Dr. Seusville

 Every year, Rocky Mountain College hosts a "Dr. Seusville" event for some of the classes at Stetson's school where they do fun activities based on the books by Dr. Seuss.  I got to chaperone and Mrs. Paulson said to definitely bring Kandace!  I was so excited to finally get to do something with Stetson's class.
 Here's Stetson and his friends Dexter and Hank testing out the "oobleck"

 The kids got to listen to "Red fish, one fish, blue fish" and then go fishing.  All the kids "caught" books and Kandace was over the moon about it!

 S & K posing by one of the trees from the Lorax (Stetson's favorite)

 ...and then Stetson's teacher chose him to be interviewed by kulr8 news!!  I was super excited but was sure to keep my distance so I didn't "mess him up."  I don't know why us moms have a tendency to do that. In a lot of settings, Stetson does much better if I just steer clear.  Stetson has no stage fright and will talk to anybody, anywhere, its just tricky trying to understand him sometimes.  I'm sure we will love it.  We're going to try to listen to it tonight on their website or on FB.  The guy in the blue shirt I think is  RMC faculty.  He thought it was cool that Stetson was actually wearing his RMC shirt that day and that his dad is in Rocky's PA program.  Awesome day for us!  My friend Melani who I spin with and visit teach watched Janelle.

31

 My big man turned 31 last Monday.  We wanted to have his buddies from class come celebrate with us but it was spring break and they were out of town.  So per Michael's request we kept it simple and just had us celebrate.  We did go to Stella's for breakfast, which is an awesome restaurant downtown that does delicious breakfasts.  Then for dinner we had hamburgers made on the bbq Michael got for his birthday.  Michael usually requests the "cheesecake his mom makes" which thankfully is pretty easy but a couple days after his bday it fell out of the fridge upside down when I was taking something out. :( sad day.  Last weekend Michael and I went to Red Lodge and stayed at the Irish Rose B&B again.  We strolled around downtown, got some treats for the kids and had dinner at the Carbon county steakhouse (delish).  We were going to ski Saturday but the weather wasn't great so we went to Cody instead to get the kids from Joel & Kambrie.  It was a nice quiet weekend. It was nice that we made it home in time for the Sat night stake conf.  We miraculously got a babysitter who is AWESOME and we love, its the girl who baby sat for us on V-day.  I always get so much more out of Sat night then Sunday.  This session was unique because all the youth 12 and up were invited.  It was about missionary work.  A convert talked about his conversion story.  He talked about how after he started taking discussions, the bishopric and other ward members were coming to visit him and he thought it was so nice and recognized it as the "hand of the lord" in his life.  So true.  I was so uplifted.  They showed some mormon messages which are always uplifting.

Stetson's letters

My brother and his wife had their 5th baby last Friday, 3 months early.  Everybody's ok but the baby will have to be in the NICU for a while, and its scary and stressful.  Anyway, we sent a package with notes and treats and I wanted to remember Stetson's note.  He is a funny fella.  This is what he said:  "You have a baby!!  Dear Clay & Heather, I hope your baby feels better soon.  Do you know what its named yet?  yes   no (they're supposed to circle one)  I can't want to see the not the baby but the hole family even the baby!  I want to come to your house soon."

This next note is one of those things that makes being a mom ALL worth it.  There was a great quote on pinterest: " Behind every great kid is a mom who is pretty sure she's screwing up."  I am that mom who worries a lot and blames myself for all my kids mistakes and misbehavior, thinking the root of the problem has to go back to something I did wrong.  This is something I'll have to overcome because I know its not healthy or fair, but tonight when I read this note I remembered that I really do have one great kid.  Before Stetson went to bed tonight he was going through the computer desk drawers making a mess trying to find some paper, I assumed he was trying to write a letter and I kind of got after him and told him he couldn't write a letter tonight and that he needed to go to bed.  He was really bummed then because he told me the letter was for me and that now I wouldn't be surprised.  Uh..what do you say to that??  I told him I would forget about it and he said no I wouldn't because I'm really good at remembering things.  haha.   So he goes to bed and (at least I thought) and I was on the phone on the stairs when he stuck this note inside one of Kandace's boots that were on one of the bottom steps.  I didn't really notice him put it there and then Michael told me when I got off the phone that he left me a note so I went and got it and this is what it said: 

"Dear mom I love you to heaven and beond inthinaty (beyond infinity) times.  I LOVE your work for us when can I?_____ (I'm assuming he wants me to insert some sort of job he can do for me)

Love Stetson

 for when can I help you______________What can I do?  Write down as many as you like" and then he leaves a bunch of blanks.  The circle with a dot stands for "eye" so it says I love you.

I didn't even do anything out of the ordinary today for Stetson.  When he got home from school he played the wii for a minute then he had to turn it off and got mad at me, then we had dinner and then Michael had scouts and I took the kids to the Y while I swam laps.  Then we came home, I gave everyone baths/tubs then Michael came home and we read scriptures and went to bed.  I will treasure this note forever and I hope I remember to pull it out and read it when he's 17 and doesn't like me anymore and tells me I don't know anything.  I've told Michael before that I always worry that my kids won't ever have any inkling of what Michael and I have done for them as parents and how hard we work--I worry that they won't appreciate us and maybe that's selfish thinking but I guess the one and only reward I want for being their mother is to know that they appreciate me and love me for it and today I felt appreciated.   I love you Stetson Asay to heaven and beyond infinity times.