Aunt Tricia's Visit

It was so fun to have Aunt Tricia at our home for a quick visit.

She came to Ohio to present at a number of Essential Oil events...

including a class that was held at our home.

(Girls smelling oils)

Tricia has a vast amount of knowledge about essential oils 

and years ago turned me onto the wonderful world of essential oils. It was wonderful to have several members from the gym also learn about the benefits of using essential oils 

during the class she held here.

 

The girls could feel Tricia's loving and inviting spirit and were  

immediately drawn to her.

Even though she was here less than 24 hours she learned some about each of 

the girls and watched them all dance.

I sure hope I have half the energy and youthfulness at the age of 64!

The rest of the visit was filled with family meals, story times, evening chats, general conference and sharing funny you tube videos.

On Sunday morning we were able to have John (Grandma's nephew), his wife Anita and their daughter Emma over for breakfast. They live in a suburb on the other side of town and we have enjoyed spending time with them periodically.

Stories and horse rides...we basically can't go a day without those around here.

It was fun to share some creative and very funny you tube videos.

We were grateful that Grandma and Grandpa 

were able to make their way to our home for a visit.

Grandma Lewis says that this was the last trip that she 

will be taking on a plane and we feel lucky that it was here.

We are also thankful for Aunt Kelty's willingness to make many 

arrangements on the home front to be able to have been with us...

thanks Uncle Duane and Rella for sharing your wife and mommy with us!

Feis

We spent the second day of the visit at the girls' second ever 

Irish dance competition, this is called a FEIS.

(It was a long day for Aspen, can you tell? She was such a trooper and is excited to start lessons in the fall.)

We rarely have family present for any of the girls' performance opportunities,

so it was really special to have THREE family members there to watch 

each of the girls compete in six dances each.

 Grandma Lewis was a Scottish dancer when she was young.

 Here she is sharing pictures with our family of her time as a dancer.

The girls had a fun day at the Feis and brought home some medals.

Avery placed 2nd in her Reel,

2nd in her Hornpipe and 4th in her Light Jig.

Brinley placed 2nd in her Hornpipe,

2nd in her Light Jig,

 2nd in St. Patricks Day and 3rd in her Slip Jig.  

Grandpa, grandma and Kelty were so proud of the girls and 

provided much appreciated support to them that day.

The girls will be participating in three to four more competitions this spring/summer.

Lifetime and Laughs

 On day ONE of the visit

 great grandma, grandpa and aunt Kelty were able to be a  
part of one of my Barre classes at Lifetime.

I am always talking about my grandma who taught classes up until age 92, 

so they were very excited to have her there in person. 

Grandpa was able to observe as well, while Kelty participated.

Here you can see some of the members talking to grandma. 

Several stayed after class to say hello and tell her what an inspiration she is. 

Kelty snapped a picture of me with my dad post-class when

 I was nice and sweaty.

We took one with grandma and Kelty too, but it did not turn out well.

After class we toured the facility and had lunch at the cafe in the club.

Later that day aunt Kelty was ever so gracious to allow the girls free reign 

of her make-up supplies to create a masterpiece on her face.

Do you see all of the black dots and stripes on her face...that is mascara!!

Serious aunt kudos for that fun experience.

The girls also enjoyed singing various theatrical numbers and creating a mini play with Kelty.

Saying Good-Bye

Although I have many pictures to share of the time
that great grandma Lewis, grandpa Lewis and aunt Kelty spent with us, 

these ones of farewell hugs are particularly special.

My nearly 93 year old grandma made the two-flight trek to our home to spend time with our family.

It was a very special visit.

Uncle Quinton

Two weeks ago Uncle Quinton came to visit.

 He just arrived home from serving a  

two-year mission in Argentina  

only ten days prior to visiting us.

 

What an absolute pleasure it was to spend time with him.

The sweet spirit he brought into our home was nearly palpable.

Giggles did abound as he played and played and played with the girls.

 

Because Brinley quickly completed a 5th grade challenge of reading 40 chapter books since the start of school AND also completed the mother-issued challenge of reading 80 chapter books, she earned the family a trip to Sky Zone 

 and waited until Uncle Quinton's trip to cash in this fun reward.

 

On Sunday my primary lesson was about missionary work and Quinton was a willing to be my guest speaker. The kids were so excited to have a REAL returned missionary talk to them about his missionary experiences and even speak in Spanish. He did an awesome job!

 

 

 Taking Quinton to our favorite ice cream place was a must.

Uncle Quinton was exposed to numerous 

family scrapbooks, years of old blog entries and family home videos during his visit. He was a trooper and showed genuine interest in every family memory that the girls wanted to share with him.

 

Although we were able to do some fun things like go to Sky Zone and get ice cream,

the best part of having Quinton with us was listening to his mission stories, hearing him speak, pray and sing in Spanish and spending one on one time getting to know the once young boy who has grown into a man of great character and faith.  

 

We love you Uncle Quinton!

Thanks for spending a week with us so soon after arriving home from Argentina!

Spring Break 2014

This year for spring break we packed up the car and headed off, with everyone but Reese, to 

HOLIDAY VALLEY in New York  to ski for the first and last time this year!

Who knew a five hour car drive could produce so many "are we there yet" questions.

We survived the drive however and were able to spend two days skiing.

On the very first run of the trip Brinley took off speeding 

down the mountain and nearly gave her parents a heart attack.

(Nice ski patrol man picked us up for a little ride when we hit a very flat run)

After screaming for her to stop I rushed 

down behind and finally caught up to her at the bottom of the run. 

Thank goodness she was safe...

poor thing got going and had no idea how to stop herself.

After that little episode teaching the children to make turns with their skies pointing to the side of the mountain was of paramount importance!

 

Taking hot chocolate breaks was important because it was  

FREEZING and quite WINDY.

Here you can see Avery warming up her feet with her hot chocolate.

Soon enough the girls were all skiing very well.

Interestingly enough it was Aspen who was the speed devil and often down the mountain before her sisters. Avery on the other hand was very careful to execute precise form and Brinley wanted to be independent and go up and down a few runs with just Avery.

After the second full day of skiing we hopped in the car and headed back home

 to pick up Uncle Quinton from the airport that night at 11pm.

We had a wonderful quick trip and look forward 

to many more family ski trips in the future!

*A huge thanks to our fantastic babysitters 

Tessa and Robbie for taking great care of Reese while we were away!