Our Tiny Dancer

Chloe has always LOVED to dance and thankfully inherited her dad's sense of rhythm (anyone who has seen me try to dance knows why this is such a blessing!). I have been waiting and waiting until she was old enough to start a formal dance class. When she turned 2, I started to research dance studios in the area and settled on a cute studio not far from our home. I signed her up for the 1 hour per week class because the studio time was split up between tap, ballet and tumbling. I thought it would be a good introduction to different dance types and would give her the chance to see if any or all of them would interest her.

I took her out to buy leotards and tights. I took her to a cute dance supply store to get fitted for ballet and tap shoes. I even practiced ballet positions with her using our stair railing as a ballet bar. She was excited. I was excited (I was REALLY excited!). She loves dressing up like princesses on a daily basis, so you can imagine how thrilled she was to put on a leotard and tutu.

We drove to the studio on the first day of class and everything unravelled. Her teacher is SO NICE. Oh my goodness. Crazy nice. She has a sweet little voice and everything. The classroom is fully enclosed with windows for parent observation so I thought that as long as she could see me, she would be okay.

I kissed Chloe and gave her a little push into the room and began watching from the window. She lasted for about 4 minutes and then ran out of the door and came to me. She gave me a hug and then I sent her back in. Another few minutes passed and then she was out the door again. This continued for the entire hour.

Okay. First week of class. Things have got to get better, right? Well, today was lesson #4. Jon came to watch this time. As soon as she saw her daddy, she was ready to rip off the ballet slippers and hang out with him. She cried. He rolled his eyes and looked at me as to say, "Why are we paying for this???" Luckily, he had an appointment and had to leave halfway through the hour. She did finish up her lesson pretty strong, but I am definitely the mom who spends the entire hour apologizing to the teacher and other parents. Hopefully it gets better.

In other news, Beckham began feeding himself today! He is 14 months old and has had NO interest in feeding himself. He definitely has in interest in food, but wants someone else to do the feeding. This probably doesn't seem like a big chore, but because his love for food is beyond that of a normal child, his feedings last FOREVER! He not only eats a lot food, he also likes to take his time tasting the food. Savoring the food. Being "one" with the food. Between bites he even looks as if he is clearing his pallet. It is pretty funny. Anyway, you can imagine my excitement today when he grabbed the spoon during breakfast. Yay! This may free up an hour at breakfast, lunch and dinner!!!

My New Favorite Store

Last month my Mom and I decided to take a little road trip with the kids to St. George, Utah. We wanted to get out of the heat and go to the Tuacahn Theater to see Les Miserables (which, by the way, was INCREDIBLE!!!). We had also heard about a new store called Tai Pan (www.taipantrading.com) that has a few stores open in cities around Utah. We had heard so much hype about how great the store was and how wonderful the prices were, that we added it to our agenda. We hired my sweet cousins to come over to watch the kids so that we could really take in the store and all of its majesty.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! It was everything we expected it to be...and more! I could have stayed there for days and still not have felt like I had seen everything. It sounds silly, but I was exhausted after our 4 hour stint! The products are a mix between Cost Plus and Pottery Barn but the prices are more comparable to Ikea. They have beautiful frames and accessories and dishes and lighting and, and, and! I already have Beckham's toddler room all picked out and it is going to be fully accessorized by this store!

We are probably going to be moving and so I didn't want to get very many things because I can't really visualize where I would put it all, but I did purchase a wall rod. It is a decorative rod that holds pictures. I have been trying to figure out what to do with my family picture wall, and this rod, I think, is the answer! My mom came over and helped me put it up last night. I went through all of the pictures of the kids over the past 2 1/2 years and picked some of my favorites for my new wall. Here are a few of my favorites and why I picked them:

Her sweet expression

Her eyes

Her love for him

His cheeks

His eyes

His smile

Her adoration

Her dress (one of my favorites!)

His wrinkles
(he only weighed 5 lbs., 12 oz. at birth and his skin literally hung off of his bones!)



Road trip anyone???

Happy, Happy Birthday!!!

Dad with all of his girls. We love you!


We had such a fun day yesterday! To Chloe's delight (she LOVES birthdays!), we had 2 birthday parties to attend. After church, we went to my parent's house to celebrate my Dad's birthday. It was actually on August 16, but because they were still on vacation, we celebrated it a little bit late. I made a devil's food cake with a new recipe that I received from an Enrichment Activity. My mom made a steak dinner and we just hung out. Elizabeth, Naomi and Chloe were so excited to see each other. They had been apart for over a week (gasp!)...I don't know how we ever survived when my family lived in Idaho, but we are all glad that they came back! Thank you, Dad, for everything that you do for me and my little family. You are such a man of service and we have been the recipients MANY times. The other day Chloe's little princess chair broke and her immediate response was, "Mom, we need to take this to Grandpa so he can fix it!" She didn't even bother to have her Daddy fix it. She knows better! We love you and hope you had a wonderful day!

Beckham sneeking a taste!

After my Dad's birthday party, we drove to Jon's brother's house to celebrate Grace's 2nd birthday! My sister-in-law, Meghan, made a very yummy cake and Chloe was in heaven with Grace's new toys! Chloe and Gracie are only about 6 months apart in age. When Gracie was first born, the age gap seemed big but now that they are toddlers, the gap has pretty much closed. They love playing together...most of the time! Unless, of course, they both want the same toy! Gracie is such a cute little girl. She loves monkeys (specifically Curious George), Dora and Thomas the Train and we love her very much! Have fun at Disneyland Miss Grace!

Grace is so cute and has the most infectious smile...

Grace hanging out on the boat with her daddy's glasses

Our Happy Friday!!!

Yesterday was a happy Friday. We had the carpets cleaned in the morning (hallelujah!) and then when Jon got home from work in the afternoon, we headed out to the lake.

Our carpets were looking so bad...so bad, in fact, that we started looking at the spots like we look at clouds. We tried to find new shapes with every new spill. It was so dirty that I told people to keep their shoes on in the house instead of taking them off at the door because I was uncertain as to what they would step on. Gross, I know. Now everything is clean and so be prepared to remove your shoes if you come over!

No, that is not the face of Elvis...it is Chloe's dirty hand print that has been hanging out on our stairs for the past 3 months (or longer)...cute but embarrassing!

The lake was just okay. The weather wasn't that great, but Uncle Bobby (Jon's brother) was having major lake withdrawals! The kids and I just swam and the guys rode until it was dark. Chris Larsen came too and showed off his wakeboarding skills from his latest trip to Montana. Bobby landed a 360 (wakeboard terminology!...I am still learning) and Jon landed a couple of barrel rolls (again, another new word for me!).

Chris catching some air!

"Mom, I have crazy hair!" (Chloe's response to this picture)

Beckham taking notes while the guys wakeboard

Bobby being tricky!

Mom...Let's Talk!

I spent a good portion of the day today trying to figure out this blogging thing. I really wanted to get the pictures up from our trip last week and I was determined to do it. To accomplish this, however, I let alot of things go...the housework, the kid's bath and my hair. Above all, however, I missed time with my kids. When I finished posting this afternoon, I turned around to find Chloe sitting on a pile of pillows from my bed along with a few of her dolls. I caught her attention and she said, "Mom, you want to ride on my boat?" I told her that I would love to and I pulled up a pillow next to her on the floor. She looked at me and said, "Mom, you all done wif da computer?" I told her I was. She got a big smile on her face and said, "Mom, let's talk!" I started to laugh and asked her what she wanted to talk about. "Ummm...let's talk 'bout Jesus and then twinkle twinkle star and then popcorn popping!" Does it get any cuter than that??? And to think, I almost missed our conversation about Jesus, twinkle twinkle star and popcorn popping. I am so glad that I didn't.

Even More Good Times...

After the family reunion, we traveled 2 hours to Lake Powell. Jon is usually a very laid back person, but not the morning of our departure. He was up at dawn. Packed up all of our camping gear, food and treasures from the reunion and was ready to hit the road. You would have thought that he was a little kid going to Disneyland. We left as soon as we could and made it to Page, Arizona in record time. We did some grocery shopping and laundry and tried to find a hotel for the night. Our spontaneity for finding a hotel when we got there backfired because there was not a vacancy to be found. We had some dinner at the marina and then dropped the boat and headed towards camp. Our good family friends, the Websters, found the perfect spot and so we followed them to camp.

Beckham trying out Daddy's surfboard on land...



Beckham trying out Daddy's surfboard on water...he actually seemed to like it!



My mom reading the new Twilight series novel, "Breaking Dawn." She was not alone, however. There were no less than 10 copies of this book being read by almost every woman in our party! (minus Lindsey and Me!!!)


My "little" brother, Jason...his wife, Lindsey...and my CUTE niece Sadie!

We set up camp and "bathed" in the lake...we had to get the campfire and dirt off of our bodies. It's amazing what a little bit of shampoo and soap can do to make you feel clean even though you are bathing in a lake! We slept (again, all 4 of us on a blowup mattress...) and then Jon made sure we were up and ready to go bright and early. We hit the water while it was still calm. It was so beautiful. The kids loved it! The Websters picked up the house boat that morning and as soon as they came back to camp, we helped load in all of our supplies. It was nice to have a place to go where we could escape the sun. Amongst other things, it was well equipped with air conditioning, a kitchen and 2 bathrooms!

As much as I make fun of him for being so proud of himself, the fact is, he deserves to be proud of himself. He has gotten really good at wakeboarding and surfing. I am always amazed at how coordinated he is and how high he can get. No fear...(and yes, he is wearing 1974 bootie shorts!)

Elizabeth really surprised everyone when she asked to surf. Jon decided to ride tandem with her and I think she really liked it!

We wakeboarded and surfed that first day, but the next day wasn't as great. Jon and I and the kids went out early in the morning and while Jon was wakeboarding, the boat started to make a beeping noise. I stopped the boat and Jon climbed back in. The battery was completely dead. Not only that, but we were in the middle of the lake and not very close to land. Jon decided to "Michael Phelps" it back to land to get someone to tow us back. Prior to this trip, we had charged the batteries and even replaced one. We were pretty frustrated.

Beckham didn't love the boat as much as he just loved playing in the sand and water. Lots of buckets, shovels and trucks...things that are right up his ally for entertainment!

Chloe and me having some ice cream at the marina. The silver lining to our battery problems!!!

Chloé and Naomi taking a break. Good thing they were wearing those life jackets...they are perfect head rests!

Chloé showing me her seashell treasure!

That afternoon, we went to the marina and the garage fixed the problem. My dad wasn't able to come to the lake with us, and although we missed his company, we REALLY missed his Macgyver-ness (not a real word, but describes him perfectly...he can fix ANYTHING!). And thanks, Mom, for organizing everything and watching the grandkids so that we could ride more! It was so fun to hang out and play with the kids for the week and spend some time with my family. You can imagine how sad the drive home was...

Good Times...

We spent last weekend at Duck Creek for our family reunion on my mom's side of the family. It was fun seeing everyone and fun camping with our little family for the first time. We bought a queen size blowup mattress (that is roughing it for me!) and all 4 of us slept on it. We should have rented an RV. I don't know that any of us really slept. My mom and I put the reunion together and decided to do a "bug" theme. My uncle brought a truckload of sand and we buried coins and foam bugs in it. The kids had a fun time digging for all of the treasure! The kid's craft was to glue all of the bugs that they found in the sand onto popsicle stick picture frames. We also had a butterfly pinata and made dirt cups. We played some water relay games with the adults. My grandpa who is in his mid-70's even joined in! Good times...

Lately, Beckham LOVES anything that resembles a stick. He usually walks
around our house with our broom. This tool was no exception. He
kept trying to pick it up but it was obviously too heavy. It occupied
his time, though, for about 1/2 hour! Persistent...

Chloé having her turn at the pinata. Her aunt Elizabeth was anxious to help her
crack it open!

Beckham was OBSESSED with this pink princess chair. There were other kid chairs, but
he always seemed to gravitate towards this one...

Uncle Kyle took Chloé fishing for the first time. I love the expression on her face in this
picture. She really thought that she caught something...and she did...
a pile of muck from the bottom of the lake!

The Real Reason...

For the past 6 months or so, Jon has been urging me to blog. When I asked him why, his responses have included because he wanted to journal our family and our kids and because it would be fun to connect with friends. Sure. Good reasons, right? Well, it wasn't until we got back from our recent trip to Lake Powell last week that he really started pushing the blogging. So, I started going through pictures that I wanted to put on the "family" blog and he started to chime in about which pictures he preferred. This is the one (for now) that he wanted to be posted. Hmmm...interesting. No kids. No wife. Just Jon in all of his glory. Enjoy!