Winter Dance Recital

Elsie had her winter dance recital this past week.  She is taking jazz/ballet and tap.

Enjoy the videos of her performances and just try to ignore her teacher's head.  I love Elsie's "trying not to smile" face!

Tap Dance




Ballet Dance

Halloween 2012

Another great Halloween has come and gone, and I've eaten half of Elsie's candy already!

Elsie was a witch this year.  We looked online to get ideas of what she could be this year, and she thought the witch idea was the best.  Not that I don't love all things Disney, but it was nice to do something different this year.  Qiana decided she also wanted to be a witch with Elsie, so they ended up being the cutest coordinating witches ever!

Elsie had a carnival at school that I helped with that turned out to be really fun.  I love getting to be at these school things with her.  The whole school did a parade at the end of the day.  I must say, I do love how people in Utah get into Halloween!  (There you have it, I do have nice things to say about Utah, too.  Haha!)   

Elsie before school.  She wouldn't take the broom to school, but at least I got a picture.

She was cracking herself up!

Elsie and her Kinder buddies.

She wouldn't look at me during the parade.  I guess I had reached my picture-taking limit.

Angie and Q came down in the afternoon to eat dinner and go trick-or-treating.  We had some snacks and Aaron and I carved our pumpkins in a hurry.  After a couple servings of buffalo chicken dip, the girls were antsy to get out.  We had such a great evening with the beautiful weather and two girls that were having a ball.

Cute witches...don't you think?!   (I had to wait until Angie was there for her to do make-up!)

Aaron was there.

Elsie as Wednesday.  One of my friends dressed her whole family as the Addams Family but was missing Wednesday.  I think they needed to borrow Elsie!

Our jack-o-lanterns.

Besides the meltdowns at the end of the night, I would say the day was quite a success!  And I'm throwing the candy away since Elsie doesn't even like it.  Well, maybe I'll have a couple more pieces first!

October Review - Part 2

LAST SOCCER GAME

Elsie's soccer season was great!  She ended up loving it, and was excited for every game.  Her coach was always encouraging her and cheering her on.  Her favorite position was still goalie, but she had a chance to play all the positions each game.  We always reminded her to get in there and don't be afraid to go for the ball.  Most of the time she would make it look like she was trying to get in the mix, but she just kind of ran around on the outside of everyone.  It was so funny!  I'm so glad she had a good experience and wants to play again next year. 

FIELD TRIP

Elsie had her first Kindergarten field trip, and I got to go along with her.  We went around to different businesses and the airport.  The bus dropped us off in the parking lot by Macey's, and then we had to walk around the strip mall to visit different places.  We went to Little Caeser's (the kid working didn't even know where coming so that one was kind of lame), Arctic Circle where they got a free cone, the Eye Doctor where Elsie got to see the inside of an eye, Frozen Yogurt place where we got free samples, and Macey's grocery store.  We ate lunch at the park.  Then we went to the Spanish Fork airport and got to see a helicopter and a small airplane.  Elsie thought it was great!  I was worn out by the time we got home.  Her favorite part was getting to ride on a yellow bus.

She didn't even come close to finishing that cone.  I ate most of it!

Elsie's Kindergarten class

PUMPKIN PATCH

What would fall be without a trip to the pumpkin patch?!  Most of them charge a bunch of money to get in and do their little activities, but we found one that is free and we love it!  There's a haybale maze, some pigs and donkeys, a hayride, a corn pit, and, of course, pumpkins (you pay for those).  Elsie brought her friend, Brooklyn, along for the fun.

This is the 3rd Halloween that Elsie has worn that shirt.  haha!

Other October Events:
-My birthday came and went.  We were in St. George (and driving home) for it.  My bday present was supposed to be my trip to Toronto.  But Aaron got me a new small camera, too.  Yippee!
-Parent/Teacher Conferenes were last week.  Miss M had great things to say about Elsie.  She said she loves having her in class, that she is very polite and helpful, is a star student.  It made me so happy!

Next up:  Halloween!!

October Review - Part One

ST. GEORGE MARATHON

Aaron did the marathon again this year.  His goal was to improve his time by 15 minutes, and he felt much more prepared this year.  He ended up beating his time by 19 minutes! 

But he said it was the hardest thing he's ever done.  I guess he pushed it way too hard the first 17 miles and felt like he was going to die the rest of the time.  It was so hard for him to keep going! 

Elsie and I were set up around mile 22 with Nicole and the girls. 

As we were waiting for Aaron and Jeff to come by, we ended up helping some lady that was about to faint.  Alexis and I went looking for help, and had to run forever to find someone.  I'm so glad I thought to bring my camera with me because I randomly looked up and saw Aaron running right past me around mile 23.  I was able to get some quick pictures.  He was just about dead, but he still managed to give a great smile!

This is how he really felt.

There's that smile!

CHARLIE

Aaron took Charlie out on a walk right before we were supposed to leave for St. George.  As they finished their walk and were along the side of the house, Charlie heard a loud truck and ran after it.  (He gets all riled up when he hears loud trucks for some reason.)  Aaron called for him, but Charlie didn't stop in time.  He slid on the road, and his back side went under the truck.  The back tires went right over him.  I heard this happening but didn't know what was going on.  Aaron came in, told me to find the number to a vet, and Charlie wasn't moving.  He was alert, but Aaron was sure his back was broken.  The guy in the truck drove Aaron and Charlie to the vet while Elsie and I followed.  Amazingly, the vet did his initial examination and determined that Charlie was fine.  He was moving his legs and tail.  We ended up having to board him there for the weekend, so they could keep watch while we were out of town.  He was pretty swollen and uncomfortable for a while.  It took a couple weeks for him to get back to normal.  We are so grateful he's okay!

LOST TOOTH

Elsie has had a loose tooth since late July.  While Aaron and I were gone to CA, she discovered it was loose and surprised us when we got home.  Ever since then she has been "wiggling" and playing with that tooth.  FINALLY, early part of this month it was barely hanging on.  When we got home from St. George, Elsie let Aaron work on it and get it out.  He had already pulled it, and she was crying and saying that it was hurting.  He showed her the tooth, they had a laugh, and then she was all smiles.  The tooth fairy brought her a dollar folded up as a heart.  She thinks it's the best thing ever!

IN THE YARD

Having our yard done this year has been so wonderful.  The girls are out there constantly. 

Just a couple cute pictures of Elsie and Q enjoying the warm October day!

September Review

FALL FIRE

Aaron and I kept talking about taking Elsie camping this summer, and it just never happened.  We're just lazy, I guess.  Finally, we decided we were just going to do it.  There's a little reservoir with campsites just about ten minutes from our house.  But then we got to thinking about packing everything up and not sleeping very well, we changed our camping trip into a little fire pit fun and a quick drive home for bed!

Angie and Qiana joined us for the evening.  Plus, we had the added bonus of randomly running into my cousin Ashley and her family who were up there camping as well.  So fun!

(Worst picture of me, I know!  But the mountains look so pretty, and Aaron looks awesome roasting the wienies. ;)

The girls ran around, played on the playset, went down to the reservoir to watch Cort fish, played in the dirt, etc.  They were loving it. We got to visit, eat some yummy hot dogs, and make smores.

I think this is my kind of camping!


TORONTO

Mitch moved to Toronto earlier this year to open up a new restaurant for the company he worked for in NYC.  Jared, Angie, and I were able to fly out for the family/friends opening!  It was such a neat experience.

Angie and I had a long day of flying, including a couple missed flights (good ol' buddy passes!), but we made it to Mitch's apartment around midnight on Thursday.  (I had been SO sick the few days leading up to this last minute trip, so this day was a little rough for me.  Plus, I felt so bad leaving Aaron and Elsie for four days when I had already been totally out of commission for three days.)  Mitch lives right in the middle of the city, surrounded by lots of apartments, bars, restaurants, clubs, etc.  Angie and I took the public transportation from the airport to this apartment and looked super awesome walking through the city with our bags and travel clothes.  We had to laugh!  Jared had arrived earlier than us, so he had to make a trip on the buses to the nearest Wal-Mart to get bedding for all of us.  Long day for all of us!  

Famous person sighting at the SLC airport.  Do you watch Intervention?  I do.  That's Jeff VanVonderen.

Bates sleepover!

On Friday, we took our time getting ready.  Mitch had to get up and get to the restaurant, so we were on our own.  The weather was rainy, so we headed back to the mall to return some unneeded bedding, walked around, got some lunch.  We took a little nappy and then got ready to go to the Noodle Bar (one of the other Momofuku restaurants).  We ate lots of delicious food and walked back to the apartment.

2nd trip to Wal-Mart.  How's that for excitement?!

Night #1 of feasting

Saturday, the weather was much nicer, so we were able to do an on/off bus tour of the city.  It was fun to go around and learn things about Toronto.  I really didn't know anything about the city.

Do you remember when it was cool to see a Hard Rock Cafe restaurant?  And collect the shirts? 

That night we got to go to Mitch's restaurant.  What a treat!  It was so awesome to see Mitch in action and eat the amazing food.  Some of it made me a little nervous, but I ate it all.  The restaurant seats about 22 people and serves a 10-course sampling menu.  The kitchen is right there in the middle of seating, so you get to watch them cook and prepare the food.  It is such an art.  I loved it.  I loved seeing Mitch do his thing and be in charge.  I was so proud!

Jared, Mitch, Angie, Kim, Vanessa

So proud of our chef!