Brooklyn's dance recital

It's there anything more that you wish you could do that spend your birthday night at your child's dance recital????

Brooklyn had her end-of-the-year dance showcase, which is always a fun one!  She got to dance in three numbers~

*production number pom routine - all four company teams* 

The Way You Make Me Feel / Michael Jackson

*junior company lyrical routine*

Dream / Priscilla Ahn

*junior company African dance*

Waka Waka / Shakira

The most fun part of the night ~ traditionally, there has been a "surprise guest appearance" dance once all the girls are done with their performances.  This year, it was the MOM's turn!!!  We held secret dance rehearsals every week for three weeks to perfect our routine.  It was extremely out of my comfort zone since I've never taken a dance class in my LIFE!!  We dubbed ourselves #therealdancemoms and had a blast out there as we danced to a medley of songs; I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack), All About That Bass (Meghan Trainor), Whip It (Devo), Shake It Off (Taylor Swift), I Am Woman (Jordin Sparks).  I knew Brooklyn would love it and I was right!

Brooklyn worked very hard this year and made improvements in her dancing.  It's so fun watching her move up there on stage!

As usual, she had a little fan club there to watch her final performance!  

Emily (and grandma Palmer, who we didn't manage to get a pic with...)

Grandpa & Grandma Hamilton

And her biggest fans of all!

COMPANY DANCE PICTURES 2014-2015

junior company

Freestyle Dance Company

Gavin plays baseball...reluctantly

Where to start with this one....... *sigh*

Back in January, I registered Gavin and Preston for baseball.  I remember Gavin saying last season was his last but I figured that time had passed, he'd probably forget about that and we'd be good to go for another season.  Boy was I WRONG!!!

Gavin was NOT happy that I signed him up for baseball again!  He said that he would not play, he never even wanted to play.  I argued with him that the money was already spent and that he WOULD play or there would be consequences.  It was a fight to get him to the first couple practices, there were tears and yelling, it was a mess!  I was determined that he was going to play no matter what, but then I stopped myself.  All this contention and chaos for what?  The money didn't really matter.   I let him know that I was sorry and that I wasn't going to force him to play baseball if he didn't want to, it was his choice.  And guess what?  He decided he would play.

Gavin is on the Greensboro Grasshoppers this year in the rookie division.  He even has a friend from his school class on his team!  His coach is very patient with him in working on his hitting skills.  He's gotten a couple of hits already, he just never does it while I have the camera out!

Look at that cute smile!

***Note to self- ASK Gavin if he'd like to play baseball before signing him up next year. ;)

LUCKY 13!

We celebrated our anniversary by eating out at Fleming's Steakhouse Friday night and WOW, was that an experience!  And I literally mean an experience.  They do not rush you at all!  We spent about 1.5 hours there, fully enjoying each course of our meal.

Our waitress recommended tenderloin carpaccio for an appetizer.  That red stuff is super thin sliced RAW tenderloin.  I was sure I was going to keel over and die from eating it, but it was surprisingly good!  And I lived!

The spread - oh my gosh, it was all so GOOD!!   I ordered the lemon rosemary chicken with spinach gnocchi, Matt ordered the biggest bone-in ribeye!  We shared the Fleming's potatoes and grilled asparagus.  Mmmmmm!

Meat and potatoes, meat and potatoes!

Dessert, chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream

They left this anniversary card, a box of chocolate truffles and a gift card for us

I'm grateful that Matt still loves me after all these years despite the fact that he often comes home to a disastrous house, I spend too much money Target and buy the kids too many clothes, I let the laundry pile up so high until we're in dire straights, I often don't know what we're having for dinner, I nag, I whine, I yell.

But I still love holding hands and I cherish quiet time together, when we get it.

He tells me that I'm beautiful, no matter how I feel about myself.  He always kisses me before he leaves for work, even if I'm still sleeping.

I'm a lucky lady!

Easter // General Conference

Easter fell on General Conference Sunday this year, as it sometimes does.  I was definitely looking forward to a relaxing weekend with my family, reflecting on the atonement and resurrection of our Savior.

Boy, does the Easter Bunny love to spoil the kiddos!!

We had Easter dinner and the traditional egg hunt at Matt's parents tonight.  As usual, these two comical brothers went about their duties of hiding the eggs in the most awesome places for the kids to find.

These two sweet pea cousins have become such cute friends and playmates as they get older!

*****

General Conference -- WOW!!!  I was just scribbling fast and furiously in my notebook, trying to jot down all the words of wisdom that were pouring through the screen from leaders of the church.  The kids seemed to do really well this time, listening quietly, filling in their bingo cards and taking simple notes.

Brooklyn found herself a nice perch...

Fun hairdo experiments during conference ~ I kinda like this one!

And what's conference without a Sunday afternoon sesh nap???

By the way, Blake got to attend his FIRST General Priesthood session of conference last night!!  What a special occasion!

Some of the highlights that stood out to me this time....

* Linda K Burton- quoted President Packer "There will be times where all that stands as a shield between your family and the adversary's mischief is that power [PRIESTHOOD] -man and woman COMPLETE each other, not COMPETE with each other

* L. Whitney Clayton- if we search for it, there will always be a spiritual light that beckons to us, giving us the hope of relief -begins with our willingness to believe, if we desire, if we choose to believe -God does not force us to believe, he INVITES us to believe

* Dale G. Renlund- God cares a lot more about who we are and who we are becoming than about who we once were -no failure every need be final, keep on trying

* Jose A. Teixeira- seeking the Lord and feeling his presence is a daily quest, a worthwhile effort -the more we understand the extraordinary role of the Savior in our lives, the more conscious we will become of our purpose here in mortality

* Gerald Causse- 1. never tire of discovering or rediscovering the truths of the gospel, there is always something new to feel and learn, 2. anchor your faith in the plain and simple truths of the gospel, 3. seek and cherish the companionship of the Holy Ghost, never do anything to risk the loss of this precious and marvelous gift

I've gotten to the point in my life where I CRAVE the instruction we receive from General Conference weekend.  Plus, we get Matt home all weekend = bonus!

Easter Pageant, take two

We thought it would be a great idea to see the Easter Pageant for FHE so we loaded everyone up, drove down to the temple, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand no one was there.  Guess they don't have the pageant on Monday nights, whoops!!

We figured since we were already there, we might as well spend some time at the visitors center.  We took some fun pictures outside on the temple grounds before we went in.  The kids were being monkeys in the big trees!

Reminiscent of an engagement photo

Surprisingly, there was hardly anyone there so we practically had the whole place to ourselves!  Hayden wanted to help the sister missionaries and they were dying over her cuteness!

We came back tonight and actually got to watch the pageant. ;)

Debbie, Grandma and Uncle David, Aunt Candy and Dustin came too!

We found Jesus!

And we found grandma and grandpa!!

The Easter pageant is always just the thing to put me in the right frame of mind as we remember the death and resurrection of our Savior.  It's such a wonderful tradition that we love sharing with our family each year!