The Dance Recital...

The day was finally here for the big dance recital! The girls have been so excited about their dances, the costumes, make-up, the stage etc. I took the girls back stage, got them all situated, took pictures and then sat down in the audience to enjoy the show with Todd, Allyson, Jonny and Melody. As the recital progressed, I started to get more and more disturbed by the costumes and more alarmingly the way the girls were dancing. Luckily for us, Katy was a pirate in her dance and Jillian was Belle. Their dances were cute and not immodest. I couldn't believe that the parents of the older girls (even the 12 & 11 year olds) were on board with what was going on. There was way too much shaking of everything and in general making the kids act older than they are. After the dress rehersal Katy told me that some of the girls had immodest outfits on. I told her that dancers have to wear leotards etc. so it is ok. Woops- I was wrong! In one of the dances, the older girls were wearing saloon looking costumes without the floofy skirts. Are you kidding me? It looked like they were wearing neglegees!!!! Not to mention they were dancing around like ladies of the evening. The straw that broke the camels back was the three year olds coming out in swimsuits with a towel velcroed around their chest. They looked cute, but half way through, they ripped open the towels and shook their hips and such. I'm not exaggerating--ask Melody! I had the girls registered for the summer session, but called and took them out. All 6 girls from the neighborhood decided to quit after the recital! If this is how the dance world is, I think we may be going the sports route wtih our girls! If I do ever put the girls in dance again, I am going to the recital first and doing a lot more talking with the ladies in charge before hand. This place was recommended to me by people I know, but aparently I need to do the investigating myself! The good new (sorry about my rant) is that the girls were darling, they had a great time, and both of them are going to use their costumes for Halloween! We also have video presentations available for anyone who is interested. Katy and Jillian will gladly watch it with anyone anytime!

Spring Break in St. George!

I am so behind on my blogging, but I still want to tell about the fun times! For Spring Break we went to St. George. Some friends asked Todd to play in a golf tournament and we wanted to go camping somewhere anyway, so we deciede to take the trailer and go there. That same week, I talked to Lori Cluff (my friend since grade school who moved to St. George recently) to tell her we were coming and she asked if Todd sold all his lots or what was going on with that. Anyway, she said Carter's boss might be interested in buying them, so Todd gave him a call. They had their golf meeting and it seemed like they could work together. Todd told him we were going to St. George and he offered to let us stay at his condo/house at Coral Canyon. I felt dumb at first, but we took him up on his offer. It was so nice and much bigger than our trailer. They had fun trails to bike or run on, a nice pool and clubhouse and it was on the golf course where Todd was plaing the tournament!

Anyway, the kids loved it! We got to visit Lori and actually all the Bowen's(they were all there too), and the Ruffners (the guy Todd is building the Park City house for) were also there, and the Revells who were playing in the golf thing all had kids for the girls to play with. Mom and Dad also came down for 2 of the days, so we were never lacking for something to do. We swam at our pool the first day while Todd played a practice round. Ruffner called later to ask about the house and we realized they were also in St. George at their new condo (which just happened to be where the Revells were staying). He said to come see it so we went and ended up having a bargeque with them. His wife is really nice and loves all of the dumb funny movies we all love, and our girls were instant friends with thiers! The next day we swam at their pool with the Ruffner kids (above)and then went to the golf dinner at Tony Romas. When we got back to the house Mom and Dad were there and heading out to Aunt Fae's in Virgin.

The next morning Todd went to the last day of the tourn. and the kids and I headed to Virgin to visit Aunt Fae and go to the town pancake breakfast. This was a big step for me--I don't drive anywhere weird usually. Dad gave me good directions and a map so we made it with no trouble. We loved seeing Aunt Fae's artistic and unique house! She is such a wonderful host and so loving to everyone. At the breakfast the kids did a t-shirt coloring contest and found a friendly dog that they fell in love with! Then we headed with Nana and Papa to Zions. We rode the Bus thing and decided to get out at the last stop and walk on the trail that goes down to the river. Papa taught the kids how to skip rocks, and now Allyson is always picking up "skipping rocks" where ever we go! She doesn't quite grasp the idea that they needed to be flat and such! The kids loved the friendly squirrles and Jordan had fun taking pictures.

It is getting harder to entertain everyone on these fun family trips as the kids get older. Jordan wanted to go to the nike outlet and the go-cart place, and I was running out of steam. Luckily, Todd was done when we got back from Zions, so we met him at the condo place(after stopping at the outlet) and went to Fiesta Fun! We miniture golfed, did bumperboats and the go-carts....as if we hadn't had enough fun already! After that, we went back to the Revell's condo for a barbeque and the Jazz game! That was a very fun and slightly exhausting day!!!

Our trip ended the next morning as I cleaned our guest house, washed the sheets and we headed home in the rainstorm. It is so nice to be able to drive a few hours in the cooler months and find warm weather. It makes me want to have a condo or something there someday. It may help with Todd's seasonal depression to be able to golf year round! Plus it is on the way to California and such...Grandmother and Grandaddy had the right idea!!!

I forgot to mention that before we even got out the front door to start the Big Fun, Allyson decided to give herself a haricut! Luckily Star next door has a salon in her basement and helped us out with an emergency fix. She cut the chunk out of the front side, so if you strategically place a bow or ponytail, it looks ok. Anywho, above is what the new haircut looks like, when she isn't looking like an orphan child!