On the Road again...

35 HOURS. That's how many hours I have spent in a car in the past 14 days. The girls and I were home from California for four days before we loaded up the car and headed to Las Vegas for Hallee's last dance competition.

We were lucky enough to have my sister Adree and her oldest daughter come along for some fun in the sun. 95 degree sun that is! We spent plenty of time by the pool soaking up as much sun as possible before we returned home to 40 degree RAINY weather!

(After watching hours of dancers pulling facials Caymbree struck this pose and asked me to take a picture. Could she be any more cute?

We stayed in an amazing condo resort that Troy found online. Only minutes away from the strip but you felt like it was miles away. It had beautiful grounds complete with waterfalls and ponds.

And let's not forget the full size jacuzzi in the middle of our bedroom. Sweetness!! We couldn't be in Vegas without a stop at the M&M factory! Caymbree was in heaven. We got one bag for all of us to share but Caymbree kept them under close guard and we were lucky to get any!

A chocolate lovers dream...

Oh and BTW - Hallee's team took first once again!! Such an amazing season for the entire studio! Congrats Hallee. You rocked it!

California Memories

Wow after reading that last post you might get the impression I'm not a fan of Disneyland. But let me set the record straight...I LOVE DISNEYLAND! I still think it is magical and LOVED sharing the magic with my family. Such an amazing vacation with so many fun memories. SO without further ado some of our memories of California Vacation 2011.

1) Hope walking up to two little CHINESE boys at the beach and saying "Hola." Then turning around saying "I've waited my whole life to say that." I am STILL laughing about it today.

2) Caymbree chasing the seagulls. Convinced if she tried hard enough she would eventually catch one.

3) Trininty being truly terrified of potential sharks in the water or a tsunami. NOTE TO PARENTS... Don't let your kids watch "Soul Surfer" a week before you vacation to the ocean :)

4) Hope asking "Mom, how do you say "ah hem" (think clearning your throat) in Spanish?"

5) Hope yelling at the top of her lungs, "I don't wanna die alone!" in the middle of the Thunder Mountain ride.

6) Chewbaca. That's all I'm gonna say about that one :)

7) The stares , smiles and under breath comments when an crusade of 7 little girls came cruising through. Sometimes we claimed them. Sometimes not so much.

8) Quickly coming the the realization that the princesses are starting to lose a little of their magic in the eyes of my nine year old. She's getting too old. :(

9) Lots and lots of laughing

10) Corn dogs at Disneyland! Yummy! No wonder Steve and Troy disappeared during the Pixie Hollow line!

11) Finally got to taste a Sprinkles cupcake. Good but a little overrated.

12) Not the best memory but a memory nonetheless. Poor Sansoms getting the back seats stolen out of their brand new (like 4 days old) SUV while we were at Disneyland. Came back to a broken window and missing seats. Spent the next hour (at 11pm at night) filling out police reports and cleaning up glass.

13) Balboa Island.

And now for your viewing pleasure... the last of the California pictures taken at the Newport Beach temple on Easter Day.

Disneyland 2011

Hello Disneyland! We've missed you....So fast thrill rides really aren't my thing. I'll go on them. But I don't always love them. Oh ya... and there is one I REFUSE to go on...TOWER OF TERROR. More like PUKE IN MY HAIR!!! First, I hate elevators. Second, I hate small spaces. Third I hate that feeling of my stomach dropping. So me and Tower of terror...NOT GONNA HAPPEN.

A little nervous before Scream'n California...

We've got plenty of that attitude around our house Vidia!

The one "fast" ride Caymbree was tall enough to go on was Matterhorn. I thought she would freak out once it started but she actually did pretty good. Although she had NO desire to go on it again.

Princess make-overs. Worth every penny! (Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice?)

Steve spent the whole trip trying to convince Troy that we should have another child. Pretty sure it didn't work. Dang.

Cute Daddy's taking their girls on the dumbo ride. Pretty sure it was one of the longest lines of the day.

The tea cups....better known as BARF-O-RAMA!

Stay tuned for more to come. Like our TOP TEN MEMORIES of CA 2011.

California Girls

Last week we packed our bags, ditched the snowboots and hit the road as we headed for fun in the sun in CALIFORNIA!!! Check out these California Chicks! Loving life on the pier. Who wouldn't after 11 hours in the car!
Don't worry...we did have some testosterone in the group. Poor guys...had to put up with NINE females! Why is it that every time I pull out my camera my girls strike a pose??

Jovie and Caymbree got a little tired one afternoon and made themselves a makeshift bed. Pretty creative if I can say so myself.

The ocean was alive and well with creatures. We saw a couple of whales, crabs, a clam, seals, and quite a few dolphins. One group got so close to shore we could have swam to them.

The boys kept themselves entertained with the skim board, body surfing and boogie boarding. The girls attempted it but didn't last long.

On the menu for our Easter dinner was hot dogs on the beach. Who could ask for more? Caymbree was intrigued by the seagulls and spent the night trying to catch one. Too cute.

Caymbree and Jovie

Have I told you how much I LOVE the beach/ocean? Because I do. Like really, really love it. I could sit and watch, smell, listen to it for hours and be completely content. So sad to have to say goodbye. It was an AMAZING trip with AMAZING friends!

I won! I mean SHE won!

When Hallee came home an announced that they had to do a project for the science fair I'll admit I was less than thrilled. I mean really science projects in 3rd grade usually mean a science project for mom or dad. For example, I'm the one that had to call around to find all the supplies, I'm the one that had to go buy them with MY money, I'm the one that has to sit down with her every day working on the project SO I guess I'm the one that deserves the grade hey? With that off my chest I will admit it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I tried REALLY hard to have Hallee do most of the work while I just oversaw the project. As it turns out she was chosen as one of the class winners and had her project judged to go on to the district level. (Is it horrible that I was secretly praying that she would not make it that far?)

In the end she did not make it to the district level and while she was a little disappointed I was greatly relieved. (BAD MOM!) Anyway, we had fun in the process and learned a lot along the way. And just so you know....flowers drink ICE water the best. Bet you wouldn't have guessed that!

Oops she did it again!!!

How is it possible that I can go my ENTIRE life without a broken bone. Troy can go through his ENTIRE life with only one broken hand (and if you knew Troy as a child that is seriously saying something) and yet our SIX year old has had TWO broken bones in the past year????

Hope jumped down a few steps while running away from Troy and landed on her foot funny breaking the little bone in between her big toe and her foot. (Technical definition hey?) Fortunately for mom and dad they don't cast that kind of break but she does have to wear a boot for the next six weeks. Unfortunately, Hope didn't feel so lucky. She wanted the cast and was devastated about it for the first two days. Finally I bought her few pairs of "cutsie" socks to wear under it and it seemed to appease her a little.

Guess we better have good insurance for this kid. Heaven knows we are going to need it!

Like Mother like daughter...

Hallee and I had a great time dressing up like "twinners" for her Activity Days Mother/ Daughter Night. We enjoyed an evening of fondue and a matching game where you had to match baby pictures to the mom and daughter. Apparently Hallee and I were a no brainer and everybody easily identified our baby pictures. Wish our scanner was working so you could see for yourself :)

I love nights like these where I get my girls one-on-one. Unfortunately, they don't happen as often as I would like.

Hug your little ones

Recently a friend from the dance world's 9 year old son Dylan was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. I have never met him in person but yet I find myself thinking about him daily. My world has been shaken and I don't even know him. Perhaps it is because I just saw his mom a few months ago; happy, full of life and very pregnant with her sixth child. Everything was so normal, so fun, so perfect. Perhaps it is because am not only friends with his mom but with his two aunts as well. And I know it is killing them. ALL of them. Or perhaps it is because my very own nine year old sleeps in the room right next to me. So normal, so happy, so full of life and so healthy. And I can't help but think that it could all change in an instant. For the first few days after I found out the news the tears came readily. I couldn't even look at my own children without wondering what I would do if the news was about one of them. It was heart wrenching! I felt like such a failure as a mother. Have I taught them everything they need to know? Do they feel loved and appreciated? Do I take advantage of the "little moments" with my children. Let's just say I wasn't settled with my answers. This is the part of the story where you would expect me to tell you about my huge transformation as a mother. It's what I expected. And that's what's so frustrating about it all. One moment I just want to hold them and hug them and the next minute I am ready to strangle them. Each morning I make a commitment to speak kinder, softer, more patiently and by late afternoon I am back to yelling and barking orders. Then the guilt and the tears all come rushing back. It is a vicious cycle I tell ya! Ironically the place where I find my strength once again is from Dylan's family blog http://dylandshaw.blogspot.com/ . They are amazing. Their faith in God renews my own. Their grace and dignity in coping with this horrific trial is inspiring. So I pick myself up and try again. And I am so grateful I have another day to try. And I'll try again the next day, and the next and the next as long as the Lord allows me. But for now, I'm gonna hold my little ones a little longer each night and tell them how much I love them every moment I can.

Tell me a story...

Hope has a new "thing". I see it as a bedtime stalling tactic. Troy sees it as some great one-on-one time and fully embraces it. Every night she asks him to tell her a story about when he was a kid. And every night he tells her a different story. So while tucking her in the other night she asked me to tell her a story about when I was a kid. My mind went blank. I started panicking. Did I have a pathetic childhood? Why can't I think of anything? Finally I told her the first thing that came to my head. It was a cute little story about my sister and I having sleepovers in her daybed and because the bed was so small we would sleep with our heads on opposite ends. I also told her how I used to make her tickle my back when she wanted to borrow anything of mine. And that's pretty much it. I finish the story. She looks at me and says "huh". Me: "Didn't you like my story?" her: "No, it was good." Me: "So why are looking at me like that?" her: "Well, it's just that dad's stories usually involve him driving something and usually crashing something. Yours just....well it just didn't have anything like that." GO FIGURE! I laughed as I kissed her goodnight but quickly realized I needed to step up my game in the story telling department and I have been racking my brain ever since. Hopefully I have come up with some good ones although most of them still DO NOT involve crashing. I have to admit it's been kind of fun reminiscing with myself about the good old days. And if your lucky I just might share some of them on the blog for preservation purposes. Lucky you!

Dancing Queen

Good Golly Miss Molly. Look at those pointed toes! Does her momma proud!

And if your interested you can even watch the video.

{Pause my playlist first before watching video}

So it's official. My daughter has entered the wild world of competitive dance. I have been really reluctant to do it up until this point for a number of reasons. 1) Once you do it there's no turning back (ok a little dramatic) 2) it's a huge time commitment 3) Money: it's an all access pass to your bank account and 4) it puts a major damper in my judging career which means not only am I PAYING out money for competitions but I'm also not MAKING any money at these competitions. But I knew it was time. So I set aside my judging hat for five weekends out of the season and put on my #1 FAN hat instead. I have to admit it's harder than it sounds. After years of watching dance critiquing each and every movement I find myself wanting to do the same with Hallee. Can you say "STAGE MOM?" I have to keep myself in check and celebrate each and every success instead.

We are now two competitions and no regrets from anyone. They have taken a 1st and 2nd place and her studio has taken OVERALL at both. We have seen HUGE growth in Hallee this year not only as a dancer but as an individual and leader as well. We LOVE LOVE LOVE her studio and their ability to motivate through positive reinforcement. It is truly amazing what a great teacher and studio can do for a child.