Dancey-Dance Time!

The night before wearing her "Pink Curlies". I had to keep her up till she was so tired she fell asleep so she would keep them in.
This is at the rehearsal. She's so tired and that's her friend Oakley in the background rubbing her eyes.
Ava & Oakley getting ready to 'Paint the Roses Red"

I love how she is on her tippy toes in this picture. She just looks so cute.

All of the 'Children's Dance' classes practicing the medley.

Ava & Dad after the recital

Ava had her first dance recital this last week. Boy, I'll tell ya, my initial impression of a dance recital was not very accurate. As this recital got closer, I began to understand that this was going to be a little bigger than I had anticipated. It probably clicked when I received a notice in the mail from the academy that TICKETS for the recital would go on sale on May 6. Tickets? To my own child's dance recital? The recital was to be held at Weber State in the Browning Arts building. This is where my RN graduation was held!

Her class was dancing to Painting the Roses Red and dressing like Alice. Her costume was so cute and Ava was so excited she wanted to put it on and wear it to the store. She relented when I told her that if it got "dirty" they might not let us dance (haha) and that she could have it for dress up after the recital. We had to attend a dress rehearsal the morning of and I got to see some of the other classes dance (there were almost 300 kids combined in the program) Ava did also, which was not a good thing. The theme of the recital was Let's Go to the Movies with some of the other kids in costumes from Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White, and Peter Pan (Tinkerbell). Ava immediately decided that Alice just wasn't going to cut it. She told me that she was going to dance as Aurora and proceeded to undress on the stage. It took much bribing and a lot of convincing to keep her clothed. It was a long day filled with dancing, practicing getting on and off the stage, class pictures, and more dancing. Ava was so tired. I was worried she wouldn't dance later that night. I was also worried because I had to drop her off to the class moms before the recital and they were all supposed to sit together as a class in the balcony. The recital was 2 hours and I pitied all the class moms who had to sit with twelve 3 and 4 year old-Alice's for the entire recital. But she did good and didn't panic when I left her. Her friend Oakley's mom was one of the class moms and I think that was what did it. The auditorium was packed and full and the recital was SO good! They had the kids that did tumbling in the recital as well. (They wouldn't allow cameras or video during the performance or else I would have taken pictures of them, but of course you could buy their video!) One of the younger boys tumbling classes tumbled to Batman music and were dressed as Batmans and another class was dressed as Jedi's. It was so cute! After the younger girls dance classes finished their dances, they came back out for a Medley of Following the Leader from Peter Pan where they all had sticks with bandanna flags on them and they paraded around the stage (Belles, Auroras, Cinderellas, Snow Whites, etc). Well, one of the Tinkerbells encroached on Ava's space and she stopped and turned around to look at this Tink and give her the "stink eye". This stopped the whole parade of girls behind Ava! She just kept staring at this other girl until one of the teachers on the side of the stage finally got her attention to keep moving. I was laughing so hard! I can't wait to see it on the video. There was no way they could have missed that! I could get used to this dance thing, especially if Ava keeps providing me with such innocent laughs!

T-Ball Time!

He is getting so big. This picture makes him look so old.

Z-man slugging it out of the park!

Running home!

T-Ball time has started! Zach was so excited to start T-Ball - this is by far his favorite sport and probably the one that he is most natural at. Gage's dad, a friend of Gages dad, and Chris all helped coach the team. The team he is playing on this year is the Royals. Zach LOVES to play so much that when he was sick with the stomach flu he had us almost convinced he was better and wanted to go to the game. He threw up about ten minutes before we left. Nice try bud! Ava gets into the action as well. She looks forward to the playground at the ball games and also her buddy Landen. We love T-Ball and wish it lasted longer! Zach is already talking about machine pitch next year.

Princess Festival!

Ava Kate & Grandma

Ava in her Princess gown

Ava was in love with the little girl dressed as Mulan.

The Fairy Guide

Ava showing off her new wand!

Learning how to be a princess

Snow Whites Cottage

Mesmerized

Rapunzel lets her hair down for the prince.

Heading inside the castle. It was really kind of cool.

The inside of the castle

Cinderella cleaning the floors

Ava getting out of her carriage

Waking up Sleeping Beauty

Ava & Snow White

At the Ball

Ava Dancing with Prince Phillip

The Kenyan Princesses

My mom called me a couple of months ago and asked if Ava would want to go to the Princess Festival. I had no idea what it was but because my mom was so excited to take her so I said sure. I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived. I was worried because it was pouring rain the whole drive down there. But when we arrived the rain stopped and did not start back up until we were driving back home. They went all out for these girls. It was down in Lindon Utah and the name of the place was "Hatfieldadelphia". The festival benefited girls from Kenya. They even had little girls from Kenya there who they called the "Princesses of Kenya". It was very touching. When we arrived they gave Ava a sticker that said "Princess Ava" on it so that the host princesses would know who she was. They had craft tables for the girls to make crowns, wands, and necklaces. Ava had a blast making her wand because they gave her sparkle paint. When we finished making our crafts, a fairy came and gathered all the girls to help her rescue the princesses. They went to various places around "Hatfieldadelphia" and rescued Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle. When they were finished they had a Ball with all the princesses and their princes. The princes danced with the little girls. It was adorable. I had my doubts when I first heard about it because she has been to Disneyland 3 times and that's what I thought she would compare it to. But I know that we will definitely be signing up for this next year!

Kindergarten Graduation

Graduation Day

Zach and Miss Washburn

Zach & his buddy Benson (Yes, he is the same age as Zach. He's is so tall, I know, but such a cutie)

Ava was so excited for Zach

This is why our video of the graduation is a motion sickness nightmare! She just had to sit on my lap and periodically look at the LCD.

Zach graduated kindergarten on June 3rd. I was so sad but happy for him. I don't know what I'm going to do next year when he is in school all day. I would look forward to seeing his little blond head in the window of the bus as it passed in front of our house. I love it when he spots me on the corner and his face lights up and he yells "MOM!", as if he thought for a moment that I might not be there. I love that the first thing he asks me is "What's for lunch, mom?". I love it when he tells me about his day and how much he loves his teacher. I love it when he asks "What day is it tommorow?" and when I reply, "Saturday, why?", and he says, "I don't know. I just wanted to go to school. Thats all." I will even admit that I cried myself to sleep that night and my throat still gets tight when I talk about it. I love him so much and I want him to excel in everything he does. It is bittersweet to be a parent. I worry about him and Ava so much these days with everything that kids are exposed to. I often worry if I'm a good Mom and what he will be like when he is older. I often have to remind myselft that this is MY "test" and that if I follow His plan I can not go wrong. I love you Zach! You make me so proud to be your mom!

Where the heck have you been?

Oh Yeah! I have a blog!

I must say that this has been the hardest 4 months that I can remember! My poor family has suffered while I suffered through school. I think everyone knows I went back to school to obtain my nurse practitioner and boy has it kicked my trash! I always thought I could do anything I wanted to do. I just had to put my mind to it. Well.... My mind is mush right now - AND I know it is not possible to have it all and keep everything balanced. You can have a "little bit" of everything, but no, you can not have it ALL. I couldn't be there for my family when they needed me while I was cramming for a stats test or a cardiac test. It was so difficult, that nothing is phasing me right now. Everything just seems so easy now that school is done. Haha! I feel invincible. I wonder how long this will last? But... perseverance paid off. I got a 4.0 and was the highest grade in my stats class. My stats teacher emailed to tell me and congratulate me on earning the highest grade. (I printed it off and keep it in my wallet to remind me of all my hard work). This is the class I cried over... Lost sleep over... Cried over some more... I think one of the hardest parts was that this class was once a week from 4:10pm-7:00pm. She never kept us in class past 5:30pm. Which is good and bad. I think alot of us really needed the extra time but there were a couple of "know-it-all" engineers in the class that made it kind of intimidating for the rest of us to say anything. They seemed so bored and always finished their tests in like 10 minutes! So the most satisfying part is that I BEAT them! But I certainly put the time in. Ask Chris, I'm sure he'll vouch for that!

(Yes!! I am totally tooting my own horn - and I felt like I deserved it after this hellish semester! TOOT TOOT!)

So I had a little catching up to do... hence that multiple posts below.

Transformers! Roll Out!

Zach racing down the field! Zach scoring a goal. Yeah Zach! (I love how the kid on the other team is smacking his head as Zach scores)

Even Av's showed up in her best duds! Zach throwing the ball in. He looks so serious!

One last goal for the Z-man.

On Saturday, Z-man had his last soccer game. We were sad and happy. Happy because I think Zach was done with soccer. He really likes basketball and baseball a lot more. Sad because he did so STINKIN' good. I really wish he was more into soccer, but he said he didn't want to sign up for the fall. Oh, well. We had fun while it lasted. The "invisible ninjas"made their appearance at almost every game except for a couple, including the last one. Grandma and Grandpa Baddley made it to almost every one and were sad that he isn't going to play next year, but excited to watch him in all of his other activities. We have one more make-up game on May 30th that we missed in March due to bad weather where he will get his trophy and have one last hurrah with the Transformers. Yes, that was the name of his team this year. Their pre-game cheer was "Transformers! Roll Out!!!" and "Transformers! More Than Meets the Eye!" It was super cute! So suffice to say we will be retiring the "Orange Transformer Jersey" next to last years "Green Goblin Jersey."

Lazy Days...

I went over to hang with Stacey last week while Zach and Gage were at baseball practice with their dads, and look who was there... Ava (this is where I got the name for MY Ava. I totally stole it) and Addison, Brandi's (Stacey's sister) cute kids. They were visiting from California. Stacey was watching them for a couple of hours and we all had some good outdoor fun on Stacey's play yard. Apparently, Addy isn't too fond of strangers but low and behold she loved me! Unlike her cousin Tanner! She was so cute! So here are some fun pics for you Stacey and Brandi.

Wait for it..... Yes. I did. I have FINALLY won over Tanner. I only took 2o months!

Tanner being a goof ball.

Cute little Addyson. She lit right up when we put her in the swing!

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Zach's School Field Trip

Zach, Tate, & Riley

This is our friend. Well... we thought he was our friend until he started peeing in front of us just like this.
Zach, Tate, & Riley checking out the Black Bear.

Zach had a field trip to Hogle Zoo and I thought it would be fun to volunteer to be a class mom. Zach was so excited to go! He was so thrilled that we had to pack a sack lunch. He asked me everyday leading up to the trip if he could bring a Lunchable. I caved and took him the night before to get our sack lunch (no, I did not get a Lunchable too, in case you are wondering). I've decided his teacher must have grilled it into them that they had to be at the school by 8:45am or the bus would leave, because he kept reminding me and telling me over and over and over..... "Mom, we can't be late or the bus driver will leave without us!" The morning of, I got up early and got ready and went to wake Zach up. He mumbled something and rolled over and then all of the sudden sat bolt upright. "MOM! WHAT TIME IS IT??" The kid cracks me up! Needless to say we made it on time and Zach rode the bus with his friends while mommy and a couple of her friends followed in moms car (I get car sick very easily and have been known to get car sick driving myself !). I was paired with another mom and together we had 3 kids total. That's the perk of living in an area where parents are really involved I guess. We had a blast and I love that I got to spend such a great day with just me and Zach!

Easter!

Zach and Ava Easter Morining before church.

We had a great Easter this year. Zach and Ava were so cute for us and had a lot of fun and it was great that the weather cooperated!
Chris was a real peach to take this pic of me and my kiddos! Love how I'm not
even smiling and Ava looks like I smell bad! Zach and Ava hamming it up for the camera while dying Easter eggs. Ava quickly found good use for the extra "crowns" for her princess easter eggs.
The finished product.
However, no one really wanted to eat a speckled egg!
Z-man on Easter morning.
Ava's basket from the Easter Bunny.
Zach's basket from the Easter Bunny.


We had an easter egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa Baddley's house where they were spoiled. This kids had a lot of fun and we all had dinner together. Aunt Krissy and Uncle Josh were there and helped Z & A find their loot.


Zach & Ava finding Easter treats at my Mom & Dad's.
Ava got this super fun bubble machiene and it entertained her for hours.
It REALLY puts out alot of bubbles!

Bubble fun.

My mom gave Ava a jump rope that has light-up handles.....
She would jump so hard and fast that she kept loosing her shorts.

The Saturday before Easter we had our annual Easter egg hunt at "Grandpa's Pasture." This is the Easter egg hunt with the Lessig side of the family. We packed a lunch and headed out to Hooper for our fun day. However, it was bittersweet because Grandma Garner couldn't make it. She is still recouperating from her fall earlier this year.



Chris, Zach & Ava right before the egg hunt. Mitch, Anne, & Cannon are in the background on the left. We love them!

I love this picture! Ava must not have inherited her moms equilibrium because she had a blast piling on to this old merry-go-round and she never got sick. I'm sick just looking at it! Lily is next to her and Jaden is in the front .