Jubilee of Trees

On Friday, Courtney danced at the Jubilee of Trees festival. Bryan got off work and met us there. She was so excited to be in front of an audience and did a great job! I took some photos of her and McKaye (her friend in our neighborhood) by the huge Christmas tree. Afterward I took them to see Santa. McKaye climbed right up on his lap but Courtney wasn't so sure and wouldn't get near him. That was fine with me.

Another dance video

This video wouldn't download on the last post so it gets one of its own.

I debated whether to put this first video on or not because Courtney fell down at the first of the song. Usually she would just run off completely embarrassed, and I think that's what she wanted to do, but she got up and kept on going. (Now, if we could get her to do that during soccer, it would be fabulous!)

I was so proud of her because she didn't even mention it later and it wasn't a big deal after the initial shock wore off. She even did the second spin perfectly. So I decided to post it. The dance is really cute too. I think those bags are toast though. Watch the way those girls throw them. ;)

Dancing Courtney

It is dance performance time! They had Parents Day this afternoon so we could see a bit of their dances and so they could have a dress rehearsal for tomorrow morning when they have their first performance. I LOVE her new costume. They are modest (for a dance costume) and aren't itchy (a HUGE plus for Courtney). They look like little puffs. ;)

We had to curl her hair and get it all done nicely. They wanted me to put makeup on her but I have a thing against putting makeup on my 4 year-old, so we just ignored that instruction. Then we went off to class. They were all cute little girls.

They did their usual tap warm up and one tap dance number. Then they did a bunch of warm ups for their ballet. These are really cute because they yell during them and do all kinds of cute things. I'll post some video of Courtney's dances so you can see the tap routines and then I'll put a slide show on too. She did a great job.

Cute kids

This morning Courtney wanted a story read to her and I was busy doing my morning routine and getting breakfast ready, so Ethan asked if she would let him read to her. She was thrilled!! They sat on the couch all bundled in blankets and read books for about 15 minutes while I made breakfast. They were both in heaven. Ethan loves helping out and Courtney loves her big brother. It was so cute. It's moments like those that you just want to bottle up and release when they start fighting. ;)

Kid fun

Here are some photos that Grandma Pack emailed us from her stay with the kids. We have a blow up castle bounce house that my parents found at a garage sale and gave to the kids. It need more air so they don't play with it too much. Then Grandma helped them invent a new game where they jump from the slide to the bounce house and do a flip. They loved it and now all the neighborhood kids are doing it.

It works!!

Last August my vacuum wasn't working well and so I decided to take it apart. I soon realized that the belt was broken and that it had melted to the brush roller so they were both ruined. So I threw them away and realized that I can't get replacement parts in St. George. I got online and found where I could get them, called them up, ordered them and then was told that I could expect my parts around October 30th!! I about died!!

So I borrowed my parent's vacuum every couple of weeks and tried to make it through until the packages came. After a month I got the belt and then the other day I finally got the brush roller. So I put them all together today and the vacuum works great. I didn't realize what bad shape it was in before, but now I realize that it was probably broken for a while.

I spent the last half hour vacuuming everything in the house just because I could. Oh, the simple things in life. ;)

Aviation Nation

On Saturday, the Priests and Laurels were going to Aviation Nation, the Air Show at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. Ethan had his final soccer game, and he wanted to go, so Bryan waited until after the game and then drove down to Las Vegas with Ethan and 2 of the young men. Ethan was so excited to go.

We have been to the air show before but it was when Ethan was only about 1 1/2 years old, so he doesn't remember anything about it. They got there, parked and rode the bus in to the base. Then they walked around, looked at all the airplanes, ate lunch, watched the air show, bought Ethan a plane and then waited for the Thunderbirds to fly.

They had a great time!! Ethan couldn't stop talking about it when he got home. He is an airplane kid. ;)