Nexstar

Olivia competed her solo at Nexstar on Saturday, March 26th. She competed in the newstar division and came in second! She was one of 2 soloists to receive a platinum award and got a special judges award for Terrific Tapping! Yay!!!

Toast?

One Saturday morning, Bella asked if she could make me breakfast in bed. I remembered how "extensive" that once got with Olivia, so I suggested toast. She asked if I wanted peanut butter or butter on it. I said butter. This is what she brings me.




So, then she turns to Brian and asks if he would like a piece. He said yes, but just a little bit of butter. This what he got.



Bella is certainly a girl of her word!

Spring break in Phoenix

We flew out to Phoenix on Saturday...after only being home about 24 hours from Georgia. We got in so late (after midnight our time) that we could only run by Jack in the Box for dinner. The plan was that we would go to our "traditional" restaurant on Sunday afternoon (Carlos O'Brien's). Yum!

Sunday after lunch, Bella Amaya and Sienna came over to play. The girls all played outside and had fun picking the fruit off of the trees. Then, they got the idea to have a fruit stand and give the fruit away. Some nice teenage girls actually stopped and took whatever the girls wanted to give her. Yvonne's dad and his wife came over (and were given some fruit) as well as the neighbors. As the girls' parents drove up...the ice cream truck was coming down the street. Yvonne got the kids ice cream from the truck (a first for our girls!). So much fun!

For dinner that evening, we went to a German restaurant. It was really cool inside and the food was surprisingly good.

Then, on Monday, Dad and Brian went golfing (in the rain) while Yvonne and I planned on taking all 4 girls to the children's museum. We found out that the museum is not open on Mondays, so she said she would keep the girls while I went out shopping. I got my shower and headed to Ross. On the way home, I stopped at Sardella's Pizza and Wings...delicious!!!!!

Alena came to get her girls for a nap, and it was decided that we would all meet up for dinner at Bobby Que's. Dinner was very good. The girls had a blast together...and Alena offered to host a sleep over with all 4 cousins. We said sure... So, we went back for baths and to pack before taking Olivia and Bella over to Daniel and Alena's.

The next day we were planning on going to Arizona Mills Mall, so we had breakfast burritos, got ready and picked up our girls along the way. At lunch, I had a teriyaki bowl (another AZ craving!), and took the girls on the carousel (in honor of Grammy). We met Yvonne at her favorite Mexican place (Po Po's) and it was good as well! We went home to pack and get ready for an early flight out.

Lee Anne Kelton (Grammy)

We got the news that Grammy was taken to the ER b/c of problems breathing. After many tests, it was realized that she actually had stage 4 lung cancer that had spread to her legs, skull, etc. She tried one dose of chemo, but it was all she could take. Brian took every other weekend to go out and see his mom and we are so thankful he was able to do so.

On March 11, she passed away. Brian, Lora and Alan were all able to be with her. It was also the same day as Olivia's birthday party at our house. I decided not to tell the girls until the next day. Brian came home on Sunday (the 13th--Liv's actual birthday) and we packed to get ready to leave that following Tuesday.

We were able to use the extra time to pick out things that we wanted to remember her by and special pictures for a slide show, etc. Her funeral was on Thursday the 17th. It was a rough day of course, but afterwards, we had a big dinner at Bahama Breeze (the same place where we had all had a big family dinner at Christmas time. Grammy loved that dinner.)























Then, we flew home and had a wonderful meal brought to us by our friends, the Ward's.