Renaissance Dance Festival

Friday morning, the Renaissance Charter School had their annual dance festival. The did it around a Spanish theme. Jade's grade started out the program by singing "It's a Small World" in Spanish. They were so adorable and I was really impressed that none of the kids seemed to have stage fright. Each grade did a Spanish dance. The ballroom team did really well for a school. It was too bad they didn't have more boys on the team.

The kindergartners concluded the program by doing the chicken dance in Spanish. The families were invited to join for a repeat performance of the chicken dance.

So, I have a question. Do most parents allow their kids to say "butt?" I ask, because we don't. We have our kids say "bum" or "fanny." When Jade's Spanish teacher translated the chicken dance from Spanish to English, she said "...so I shake my butt." I had to remind Jade, that we don't say that word. Do you feel "butt" is okay to say?

What are some of the words that you don't allow your kids to use or don't want to hear kids say?

Have a safe Memorial Day Weekend

A Night to Remember- Ward Prom 2009

I may have graduated from high school 19 years ago, but last Friday night, I got to go to "Prom." I never got to go to prom while I was in high school, so I was excited to get to go as a 37 year old- with the love of my life.

I took some pictures of the wall flowers, the Prom King and Queen and the dancers.

I love that our ward activities committee decided to take on a prom. They did a fantastic job on the decorations, the music had songs from every era, there was a ton of really good food, and really fun outfits. Rumor is that they are going to do it again next spring. I really hope they do.

My First Prom...

"A Night to Remember"

Lehi 34th Ward Prom

May 15, 2009

Quad for Sale

If you are interested, Scott's putting this 2006 Suzuki 450 up for sale. It was mine, but I didn't ever ride it (other than around the neighborhood). Scott has taken amazing care of this quad and it is in fantastic shape because of his care. He's going to list it on KSL for $3900. Feel free to comment here if you're interested.

Spaghetti Sauce

Golden Spike - May 10th, 2009

How did you spend your Mother's Day? I spent mine out at Promontory Point celebrating the anniversary of the Golden Spike. What a neat day it was.

Back in 1947, Scott's great-grandma asked her daughter (Scott's aunt) to write a pageant for the anniversary. The first time they did it was at Pioneer Park. Then they moved it out to the actual site in 1948. A perfect location for the re-enactment. They have replicas of the original locomotives and the spikes. Everyone is dressed in period clothing and the neatest thing, is that they have as many original cast members there as possible.

Grandpa Wayne was one of those original cast members. We are so grateful that we got this opportunity to support Grandpa Wayne and participate in this very neat piece of family history. I'm also so glad the girls got to experience this. They loved the trains and enjoyed the re-enactment.

Eagles- Long Road out of Eden

For Mother's Day, Scott took me to the Eagles. I was so excited because I absolutely love going to concerts. Scott would rather listen to the CD and skip the songs he doesn't like.

On Friday, the day before the concert, Scott's cousin called and invited us to go. Scott wasn't sure what songs the Eagles played, but knew the company would be great, so he said yes. I was very excited and directed him to my iTunes library where he could find the newest Eagles' album and reminded him the "Hotel California" is by the Eagles.

Saturday we spent the day getting yard work done, and Scott helped out his sister and brother-in-law in their yard. Then we took the kids to my sister's house (she and Jon were so nice and let the kids have a "half sleep-over" and we'll watch their boys this weekend).

On our way up, we went by Downeast and scored Scott a pair of fancy butt jeans. He's down another jean size! Then we were off to the concert.

Ryan and Brianna were there waiting for us as we worked our way through the geriatric crowd. We easily made it to our seats and sat down to enjoy the show. Our seats were FANTASTIC. Not too far from the stage but far enough that we could see everything. Rio Tinto is a great concert venue, but I would not pay extra to be on the floor. The seats were small, close together and you had to stand the entire time. I was really impressed with the acoustics. We had a great time and Scott knew way more songs than he thought he would.

We took this cute picture of us and had a nice older lady two rows below us take the group picture. I took the pictures of the stage because this time, I was not going to be left without a camera- not after Coldplay!

We even managed to call Kat and Jon during Hotel California, so that they could here it LIVE. Kat told Jade that mommy and daddy were there and she said "they went to High School Musical?"- Um No.

Thank you, Ryan and Brianna, for thinking of us and inviting us to this great concert. We had a blast and I'm ready for another concert. No Doubt, maybe?

Recently Completed Projects...

I am NOT a seamstress, but I do enjoy sewing. Ever since Scott got me a sewing machine for my birthday, I've had several projects in the works. I've completed three of my five projects. The first project to complete was church bags for the girls. Some friends of ours at church, have these cute book bags that each of their children use during the meeting. So, I decided to make some for my girls. The girls picked out the canvas. I'm not sure I would have picked out salmon if it were my choice. Then they each picked the color of thread. I did Ivy's first, and then when she saw Jade's she started to cry. Once she calmed down and asked nicely, I added a purple butterfly to the back of her bag. It wasn't exactly what she wanted, but it was acceptable.

My next two projects were quilts for the girls. They were so big, they each count as one. I took the girls to the fabric store and let them pick out their flannels. After some time, I decided to have them pick out 4-5 of the 8 and I'd pick the other 3-4 to tame them down a bit. I'm sure you can guess which fabrics I picked (with my mom's help). Jade's is the top one and Ivy's is the bottom one. They absolutely love them and they are so big, several of us can cuddle under one. The other night, Scott snuggled up in one and slept through our shows.

I'm currently working on another quilt for me and Scott and I recently finished cutting out one for Lisa (my cousin's wife). She was just diagnosed with breast cancer, so I'm making her with all pink prints.

How do you eat Cupcakes?

The other day I made cupcakes. I thought I'd try putting dove chocolates in them with the hope that they would melt and be a soft filling. I was wrong. They turned into hard chocolate wafers. Oh well. Better luck next time. But, I did use pudding for the frosting and that was really yummy. The girls both enjoyed them.

Ivy wiped her face after every bite. As you can tell from the pictures, wiping often was necessary.

Jade, on the other hand, was very careful not to get any chocolate on herself at all. That doesn't mean the chocolate didn't find it's way to the floor.

The pictures were an experiment of aperture priority and shutter priority for the photography class I am taking.

Decorating Rocks

At the end of the hike the kids all decorated cute little rocks. The funny little girls all made faces.

Kindergarten Hike

I love getting to volunteer for Jade's field trips. The last field trip of the year was a hike up American Fork canyon. They were adorable and so fun to hike with.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. I sure did.

I love you, Scott, Jade and Ivy. You are a wonderful family and I'm very lucky! I am also so extremely lucky to have such a wonderful supportive mom and a fantastic mother-in-law!

These are my cousins...

I have lots of cousins. I have 5 cousins that I am especially close to. These cousins have been close friends for as long as I can remember. We've spent holidays, birthdays, weekdays and weekends together ever since they moved from California when there were only 2 cousins. I feel very lucky to have cousins that are also my friends.

Right now, I'm taking a photography class from my oldest cousin's best friends. Teral and Nina. I'm taking it with 3 of the 5 cousins.

First, this is Emily. She's the youngest. She's an amazing artist. You can see her work at the Terzian Gallery in Park City and with Greenwich Workshop. She was sweet enough to flash me a smile while I took her picture.

This is Cass. She's my oldest cousin. She's also a fantastic artist. You can find her work with Greenwich Workshop and several galleries across the country. Here is her website.

This is Pete. He's the second to the youngest. Many years ago, he and I took a drawing class together that Cass taught at BYU. He's an attorney and speaks Czech. He puts his eyebrows down when he's thinking.

Josh and Sari aren't taking the class with us. But they are my cousins, too. And I love them.

Here is the reminder that we received for the class we're taking. If they decide to have additional classes, I'll be sure and post about it. I learned SOOOO much in the first 2 hour block. Thanks, Cass, for inviting me to attend with you. I'm excited for our second class this Thursday.

Happy Anniversary!

8 years ago, I married my best friend. He's fun, he's kind, he's generous, he's caring, he's funny, he's handsome, he's adventurous, he's smart, he's loving, he's a great dad, he can fix anything, he's strong, he's supportive, he's my best friend and the love of my life. I'm lucky and fortunate to have him by my side. I love you handsome. Thank you for the past 8 years. Looking forward to many many more!

A Day Off

Little Sahara Sand Dunes is the place to ride. Especially on a weekday when there are 4 cars in the parking lot.

Scott and his friends had a great time.

Tulip Festival 2009

Here's a collage of a bunch of the pictures from the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving point. I've also included a slide show of the pictures.

The girls had a great time with the boys. Ivy wanted to be in the stroller for the first half, so there are more pictures of the bigs with Harrison than there are of Ivy. But, once she got out, she was constant smiles.

I love getting to take a day off here and there to play with the girls. (The girls includes Mom and Kat). After the tulips, we enjoyed an ice cream sundae from the soda fountain at Thanksgiving Point, while the kids had ice cream cones.

If you live in Utah and haven't been to the Tulip Festival, you really should plan on attending next spring. It's beautiful and they do a really nice job one it. During the weekends and evenings there are booths with treats and crafts.

We love Thanksgiving Point.

Bella- "the scariest dog ever"

Bella is Ryan and Brianna's dog. She is a very sweet 6 week old puppy. She loves to play and nibble on toes. Both of our girls were really scared of sweet Bella. Jade got over it pretty quickly. But Ivy said that Bella is "the scariest dog I've ever met." At least that's what she said until we were in the car driving home. Then the story changed to "Bella is the sweetest puppy she had ever met."