Chicago trip.....ben will be posting text soon!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
All In "The Program"
This year was Sophia's first year in the Primary Program, and Aubrie's last year. So it was a bit bitter-sweet for me. I was so grateful, however, that I was lucky enough to have all my kids in the program at least for one year. All the kids, but Boston, were sitting on the same side, and luckily we could see Boston up on the top row, so I spent the whole time trying to give them all equal "looking" time! That was a lot of work! LOL
Aubrie had to give a talk. Her talk was on "How choosing the right has blessed her life". She spoke about certain standards she has kept that will help her keep the Strength of Youth standards when she is a Young Women. She told about her decision not dance at a Sunday recital when she was four, and her decision to call and ask if she could watch a particular PG 13 movie, when she was at birthday party a few years back. She did a GREAT job! We had several people tell us that.
Boston and Ethan did very well with their parts. Boston memorized his, and Ethan read his. They both looked really sharp in their suits! They both sang all the songs and knew all the words. Ethan's class had a special singing part, and Ethan got a bit shy then, but I could still hear him. During the program all the boys sang "Praise to the Man." Ethan and Boston sang their loudest then. The Spirit was strong when all the young boys sang that song!
Sophia was a hit! She stood in the front the and she sang louder than anyone. She knew a lot of the words, and just faked the ones she didn't know. Not only did she sing, but she rocked back and forth to the music as she sang. She also memorized her part, and said it loud and clear. Everyone was talking about her, and I could even overhear people that didn't know she was my daughter talking about that "cute girl in the pink polka dot dress that sang louder than everyone." My Mom was loving it, as it reminded her of me at that age! I could see her tear up in the back. Sophia really enjoyed being up there, and you could see it. I hope she doesn't lose that zeal for life, and not caring about what others think. Even though they all just adore her!
By the end of the Program I was exhausted from laughter.
Oh, one of the funniest things about the program was when one of the Deacons picked up a piece of bread that fell on the ground and put it back in the tray. We were glad he wasn't passing to us!
Paino Recital 2011
The weekend before school started up, Aubrie and Boston had a piano recital. They are now back with Heather. She missed teaching them, and fit it in her busy school schedule. She combined with another teacher, since my kid are her only students. Boston played a song by Mozart, and a Star Wars Medly by John Williams. He probably would have played Clocks by Coldplay, if she would have let him. He plays that song every morning. In fact, a few weeks ago, Boston said there was a guy in the lunch room at school with a piano, advertising for his piano lessons. His friend got on and played a song out of his piano song book. Then Boston asked if he could get on and he played Clocks, of course. All his friends came over to watch and listen. Since then, he has been tagged as the musical kid! He said he is trying to get together a band! Ha! Ok, so back to the recital. He did a great job! The Stars War Medly was the hit! Lots of clapping!
Aubrie worked really hard on her piece. She played Morning Mood by Evard Grieg. It is a very pretty song, and it was difficult to play. I'm impressed that she stuck with it! She also had a great response from the audience. The kids also had to write up reports on their composers. I liked that they had to do that! It makes them really appreciate music more. I'm thankful for Heather, and her love for my kids and her patience when they go through there "musical slumps!" They are becoming great pianists. I can't wait till they are playing hymns from the song book for family home evenings! That what matters to me.
August 2011 Beach/Disney Trip
So here we go, round two with the Beach/Disney except this time we were at the Hendrickson's. They were so great to accommodate us. We loved staying there. Aubrie had the girls to pal around with, and their boys are also our boys age. We got to their house Thursday night. Their girls were at girls camp till the following morning. So we woke up and went to Disney first thing, and then LouAnn met us with the boy later in the day. We were able to get on Star Taurs twice in a row, and were happy to FINALLY get all the segments. Not only did we get all the segments, but I was the spy on one of the rides. It was the first ride we rode when we got to the park. Sophia started freaking out, saying she didn't want to ride the scary ride. She was getting it confused with the Tower of Terror since you can't see the ride till your on it. We finally got her on it, and she liked it. Our next ride was Space Mountain, and she fought us the whole time. She was screaming as we were sitting down with her, and so Ben just had to walk off, she was so hysterical. We realized we scarred her by blindsiding her with Tower of Terror the last time we went to Disney. She still will not ride Space Mountain, and even if I mention it to her she gets upset. Disney wasn't very busy, and the weather was great in the morning. We spent the other half of our day over at California Adventures. We didn't ride the roller coaster last time we were there, and so we HAD to get that in! Also, we rode the new Arial ride for Sophia. Our last ride of the night was Soarin over California. We waited in line, right before you get on the ride for 30 minutes. They wouldn't tell us what was going on, but we knew someone had to be hurt. When we got off the ride, we saw a family crying and then saw a person on a stretcher gettting worked on. We still don't know what happened to them, but since they started the ride again, we assumed it had nothing to do with the ride.
Super exited waiting in line face!
Sunday we went to church with the Hendrickson's. The kids thought it was cool to go to church with their friends. Sophia had no problem going to primary by herself, and Aubrie was elated that she got to go to Young Women with Jamie. I went to Relief Society by myself. It was a great ward. The building was really cool. It's a two story building and has two chapels. The kids thought it was the coolest thing. While there, we ran into the Cooks (Andy and Carrie). It was nice to see her. Later that evening we had a BBQ at the Hendricksons with the Hellewells, and Nelsons. It was so nice to be surrounded with old friends. This trip made me really think about moving there. I realized how much I loved being with our friends, how much I miss the weather, and the people there. It's so laid back, and low drama. I love it there! It actually got Ben wanting to move there, too. Its now in the back of our minds, if there ever is a possibility. It's in the Lords hands, now that he knows we would consider it. So many things I would miss here, and so many things I wouldn't. Ok, can't think about it now. So many attachments here! Anyway, it was a GREAT trip! Also on this trip we were introduced to "Kids History" on youtube. Check it out sometime! You have to watch them a few times to appreciate them!
Madrid Soccer/ Music Graduation
In between our two trips to California, Ben slipped in another trip of his own, as he met up with Chad Snow for the Real Madrid/ Chivas Mexico Soccer game. Both of them served their missions in Spain, and he invited Ben to the game. I was excited that he could go! He had a great time, especially since Madrid won 4-0!!
As the summer was winding down, so was Ethan's music class. He has been in the Let's Play Music program. It is a three year program, but fortunately he was able to do the two year accelerated program, and he graduated the end of July! At the end of the program they compose/write their own song. I'm so proud of his originality, and love for music. He doesn't love to sing, but he really likes to play the piano, and make up his own stuff. I'm glad he stuck with it. He was the only boy in his class! He is now in piano and doing great. I hope he sticks with that! At the graduation all the kids had to play the song they wrote. When he played his, he was standing and moving his legs. He was FEELING it! The parents got a good kick out of it. What a funny boy! LOVE HIM! 
On a side note, here is the "eco friendly" robot Ethan made at Robot camp. He also made a real robot. He had a great time. Notice him in his gymnastics jersey. He loved taking gymnastics. He is strong and fearless. He made the team over the summer. Once soccer started it was way too much. Then mad science conflicted and he chose mad science instead of gymnastics. He was sad when they cancelled mad science!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
July 2011 California Beach/Surprise Disney Trip!!!
Well since plans to Canada and China didn't pan out this summer, we decided to take the money we were going to use for that and buy Disneyland passes. That decision was made when I realized that Sophia was tall enough to ride most of the fun rides. We didn't tell the kids about Disneyland, and just told them we were spending time with the Hellewells and at the beach. They were complaining a bit about that, because they were having some feuds with their kids over the holiday, but when we arrived, you would have never known! The kids were like best friends, as they disappeared all having fun playing their various activities. The boys bunked with their boys and had fun doing boy things, and Sophia had fun playing with the younger two. Aubrie was the odd girl out, and just did her own thing. We had a nice surprise when we arrived, as we both saw Kristen's stomach was a little bigger than normal. She is having another girl, and we are super excited for them! I immediately had her gift made for her for the next trip we took out there a few weeks later.
Sophia making herself at home!
Kristen and I went to Costco to get food for the next day, and while there I found Aubrie's bedroom set, that we got her when we got back. So going to California served us many purposes! When we got back from shopping we met up with the Hendricksons at our Yummy Mexican food place for dinner, and then came back to play cards !
It was GREAT going out like old times. They are amazing friends who we can easily pick up where we left off, no matter how much time its been. It was like the college days all over again. We finally cut the night off around midnight, because we had a big day ahead of us which started off with a crepe breakfast with everyone. Mark and I had some chatter on facebook about the crepes he taught me to make, and how the Hendrickson's have never had them. It was a joke of course, but we decided a crepe breakfast was in order. It was super yummy, and the kids had a great time eating and playing. As soon as breakfast was over, we cleaned up and packed up for the beach.
I LOVE the beach we go to there. It's Mark's parents private access beach. So it's not overly crowded and I feel really safe there. The kids run around and explore and I don't feel overly stressed, especially since there are a few lifeguards in such a small space. At first the kids complained about the sand, but by the end of the day they were covered and didn't care. The adults just sat around and talked. It was so much fun, and so RELAXING!!! After the beach, we hurried home to get cleaned up and go out to dinner. We went to some cool place down by the beach. The music was really loud, and it was hard to hear, but the environment was fun and the food was good. After dinner, we went home and went to bed, to prepare for our day at Disneyland!!
The kids thought we were going to Danny's. On the way, one of the kids complained they had to go to the bathroom, right around the Disney exit. It was perfect! Ben got off, pretending to find a bathroom, and the kids were like, "There is Disneyland!" We were like, "Yeah, how cool is that! Can't wait till Sophia is tall enough so we can go!" Ben pulled up the Marriot we usually stay at and said, "I know the bathrooms here are clean." The glitch was that during the day they now have a parking attendant you have to check in with before you pull in the lot. We knew the secret would be revealed right then. She asked if we were guests and when Ben said, "Yes, we are checking in today!" the kids were screaming and jumping in their seats with excitement. I wish I was ready with my phone to record it. It was the best surprise, next to the time we went with the Lorenzana's and they showed up at our door on a school day and we said, "Hey! Lets go to Disneyland!" I think this one was even better because we haven't been in so long!
We parked the car, and quickly went to the park. We got fast passes for the new Star Taurs and then got in line for it. When we got to the front it broke down, so they gave us a fast pass for later. So our first ride we did was Space Mountain. I can't even explain the amazing rush I had as we took off, knowing that my whole family was on the ride with me. It was a feeling of excitement, and completeness. All these years of parent passes and trading off kids to ride rides, and here I was with all my kids on my favorite Disney ride. I almost had a tear in my eye, and I'm sure it was part happiness and part sadness knowing my babies are all grown up!
Sophia wasn't too fond of the ride, but surprisingly rode it again later in the day. That shocked me because she cried the first time. You can see here that she wasn't too thrilled!
Our next stop was the Jedi training. We were hoping they would pick Sophia and Ethan, and they ended up picking Aubrie. She was a good sport and went along with it, after trying to get Ethan to switch spots with her.
He was afraid he would get in trouble! LOL
After the Jedi training we rode the new Star Taurs twice in row. There are over 50 different ride experiences, and our goal was to experience each segment before our trip was over. It was SO much fun! The kids LOVED it, and it fun to see if they will pick one of us to be the spies and put our picture on the screen, and also to see what combination you will get. By the end of our trip we hadn't seen all the segments, so it definitely made coming back a few weeks later that more exciting. I swore I would never do Disney in the summer again, but this particular weekend wasn't too bad because of some massive freeway construction that shut roads down for that weekend. It was less busy then when I took Aubrie in February. We got all the rides in at Disney, and then some on the first day. Sophia got to see the princesses, and we were able to get her on the Nemo ride in 15 minutes! We even had time to see the Firework show, front in center. Something we haven't done in a long time. We had to wait for about 30 minutes, and this is what the kids did to bide their time!
The fire work show was amazing, and we were so tired! We pushed till closing that night. We were in line at Midnight for ice cream, and by the time we got it all the kids were all asleep at the table they were saving for us. We definitely feel we got our money's worth that day! The following day we went to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours to get in Star Taurs and Splash Mountain a few more times. It was so empty when we first go there, we were able to ride Splash twice in a row.
We all love that ride, especially Sophia. Ben then took Sophia to see the princesses, while we did something else, that I can't remember now! Ha!
Then we met up with Lou Ann and her kids at California Adventure. It started to get crowded and hot, and so we hit the Grizzly Rapids. Ben hung back with Sophia.
(Aubrie in pink and Jamie and Kori to the left)
Our last stop of the day, before we headed home, was Tower of Terror. Sophia was clueless what the ride entailed because you can't see what it does until you are actually on it. Everyone just kept saying the ride was fun. When it was over Sophia said in a very displeased voice, "THAT RIDE WAS NOT FUN!" Can you tell? I'm not sure making that her last ride was the best choice. You'll find out why soon! After the ride, we said our goodbye's and headed home! What a GREAT vacation! It wasn't China, and it wasn't Canada, but it was a great time with good friends, and the family at Disney!
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