YEAH for Mandi!

Just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to my little sister Mandi. After much emotional trauma, she is almost ready to sign her life away and buy her very own condo in Virginia! We are so excited for her to get her own place!! You go girl!! :)

Another Great Movie to See

My blogger buddies, you are about caught up on the happenings of the Reece family- wipe away your tears (wink, wink). However, before I sign off I wanted to remind anyone who has not yet seen this movie to go and see it!! I will warn you that there are a couple of parts that may be considered a bit "crass" or nasty, but I laughed my bottom half off (aka, butt)! There is a house in this movie that, if someone gave me the keys to it, I would move to Alaska without thinking a second thought. Ryan Reynolds ain't too shabby either!! :)
In fact, maybe I will go see it again!!

Taina :)

Maddie's Birthday

While I am on the subject of birthdays...it was Maddie's birthday on June 29! She turned 9 years old. The baby of the family is definitely not a baby any more (sniff, sniff..)! Maddie has a pretty good thing going with regards to birthdays. She usually gets a few sympathy presents in February when the rest of her siblings have their birthdays. She also gets some interesting cakes, due to the wild "hair" that I usually get about this time of year- due to the fact that I have spent to much time watching episodes of "Amazing Wedding Cakes"! This was my latest wild "hair" creation. I was doing some research and found what I thought was an easy recipe for marshmallow fondant. I decided to attempt the task of using it on Maddie's birthday cake. After 2 attempts at making the fondant and a very late night, this was the product. It was cute in a Dr. Seuss-type of way and it was semi-edible in a sugar coma inducing-type of way!! -- Maddie liked it and we all had a good time eating at a park in Lindon and then going swimming at the new Lindon Aquatics Center!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDIE XOXOXO

Happy Birthday Dad!

Not to be left out, of course, my dad's birthday is July 5th (yes, mom's is on the 4th and the next day is dad's- the party never ends!?) Anyway... back to the topic, dad turned the big 62 this past Sunday!! Happy Birthday Pa- you big cranky stud!
:)

Mom's 60th Birthday!

One of the events we have been looking forward to celebrating this summer is my mom's 60th birthday on July 4th. When my dad turned 60 years old my mom organized a big party and invited friends and lots of family. Being mom, she declared she wanted to skip all the work and instead go to our family cabin for a week- of course we complied with her wishes!! My sister Mandi, even flew in from Virginia for the celebration, YEAH!

We had a really good time. We were lazy most of the time but did manage to get out and enjoy nature once or twice. These pictures was taken on an excursion to Provo Falls, just a bit of a jaunt from our cabin! We are quite a group, eh?

-Are we HOT or what? (Don't answer that...)

Summer Happenings- Kylie's New "Do"

Well- we survived the end of the school year, YEAH! Soon after school ended, Kylie decided to throw everyone who knows her a curve ball and have the guy who cuts her hair give her a new "do." To my utter shock and amazement, he cut it short!! It has grown out a bit in this picture, being as it happened over a month ago! (She is pictured here with my sister Mandi). I keep repeating the same phrase over and over again, " I will survive the teenage years, I will survive the teenage years..."
Keep your fingers crossed! :)

Apologies to All My Blogging "Fans" (ha! ha!)

Apparently, I am the worst blogger in the history of the universe! I have slacked off and I will now do my best to make amends for it!! I am very sorry for leaving you all on edge with regards to the happenings in the Reece family. I will do better-wink! wink!

Thanks for your patience,
Taina :)

The New Star Trek Movie...

...so I am not a "Trekie", but my husband is definitely a fan! Because I am such a devoted wife (you can stop laughing...), I agreed to go see this movie on opening night. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by it!! It was very entertaining and the male actors are mighty tasty! I'm pretty sure I could even be talked into seeing it again...

The Count Down Begins...

Well, it is official the count down has began... there are 9 days and counting until the end of the school year!!

I SURVIVED THE PRAXIS!

As if teaching isn't hard enough, now they want to show their appreciation by making me take a test that a bunch of people, who have never spent time in a classroom with 10 kids with autism, made up. Actually, it doesn't even deserve to be called a test- it should be called "information vomit"! You have 2 hours to write down information like a crazy person on crack. I don't see what harm another half hour's worth of time would make? I do know it might help me fight the urge to amputate my own hand with my teeth, however, which is how I felt after I was finished. I did learn one important thing because of taking this test. I very, much dislike Weber State University and I am very glad I went to BYU. They had one information person on the whole campus and the way they number the rooms in the Social Sciences building is stupid enough to cause a brain bleed in a person of average intelligence!!- This said, I survived the PRAXIS!! Now everyone keep your fingers crossed that I actually passed it!! :)

"Survival of the 15 year old!"

I hope my 15 year old lives to see the day she turns 16 years old!!- I thought I had a hard time with the 2's and/or 3's but they were nothing compared to the 15's!! I think it might be karma paying me back for all the complaining I did when I was 15!!-- Calgon take me away!..

"The 4th Grade Wax Museum"-starring Katie Reece as Maude Adams

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated anything! I hope you all know we have a "movie star" in our family! Katie got to be Maude Adams for the 4th grade Wax Museum. In case you non-cultured people don't know what the Wax Museum is, I will fill you in. The students get to choose someone famous, or well known, who were either born or who have made an impact on Utah. Katie chose the actress Maude Adams. If the video works right and you can understand speedy speech, then Katie will fill you in about her life- Good Luck!

Hopefully Fixed?

Evidently it has been difficult to view this blog in the same way I am able to see it when I create it. Consequently I went in and redid the template (it is actually still the same- Minima) and dropped the additional font I was using. Hopefully, it will help show the blog the way it was intended. The extent of my computer knowledge has now been exhausted!... Good Luck :)

WELL! it is after midnight on March 15th! It is now "officially" my birthday- and the day Cesar was murdered also (...beware of the ides of March!) I think my headache is back?!...
What am I going to give me for my birthday? decisions, decisions.... Stay tuned!

The last few minutes of 37...

Here it is the last few minutes of being 37 years old!?! I have a headache and I think it is a metaphor for how I feel about birthdays and getting older!!- The one consolation I have is... I have thought I was already 38 years old for the past little while!! They say the mind is the first thing to go!!?

Katie's Knowledge Bowl Competition

Yeah! We survived and conquered Knowledge Bowl!! It was definitely a huge hurdle especially since it started at 8:00am this morning- what is up with that? Katie actually told her Knowledge Bowl coach that we might not be there because we would have to get up so early?!! Needless to say I set Katie and her coach straight, regarding the issue. She has been working on this since December. I was not about to miss it!!
Katie did an AWESOME job! Her focus in learning information for the competition was music. She was able to answer nearly all the music questions and several others as well. She even got to be the team captain on one round! Any way- as it turned out, all 3 of the teams from the school made the top 10! We are all very proud of Katie and all her hard work!! CONGRATULATIONS!

"The Cutest Shoes Ever!"

Aren't these shoes the cutest ever!?! I found them on Zappos.com and love them! I do have one BIG problem though?!
Zappos has lots of other stinkin' cute colors and patterns, which ones do I get?? How does the saying go, "Too many shoes, so little time..."

"Death, Taxes, and School Teaching!!"

Is anyone else ready for some warm weather and sunshine?...We got our taxes done today and we owe the state of Utah a nice chunk of change!! Needless to say, the weather today matches how I feel about the whole thing- gray, dark and freezing. However, I have NO room to complain. It could be SO MUCH worse!! Teaching school this time of year wreaks havoc on one's brain, so that doesn't mean I won't complain, of course!
PEACE!

KATIE'S DOUBLE DIGIT DAY-

...Katie turned 10 on the 9th. She is excited to be into the double digits. We went and ate dinner at Grandma Mary and Grandpa Eric's house. Katie got to choose the menu and she requested Teriyaki Chicken and teriyaki noodles. I use the term "teriyaki" loosely, especially since I don't think I am spelling it correctly!? Katie also had a friend party on Feb. 21. We took 6 girls ice skating in Provo. I still HATE ice skating, by the way!

KYLIE'S DAY!

Kylie turned 15 years old on the 16th. Don't even get me started about what it does to one's "psyche" to have a 15 year old and have to get her registered for high school (rocking, rocking...). Kylie wanted to go the Hard Rock Cafe (She had been planning it for about 6 months). We decided to go up early and browse The Gateway which is always quite enjoyable, except when I end up with more lip gloss for Katie, a stuffed animal for Maddie, and a boy shirt for my lovely 15 year old daughter (more rocking, more rocking...). Much too long of a story/inside joke to explain here...any way, after shopping we went over the Hard Rock and come to find out-it closed a month ago!! How sad for us!?? We ended up at The Cheesecake Factory, which of course is yummy! To think I used to cry to my mom that I was never going to survive the terrible twos!?! I would kill for the terrible twos these days!! :)

Well, as most of you know February is a crazy month in our family being as we have 3 (out of 4) birthdays this month! On top of the birthdays, I had Parent Teacher Conferences and Kyle was busy with basketball season at the jr. high. I am happy to say we just celebrated our last February birthday yesterday and I am even happier to say that I SURVIVED FEBRUARY! I have already bowed down and kissed the calendar because March is finally here. I guess I'll do a short re-cap for y'all

Figuring It Out, Continued!

YEAH, ME! Gina and I were messing around with the blog font last night, as well as the background, but could not figure out how to change the font. Well, I was doing a little more research and HELLO... I figured it out! I have been trying to do these two things-change the background and font - since last summer, I believe?! I might be slow...but I am persistent and now I HAVE CONQUERED!!

Figuring it out!

Yeah! look Gina and I figured out how to change the background, so now I have a cute background on my blog! We are a little slow but we are AWESOME!