Happy Halloween

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!
We are off to Logan's baptism, luncheon, then the
ward "Trunk or Treat"
Should be a fun day!

Emmie's in the Paper!

OK - what are the odds that you would have 2 kids in the paper in the same week? Maddie was in it a couple of weeks ago. So weird! This time it's Emmie's turn.

Today in the Daily Herald they talked about the 2nd grade program they had last night.

Click Here

There isn't a direct picture of Emmie but it's fun that they reported on the great 2nd graders and all their hard work!

Regional Dance Company Concert

This has been a busy couple of days for our family. It seems like everything always hits at once and when it comes to blogging - it's feast or famine. I either have too much to post - or nothing at all!

Last night Dave went to Emmie's 2nd grade program and I went to Maddie's Regional Dance Company Concert. They put this on every October and it usually has 3 to 5 schools participating. I may be biased but ODC is by far the best dance company :)


Here's a little video of one of Maddie's dances. There are more on her facebook page if you are her "friend" you can view them. They're great!




Tomorrow...

Halloween posts!

Talbie in the Newspaper!

Yesterday the Salt Lake Tribune ran this article about the play "Joseph" that the school is doing.

Click Here

If you go to the second page, you'll see Talbie in the picture. She's in the front in the Michael Jackson T-shirt. :)

"Spook Train"

Today is Emmie's 2nd grad program. They do their performance in the morning for the school and then they will perform it again tonight for the parents. Maddie has a Dance Company concert tonight at the same time so I'm glad I could catch it this morning and Dave will go tonight.

Emmie was in the first number "Spook Train". She's a goblin (yes - another costume I've had to make this month!)

The newspaper came afterwards and took pictures of the kids. I'm going to check tomorrow and see if she made the paper :)

I snagged a picture of Bronson and the 5th graders goofing off! Busted!!

Talbie's Costumes

When Talbie wanted to audition for the school play (Joseph and the Amazing Techicolor Dreamcoat), I had no idea what I was in for! It's been a project getting all her costumes made and now we are at the fun stage of sitting back and waiting for the performance (around the first week of November!)

Her "Canaan" Costume

"Slave" costume

"Mega Mix" costume. I'm still not sure where this fits into the play but I believe it's the finale. Each student was assigned a "character" and Talbie is supposed to be someone getting their hair done. Everyone's costumes have to be black, white, and metallic silver.

The "Egyptian" costume. Our favorite! (not hemmed yet in these pictures for those of you taking a closer look :)

Great "FHE" Ideas

I wanted to share a great find...

A couple of months ago I bought this book at Deseret Book. It's called: "Why? Powerful Answers and Practical Reasons for Living LDS Standards" I love this book. I have used it in Family Home Evening a few times already and each time the kids have been very involved and it's opened up great discussions.

The book is full of great chapters that address questions like...

1. "Why Should I Keep the Commandments?"
2. "Why Should I Follow the Prophet?"
3. "Why Does it Matter Who My Friends Are?"
4. "Why Should I Keep the Word of Wisdome?"
5. "Why Shouldn't I Pierce or Tattoo My Body?"
6. "Why Should I Dress Modestly?"
7. "Why Should I Be Sexually Pure?"
8. "Why Shouldn't I Date Until I'm 16?"
9. "Why Shouldn't I Steady Date in High School?"
10. "Why Should I Get Married in the Temple?"
11. "Why Should I Wait to Have Children When I'm Married?"
12. "Why Can't I Watch Whatever I Want?"
13. "Why Shouldn't I View Pornography?"
14. "Why Does it Matter What Music I Listen To?"
15. "Why Are There Guidelines for Dancing?"
16. "Why Should I Use Clean Language?"
17. "Why Should I Be Honest?"
18. "Why Should I Keep the Sabbath Day Holy?"
19. "Why Should I Fast?"
20. "Why Should I Pray Always?"
21. "Why Should I Study My Scriptures Daily?"
22. "Why Should I Pay my Tithing?"
23. "Why Should I Write in My Journal?"
24. "Why Should I Be Grateful?"
25. "Why Should I Honor My Parents?"
26. "Why is it So Important I Gain an Education?"
27. "Why Should I Attend Seminary and Institute?"
28. "Why Should I Serve a Mission?"
29. "Why Should I Repent 'Now' and Not 'Later'?"


Each chapter is full of quotes by apostles, scriptures, fun stories, and even quotes by celebrities. If you are looking for new ideas for FHE, I highly recommend this book.

Toy Story 3

The new trailer for "Toy Story 3" is finally out! Bronson was trembling as we watched it :) We are SO EXCITED for it come out in June!
I could only find it on fandango so click here to view it

"Little Shop of Horrors"

Wednesday night we had tickets to see "Little Shop of Horrors" at the Hale Theater. I've said this before but I can't believe the amazing productions this little theater puts on. I'm always amazed!

This night was no exception. It was wonderful. I've seen "Little Shop" on Broadway in New York and this was just about as good. It was wonderful!

Waiting to go in

I bought these tickets a month or so in advance but didn't realize there was a football game that night so Maddie couldn't come (she could have if she tried hard enough - but she didn't!)
It worked out so great because Emmie brought her BFF Jill because her parents happened to have tickets that night too!

At intermission they were selling little "Audry II's" (Venus Flytraps) and Dave bought one for Bronson and Talbie. I'm not a fan of the Venus Flytrap (maybe because of the show ;) but we're going to try and keep them alive.

Talbie in front of "Audry II" at the end of the show

Bronson and Talbie about to be eaten! Emmie was too chicken to get anywhere near it for a picture.

Jill and Gina

This is one of our plants. Look how it has a fly caught already. Eewww!

Homecoming Pictures

Maddie's Homecoming pictures

Crazy Hair Day

It's "Red Ribbon" week and today Bronson and Emmie have crazy hair day! This is what we came up with.

School Pictures

We finally got all the school pictures back from all the classes! I think they turned out cute :)

Dedication

One of Talbie's favorite things in the world are Broadway Musicals. On Saturday night they have "Showtunes" on 106.5 and they do nothing put play songs from musicals from 7:00 to midnight. A couple of weeks ago she called in a dedication for Dave for his 40th birthday. She got some of it on video. Here it is...

Maddie's in the Paper!

Today it was brought to my attention that Maddie is mentioned in the newspaper today!

CLICK HERE

Read under the "Orem-Lehi" section and it talks about her int he Dance Company. Thanks Elena for telling me about this!

PS - I wish I had a video of this great dance to show you, but I don't :(

Bronson's Bday Cont...

Bronson has been asking for a Michael Jackson "Beat It" jacket since March. I thought the idea would go away but after Michael Jackson died - he's wanted it even more! He's so funny to me and even though he's never taken a dancing lesson in his life - he has figured out the moonwalk and every other move on his videos and his dancing gene is shining through :)

I found this awesome jacket on ebay and he loves it! It will also serve as his Halloween costume so we killed 2 birds with 1 stone!

The other exciting news is that he got a cell phone! I know most 11 year old boys don't need a cell phone but most 11 year old boys think they do! Bronson never goes anywhere further than the neighbor's house but now he feels like he's "arrived." The best thing about it is the text I got from him yesterday that said, "I love you!" That made it worth it ;)

Heading to the movie

Happy 11th Birthday Bronson

This handsome guy is turning 11 years old today!

We sure love Bronson and we're so glad he's a part of our family.
He lucked out because there's no school today so we have a full day
of partying ahead of us!

First thing on the list is going to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. Those movies have been his obsession since he was a baby. I still remember the day we took him to see Toy Story 2 at the movie theater. The Sheriff's Department was having a family Christmas party that day and rented out the theater. He had just turned 1 and he couldn't contain his excitement!

Isn't this a cute picture of Bronson and Talbie? I had to throw this one in!

Emmie's Photo Shoot

Talbie did a little photo shoot with Emmie in the backyard last week. We don't have the greatest camera in the world but I think they turned out cute anyway!

Salesman

Bronson has a birthday coming up and I was going through some old scrapbooks to find some pictures. I came across this hilarious one...

The Salesman

When my kids were little I would never let them open the door or go running to the door until I could see who it was. I'd say things like, "Don't get the door - it might be a salesman!"

Bronson had never seen a salesman face to face so this was his interpretation of one. It killed me!

I hate it when salesmen come to my door and I can bet that if one came dressed in this get-up, I'd really be ticked!