Random Catch up

Here's a quick few updates from my Instagram account.  Mike rode in the MS bike tour with Spencer Jones and Barry & Julie Whitehead.  He did 45 miles and we are so proud of him! We stayed the night in Logan and were there to cheer him in as he crossed the finish line.

Mike has been riding his bike to work quite a bit lately.  He improves his time each day.  He really loves riding and I'm so glad he's back into it!

 The Air Force Thunderbirds were in town over the 4th of July week at Hill Air Force Base.  We can usually see some of the air show from our backyard.  This year on Sunday, Mike, Brandon and I chased them down for a closer look and ended up in a Mortuary parking lot in Layton along with about 40 other families to watch these amazing pilots!  They would fly low right over us. It was amazing!!

I went with the Activity Day girls in the ward to This is the Place Heritage Park for our quarterly activity.  We had great fun exploring and 'being pioneers' and the extra bonus was running into Marianne Dunn, my friend from college that I haven't seen in 20+ years! She works at the park and I asked our guide if she knew Mare and where I could find her. The guide said she knew her and that she worked in the building we were in!  We had a great time catching up and taking selfies!

Back to Sydney's ballet recitals

 First night we went with the whole family minus Amanda who was at dance intensives and Grandpa & Grandma Gibson. I had to take this off my instagram/phone, so sorry for the look of it.  Sydney's recitals are at Weber State University in the Browning Center with a live orchestra: American Philharmonic.

Afterward, we went to Farr's Ice Cream in downtown Ogden.  His grandparents lived in Ogden and would they would visit them often.  They would take them to the fair/carnival and put him on the train that went around and around in a circle. Grandpa would keep giving the train operator coins to keep the train going so 'Butchie' could have a ride.  Even when the train operator wanted to close up and go home, Grandpa would say no, Butchie wants to ride still.

 Thursday night we had Grandma & Papa Arveseth and Cath, Elize, Ali and Sami come to see Sydney dance. They were very impressed.

 We also went with them to Farr's and had ice cream.  Super fun!

 Sydney with Maddy Weger.  Maddy is going to L2D with Sydney next year.

 After Sydney performed her dance on Thursday, she came outside and I left the auditorium to meet her. Then, she had an impromptu photo shoot while we waited for grandparents and cousins.  Keep in mind she is in Jesus sandals…..and that an iPhone camera can't catch the quick movements :)

She is a beautiful dancer and I definitely cried watching her dance tonight!!!

Lake Powell - first day!

And then came our favorite: Lake Powell!!  We've gone with the Wilson's for the past 3 years.  This year, we had the Jergensen's along with us and it was  FUN!

 We drove down after Sydney's ballet recital (whoops…I'll put that in the blog next).  Well, we got up at 2:15 and then left our house at 3:50AM. It was a long, short sleep, night, but so worth it when you can get on the lake the first day.  Brad & Jeni Wilson own a share in a houseboat. They could leave earlier on Thursday because they don't have any ballerinas.  Jergensen's have Gracie. They followed us down and met us at the dock.  Anyway, we pulled into Antelope Point marina at about 10:00am.  After putting our stuff and our kids on the shuttle, Mike & I left to put the boat in the water.  Then, we met up with the houseboat as it was pulling out of the slip. Mike helped Jeni get their boat out of their slip and then we were off to scout the perfect location!

 Well, we found it!  We had a bunch of houseboat and Brad's boat problems last year, so we ended up camping off the marina.  Lame, especially since Mike had found the greatest spot last year, too.  Anyway, we found a great spot at the end of a canyon right behind Cookie Jar!  I'll post a bunch of pictures, but it was perfect!  Good little beach, just a few stickers, but plenty of room for the kids to play in the water.  There were quite a few neighbors, but not close enough to be a bother.

 We took the kids after getting the houseboat all anchored, and found a little cliff to jump off of.  We do not let them go very high because of the danger, but this cliff was great.  More pictures to follow this, too.

 The first night we had a party on top of the house boat!  Mike is resting on top of a bunch of mattress pads.    Then, gets a big hug from Brandon.

 First the kids were entertaining us….Grace & Liz, Alli & Amanda

 Johnny and his mullet. He is Amanda and Liz's age and they are great wardie friends!

 He's a really nice kid….Then, here is a shot of the moms…Jeni & Monica.

 Sydney contemplating her next move….Beach girl

 Then, the party started!

 Kevin & Mike.  Brad was below trying to recoup from the day….

So, I suggested the kids put on a dance performance for us.  They took to this like bees to honey!  First group up to dance was Alli, Brandon and Grace.  Alli cracks us up…..

B was ok with is for a second and then left...

Then, Zach, Sydney and Lauren

Then, Liz, Amanda and Johnny

 Then the parents…..Jeni has some moves to Love Shack and can still rock it!

 And then everyone joined in until it was time for bed :)  Great first night!!

Where did June go?

I know June usually goes pretty quickly, but it seems I blinked and this one was over!

School was done the 30th of May, so that means we hit the ground running first week of June.

I started teaching Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  I love teaching fewer days and every summer think I need to work my fall schedule out so I'm only teaching a few days, but then more students have come and I end up teaching all 5 days of the week.

There were ballet rehearsals, which I have posted below.  Sydney's last ballet recital as a Clytie girl.  There were Luv2Dance tryouts and Amanda still recovering from her foot surgery.

Brandon got to go to his first scout camp - Camp Kiessel and to the Father & Son campout and he got his physical for football.

The McCleary's had us and a few neighbors over for a BBQ and swim.  We love John's new wife, Ana, so much! She is super sweet.  Great time to spend with the neighbors.  You would think because we live close that we'd talk all the time, but we really hardly see each other.

 Brandon's teacher send me this picture of the last day of school.  Although I hated her as a teacher when Amanda had her, I think she had improved a ton when Brandon had her.  She's still not anywhere near my favorite, but it was acceptable.

 Father's Day. I tried to get a good picture of Mike & our kids, but being true to form, they can't pose for a precious Father's Day picture.

On our way to visit the Grandpas for Father's Day look what happened.  We ended up having to stop at Target and buy Brandon all new clothes…right down to his underwear and socks because the girls were bugging him and hit him in the nose.  I'll say this day was memorable!

 Here are the pictures of Sydney's ballet rehearsal. We can't take pictures during the performance, but we can take no flash pictures during rehearsal.  A lot has changed since Sydney started, including friendships/carpools, but it's been a great experience. She danced beautifully!

Her dance was to Yankee Doodle.  The beauty of this ballet school is the girls dance to a live orchestra at the performances.  It is an amazing experience and quite different from any other studio.  Sydney looked stunning in her sapphire blue costume.  Although I'm excited for her future in dance (or if she returns to cheer like she keeps hinting), it is sad to say good-bye to ballet and the beginnings of her dancing life.

Here's a random picture from a month ago when my girls and I went to see The Fault in Our Stars…a book that we all read.  It was a great time, but a bawlfest! The book is sad and to see it come to life was even sadder!  The lady sitting by Amanda gave her a tissue from a box of tissues she brought! I was barely getting by using napkins! But, a great night with my girls!!