Good Thing!

The countdown has begun. May 21st - Brittany and I, along with my mom and dad - leave for New York City! We have made this a tradition and try to go every year if we can! Today I got the email confirmation that we will be in the audience of the Martha Stewart Show on May 22nd. Watch for us. We are still waiting to hear from the View and Regis and Kelly. We don't care that much about Regis and Kelly because we have seen them so many times before - but we REALLY want the View. We'll keep you posted on the planning!

Window Stickers

You may think these are cute - or nerdy - but I have been wanting to get these decals for my car for awhile and I found a place on the internet that did them. If you haven't noticed them on cars already, you will after you read this. I personalized them to everyone in our family. Mine was supposed to come holding a shopping bag but it came without it. I wonder if I should take this as some sort of a sign.

I love my new stickers. Dave claims to like them but he knows better than to say he doesn't! Maddie had an entirely different opinion of them and called me a nerd. How rude! When she gets her own car she can decorate it however she wants. I'm keeping my stickers!

Fun in the Sun

We have been enjoying great weather here - finally. Today was mid 70's and the next 3 days are supposed to be in the 80's. Emmie and Logan couldn't wait to get their swimsuits on and play in the sprinklers today. They were a bit cold when they were wet but they had tons of fun anyway. Dallin (Brittany's baby) joined them after his nap!

Dance Marathons

Today Talbie had to give a report at school about an event that occurred during the 1920's and 1930's. She picked "Dance Marathons" for her topic. This was a good assignment for her because she loves "American Girl" dolls and has learned a lot about history from them. Her doll "Kit" is from that era and that's where she came up with idea of dance marathons. She did a dance demonstration too and had the class dance with her. Way to go Talbie!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Hey everyone ~ I don't get a chance to watch "You Tube" very often but we came across this funny video today that I wanted to share with you. It's pretty entertaining! Click here to watch

Crazy Boys!

Spring Break ends tomorrow and everyone is going back to school. We did have a few good days mixed in with the rainy/snowy ones. Yesterday was one of those days. This is a picture of Logan, Bronson, and Brock (Logan and Brock are Brittany's boys that live behind us and we share our backyards) "swinging" on the swingset. They think this is pretty funny to put the swings up so high - until they forget to fix them for Emmie and she let's them have it!

Ouch!

Emmie got her ears pierced a year ago but they closed up after they had gotten infected. She has been insisting on getting them pierced again but I have been putting her off for months. We went to the mall on Friday and she begged me to get them pierced. She started to chicken out about 30 seconds before it actually happened (as you can see from this picture.) It hurt and she was pretty sad about it but cheered up immediately at the thought that it was done and she had her "pretty earrings" in again!!

Talbie is my only girl that got her ears pierced the first time and kept them pierced. She would let me help her take care of them and is stronger that way. Talbie wanted contacts a few months ago but she still can't put them in by herself so I do it for her every morning before school and she's great at it. She can take them out herself so I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before she can do it all on her own.

Maddie on the other hand - she wanted her ears pierced in kindergarten so we did it. After the 6 weeks of taking care of them was up, she wouldn't let me touch them to help her get them out and new ones back in. Therefore, the holes closed up and she didn't have pierced ears anymore. She wanted them done in the 1st grade - SAME STORY. She wanted them done in the 2nd grade - SAME STORY. She wanted them done in the 3rd grade - and I threatened that it would be the last time until she could physically drive herself to the mall and then I could be sure that she was old enough to take care of them on her own. The 3rd grade piercing took and she still has pierced ears believe it or not!

Girl's at the mall - Maddie didn't get
turned around in time for the picture!

Meet the Robinson's

The kids and I went to see "Meet the Robinson's" today and it was a cute show! We saw it in 3D and it made it even more exciting. Emmie was a bit nervous at first because the first thing they showed in 3D was a new version of "Nightmare Before Christmas" coming out and it will be in 3D. This ghost came flying right at us and Emmie freaked! It took me most of the movie to reassure her that things were actually staying ON the screen and it only looked like they were jumping OFF.

My brother Dustin is a musician - and a fantastic one at that. He's made many CD's, written songs for LDS movies and others, and performed everywhere. He actually had the opportunity to write a song for the movie "Meet the Robinson's". There were 5 songs that Disney was considering for the movie and they ended up going with the song that was performed by Rob Thomas (previously of Matchbox 20 fame). Dustin - you're awesome! You can check out more about Dustin and his band by clicking on Jerrytown

Spring Break

The kids started their Spring Break yesterday and we've been trying to think of fun things to do to keep them busy since we didn't go a fun trip or anything. Yesterday was such a stormy and blustery day that we decided to do some shopping.

For Easter, my parents gave the kids some money instead of buying more candy or something they might not want or need, so we went to Toys R Us yesterday and they spent their money. Emmie bought the school bus to go along with her 1,000 other pieces of her Fisher Price "Little People" collection. Talbie got 2 stuffed animals (no surprises there) and Bronson bought some "Bionicles". Bronson loves these but he doesn't assemble them in the traditional way, he loves to invent his own.

It was a fun day inside. Today their cousin, Ben is coming over and we're going to see "Meet the Robinson's". Hopefully it will clear up enough this week sometime so we can take a trip to the park.

Glamour Shots

Every time I get the camera ready to upload pictures to my computer, there are AT LEAST a dozen "self portraits" of Maddie. Her favorite past time is posing for the camera when she's alone. Our Mac computer has a built in camera and you can take some of the funniest pictures. The other kids always choose to take the funny ones of themselves but Maddie, on the other hand - prefers the "glamour shots".

This is also a test to see if she's reading my blog! If she doesn't mention the pictures, I'll know!

Here's another picture for your enjoyment. It's Emmie if you don't recognize her!

Anniversary #16

April 30th will be our 16th wedding anniversary. We don't have any big plans yet but this picture got me thinking about it. I was asked to email a wedding picture to some people in our Stake for a music fireside that they are putting on the end of the month. I just finished scanning it in to my computer and emailing it when I thought I would include it in my blog. This picture brings back memories.

When Dave and I got married, he was 21 and I had just turned 22 ( he is 6 months younger and I never hear the end of it!) When we sent out our engagement pictures - we would always hear responses like, "You two look to young to get married. How old are you?" or "You look like you could be brother and sister!"

We hated those kind of comments but 16 years later they would be a welcome change. I was always accused of being younger than I really was - especially when I was around my sister who is 6 years younger. The first time I met and saw Dave he thought I was still in high school (instead of starting my 4th year of college) and that my sister was in college (who was actually in the 9th grade!!!)

Well - I have come full circle. The other night I was at the grocery store with my sister, Brittany when she ran in to 2 guys that she went to high school with. She was talking with them and meeting their wives when one of the guys turned to me and said, "Are you Brittany's mom?" I wanted to kill him. I have aged but I don't think I look 50 years old yet.

Happy Birthday Brittany!

Today was my sister Brittany's birthday. She loves to watch "Good Things Utah" on channel 4 everyday. I decided to get tickets for her so we could go on her birthday. We sat in the studio audience and were able to see ourselves on TV (we recorded it at home too!)

We picked a great day to go because they gave two "giveaways" to the audience. The first thing was a little scrapbook picture frame mat from a scrapbooking segment, and the second thing was a purse from the lady that owns "Posh Fluffery" - a store at Gardner's Village. After the show we got to come up and talk to the hosts and get our picture taken with them.

After the show we had lunch at the Macaroni Grill. It was a great day!!

Easter

We have had a great Easter Sunday. Yesterday we decorated Easter eggs - 36 of them to be exact and I think there are only about 10 left. The kids devoured them like they were candy. I really need to make boiled eggs more often. I think they are just funner to eat when they are colored.

The other pictures are of the kids in their Easter outfits. Bronson's tie ended up being too long but other than that - there weren't any other wardrobe malfunctions! We have church at 9:00 but we had to be there at 8:30 so Dave and I could practice with the ward choir that performed 2 songs today. It was a crazy morning and the only trouble we had was that I forgot to take a picture of myself. I had a new Easter outfit but it will now probably be forgotten. I really need to be better at getting pictures taken of myself, even though I hate it more than anything!

The Easter Bunny comes to our house on Saturday morning so that also helped with some of the craziness of this morning. The kids all got new kites in their baskets (Dave got one too) so we've had fun today trying to get them flying. We didn't have much luck though because there wasn't very much wind. Hopefully we can try it again this week and get them flying.

We hope your Easter was a great day too.

Violin Recital

Tonight Talbie and Emmie had a violin recital. This was Emmie's first recital ever and she did such a great job. She wasn't the least bit scared and performed like she'd done it a million times. She played her one line of music that she knows and then waited for her cue (and chord played on the piano) and then did her bow. Emmie performed the first line of one of the Twinkle Variations and Talbie performed Minuet I by Bach.

Their teacher is TruAnn Boulter. I can't tell you how much I love her! We were on a waiting list for about 3-4 months before we started with her last summer. Since she has been our teacher, Talbie has improved tremendously. It's too bad that you have to learn the hard way with things like teachers. Talbie had a good 2 years that were just wasted on bad teachers.



Anyway - I hope you all enjoy this new blog and it will help us keep in touch better. Please keep emailing us your letters too!!

Test Blog

Hey Everyone,

I have been intrigued by the number of blogs that are out there and I love reading my friend's. I have been having such trials with my monthly newsletter and getting it sent that I thought this would be another way of keeping family and friends up to date. Here's to happy blogging!