The Piano Recital

Ethan had his end of the year piano recital today. He has been practicing his song really hard and was excited to play in the recital. He doesn't like practicing too much (who does?) but he loves to perform. He did a great job and got a huge candy bar in the end from his teacher!!

Here's his recital song:


Here are some photos:

The Birthday Season

May is a crazy month for birthdays in our neighborhood/ward. In Ethan's Primary class, there are at least 7 that have birthdays in May and Ethan's best friend in the neighborhood has his birthday the same day as Ethan's. So it's CRAZY!

Last Friday, Ethan's best friend (Carter, who has the same birthday as Ethan's) and his family went to the new water feature park in Ivins and we all went along. Carter's mom decided that, since she really isn't doing a party for Carter this year, to make the trip to the water park into an impromptu party. The kids loved running all over and getting in the water. It was a warm day so it felt really great. Then we all went to the flute festival being held at the field next to the water park and got dinner. The kids loved it and had so much fun.

When we got back from the water park, Ethan had to change his clothes and get ready for another birthday party. He had a lot of fun at that party. Ethan has another birthday party on Saturday and then we are having Ethan's party on Monday. Crazy month!

(Ethan wouldn't take his shirt off so he is easy to spot in bright yellow!)

Mother's Day

We have a Mother's Day tradition of hiking the Saturday before. We decided that it would be fun to go up to Zion and hike from the Visitor's Center to the Museum (it's only .8 of a mile), watching the video of Zion's history, catching the shuttle to the Lodge, and having lunch. We got a little bit of a slow start though. Bryan and Ethan went to the Father's and Son's campout Friday night and Ethan ate WAY TOO MANY cookies. He promptly threw up when they got home. So we had to wait for him to get over that before we could leave.

But we had a fun hike. It took a while because Courtney insisted on carrying her own camel back and it was slowing her down. But the kids did great. Ethan counted the lizards he saw on the hike. I think he got to 16.

Lunch was good. I was surprised how empty the Lodge restaurant was, but the food was good. After some ice cream for dessert, we took the shuttle back to our car and started for home. Both Ethan and Courtney fell asleep, which was great!

When we got home, we stopped by the video store to rent a Harry Potter movie and then had a family movie night. It was a great day.

On Sunday, Bryan and Courtney made me breakfast in bed (Ethan woke up at the end) and then I got some presents (some books and some nice smelling body spray and lotions). Dinner was my favorite made by Bryan and then we had my parents and my aunt and uncle (Kathy and Don) came over for dessert. It was a great time. I love having family around.

Here are some photos from the hike:

Ethan's Little League Video

Ethan had a baseball game on Saturday and we took some video, but I forgot to post it. He made two great hits. The first video is of his second hit and run to first base. The second video is of his run from first base to home. You make the call on whether he was out at third or not.

Camp Kick-Off

We had our Camp Kick-off activity last night and it was GREAT!! The 5th and 6th year girls have been planning things for us and they really pulled through last night. We have been teasing the girls with little details about camp but never giving them the whole story. Last night we gave them more details and then we had a "day at camp." The assistant camp director and I decorated the Relief Society room like a forest with things that are going to be at camp, like a tepee, swimming pool, camp fire, dutch oven food, certification displays, etc. It looked really good and was a lot of fun.

I did a little introduction about camp and told them more details and then the assistant camp director went over camp rules. After she was finished we turned it over to two 6th year girls who had a game ready for the girls. It was a great get-to-know-you game that everyone seemed to enjoy. They then taught some camp songs, which was HILARIOUS. I video taped most of it and I think we are going to auction it off to the young men as our next fund raiser ;) We then turned off the lights and turned on our fake campfire (a lightbulb with some red plastic around it to look like flames) while a 5th year girl told scary stories (I felt bad for some of the scared, little Beehive girls!). We then had some dutch oven desserts, cleaned up and went home.

I think it went really well and the girls seemed to have a lot of fun and be excited about camp. It also helps that we are staying in tepees (not tents), have flush toilets, hot showers and 2 swimming pools at our disposal. I try! ;)

Dance Class Photo

Here is Courtney's photo from her dance class. She wouldn't take off her shirt because she was too itchy, so we have what we have. In the group photo, you can tell that she wasn't happy, but in the individual photo she was all smiles and loving it. Her friend McKaye is on the other end of the top row and her friend Lydia is right next to Courtney. After the recital, Courtney has been loving dance class.

Dance Recital

Courtney did FABULOUS at her dance recital last night. I was quite worried because she has a reputation of being difficult under certain circumstances and I was afraid she would hold on to me and not want to dance (like she did the last time). But she was SOOO excited to dance that it wasn't a problem at all.

The recital began with some older kids dancing and then it was time for Courtney's little group. They lined them up off stage but they were peeking the whole time. The dance instructor had put numbers on the girls hands and they had to run out and find the corresponding number on the floor and that was "their spot!" I got photos of Courtney and her friends Lydia and Hayley but I didn't get a photo with McKaye (another little girl in our neighborhood) because her spot was far from Courtney's. But they have a great time together in dance class and it's nice to carpool. They performed three dances and did a great job.

As with all 3 and 4 year olds, they got a bit distracted at times and there was one rogue dancer who just did her own thing. But it was so darn cute! Here are some photos and videos from last nights recital. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!