Aubrey's Photo Session

Aubrey received her Young Women's medallion at Christmas time.  She worked really hard to achieve this goal.  We have a wall in our house that has Zach and Austin's Eagle Scout pictures.  Many years ago we decided that when Aubrey earned her Young Women's medallion, we would have her picture taken and add her to that wall.  Ever since she earned her award, she has been telling me how excited she is to be added to the wall!  Well, we called our favorite photographer Marissa and set the date for the pictures! We love Marissa.  She does a wonderful job.  My kids love her, so they never complain when they have to have their pictures taken.  She always catches who they are!  Oh, she even takes some goofy ones!  Check out her work here!  She is also listed on my sidebar.  Now, I have to pick out which picture is going on the wall.  You know Don, Aubrey, and me are going to like different ones.  That always happens!  If you want to learn what Aubrey did to earn her Medallion, click here.

Blue and Gold Banquet

Ian had his Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts.  He received his first pins for Webelos.  His leaders are amazing!  They are so good at helping the boys earn their pins.  Then Don is Mr. Scout man and he does an amazing job too.  Ian is going to be earning a ton of pins at this rate! 

Time To Ask A Girl To Formal!

We knew that Formal was coming.  The problem is, Austin has a rugby game that day in St. George.  After talking to the coaches and looking at the schedule we realized that we could get Austin back in time for formal.  His girlfriend waited patiently.  I guess that's what it's like when you date a rugby player whose games are always out of town.  Anyway once we cleared it, Austin got to work.  He asked her using the rock method.  You know, "bring back the heavy rock that you can't lift if the answer is no, bring back the small one if the answer is yes".

I wonder which rock Austin wants her to bring back???

He got what he wanted.  She brought back the small yes rock!  Now he has a date to formal!

Dance Competition

This weekend was Aubrey's dance competition, Spotlight.  This year the girls were performing on Friday.  They had to be there at 3:00 p.m. so I let Aubrey stay home from school.  She basically spent the morning doing homework and projects.  During the day she proudly announced to me, "See, I can be home schooled!"  I don't think so.  One of her team members came over so I could drive her to the competition (See, the time this year messed everything up!)  and then we decided to get her ready.  This year she needed a bump in the back of her hair and a high pony.  Like really???  I can do great ballet buns, but this.  After watching lots of youtube videos and talking to people, I did it!  Yep, here she is with her Snooky hair.  Oh my! 

She did look great. Here are some of the team in their contemporary costumes.  They love these costumes.  They looked so good!

They are trying to get into  character!  You know, girl power looking tough.  Ok, I am laughing right now looking at this picture!

We had some hair confusion.  Some girls wanted to do their own thing, and well, that kind of messed things up.  I was stressing.  I did not want to try and change Aubrey's hair now.  I mean, there was so much hairspray in her hair, if you lit a match by her she would blow up!  Well, her dance teacher made the final call and I did not have to change her hair.  I was so relieved.  Well, after changing some of the girl's hair the whole room was going to blow up if someone lit a match!  I am not exaggerating!  It was insane.

The girls warmed up with their contemporary teacher. 

This is Aubrey's whole team.  Their contemporary teacher is the lady next to Aubrey in the back.  We love her.  She is so talented.  We are so lucky to have her as our teacher!  This routine didn't go too well, but it is an awesome dance!  I know they will get all the kinks worked out by the next competition! 

Then it was time for jazz.  They did awesome with this one!  I was so impressed! 

I love Aubrey's friend Taylor.  She can never take a serious picture!  Oh my, she is so funny!

Then they had tap!  They knocked this one out  of the park.  It was amazing!  The best tap number of the night I think!

The fun part is waiting for the awards. These girls are great girls.  They are so much fun!  They get along so good.  We are so lucky to be with such a fun group.

On Friday night only two teams competed from her dance studio.  The rest of the teams were on Saturday.  I guess it is because we were in the Future Gems division.  Even with just two teams, you can tell who our group is.  Still taking up the stage!

Even though we had some bumps in the road, we still did awesome.  Yes, we had a girl vomiting (She didn't even make it out to dance.), one asthma attack (She danced the whole night.), blood, hair issues, and one girl got dropped!  Even with all of that the girls won a ruby for contemporary, diamonds for jazz and tap.  They won 4th overall for jazz and 3rd overall for tap.  It was a great night!  We were so pleased with them  Aubrey got to go up and receive the award for jazz.  It was a great night.  We all celebrated at Sweet Tomatoes! 

Busy!

I was looking at my calendar today and getting the calendar for March ready.  I was blown away with how crazy it all looks.  Yes, it is busy.  It is not too bad.  Don and I work well together to get the kids where they need to be.  We also work together to make sure one of us or both of us attend all the kids activities.  At the first of the month the calendar is all organized and looking good.  By the end of the month it is a mess.  Yes, I am a total geek.  I even color code my calendar.  As I looked at the calendar today I thought to myself, this is just a moment in my life.  I have to enjoy this time, because one day I won't be driving my kids around.  I hope my calendar will not be empty, just filled with other things!  It's a crazy life, but it's my life and I love it!

New Game!

Austin is always finding new games to buy and play.  Once again, he has bought a new game.  It is called "Cash and Guns".  Now it is kind of hard for me to explain, but it is fun.  As you can tell, you have to point these foam guns at each other.  (Notice who Don is pointing to!)  The kids love this new game.  They think it is great.  I still love "Killer Bunnies".

Sadie's!

Austin went to Sadie's this weekend with his girlfriend, Marelise.  He had a wonderful time.  They didn't go to the dance.  The girls planned activities all day.  They really don't like the school dances.  Austin had a blast.  He especially loved having breakfast for dinner.  Oh yeah, that was a big plus!

(Thanks to Mrs. Lopez for taking these pictures!)

Rugby Sevens World Series, Las Vegas

After Austin played his game, Don, Austin, and Ian walked over the stadium and got ready to watch the Rugby Sevens World Series.  They have been planning this for a year.  This was Ian's first year going.  He was so excited.  He loves his South Africa jersey.  That is is favorite team.  Unfortunately, they only had men's mediums left.  He will be wearing this shirt for a while.  Austin got his Australia shirt!  That is his favorite team.

Going to this tournament is always an experience.  There are a lot of costumes and toward the end of the night, after lots of drinking, things can get a little inappropriate.  Other than that, it is a ton of fun.  Here is Australia playing Brazil.  Austin was excited for that.

Ian loved watching South Africa play Whales.  He loved watching his favorite player Cecil play! 

The guys had a great day.  We are all turning into Rugby fans!