Trip to Idaho

On our way to Challis Idaho for Amanda's wedding. We stopped at Craters of the Moon thingy. Very interesting. And very windy!!

Up by Challis there a ton of old mining towns. We stopped at several, because I love old buildings that are falling down. I wish I could have gotten some bricks or something, but I restrained myself.

Aren't these the most amazing old buildings? Houses, saloons, grocers, and the mills themselves.

Not sure what this one is. Conner thinks its a mine entrance. I say maybe a food cellar or something. Who knows.

This building was very cool. It was huge, and all built on a hill. Of course none of these mills are in use any more.

Ahh, my cute kids.

These are tailings piles. The dredge would dig up tons of rock, sift through some stuff, and spit all the extra out. There are actually nuggets in these piles, but to find them would be very difficult. But makes you think, hmmmm.

Yes, a double out house. You really couldn't pay me enough, but of course, it was behind a saloon, so maybe if you were drunk enough you wouldn't care. Ewwww.

Yup, this is my dream house. Check out the tub in the master bedroom. Actually it was the bedroom, kitchen, dining room, living room and bathroom all in one. Who needs more space?

This is the gold dredge up by Challis. It's basically a big boat that they would move up and down the river, digging up river bed rocks and extracting gold dust. Anything big it would spit out, hence the possible nuggets in the tailings piles.

And that was part of our fun runaway. It really is pretty country up in the middle of nowhere Idaho. If you like ghost towns and such. :)

Vegas Baby!

Yup. A friend and I took the kids to Vegas for spring break. Cuz we're either the coolest moms ever, or the craziest. 2 moms, 5 kids, in Vegas? Must be the craziest.

This is a pretty good aquarium. We've been to a lot, and we enjoyed this one. Even Conner, who thinks he's too cool. Maybe because he is.

Um, I think this is in the Luxor. I was hoping for a peek at Cris Angel, but no luck, dang it.

Kids thought it was funny we could be in New York one minute, Italy a bit later, then even Paris. That's what Vegas is all about.

Woo hoo. A giant size bottle of Coke. We couldn't figure out how to fit it in the car to bring it home though. And really, it wouldn't have lasted very long, with the way someone drinks soda in our house.

M&M factory. We thought we had been to the factory. The one in Henderson. The lamo one in Henderson. Didn't know there was a cool one in Vegas. Now we do.

Conner being cool. Or frustrated at me for taking yet another picture. Nah, looking cool.

Right in front of the MGM. Did you know this hotel has the biggest bronze figurine in the western hemi-sphere? It says so, right on a nice little plaque. Oooo k then.

We had parked Caesar's, to go to the mall. Decided to go to Rainforest Cafe at the MGM. On the little maps you can get, it was only two blocks or so, and we could see it. Of course, scale in Vegas is a little off. Took us about two hours to walk there. Of course, that was avoiding the gross people handing out nude pics, and stopping to look at fountains. Oh yeah, did I mention this was about 11 at night. See, crazy moms.

At Caesar's, before we ventured out to experience Sin City at it's finest. Conner, Brianna, Melanie, Brady and Carson Bowerbank.

Paris. Just a hop away from New York. Amazing.

Ahh, 80 degrees and sunshine. It was about 20 in Utah, and 3 feet of snow. We might need to make a habit of this.

Enjoying the sun while we can. Blizzards in Utah.

Swingin' Cat

Conner is in a band that opened for this band, Swagger. We stayed after to get a picture. They really put on a great show. Irish folky/rock. Little different, but good.

My boy. I took him to the Styx/38 Special/REO concert. Spoiled boy, field seats and all.

Little Big Band costume. It's really funny to see peoples looks when they see him, until they start playing, and then they realize its a swing band, and they totally look he part. Zoot suit and all.

Playing at Savor the Summit in Park City. LBB had a great response. Could have had something to do with all the alcohol people were drinking.....nah. LBB is really amazing.

Another gig. This is at an American Fork summer concert series. Pretty good performance, and then they left for SoCal right after.

So, go practice Conner!

Odds N Ends

Took a quick trip to Vegas on spring break this year. Yes, Vegas, with two kids. And we did it all, even walked the strip at night. I kept warning Conner to not look down, of course, he looks down, and said ewww.

Brianna and Rachel being the queens they are. This was at a benefit show. So cute.

See, I tell you she is a princess, now I have proof! Brianna and her little friend Melanie at the princess festival. It was a really sweet day, they met Prince Charming and everything!

Dance festival at Grovecrest. 5th grade did the hula this year. These are Brianna's friends, with silly Eli in the background.

Just before her hair cut. She donated about a 12" of hair. And as thick as it is, probably enough to make a full wig. What a brave girl to cut that much off.

This is Brianna right after we cut her hair. I was shocked how much older it made her look. So not ready for that! The boys really look at her now. I want to put a sign on her that says "I'm only 11!!!!!" Not that it would matter, they still would look.

On our way to JUMP convention. Brianna needed to take a break in the queen chair. Ok, I made her pose in the chair. Couldn't resist.

I told Brianna this is her rebellious streak. I think she had a lot of fun with it this summer. We can't decided if we will keep it for the school year though. It fades really fast, so we would need to touch it up all the time.

Stadium of Fire

Jazz N Place at SOF '09. The directors asked JNP to be front and center on this side. They were pretty excited. It's an intense 3 days in the sun, not to mention all the time in the studio to learn the dances. But it's worth it to the girls. They really enjoy the suffering I guess. :)

Brianna in her fire costume. This year they had to do two dances, with a full costume change between. And amazingly, they pulled it off.

This is the first costume and prop for SOF. Much cuter than last years. Imagine a field full of girls with these props, all choreographed to match every move. Very cool.

The JNP gang. Chels brings them fun sunglasses to wear. Of course, they don't last long, and we had to take a fast picture. The director yelled at me for taking it, but I couldn't resist. Sorry. :)

Ribbon prop for the fire dance. Some were yellow, some red, and when they whipped them around during the fire show, it looked really cool. In fact, the fire dancers were so close behind Brianna she could feel the heat from the fire. I'm sure she was tempted to keep looking over her shoulder, but being the professional she is, she didn't.

Some highlights of Brianna's 09 so far

This is Brianna performing at the convention/competition called JUMP. This is my favorite dance her team has ever done, and isn't she amazing?! This dance won first place at the competitions they took it to.

Yes, another of my princess. Dance seems to come so naturally to her, and it's something she absolutely loves. I never have to nag her to go to class. She misses it when she's not at the studio, and dances all over the house.

This is the show her studio did this year. PeterPan. Brianna is one of the Indians on the left side of stage. This dance won several awards at different events.

This is Brianna's team, Jr. Prodigy. She is in the front in pink. This dance was really cute, and they had a lot of fun with it.

This was the dance I was so surprised to see. She didn't tell me that she started the dance by herself. I got a little teary watching her.

Another team dance. A lyrical danced to "Halo". It was a beautiful dance also. They all looked like little angels.

And finally a shot of her solo dance. This was the first year she had chosen to do a solo, and her choreographer picked a lyrical because her lines are so amazing. She won a diamond, a gold and several 1st places with this dance.

Dance is something that Brianna was definitely born to do. Since she was old enough to walk she would dance around on her toes. I told her my dream is to see her on pointe someday. I think that day is not too far away.

Love you Princess!