Another day of dance ...

Alyssa had her 2nd dance competition last weekend. She REALLY loves to dance. It was in Layton and our call time was noon with awards starting at 7pm ... add driving and it made for a LONG day. But it was fun and Alyssa enjoyed it! She also did MUCH better on all of her routines. Here are a few pics of our day. (Don't you just love the hair piece! I think the curls are so dang cute! I actually like all their costumes this year which is nice.
CRAZY time with Kendal and Abby
Her hat looks funny in this picture ... not sure if she has it backwards or if it is just the angle of hte picture, but she looks so happy.
Opening positions on stage ... She's the one sitting.
Snap shot while she's practicing ... proof she doesn't ALWAYS smile when she practices. :) But she really does "SASS" it up on stage with this routine. She LOVES Lady Gaga and I always tell her to pretend she's Lady Gaga when she's on stage.
After the awards, when I told her we were going to go get ice cream on our way home! The simple joys in life!

Annual Egghunt with our Friends

The Webeckes host an egghunt every year ... for lots of friends. Its AMAZING! Just check out how many eggs and kids there are! Thanks Michelle! My kids LOVE this day and we are so grateful for all your work to make it happen!

Yes, those specks are ALL eggs ... and this is not all of their yard.


Each kid started out by getting 20 eggs ... and then there were still more eggs, so they all picked up a few more! WOW! Sure beats getting 2 or 3 eggs at a city hunt.





Eggs all found, opened ... Time to play!

How come I have so many DARN talented friends? My friends all make amazing treats ... among their many other talents and activities with their families. You ladies amaze me ... but darn it, I believe you might also be the reason why I gain weight! Everyone brought a treat and these were just a few of the ones at the egghunt.


Me ... a bowl of grapes! :) Really complex and fancy, but oh well. They were all gone, so at least I know they were liked. THANKS AGAIN MICHELLE! Especially this year ... with Ed stuck in Europe due to the ash cloud and kids about to have surgery for tubes. You really are an amazing mom and friend.

Daddy Daughter Dance - Beach theme!

Our PTA hosts a Daddy Daughter Dance every year. This year, it was casual so Steve was up for it! Last year, he was out of town so my dad took them to the 50's theme dance. The year before that ... it was a princess theme and dress up so Steve took Alyssa bowling instead! He hates to dress up! :) They had a lot of fun this year dancing with their friends and all our neighbors. I don't get pics from AT the dance because that requires a dad take a camera to the dance (something none of them really want to do) but I took these before.

The girls didn't really have any "beach" or "Hawaiian" clothes that meet school dress standards (no swimsuits or tanks) so this is what they chose. I thought they both looked very "summer-y" and they were happy.




Jessica is only in preschool so I kept her home with me. I thought the older girls needed that daddy time. Jessi and I picked up sushi then had a picnic in the living room while we watched Princess and the Frog (LOVE RedBox!).
And here is the "professional" picture that was taken at the dance. Wish they had gotten Alyssa's hair out of her face and gotten natural smiles from the girls ... but hey, its a memory! :)

The Nursery

There is a nursery near our kids' school, so the first graders took a walking field trip to the Nursery. Imagine about 75 kids and 25 parents walking 3 or 4 blocks... it was kind of a big long train of craziness. I went with them and Steve surprised Taylor by showing up on his bike shortly after we left the school. They were supposed to learn a few things about plants (from the employee who gave them a tour) but I'm not sure they got much. Taylor did SURPRISE me by ASKING to taste the cabbage leaf that I was passing around. YEP, Taylor ASKED to try something. I was so excited and proud of her. She tried it ... didn't like it, but she tried without me having to force her. BIG for her. At the end, they all got to plant a little celery plant in a cup. Taylor's was growing really well until she left it outside in the grass and her dad ran over it with the riding lawn mower... oops! I liked the lighting on her face ... she looks so thoughtful and calm ... :)
You can't really see Taylor in this picture, but it gives you an idea of the parent-to-child ratio on this field trip. It was kind of funny. A TON of moms went and a couple dads too. Because it was walking and free, moms could bring preschoolers in strollers so we all turned out.
Taylor with two of her friends ... Ally and Ella. Taylor is shorter for her age, but these two are a little taller than most in their class.
One of the BEST perks of having Steve not working for someone else right now is having him available to do things with this like us. 8 months ago, Taylor would NEVER have asked her dad for something even if he was in the same room and I was on the other side of the house, wanted to do something with him (when given the choice of doing something else with me) ... i.e she was a MAJOR mommy's girl. I love the bond that she and I share, but it always made me sad that she didn't have a bond with Steve. Now, she REALLY does. These last 8 months with him home and around so much more, their relationship has really grown and it makes me so happy to see.
Those of you who really know Taylor, might be a little surprised to see her just grabbing the dirt and putting it in her cup ... she's come a long way. She did proceed to rub her hand on her dress to make sure every particle of dust was off, BUT she at least did it without being weirded out.


Taylor's class ...
The walk back to school ...
It was pizza day at school and Taylor wanted us to stay (not that she eats pizza) so we got Jessi pizza and ate lunch with Taylor! Days like THIS are why I love being able to work from home so I can be a full-time mom!

Moab ...

Alyssa had a project on Grand County for her Utah history section at school. Grand County is MOAB!! What a place to get assigned. The visit wasn't assigned, but since it was spring break and we wanted a little getaway ... we went! She learned so much doing her A to Z book about Grand County and we had a lot of fun too. What an amazing place. We were only there two nights so we didn't get to do nearly as much as we would have liked, but we loved the trip. Definitely a place we want to go back to again. So lucky to have such amazing places like this just a couple hours away! Indian rock art/petroglyphs - the girls LOVED climbing on rocks.

If you look closely, Delicate Arch (the arch that is often pictured with the state of Utah) is in the background ... we're at the lookout for the arch. We did not do this hike. I thought it was too long and too many steep places for the girls.

Taylor loved the twisty trees we found on our hike to Broken Arch.
Broken Arch ... funny story. We didn't realize this WAS Broken Arch so we continued our hike through the arch and on for about another 45 minutes before turning around, coming back to it and realizing it is broken ... cracked! DUH!! Probably one of my favorite areas to hike though - less crowded, more nature.
Steve got cell coverage by this arch ... and of course, the phone rang. He took a call while the kids all climbed around on the rocks. Alyssa tried to convince me to let her climb on top of this arch because other people were up there ... NOPE!

Taylor made Jessica sad because they were walking on a curb and needed to cross and Taylor refused to get down. Jess sat down to cry. We told Taylor to apologize and this is what happened... so precious.
But as you can see, the above hug, didn't fix the sad little face ... oh the joys of being the youngest.
Alyssa holding up Balanced Rock .... for those of you who don't know, Balanced Rock is actually much bigger than it looks here. The rock is about 3 times the size of a school bus. The ground under and around it eroded away, leaving it sitting on this pedastal, looking like it is about to fall. And who knows, maybe it will someday.
The FAVORITE thing ... the playground at our hotel ... go figure. Drive all the way to Moab and they want to play on the monkey bars and swing on the swings. :) Could have done that in our own backyard!

Alyssa wanted to find a "ghost town". We drove around quite a bit searching for remains of the old cities that are no longer around. We found this one ... the Castleton Cemetery.
Dead Horse Point State Park ... isn't that view INCREDIBLE!
Alyssa ... posing as usual.

Another view at Dead Horse Point State Park.
Yep, we even saw Dinosaur tracks for the letter D... There was water in this one, so I splashed it around to make it more obvious where the track was.
And finally, the sunset on our third day of vacation as we drove out of Grand County headed for home. We enjoyed some really majestic views and the sunset certainly didn't let us down.