Every year the Dixie State College ROTC hosts an obstacle course race called Heroes Havoc.  This year four of the guys from the neighborhood including Taylor decided to enter.  The race is only 20-30 minutes long and consists of 15-20 obstacles that each person on the team has to complete individually or collectively.  The guys had a great time and ended up taking 1st place (not including the ROTC teams).  At $5/person + a free T-shirt it was a cheap way for these guys to act like kids.

Lydia had a ballet recital just before we moved.  Before going on stage, each of the girls was told that they would get a flower after the performance was over.  Apparently Lydia thought she would receive her flower before leaving the stage because after the dance was over and the girls had curtsied, they all hurried off-stage except for Lydia who remained frozen in a curtsy until she realized she was alone.  It was the cutest thing.  She sure enjoyed dance this year and says she wants to dance again in the Fall.

Hey, who is that miniature preschool student in purple pants?  Oh, that's Penny enjoying her one and only day of preschool with big sister Lydia the last time she was the star for the day.  By watching them play at recess it was clear that Penny was just about as comfortable as Lydia with the other kids.  We couldn't have asked for a better preschool experience for Lydia.  Here are a few preschool facts:

School Name: Watch Me Grow

Years: 2010-2012

Teachers: Grandma Smith and Miss Julie

Class According to Teachers: The Best Behaved and Most Mild

Lydia According to Teachers:  Same as above.  J/k, that's not fair to the others :)

Lydia's Highlights:

-Learning to do the monkey bars

-Being the star for the day

-Show-and-Tell

-Homework assignments

-Learning to read

-Meeting Jada Phillips as a new friend

-Having neighbor Mason as a carpool buddy

-Showing mom and dad the crafts she made

We are so proud of you Lydia.  If you maintain your passion for learning you will always be successful as a student.  What a wonderful start to a lifetime of learning.

Three weeks before we moved Lydia started her first season of coach pitch baseball.  She turned out to be the only girl on the team sponsored by Mike's Barbershop.  Her coaches were Mike the Barber and his son Josh who sang with Taylor in High School.  They worked so well with the kids!  Lydia got to play in a few games before we moved and even got a hit or two.  Her favorite part of the experience was the treat at the end of each game.  Penny never missed a practice or game that Lydia went to and was always right in the middle of the action.  Thanks to all the great friends and family that came out to support the kids from Bristol Park.

I am so behind on my blogging.  I am about a month behind because of the move!  Love summer days :) Here are a few of the kids playing in the sprinklers! We are missing you Z-bug :( and everyone else too.   But we are adjusting well to a new place and feel welcomed by so many new friends.  I will catch up soon hopefully and then my posts will be current.

Easter in Spanish Fork with Grandma and Grandpa Ludlow.  These two people are amazing. They raised seven wonderful children in this little house!  It was such a special easter it took me back to when I was a kid.  We always had Easter at grandma's  house.  It was so fun seeing my kids easter egg hunt just like I did as a kiddo.

Our little angels looked so cute in their Easter dresses made by Grandma Linda.  We spent one evening taking pictures in these awesome industrial tubes where I worried every second that one of the girls was going to fall and get hurt on the bolts that were sticking out everywhere.  For Easter, we went to Northern Utah to enjoy a wonderful weekend with Ruby's family.  We visited the new City Creek Center in Salt Lake, swam at the Dimple Dell Recreation Center, and had a wonderful lunch and Easter egg hunt at Ruby's Grandma's house in Spanish Fork.  We feel so blessed to have so much!

Taylor:  "Are you a baby or a big girl?"

Penny:  "I a Baby!"

Please stay a baby forever, your mischievousness will get you in trouble 

one day, but combined with your sweet innocence, it's adorable.

The other day Lydia was in the tub when Penny got out of bed.  Lydia turned to Ruby and said, "it's a good thing I am taking a bath, my private parts stink bad."  Penny, never one to be left out said, "mah praht pahts sink, ......... bad!"  This is one little girl who wants to do everything big sister does.

   

Lydia has surprised all of us with her bike riding skills.  For awhile she was terrified to have her training wheels off and one day she asked if she could ride the neighbor boy's bike which did not have training wheels.  She got on and after Ruby held the seat for about 50 feet, she let go and Lydia was off and going alone.  She never looked back.  Since that day she has spent almost every waking hour riding her bike.  She tries to copy all of the tricks the neighbor kids do and has personalized them by naming each one.

She can ride one-handed, standing up, standing on her bar, side saddle, in the dirt and grass, in the "butterfly" position, and nutbar down ... not sure what that means.  She is also obsessed with riding up to "Bluffstreet" (Bluffview Townhomes) and back.  Way to go Lydia.