Christmas in May?

For me it is. A couple of days ago while cleaning I ran across an envelope with my mine on it. I could tell it was my mom, Jo's, handwriting so I was thinking it was an empty Christmas envelope ....NOPE I found my Christmas present! WOW, talk about do the happy dance. You know how it feels to put on a coat after the winter season and you find a dollor, well that is what I was feeling but times 10!
So with my Christmas money from my parents I purchased this cute little patio set. It is small but the seats are comfy and I love it! So thank you Dad and Mom for my Christmas in May present.

Enjoying family

The weather has been so crazy this spring. With all the wet and cooler weather that we keep getting handed when the sun does make an appearance we all take advantage of it. A couple of Sundays ago we were lucky enough to see the sun and feel its warmth. Weston and Garett played a little b-ball.



I don't know too much about basketball but I am pretty sure that is a carry or a travel ...maybe both?


And no game is complete unless you have a few spectators.




That evening I made chicken taco salads and invited the Watkins over for dinner. Garett says that is should be a tradition that we eat here one Sunday and at their house the next. Sounds like a plan. We enjoy dinners together quite frequently. I just love having family so close. I have to admit when Tess and her family moved in next door I was a bit apprehensive but it has truly been a blessing. I get to watch my nephews and my niece grow up everyday. I will truly miss them when they move later this year. Tess and family ~ I love you all and wish you nothing but the best on your new adventure.

Pinewood Derby 2011 ~ the end of an era for us

Pinewood Debry 2011 is officially the last time one of our boys will, design, sand, sand, and sand some more, paint, add stripes to a Pinewood Debry car. Am I sad? It depends. Am I sad we won't have the excitement in the house on race day? Sure that will be missed but am I sad all my boys are growing up? Not at all. I love that they are getting older and we are experiencing new things together. I love the fact that Garett was super excited that a brand new 8 year old cub scout brought home first ~ shall I explain? You see, Garett is one of the most competitive boys I know and he, like everyone else, LOVES to win but tonight he was excited to see the look on Benson's face when he won, besides watching his mom do the "my son won dance" was icing on the cake. So you see my boys are growing up and I have a front row seat to this Oscar worthy show.
Enjoy some pictures of that night.

G-Ray getting his game face on ... I seriously love this kid


Tom is hard at work; helping the boys and their dads make sure their cars are exactly the right weight. He is such a great boy scout.


Parker Winterbottoms's car ....he says this car is "Scottish" and he says it with the cutest wanna be Scottish accent.



The cars and the boys are lined up ready to get this raced started!


Garett is trying to get his rear license plate aka a weight to stay in place. That other cub picture with him is Benson .. the winner of the race.

Congrats to all the boys and their cars for a great evening of racing, good sportsmanship and many laughs! Congrats Troop 90.

Did I do that?

What do you get when you cross two teenage boys fighting for the front seat on the way home from soccer practice? Do you give up? Well if you are fighting over the front seat in the Leatherow truck you get a broken back window.
Weston was late coming home from soccer one evening and when we finally heard the truck coming down the street we were a bit confused to see him pulling it onto the front lawn. He casually walked in the house and asked Tom and I to walk outside with him. I immediately asked him what he hit or what hit him. Sage, Josh and Weston all explained in detail about how Sage won the right to ride "shot gun" and Josh was getting in the back and tossed his backpack in and broke out the back window.
Don't worry there were no injuries just lots of apologies. Tom quickly told the boys all was well and I just giggled and thought, KIDS. Josh felt awful but we assured him we were not mad and we would get it fixed.
Tom placed some card board in the window until we could get in touch with our insurance.

Now you see them . . Now you Don't

I am talking about Colton's top braces. The day he has been waiting for has finally come. He wore his braces for 2 years and his teeth look amazing!

April 25th ~ on this day our family welcomed Garett Ray

and this year he turns 11!
We celebrated on May 1st up at Shane and Heidi's house (May 1st is also Karver's birthday) Love when we can combine birthday parties.
Lots of laughs and wanna give a shout out to my famiy for being so wonderful. Love them all.

We then celebrated Friday night with Tom's family. We had everyone up for a BBQ. It was a nice evening and I believe everyone had a great time. Why is Garett sporting an arm sling? He decided to fall back wards on the asphalt and catch himself on his left elbow. After a not quick trip to the ER it is not broke just sprained.





and did I mention it was a NOT so quick trip to the ER?

Now back to his birthday party.
Here are some random pics of the family enjoying their rootbeer floats. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it and be ready for many more summer BBQs. We are doing it lots more this summer. I miss you all.

What Makes an ordinary Saturday into and Extaordinary Saturday?

I don't want to steal Josh and Jenn's thunder but I will just take a quick minute and blog about the wonderful baby blessing. They blessed Hadlee Mae Leatherow at their beautiful home on Saturday. It was nice of them to be able to arrange for a Saturday blessing because of Tom and Dale's work schedule (not sure if that is the real reason but it sounds good to me) :)

Hadlee's dress was gorgeous!



And don't forget how cute Liam and Corben are.


Dale and Bryson Dale makes a great grandpa. He just glows when he talks about his grandson. Too cute.

Colton and Ryker ~ never guess Ryker was born early, would ya?

And the Oscar goes to . . . .

Shon Leatherow for his staring roll in the 2011 Special Needs Mutual Annual play. The play was held on Friday, April 29th. The plays are always about an hour long and they really make you stop and just remember what life is all about. This year the kids and adults reminded us all how if we follow the words of our modern day prophets we will return to live with our Heavenly Father. A message that we all need every now and again. Shon did an amazing job as did his girlfriend, Sam.
Enjoy the photos....
Shon and Sandon waiting for the show to start . . places everyone!


Shon takes the stage for the opening act.

The entire cast take the stage for the last song:




Shon and Sam



Great job Shon. We love you.

Look closely and see if you can find Dale? Did you do it? Did you spot him?
This is an inside family joke that has been going on for years now......when we went on vacation a few years back every time Dale and his family would pose for pictures Garett would some how find his way into the photos. It is too funny.

Garett receives his Arrow of Light

At Arpil's pack meeting, Garett was awarded his Arrow of Light. This is quite an acccomplishment for our young cub scout. The ceremony was performed by Sister S Dylan AKA She Who Sleeps with Salamandors (it is actually a cute story of how she got her name). With Tom being the Webolos leader it was an extra special night for him, five of his cubs were receiving this award. That is a great compliment to him as a cub leader. He truly loves scouts and the boys.


Brother Steve Dabb in our ward prepares the arrows for the ceremony and does an amazing job on them. Sister Sheryl Allred adds the boys name and during this particular ceremony the boys were given colored feathers to add.

Garett's good friend, Spencer, also received his Arrow of Light

After all five boys had received their arrows and feathers, the other cub scouts and dads lined up to create a tunnel for the boys to walk thru. The boys and dads were all playing drums. It was a super neat way to end the evening.

Congratulations Garett, Dad and I are super proud of you!

Easter 2011

The weather has been so wet and cold this spring that Easter seemed to sneek up on us. And really we had plenty of time to prepare since Easter was April 24th. We hadn't even colored eggs and the date was April 23rd so Garett nicely reminded me that we needed to get busy. So that is exactly what we did.




It is ALWAYS more eggciting to color the eggs with cousins.
Later than night after the house was nice and quiet the Easter Bunny found the Leatherow house.
Happy Easter boys ~ I love you all.