Odds and Ends

So You Think You Can Dance?

Brianna and I had a date and went to see this show. We watch it every week, and it was so cool to see our favorite dancers live. The are all amazingly talented dancers, and it's a dream of Brianna's to be on the show when she is old enough. Only 6 more years to wait.

Brianna is soooo excited for the show to start. I got major mom points for taking her!

Of course, she can't sit still for a minute. If there is any room at all, and even sometimes when there isn't room, she is dancing, and leaping, and kicking.

Girls night out! Fun times.

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

But what a great show to wait for!! Brianna really wishes it would come back, I told her season 6 winners will be here in spring time or so. She said she doesn't want to wait that long :)

This was a running joke all show. Two of the contestants on the show had to do a Russian folk dance. It was pretty interesting, and during this show, they kept sneaking on stage in costume trying to do the dance. They finally got to do it, with all the dancers. It was a lot of fun to watch.

So, this is Conner's rubix cube. He has had it for years, but I found it when I cleaned his room. (yes, I cleaned, and Brianna) he sat down and solved it. I thought, huh, so messed it up. He solved it again. He can do it in about 2 1/2 minutes now. Wow. I mean, I knew my kids were brilliant, but they just keep showing me its true!

Yup, solved it again.

Here is Brianna in her new pointe shoes. She has been working on getting her feet strong enough for about a year or so. She made it! I got a little teary, I admit it. I have told her since she was tiny that one day I wanted to see her in pointe shoes. My little ballerina is growing up, sniff sniff.

Band '09

Pleasant Grove Marching Band 2009 season. This year the band was amazing. The show they did was to music from Cirque Du Soleil. Mr. B choreographed all the movements, and the band scored higher than they have since 1993!!! Several first places, several best overall, and a superior rating. Way to go!!

One of the parades this summer. I think they did four. In the sun, marching and playing the whole way. Yipes.

A few of the amazing trophies they won this year. The big one was the best one!

The kids were so excited. They worked hard for this one, and deserved it.

Conner striking a pose. My cute little boy :)

Attention. Getting ready to play the best ever!

Drum majors salute. They led the band to some amazing performances.

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.