Dance Festival @ Shelley Elementary

Every Spring Shelley Elementary has a dance festival where all of the kids get to perform a dance number for family and friends out on the school field. Mitchell's group (the kindergarteners) did a Humpty Dumpty number. Here he is in his Humpty Dumpty outfit.




Mitch really had a blast out there.




The 2nd graders did "The Monster Mash" Here is Meghan as a Zombie and her friend Brinley as a mummy.


The 4th graders did square dancing and were supposed to dress like the Utah pioneers from the mid 1800's. McKenna loves this outfit! And her dad just loves being in this picture.


Overall we had a great time watching the kids dance & they loved performing.


Claire loved the festival and insisted on wearing her "eyes"(sunglasses).

Claire being "too cool for school"!


Mitchell was able to show us his class room. He was so proud! Here he is with Claire showing her around.

Mitchell's Birthday Party and Kindergarten Program

Mitchell wanted a pirate birthday party this year. Here are all his mateys saying "ARRGH!"


The kids and I found some pictures of pirate cakes online to find ideas to help us make this cake. The whole process was a lot of fun, expect for the night before the party when the cake stuck to the bottom of both pans we baked it in and would NOT come out! After much blood sweat and tears, this was the result. Mitchell loved it! He didn't care that it almost caved in, or that the plank almost fell off. I don't think he even noticed. He told me his favorite part of the cake was "the sharks in the water eating the fishies!"

We found this really cool pirate ship pinata. Here is Ava, Pirate Princess up to bat.

Cap'n Mitchell and his Pirate Princess, Ava. and Kenna :)

The end of the treasure hunt! Yay!

For dinner we served hotdogs cooked to look like octopus and mac and cheese shells.

The food was a big hit!

Here are the pirates coloring their pirate pages.

The pirate bunch about to give their gifts.

Mitchell with his painting that was used in the program.


Some handmade tamborine action




There is something about this shot that reminds me of Ian. :)


With his FAVORITE, Mrs. Bigler! Mitchell has really liked his Kindergarten teacher this year.

Birthdays and BYU Spring Football

McKenna's 10th Birthday!

This wasn't McKenna's year for a big birthday bash, so we just had Grandma and Grandpa over for cake, ice-cream and presents. It was fun.

McKenna with Grandma Cynthia and Grandpa on her birthday.

BYU Spring football practice/scrimage is opened to the public. So, of course Hans, I mean WE, couldn't miss it. :)

Hans' and Grandpa's birthday celebration.

Can you decode the meaning of the numbers on the cake?

The kids had fun coming up with it.


Mitchell dons his spiderman finest to the party!

Meggie, Grandma Cynthia, Claire Bear and KennaBug all wanting to lick the frosting off of the candles! Okay, maybe not Grandma.

P.S. The answer to the candle riddle: Hans turned 37 and Grandpa turned 71.

Claire's Tubes

We finally discovered, after months of seeing doctors, doing tests, and being concerned, that Claire couldn't hear at all out of her right ear and only about 50% out of her left due to a lot of fluid in her ears. She also wasn't walking yet at 21 months because of the fluid which made her dizzy and affected her balance!

So....even though she has never had an ear infection, Claire had a little surgery to put tubes in her ears and drain the fluid. Thank goodness it worked!


This is Claire right before they took her back for surgery.

Here she is abusing poor "Lamby". "Take THIS!" She says as she stabs him in the eye.

This lamb has been in the family since before McKenna's birth. It was a baby shower gift, and has since become each child's favorite stuffed animal when they're young. Mitch still fights Claire for "Lamby rights".

The surgery was a huge success! That same day Claire started walking in circles, doing standing squats and giggling inbetween each one, and adding new words to her vocabulary. Yay for modern medicine and the wonders it can work!

Cousins Visit

Brandon, Celia and their kids came to Utah for a family wedding and we got to visit with them for a day! The kids had a ball playing with their cousins! We sure love and miss them!