'close your eyes mom'

I hear this expression a lot. Grace is always wanting to surprise me. The other day while I was doing the dishes, she was up to some good (little did I know). Luckily she documented (with pics) the whole thing.

before
(I must admit I'm a bit embarrassed by this pic, cause this is how it usually looks)

after
(somehow this little 4 yr old made our bed all by herself. She even had the flat sheet where it should be.)
I must say, this time I was surprised!

Dear Grace,

Mom said that you started something called preschool. All I know is, you are gone forever and it seems like you'll never come back. But just when I think that, you come home. I miss playing with you, sharing my trucks with you. But you seem really happy to go. So, I'll see when you get home.

(your first day of school)

(my favorite past time)


(look what mom made me do while you were gone)

love,

clark

once upon a time...

there lived a little ballerina who danced and danced all day long (Mondays mostly). Before she knew it, class was over.

As were her swimming lessons.

Her little brother even tried to get a piece of the water action any chance he could get.

But alas, she found other ways to fill up her days. Like hang-out with her #1 fans.

And her little brother also found things to do in his spare time, like play football with his dad.

the end.

next stop: bear lake

The next leg of our little trip (read previous post first) was spent with my family at bear lake. It was a slow start, but we eventually made it to the lake. Our plans were changed a bit when we woke up to rain on the one day we were going to be on the lake. Snap. Thankfully, we had my brother-in-law to the rescue with his 4 wheelers. So fun! The sun did finally come out on Sunday, so we took advantage of what time remained and the kids actually got to play in the water. Not all of my family could join us, we sure missed ya (you know who you are:), but we enjoyed ourselves with those who could make it. Time was too short, but I enjoyed every moment!

Grace and I waiting patiently to get there

The remaining pictures are not all in order, but you get the idea.

hard to tell just by looking at the picture, but you'll get a better idea of what Grace is doing in the video below.



happy birthday cowboy!

Sorry marie, I know it's not the most flattering picture of you guys, I just love the look on Clark's face

I think she's found her profession

first stop: snowbird

Grammy and Kay on the way down the mountain

I'm not ashamed to admit that it's been almost a month since i took the kids to utah and i am now just posting about it. I do, however feel awful about not taking a moment to see friends while there. Please know that i still love you all and will definitely see ya the next time we're in town. So this little trip was all about the family vacations and spending quality time with everyone. Our first stop: snowbird. It's one of my favorite places to go every year. One of my favorite things to do there is ride the tram up to the top of the summit, then take a chair lift down (pictured above). I love it!

kids are always so happy to pause throwing rocks to take a picture with their mom

Grace's first attempt at the trampoline. She did a great job. I wasn't sure if she was big enough to really get some air, but she proved me wrong. She wanted to try again later that day but thunder and lightning shut everything down.

the cousins (minus baby JD) on a rather short hike

here is Grace in action

Sneek Preview

In the ballet class, they are to put on a little performance at the end of the session. Here is just a sneek peek at what's to come (hope I'm not giving too much away:)

Seconds

(Cassandra's sad attempt of a self-shot w/ Grace)
We've had a few events in our family these last couple of weeks that we'll call 'seconds' (not to be confused with a previous post entitled, 'firsts'). Our first second was the recent visit of my sister Cassandra. This was the second time she has come to visit us since we left Utah. And she came to visit the second child of the family (me). We got to spend some real quality time, catching up, eating, shopping, etc. She's a lot of fun to have around, and so helpful! Come back soon CJ, we miss you already!

(our second attempt at getting Grace to take our picture)

Grace is the second best in her first-ever ballet class. She isn't the most coordinated of the group, but she sure gets an A+ for trying.

(always second in line)

This is Grace's second bike. It's a lot bigger and cuter and pinker than the first, but she does really well riding it all by herself (w/ the help of training wheels).

Meet Clark's second girlfriend. He dumped the first the moment he met Elia. They're a match made in heaven.