She's Growing Up So Fast!

This past week Mia graduated from kindergarten. It it had to believe that ten months ago Haize and I were watching her walk into the school for the first time. I am so proud of all her accomplishments. She has learned so much much and has made so much progress. I am still amazed on a daily basis when she randomly reads a sign, the cover of a book or magazine, or something on the TV. During her ceremony on Thursday, Mia received a certificate for completing the Kindergarten Challenge and also received the award for Best Manners. Mrs. Krogue said that she has never had a student like Mia who, without fail, always used please, thank you, and excuse me.

I am going to take this opportunity to steal an idea from my sister, Tami's, blog ( http://pugmirefam.blogspot.com/) and list what I love about Mia:

1. Mia always wants to be with her daddy and mommy. She loves spending time with us and we love spending time with her.
2. Although it takes a little prodding sometimes, Mia likes to try new things (especially if she can try it with Jacob, Abigail, Mom, or Dad).
3. Mia is one of the smartest and most intelligent little kids I have ever been around. It amazes me how she can put concepts and ideas together to understand things that are way beyond her years.
4. Mia doesn't like to see other people sad. Whenever she sees someone who is crying, she makes every effort that she can to comfort them through her words and actions.
5. Mia LOVES to travel! I don't know where she got that from, but she loves to go new places and see new things. Everything is an adventure. She is a rock star buddy to sit next to on the airplane!
6. Mia is ours! Is there anything more special in this world than two people who are madly in love being able to share life with someone who is part of both of them?! Mia is our miracle child (verified recently by Haize's doctor) and I will forever thank God for sending her to us.

Saturday was the 4th of July. We have a longstanding tradition of always going to the West Jordan parade, and this year was no different. It never really changes that much, but there is something about being part of an annual town event like that. This year I was even able to help Mia rule out at least one future career choice - Parade Pooper Scooper. Actually, she said she would be fine driving the little utility vehicle if her cousin, Analisa, who is visiting us again from Florida, would do the actual scooping duties.

Later that evening we went over to the Smith's. Brian and Sandra had graciously invited us to their block party. They had a ton of great food and then we finished off the night with three HUGE boxes of fireworks. At times, they were lighting 3-5 fountains concurrently just so we could get through them all. I did end up spending a portion of the evening on a laptop working on a project for a friend of mine. He's a pretty good guy, so I didn't mind.

Sunday we did something that we VERY RARELY do. We went to a Salt Lake Bee's game! The Bee's are the triple A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. We had a fun time. The Bee's won the game and we got to see a fireworks show afterwards. In my other blog (http://restofstorymike.blogspot.com/) I wrote about how "Proud To Be An American" has got to be the best fireworks song of all time.