We made a quick 2 day trip to St. George this weekend so Regan could do a triathlon relay for the Utah Summer Games. An American Family Manager did the biking, Regan did the swim and Jared Chapman did the run. It was beautiful in St. George and we were able to swim with the kids a lot at the hotel! We of course ate at the Pizza Factory, hang out with the kids and our friends the Chapmans and check a temple off of the list for our Summer Temple Adventure!
When Regan and I were dating, we would come up to the American Fork Falls (Battlecreek) and talk (and kiss) for hours. It is a hike that Riley can do by himself (with some coaxing!) and then once you get to the falls, it makes it all worth while! They are beautiful and feel so good as they crash down and make a huge mist. We took the kids up to the Falls last week and after seeing them, they loved it! Now it has become a family favorite hike!
So after my summer concert a few weeks ago, I noticed that Riley needed the next size up of violin, so we went to the violin shop and got a 1/16 size. His old one was a 1/32 size. Now that we have 2 violins, Sunny is obsessed with playing the violin just like her older brother! She has to do everything that he does! The only problem is that she is still learning to be soft and gentle with a real wood violin and bow instead of her styrophome violin!
We are ready for Violin Institute this week! We will be in classes from Monday to Saturday, and Riley is doing SO great on his Twinkle Variations! He not only sounds great, but he and I are doing so much better on our daily violin lessons. He is listening to me better and so excited about violin camp!!!
My friend Britta came up with this great idea to get a pictures of the kids in front of all of the temples in Utah this summer. (A temple field trip). So we started last week with the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It actually was a very cold day, hence the crying kids in the pictures! It will be an exciting this to visit as many as the temples as we can throughout the summer!
So our little family is headed to Disney World in 2 weeks from today and I am looking for suggestions from anyone who has been there with little kids! The long plane ride will be interesting, and we have a 5 day park hopper pass so I am hoping that the kids will last 5 days of walking! I am bringing a stroller that lets them lie down all the way so they can take naps, but what about my stroller? I am going to be 6 1/2 months pregnant, in a hot and humid place walking for miles! Any suggestions for me as well?
On June 2nd, I had a Summer Violin Recital in my backyard! I had this planned for a while, and it was a great excuse to get my front and backyard into shape! For the past few weeks, I have been out in the yard working very hard-weeding a TON! I absolutly Hate weeds, and that is why I put down 2 layers of weed paper up on my rock wall to prevent them! I got and put down 23 bags of mulch on top of the paper, and put in a ton of ground cover to fill into the rocks! I do have to say that the yard looked GREAT!
This was Riley's very first Recital and he played 1 of the Twinkle Variations: Tucka Tucka Stop Stop! I sat on the side of him in case he needed help, but he did it all by himself and was not scared at ALL to play in front of the big audience. When he was finished, he gave a great big bow and was so proud of himself! He was even so excited to play for the recital that he whipped his violin out and started playing the open strings as people were sitting down! That kid has no stage fright at all!
After listening to his tiny 1/32 size violin and how squeeky it was, I took him to Charles Lui Violin Shop the next day and upgraded his violin to a 1/16 size and already he sounds a ton better! The first thing he said when he played the violin in the violin shop was, "Mom, this is a loud violin!!"
I am excited that Riley is finally getting the idea of how to play the violin! I will teach him for as long as I can, but eventually the truth is that he will need a new teacher! Someone who he will listen to better. I have 15 students currently, and I am so blessed that I am still able to teach the violin! I love it, and it helps our family out a lot!
Riley will be a student at The Intermountain Suzuki Institute in 2 weeks held at Juan Diego High SChool in Draper for a whole week. He and I will be going to Twinkle classes in the morning, and watching performances for the rest of the day! He is getting excited to go to "Violin Camp" and I hope that it will make him so excited about playing the violin! I want all of my kids to be well rounded and be able to play an instrument and a sport the best that they can!
Now that Riley has a new size violin, he already wants Sunny to play his tiny violin! Well, she just turned 2, you never know! Dr. Suzuki says that talent is not born with you, but that it is developed! Well, I figure I am just the person to help them develop that talent while I am at home with them and know how to teach them! Wish me luck on the road of becomming a Suzuki Mom!
Regan and I went on an aweome Weekend Trip to Lake Mead with some of our friends! We went golfing in Fillmore on our way to the Lake and that was fun to drive the cart. I don't think Regan likes to golf with me too much since I don't know what I am doing! From there, we drove to the Lake. Afterwards, everything in Mesquite was closed for dinner, so we ended up at a Kareoke Place. Not a minute went by when Regan went right up to the front and put his name on the list to sing a song. He ended up singing Light My Fire by the Doors. He absolutly LOVES to Kareoke, but what made this singing experience a little different is that there was a guy in the front row telling Regan to take his shirt off!!!!!
The next day, we were on the lake all day long. It was hot, so I jumped into the water a few times to cool off and that was all I could do since I am pregnant! Regan has improved on his Wake Boarding skills a ton though-he was even getting air! We ate at a buffet that night and had crab legs and shrimp!
I guess we got spoiled with 2 days of awesome weather because the third day had choppy water, so after we had lunch and swam around a little, we headed to Las Vegas.
We ate at the Cheesecake Factory in Ceasars Palace, and then just walked around and watched crazy people-one of Regan's favorite things to do in Vegas!
We stayed in a town house in Mesquitte which was sweet! It had 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and was SO nice! We had 6 couples with us and the total for staying in the town home from 4 days was $345! Not bad! We had an awesome time and we had a blast being with our awesome friends! Regan and I are so lucky to have such a great group of friends to have a ton of fun with all of the time! I only threw up 1 time on the trip-unfortunatly, it was where everyone could see and hear it! Yuck!
Thanks to my family, especially my mom for taking my little kids! I missed them so much on the last day! It was time to come home; back to reality!
We took Sunny to Boondocks in Draper for her birthday. We played minature golf, and she was just happy to hold the stick instead of playing. By the end of the afternoon, she looked like the last picture: exhausted! She got a fun car from my parents to ride around the town while her older brother rides his big boy bike around the circle!
Regan took a bike ride up in the mountains by our house on the wet, muddy Memorial Day! He came home looking like this, and I couldn't help but take a picture! He was caked from head to toe in mud, but lovin every minute of it! He is turning into quite the athlete and loves riding his mountain bike, or his road bike! He is getting ready to do a bunch of triathlons this summer and a half iron man! You go Regan!
We went to the Bluffdale Cemetary to remember my Grandparents and cousin on Memorial Day and then to Larkin Cemetary to remember my other cousin. It was raining all morning, so I was glad that we had an umbrella! Obviouslly the kids loved playing with the umbrella!
On Sunday, we celebrated Sunny's birthday at my parents cabin. We had a princess castle pinyata, pink cake, and princess everything! Sunny even wore a crown and was definently a princess for a day! My mom made Sunny the cutest blanket for her birthday, and Sunny loved it! She also got a swimming pool, dolly highchair/carrier, and a bubble bucket! I think she had a good time at the party, and it is always fun to have family around!
We spent Memorial Day weekend at my parents cabin at Vivian Park (up Provo Canyon).
It was so awesome to be in the canyons and to be away from yard work! Regan and I rollerbladed with the kids in the stroller from Vivian Park all the way down to the River Woods Shopping Center. (8 miles). Luckily, my brother Robby picked us up at the bottom to drive us back to the top. My back was pretty much broken by then! What an awesome workout and activity though! THe kids just loved it!
We hiked down to Bridal Veil Falls, and Regan and Rily hiked all the way up to the falls! Riley was such a big boy to do it because it is kind of a hard hike; especially coming back down! What a great weekend at the cabin!
Our Little Sunny Girl turns 2 years old today! WoW-what a big girl she is turning out to be! The word Girly Girl describes Sunny exactly! She is very concerned about the necklaces, shoes, dresses and accessories she wears. She pushes her baby stroller and grocery cart around the whole house like it's nobody's business!
We are so happy that she is a part of our family! She is just so cute and brings smiles to our faces. Hopefully those terrible 2's don't come our way! Or have they already come? Happy Birthday Sunny Girl!
Regan's little brother Jordan entered the MTC today. He is going on a mission to Taiwan and we had the opportunity today to go to the MTC with him today. We brought Riley hoping that he would remember this time and have the missionary flare; of course this plan did not work that well! He just wanted to play around instead of watch of all of the new missionaries. What do you expect, he is 4! Someday, he will be one of those missionaries though!
We went to breakfast beforehand and really got to spend some time with Jordan. He is so awesome and he is going to be a great missionary! I am glad that we got to see him enter the MTC today! It was an incredible feeling of missionary work!
Just when I thought the kids were reading books, I hear a bunch of giggling. Riley had snuck into Sunny's room, put all of her bows on him, and one on her, and were playing in Sunny's bed together!
Trouble! Just when you think as a mom, "yes-they are in bed, now it is my time!" Nope-it still takes a little more work to get them down and not giggling in bed!
