Memorial Ride

This weekend's been a long time in the making for some of us. This past September Seth's dad turned 60 and all the siblings got Don a motorcycle rental from the Lindon Harley place. They had planned a biking trip for some time in the spring with all the brothers and their dad. In the mean time, 3 of the 4 of them have purchased bikes of their own, including Don. Seth says even Jill loves it because it makes them feel young again. Who can blame them! The boys left Fri. morning and went down to South eastern Utah and crossed over into Colorado reaching their destination of Mesa Verde, a indian ruin. They road really long and hard every day. When we would talk to Seth at 8:30 or 9:00 each night he was ready for bed. I had to catch this picture of Seth. He did look pretty amazing in his levis and leather chaps. The levis alone were a big step. He hadn't owned a pair since we were married! Glad it was fun for all and there were safe returns:)

Don forwarded this picture to me and titled it, " Monticello Band 'o Brothers". Apparently they don't get bikes parked in front of the temple very often because they found other people snapping photos of their bikes sitting in front of the temple. Someone commented that "they don't get their type down there much." Don is in the bishopric at home, he was just hiding his identity under a little leather.

While daddy was away, we stayed with Grandma Julie and Grandpa Mike all weekend. It was so nice to get away and just have a change of scenery. My mom even found a babysitter on Saturday and she and I went out shopping. "We hit the jackpot" my mom kept saying, meaning it was quite a good shopping day.

Sunday we went to my Aunt Cathy's house to have dinner and then go see some graves. My cousin Pat and his wife brought their cute baby and somebody put her in Alayna's lap. As you can see she's not thrilled to be tending! The baby's the one who should be scared, Alayna could make a meal out of her.

Monday we went to Willow Creek with my parents and nieces and nephews. It wasn't the warmest Memorial Day though. One of the employees there told us the water was 85 degrees. Didn't feel like that to me, brrrr! The baby sure didn't mind though. She loved the water.

Kira gets a little further away from the steps in the baby pool every year. Swimming for her is a series of small accomplishments. Look mom I'm 5 and I just got brave enough to stick my face in the water. Look mom, now I'm six and I realized that when I stand up in the kiddie pool I won't sink! She really does love to be in the pool, she's just my little ball of anxieties!

Seth showed up Monday about 2:00. We were so glad to see him home and started to make our way up to his parents' house.

We had great fun outside with badmitton, batchi and lots of chatting

This giant ball has always been a hit

The famous rocking horse tree. For some reason this certain scrub oak has always had a little bounce in it. All the kids love it.

What a handsome dude

I couldn't stop snapping pictures of Tru. She's just so dang cute. That really was a great weekend. Lots of fun and family:)

All good things come to an end

Brynn's poetry cafe
She recited "Where the Sidewalk Ends"
by Shel Silverstein
Brynn was fantastic!! She memorized her entire poem in one afternoon. She did not get her memory from me. I was a very proud mom. All of the decorations were made by Brynn and her 4th grade friends.

Kira's water day
Alayna was sick so Allison Gee sent me these fun pics.

It wasn't the warmest day, but I never seen Kira turn down a snow cone!

Every 2 years Cedar Ridge does a dance festival. Every grade has it's own special dance with themed costumes. Kira did the tiki tiki room and Brynn did a Pirates of the Caribbean dance. Lots of work for the teachers! Just walking the kids over to Lone Peak is a major under taking. The dances were really fun though. Brynn was even in a sword fight!

Last day... say goodbye to 4th grade and kindergarten. I'm going to have quiet days next year. What will I do with all the time?

We went to this park in Cedar Hills with a bunch of our neighbors after the long 2 hr. last day. It was really pretty up there, and had a view of the whole valley, including the temple.

Getting so big!

Kira found her friend Emiko at the park. They had fun together. So glad it's summer!!!

Sundays up the Canyon

I'm having a hard time knowing what to say for this picture! The mountains are so special to our family and this picture just makes me so happy. It just feels like where I always want to be. These two are having quite the daddy/daughter stare down. This hat seems to fit Alayna pretty good. Sadly, I tried it on and it didn't fit on my fat head! I'm chalking it up to all my fat hair.

Every baby needs a taste of her first smore:) It didn't cause a mess at all either!

Kira, Jeffery and Taeya. All the kids went on a hike after dinner. Gordon was the leader of the pack and Seth snuck up behind. Gordon was telling the kids about how he met a big hairy bigfoot up in the mountains one time. Just as the kids were saying things like, "nuh uh dad" and "that's not true Gordon," Seth jumped out of the bushes with a "Roooaar!!" and confirmed Gordon's story. I think he especially gave Taeya a little jolt!

Cooking hot dogs, smores and braats

What a cute family! I should have made the other 2 families pose too, oh well. I am a huge fan of Sundays in the canyon. The food, the friends, the beauty in the mountains (and the added bonus of not cooking dinner at home!) Hooray for warm weather. Although as I am writing this it is snowing outside on my flowers. It is May 24th, right?

A song and a Dance

Look at my little witchy!! May 1st Kira was in the original play
"The wonderful Witches of Oz"
She has been in a little music group this year called Up With Kids. They work on singing and stage presence and have given the kids a full experience of being in a stage play. Kira was a little munchkin named "Rugrat" and at the end when they were melting Elphaba, she was the baby witch( thus the green face!) The play was a little long and confusing;) but we were glad we went to see the munchkins. In my opinion, they were the highlight of the show, but parents are never biased, right?

Kira won this oscar award after the play. She really loved every minute of this. She memorized her parts so well! I think she may of had most everyone else's lines memorized too. She would lay in bed and read her script night after night. I think we'll see her wanting to do this again. We went to a drive through for some food after and Kira ducked down so no one could see her. "I don't want them to see my green face!"

Eagerly waiting for the play to start

My camera took terrible pictures inside the auditorium. But, Kira is the munchkin in the middle with the pink bow on her tummy.

Kira still in the middle

Brynn starts preparing the night before her spring ballet concert. A head full curlers was no small task, and no small weight on her shoulders! When Brynn woke the next morning she had a head cold and a nasty head ache. She stayed home from school to nurse her cold and her curlers!

Bravo!!! Night #1 was a huge success. It was so fun to see what's been going on in those top secret lessons that we've been sending her to:) She has grown up so much since last year and is turning into such a beautiful, expressive dancer. Brynn was in a Masquerade dance, a Fortune Teller dance, and a 1930's jazz dance.

Brynn, Kono and Kira
Kono couldn't get enough! A lot of the music was from her era. Our next goal is to all go to see Ballet West together.

All the girls and my dad. He gave Brynn the pretty roses. Grandma didn't pose for a picture because she had just had shoulder surgery. We thought it was pretty great that she decided to come though!

This was the 3rd performance and Grandpa Don and Grandma Jill came down to see Brynn. There's a lot of love for this girl. She was the first grand child and that will always make her extra special to us all.

Ooo La La!!

No cameras were aloud during the performance so I had Brynn recreate some of the magic for us.

Super late, but boy Brynn was great! I can't help but be so proud of my girls!

Tulip Festival

What a fun day! The weather has been less than reliable lately, but 2 weeks ago we decided we would take a chance and see if we could see the flowers without getting wet. I thought the tulips were lovely, but my mom was really disappointed because there were so many buds that were yet to bloom. The kids had a blast, although Alayna didn't smile once for any of us because I had to wake her up to put her in her stroller:(

See how happy Alayna is? And Brynn is smiling, but she was saying through her smile,"take the picture now mom, the grass is soaking me!"

What sweet sisters! You'd think they'd never disagreed a day in their lives.

This fountain was a big hit. So were the other 3 or 4 fountains we found walking around. Near the end all the kids were pretty wet and Kira was using Alayna's blanket as a towel!

Everything I've ever learned about flowers, I've learned from my mom and my grandma down below.

Happy, proud grandpa

It was great to have Kono there. Keeping a garden was one of her greatest joys in life.

What a great crew! We're lucky to live so close to such a pretty place. I love Ian's monkey blanket dragging behind him. Brynn looks like a giant next to all those little people!