it has warmed up some, and we have gone out often:) This particular day, we had cabin fever so bad, we couldn't stand it. It had rained earlier that day, but we still went outside.
Scott decided to clean out the rain gutters - and Spencer couldn't handle himself unless he got one chance to climb up the ladder. And Parker was on cloud nine, eating anything within his reach

Can't get enough

Fire trucks never get old

Not much to blog about

The past few months have been very uneventful. I am just trying to survive until May. I am finishing up my last semester at BSU (I know, it took forever), so I am busy every week with papers and projects. May will fly by, packed with: Parker's birthday, my dad's birthday, Scott's birthday, Natalie's (niece) baptism, mother's day, finals week, my graduation, Katie's school and seminary graduation. I think we have at least 2 major events every week in May. Once we get through all of that, my whole family is taking a week long graduation vacation, the first week of June...and I can't wait.
Here are a few pictures of what we have done in the past few months (which is not a lot):
In February we bought our first camper. I've just learned to live with the fact that camping will be a part of my life...being married to Mr. Camper with 2 boys:) Scott has been wanting a camper basically since we got married, and I finally gave in. We bought a 2005, 8 foot tent trailer...i don't know how long it is when it's all popped up. Spencer (and Scott) are on cloud nine.
Parker turned 10 months in March. His 2 bottom teeth came in first, then his fangs came in on top:)
Borah Basketball game. Just waiting for the band to start playing again so they can resume dancing.
Spencer will only play baseball, as long as he's wearing his baseball hat.
This is what I wake up to every morning. They may seem cute in the morning...but neither of them have taken to sleeping very well