Dance Competition

Courtney had her first dance competition of this year and they did amazing!  She is only in the 6-12th-grade class, so she had 2 dances this year to prepare.  They received top marks on both dances which was amazing.  I hadn't seen the lyrical dance before and I was blown away.  Courtney gets to walk on girl's backs and she is the center in the dramatic portion.  It was neat to see and she did really well. (videos are below)

Courtney is the 5th from the right (on her knees reaching her right arm out):

Courtney is in the center:

Courtney is the blurry one in the middle:


Lyrical routine (hopefully it works):

Poor CRX

I don't like pictures like this...and it happened twice in 2 weeks.





I will admit that the second time, I cried when they were driving her away on the back of the truck.

She is all fixed now so Ethan can start practicing driving a manual.

Disneyland - Day 2

The second day was our California Adventure day!  I, once again, got us a MaxPass for the day so we wouldn't have to wait in long lines and I was very grateful.  Cars Land is crazy in California Adventure so we knew that when the park opened we had to book it for the Radiator Racers because that line never gets shorter.  So we got a MaxPass for the Racers but we also go in line.  But the Racers weren't working so we left the line and went to Soarin' because we knew that would have a long line later.

We ended up riding Racers later and doing Soarin' a couple times, thank to the MaxPass.  We didn't realize that the Toy Story ride didn't open until 10 a.m. but we were able to get in line for that although it was a long wait.

California Adventure doesn't have too many rides we wanted to ride on so the day was kind of long because the lines were super long and a lot of rides were closed or being refurbished.  Courtney and Bryan did the Grizzly Run.  We watched sourdough bread being made. And I forced everyone to go on the Ariel ride before it broke down. ;)

The kids were pretty tired when we finished.

Courtney liked Cars Land.  She wouldn't stand in line for Lightning McQueen pics though.



He was tired after we dragged him all over the place.

Courtney was tired too!

Courtney's best friend has a Monsters University hat so Courtney wanted to get one too.  She has some rosy cheeks!

It rained for a bit so we decided to watch them make sourdough bread and get a free sample.



We had to buy some in the shape of Mickey!


Radiator Racers! This pic was the second time we rode it when we figured out where the camera was. Ethan had fun with this one!




This is a video of the sourdough bread being made.  It smelled so good!

We drove home on Wednesday.  We were going to drive to the beach and hang out for a bit but the van was acting up (misfiring in the engine) so we decided to just hobble home.  It was a bit nerve-wracking to drive on California freeways with a van that was lurching but once we got past Mesquite, the van started working perfectly again.  For some reason, it just doesn't like California.  Must be all the crazy drivers! haha!

It was a great vacation though and we had a lot of fun!

Disneyland - Day 1

We decided to take the kids to Disneyland for Spring Break in March.  Actually, Bryan told Courtney had would finish her room downstairs before her 12th birthday or he would take her to Disneyland.  Then we decided we didn't want them to move their rooms downstairs so we just planned a trip to Disneyland. ;) 

We drove down on Sunday afternoon which was a HUGE mistake!  We didn't remember that traffic would be horrible outside of Vegas until we hit it and it took hours to go a few miles.  Ugh!  We finally got to our hotel near the park after 8 p.m. 

I went to the office to check in, was given a key, and we grabbed the bags to go to our room.  I put the keycard in the door, opened the door, and realized that the room was already occupied!  I hurried and backed out then went to the office for a new room.  Courtney wasn't very happy about it and kept saying the hotel was "sketchy."  I told her that she didn't know the meaning of a sketchy hotel but that we could find her one if she wanted to see how sketchy they could get. ;) 

When we finally got settled in our hotel room, Bryan and I walked to Disneyland to get our tickets.  I had bought our tickets months before (right before the price hike and on sale, so we scored!) but we needed to trade our vouchers for actual tickets.  We waited in line and got our tickets.  The nice lady showed me how to get our tickets lined to the app on my phone and then explained a bit more about MaxPass (which is AMAZING).

We all slept well that night but got up early so we could get to the park early.  We were only going to be there 2 days so we went to Disneyland on Monday and California Adventure on Tuesday.  We waited in line, got into the park, and then I bought the MaxPasses for our tickets while we waited in Tomorrowland for the park to officially open.  Then we were off!

It was an amazing day!  Between the MaxPass and the RideMax program I had used (which planned our day for us to minimize wait times) we rode everything we wanted multiple times by 11 a.m.!  We went on Star Tours a few times (with Ethan finally being the rebel spy), Space Mountain a couple times, Astroblaster a few times, Autopia, Matterhorn (which was finally open when we were there, that's the first time the kids have ridden it), Pirates of the Carribean, and the Haunted Mansion (where they really don't give out death certificates, we asked).  The weather was perfect and it was beautiful in California!

Ethan got stopped at security each time we went in and out because of his belt. We went on rides in the morning, went back to the hotel for a swim, a nap, and lunch.  Then we went back to the park in the afternoon and again in the evening.  It was a relaxing time and the park wasn't too crowded. 


This was the second time for Space Mountain and the kids went alone.

This was the first time on Space Mountain and we went with them. This isn't my favorite ride in the park but I had to go once with the kids.

Courtney got through Autopia quicker than we did so she waited for us on the bridge.

Waiting for Star Tours to begin.  This is our favorite ride but Bryan gets a bit motion sick on it so he waits outside for us when we ride it multiple times.

I don't know what was happening in this photo but I'm sure it was funny.

Courtney and her mouse ears.

Our hotel was only 3 blocks from the main entrance so it was really nice to go back and forth.

Ethan helping his sister out by giving her a piggyback ride!

Bryan got a TON of comments on his shirt and a lot of high 5s from dads all over the park.


The pool was really cold!  Bryan told Courtney he would pay her if she would jump in.  She actually did it!  I think it was $10 but I can't remember for certain.  Here is the video he took of her jump.  I felt the water with my feet and it was way too cold for me!

Crazy kids!

Courtney sent me this link to photos she has taken on her iPod.  They are such fun and crazy kids!!

ZYSO performance

Bryan took Courtney to her ZYSO performance and it turned out that they were the opening number for the real concert.  They played while people were coming in so we were glad we had free tickets.  Courtney and Bryan stayed until midway through the concert then they came home.  It would have been a really long night had they stayed the entire time.

But Courtney's name was in the playbill!

Coyote Cup

Courtney's soccer team was invited to play in the Coyote Cup in Mesquite, NV.  We got a text Thursday asking if we wanted the team to participate and the first game was Friday.  It was crazy but the girls did wonderfully!

On Friday, I checked Courtney and Sammie out of school an hour early, dropped Sammie off to change, brought Courtney home to change, picked Sammie up, and drove to Mesquite. 

They weren't happy but I wanted a picture.


The game was one they were hoping to win because the team they were playing had already lost a game that day 5-1.  It was cold and windy so the ball didn't land where they were aiming and the last 5 minutes were stressful, but they ended up winning with a score of 4-1.  Courtney had some good plays and the girls were feeling great because they haven't won in A LONG TIME!

Watch for Courtney's bright pink cleats.


Saturday morning we got up, sent Ethan on his way to a teacher/priests activity, and then loaded in the van to drive to Mesquite.  It was, again, cold and windy, but today the wind wasn't kicking up the dust and the sand so it wasn't as bad.

They were playing the team that beat their opponents Friday by 5-1 so they were nervous.  But they came out and played really well.  They beat the other team to go into the championship game!  Yes, it was a small tournament so there were only 3 in their bracket so they were to play the winner of the other bracket for the championship.







Courtney had a ZYSO concert that evening so she missed the championship game.  They ended up losing but they got 2nd in the tournament, which is really great for a team that hasn't won in A LONG TIME!  This should really boost their confidence for the new season!

They got medals too, which made Courtney really happy.  She got hers at practice.