Dance, water, dad, & purple

Sarah had her ballet recital Saturday. She was a village maiden in "Sleeping Beauty". She did a great job! She took ballet & jazz this year (at two different dance schools) & has really progressed.

Mitchell loves water. I turned him loose with the hose and he kept squirting himself on the head. He would flinch a bit then do it again.

Father's Day! We got him a few books & chocolate. We were joking that he should put a card on his new bike & just sign it to himself from all the kids.
Mason was able to get his purple belt from his Karate Kamp last week. He's excited be a purple belt because now he gets to move up to the next class. He also got a hand target to practice punching at home. Great.

Summer so far

School ended with a productive 8-9:30 am day on June 3. Summer is here, now what?!?

Sarah & Mason both picked out their last day of school finery.


Mason had two different friends over during the course of the day, so did Sarah & Emma. It was crazy but fun!

Mason & Andrew were trying to make a mud pit for his monster truck to drive through. Mitchell was in on the action. He was covered in mud so Mason squirted him off. They day was not that warm but Mitchell did not mind a bit.

Mason had belt promotion that night. His cousin Jonah also takes karate.
That night Sarah & Mason went swimming for the karate swim party. We were there until 11. It was a great way to start summer.

The next day they did not know what to do with themselves. Great. We went to the rec center pool.

A few days later on Monday I braved Seven Peaks water park with all four kids by myself. It worked out fine. We'd only planned to stay for a few hours. The weather turned bad around the time I'd wanted to leave so it made for an easy out without anyone complaining.
On Wednesday we headed to Lagoon with my side of the family. It started out great. Not too hot & the lines were not too bad.
Mitchell spent the day in his stroller (here he is digging for gold).
Some of our crowd on Colosus.
Sarah's not a roller coaster fan so she took Emma & Ava on the Music Express. They were funny to watch.

By dinner time Mitchell was wanting out of his stroller.
Emma was a much better bumper car driver this year.

We had dinner as a storm rolled in & did not want to roll out. It was cold & windy & pouring rain. Mitchell did not mind because he was finally out of his stroller.
We were all soaked by the time we got to our car.

The day after Lagoon Todd took Mason to the sand dunes for a day of ATV riding.
Sarah got Emma all dressed up.
Sarah had a Jazz recital on Saturday. She performed in two numbers & did great.
Her friend Kaitlyn was in a different jazz class.
Sarah & Allie goofing off after Sarah's recital.

That was the first week of summer. Pretty busy I'd say. My kids would say otherwise since as soon as we had a down moment they'd ask what they could do.

This week Mason had Karate Kamp each day from 9-1. He loved it.

We braved swimming at the rec center with some friends on Tuesday. I can handle them all as long as Mitchell & Emma are wearing life jackets!
This was Mitchell before swimming, all worn out!

On Wednesday we left the house at 7:45 am to get Sarah to her ballet dress rehearsal in Provo. Then we head back to AF to get Mason to karate kamp, then back to Provo to get Sarah. Then later back again to get Mason. It was crazy!

Today Mason was going to test to get his purple belt in karate. That was part of karate kamp. Instead he has the stomach flu, so we spent the day at home.

Sarah was ticked about Mason being sick because she was going to have Mary Jane sleep over tonight then go to her ballet recital tomorrow. No such luck.

I'm just hoping nobody else gets sick & that we can keep having a fun & busy summer!

May in a nutshell

It has been WAY too long since I've blogged. May just seemed to fly by. These first few pictures are from April which shows how really out of it I've been!

Sarah got a butterfly tent for Christmas. We sent away for the caterpillars in March. The butterflies were ready to be release in April, but the weather did not want to cooperate. Finally we had a somewhat warm day & set them free.
Emma decided her build-a-bear needed to ride a wiggle racer too.
Mitchell has a knack for finding water. Water in dirt is even more attractive!
We bought a bubble jungle gym. As soon as I got it put together, Sarah covered it with blankets to make a fort.
We went swimming with our cousins. Mitchell was a little nervous at first then LOVED it. I had forgotten his cover-up, so I put Emma's on him to come home (these pictures are backwards). We all called him Mitchelle. He does not make a very cute girl!

Mason made this plate for me for Mother's Day. He was so excited the day he brought it home from school he wanted me to open it then. I waited.
We spent a nice afternoon at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country.


Mitchell eating cookies & cream ice cream. What a mess.
We got passes to Trafalga & Seven Peaks. Mason & Sarah tried the rock wall. We are awaiting nice weather to go to Seven Peaks.

Mason is in Monster Truck mode. This is his freestyle track for his trucks.

Sarah had a class opera. She was Little Red Running shorts.
Emma sat with the big kids to watch the opera after Sarah's. She felt pretty big.
Mason had a piano recital. He did great! He's only been taking lessons since February.
Todd & I went to the U2 Concert. We'd bought our tickets over a year ago. It was a fun night!

Todd's decided to take up biking. I got home from picking Sarah up from piano lessons & was startled by the strange man in my house.
Sarah won 2nd place in her class spelling bee. She got out on the word optimism. She'd known that word at home & was ticked to get out on it!
Todd & I saw Les Mis the night after the U2 Concert. We had fun both evenings!
Mitchell discovered a box of packing peanuts. What a mess!
The school had a dance festival. Here is Mason walking with some of his friends to the field. His song was It's a Small World. I could not think of how to dress him so he wore his Alaska shirt.

Emma watching the dance festival. She could not see much though since she positioned her chair behind the stroller.
Sarah's class did a hula dance.
Mitchell & Emma were ready for the dance festival to end. Good thing it was not too long!
Todd took Sarah, Mason & Emma to Capitol Reef with his family for Memorial Day. Neither one of us had it in us to take Mitchell on a campout right now, so I stayed home with him. It was a great weekend for all of us!!!
I went to lunch with some lovely ladies in my family while Mitchell stayed home with a babysitter. Mitchell & I put flowers on my grandparents' & brother's graves & had a nice dinner at my parents' house. On Memorial Day my family came for a backyard dinner that ended up being in my kitchen. Todd & company were a bit late since they spent 3 hours at a gas station during a major 100 mile long power outage waiting to be able to pump some diesel. Finally someone with a broken down truck being towed came & sold him some diesel from the tank. They were all happy to get home!