Is this a good lookin' kid or what? He does clean up good.
Becca wishes Nick a good time at his Prom, too.
So Nick went to his Senior Prom. He saved his $$ for a long time to get his tickets and make sure he had enough money for dinner, flowers, etc. I think he had more fun at the "after Prom party" than at the actual prom, though.
Behold: my latest culinary experiment. Rod and I went to the Cheesecake Factory last Saturday night. I ordered the B-B-Q chicken salad. It was so good, that I wanted to try making it at home.
For the BBQ Ranch dressing I just mixed 1/2 ranch and 1/2 BBQ sauce. Toss it with chopped romaine lettuce (about 8 cups), 1-1/2 cups frozen corn, 1 can black beans, one large tomato chopped, 1 large avocado cut in 1" pieces and some BBQ chicken. I separated it into 4 large salad/pasta bowls and then garnished with a row of corn, a row of beans, a row of tomatoes, a row of avocado, and a row of BBQ chicken. Then drizzled a little more BBQ sauce on the chicken. Viola!
To make the BBQ chicken, I just cut up 2 very large chicken breasts and sauteed in a pan, then added BBQ sauce. I was very easy. I did reserve some of the corn, beans, etc. for the garnishments. It was delicious! Rod and Becca loved it. Becca even said, "mom, you should make this again!" This is my child that does not eat much salad.I will make it again - it was quick easy, delicious and nutritious!
Friday night, we drove to Mesa to see the Easter Pageant. Julie had never seen it before, of course, so we thought it might be fun. We had a great time. This is a shot of the angels getting a group photo together. It was fun to watch them.
Waiting for the pageant to begin. While we were waiting, we had a fun surprise. Iona Burbank walked up and said hi. She and Warren were there with some friends that live by them. It was fun to see them. They hadn't seen Julie since she graduated high school. Iona worked with Julie in the Children's Theater Group in Corcoran when we lived there.
I couldn't resist posting this photo of some flowers that were at the temple grounds. They were gorgeous!
It was so much fun to have Julie here. We enjoyed every minute. She got Becca and me playing cards and we stayed up til 1:00 am Saturday night playing "Hand and Foot." We also were naughty and played during the afternoon session of conference, though we did listen when it was not our turn!
I thought it was funny that these girls would sit together with their matching computers and get on Facebook. They were probably "chatting" with each other. They do that...
There is this darling 4th grade boy at my school that is always in trouble. He just can't sit still in class and his teacher is always sending him to ISD (in school detention). He hates it in there and would rather get suspended. Every time I see him in the office, I give him the evil eye and ask why he is in the office, and that I have told him I don't want to see him in the office.
Today, he was in there and opened up his binder. He does an exaggerated gasp, puts his hands on his cheeks and says, Miss T-----, I don't know how this happened, but I brought a knife to school!"
And then he holds up this:
Yes, a butter knife.
He gets sent to the principal's office. He asks the principal "are you going to suspend me now?" The principal laughs, and says, "Not for a butter knife. Go back to ISD."Too bad - so sad! I laughed my head off when my boss told me this story!
Today at Becca's and Nick's schools, they had a no shoe day. Kids actually were barefoot. This is coincidental to an experience I had. The receptionist at school asked me if I could run over to PayLess Shoes and get some shoes for some new students. These kids were refugees and this was their first day of school. We had some gift cards through a non-profit organization that helps with clothing for students like these. We tried our best to estimate sizes, and then off I went. Sherry actually traced the kids' feet. It happened to be buy one, get one half off today at PayLess. I selected the athletic type shoes that kids wear to school. One pair for the girl, and one pair for the boy. She was wearing flip-flops, which aren't allowed, and he had a pair of girl's shoes- they looked almost like bowling or golf shoes. When I came back with the shoes, I saw the kids for the first time. They were such beautiful children. You should have seen their faces when the saw their new shoes! Huge grins from ear to ear spread on their little brown faces. She was so excited because she had blue and white shoelaces, though she did not know how to put the laces in the shoes. I helped her and tied them for her. She stood up and walked around with such a pleased little face. The boy, who was younger, was also very excited about the shoes. His were too big, so I had to take them back and get a smaller pair. His teacher brought him to the office at noon to get them. He was so happy!
Now: how often do we think about something as simple as a pair of shoes. Most of us have multiple pairs. I know I do. I love shoes! But not because I have to have them to go to school. I was very touched by this experience, and it made me remember what an abundant life I have. Truly my cup runneth over - and my shoe rack does, too!
I received these adorable thank you notes from Savannah and Cooper. They are so cute! O love how Cooper drew the target from shooting. He has illustrated the setup at Ben Avery range quite well. Savannah drew our orange picking adventure. Aren't the bags of oranges cute? And I love how she drew each person. Isn't it great how she used Merry Christmas ribbon on the corner? Priceless! These are certainly treasures in my art gallery.
