Time To Dance!!!!

Yesterday was the day!  Yes, the competition season for Aubrey had begun.  Yesterday was the Spotlight Dance Cup.  I went in at 4:30 am to wake Aubrey up and all she could say is, "Pixie sticks, get me my pixie sticks!"  (It is a reference to Toddlers and Tiaras)  All I could say was, get up!  At least we didn't have to curl her hair!  (I think for the next competition, for a joke, I am going to get the team pixie sticks!  They will love it!)  So we got her ready, make-up and all and headed to Cashmen.  Poor Ian, we had to take him to the competition because Austin had lifeguard certification all day.  We got to Cashmen and were ready to sit through 65 dance numbers!  It was going to be a long day! 

After the girls got into their dressing rooms they did their last minute touch up of their make-up and costumes and then headed out to meet one of their teachers for some last minute run throughs.  The night before, they had an emergency rehearsal to clean some things up.  Mr. Aaron, their tap teacher, did a wonderful job helping them out and building up their confidence.  He is perfect for these girls!  At the end of the rehearsal, they all took their imaginary "chill pill" that Mr. Aaron gave them.  He told them they were ready, and they were!  This is a picture of some of the team.  The red costumes are tap and some of these girls don't dance tap with them, they are in their jazz costumes.

They ran through some of the routines, with Miss Stephanie!  She is great!  The girls love her.

 This is the girls waiting backstage to dance their jazz number.  Miss Stephanie is their jazz teacher!  They were so excited!

This is a picture of some of their girls waiting for the awards to begin.  The girls did great!  Don is so funny at these competitions.  As always he thinks Aubrey does wonderful and any her dance studio does is the best!  Isn't that what Dads are suppose to think?  He sits through all these dances!  What an awesome Dad!  Well Aubrey's studio did awesome!  Hello, they won a ton of categories.  The highest rating is diamond, and the second is ruby.  Aubrey's tap earned a ruby, and her jazz earned a diamond.  In the top ten for their category, their jazz came in third, and their tap came in ninth!  Pretty good.  Now, they go back and make improvements for the next competition!  It's only up from here!



New Beginnings

Tonight we had New Beginnings.  This is when the Young Women organization of my church welcomes the new girls coming into the organization.  They are the girls who are turning twelve.  Last year Aubrey was welcomed in.  This is also a time when the Young Women Personal Progress Program is explained.  It is a nice night.  Every year there is a couple of musical numbers performed by the girls.  Unfortunately, Aubrey does not like to sing, so she does not enjoy these musical numbers.  This year her leaders asked her to play the viola.  She was more than willing to do this.  She was up her ally, and the girls sounded great.  It was a very nice night.  The quote of the night came from Don who had the opportunity to speak.  It had to do with dumb cows!  Classic!

I love that Aubrey came right from dance.  Cute outfit.  The girls were dressed like bees because the group of girls ages 12-13 are called beehives!



Better Late Than Never!

I have two kids who have their birthday in December.  Austin is born in the beginning of December and Ian at the end of December.  When we had Ian, everyone told us how horrible it would be to have a baby so close to Christmas.  Like, we wouldn't remember his birthday, we would combine his gifts with his Christmas gifts and so on!  (Actually, Ian was due in January but I was induced early.  Those of you who know his birth story, know it was a good thing he was born when he was!)  Well, Don and I decided then and there that we would always make sure he felt like his birthday was special.  On his birthday we do celebrate as a family, but then a couple of months later we celebrate with his friends.  So today, we celebrated Ian's birthday with his friends!  Don took a couple of his friends to Laser Quest!  Oh yeah, the boys went to shoot each other with lasers!  They just loved it.  Then they came back to the house to have homemade brownies, ice cream, and homemade hot fudge!  Ian loved it.

Here are his friends.  Poor Ike.  He had an accident this weekend and had six stitches in his chin! 

Austin and a couple of his friends came along too!



Baking With Ian!

Tonight we had to have family home evening because tomorrow Austin has his swimming test for his life guard job that he wants this summer.  Every week the kids take turns baking something for dessert.  I use this opportunity to teach them how to follow a recipe and cook.  Tonight Ian wanted to make the famous no-bake chocolate cheesecake.  It has been a while since we made this.  I had to laugh while I cooked this with Ian.  He was covered in chocolate.  Hmmmmm, I wonder why?  Maybe this is why they love to bake with me!

Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort!

I have to take a college class on Nevada History to keep my license to substitute teach.  It is great because I take this class on-line.  One of the requirements for this class is to take a field trip.  I can take a virtual field trip or actually go to an historical site in Las Vegas.  Yes, only in Vegas can you go and take a field trip to a casino and it counts as visiting a historical site!  Really????  Well, Ian also had to take a field trip to a historical site for his Bear badge in cub scouts.  So, as a family we decided to go and visit The Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort.  We have only been here once before.  Yes, this is where Las Vegas began!!!!  It was interesting this time around because I actually studied all about the fort and was able to tell Ian a little more about it.  It was a fun little trip for us, and both Ian and I finished up some things we had to do!

Here is some more info about the Mormon Fort!

The Old Mormon Fort shows how the town of Las Vegas came into existence through faith, hope, determination and the ability to overcome adversity.

It's hard to imagine now, but Las Vegas, Spanish for The Meadows, once was an oasis in the desert, with free-flowing water and an abundance of lush grass as far as the eye could see. It became a popular resting point for the native Paiute, traders, miners and others passing through the region.
In 1855, William Bringhurst led a group of 29 Mormon missionaries from Utah to the Las Vegas Valley. The missionaries built a 150-square-foot adobe fort near a creek and used flood irrigation to water their crops, a process still used at the park.
However, because of tensions rising between leaders of the small Mormon community, the summer heat and difficulty growing crops, the missionaries returned to Utah in 1857, abandoning the fort.
Over the next 50 years, ownership of the fort would pass from local miner Octavius D. Gass in 1865 to ranchers Archibald and Helen Stewart in 1881 and eventually to San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad in 1902. In 1929, the Bureau of Reclamation used the fort's ranch house as an office for the construction of the Hoover Dam.
The ranch house, the oldest building in Nevada, contains informative exhibits tracing the area's history, including a collection of photographs of the fort spanning from 1934 to 1992. The ranch house also contains a pump organ, spinning wheel and butter churner, all used by former inhabitants. Other artifacts found at the fort include an apple corer, cake griddle, rug beater and bullet mold. A replica of the first flag flown over Vegas is displayed along one wall, complete with 19 stars and 13 stripes.
Another exhibit depicts the period when the U.S. Army occupied the Southern Nevada fort (1867 to 1869). Although their accomodations were far from luxurious, they did have a roof over their heads, fresh vegetables, meat and clean water. A reconstruction of the soldiers' living quarters houses a bed consisting of a straw mattress and blanket, lanterns, ammunition, a table and chairs.
At the center of the fort lies an 1850s freight wagon, similar to those once used to carry supplies and materials to and from the fort. The creek has long since dried up, but a re-creation of it now travels the edge of the property near the ranch house, giving visitors a unique glimpse into the past. Several picnic tables scattered throughout the fort provide the perfect place for an afternoon snack.
The "Garden in the Desert" features the same crops as those grown by both the settlers and the natives of the region. They include Asian pears, Hopi blue corn, Babcock peaches, beets, spaghetti squash, onions, carrots and turnips.
A small gift shop located in the Visitors Center offers a variety of souvenirs, from T-shirts to seed packets for plants found at the historic state park. There also are a number of helpful brochures on the Old Mormon Fort and related history.

Fun With The Morph Suit!

Austin went to the CHS girl's basketball game last night.  Of course he had to wear his morph suit in his school colors.  It was a huge hit, once again!  So many people wanted pictures with him!  Crazy, I know.  So many people ask me about this morph suit.  Then the next question is......Where do I get one?  What can I say?  Austin definitely has school spirit!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Don and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Saturday night.  Oh we thought we were being smart, celebrating a couple of days before Valentine's Day.  Let me tell you, we were wrong.  So much was going on in Vegas this weekend, the strip was crazy.  I couldn't believe that Don wanted to go out Saturday night.  He had been watching Rugby all day, and then he had to go to the World Wide Training in the evening.  Then he came come and said that he wanted to go out.  I told him we didn't need to, I knew he had been busy all week, but he wanted to go out.  So off we went to one of my favorite restaurants, Maggianos.  It was so good.  It was very nice to go out with him to celebrate the holiday.  It was just nice to be alone and talk.

On Valentine's day the kids got their Valentines from me and Don.  They got some more chocolate!  They were excited about that.  I think everyone was very tired today!  It was a long day.  At night, Don made some crepes for us!  It was a fun night.  Don even got some Belgium chocolate.  He was a happy boy!



Rugby!

Austin loves Rugby.  He loves to play it too.  Just by chance there was a huge international tournament in Vegas today, The World Sevens.  Austin was so excited.  Austin teaches guitar, so he saved his money and got his tickets.  He wanted one of his friends to go with him, but tonight was a dance, so what could he do?  Don had some training at church today, but he gave up going to his meetings so he could go with Austin to see this tournament.  Austin was excited.  Austin had a blast.  He said all of the fans were insane and dressed in crazy costumes.  He even took pictures of the crazy Canadians next to him.  (He is going to send them to our friend Scott.)  You can see them behind him in the pictures.  The best part of the day was when Austin got to see his favorite team, The Wallabies (Australia), play!  Check out his shirt.  It was a great day for Don and Austin to spend time together.  Now I need to find Austin a recreational league for him to play on!

Austin's favorite team

Cooking Club Starts Again!

We took a year off from cooking club, but the girls missed it.  So this year we started it up again.  Aubrey wanted us to kick it off with learning how to make cake pops.  It might not have been too good to start with this, because it takes a lot of time.  We kind of messed up on a few things, but as I studied the recipe again, I can see where we made mistakes.  These cake pops have been a learning experience for us all!  Now I am really getting it.  It was fun to get the girls together, and I think they really had fun.

Oh Baby! The Box!

One thing the kids love is getting their Valentine Candy from their grandparents.  Oh we get so excited.  Candy!!!!

Ian loves his new sunglasses!  He even wore them doing his homework.

Austin was so excited to come home from track and get some much needed sugar!  I am sure his coaches will love that!

He got sunglasses too!

Look what I got today!  Oh, I am a lucky girl.