Dance Like There's No Tomorrow

Dance Like There's No Tomorrow was the theme of the recital tonight. Everything went great. It was held at the local high school, Timber Creek H.S., and the girls felt like celebrities up on the big stage. I abused my privileges a little and when I got there early I reserved the very front and center seats for Matt, Luke, and my neighbors Liz, Nicholas and Brooke. :) There were only 4 seats there so I even pulled up an extra chair :) Gavin was home with a babysitter.

Emma's dance stole the show. They were so cute out there and the audience laughed and applauded at their cute hip shakes, kick line, and the way they exited the stage in a line holding on to the girl in front of them and then they shuffled backwards while waving. Very cute!

All my dance classes did great. I taught 5 classes this year. I felt so bad for one little girl because she had 102 degree fever the night before and threw up all night and so she was unable to perform in 2 of my numbers! Poor thing! All that work all year and purchasing 2 costumes and you never get to use them!

At the end of the show all the girls get to come out from backstage and sit in the front below the stage and they get to watch the teachers number. It is so fun to have all the girls there yelling for you! It was a great night. AND Matt remembered flowers! :) Afterward we went out to eat with our friends the Lopez family, their little girl Kennedy was also in the recital (you can see pictures of her in Amy's blog. Carver, Luke's little friend and Emma's future husband, said Emma's dance was called "Baby Legs". :)

Watch Emma's Dance Video

They had all kinds of crafts, games, and a t.v. with the live show backstage for the kids. Here's Emma working on her crafts.

Here I am with a few dance girls backstage...I actually don't know the first two but then there is Maddie and Abby Hillis and then on the other side is Kennedy Lopez and one of the girls I taught Arianna. I had to wear a formal dress at the beginning of the show when Lori introduced us. I was proud of my Goodwill find (Goodwill is like the D.I. for all you westerners) it was only $10! I just had to mormonize it :) Now I have a gown to wear on a cruise! HINT HINT MATT! :)

Luke and Nicholas dancing in front of the stage after it was all over! It's contagious!

I think this is how Luke felt after 3 1/2 hours of dance recital!

The moment we've all been waiting for....RECITAL!!!

Today was the dress rehearsal for our recital which takes place tomorrow. It is so fun to teach, but it's even funner (if that is indeed a word) to have a daughter in the recital!!!!! Emma is so darn cute! I don't know which she was more excited about...wearing make up or dancing on the stage. She is in a real make-up phase. I always find her sneaking into my make up and putting it on or she gets chap stick and pretends she is putting on lipstick. She looked so beautiful out on the stage. She's always a count or two behind, but she executes each move with the cutest precision! She's definitely a stand out! I was going to have Matt come get Emma after her class practiced, because they were at the beginning of the evening, and I knew I had to stay till all was said and done. But Emma wanted to stay with me....so we were there from 4:00 this afternoon until 9:30 tonight! What a long day and she was perfect the whole time. Not even one complaint! She loves watching all the girls dance and had many critiques to tell me. She had her little lunch box of snacks that she took around with her and she didn't leave my side the whole time. I would stand in the curtain and dance with my girls in case they forgot or needed help and Emma was right there in the curtain with me. I think she felt special that she had a "backstage pass"! After we were done with everything we stopped and got ice cream on the way home. (Thanks to Matt's sister Julie's cute blog that talked about she and her little girl stopping for ice cream after her recital. )She was so exhausted that I didn't think she would finish her ice cream without falling asleep. She can't wait for tomorrow because she is sure her daddy is going to give her flowers after she dances :) (Hint hint Matt!) LOL So we will report in tomorrow and let you know how the show went! We even got a babysitter for Gavin so that Matt and Luke could watch the whole show! Tune in next time for the play by play!

Emma's class is dancing to Baby Face and they are going to steal the show because they are so darn cute in their little tutu's

They even do a cute little kick line in their dance! (I don't think I could use the word cute enough!)

Class pictures. Back row from left to right: Ellie, Holland Hope, oops forgot her name, Emma, Olivia, Chapel. Bottom row from left to right: Erin, Isabella, Abby, Victoria, Arianna.

Exhausted in the dressing room after a long day!

Nothing like ice cream!


I think I can, I think I can! (She is falling asleep with every bite!)

Memorial Day

A day off???? Then we're going to the beach! We had seen online that there was a beach here in Florida that was voted the #1 beach in the U.S. So we decided to check it out. ACTUALLY we never made it to that beach, instead we ended up at a beach we know and love...Clearwater Beach! It was just so crowded on the way that we knew the #1 beach was bound to be even busier and you had to take a ferry to get to that one and you could only stay for 4 hours. But it was fine because we had a blast at Clearwater. It is a little bit longer of a drive then it is to go to the beach we usually go to (Coco Beach) because it is on the gulf side of Florida, but it is well worth it with the white sand (so it doesn't burn your feet off), it is cleaner, and the waves are smaller so Gavin could actually sit in the waves. Sure he would get knocked down every once in a while, but he was laughing his head off every time a wave hit him! There was a bounce house water slide set up there and so Luke and Emma got to go down that a few times. The highlight for Luke and Emma was when they made some friends and they were digging in the sand. They made these 3 holes that they filled with water and acted like they were their lakes that were connected by rivers. Gavin sat in the middle of the lakes and splashed and laughed as they dug around him. I have decided that sand is Heavenly Father's play dough for the kids so the adults can sit and relax at the beach. :) While they were digging Luke says to me "Mom this is so much harder then it looks!" (Drama :)

As we were getting packed up for the day to leave we noticed everyone on the beach was pointing and looking out into the water. We looked out and there was a dolphin out there that would kind of jump out of the water so you could see him pretty well! It was amazing! At first I think it freaked everyone out because his back fin looked like a shark fin and so everyone was out of the water in no time! I was excited though because I have always wanted to see a dolphin in it's natural habitat!

After leaving the beach we found a restaurant called Columbia that was overlooking the water! It was wonderful food and I ate WAY TOO MUCH! But what a wonderful day!

At one point Matt buried Gavin's legs and he couldn't budge!

Here they are in one of their homemade lakes

Here's the little girl that helped them.

This little boy on the right of the picture helped too and it was so funny because when he would bring the water to dump in he would just throw it in there and Gavin was constantly getting splashed in the face! But he never even whined about it!

When the kids went to ride the bounce house slide Gavin and I stayed back where we were camped out and he laid in our little tent and I laid out next to him. He was so relaxed as he laid there and drank his bottle and then his little feet were playing in the sand letting it go between his toes. I love baby feet!

Emma wrote her name in the sand!

Annual Fathers and Sons Campout!!!!

We had a ball at the campout. Luke had a bunch of his little buddies there and they spent the entire time chasing spiders, chopping wood with big sticks, climbing trees, digging in the dirt, playing in the fire, and swinging glowsticks on the ends of string around in the air. Does that sound like paradise for a 6 yr old kid or what?! Meanwhile, Dad sat around, shooting the breeze with the other brothers from the ward, playing with camping equipment, drinking root beer, trying to make sure the boys didn't light the campground on fire. We had so much fun. I love that Luke likes to go outdoors and camp. Definitely something that I look forward to every year, just as I did when I was a kid. It was always so fun to get out and away and spend some time with Dad and the rest of the ward. I loved to play softball with all the older guys in our ward and just have a ton of fun memories. Sometimes I still can't believe that I am actually a father now and I have a son (and soon 2 sons) old enough to go with me. Am I really 36 yrs old???? Yikes.

The night was a bit sticky, what with the Florida factor, but I had my battery-powered fan going all night and it worked like a charm in our HUGE tent. I think I got the award for the biggest tent in our ward. It gives me comfort that if we are ever homeless, we will have that tent - - did I mention that it is HUGE?

Anyway...good times had by all at the Father/Son campout. I love to see Luke having a ball. He sure is growing up.

Anyone need a babysitter? Emma's free!

Thursday I went to the temple with some of the sisters from Relief Society. We have a monthly Relief Society temple trip planned and then one of us from the Relief Society presidency stays back and babysits for any sisters that have small children. I went this time and left Gavin and Emma with my friend Jessica Martinez. She also had her 2 small children: Suzanna (12 months) and Sam (3 years), and another friend's 2 children: Alex(3 years) and Elisabeth (2 years). So yes Jessica had her hands full! Emma was her little helper. When I came back Emma was up to the table "reading" to Sam. Jessica said that all the little kids wanted to hold Suzanna and Emma was the only one that was allowed to! Suzanna is the cutest little petite baby that I can't help myself and I want to pick her up when I see her so I can't blame the kids! :) Here is a cute picture of the little babysitter Emma! :)

Wednesday Already?

I can't believe it's already Wednesday. Matt left town Monday and got back yesterday and it seems like it should only be Monday. We have been up to the same old stuff. Gavin doesn't know if he wants to be big or small....here is a picture of us at a restaurant when he grabbed my fork and started eating my salad! He acted like he was loving it. And then the next day he is thinking he is small enough to climb in to Emma's baby cradle! It does seem like he has grown up the last couple of days, he has been talking a little more. Like I handed him a sippy cup and he says, clear as day, "Thank you"! I am still LOVING his little kisses. And after he kisses me he nods his head for a minute like "Yep I know I'm a good kisser".

Emma had her best friend Marin over today and they got her hair clips out and went to town on giving each other a make-over. After they were done doing each other's hair they came and showed me and I said "Oh what pretty princesses" to which they quickly corrected me and said "NO! We're Rock Stars!" :) They sat and colored and sang all kinds of creative songs and they were cracking me up!

Luke is anxiously awaiting summer to come so he can be done with Kindergarten and he can be a big first grader. He is going through the wild imagination stage. I don't want to call it lying because that sounds so negative...let's just say he is really good at telling tall tales. In the car on the way home from school he will tell me all these crazy things he did in his class that day. All I have to say is "wow that sounds neat, I should call Mrs. Balasis and tell her what an amazing teacher she is to let you do that!" Then Luke pipes up and says "Well, actually, I was just using my imagination". :) I remember my little next door neighbor Nicholas going through the same thing. For Nicholas' 6th birthday they had rented one of those huge bounce house slides. After his birthday party the next day he told me the guy decided to let them keep the bounce house slide. :) So today Nicholas said to his mom "why does Luke keep lying?" She had to remind him that his imagination was also very wild in Kindergarten. Hopefully first grade will cure Luke of some of the falsehoods :)

I just picked up Luke's football team picture today. Too cute!

Emma's Talk in Primary

OK I kind of forgot that Emma was supposed to give a talk at church in Primary today!!! OOOPS! So we were brainstorming and coming up with her talk on the way to church and then we drew some pictures. I was proud of her and the ideas she came up with. The topic was "Heavenly Father planned for me to come to a family. I can strengthen my family now." So I was asking her what kinds of things she could do now, or what she does do now to help make us a strong family and here's what she came up with:

• We can serve each other. She said she can pick flowers for mommy, make Luke's bed for him, listen to mommy and make her own bed when asked, and don't cry.


• We can make sure we have family night each week


• Think about Jesus


• Read our scriptures and say our family prayers each night. Luke and Emma are our prayer and scripture patrol. If mommy and daddy try to put them to bed without doing it then they are supposed to stop us and demand that we have scriptures and prayers! :)


• Go to church each week (AND not complain about going!)

Here are her pictures...she did a great job and I was very proud of her!

This is a picture of her being kind to everyone (ok so it's a little crumpled...I threw it away before deciding to put it on the blog. SHHHHHH don't tell her it was in the garbage! :)

Here's her flower she can give mommy.

Here's Luke's bed she can make for him.
Here's her crying, she is serving mommy and daddy by NOT crying! :)

While You Were Out...

Have you ever seen the show While You Were Out? If you haven't then here's a brief overview of the show... a homeowner sneakily sends his or her spouse, parent or roommate out of town for a couple of days as While You Were Out brings in a designer and two handypersons to work around the clock to create a new look for the person's room. At the end they bring in the person for the big surprise transformation and the homeowner announces, "Look what happened While You Were Out!" WELL, my friend Amy Lopez, her daughter Kinsey's 14th birthday was this weekend. Kinsey is the one who always babysits for us and the kids LOVE her. So Amy had me come over on Friday morning about 10:30 a.m. after Kinsey had left for school. She was going to a friend's house after school and was sleeping over. We started working on her bedroom. Here is a picture of her bedroom before we started.

We were changing from bright green to yellow so to start we had to prime the walls. Then while the primer was drying we worked fast and furious on all kinds of projects. Amy had already sewn some of the pillows, had found the most beautiful bedspread and curtains at a garage sale, and then we painted accessories. Then back to the room to paint the yell0w on most of the walls and then white on one wall as a base for our yellow and white stripes. While the white was drying we were putting up the curtain rod and doing all the other odds and ends. Then we striped the wall and we couldn't wait to put it all together! In fact I'm sure we could have left it to dry till morning, but I couldn't get myself to leave until I saw a few accessories in there. After we got a few accessories in there then we couldn't wait to see the painting tape removed, as soon as we removed the tape then we wanted to see the bedding in there. So one thing led to another and the room was almost all put together by the time I left at 2:30 a.m.!!!!! Amy just had to hang the pictures on the walls! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fun! Amy even took footage and we acted like it was an episode of While You Were Out!

I forgot to mention one of the funniest things that happened. We were juggling kids all day until our husbands got home to rescue them from the craziness. Everything was going pretty smooth. Amy's daughter Kennedy and Emma helped with our 2 babies, and after Luke and Carver got home from school they just entertained themselves. We thought they were staying out of trouble UNTIL we were downstairs working on some painting projects of accessories in the garage. We heard Luke and Carver's little voices yelling to Carver's friend from the upstairs bedroom window, Kinsey's upstairs bedroom where trays of white primer were laying around!!!!! We didn't think anything of it until I went up a few minutes later to start painting the yellow on the walls. I walk in to find a little spot of white on the carpet. I was about to go tell the boys not to come in the room anymore because they must have stepped in the primer and then tracked it onto the carpet...little did I know it was much worse then just stepping on some of the primer. They had decided that they wanted to help paint and so they grabbed a roller and rolled the primer on the top of Kinsey's wood dresser!!!!!!! And then they did a few rolls right across the screen on the screen window!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I panicked! I ran to Carver's room and immediately asked if they had done it. Luke quickly fessed up! He has been lying so much lately and we have really been after him and so he knew it would just be better to get it out on the table right then and there! I was proud of him for the honesty but LIVID that he had caused such mischief! Luckily we scrubbed the top of the dresser with baby wipes and so it really wasn't noticeable. As for the screen...very noticeable! We're lucky they didn't do more damage! They were punished by having to clean up all the toys that had been drug out all day as we were frantically trying to keep babies and kids entertained. :) Pretty funny! :) I was so shocked and I was trying so fervently to get it clean that I didn't think to stop and take a picture of the damage.

Kinsey came home Saturday afternoon and I ran over there for the "reveal". She was so surprised and excited! It turned out so dang cute! I got home and my house seemed so blah and it made me want to do something fun to my house! :) Except for one thing...I don't have any energy to do something so ambitious! It will have to wait until I get my second wind! (which could take months lol)