Today was a day of miracles...

Matt's sister Julie and her husband Stanton have 4 adorable children Chloe, Lily, Brigham, and Cannon. Today was an intense day for their family, poor little Brigham was born with a heart condition called called L-TGA or Congenitally Corrected Transposition of the Great Arteries. So it's as if his heart is backwards. The way Julie describes it is that "the blood goes to the correct places, but the wrong parts are performing the labor." So he has always seemed like a normal kid, but his heart cannot continue functioning the way it does in the long term because the right ventricle isn't physiologically designed to pump against the pressure of the body. If they just lef this alone his heart would most likely fail in his early 30s which would lead to a heart transplant. They found a surgeon in Boston who was able to perform the necessary operation and we have all been fasting and praying for him! Julie has been so great to update her blog with all that is going on so we can all stay in tuned with his progress. Things went very well and we are so grateful to Heavenly Father for his tender mercy!

Meanwhile we got news that Matt's grandmother was in the hospital! Her heart stopped a couple of times and she just went through surgery to have a pace maker put in! Scary! I guess Matt's grandpa was with her and all of a sudden she yelled out to him before passing out. He grabbed her and was trying to make her come to and when he hit her chest he re-started her heart! Talk about scary. Matt was completely in a fog and emotionally drained today with all the things going on with his family. It is SOOOO hard to be so many miles away from family when trying times like this come. Thank goodness for prayer! (I probably have many details wrong...I get things 2nd and 3rd hand :)

Just call me Fronk

Wasn't that the name of the wedding decorator in Father of the Bride??? Anyway Friday night was so fun...we got to decorate for Tinae Goodell's wedding. She is a friend from the ward who has been babysitting for me all year while I've been teaching dance. The kids love her and everyone who comes over Gavin calls them Tinae :) She asked me to be in charge of decorations and I think it turned out great! She of course had all the ideas and I just helped get people together and carry out the project! Her wedding was so fun last night, Emma couldn't stop going over to Tinae and she followed her everywhere! She was front and center of the crowd every time anything was going on: cutting of the cake, dancing, she was holding Tinae's dress train for her, etc.

FUN, FUN!

Thanks MOM!

Girls camp was a success because I knew I could leave my kids behind and they were in good hands...I would have been a stress case if I had to make different plans for each day and then wonder if they were in the right place and minding their manners! It was so fun to have my mom here taking care of them and they had a blast! She got to see the kids swim lessons, their first gymnastics class, and we ate out plenty of times :)

Today after we had to take her to the airport Gavin cried in the car for about 10 minutes saying "I want to go with Grandma!" Thanks mom I LOVE YOU!

My little Shawn Johnson :)

I took Emma and Luke to try out a gymnastics class (I am thinking of letting Emma sign up for classes). Emma looked like a natural and I was amazed at the advanced things they start kids out with! They were already flipping around on the bars etc. I am excited to see how much she learns this summer!

You can't see it very well, but her straddle was so beautiful with her straight little muscle legs and very beautiful pointed toes! She's a natural!

When they kids got home they were showing off to Matt and Gavin joined in :) Too cute!

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Happy Father's Day!!!!

At church they made these cute cards...first is Emma's that someone helped her write and then Luke's (you can tell he was in a hurry) :)

Here is the tie that the kids made for Matt for him to wear to church....he got lots of compliments!

Girls Camp Success!

Girls camp was a huge success! I was a little nervous going into it because I knew having 19 girls at camp, with little or no sleep, could get a little overwhelming and that we could have a lot of girl drama...but instead they were all little angels and we had a blast! I prayed the morning we left for a few of the girls specifically and I saw my prayers answered. It was VERY hot and there were tons of bugs biting us like crazy, but our prayers were answered to that problem in a way we didn't anticipate...there were tons of FROGS that came to the pavilion! They were jumping all over the girls and making them scream, but at least we didn't have the bugs that night :) We had a blast going down the tarp made water slide, we got to go on canoes, and we had a wonderful early morning hike. We had to get up that morning at 4:30 am after going to bed at 2:00 am the previous night. I finally had to use my "relaxation technique" to get them to sleep...the girls later said I hypnotized them :) My camp name at the end of camp was the mesmerizer. We had tons of fun and made a lot of fun memories!

It was so fun to pull up in the driveway and see my little welcome poster the kids made...when I was a teenager my cute mom would make a welcome home poster for me when I got home so it was just like old times! :)

The camp theme was a superhero them and so we made each of the girls capes to wear. Our value was virtue and so our color was gold.

Day 2 of Mom in town....loving it!

Today we went to IKEA and spent 4 HOURS there!!!! It was a blast! The whole time I would say "Mom look at this..." and Gavin would say "NO IT'S NOT MOM IT'S GRANDMA!" He corrected me about a dozen or more times! It was so cute. I love having her here! Today was also Luke's first day of piano lessons and he can't stop practicing! I hope he always loves it and isn't a piano lesson dropout like me :) It is so funny because every song he plays Emma dances to it. Very funny!

My mom is in town!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have girls camp this week and so my KIND mother came in town to watch the kids while I am away! I am so grateful she did because there is so much to stress over and do to get ready that the last thing I wanted to have to do is stress over where my kids were going to be and whose house they would be destroying! So now they can be with their grandma and destroy my own house! It is such a sacrifice on my mom's part because her uncle just died and she is going to miss the funeral, my dad has to have more skin cancer procedures done, AND the worst part of all that I can't believe I did to my poor dad....she is going to be HERE on Father's Day! Am I the worst daughter in the world???? I was so focused on Girl's Camp that it didn't cross my mind that Father's Day was the day after we get back!

The kids haven't left my mom's side for a minute. I think we have worn her out day 1! Gavin just keeps pointing at her and saying "Grandma!" Like he can't believe she is really here!

Emma's Dance

OK this is not the greatest video (Matt just had our little camera instead of our video camera) so bear with the shaky, blury, videography :) And at one point he starts to video the girl next to Emma instead of Emma (it was hard to see because they both have short hair). Emma is the last girl on the right.

Enjoy!

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Emma's Dance Recital 2009

Tonight was Emma's dance recital and she was just as cute as ever! This was a big year for her because once you have been dancing with D&L Dance for 3 years then you get a trophy at the recital. That's all that Emma could think about and was ready for her trophy the minute we got there. Her number was Natalie Coles "Smile" and it was so precious! There's nothing cuter then a little girl in a pink tu-tu :)

Last night we had rehearsal and then today was the performance. Yesterday I had arranged a ride for Emma so she would only have to stay for her portion instead of having to wait for me (we got there at 3:00 and I had to stay until about 9:00pm). But Emma insisted on staying with me and she was GREAT the whole night! She perched herself on a chair backstage and watched all the numbers while she ate her little packed lunch. Then today she was backstage in the dressing room loving all the attention that the girls in my classes were giving her. It has been so fun to be in this together.

This picture is a little hard to pick her out but she is the second to last on the right side of the stage proudly holding her trophy.

Our fan club :)

Emma was so pleased she got flowers and a trophy :)

Emma and me after the show...I don't know what is going on with my shiny forehead! :)

This is Emma and her best friend Marin

This is Emma just after we got in the car...she was EXHAUSTED! What a trooper!

Good boy Emma

Today I took Luke and Emma in for their 6 month dentist appointment. Gavin was my little side kick as we sat and watched the kids in their chair. After a few minutes of watching Emma Gavin started giving her moral support by saying "You're being a good boy Emma!" What a cute little brother! :)

You never know...

Today Luke had his friend Grant Johansen come over to play and they started having foot races with our next door neighbor Nicholas. It started out that Luke and Grant were racing and Nicholas was the one saying "On your mark, get set, Go!" Then Grant got tired and wanted Luke to race Nicholas. Luke said he didn't want to because he can't beat Nicholas. Grant said "You never know..." and I thought how cute that he was being upbeat and positive and a good support for Luke. And then he went on to say "...he could trip or something". I cracked up...sometimes the things kids say just make me laugh...cute!

1st Grade Summer Fun Party

Today was Luke's first grade end of the year party and it turned out to be really fun. We had 10 stations where they decorated visors, played a parachute game, did the limbo, a bean bag toss, hula hoops, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, an obstacle course, ate popsicles, and made fruit kabobs and ate them. And then we had hot dogs for lunch. Each class had a class t-shirt and then after they got to sign the back of each other's shirt. I always love to go and help with the parties and see Luke interact with his friends and classmates. His teacher is such a doll and really looks out for them and wants them to have a good time. It is so nice to know that we get her again next year! :) I'm wiped out from the day and I'm sure Luke will be hard to get up in the morning. Can't believe tomorrow is the last day...yea summer is HERE!