Spring/Summer 2011

I haven't been to consistent with blogging...Here's some of what we've been up to.

 Here is the first egg we got from our chickens.


Swimming/fishing at Deer Creek Reservoir

 Fishing at Utah Lake

Pizza baked in the mud oven Daniel and Andres made in the backyard.

Erica went to an Owl City concert

Jason found a penguin driftwood at Jordanelle Reservoir

 Kinsey found a treasure, too.

We've been eating from our garden...

Here are the chickens.(Penny's the black one, Sariah's the barred rock, Kessie is the red hen)

Andres caught a bunch of bass this year.

Sariah

Some of my garden

We've had storms

We have ducks too (Talo and Malon)

Girls performed beautifully in their spring recital.

 Sydney

 Megan

Spring Dance Recital 2010

My beautiful girls participated in another wonderful dance recital in May.  They have the opportunity to perform at the awesome Covey Center for the Arts.  Their super cute teacher, Megan, dances with Confidance club and the instructor allows Megan to bring her dancers and perform!  They were in four dances: a ballet, two jazz, and a hip-hop.  They just love to dance, and are constantly dancing around the house. 

Here are a couple photos of their hair.  I had to have proof that I can actually do something with hair!!

It turned out gorgeous!(even if I do say so myself)

They first performed their ballet number to "A Dream is a Wish".  This was such a terrific number, not only because my girls were in it, but they had learned the dance just one week prior to this performance!

Natty is on the far left in this photo

Erica is on the left.  I tried to catch her in mid-air, but, instead caught her friend, Chanel.

This was one of their jazz numbers choreographed to one of the songs from the Disney movie "Hercules"

I caught Natty at the end of her round-off during the hip-hop number.  They danced to the song "Witch Doctor" sung by the Chipmunks(Alvin and the Chipmunks-the Squeakual)

Their last jazz number with the song, "Something About the Sunshine"

Here are the girls with their WONDERFUL teacher, Megan.  Not only did Megan choreograph and dance in all four numbers, but she also danced with her Teen Group and performed five solos!

Erica and Natty absolutely love dance!  They performed beautifully!

Heber Creeper

On April 23rd we went on a Homeschooling field trip to Heber Valley Railroad and rode on the Heber Creeper!  We had been having wonderful weather up until that day.  It decided to snow like crazy!  I was very worried that the trip was ruined, but we had a great time!  The three older kids just liked to be out of the house, and were pretty much just happy to be there.  Kinsey was scared nearly the whole time we were there.  But Jason was AMAZED!  He loves trains!  His two favorite shows are "Thomas the Tank Engine" and "Chuggington".  On the train, Daniel and Jason sat together and talked about all of the technical stuff that goes along with trains.  Erica, Natty, and Kinsey sat together and got a kick out of pointing out all of the animals we saw during the trip.  They saw dogs, sheep, cows, horses, birds (one was a hawk) and even three deer.

One of the trains they were working on.

Kinsey was terrified of that engine!  I couldn't get her to look my way for the photo!

The ticket office and gift shop.

The kids.  Kinsey is definitely disgruntled!

Kinsey and Erica.

Natty

Daniel and Jason.  They looked like this the entire trip!

A boiler. 

After the train ride, we took a tour of the workshop.  The engines that they use are so old that parts are not made for them any longer.  So, they need to make all of parts needed to repair or rebuild them.

A good time was had by all!

My little Natty is now NINE!! 

She had a couple of fun parties.  On Thursday, we had a party with her friends, and she had such a blast!  She planned the whole party, including games.  We made sunflower cupcakes, she made a 'pin-the-petal-on-the-flower game, and they just listened to Miley Cyrus, and chatted away!Then, on Friday we threw a party for her (and me) with the family.  We had a really good time.  I, once again, made sunflower cupcakes and made a whole wheat chocolate-blueberry cake!  The recipe is the Better Homes and Gardens winning recipe, which just so happens to be from my friend, Dorothy Olsen!  It was super yummy!

Thanks, to everyone for the gifts!Yep, I have to be the goof!

Little Dancin' Baby/Super Loving Sisters

One of the things Kinsey got for her birthday was this cute leotard. She absolutely LOVES to dance with Erica and Natty. Erica just begged me to buy this for Little Kins. Kinsey had to have it on as soon as she took it out of the bag, and started dancing!

Here is her 'shake-a-butt' dance.

I just love how she is looking at Natty in this photo!

'ballerina pose'

'spin around'

I just love how excited she is to dance! It really helps to have two wonderful big sisters to teach her!

That brings me to the 'loving sisters' part of the post. First, Natty is always willing to put on a CD and dance away with Kinsey! She is super tender-hearted, and doesn't like to see anyone left out because she gets her feelings hurt when it happens to her! Next I just have to say how loving and un-selfish Erica is. In our family, Daddy takes the kids shopping for their birthdays. It's just one way for each child to have a one-on-one special day with Dad. So, Daddy took Erica yesterday for her Birthday Shopping Day. She came back with something for each of her brothers and sisters!!! This is her own special day, her own birthday money, and we expect her to spend it on herself! I was just so touched by her kindness!

She is so much like me when it comes to expressing loving feelings! I have always had a hard time trying to tell those that I love the most that I truly love them. She 's the same way, and this was her way of saying 'I love you' to her siblings. Thank you, Erica, for being such a great example to me! I love you! (see, it's really easy to type it!)