Leah's Final Violin Concert of the Year

Left to Right: Katie, Leah, Katie, Bethany, Hannah and Emma.
Back: Mr. Hunt

Tonight was Leah's last violin concert of the year and we enjoyed watching it:) This has been a wonderful opportunity for Leah and we have seen her grow musical, socially and she has become an even better performer than she was to begin with. Her teacher, Mr. Hunt, was fabulous and he clicked very well with the girls and made the class a lot of fun for all of them. He will be teaching again in the fall and we will be back for Intermediate Orchestra!

Opening Songs: Caroling Breeze, Jingle Bells and Old MacDonald Had a Farm (performed beautifully by the orchestra:)

The girls are sitting and waiting for their turn to perform their solos.

Leah chose to play Twinkle, Twinkle in A major for her solo. She played it beautifully.

Mr. Hunt is a lot of fun. He played Pop Goes the Weasel over and over again a whole bunch of silly ways. Here he is playing it under his leg.

Mr. Hunt's solo was very entertaining to the girls and here they are laughing and Leah is bright red she is laughing so hard.

Here is Leah accepting her certificate for successfully completing Beginning Orchestra and her Baskin and Robins ice cream certificate (do I get that for taking her all this year:).

The last three pictures are from the last number, Twinkle, Twinkle. It was followed by an encore of Old MacDonald Had a Farm with the girls playing their favorite animal sound with their violin in the middle of the song. They all did such a great job and they got a standing ovation and cookies and lemonade after the performance.

We thought we'd get one last picture of all the girls together.
They are all so cute!

Great job Leah!

First Dentist Appointment

Mason has been anxiously awaiting his first dental appointment for a quite a while now and he was sure that they would give him a truck toothbrush. He didn't the toothbrush he wished for, but he was just as excited to get an orange balloon and orange toothbrush (his favorite color). He did great and he felt like such a big boy:)

Simone

Mason LOVED playing with Simone when we went to visit at Tim and Julia's house. He is always asking me to pull up pictures of his "friend" on our blog and this morning, he got a chair and pulled down her picture off the fridge and carried it around the house for most of the morning. Tim and Julia, the kids are really hoping you end up coming for a visit this summer!

Legs!

Click on these to look at them up close if you get a chance. It is pretty amazing to see how the tadpoles front legs grow through where their gills were. (The second picture shows it really well.)

These tadpoles are HUGE! They had tiny, spindly legs when we came home from our trip a little over a week ago. Since then, their back legs have gotten much bigger and they even kick them around. As for their front legs, almost all the tadpoles legs have poked through their gills this week. It is so fun to watch them grow! We do need to get a bigger home for them as they are quite crowded right now.

Leah and Mason Enjoying This Week's Hot Weather

It has been HOT here this week! Leah and Mason had a lot of fun playing in the pool, jumping on the trampoline and then playing in the pool some more. Leah got a really bad sunburn that has kept her up for the last couple of nights and sunburns or not, we have all been a bit uncomfortable this week. I'm glad that it will be a lot cooler today!

New Calling

Today I was released today from being an Activity Days leader and I was called to be the 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. I am excited for a change and I am very excited to work with the women in the Presidency:)

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing you all a happy Mother's Day!

Joe and the kids brought me breakfast in bed this morning and Leah and Mason made me some really cute cards. Joe's present to me is a three month meal plan. He put it together because he saw me admiring Julia's dinner calendar when we were at her home. I am just not that organized, but I wish I was! I am also hoping for a nice message this evening:) Anyways, I am so thankful to be a mother and to have my two beautiful and wonderful children!

Taming the Jungle and Back to Life

It is nice to be home. Joe was out in the yard for a while this morning mowing and weeding. Our yard turned into a jungle while we were gone!

Well, were back to life as we know it. We have phone calls to return and bills to pay and a Primary activity to go to tonight. It is so nice to get away and we plan to do it more often from now on:)

Friday, May 9th: The LONG Trip Home

We had such a wonderful time on our trip, that we could have stayed another week (the kids didn't want to go home)! The trip home was LONG and we all felt like Mason in the picture below. All of us, except Joe slept off and on during the 12 hour drive. The kids were wonderful the entire trip, even during the long drives.

We were so excited to start to see green everywhere on the way home. We had a wonderful surprise because while we were gone, all the leaves opened up on the trees and everything was so green and pretty! We were glad to be home and we arrived at 7pm.

Thursday, May 8th: More Fun With Family at the Kangaroo Zoo and Simone's Practice Dance Recital

The Kangaroo Zoo

We went to the Kangaroo Zoo with Josh, Katie, Collin, Hadley, Julia, Simone, Anjuli and Carson. It is like a warehouse full of pump inflated slides and things you can jump on. We all had a really great time and Joe was just like a little boy again:) Here are some pictures of the fun:

Leah

Simone was scared at the top of the tall slide, so I went down with her the first time.

Collin

Uncle Josh

Julia and Simone

Mason

Leah, Simone and Mason

These viscous teeth are the end of a slide. Mason didn't know they were there until he was half way down the slide. He was so scared that he was just crying and screaming. Joe is trying to show him that there is nothing to be scared of.

Me and Mason

Me and Joe

Carson doing somersaults down a slide. It's a good thing the referees weren't in force when we were there. A few minutes before this picture was taken, he took down poor Collin as he was climbing up the side of a slide.

Mason and Simone

The following pictures were taken during our attempt to get everyone together for a family picture. We were a bit heavy for the jumper and everyone fell over and couldn't get up:)

Finally, all situated.


Lunch at Subway in Provo After the Kangaroo Zoo

Mason and Collin

The Cousin Table: Collin, Mason, Simone and Leah


Simone's Practice Dance Recital

These are pictures of Simone practicing for her performance. It was fun to see her dance:)