Happy Fathers Day!

Our Dad is the "Best"

He hugs us everyday!

He Kisses us goodnight!

He plays games with us all the time!

He lets us dance and play soccer.

He is easy to talk to.

He provides for our needs.

He teaches us the gospel.

He gives us life experience.

He holds us when we need him.

He loves to watch us perform.

He works hard and expects us to work hard.

We love our dad-because he is the Best Dad.

Boot Camp 09

Mikayla participated in her very first dance "boot camp" ever. Last week she spent the entire week with the Junior, Teen, and Senior companies cleaning, choreography-ing, dancing, training, and working hard. To hear her describe it, it was fun, hard, intense and rewarding. The kids were at the studio for 36 hours! Yes folks, I said 36 hours of dance. Amazing---I have to admit I was quite proud of all of them.
The great thing about these kids, is that they are all such good friends. They have trained together for years, they know each othe well-and the older kids, they take good care of our younger kids. They are on the countdown now to Nationals in LA. Coming up in 3 weeks. Yeah!

Here is the first day of Boot camp-(warning-lots of photos, and thanks Averie for the photos)

Christian and Stacy- the drill sargeants.

Christian- Day one is camo day-

Jr, Teens, and Seniors.
Day 2- Red Day

Oh my aching shoulders, back and LEGS!

Shimmy Shimmy Coco puff!
Day 3 was white Day- I did not get any photos! :-(
Day 4 - Blue Day

The Crew after cleaning "I'm Alive"-actually they were dead dog tired.

The dudes.
I am proud of each of these kids who are all so dedicated to the sport they love. I know that they will be rock stars at the stadium of Fire and at Nationals. Great Job Center Stage Juniors, Teens and Seniors!

A little piece of Heaven

Oh My goodness! This place is sheer Heaven! For any local Provo/Oremites, I encourage you to try this place out. It is worth the drive! My friend Tracy introduced me and the girlies to this little shack.
It is not your typical snow shack. It is sheer joy to the taste buds!

This little snowshack is unlike anything I have ever tried. It is located right on Rock Canyon Drive, across from the BYU track (just down from the stadium), on the west side of the road.
Here is their story....This young married couple owns it and runs it full time. They both go to school full time and work other full time jobs. They average 5 hours of sleep a night. They found this stuff in Hawaii, and fell in love with it. So when they came back to the states, they called the company in Hawaii and got all of the details on how to make their ice and all of the flavors. They get all of their ingredients from the islands and make everything at home. It takes 3 days to make their ice-it is so crystal clear and has the consistency of snow. It is unreal! The gals father passed away last year and so her younger brother lives with them and helps them run the shack as well. Just that story in itself has made me motivated to frequent their snow cones often.

They have 3 different options. A short board, a long board and the Big Kahuna. The flavors are so great. You can have a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the center and you can also have an Ice cap on the top. (This is drizzled sweetened condensed milk)-Let me just tell you it rocks the house!

They are huge. My fave is guava and mango with ice cream.

Mikayla had the cotton candy with the snow cap on top. Um I think I might put that as a fave too!

Then Megs had vanilla cream, tangerine, and bubblegum all together--Not my choice of flavors but it was really great too!
So if you are hot and want a great cool treat go to Provo and buy the best snowcone on the block. I promise you cant go wrong!

Friends Summer Adventure

Last summer a group of my friends got together and once a week we would do a big activity together. It was great to break up the summer and have a great time with friends. Well, we moved in January, so you can imgine how glad I was to have them ask us if we wanted to join in the fun again. Thursday was our first gathering. We went up to South Fork and had a picnic. It was pretty low key, but the kids had a riot! They hiked, played in the water, and kicked balls around. It was so fun. I know that we sure enjoy the time we get to have fun with each other and good friends.

Not all of our crew joined us this week. We hope to see them this week!

Three Little Monkeys

"Three little monkey's swinging in a tree- Sayin Mister Alligator cant catch me! No you cant catch me!"

Today we walked over to the park and had a picnic. The kids kept themselves entertained by trying to hide each others shoes on the playground equipment and in the trees. They then proceeded to scare me as they climbed the tallest pine tree in the park!

Mason is a freakin maniac!

Meg has no fear!

Dayton is up for the challenge!


Munchers!
I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

The Sleeping Beauty 2009- June 1st

Mikayla and the ballet students at Center Stage have been putting in some long hours as they have been preparing for the production of "The Sleeping Beauty". They all did such a beautiful job. I love watching all of their grace and beauty as they tell a story through dance. Great job Center Stage and Great job Mikayla.

Emilee, Mikayla, and Jillian
They hate their costumes. They are in act 1- and are the garland girls. At one point they are to mingle around and act like they are whispering. I asked Mikayla what they talked about while they were whispering. Her reply was-"How ugly our costumes are!" She is a witty girl.

Let the Games Begin

I have loved every stage of my childrens lives. As they have gotten older, it has been so much fun. They are all pretty independant, yet they still need their Mama and Daddy for their hugs, kisses, and tuck ins. But the ages that they are at right now is a blast. I have had to let a little of my "control" go and become a little more "fluid".
One of the things that my kids LOVE to do is play "Night Games". Yes their Dad introduced this to them several years ago at a family reunion and they play any chance that they get. They have even played a few times in the winter. Crazy kids! Well you know it is only the second day of summer for us, and one weekend has not passed without playing "Warden" and "Commando". Last night our backyard was graced with 10 kids-Mason the Youngest playing in the dark. We have the perfect back yard for it. It's big, has a ton of places to hide and its high fenced. Whala-I dont have to worry about where they are. Anyways, I am glad that they can go out and have a great time. I am sure there will be many a more nights this summer filled with kids and flashlights.
In the photo: Sophie, Kaitlyn, Rachel, Joan, Trevor, Nathan, Mace and Mikayla. Megan and Christian are hiding.