So far, our Summer Temple Trips have included:
-Mount Timpanogas
-St. George
-Jordan River
Yesterday we took all of the kids to the temple to get another picture! They had a fun time playing on the grass and looking at the beautiful temple. After the pictures, we took them to the splash pad and ate lunch. This is a cool tradition and hopefully we can continue to get a picture of the kids in front of all of the temples in Utah this year!
So I am in a scrapbooking rut lately! I just ordered 550 pictures through Walmart.com (great deal-9 cents per print!) and wanted to paint my scrapbook room/laundrey room to get back in the groove! My sisters came over and helped me paing a crazy color in the room-kind of like an aqua green blue color with orange accents! Pretty crazy for me, but it turned out so cute and I have my scrapbooking groove back now because I have some inspiration!
Since my sister just got engaged, I actally am going to hold off on the 550 pictures I just got in the mail and start on her scrapbook and guest book that I will be making for her! Wish me luck!
I am SO happy to announce that my sister, Ashley, is getting married! She got engaged to Brett Bardsley on the 4th of July in Chicago where he is doing his internship! Our family loves Brett and all of us are so excited for the happy couple! I am SO excited to help plan the wedding-it will definently take my mind off of 87 more days until the baby comes!
I have always wanted to be a wedding coordinator, and I love playing with my quartet in weddings, so this is going to be fun! I am meeting with my mom and Ashley tonight to start getting checklists in order since the wedding will be in 2 months! {The Middle of September}!
Congratulations Ashley and Brett!
We had a fabulous time on our family trip to Disney World! We were gone from a Sunday to a Sunday and celebrated Andrea's 28th Birthday and our 7 year anniversary while on our trip! The 1st day we were in Disney World happened to be my birthday and Regan made a big deal to make sure I had a good birthday. He got me some comfy shoes (airwalks) and then before the gates opened to the park, all of the crowd sang Happy Birthday to me! Then he went to the town hall to have me wear a birthday badge all day! Well, I didn't think much would happen with me wearing that silly badge, but all day long, TONS and TONS of people said happy birthday to me! It was very cooL!
We went to The Magic Kingdom 2 times, Disney Hollywood Adventures 2 times, Blizzard Beach, Epcot Center, and the Animal Kingdom all in 5 days! We were going strong from 7 am until 10-11 at night! We walked SO much in the humid heat, went on Every single ride we could and had the time of our lives! Regan was so on the ball with running from ride to ride to get us fast passes!
The first part of the trip, we stayed in this hotel that was $50 a night (let's just say you got what you paid for) and then the rest of the trip, we were in a Marriot Resort that was so deluxe! It had amazing waterfall swimming pools and the room was great! We felt like going from Paupers to Princes! The last day, Regan was determined to go to a "Gator Farm" so we drove to this place where Riley was able to hold a baby alligator with its mouth taped shut!
Thanks to Regan for making this American Family Insurance Trip! It was awesome to spend some fun quality time with our little family!
Sunny was in heaven when she got to go meet 3 Disney Princesses: Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Cinderella! She went right up to them, gave them hugs and kisses and talked to them about who knows what. They loved Sunny because she looked so cute in her Tinker Bell outfit!
Riley's highlight of our Disneyworld trip was going to Jedi Training and fighting with Darth Vedar! I don't have any pictures of it, just a video, but it was SO cool! I am glad he didn't freak out on stage because Darth Vedar was huge and kind of scary! Afterwards, Riley got to make his own light saber!
Here are also some cute pictures of the kids dressed up as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell with Captain Hook and Smee! They had a blast!
Yesterday, June 29th was our 7 year anniversary, but we didn't get a chance to really celebrate it because it was the last day of our Florida Family Vacation and we were on the airplane for 5 hours coming home!
Here are some pictures of Regan throughout the 7 years! Do we look that much different now compared to our wedding pictures? Hopefully not! Anyway, a lot has happened to Regan and I in 7 years! We have both gradatued from BYU, we have gone through 5 cars, lived in 4 places, gone through many jobs, had 2 1/2 kids, purchased a home, and had many many adventures together! I can honestly say that I love Regan more today than when we got married. I know a lot more about him, that is for sure, and I feel like I am able to communitate with him so much better now than when we were first married. Having almost 3 kids has definently brought us closer together.
We have had wonderful times together, and we have also learned how to get through the hard times together. I am grateful for Regan and what he does for our family. He does so much for us and is the hardest worker I know! He won the trip we just got home from to Florida from American Family Insurance by selling Life Insurance. He also won a very distinguished honor while we were on our trip to Florida. For the past couple of months, he has been participating in a group called Junto which is a group for people who are starting new businesses. He was selected out of many people who applied, and every week, it was like he was on the Apprentice. He had many tasks to do with a group, and at the end, he had to submit a video of why he should be chosen to receive $50,000 for his start up company.
Well, basically he was not planning on winnning the prize at the end because nobody has ever won who was not at the final meeting, and he knew we would be in Florida when they made the announcement. Well, Regan got a message from the Junto President one night in Florida saying that Regan had been selected to receive the $50,000 start up money! I am just so proud of my husband because anything he sets out to do, he gives it his all and his best! He is amazing!
Happy Anniversary Regan! I love you!
From 1 violinist to the next...the musical tradition will stay in the family! Dr. Suzuki said, "Only pracice on the days that you eat!" SO that is what we will do! While I was observing other classes, Riley played Game Boy and was just as happy as could be lying on the floor playing his games!
Last week, Riley and I made our 1st tradition of hopefully many. We attended the International Suzuki Institute which was convenientally held in Draper at Juan Diego High School. Since Riley is just learning his Twinkles (the 1st song in the Suzuki Book 1), we attended a Twinkle Class and a Music and Movement Class all week long. When he didn't have classes, we attended concerts, ate lunch at the High School (Riley Loved School Lunch) and observed other violin classes.
His Twinkle Class was very helpful and the main thing that Riley learned was how to focus on playing and practicing his violin instead of just wandering and day dreaming. His teacher, Ms. Yong was great with him and he liked going to this class every day.
His Music and Movement class was full of singing songs, feeling the rhythm with musical instruments, and dancing. He absolutly loved this class and looked forward to it daily.
The highlight for me, as a violin player who attended Suzuki Institute since I was a little girl, and now as a Suzuki Parent was watching my little boy play all of the Twinkle Variations on the stage with everyone at Suzuki Institute. I even had tears because I was so touched by the sight. Let's just say that Riley stole the show! I have never felt like a celebrity until that final concert. Riley was on the front rown just playing his twinkles, but in between each one, the pianist would play an introduction and while she did that, Riley would start bending his knees to the beat and get so excited to play the next twinkle. The next thing I know, the whole entire audience, which consisted of 200 people started laughing so hard! At first I didn't know what they were laughing at since I was video taping, but then everyone around me started to point at Riley and saying, "look at that boy!". He was hilarious! He would be looking at the girl next to him as he was playing and really get into the music!
I didn't think much of it until a TON of people came up to Riley and I and said that he made the concert! The audience even gave the Twinklers a standing ovation and Riley had to bow 4 times! A guy even came up to me afterwards and said that they only reason why the audience gave the Twinklers a standing ovation was because of Riley! As we started walking to our car, tons of people stopped their cars to tell us that Riley did such a great job! Talk about feeling important!
All in all, Riley had a great experience and even was sad that it had to end! It was exactly what him and I needed for violin practicing! After this experience, he told me that he wanted me to continue being his teacher, and that he would "Never, Never, Never stop playing the Violin" just like Dr. Suzuki said!
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!
