INDEPENDENCE DAY

We didn't end up staying in Park City this year, but we still made it up to the Oakley Rodeo.  Good seats make all the difference in loving the rodeo.  One of the bulls went crazy right in front of us and even tore down the advertising banner in front of our row; it was pretty exciting.  It took several rodeo clowns to get that bull back in the pin. 

On the 4th we ventured over to Sandy City for the festivities will a bunch of neighbors.  The kids had a great time at the parade collecting candy, then we spent the evening playing with glow sticks, climbing trees, dancing with the band and watching the fabulous display of fireworks!  I love spending the day with my family and friends - it's a great tradition!

 

ONE DIRECTION VEGAS STYLE

In April Madi asked me if we could take a trip to Las Vegas to see One Direction in concert.  You see One Direction was not coming to Utah and Las Vegas was the closest place they would be coming in concert.  She told me that the tickets would be going on sale later that week and that Hailey was going to talk with her mom about going as well.

I spoke to Jen and we determined that it would be fun to take the girls and decided to get tickets.  Dan and I also decided to make a family trip out of it, so we ended up booking our time share in Las Vegas for a few days around the time of the concert in June.

The concert was at Planet Hollywood so Dan dropped Madi and I off and we met up with the Fowlks and the Winterton's for a quick dinner in the Miracle Mile Shops.  Before the concert began, we pushed our way through the crowds to purchase 1D t-shirts for the girls and then headed into the arena for the concert.

I have to say these boys are totally cute and it was a lot of fun.  One of the things I enjoyed about the concert was their love for doing what they do.  I think because they have recently made it, they have a passion for performing and really love entertaining the crowd.  Jen, Hailey, Madi and I all had a fantastic time singing and dancing with the crowd during the entire performance.  Madi's love for Niall became stronger that night, seeing him jump around the stage!

Exiting the concert was another story, because there is only one way out, it was a crazy mess of girls, I was so excited when we finally made it out in one piece and out of the crowds.

Our time in Vegas with the kids was also fun.  We discovered the most amazing crepes at the Paris buffet!  A new family favorite!  We also took the kids to the Hoover Dam and did the tour - very interesting (although I think Dan and I were more interested in the information than the kids.)  We spent a lot of time at the pool and spent an afternoon at Serendipity 3 as well. 

BINGHAM MINORS NUMBER ONE

Jaxson discovered his love for playing catcher this year.  Although he only got to play catcher in two games, he loved helping the guys out during practice.

Baseball season was a little rough for the family this year, Jaxson did make the Bingham competitive league; however we weren't thrilled with the coaching staff.  It is amazing how the coaches can make or break a season for you.  This was also the first year I wasn't the team mom for several seasons.  My biggest disappointment with the season was watching Jaxson get upset because they didn't give him many opportunities to excel.  Unfortunately the coaches were too focused on the guys from their last season and didn't give many opportunities to the other kids.  I have never seen Jaxson come home from baseball before crying and this was hard to watch.  Sometimes at practice he would stand in the outfield for 2 hours and just stand there, because they only practiced with the infielders.  Jaxson showed great promise last year and did an awesome job in whatever position the coach put him in.  He really enjoyed playing infield and boy does he have an arm.  It was excited to watch him make great plays throughout the season last year. 

 

In addition to Jaxson's disappointment the Bingham league was very disorganized and we didn't have a schedule until the week the season started (this was only a partial schedule).  We only were able to play Herriman teams this year, compared to last years 4 different cities.  My biggest complaint as a parent was that we never knew when practice was going to be.  We never had a set schedule.  I would get an email sometimes an hour before practice was going to start and this drove me absolutely crazy! Being a person that has to know what is going on and needs to have structure, this did not sit well with me and always put a wrench in our family plans. 

 

The positive note about baseball this year was Mathis Clarke, our next door neighbor was on the team; in addition to his good friend Jaden Quist.  Jaxson really enjoyed being able to play with them and I enjoyed the carpool.

 

Jaxson's team did take first place in the tournament this year, which was a great way to end the season.  I don't think any of us were disappointed for baseball to end this year, which is sad because usually I look so forward to the baseball season.  Here is hoping next year is better (it's time to start thinking about super league, I think.)

DANCING THE WEEKEND AWAY

The girls performed at Kingsbury Hall this weekend and both did a tremendous job! It was a crazy weekend with dress rehearsals on Thursday and Friday, Reagan's performance on Friday night and Madi's performances on Saturday. Not to mention that Youth Conference was the same weekend. (needless to say I was worn out) I took Reagan to dress rehearsal, left to go to youth conference for 20 hours, took Madi back down to the city for her dress rehearsal, came home got Reagan ready for her performance, attended her performance. Got up the next morning and got Madi ready and took her to her performance. Not my favorite part of dance, but seeing them perform, made it all worth it!

Madi has really loved taking ballroom this year and has made some wonderful friends. She wants to continue dancing and it makes me so happy so she her interested in dance again.

Reagan has loved having Miss Laura as her teacher for 2 years and has come a long way, since last years recital. She loves being able to perform on the stage. She thinks she is so big!

EASTER EASTER

We had another fabulous Easter this year. My sister Becky came into town, so we got all the cousins together to dye and decorate Easter eggs. Surprisingly it went quite well, with all the little kids running around. We also had our annual Easter Egg Hunt at Grammie and Papa's house on Saturday morning, which is always a big hit for the kids. The guys get so bored having to put out all the stuff that they just start throwing it all over the grass. This year we tried to make it a little more difficult for the kids, giving the kids a list of exactly what they needed to find. I think we might have gone too far (looking for a way to simplify next year, maybe each kid gets a color.) Every Easter Dan and I sit back and laugh at the older kids while they search ans search for their baskets. Its a good thing the Easter Bunny leaves clues, just in case they have problems finding it. They looked stunning in their new clothes this year, I love taking pictures of these cute kids. I especially love celebrating Easter and the resurrection of our beloved Savior.

UNDER THE SEA BIRTHDAY

Reagan celebrated her 5th birthday this week! So I enlisted my mom to help me with her party. Reagan wanted an Under the Sea party, so we made merpaid tail beach towels for all the little girls coming to the party. We served up a fabulous dinner with octopus hot dogs and star fish peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Along with blue jello, gold fish, swedish fish and clam cupcakes. We had a fishing pond, made seashell bracelets, looked for the pearls and dove under the sea. It was a fantastic party with colorful decorations all around. Reagan sure had a great time at her party, we topped off the night by having the family over for an under the sea ice cream cake. Some of her favorite gifts this year included; mini pillow pet and her moxie mermaid.

JAXSON'S "ROCK"- ING BIRTHDAY

I had a fabulous time preparing for Jaxson's 10th birthday! He decided he wanted a rock climbing birthday,which I was very supportive of, I had been so busy recently with work and other responsibilities that the idea of not having to plan the birthday party was awesome (which is very unlike me.)

I checked out several places and we decided on Life Time Fitness because we could schedule the party during a time the rock climbing wall was closed to the public and we would have the entire place to ourselves. So my job included getting the invitations out, making cupcakes and putting together the goodie bags!

We had everyone come directly to the gym for the party and I was able to decorate the party room with green and charcoal decorations and balloons. The kids all enjoyed the 1st hour or so of the party rock climbing. It wore them all out so it was perfect to serve them pizza right after.   All of the boys did an incredible job climbing the wall and were so polite and well behaved throughout the party. Even the party hosts commented on what a great group of kids it was. Reagan had a blast too and had no problem getting up the wall. She has already decided that her 6th birthday will be a rock climbing party.

After pizza and soda Jaxson opened his presents and tried guessing who each present was from as his eyes were closed and back turned to the wall.  It was pretty funny to have the boys come up with different accents to say happy birthday.  

The party hosts were also so accommodating and when I got up to help serve the pizza, they said "No, No, you sit down, we'll do this." I have never had a party where I couldn't do anything - IT WAS AMAZING!

We ended the party by serving"Rocky Road" cupcakes. I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, then added toasted marshmallows and chocolate rock candy on the top. DELICIOUS!

The boys all played basketball until their parents came to get them. I sent them all home with a nylon, drawstring back pack, that said ROCK ON. It was filled with all sorts of rock climbing goodies, including; trail mix connected to a carabiner, bottle water, pop rocks, air heads and a rock bouncy ball.

This was by far the easiest party I have ever done!

VOCAL POINT

Dan and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary yesterday! Wow, that is a long time! We would have loved to have gone on a cruise to celebrate (I found one for $452 per person, that went to the southern Caribbean for seven days) however, we did not have the funds to go on a trip, so I started thinking about what we could do to celebrate. Obviously a date night was in order, but I wanted to do something than the usual dinner and a movie. I started looking around at all the productions shows going on and there was nothing. Then I remembered that the group Vocal Point was performing. Unfortunately because I had waited until the last minute, tickets were sold out. I came across some tickets on KSL for second row and thought for sure they must of been sold already. To my great surprise the guys still had the tickets and was willing to sell them for face value. His wife ended up going out of town and he couldn't use the tickets.

I was so EXCITED to watch them perform! I loved their performances on the Sing-Off and felt that they should of won the show. It was really entertaining to watch them in person, because I sort of felt a connection to them watching them on TV (even though I really didn't know them). Some of the performers had changed since the show; however my favorite performers including; Jake and McKay were still there! One of the most exciting parts of the evening was when Tanner the beatboxer did a solo on stage. I could not believe or explain the sounds that came out of his mouth. Needless to say he is AMAZING! Apparently he won first place in a international competition last year and I am not surprised. The group sang several of the songs they sang on the Sing-Off, including my favorite, The Way You Look Tonight! Another fun part of the evening was when the base Robert started talking just like Elmo and then said he wanted to sing with the guys, he asked what part does Elmo sing, and he replied with a very low voice "Base!"

After the show Dan and I went to the Olive Garden at 10:30 for some appetizers! I really had an enjoyable time - what was most enjoyable was spending the evening with my wonderful husband, who I love and adore!

BLACK EYE REAGAN

So we left my parents in charge of the children and went out on a date with Jared and Erin while they were in town. Madi usually babysits for us; however she had plans with her friends, so they agreed to watch Jaxson and Reagan while we went to dinner and a movie. We had my parents bring the kids back around 10:00 after Madi got home, so they could go to bed.

Saturday morning Reagan comes running into our room and tells us that she has a black eye. I didn't have my contacts in, so I couldn't quite see what she was talking about and thought she was making it up anyway. When I was able to focus, there it was, a big shiner in her left eye. When we asked her what happened and she told us that she ran into the piano bench. I guess she had been turning off the lights and then ran straight into it, in the dark. I am assuming when she made contact with the bench, she fell onto the corner, which is what blackened her eye. Her eye was black and blue from the inside corner, all the way around. Not to mention swollen as well. The rainbow of colors we saw throughout the coming weeks around her eyes were beautiful; Reagan and I would comment on them as we were doing her hair each morning.

The great thing about her eye was Reagan had tumbling pictures a few days later, I was able to cover it up pretty good with makeup and the pictures turned out better than I hoped.

I guess this is my dad giving us a clue that they don't want to babysit or be in charge of the children anymore. I guess this is what happens when you leave the grandparents in charge. I told people that my dad gave her the black eye a few times and Reagan got so upset with me.

Her black eye lasted over two weeks. (Her eye is still not quite back to normal to this day as is is still bumpy and and swollen where she made direct contact with the bench - and it has been nearly a month.)

BASKETBALL FEVER

Jaxson had another fantastic basketball season. His team went undefeated in his division and the games are so excited and intense to watch. I really saw Jaxson come to life on the court this year, he can shoot and whne given the opportunity he can really score. During one game of the season he had the highest points of the game, scoring double digits. The great thing about his team is when they are playing for each other, they really do well. Another game during the season, everyone of the players scored in the same game - Now that's teamwork! His coaches are incredible and we love being a part of their team (Scott, Kody and Jeremy). Jaxson played on the same team the previous year and I believe they are going to continue playing with this same team for years to come!

Because the season went so well, they signed up to play in a Junior Jazz tournament, they played four games, however lost in the second round of the tornament. The coaches told them not to hang their heads beucase in the past two seasons, they had only lost 3 games. They had an outstanding record!

One of the things Scott said during the season to the boys I will never forget and I think it is a great slogan for these boys "Hard work is talent when talent doesn't work hard enough!"