My Jazz and Poppin little girl...

I am so proud of my little dancing gymnast. This is the first year she has been excited about dance. She says that she loves both dance and gymnastics but that gymnastics is her favorite. She says that gymnastics makes her more muscle-y and flexible. I didn't now "more muscle-y" was our goal, but I guess it is.

However, she is really loving her hip hop class. It's so perfect for her. She's not long and string beany nor is she super light on her feet- but she is strong and solid and firm. She hits every move with precision and throws around the hip hop attitude perfectly. The cutest thing about it is watching her sing while she dances.

I've included a video- it wasn't the best time she did it, but it was pretty darn cute.

She's also really enjoying her jazz class and is so excited that she gets to do her round off back handspring in it. It made me a little nervous when I found out that she's doing it on the hardwood floor, but she seems to be hitting it each time.

She may not love dance as much as gymnastics, but I think it has really helped her with her self confidence. I no longer hear her talking about how big she is nor see her grabbing the skin on her legs moaning about her fat. With dance, she has found that there are hundreds of body types that can all dance and move and look great. Unfortunately, at gymnastics most of the girls are littler than she is (even if they are older), so she's spent nights being upset about it.

I am so grateful she loves doing both and I believe these early years will help teach her that if you enjoy something, it is important to work at it and love it.

Girls on the top of the world

The girls loved being up on the top of the world. The smiles were non-stop. Even when they were cold, they were still having fun. We spent about a half an hour at the top of the world in the cold. Fortunately there was a warming hut and a bathroom at the top. Each girl found different ways to entertain themselves up on the top of the mountain.

They danced and did gymnastics because that is what they do. (We saw a guy with a yoga shirt doing handstands on the rock by the edge. Jade was not about to be outdone.)

Two cool girls...

Weekends are full of so many options. Options that always present a struggle. With two working parents, our house and yard show some wear and tear by the end of the week. Our weekends could be filled with cleaning, organizing or getting projects done. We could make our house and yard look perfect. Or we can spend time playing with the girls escaping the mundane.

When our girls are grown, what are they going to look back and remember the most? They aren't going to remember the weekends we cleaned the basement or winterized the yard. So we are trying hard to make sure they have special memories of the time that we spend together- as a family.

The girls were being very "cool" while they walked to the tram carrying their cans of food.

Snowbird Tram- Customer Appreciation Day

Snowbird Ski Resort does a fantastic Customer Appreciation event. The first two weekends of this November, you could donate a can of food and receive a free tram pass.

So we took the opportunity and seized the day. We had a relaxing morning of pancakes and reading. We slowly got ready for the day and headed up for the cold. By cold, I mean 34 degrees cold.

Jade and Ivy were lucky and they got to be up at the front of the tram. The poor woman behind us was struggling with a fear of heights, so my kind husband pointed out whenever we were over a significant drop off. My girls didn't get nervous, but she did. It's amazing how high the tram is, you are looking down on the chairlifts and they look so little. But it was beautiful. Unfortunately there wasn't much snow. I can't imagine them really being able to open for Thanksgiving.

Scott and Josh went 4-wheeling along the road to Provo. Jade was looking so adorable by the sign that I had to capture it.

We got some fun pictures of the family with the beautiful view behind us.

The Rock Picture

The tradition of the Little Sahara four wheeling trips is a picture out by the Rock. Here's the picture of the group that went out to the rock.

While we were out at the rock, Jade and Scott went for a climb to find snake skins. They didn't have any luck but had fun climbing together.

Saturday November 7th at the Dunes

As you know, Scott goes to the Sand Dunes at Little Sahara, UT about 15 times a year. We used to go to the riding together when we were a carefree couple, without kids. But, now that we are a family of 4, I don't like to take the time away from the girls and I'm a bit frightened of getting hurt and leaving them without a mom, so I don't go with him. Saturday November 7th, was the first time I've been back to Little Sahara, since Jade was 4 months old. I loved our outing with our girls and loved getting to enjoy the great big dunes of Delta.

We went with the Johnson family and 3 of their friends. It was fun creating a circle of cars and trailers, setting up a canopy, lighting a fire and cooking on a grill. The kids had a blast riding around the camp on the little four-wheeler and playing in the sand. Plus the weather was amazing. Scott commented that we could go the next 20 years on November 7th and never have as good of weather as we did. It was short sleeve weather most of the day. As the sun started to set, the sweatshirts came out, but that was it. No need for hot cocoa, thermals or jackets. The only downside of the great weather were the crowds. There were people nearly every where you looked. Because there were so many people, we saw an ambulance and a helicopter. Which means the sign entering Little Sahara shows zero days since the last injury.

As soon as we got there, we did an easy ride to the left of Sand Mountain. We took it slow and kept the caravan of about 10 quads together. The worst thing that happened was a broken flag from being kicked on a dismount. Everyone was able to get where we needed and everyone had a great time.

After the first ride, we gathered and ate and ate and ate.

With full bellies and kids full of sand, 5 of us decided to ride out to the infamous rock. The remaining riders stayed at camp and did some training rides on the smaller dunes. The ride out to the rock was beautiful. The sun was just setting on our way back and the shadows of the dunes was absolutely breath taking. It reminded me of some rides we used to do as a couple. The guys got to shoot some of the tall hills and speed around some of the bowls. And Jade got to roll down some of the monster hills. Her shoes were full of sand and so were her pockets, but she was in heaven.

After a great day at the dunes, I'm looking forward to next spring when we can take the girls down again and enjoy Sand Mountain and the Rock.

When our girls are sick...

Sometimes our girls both get sick on the same days. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, we seize the day- as long as neither of them are rolling on the floor in pain or looking like they are really really sick.

This past Sunday was one of those days. Jade woke up with what would later be diagnosed as a sinus infection. Ivy woke up with a stomach ache. So we packed up the camera, the tripod and headed up to the canyon for some family pictures.

We had a wonderful drive up the canyon, only briefly interrupted by Ivy throwing up. The weather was beautiful and it was only cold while we were right on the lake.

The girls had a blast dancing their hearts out to the Kidz Bop version of Blue (da ba bee). We had to listen to it multiple times after and have listened to it several times since we got home.

Miss Alexis is getting married

Forgive the bad pictures. How unlike me to leave my camera at home. But the truth is, I sometimes leave it just so I don't bug other people. Plus, I had no idea what to expect so I didn't bring it.

Both Ivy and Jade take class from Miss Alexis at the Vibe. We absolutely LOVE her. She is so patient with the girls and understands the difference in the two girls and helps them both. Earlier this year Miss Alexis got engaged and the time has finally come. In preparation for her big day, she had a Bridal Shower at the VIBE and all of her students were invited. It was a great way to let the girls celebrate her wedding, without having a bunch of little girls running around the reception.

Jade had gymnastics until 6:15 so we were really late. (It started at 5). They had done gifts and had a very nice buffet of treats and goodies. I'm not sure everything they had, because it was mostly cleaned up when we got there. Each of the girls got to make a wedding veil. I was really impressed with what a great job they did making Miss Alexis' day special and making it fun for the little girls.

When we got there, they were just getting ready to "dress the bride." Jade was in the skirt group and Ivy was in the veil group, but she changed groups so she could be with Jade. They had a blast and loved getting to help Miss Alexis celebrate.

The Greedy Witch and the Black Diamonds

My Mom and sister did a lot of work preparing for our family Halloween festivities. One of the special activities that they did was the story of "The Greedy Witch."

The image below, shows some of Mom's props and the scrolls that she "found" in the basement of my grandparent's condo.

(Kat is going to post the whole story, but here's a summary. I'll post a link to Kat's post when it goes up).

The story was about a witch who was very greedy and prideful. She wanted to have all of the riches and all of the glory. So she captured some mice and turned them into perfect black diamonds. Every night they would turn back into mice, so she had to make sure to only show them during the day. She would brag about them and show them off. One day she didn't realize the time, so she hurried and sped off on her broom before the sun set. Something went wrong with her broom and she dropped her bag of jewels. The bag was found by an owl that lived in the corkscrew willow. The owl ate all of the little black mice. The next morning, the mice turned back into diamonds. So the owl had to cough them up one by one.

My Mom took the kids out to her corkscrew willow where the kids were able to search and find 3 black diamonds. But they had to be careful about the other little creatures that they mind find. (The each found 2 creepy crawly bugs).

If the diamonds are found by a kind and caring soul, they will stay diamonds, but if they fall into the hands of someone that is greedy, they'll turn back into mice.

Later Halloween night...

Ivy and Jade were each enjoying Smarties from their Halloween stash. Jade asked Ivy if she could trade a pink for a yellow. Ivy wouldn't share and jumped on her pile of Smarties so that Jade couldn't reach them.

"Ivy, do you want your diamonds to turn into mice?" I ask her.

She let go of her stash and jumped on the couch. A few minutes later she says to me,

"Mom, do you think my diamonds turned into mice?"

"I don't know sweetie, are you being greedy?"

"No, I'm being nice. So will the mice be diamonds again?"

I love when stories have lessons that kids can relate to and want to follow or learn from.

This is Halloween....

Have a wonderful hauntful Halloween. It's our favorite! (Halloween, 4th of July and Christmas are all really big with my family).



The witch is my mom, I'm a nerdy librarian, Zach is a dragon, Kat is a vampire, Jade is the Corpse Bride, Luke is the Grim Reaper, Ivy is a Belly Dancer and Harrison is a Vampire Skeleton.

Happy Halloween from all of us!

Ever wonder what I do at work?

I spend my days with these people. They only dress like this once a year. (I'm really glad that it's only once- we didn't get very much work done today)- but the girls got a lot of candy.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Reading together

While Jade is in school, Ivy has been going to story time at the library. She gets to memorize different poems each week and pass them off for a treat. She's really loves repeating them for us and we have multiple poems on film now.

Jade doesn't want to be left out of the fun, so while Ivy recites them, Jade enjoys reading them. If she starts struggling with a word, Ivy will help her sweetly.

It is so fun watching both girls so absorbed in learning. They both find so much joy in learning and helping each other learn. Jade has a math mind and Ivy has a mind for words.

Happy Halloween!

Jade and the Sun Flower

Do you ever stop to think about the little things that make your kids happy? Jade, very often surprises me by the ways she finds entertainment.

We were spending the evening at my parent's house. Dad had left a great big sunflower head on the table outside. While everyone else was busy inside, Jade disappeared. We found her sitting quietly on the table, plucking seeds out of the sunflower so that she could feed the birds. She worked very hard on it and was being very serious.

A couple of days later we were back at my folk's house and the first thing she did was run out to the table to see how the birds had feasted on her offering. She was thrilled to find many of the seeds were gone.

I was really glad that mom and dad left her mess so that she could enjoy it days later.

What are some of the funny things your kids do for entertainment?