4th of July

Since the 4th was on a Friday this year, and Ryan and I both get work off I thought, hey, let's actually spend it in another city for a change.  I've only ever seen the Tooele parade.  So we booked a couple of nights at the Casa de Lee in Cedar City.  We arrived late Thursday night just long enough for a little visiting and putting the kids to bed.  Andrea was super excited this time because Peyton has a bunk bed with an extra bed for her.  By by the second night her and Meryn shared the bed anyway so that all three kids could sleep in the same room.

Before the parade on Friday Matt and Sara's ward has a breakfast.  So Ryan and Matt headed over about 6:30 to start cooking while Sara and I got the rest of us ready.  I was pretty proud of the way Andrea's hair turned out trying a new star design I saw on Facebook.

I was very impressed with their breakfast, pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit.  I thought it was a very nice thought by their ward and they had a good turnout.

 Andrea's face in this one cracks me up.

After breakfast Sara and I took the kids over to find a spot for the parade and the men came once the breakfast was all cleaned up.

The Cedar parade made me realize Tooele's isn't so bad.  I don't even remember Cedar City's having a band in it.  And the kids only got about six pieces of candy.  Not that I'm complaining, I liked seeing something different and now I'll appreciate Tooele's a little more.

After the parade we headed to the park for the activities there, but everyone else in town was also there so we opted to pick up some Jimmy John's and go to Discovery Park instead.  The kids didn't mind one bit since Discovery Park is one of the coolest parks ever.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty low key.  Ryan and Matt fixed sprinklers, the girls put together their own parade in the living room.  And I did a little of my transcription work.

 Sara and Matt cooked us up a yummy barbecue of hamburgers, hot dogs, dip, crab salad, chips, and Sara had made a yummy patriotic cheesecake!

Not long after dinner we headed out to get a good spot for the fireworks.  The men had their tripods and cameras ready for the photo op.  And the kids and women were whining about the cold, well, mostly me and the kids.  So luckily there were some emergency blankets in the car that we wrapped up in.  Well, those of us who could stay wrapped up and not wiggle too much for the noise factor, which was none of us.  It was a pretty funny experience re-wrapping everybody and getting the seating situation just right.

Ryan got great shots of the fireworks, so I just quickly picked a few.  

The fireworks were pretty great.  And once the girls realized that they weren't going to land on us they seemed to enjoy it.

The next morning we decided to go on an adventure, like we usually do down south.

Matt and Sara suggested a drive up the canyon and hiking to cascade falls.  The hike was short and easy terrain for the kids.  It was a beautiful day as you can see....

Right as we got to the end of the hike a slight rain had started so we took cover under a rock.  But we thought we should head back before it gets worse.  As we did the hail started coming, so we found another refuge under a larger rock.  The rain let up enough we started again and of course larger hail had formed.  I must admit it did hurt, Andrea was screaming and crying.  I did my best to cover her, but I also wanted us to move quickly.  We found the best shelter of all which included a bench.  Once we arrived Andrea proclaimed "I got hit by ice cubes".  Yes, yes, we all were hit by ice cubes.  I wish these photos did justice to the storm we were watching from our hideout.

We slowly made it back to the car taking shelter under trees occasionally.  At one point the parents were all surrounding the kids taking the brunt of the hail.  I felt bad I couldn't cover Peyton more, but as you can see from the group shot I don't have much height on him anymore.

The trail was now a trail of slippery clay.  And our shoes were unidentifiable, just blobs of brown mass getting heavier with each step.  Luckily Matt and Sara were prepared with a bag in the car for shoes and we wiped the kiddos down well enough to sit in the car.  It was unforgettable to say the least.

After a quick stop back at the house to change and hose off our shoes we headed to St. George for dinner and shopping.  Fifty degrees in the canyon to 105 degrees in St. George is a quick change all in one day.

That night the kids lit sparklers in the back yard and crashed rather quickly as you might expect.

The next morning their family headed off to 9:00 a.m. church.  So we went over to visit Sandy and Fernlee before we left town.  I love visiting Sandy and Fernlee, but I love seeing the dogs just as much.  It seems every time we come Sandy has a different dog.  This time it was Rascal, a hug lab puppy, who doesn't know his own size yet.

And of course we love to sing with Cookie, I had a video of Andrea singing with Cookie but the size was too large to email myself.  I'll still work on it though.

Another great trip full of memories and good laughs.  Love this extended family I've inherited!

Preschool Graduation

Our baby graduated preschool this week, and I only cried a little, not even enough to roll down my cheek.  But my eyes did well up a little, more with pride than sadness.  I'm so proud of how wonderful she is, and smart she is.  She was one of the few members of the "100 Club" in her class, meaning she can count to 100.  She was the only one in her class to pass off all of her letters, that means knowing the sounds, and how to write them both upper case and lower case.  And when I volunteered in her class I was so proud of the way she acted.  Other than giving me too many hugs during my visit she always acted how I would expect her to.

It was fun to attend her graduation because both the a.m. class and p.m. class were combined so I got to see my nephew Roland, and other kids from our ward primary.

I was trying to take a picture of the cousins together, but was taking a video by accident.  The video was still pretty cute, so here it is.

Their teachers had taken photos of them all year long and put them on a DVD that we could purchase.  I thought that was so thoughtful and wonderful to get an inside glimpse of how the school year was for the kids.

I hope she gets a good kindergarten teacher because Mrs. Christensen, and co-teacher Mrs. Molgard really had the system down and everything was beautifully run.  We were so blessed to have such an awesome preschool, especially free of charge, and only a walk away from our home.

It's Dancy Dance Time

Phew, having a school age child is a lot of work.  I think extracurricular activities are important to all children, but I feel a special need for them in Andrea's life since she is an only child.  But now that Spring is here, between soccer, dance, and preschool, things can get a little hectic.

Her final dance competitions started the end of April, first it was Taylorsville High School.

Then Lagoon the beginning of May. At the Taylorsville and Lagoon competitions her group danced to "Do you believe in Magic".  This year was fun because they learned different facial expressions along with the moves "kissy face" is my favorite.  We have a lot of pictures of her and her cute friend Ireland because they were in group "one" together.

I forget how many rides Lagoon has that she can only ride alone.  Ryan and I really shouldn't have bought tickets, because we really only rode one or two rides with her. And I would have had more pictures of her on rides, but I lost the ones that were on my phone.  I think they're somewhere in cyberspace, hopefully one day I'll find them, here are the only two I could round up.

Don't you love the photo bomb guy behind us?

This was the way home from Lagoon, face paint and all.

Her final dance review was at the Tooele High Auditorium the middle of May.The last recital is my favorite because we get to see all the dances from all the ages, and we get to see both of her dances.

The theme for her final recital this year was "Carnival" and her group was dressed as the fortune tellers.  Even though her fortune teller music had no vocals I think I liked it better because the moves were just so darn cute!

Here are the links for both dances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVXrhp3GmGA&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGV0rsgGOn4&feature=youtu.be

I think she's still interested in dance next year too, and she's loving soccer, so I guess we'll have to handle both financially somehow.  I do love her dance company and all  her friends in her class, this has been a fun time for her!

Easter

I'm so glad Easter was later this year.  The Easter bunny had more time to get ready before it snuck up like it usually does.

Two days before Easter we had a new nephew, Wulf, arrive.  So Saturday before Easter I got spend a little time with Brigitta and Roland while their mom was still in the hospital.  I waited to color eggs until they came to give them something to do, but Roland wasn't interested.

 I think he was probably dealing with middle child emotions, but didn't know it.  He just wanted to snuggle with the dog, and anything to make him happy is fine with me.  We also went to the park and then he perked right up.

Easter morning we had our traditional Easter pancakes, but Ryan was so sick with a bad cold that he couldn't even go outside to watch the Easter egg hunt, and I had to save him pancakes for later.

 The dog decided to do his business in the worst place possible.

 The Easter bunny led Andrea on the usually scavenger hunt and the basket was hiding under the kitchen table.  She got a movie, an outfit, and of course, lots of candy.

Grandma and Grandpa Lee had bought Andrea an Easter dress, and I bought myself a new skirt.

After church we had an Easter lunch at Grandma and Grandpa Williams.  With Ryan sick, and Amy just having a baby, it was just Eric and me with our kids.  The grandparents got each of the kids a bucket and sunglasses and then Eric was sent off to do some egg hiding at his house.  I guess Brigitta and Roland still hadn't had time to find the other eggs left at their house from the Easter bunny, so Andrea got a few extras.

Andrea got a homemade bunny from Amy, she does that every year and we're are getting an adorable collection! I think she has slept with that bunny every night since Easter. One night before bed Andrea asked, "how did Amy make this bunny?" I said, "she is very talented".  And she said, "she can sew better than you, huh, Mom"?  I replied, "Yes, but we all have different talents.  So what do you think my talents are?".  After thinking a minute she said, "Being a good Mom.".... Mommy paycheck!

First soccer game

We signed Andrea up for Spring soccer this year.  All last summer she wanted to play soccer.  We would play in the yard, in the front room, and she was actually pretty good.  So I figured this year we would sign her up and let her decide in the fall if she wanted to continue with dance or soccer.  He first soccer game was last Saturday and it was rainy and cold, but they played anyway and she loved it!

It was fun playing her first opposing team because their coach is in our ward, so she knew his daughter, Ada, and two boys are in her preschool, Jaxson, and Carter.  Plus our friends the Parkinson's son, Spencer, was also on their team.  So it was fun to see all the parents as well as see both sides play.  

She is so encouraging, she would tell her teammates, "just do your best guys" and from the sidelines she would cheer, "go blue tornadoes".  I must say although I know nothing about soccer her excitement is contagious and I can't wait for the next game!