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!

Lax season 2009, injuries and all

This was Conner's second year playing lacrosse, and his first playing for the high school. He was defender on the JV team. They started off to kind of a rocky start. A lot of the players were just freshmen, and they are still learning stick skills and other moves.

At a lot of the games, JV played after Varsity. This particular game went into triple overtime, and then our team won. Needless to say, this was a loooong wait, and a late game. But being the troopers they are, they played well, and won.

Hmm, can't remember which game this is. Conner is number 19. There are 3 defenders, the goalie and whatever middies that make it down field. The defenders use 6 foot sticks, and their job is to pressure the other team to drop the ball, pick it up and clear it down field. Most of them have stopped a ball the hard way, and they had beauty bruises to show off. You try getting hit with a solid rubber ball going 80-100 miles an hour.

The team began and ended each game with this cheer. I think they yelled family. I thought it was really cool.

Yup. That's my boy. I think he needs to wrapped in bubble wrap and locked in a room. He took an awesome hit at practice and dislocated his shoulder. Notice the funky bump in the picture below. I was shopping when I got a call. Ididn't recognize the caller, but answered anyway. It was the coach saying he just called 911, and I might want to come to the park. Ya think? So, I followed the ambulance, the fire truck and two police cars up the hill, (must have been a slow night :)) and arrived to see Conner flat out with coach holding his arm still. They didn't dare move him until EMT's checked him out. He was hit, flipped in the air and landed on left side. They checked him out, and said they could take him to ER. I asked, (begged) to let me take him, and they let me. And we have the most horrible, bumpy roads here, so I had to go really slow. Poor kid. This top pic is after they drugged him up an put his shoulder back where its supposed to be. Wish I had a video camera, cuz he was funny!

Conner, should you have an extra bump in your shoulder? He was out for two weeks. The last game of the season was exactely two weeks later. The doctor said he shouldn't play, but I let him, just for 10 minutes or so. Of course he chooses to go in on man down defense, when there are only 2 defenders, because one is in penalty. His team mates really took care of him though, and he didn't any bad hits. By this last game, they were really working well as a team. You could tell those who had been doing extra practices, and were hitting the wall.

Tiny, Kocherhans, Alli and her friend. Most of the players had nicknames. It was hard to know who was who without thier numbers.

Coach See getting "honored". He is an awesome coach, and the boys really liked him.

J, Tiny and Conner, and a few friends.

Oh, this was that same last game. Conner is #19 in the back, waiting for the ball to come to him. I threatened his life if he got hit. Actually I threatened the whole team. The dr thought he shouldn't play, but hey, it's the last game of the season. He had to, at least for a minute, or 10. :)

Conner is at the back putting pressure on the other team. They poke and hit with those 6 foot sticks trying to knock the ball out of the pocket. Sometimes they don't hit just the other player's stick though. Oops.

And that was a really fun (except for er visit) season. It's great to see the teamwork and friendship these boys have. Can't wait for next spring! Now Conner, go hit the wall!

Spring beauty

Brianna and I had a few extra hours one day(and that doesn't happen very often, unless she's sick) and decided to go visit the gardens. I let Brianna take a lot of the pics, and she did pretty darn good. We try to get up there a few times a year to see the flowers changing each season.

This is the view from the top of the path by the visitor center.

Part of the amazing waterfall. I think this is my favorite spot there.

The secret garden.

I take a pic of this angel everytime I go. We call it the Carson angel :)

Part of the Italian garden. The fountains were not running yet, but still pretty. And we had a learning moment when Brianna asked why the flowers on the one side hadn't bloomed yet.

She thought this fountain was too sweet, and had to copy it.

Pretty pretty girl.