Father's Day

 Happy Father's Day to the raddest Dad ever! Jared, thank you for blessing me with 3 smart, healthy, kind, loving children! You are a great example to us of what it means to be there for your family. You work so hard, you teach us so much, and you make us laugh! We love you very much!

Top to Bottom: Walker, Eli, Alayna

Jared is a pretty amazing dad. I feel so blessed to have him as the father of my children. This year I decided to spoil him the best way I know how and that is through his belly! :) All weekend I baked and cooked!

For breakfast I made Boston Cream Bites. 

They were super good and there is no way you could eat just one. I caught Jared red handed! :P 

I also made a bigger version. MMMMM!

I found some Asian inspired recipes that I thought he'd like. He always complains I never want Chinese food..so I let him get his way! I made an Asian Pulled Pork with Asian Sauce, Peanutty Asian Slaw & Gamja Jorim. He was mighty pleased with everything! He was a happy fella! He couldn't get enough of the Slaw..I think he ate the entire bowl by himself! Hahaha! :P

Jared LOVES dark chocolate. So I made a Deep Dark Chocolate Cake. It is made with Hershey's Dark Cocoa. Man...It was the best chocolate cake I've ever had! 

 Breakfast #2 was Chorizo Breakfast Casserole with Cream Biscuits. Nice and spicy just they way he likes it!

 Between all of our eating..we did manage to go to church too. :P The little ones made him these cut shirt and tie gifts. They had candy bars inside and the ward had cinnamon rolls for all the dad's too. So I guess he didn't really take a break from the goodies. :) The card was from my mom and the picture collage was from me.  

 Jared loves homemade ice cream and a friend of mine told me she tried this AMAZING recipe for chocolate ice cream. Boy was she spot on! It was so rich, chocolatey, creamy, and smooth! We decided to put Jared's favorite candy in it so we crushed up some Heath Bars and viola...Chocolate Heath Bar Ice Cream was born and our lives will never be the same! Excuse me while I wipe my mouth...I'm drooling over here! :P

At the last minute we decided we hadn't had enough food...and we made funnel cakes! What is wrong with us???? Hahaha!

And SURPRISE we found a Hidden Mickey in one of them! SWEET!!! :D

I bought Jared a smoker for Father's Day. It's been on his "want" list for a while now and I finally bit the bullet and got it for him. We can't wait to try it out!!!!!

He was pretty excited about it! That smile says it all! 

Happy Father's Day Babe!!!! :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

It happened...another year came and went and yesterday Jared turned ....37! 

Wowzers!!! I can't believe this is true! :P

In celebration we made him a few treats to celebrate. 

I made him homemade maple glazed donuts with bacon! Jared LOVES bacon and when I found this recipe I knew it was a match made in heaven! :) And boy were they to die for!!

The kids are becoming quite the little bakers as well and they made him Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies!  They were mighty fine!

And the always popular and highly requested...my homemade German Chocolate Cake! I can eat the frosting by the spoonfuls...no cake even needed! :P

It was a low key birthday but I think Jared felt loved and thought of. We also took him to Joe's BBQ for lunch and Grimaldi's for dinner. It was a food filled fun day! :)

Happy Birthday to my sweetheart! I count my blessings each day for your life and for my Heavenly Father allowing us to find one another! You are an amazing father and husband. A girl couldn't ask for anything more!! Happy Birthday Babe! Love you!!!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day from Scout Troop 789 & The Kitch's!

Ya he has pool hair to boot! :P

Golden Scholars....We Made It To The End!!!

The past couple of weeks have jam packed full of end of the year concerts, ceremonies, graduations, and awards!!! Jared and I have felt like we've been in a whirlwind between the three kids and all of the events they have been apart of as they wrap up this school year. Today was no exception....

Today was the LAST day of school!!! Happy Dance!!! 

With that was the final ceremony for Walker. He had his Golden Scholar Award Ceremony! This makes 4th consecutive year being recognized for his excellent grades. I feel so blessed that our kids are excelling in their  studies! I'm one proud Mama! :D

I love how he spotted us and gave us a little grin as he walked by. :P 

Waiting on pins and needles..

He's getting to be a pro at these things! 

Way to go son! 

We know Jr. High has been a big transition this year. We've seen you make huge strides in every way. Juggling several different teachers, merging into a school with over 1,200 students, navigating between different classrooms, making sure assignments got done and turned in on time, projects completed, keeping excellent grades, making new friends and maintaining old ones, being a stand up big brother, being accepted into NJHS, learning a new band instrument, keeping up with Scouts, developing your testimony and faith in God....I could go on and on! You continue to amaze us! You are such a special young man and I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be your mom!

I really wish Eli could have been there with us...but most of the family was able to make it. :)

We made it to the end of another school year! Now let's have a fun summer!! :)

Peace Helper Award

Eli has been working hard all year as a Peace Helper for his school. Today he was given an award for all his efforts! 

Peace Helpers is a really neat organization they have at the school. We are very proud of Eli for striving to be apart of it and helping the students at his school to resolve conflicts that come up at recess. We've seen him really become a leader and example to his classmates this year. Great job son!!!

Good Bye Kindergarten!

Today Alayna had her Kindergarten Graduation Program!

She had all sorts of fun things to show us when we got there!

She was so excited Daddy could make it to her special day! :)

Isn't she adorable??? 

The class got into their places and sang to all of the parents.

They had some pretty awesome actions to go with them!! :D

Ummm...I think it's time to buy that growing girl a new shirt! LOL! Her belly is showing!

I can't believe she's finished Kindergarten and she's going to be a 1st grader!!! She's growing up so fast. One thing that comforts me is I know who her teacher will be next year. The boys both had her and she absolutely AMAZING! She will love having her as her teacher. :)

National Junior Honor Society

 Junior High brings lot of exciting things you can be a part of. This year Walker and any student that had a 3.8 G.P.A. or higher received a letter informing them that they qualified to apply to be a part of National Junior Honor Society. To be accepted you have to have excellent grades, recommendations from all of your  teachers, write an essay explaining why you would like to join and how you would benefit the program and how the program would benefit having you as a member. You also have to get a letter of recommendation from someone outside of school. Walker chose his Scout Leader Bro. Fowles. It's a pretty big deal! Not everyone makes it in. There is a committee that looks over each application and if you don't meet their high standards and criteria then you are cut. 

The process was a little daunting to Walker at first. He told us that the essay was something he wasn't sure he could do. He said talking about himself is really hard for him. He's not used to "bragging" about his talents and abilities and didn't want to come across as boastful. We had a good discussion about how it's different when you are out on campus with your friends and just tooting your own horn as opposed to applying for a club or job. With some heavy consideration he decided to go ahead and give it a shot. 

A few weeks went by before they posted the list of students that were accepted. Walker came home and couldn't wait to share the news with us! It was all very exciting!!!!!!

Last night was the induction ceremony. They go all out for this night and only the student and parents are invited to attend. After the ceremony they serve a special dinner. :)

Walker looking so handsome! Gosh he's a good looking young man! :)

The Principal giving some remarks about NJHS and what it takes to make it in and what the organization is all about. The Principal also stated this group is the largest group they've ever had at South Valley.The National Junior Honor Society not only is a group that recognizes academic excellence, and looks awesome on your college applications, they also do a lot of service. They are very involved in the community doing community service, they help the school, and organize the school dances, and run the recycling club. Pretty neat huh?!? 

There were a few other speakers and then it was time!

We don't know who the girl is next to Walker..but they sure seem to be having a good time!! ;P LOL!

They called Walker's name...

He got his certificate...

And he was off.... :P 

Let's better a better view of that stellar guy and his awesome certificate! :)

I couldn't stop smiling. I was SO proud of him! This process was out of his comfort zone and he applied himself and was able to achieve his goal. He has learned he can do hard things, and that more than any club or piece of paper is worth it's weight in gold!

A few of his buddies from church also made it in! :D

We walked over to the cafeteria for the dinner and decided after seeing it was generic italian pasta and rubbery pizza we should go out to eat somewhere else. Since it was Walker's special night he chose Chinese. 

He wanted to try pretty much everything on the menu so we "rolled" ourselves out when we were done! :P

For dessert he wanted Bahama Bucks. We swung by the house to get Alayna and Eli and got some tasty treats!

 We are so proud of you Walker. You are growing into an amazing young man that we couldn't be more proud of!