Spring Dance Comes to a Close!

Its hard to believe that Karmindy has taken dance for a year now! Today was her last official day of Dance for the year! Karmindy has been so fun to watch over the course of this past year. She has gained more confidence and has grown as a little dancer. In dance this year, she focused on Tap and Ballet. She really excelled at both genres and did a great job. She has improved so much from several months ago at her Christmas Recital. Her classes were held on Tuesday at 10 a.m. before she had to head to Kindergarten. At the first of each month, I was able to go and watch her and what a joy it was!

Karmindy will have her final recital next week and she is more than prepared. Her teacher, Ms. Charlee Mascaro, offered the girls a sucker for a reward if the girls would pass off their tap dance to her with out any help. Two weeks after the challenge was given, Karmindy passed off her dance. She was tickled pink and so proud. I was so proud of her as well.

Luckily, we have Karmindy enrolled for a month of Summer Classes before starting again in the fall. We are looking toward to signing her up again for ballet and jazz this next year. I am excited to see her excel and improve upon what she has already learned.

Karmindy we are so proud of you and how hard you worked this year in Dance! We love you Sister!

Today as the girls were leaving, one of the mom's made these darling cupcakes for the girls to say thanks to all the girls! The girls were so excited for the cupcakes! I had to take a picture of them and Karmindy with her cupcake because they were both too cute!

Fun with Neighborhood Friends!

With all the new homes that are being built in our neighborhood and ward, we have been truly blessed to have some amazing families move into our little area of the world. One family in particular that we have become fast friends with is the Albrecht Family. Crystal and Joe Albrecht moved into our neighborhood this past year and our families have just meshed. Their two kids and our two kids are about the same ages and Crystal and Joe are also our ages. It has been so fun to get to know them. Our kids play great together and it has been so fun to be able to get together from time to time to play games, have BBQ's and just hang out. Crystal has become one of my very best-est gal pals and I truly enjoy hanging out with her and spending time with her. We have a lot in common and have enjoyed many a afternoon crafting, watching reality tv, and working out several times a week in the mornings. I am so grateful for our friendship and love when you meet a friend who inspires you to be a better person. Crystal is "my person."

This past week, Crystal was working and Joe was headed to a Jazz game and so they needed someone to watch their kids. They asked us and we were happy to help them out. After school, Cambree and Tevan came over and the kids hung out all afternoon and evening. For dinner, we splurged and got pizza and bread sticks from Little Caesar's. 

The weather was nice enough to eat out side and the kids enjoyed that. After dinner, the kids played until I took them back to their house for the evening to get ready for school the next day. The boys had fun playing the Xbox/mine-craft and the girls enjoyed playing dress ups, putting on makeup and giggling and teasing their brothers. 

It was a fun night for my kids to have their friends over. We are so grateful for the many wonderful friends we have in the neighborhood we live in!

 

Museum Of Natural Curiosity

We had the opportunity this week to head down to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi and check out the new Museum of Natural Curiosity as a family. Mark was able to get tickets to go to the Museum through work since Adobe has connections with Thanksgiving Point. We were excited to go and check out the Museum before it opened to the public. We had a fun evening spending time with one another and checking out all the that Museum had to offer. The kids loved the different learning areas and enjoyed trying all the exhibits. I think their favorite exhibit was Kidopolis. Kidopolis was a  mini city and the kids could do interactive activities throughout the city. After we checked out the Museum we headed to dinner at Chick-Fil-A, a family favorite. I sure love spending time with our little crew!

Odekirk Cousins

Two years ago, while helping out with Kaleb's 1st grade field day, I started talking to another mom who was also there volunteering for her daughter. I came to find out that Her name was Amber Odekirk. Amber's daughter, Lina and Kaleb were in the same 1st grade class. It was amazing how our conversation flowed and we had so much in common. As our conversation continued, we talked about where we grew up. I mentioned I was from Hurricane and she grew up in South Jordan/Riverton. Amber mentioned she had family in Southern Utah and then brought up that her maiden name was DeMille. I told her my maiden name was DeMille as well and that I grew up in Southern Utah. Long Story short, we figured out that both of our grandpas were brothers and our Dad's were 1st cousins, making us 2nd cousins. Seriously, what are the odds? We laughed and laughed that we were family and marveled at how much we had in common and were amazed how our paths had crossed. Fast forward 2 years and we still have stayed in touch and get our kids together from time to time.

While my kids were off track and Amber's girls were on Spring Break we decided to meet up for lunch at Amber's new home in Saratoga Springs.After lunch, we headed to a nearby park to let the kids play, while we caught up and talked. I love and cherish the time I get to spend with my cousin. I am so thankful for this unique opportunity to get to know my extended family better.

Jumping at Airborne

When the kids are off track, I try to plan one fun activity a week for us to do and get out of the house. The kids really look forward to getting out of the house and enjoy having something to look forward to. The kids both love going to Airborne(a trampoline jumping place) in Draper, Utah and had been begging me to go. I surprised them at the first of the week and promised them we could go if they helped around the house, did their chores and did their reading and some school work. It didn't take much to convince them to help out so they could go. 

Kaleb ended up inviting his neighborhood gal pal, Adilynne Hagen. He sure loves having Adilynne as a friend and they have been very good little friends since Kindergarten. Karmindy also wanted to invite a friend so we ended up meeting her friend Jake Simmonds their. Jake and Karmindy were in Preschool together at Small Wonders Preschool, and I have gotten to know Jake's mom Kerrie, pretty well. She is such a sweet friend and it is always fun to be able to go and let the kids play and talk and visit with another mom.

We all had fun at Airborne. We let the kids jump for about an hour and then headed to McDonalds for ice cream sundaes afterwords. The kids had a blast and I enjoyed visiting and catching up with Kerrie.

We sure love our fun times while being off track!

The picture above is of Kaleb with Adilynne Hagen and Karmindy with Jake and Stella Simmonds.

Wax Museum

One assignment that all 3rd graders at Midas Creek Elementary have to complete is the Wax Museum. The students choose someone that they want to learn about and then are asked to do a written report, oral report then participate in the Wax Museum. At the Wax Museum, the kids have to recite a 30 second diddy about the person they are reporting on. The kids are also asked to dress up as the person they are reporting on. Kaleb chose Abraham Lincoln to report on. Kaleb worked so hard on his written report and oral report. I helped Kaleb make a stove pipe hate to wear with his black suit and bow tie. He really looked the part and played the part of Honest Abe. We are so proud of Kaleb and how hard he works at everything that is asked of him. Way to go Dude!

Portraits

 I recently had the opportunity to get some portraits taken by a talented friend of mine. My friend Stephanie Sant messaged me on Facebook and  wanted to know if I would help her out and be a "model" for her for a day to help her gain some practice taking portraits .Stephanie is trying to get her photography company up and running. She also took our Family pictures this past fall and I love the work that she does!

I love pictures and haven't had portraits taken since High School. I was excited to help out my friend. Another perk of getting my portraits done was that Stephanie is also working with a friend of hers who does makeup. So I ended up getting my makeup done professionally and portraits taken for free.  It was such a fun experience and I enjoyed spending time with my friend Stephanie and helping her out. I am thrilled with the portraits Stephanie took and am looking forward to printing out a few to give to Mark to place on his desk at work.