Memorial Day

This is a day to honor those that have given us the freedoms that we have in this awesome country. I have chosen to use a picture of my grandfather, George Patterson. He served in the Navy. He's long gone now, but I want to honor him on this day, along with all the brave men and women serving in our military, in the past and today. Currently my nephew, Shane, is in Iraq on his 3rd tour of duty. I'm very proud of him, and also my own son and daughter who have chosen to be a part of the military.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is Mom's birthday. We went out to eat at Chili's to celebrate!

Here's Kaitlyn with Aunt Deb and Uncle David.

Saturday graduation

Here's a shot at the beginning. I'm an emotional sap. This is my 11th graduation at PHS, but I still get misty eyed to watch my students get their diplomas after so many years of hard work. Congratulations to all the graduates!!!!!

Hula hoop, anyone? Friday night.

Our department end-of-the-year barbeque. Lots of good food, fun and yes, hula hoop! Here's a small sampling of the great pictures from that night. Above, Brian and Jodi show their skills!

Here, Amy instructs Sandra on proper hula hoop techniques! Sandra's doing great - a quick learner!

Graduates

No, it's not graduation day yet, not until Saturday. But today was our awards convocation. The graduating seniors wear their caps and gowns so we can honor them for their accomplishments. So I'm sharing a few pictures of some of my students! From the left: Krystal, Eric, me, Jamie, and Jena.
Arlandis

Juan

Zach

I'm so proud of all my graduates! This is simply my favorite time of the school year (for a couple of reasons!) This week is definitely about them! More photos later!

Sculpture

This is a bronze sculpture that one of my graduating students made in art class. Wow! Some talent!! I was so impressed, I had to take a picture. Then I got her with it too.

May 18th, Monday

Aloha! Imagine my surprise (and glee) when I saw this beautiful hibiscus plant at the local King Soopers store! So now I just have to try to keep it alive in this Colorado climate!

May 17th, Sunday

What a beautiful sunny day! This is how I spent my afternoon. Doesn't look like much now, but by the end of the summer, we won't even be able to see the dirt between the growing flowers!

Family gatherings...(Monday)

Last night we got together with Doug and his family. It's always so much fun to get together!!

I was so happy that Micah was able to join us too. Here I am with my kids...minus Brianna.

Happy Mother's Day!

This is my niece, Laurie, with her 8 month old son, Crew. He is absolutely adorable, and we loved their visit today! He's a big boy, weighing in at 20 lbs. currently, but he had an early start at it....he weighed 10 lbs 3 oz when he was born!

You can see that Kaitlyn loves her cute little second cousin. We had a great day!

Wrestling....

My sister, Dianne, got in town today. After watching a movie this evening, she and Kaitlyn decided to wrestle....Dianne, 5'2" wrestling Kaitlyn, 5'10". It was quite hilarious! Both were laughing too hard to even wrestle.

A letter, finally!!

Yippee!! I finally got a letter from Brianna!! I'm so excited, and so proud of her! She's hangin' in there, doing good. Lots of hard work. Looking forward to June when she graduates!! :)

Teacher Appreciation Week

I guess May is a good time for teachers to feel appreciated! We're being a little bit spoiled this week...flowers, donuts and coffee, breakfasts, and Canino's on Friday for lunch!

Everyday mail

This is something I'm doing almost daily since Brianna left for basic. I have written her a letter nearly every day, because I know getting mail will hopefully make her time go by faster and be less lonely. As of yet, I haven't heard back from her....so I'm bummed......

Pita Pit

Kaitlyn and I had some errands to run, so we stopped for lunch at the Pita Pit. This has become one of our favorite places. They stuff the pitas with your choice of delicious grilled meats and toppings of your choice. We both had the Aloha, very yummy!

Saturday, May 2nd

Here's Amy and I at Cropping for a Cause. It's a great scrapbooking day held out at The Ranch. The proceeds go to ALS. We had a great time! It's always fun to get together!

Smile!

Here's my mom and my 8 year old niece, Gabby! We were at Del Taco. Yummy!