the big 40th surprise

For my mom and dad's 40th wedding anniversary, we took them on a scavenger hunt.  The first clue was delivered to their house by Phil and Jeannette.  The clue told them to go where they went on their first date.

There first date was at the Huish watching "tora tora tora" obviously a movie my dad selected.  My kids gave them their next clue to the orchards where they spent most of their dating time fixing sprinklers.  (How fun) Kyle and Carlene Family met them there to give them their next clue to Aunt Paula's house.  My dad's sister Paula is the one who wanted them to get married. My dad said My mom was too young for him so unless an angel appeared to him he wouldn't marry her.  Paula dressed as an angel and appeared to my dad.  The rest is history...  The next clue was to the Red Barn where they get their weekly ice cream cones.  At that point Jimmy drove them up the canyon to the last location, which was their tree.

 here they are walking to the tree

 This is the new tree they started in 2009  because the original tree was dying.  The original tree was carved in 40 years ago it was a heart with JED +CH and then again in 1996 where they added "still in love"

 when the parents arrived all 40 of us were waiting there with balloons.  That is right folks, on their 40th wedding anniversary they have 40 members in their family. 

WE sent them soaring!

Only 39 went up Jeffrey's got stuck on his braces.  Hee hee it was one of best moments of the night.

 We presented the parents with their gift.  Because the original tree was dying, Tommy and Jimmy cut out the part that had their writings on it and framed it.

 We then had cake that Bones made.  He makes the best chocolate cake

picture of all of the grand kids.

It was a good time!  I think we all had fun and my parents liked it

another week

Monday was the first day all three kids went to school together.  I was left all alone for 2.5 hours.  That time went by really fast.

Trey's awesome backpack with his name on it. No one will be able to successfully steal his backpack

 Trey did so great on his first day.  When I picked him from school that day, he said " Mom, I wasn't sad at all when you left, only just a little."

 PJ"s first day of tuesday/thursday preschool.  He had a great time.

On Friday I still get one on one time with PJ.  I took his tool bench outside for him to play and it was like he got a brand new toy.  He has been playing with it non-stop.  Apparently I just need to move the location of the toys to get the kids to play with them again.

first week of school and happenings

Addie and PJ started school on Monday.  PJ started his monday/wednesday preschool and Addie started 3rd grade in a brand new school.  They both are happy so far.  Trey will start kindergarten on monday.

 PJ on his first day.  Isn't he a cutie. They learned about the letter M and they got mmmmeasured.  I am the proud parent of the tallest kid in the class.

Addie has like modeling her new school outfits this week.  She was easy to shop for this year.  Leggings and dresses.

 the boys surprised me by washing my car.  They were pretty pleased with themselves.

 Pj also gave his car a good scrub.

 We went boating with Grandma and Grandpa Huff and cousin Chad.

 Addie thought she was the bravest kid in the whole world until she fell in and got trapped underneath the raft.  Momentarily scary for all of us and now she is terrified of the water.

We took my parents out for their 40th wedding anniversary.  We took them to the place that they went on their very first anniversary.  Funny thing about that is.. we didn't know that little fact until we were there eating and our parents told us. 

the last hurrah!

 Addie had a back to school party on Friday.  I had promised her birthday party when she turned 8 and then we never got around to actually having the party so we compromised with a back to school party.  It was the way to go.  I just rented the pool for an hour.  I didn't do treats or have to worry about people feeling obligated to bring presents. Also, because we were renting the pool, I let her invite as many friends as she wanted.  Anyway, it was fun.

 last night we went to Grandma Patty's house for her birthday.  We had a lot of fun visiting, eating, and roasting marshmallows. 
This morning we went to the Utah County Fair.  The kids had fun.  Trey was mesmerized by the zumba dancers.  PJ got annoyed with the sheep.  He did lot like the constant Baa-ing .  He would get up in their faces and say "Shut up, or I will spank your bum".  Those naughty sheep didn't even listen to him.  What BAAAAD sheep.  PJ also wanted me to give the neighbor boy a spanking.  I am sure that would have gone over great with his mother.

I am now teaching dance at Addie's dance studio.  I was already lined up to do choreography there in the Spring.  But now it looks like I will be teaching a class all year.   Good times, I hope.



I can't believe summer break is over.  That went by so fast.  My kids have been driving me crazy so hopefully going back to school is a good thing.

my awesome boys

It has been a big week for my boys.  It started out with Trey finally learning to pedal.  PJ mastered this skill quite awhile ago.  However, it did not come naturally for Trey.  I told them once Trey could pedal they could both get bikes.  Above is Trey's new bike.  They think they have to be just like dad and be constantly fixing their bikes.

The other big event of the week was DANCE CAMP!!!  yes, that is right my boys went to dance camp and they loved every minute of it.  It was hiphop/breakdancing.

 they are the cutest ever!

 Trey's lightning mcqueen unders are showing.  That is totally cool right?

Trey's teacher Trae, is in the center showing some of his crazy moves

Trey in the hip hop circle showing his mad skills.

 the whole dance camp gang

Video clip of their dance they learned. The best part is the end where you can hear PJ's high pitched scream.

Dance camp was awesome.  It was a very fun week.

orchard days

 Orchard days this year was very full of events.  It started off with running the 5k.  I placed 4th overall in womens and 2nd in my age group.  It was not a good run for me.  I think I am retiring from running races.

We then went to the parade which Addie was in for her cheerleading group

After the parade it was time for face painting

 As you might have guessed Trey was very pleased with his stop sign

 The four of us then entered the cherry pit spit.  The top ten women move on to the finals I placed 11th. Darn it!  In the kids age groups the top 5 move on.  Trey and PJ were in the same division.  PJ placed 6th and Trey placed 8th.  Addie placed 3rd in the preliminaries and so she went on to the finals where she placed 4th.  She is a little too competitive.  She was very upset with her 4th place finish.  I thought it was great

 Here she is in in the finals.  Spitting her last cherry pit

 It was then time for the pie eating contest.  My kids enjoyed this but none of them finished their pie

 That night Addie was in the rodeo for being the little miss Santaquin Queen.  Addie and I also stayed and watched the whole rodeo and fireworks. we got home really late and didn't make it to church on time the next morning

but my kids looked cute anyway.

11 hours

starting in the fall, my soon to be third grader, Addie will be going to 7 hours of dance and 4 hours of gymnastics every week.  This seems to be a bit overwhelming for an 8-year-old.   I have no idea how this will go.  At first, I was very upset about the dance hours being extended so much.  Last year she went 2.5 hours a week. That seemed like plenty.  This summer she went to 5.5 hours of dance and I was shocked when the fall schedule went up even more. 
The Issues:  money is not the problem here.  NO I am not wealthy or even close but I have been fortunate enough to exchange floor routine choreography for free tuition at her Gymnastics place.  I also will be doing choreography in the Spring for her dance studio, which will help with the cost of her lessons... My concern is whether or not Addie can handle 11 hours a week on top of school every day.  We have discussed options but the bottom line is Addie wants to give it a try.  If she starts to struggle in school or starts to hate what she is doing, we will have to come up with a new arrangement but for now she is progressing nicely in both and at this point it is hard to make her choose between the two.  At some point she will have to.. since the more advanced she gets in both will require even more hours.  She also has the advantage of having little brothers that are still young enough they aren't involved in much yet.  That will also change in the near future.  Really it doesn't require that much from me either since the studios are close enough I can just drop her off and come home and then pick her up several hours later.

 one if the reasons I decided this was ok to try is because even when she is at home she is dancing or tumbling.

 even with friends over she convinces them to make up dances for fun

She is also getting pretty good and it is fun to see her develop her talents.  The funny thing is.. when I ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she never answers with a dancer or gymnast.  The answer is always Miss America and a professional cheerleader. I guess she needs both tumbling and dance ability to be the professional cheerleader and to be miss America she has got to have a good talent.  Although, we all know that many dreams never turn in to reality.  I am not one to discourage people from trying.

* authors note: I understand that this post is easily controversial. People have strong opinions about having  kids do too much or too little.  I don't care what other parents choose to do with their kids.  I don't think there is a  universal right or wrong answer.  I am also not asking for anyone's opinion.  I have already made up my mind.  But nice comments are always allowed and appreciated :)