Dance and Tumbling 2013

Another dance year has come and gone and Kenzley is probably the most excited about it. Ever since Kenzley started dancing at Studio 48, it has been a fight to get her to go to class. I feel like a lot of this is because her first year in dance was awful. Her teachers weren't helpful and they just put her on a star in the back of the class and let her do whatever she wanted. This year her teachers were ten times better and she loved them, but she didn't like dance. Brinley is advancing in dance and tumbling so well. I am so proud of her progress. She will be advancing in both class in the next season and she seems to love doing both. Brinley has accomplished her back bend walk over and is one of two girls in her tumbling class who can do this. The girls had their dance recital on May 18 and did fantastic. Much to our surprise, on the slideshow before the recital started was one of Kenzley's single dance pictures. Kenzley was beaming after she saw herself on the "movie." May 22 was Brinley's tumbling review and she did awesome. She did her back bend walk over 3 times unassisted and we cheered her on. They both got trophies at the end of the recital and Brinley got one at the end of her tumbling review. This next year Kenzley has decided she wants to do tumbling, but I haven't been too impressed with the program and Studio 48 so we are going to try somewhere new and see if she likes it.

Brinley's Trout Farm Field Trip

On May 6 Brinley had another kindergarten field trip to the trout farm. This field trip she told us about last minute and Mike wasn't able to take off work to come. My boss was nice enough to cover for me at work while I left for a couple of hours and her dad Steve was able to come too. Brinley didn't know I was coming and so she was completely surprised when she saw me there. Last year when we went for her preschool field trip Brinley wasn't as afraid of the fish as she was this year. Each teacher's class took turns at the pond and the dads were lucky enough to stay behind and help each class get the fish off the hooks. After we were done fishing we were able to go eat lunch which was hot dogs, chips, cookies, and milk.

Our first Hogle Zoo trip of the year

We had our first hogle zoo trip this year on May 04. My best friend Kjersty had come down from Vernal and asked me if I wanted to go to the zoo. I of course said yes and I knew the girls would be excited to see "Aunt Kjersty." We had a blast and the day was perfect. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too crowded. The zoo has changed so much in the last few years and it is amazing all the fun things to see and do now. The animals were much more active and we were able to see the elephant show. I didn't know, but at the zoo the 3 elephants they have are actually 3 generations. We got to see them interact with their trainers, get a bath, dust themselves with dirt again, and learn a little of their history. We also were told that they are going to try and get the mom elephant pregnant again so that the baby elephant has a sibling. My girls loved the show and couldn't stop talking about it. We took a ride on the carousel and each girl got to ride on their own animal. We stayed most of the day and headed home after Mike called and told us he was home from work. We hope to take a few more trips to the zoo this year and hopefully daddy can come.

Happy Birthday Mommy and Daddy

April tends to be a busy month for our family, especially because Mike and my birthdays are six days apart. This year we kept our birthday pretty low key. The weekend of my birthday we went to Mcgrath's and ate dinner, yes, I had to wear the ugly fish hat, but they forgot to give my picture so I don't have proof. The night of my birthday Mike came home from work and made me my favorite dinner. Mike and the girls always do a good job of making me feel important on my birthday and this year wasn't any different. They sang and we ate cake and just spent the rest of the night together as a family. My mother in law was also kind enough to make me a better than anything oreo cake that tasted wonderful. The following weekend was Mike's birthday and I had set out to make it great for him as well. I contacted my friend Heidi who makes wonderful cakes, I sent her a picture of something I had in mind, and she was able to make it happen. Mike loved his cake and was so happy with the outcome, not to mention it tasted delightful. Mike's mom made his birthday dinner and I think he had a wonderful day as well.

 

Brinley's Treehouse Kindergarten Field Trip

On April 3rd Brinley's kindergarten class went on a field trip. It was on a Wednesday which is my day off and so I was able to take Kenzley and go while my mom watch Skye. Mike's work also allows their employees to go on field trip without having to take paid time off and so he was able to go with us as well. When we first arrived we were sent into the auditorium so that we could be divided into groups and parents could be assigned to 3-4 children. Mike and I weren't assigned any kids and so that left us to watch over our two and soak up our time with them. We were placed into a larger group and participated in 3 different activities. Our first activity we went upstairs and made a magic wand. The kids got to choose their color of stick and then they were all given some sort of clay. They were told to color on it and then move the color all throughout the clay by playing with it. Once it had color all through it the parents helped them mold the clay into whatever shape they wanted. Brinley wanted a star and Kenzley wanted a heart, we then placed our wands on the counter and headed back to the auditorium. Once we were there, we were told the kids would be acting out a story of the Goose with a Golden Egg. Each child was carefully chosen for their role in the play. Brinley got to be one of the sisters and she did a great job acting her part. Our last activity was to go listen to different versions of some of our favorite stories, like Cinderella, Princess and the Frog, and Little Red Riding Hood. After we were done with all the activities we were able to have free play. This was the best part of the whole field trip and our girls had a blast, playing with Mike while I snapped some fun pictures.

Easter 2013

This year for Easter we celebrated it for 3 weekends in a row. We started out the weekend of the 23rd dying easter eggs. I had pinned lots of fun ideas on pinterest, but unfortunately didn't execute any of them.

 

 

 Brinley's finished eggs

Kenzley's finished eggs

The following weekend we went to 4 easter egg hunts. We started in Roy at the airforce museum, then we went to Sandridge park, after that we headed to Sam's Club for their Easter scavenager hunt, and then we went to Morgan for their Easter egg hunt.

 At the Air Force Museum

 Malia and Aiden (Tracee's kids) and Kenzley

 Sandridge Park

 Morgan Easter egg hunt

My little diva Brinley

At our first stop we were able to meet up with my friend Tracee and her two little kids. When we went to Sandridge park we met up with Valerie and Steve (my ex-husband and his wife) and from there we continued to the Sam's Club scavenger hunt that Brinley needed to do for school and then we all drove up to Morgan. Each kid got a basket full of candy but Kenzley got one of the bigger baskets with everything princess. She was kind enough to share half of her basket with Brinley. When we were done it was time to head to my best friend's little girls birthday. Kjersty's baby Nikole was turning one and she was having a Dr. Seuss party for her in Salt Lake.

We attempted the Seuss photo op and this is the best we got! The next day was sunday and Steve was nice enough to let Brinley stay Saturday night. The next morning we woke up and hunted around the house for the eggs the bunny hid and then they opened their baskets. I'm sad to admit I didn't get pictures of any of it. Brinley and Kenzley both got a new doll, Brinley got Ariel, and Kenzley got Rapunzel. They also both got a new dress and lots of candy. Skyeley got a new dress and a scented Minnie Mouse stuffed animal. Later on we hid Mike's Easter eggs around the yard and he had to go out and find them. It was a nice day and I'm glad we all got to celebrate it for a little while together. This past weekend on the 6th Weber State had their annual Easter egg dive in the pool. This year there weren't as many people and my kids got tons of eggs which resulted in lots of treats.

They each got a swimming noodle, a chocolate bunny, 3 packages of peeps to share, 12 containers of bubbles, and a gift certificate for free swimming lessons at Weber State, that didn't include the free goodie bag that is included. We had a lot of fun Easter egg hunting and the girls are pros at it now.



NCAA 2013

Since Mike works at Ken Garff he sometimes will get tickets to a special event that sometimes he wouldn't have. Ken Garff has almost every line of car out there and Mike happens to sell parts for 3 of the car lines. Buick, which is part of a GM company sponsors the NCAA and so Buick sent Ken Garff some tickets to the tournament. Mike has been able to attend this tournament one other time and that was after the doctor I was working for offered for us to buy his tickets. Mike was able to go to his first tournament with his dad, this time he took his brother Brian. The managers at Ken Garff all know what a basketball junkie Mike is and they wanted to offer him the tickets, but we were on vacation when the opportunity came up. One of Mike's coworkers spoke up for the tickets and when Mike got back he told Mike that his wife no longer wanted to go and offered one of the tickets to Mike, not any ticket but 12th row tickets. Mike of course said yes and made arrangements to have that Saturday off work. Well about 4 days before the tournament his coworker decided he didn't want to go and so Mike ended up with both tickets. He knew he wouldn't have a hard time finding someone to go with him, but he had a hard time deciding who he wanted to take. He made the decision to take his brother and from what it sounded like, they had a wonderful time. I took the girls to see the Croods that day and then went out to lunch with some of my friends to Olive Garden. That night we came home and dyed Easter eggs since we wouldn't have Brinley the following weekend. Here are some pictures from the tournament.