NYC!

We started a tradition that we copied from our friends. Some people may think we are nuts, but that's OK.  We decided to take each child, when they turn fourteen, on a weekend trip of their choice. So, when Katie's birthday loomed near, she chose the Big Apple.  She also wanted to invite her grandparents along for the ride!  We were all so excited to go! 

Our first adventure took us to Brooklyn on the Subway.  Here's Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge once we got there.

We ate at Grimaldi's for lunch. Pizza was great, and the company was even greater.  We sat by and talked to some great New Yorkers.  They were so funny!

Next, we ate yummy ice cream at Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and started to make our way back to the city across the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge.  It was so cool!

We stopped by Grand Central Station.  It was neat.  I've always described my house as Grand Central Station when my kids come home from school and all of their friends show up, and now that I've seen the real place, my description of home is pretty accurate!

Then, we finally caught up with Grandma and Grandpa and took a bus tour of the city.  It was nice to sit and see a lot of this amazing city!

The next day we went down to Battery Park to see Lady Liberty and Ellis Island.  Both were so great!  We also met up with our friends from home!

Our next stop took us on a hunt to find the best Lobster Roll in NYC.  I haven't tried all of them to know, but the ones we ate were SO GOOD!!! I ate mine so fast, that I didn't get a picture.  It started to rain pretty hard at this point, so Grandma and Grandpa went to the hotel, our friends went shopping, and Katie, Ryan and I went to the WTC museum.  It was so moving and I'm so glad that Katie could see it.  That night, we went out to a fancy dinner with Grandma and Grandpa to celebrate Katie's birthday trip. The three of us then went to Top of the Rock to see the city at night.  Our pictures didn't turn out great, but it was neat to see this amazing city from up above all lit up.

The next day we went up again, this time to the top of the Empire State Building.  Again, what a beautiful city!!  It was so neat to experience that with the people I love!

Afterwards, we shopped and shopped and shopped at the historic Macy's and along 5th Avenue.  We wore Grandma and Grandpa right out, so we went to Central Park and they went to chill.  Central Park was great!  Perfect weather and people watching!  The ice cream was good, too.

Then it was time to get ready for Broadway!!  Katie chose to see the musical Phantom of the Opera. It was a great show in a great theater!

So, that's our trip to the Big Apple in a nutshell.  We had a blast, and I'm glad we started this tradition with our kids. Braiden is already brainstorming over where he wants to go!

Life Changing News!!!

May I please have your attention for this extremely important announcement:

My wonderfully awesome and amazingly brilliant (did I also mention perfectly gorgeous?) daughter Katie has followed in my footsteps and launched her very own blog!! TA-DA!!!! I told you it was extremely important!!

You can find her over at Katie's Korner and I know you will enjoy reading it as much as I do. Please "follow" her and join in the fun.

You are very welcome!!!

A Few Of My Greatest Joys

These pictures were taken at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando.  I was walking past those beautiful doors and I knew I had to get some pictures.  These are some of the greatest joys in my life.  I honestly don't know what I would do without these wonderful people around me. 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Say Cheeeeese!!

Well, it has been quite the season for teeth around here.  First, Lauren got her braces on. We were excited to get them on because it meant one step closer to getting them off.  Well, maybe excited isn't entirely accurate.  It certainly isn't the way Ry and I felt about paying for said braces.  But, it's a rite of passage for all of us, I suppose. 

Anyway, here's her "before" pic:

And here's her "during" pic:

(she's really not going to be happy with my inclusion of this one, but it's my right as a mother!)

And here she is with the whole shebang:

She is still VERY cute and we have already seen a lot of movement in her teeth!  Of course, she grows more beautiful by the day, so maybe we want to slow the teeth moving process down so I don't totally lose my little girl.

Of course, on the other end of the spectrum is Katie, who had her braces removed the week before school started.  Talk about cutting it close!  Dr. Peck promised her a tinless smile when eighth grade started, but then almost didn't deliver.  Katie was sitting in his dentist chair on his lunch break to help him keep his promise.  He didn't disappoint. 

Here is a "before" pic:

Another "during" pic:

And a beautiful "after" pic with Dr. Peck himself!

We are so happy for both girls' smiles and can't believe how grown up they are getting.  Time flies, people.  Please believe me when I tell you that (because I didn't when other people told me).

One Amazing Party

Wow! It has been a long time since you have heard from me...I'm just having a great summer with my kiddos.  I can't believe it's almost over.  School starts in two weeks!!  I guess time flies when you are having fun!

Katie's birthday party was clear back in May, the weekend we got back from Dubai, but I wanted to share this fun day.  We are big "The Amazing Race" fans at our house, so Katie wanted an Amazing Race party!  Denise had put something like this together for a ward activity, so I employed her to organize and run the whole thing....once again, Denise saves the day!

It was a great party.  Katie has darling friends and it was fun watching them go through the race.  We began with a run down of the rules from Denise, then the race started!

Our first clue sent us to Boondocks in Kaysville.  We were all off like lightning!!

At Boondocks, the girls were given the task of getting enough tickets playing Skeeball to buy bracelets for each team member.  It was mass chaos, but they were all good little Skeeball players!

Our next clue took us to the Library in Layton.  At this stop, the girls could choose between two different tasks.  They could either look for crayons in the grass outside of the Library....

Or find three separate books inside of the Library....

We were then off to search for a park in Layton using just a point on the map.  Once there, the girls had to run around the track backwards! I'm glad I only had to watch!

Our final stop before heading to the finish line was to head to Barnes Park and play Human Boggle.  The girls had to spell out certain words with their feet and hands in order to get their last clue.  Too funny!

Ryan's team won, but only because they cheated...just kidding!  All of the kids had a blast!

We then enjoyed watching Katie open her presents and eat cake and ice cream. 

It was one of the funnest parties we've ever put on.  Thanks again, Denise for all of your hard work!  It was an amazing party!!

Show Stoppers

Yesterday's post was about ballet, today's is about musical theatre.  Katie and Ethan joined an acting and singing group called Show Stoppers, and they have loved it!!  I always knew Katie loved singing, dancing and acting, but was surprised when Ethan became so excited about it. 

Their spring show had highlights from Grease, Wicked, and Hairspray.  It was so stinkin' cute!  In fact, after the show every one of my kids begged me to let them do it next year....I guess that's what we'll be doing!

This is Katie in the song "Loathing" from Wicked

Katie got to perform one of the few solos in the performance.  She sang "Defying Gravity" from Wicked!  She did a great job!  (I was secretly so jealous that she was singing my favorite musical on stage!!)  Way to go, Katie!!

This is Ethan in Grease.  He was adorable!  He was in the show with his buddy, Trevor and the two of them had a ball.  Plus, it turns out that Ethan can sing pretty well, too!!

Katie in Grease (the dancing was great and Katie was really good at it).  She's definitely more graceful than me!

Ethan received these funny glasses from his teacher back stage for being an excellent listener (yes, I double checked with her as to the reason because he isn't so excellent at listening at home!).  

We were grateful to all of the Grandparents for coming to see the kiddos (Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Randy even drove all the way from St. George to come see it!!)

We honestly can't wait for the next show! Great job, Katie and Ethan!  Peace!