My Favorite Time of the Year, Part 2

Another reason why I love this time of the year is Emma and Eva start Dance. The dance season officially started this week and the girls are so excited. I must confess that I may be even more excited than them. I just love watching their cute little bodies get their groove on. This year Eva is taking tap again and Emma is taking tap and ballet, and is also starting jazz. In June, when the girls have their BIG recital, they will be in a total of 8 dances (6 of them being Emma's). The recital is so fun to see, because that is where you see all of their hard work has really paid off. Good luck this year girls!
These picures are from their recital last June. As hard as it gets for me, driving the long drive back and forth, and all the time it entails, it really is all worth it seeing them like this and knowing (and seeing) how proud of themselves they are for their accomplishments. I can't wait for next year when Ella gets to start dance!

My Favorite Time of the Year

Looking up at the mountains and seeing all of these amazing colors literally takes my breath away!
Every year we go on a hunt for the brightest trees. We found one that sure came close.
Every summer I get home sick for HB. But during this time of year, I wouldn't trade this for anything!












A little side note: Notice Ella's shirt is on backwards and inside out. If you look closely, you can see the tag in front. She insists on putting her clothes on herself. For me, it's all about picking your battles and there could be worse things right?

Uh...hmmm...well - what to say?....uh - TWINS!

Ice Cream for Dinner!

So, on a rare day when I actually had dinner planned, Lee called on his way home from work saying "Let's go get ice cream for dinner". And that's just what we did!
Yes, those cups of ice cream are bigger than the kids!
Eat like the lil' piggies eat!!!

Our New Favorite Snack...EDAMAME!

We first discovered this yummy side dish when we got some sushi rolls one night. They are soy beans in the pod. We loved them. Then we found them at Wal-Mart for only $1.54 a bag - that's about 2 huge family servings!

They're good for you, they're a vegetable, they're cheap, AND the kids LOVE them - what else could you ask for?!

(At least 3 out of the 4 love them...Emma was just posing for the photo-opp). :)

10 minutes into the book - and he doesn't even know how to read!

Never quite sure if family scripture study is paying off, and then.....

(He didn't know we took this. Soooo cute!)

Natural Born Beach Baby!

Ella felt left out so we had to include a picture of her. This was during our trip to the beach. I think this was Ella's first time but you'd never know. It must be a genetic thing. She had a ball. I think she would ditto Emma when she said "The beach is better than Disneyland!"

Our New House!

We finally moved in! We love our new home! After 7 moves in 10 years we REALLY hope this is the home we stay in forever. We would rather be tortured from head to toe than move again at this point. Our next issue is to tackle our yard. Ryan and Eric, please help!!

Overall we really did have a great custom home building experience. It wasn't until the week before we were supposed to move in that we nearly had a stroke. We thought we had lost our "Dream" home. Of course we were devastated. Ultimately it ended up fine. But this experience made us appreciate our home that much more. It also reminded us that our earthly posessions mean nothing. What is most important is our family. We truly now can say that we would be perfectly happy anywhere we live as long as our family is together.

"It doesn't matter what home you live in. What matters is what goes on inside that home."

1st Day of School!

Aren't these gals cute?! They both love their new teachers and are so excited for the upcoming year.
Eva was ready for Lara to go and basically forced her out of the room...
...Emma on the other hand, Lara almost had to glue to her seat so she wouldn't leave with her. She's over that now though.

Ben's First Day of Soccer!

Boy is he handsome - wonder were he got it? This was Ben's first day of soccer. I decided to coach - because I know soooooo much about soccer! (Actually if you can yell "RUN!" and "NOT THAT WAY!" - you can be a coach too for the 4-5 year olds!) Ben had a lot of fun and actually did really well. It'll be a fun year.