dinner at mike and andrea's

uncle mike watching Signing Time with the girls...they LOVED it.

by the lake at Memory Grove. the water was ice cold.

chloe so excited about the leaf she picked.

LOVE this picture!

the girls each had a turn sitting in the "basket".

tuckered out at the end of the day.

mike and andrea invited us over to see their new place and then they fed us dinner. so nice. unfortunately, clate was with grammie and pa, and adam was on-call and didn't get to their house until 8:30ish, so it was mostly just the girls and I, but we were happy to be there. after dinner we walked over to Memory Grove. i think the girls were hoping for a playground at the park, but then realized they had uncle Mike with them and that was just as fun, if not more fun. luckily he was a good sport and entertained them quite well. it had been a few days since the girls had seen their dad, so having a male figure around was extra exciting for them...and he even looks like dad, kindof. the girls were good sports too and stayed up extra late so mom and dad could visit for awhile. they curled up on the couch and watched Bolt and were as happy as could be...though very tired. it was a fun afternoon.

play, not work

walking around temple square.

happy 40th anniversary, mom and dad!

halle and chloe playing in the ship's bunkbeds at the church history museum.

halle and chloe holding tight to the iron rod as they pass the great and spacious building heading for the tree of life...i hope they always do that!

as many times as my parents come to our house, we don't often do FUN things together. Usually, they come to help with some project around the house, ie. re-finishing the basement, re-roofing the house, etc. But this time, they came just to play (though grandpa did find a few things to fix around the house in his spare time)...and we loved it. one day we visited the church history museum and walked around temple square. another day we took them to Red Butte Gardens, a place my kids love to run around and play and adults can enjoy the views. we also met chad and his family for dinner one night, which was nice too since that doesn't happen very often either. it was fun going places and doing things with grandma and grandpa and not worrying about projects around the house.

little dancers

Chloe dancing to the song "Almost There" from "The Princess and The Frog".

Chloe performing her ballet routine as a firefly. They even had little lights in their tutus.

Halle and her friend, Kate, dressed as flamingos for the tap number.

Halle preparing for her ballet routine, dancing to "Evangeline Star", as Halle calls it.

They had a freestyle dance as the finale with all of the dancers.

The girls had their dance recital last week and they couldn't have been more excited for the big day. The theme was "The Princess and the Frog" and the costumes were fantastic. My girls are such good little performers. I'm always so proud of how well they do. In fact, three people came up to me after the show and said that Chloe had "stollen the show". I'm not really sure what she did...she was the only one that I was watching, but apparently others thought she was pretty darn cute too. And I just can't get enough of Halle's face when she's on stage; her smile is so big!

Grammie was able to come down for the recital and the girls were so happy to have her there. We got to go out to Red Robbin afterward for burgers and shakes. Such a fun day!

trampoline fun!

my kids LOVE to jump on trampolines! i'm sure most kids do, but mine just can't get enough of it. they have one family of friends with a trampoline and girls' dance teacher has one, so they always have take advantage when we are there. they would jump for hours if i would stay long enough. adam is convinced that we would end up with broken bones...even though both he and i grew up with trampolines and our families never had broken bones from the trampoline. kids break their arms falling off of bikes or any of a million other things...a trampoline doesn't guarantee broken bones. besides, i think they are essentials for the girls to learn and practice gymnastics. anyway, i would love for the kids to have one, and they would love, love, LOVE to have one...maybe one day. in the meantime, we're grateful for friends who do have them!

preschool graduation

clate graduated from preschool this week! we're so proud! :) he went to Ms. Wendy's Preschool Pals for 2 years and really loved it. some of his best friends were from his class. while he is excited to go to kindergarten next year, he will miss Ms. Wendy and Ms. Ali. i guess this means my little guy is growing up! but I guess that's what they are supposed to do, right?

clate with Ms. Wendy.

clate with Ms. Ali.

only the treetops...

both halle and chloe are going through a phase where they don't eat ANYTHING! except peanut butter and honey sandwiches and fish crackers. i usually try to fill them up during the day, but at dinner, i try to encourage them to eat whatever i make. the other night i served chicken alfredo and brocoli. they would have nothing to do with any of it...except the ranch dressing. chloe kept asking for more ranch dressing, and not really paying attention to her, i kept giving her more. then i realized that all she was eating was the ranch dressing. she would dip her brocoli in the dressing and then lick off the dressing, not eating any of the brocoli. finally, her she had to eat the brocoli too, or no more ranch dressing. so she did...but she ate only the treetops of the brocoli. and when she was done with one tree, she asked for more "bocoli". i don't know i thought this was so funny, but i did...and i had to get a picture of it.

all i have to say is thank goodness for vitamins!

RANDOM PICS OF LATE...

clate and i made these "eyes" one afternoon while the girls napped. he can be quite creative; he comes up with all kinds of things to build (tape together, etc.) and paint.

here's halle with pencilled on eyebrows. she always seems to get a hold of my mom's eyebrow pencil and then tries to put it on herself. she's always so proud of herself, too. LOVE it!

clate and isaiah at Discovery Gateway building a castle. impressive, i think.

and chloe playing construction worker along side clate and isaiah. i think she was calling her friend, Olivia, on the phone.