Dancing Queen~

 

Uncle Doug asked Addy to dance...so dance she did!
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"UNCLE"/Casey Graduation

The kids were all surprised to have Uncle Doug and Tyson at our home when they got back from school this Wed. Doug had come for Casey's graduation from college. The kids all love Uncle Doug, and soon Addy was following him around the house saying, "Uncle...tell me strry" or "My Uncle!", which sounded really close to "Michael" which really confused Doug.

When Uncle Doug read them books in his animated voices, Addy kept looking up at him and saying, "Uncle- you're nice!" It was so cute!

Doug, Misty, Casey and Mike at the graduation:




Tyson with the kiddos:

Congrats Casey and Misty! We are proud of you and glad we were there to see your accomplishment!


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Girl's Tahoe Getaway...

My friend Trisha invited 4 of our friends (Institute director's wives) to Tahoe to stay in a time share and get away. We went for 3 days and 2 nights and had the BEST time. We each had a meal we were in charge of and had Eggplant lasagna, crepes, chicken rolls, chicken salad crossants, and cereal/fruit. I think the favorite was Susie's hot lava cakes...YUM! It was a welcome respite with 4 forever friends. Wish we could go every year. Nice to have our own therapist (Trisha) there on hand to discuss all our issues...lol.

We didn't get much sleep, since we enjoyed talking so much. We also played tennis (go girls!) and laughed as we tried to dodge the ball coming at our heads in raquetball. We enjoyed some hot tub time and eucalyptus steam bath. Most of all we enjoyed our faith-filled gospel chats for hours that really uplifted us. What some incredible ladies I am fortunate to associate with! Thanks girls! I needed that! It will be one of my favorite California memories!

Sydney's 11th birthday...

Usually we have a friend birthday party every OTHER year on my kids' even birthdays, but since we are moving, Sydney asked for a party with her friends. So we threw together a Luau. She had a great time!
Sydney and friends:

Decorating flip flops...

The finished flip flops:

Opening presents:

Hawaiian haystacks for dinner...

Then we had hula lessons from a lady in the ward who used to do the hula with a polynesian dance troupe. That was a highlight of the party. Thanks Jackie! She really did great and taught the girls some hawaiian words as well.

Happy Birthday sweet Sydney! I can't ask for a better little 11 year old to raise. You are my little angel!

New house plan

Mike and I finally agreed on a house plan with a few changes. The breakfast nook will be bigger, and the laundry room will be a rectangle so there will only be a 3 car garage...What other changes would you make?

Addison's new haircut:

I swore my kids never did this kind of thing. McKenzie did it when she was Addy's age but I caught her in the kitchen with a pair of scissors saying to herself, "I'm making it so pretty!" But I caught her in time and not too much damage. Then on this 5th child, I NEVER imagined that she would do this:


I had just done a quick cut for Nathan and Sydney because I noticed that evening at the piano recital they looked a little ragged. So I ran home, did a quick clean of the house, laundry, dishes, etc.. then quick cut Nathan's and Syd's hair. Then Addy asked for her haircut. So I trimmed the edges- all in the fun. And boy, I was thinking that her hair is getting so pretty. Then I left the cutting kit out on the table on the deck outside, ran in to get Bradley to pin him down to cut his hair, and while I was trying to convince him how desperately he needed his hair cut, Addy did a number on her hair. She has just learned how to cut with scissors and practiced all week on paper, having such a great time. Well, when I found her, she was standing on the toiled lid looking in the mirror with scissors in her hand. I had only found a little peice of hair on the floor, so thought, "Oh good- caught her in time"- but then I looked at her head more closely. I couldn't believe it. Then I found this outside on the deck:



First I screamed, then cried...we had been to busy to watch her closely that time. I ran her up to show Mike and he laughed his head off, then told her, "I love your haircut- it's so pretty!" Didn't make me too happy after I had been telling her "You don't cut your own hair- it looks weird now!" Talk about mixed signals. Well, hopefully she won't do it again, since we keep reiterating, "Who cuts Addy's hair?- ONLY MOMMY right?" Guess we'll be wearing headbands, hats and ponytails all sunmmer...ADDYs hair- please grow...I beg you!

LOVE MY YARD...

This is the time of year I enjoy our yard the most. You can see why...We are all going to miss the yard and the adventures my children had here. They spend hours out here. We have enjoyed it for 8 years... Goodbye wonderful yard- we'll miss you!

My baby is 16!!!

While in Utah, McKenzie had her 16th birthday and we couldn't let the day go without partying with family. So we had a cupcake cake and opened presents in the evening after all the Easter festivities. Her cousins all came and she got hair bows, money, manicure set, and a little California car and lip gloss.




Her funny gift was the Dating kit we made up for her with help from ideas from the internet. A couple things embarrassed her like we were hoping it would do, and she laughed at the rest, especially when we had Uncle Greg read the form, "Application to date my daughter". Then she asked me if it was serious! That gave us a laugh as well!




Then she came back and a week later had her friend party. We did a Glow in the dark/black light dance party. Loud music and colored highlighters to draw on arms, faces and shirts that showed up with the black lights, chocolate fountain, fire in the firepit, and glowsticks and we had ourselves a party! The kids loved it! It was CRAZY FUN! I couldn't get pictures with my camera because of the lighting, but it was hilarious how they decorated their faces and arms and even drew flip-flops on their bare feet with the highlighters and it all showed up with the black light. Definately a birthday to remember!

Easter fun 2010

Because we went to Grandma King's funeral, we decided to stay the weekend and celebrate Easter with the family. It was to snowy to go to Antelope, the usual family Easter hangout, so my Uncle Paul and Marla invited everyone to Broken Arrow Ranch and their home to have an egg hunt in the hay and have a big dinner. There were 45 great-grandchildren of my grandma Jean there, and lots of relatives. Some of which I did not recognize and some did not recognize me... But it was fun to get to know them again.

Uncle Fred had the kids do a slingshot with water balloons and they loved it. He had a big long line for that one.





THE CHICKEN DANCE: Nathan won the dance contest and a dollar for his age group, and sadly, I didn't win for the cousin group...maybe I'll practice so I can get better!

Games, games, and more games!

With Great Grandma Jean:

The hunt for the plastic eggs:
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Grandma gave the reward for finding an egg- the kids each got a gold dollar. What a treat!

Coloring Eggs at Grandma's with Aunt Erika:

See the green hands?

Ashlyn checking out her goods from the egg hunt at the park:

Syd and Nathan at the Manti City egg hunt at the park