Conni's Dance Recital

Conni has been taking dance classes once a week since September.  Some weeks went really really well, but others ended with Conni in tears and mom pretty close.  Today was Conni's recital and I was really worried it would end it tears.  

But, the good news is it was a complete success!  Conni was so excited to be there and be on stage with her friends.  She did really well during the dress rehearsal and even better during the actual performance.  I am such a proud mom today!  I have such a euphoria from watching my sweet baby girl having fun and dancing her heart out.  Enjoy!

Some pics of my cheesy bug:

The performance (Sorry her head gets lost some, Dave was watching live just as much as thru the camera so it would move.  But its still super cute!):

Feeling Blessed

Wow, another month gone already without a post.  Its been so busy!  Things are going pretty well for us.  The biggest news for us is that Dave was laid off about three weeks ago.  We were so blessed and grateful for the outpouring of love and support from friends and family.  We have had and continue to have people give us referrals and send leads our way.  I just want to thank you all for holding us up.  It has truly made a difference. 

We had a great Thanksgiving with family and I have pictures to post and stories to tell.  We loved going to the Festival of Trees and there's a few more pictures from that too.  I will try to make time to get them up.  

But I just wanted to express my gratitude for all the love shown to us over the past three weeks.  We do truly feel blessed.

Conni's Blessing

While I was at the store, the little story below unfolded.  After Dave told me about it, I asked him to email it to me so that I could blog it.  Here is what happened:

From Dave:

I was so pleased with Conni today and I think she's starting to learn how the Gospel and Priesthood bless our lives.  I think she remembered that on Sunday night when she was sick and throwing up that we had our neighbor Todd come over and we gave her a blessing that she would feel better.  She was find the next day.

Well, Conni did the sweetest thing tonight.  She had been climbing on the railing in the kitchen and I told her not to because she could fall and get hurt.  She was playing with her little purple plush bunny and it fell off the railing onto the landing.  She yelled, "Oh no!" and went and scooped bunny up.  She took it and went and laid it down on one of the pillows on the floor in the front room and covered it with a blanket.  She did all this without any prompting from me. 

Then she knelt down next to the bunny, folded her arms and bowed her head, and prayed only the way a sweet, innocent child can.  "Heavenly Father...Thank you for day...Thank you blessings...Tummy (or Bunny, not sure) get better...Name of Jesus Christ, Amen."  She swept bunny up in a hug and said, "Bunny all better!"  I was so proud of our little Conni and humbled at the faith shown.  The Spirit was so strong and I knew that our Heavenly Father was pleased with our sweet little girl.

It was such a sweet little moment that I needed to share.

Snow!

It started snowing last night and I must say, I do love the first snow of the year.  It looks absolutely beautiful out there!  

As I posted about here, when we were shopping for snow clothes a few weeks ago Conni was so excited to get boots.  I ended up getting them online, and I tucked them away until the first snow fall.  Last night, we were so excited to show her the snow and her boots.  She was already in her pjs when the flakes were falling.  When we showed her outside, she got excited and told me, "Mom its snowing!!!!" so sweetly.  I pulled out her boots and she immediately wanted to put them on.  She ran to her room and got socks and was very patient while mom and dad figured out all the little tabs to adjust to make them fit.  

She's not excited at all, is she?  

We have a very busy day with family today - one of Conni's cousins is getting baptized and we're celebrated birthdays with others.  But I think that we will have to make some time for snow play.  I'll be sure to get a cute pic of her all dolled in her snow clothes and enjoying the weather!

Happy Winter!

Three for Thursday: trying it out

I have a friend who blogs every Thursday in threes.  Since I would like to someday make this blog about more than just what Conni is up to (although that is pretty fun/cute stuff) I think I will try it out.  We'll see how consistent I can be.  Here it is:

Three things I stole borrowed from my kid's Halloween candy stash:

1.  Three Musketeers

2. Twix

3. Reeses Piece/Peanut Butter Cups

Three things I buy that have to be name brand:

1. Macaroni and Cheese - from the church pasta plant

2. Chocolate Sauce - only Hersheys

3. Peanut Butter - Jif, unless there's a good deal on Peter Pan :)

Three things I spend more than fifteen minutes doing every day:

1. checking facebook (on my phone)

2. trying to decide to wake up or not

3. rocking with Conni 

Three things that put me in a fantastic mood:

1. Shopping just to shop - and getting something I want for a bargain

2. Reading or crafting - my me time

3. Surprise treat/flowers from my sweetie

Three things I do that a grown woman has no right to be doing anymore:

1. (According to my hubby) Watching Nickelodeon/Disney channels 

2. Wearing flip flops in the snow

3. Putting my hair in pigtails to match my daughter

Three pictures:

(Since I just posted all my Halloween ones, here's a few random favorites:

Singing

Holding the flashlight while Dad fixed the garage door

At dance 

Halloween

I have to say this Halloween has been the most fun since I became a mom yet.  Conni got into the concept of Halloween - especially witches and ghosts - and she really loved trick-or-treating.  

I took the day off and we spent it together just relaxing and having fun.  Conni asked to go see the witches one last time (it was her fourth time at Gardner Village) and she had a blast.  

Here's a couple cute pics from the day.  I tried to get her to wear her cape from her costume, but she was not interested.  She did have fun dancing with the witch at the piano though.

Conni chose this spot to get a picture taken - and then gave a good smile!

It took four trips to see the witches, but Conni finally sat by this witch for a picture.

She wouldn't let her put her arm around though.  

I guess witches are nicer during the day!

Conni did great trick or treating.  She visited Dave's parents on Sunday night, and then we did my parents on Monday as we headed around the neighborhood. 

My favorite part is how excited Conni got with her cheese from Grandpa.  That is their afternoon treat when Grandpa gets home from work, he and Conni have some cheese.  

Then here's just a smattering of pics of her costume.  I really liked how the braided ribbon turned out for her hair, so there's a pic of that as well!

And, I can't forget - a very special thank you to Grandma Bonnie for making Conni's Red Riding Hood cape, and a matching one for her wolf as well.  We got so many compliments on it!  Thanks Grandma!!!

Cute Pictures

Its been a busy couple of  weeks.  I can't believe Halloween is next week!  Here's a few cute pictures of some things we've been doing lately. 

Conni has gotten into dress-ups lately.  Here she is in her Tangled dress. She worked so hard to get her Squinkies jewelry on and then when I asked for a smile she looked so pretty!

 Conni has loved going to the Witches at Gardner Village.  We have gone three times so far, and we will try to go again this week.  First is a pic of her getting bundled up before we leave - wearing her witch shirt.  Then there is a cute pic of her and Daddy at Gardner Village.

Just being the cutie that she is!

Painting

I've been making cute wood decorations for the house, and Conni has been wanting to help me.  So we got her some stuff to paint and the pictures below detail how much fun she had last night!

Ready to start painting

This shirt was from Aunt Sarah and the only reason Conni got to wear it was because she was going to paint.  Dave came home while she was paining and the first thing out of his mouth after "hello" was "why is she wearing a "U of U shirt!"

So focused!

I love the tongue! (Her daddy does the same thing when he's concentrating)

The finished product.  Cheese!

The Forecast Calls for Snow

Its true.  Sometime this week my beautiful Wasatch mountains may be dusted with snow.  (I love snow up there by the way, don't totally love it in the valley though).  So I figured it was time to start shopping for Conni's winter coat and snow pants.  When I picked Conni up from my mom's yesterday, I told her we were going shopping for snow clothes.  She said, "And boots too Mom!?!?" 

Conni loved her snow boots last year and wore them every chance she got - including into the spring and almost summer until I finally hid them from her.  They were too small and starting to smell funny from her putting them on without socks.  :)

We went to multiple stores but I just couldn't find something I like for a dollar amount I was willing to pay.  (She's only going to wear it for one winter, I can't hardly justify $80 for a coat!)  Every time we left, Conni would ask, "But what about my boots Mom!"  I told her we have to find the right coat first and then we can buy some boots.  She would sigh and tell me, "Ok.  But don't forget my boots!"

Finally I had to tell her that I would see if I can get the UPS guy to bring her some boots.  She begrugingly accepted that answer.  I may have finally found a coat I like online, and now to shop for some matching boots. Dave told me though that Conni can't know we have them till the weather justifies wearing them.  I figure, we might as well get our money's worth out of them right?  :)  I'll be sure to post pictures once we have the ensemble.  Or maybe of just the boots - since that's all she cares about anyway!

Happy Fall!

Grandpa's Pirate Party

Its becoming an annual tradition to celebrate my dad's birthday by holding a pirate themed party. We gather everyone together for food, then there are a variety of pirate themed activities for the kids, then Grandpa's birthday presents and cake. Then we watch a movie in the back yard projected on to the wall of the house.  Here's a few cute pics from the night's festivities.

This is how Conni bows.  So cute!

She didn't want to wear her princess dress, so this is as close to pirate clothes as we had.  Love the attitude?

Conni and Bridger

The full pirate gear - she wore the eye patch for quite a while!

Every grandkid got to build a pirate ship.  This is some of the proess.

Sunday afternoon Conni wanted to wear her pirate hat again.  Aren't they so cute!  

My two favorite people in the whole world!

Arggh!

Remembering 9/11

I have been reflecting along with many of you today where I was when the Towers were hit and fell 10 years ago today. Here's my day:

I was driving to work and I turned on the radio to hear Chunga and Mister talking about a plane crashing into a tower. (Yes, I remember the station because it caught me off guard to hear Chunga so serious!) I was going to stop and call my mom to see what was going on, but I was late for work so I figured I'd call her later.

Driving in, I was in complete shock! I could not believe something like that was happening in our country! I remember when I got to work, we had turned on the tv in our conference room. We didn't have the best reception, but I remember watching the second tower fall. I felt sick. I honestly was in shock and couldn't understand how that was happening.

Shortly thereafter, my boss gathered all of us in the conference room and turned off the news. We all thought he was going to send us home for the day. No, he laid off an employee, and then told all of us that we needed to get back to work.

The other things I remember for that morning is being on the phone with my older sister. My younger sister was a senior in high school, and my mom had gone to the temple that morning. We couldn't get a hold of mom, of course, but we figured the temple was a good place to be. My older sister's building was secured, so if they released my younger sister from school she wouldn't be able to go get her. We were trying to figure it all out and we kept dropping calls because of all the chaos with the cell coverage. Soon enough we heard from Mom and got everyone straightened out.

Dave and I had just decided a few days before that we thought we should get married, so once I got my sisters taken care of I called him. He was at SLCC and they had cancelled all classes. Dave had gone over to the institute where they were all just glued to the news. He said that there was a different feeling in the institute building than on the rest of campus, but it was still so awful.

After work, I headed to the institute for my class. A friend of mine was teaching and he gave a great lesson about facing our fears and forgiveness and faith in the Lord. I still remember the feeling of shock that followed all day long - for everyone.

Ten years later, my heart still breaks for those who lost loved ones. I am brought to tears with the memory and photos of the firemen and policemen rushing in while everyone else rushed out. I am grateful for their bravery and the bravery of those called to military service to fight our battles. I am grateful for the unity that it brought to our country, and I pray that I can help Conni understand what happened that day. I hope that I can also help her understand all the good that came from such a tragedy. I pray that the Lord will continue to take care of those who lost loved ones that day and in the days that followed. It is an awful tragedy that I pray we always remember.

Dance

Conni had her first dance class yesterday.  This is when I picked her up at mom's house, all ready to go.

She was so excited!  We had talked about it the night before, and she was ready to run out the door when I got there.  At dance class, we got her shoes on and she went in and found her friend Lydia and they ran around together.  Then class started and Conni found her square and did really well following her teacher Jamie.

After about 25 minutes of class, however, Conni decided that she was ready to go explore and didn't want to participate anymore.  (Class is 45 minutes long total.)  I got her and brought her back into class and started to do a little bit of the dances too.  Then she told me, "No, this is my dance class" and sent me back to my seat, and then she was ready to participate again.  This happened a couple of times, but then they pulled out the tumbling mats.

Conni got all excited again for the tumbling.  Then class was over, and she didn't want to leave.  She really didn't want to take off her ballet shoes!  In the car she asked to put them back on and of course I said yes.  She said, "Mom, dance class was fun. I want to do it again."  I told her we would next Wednesday and she was pretty excited that I said yes. 

Hopefully the next lesson goes more smoothly and she keeps her excitement.  I was too busy watching with a huge grin as she did the dances to take any pictures.  Jamie is great with the little girls and was so patient.  I'll let you know how next week goes!

Go Team!

Due to our recent stake and ward boundary realignments, I got the lucky task of combining two young womens closets in to one. I've made it thru the first one - and most of it is now sitting in my front room at home!

One of the treasures we found were some pom-poms. Two sets of red and two sets of blue. Conni immediately went for the red. Dave taught her how to use them (I was knee deep in the closet at the time - I'm so sad I wasn't paying more attention or had a camera on me at the time!) But, to Dave's dismay, Conni will only use the red ones! I tried to convince him that Conni could be a cheerleader for Halloween, but he was against her cheering for any "red" team.

At least she's cute, right?

The Zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday. The weather was a little muggy, and it got busier the later we were there, but it was so much fun! We told Conni Sunday night that we were going to go, and she woke up bright and early Monday morning (ok - around 8) but she asked right away if we were still going. We got up to the zoo around 10 and headed over to see the elephants.

We didn't take a ton of pictures but we sure had fun sharing the experience together. We rode the carousel (twice) and the train. Conni was so excited to see the animals from her books. She would run from one to the next and tell us what sounds they made and everything.

The funniest part was the map. (There's pictures below.) Conni would see a new animal for a minute or two, and then look at the map to decide where she wanted to go next. The one animal she really wanted to see was the tiger. We had a hard time finding it in the enclosure, so Conni asked for the map. She was so involved in it that she missed the tiger! Oh well, she had fun with her pink tiger anyway.

I love her face! She is trying to tell Dad where we should go next.

A few cute minutes with her pink tiger:

Thunderstorms

So I still need to blog about girls camp and Conni's birthday - but I have pictures to upload to go with both of those too. Soon enough :)

But I wanted to take a minute and post about the fantastic thunderstorm we had last night. Around 10 or 10:30, the thunder was so loud it was rumbling through you, and the lightening was coming every few minutes - really close together! Dave and I were downstairs watching tv and I felt like I should check on Conni.

We went in and she was laying on her floor, mostly asleep. I asked if she wanted to rock for a few minutes and she said yes. When the lightening kept coming so fast she was pointing to the window. I decided that she should really get a chance to check this out, so I scooped her up and the three of us went and sat on the floor in front of the glass front door to watch the light show.

Conni loved it! She had a huge grin! She thought it was so neat. She said the thunder was like a big drum, "Boom boom!"

We sat for about ten minutes or so and then we put her back in bed. She said that was her favorite storm and we should do it again. I'm glad we took the time to watch such a neat event - even if it was after bed time!

Everyday Memories

I've been struggling lately that we don't get out to do more stuff. Conni seems to do all the fun fieldtrips with Grandma. I've been worrying we weren't making memories for her as our little family.

I had a slight meltdown on the phone with Dave as he was getting off work yesterday, so for dinner we shook it up and went to Burger King so Conni could eat and play. She ate really well and made a new friend on the playground. She got very sad when it was time to leave, but I told her that if she wanted to come back another day she had to stop crying. She said, in the cutest teary voice, "Ok Mom, I'll stop." And she did!

After we came home we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Conni asked to ride in her stroller and insisted that I push, not Dave. The it was time for Conni to get to bed.

Our regular bedtime routine ends with me laying in bed with Conni for a primary song or two. Tonight I realized some of the memories I'm making:

* When we lay down, Conni will put her blanket over me too so we are both covered.

* We have a game where we rub our noses and say I love you back and forth to each other in a sing-song voice. Conni loves this!

* We always say a prayer together right before I kiss her goodnight and leave the room. If I forget she reminds me.

* We take time to just reconnect at the end of the day - and I hope this transitions into our long "girl talks" as she continues to grow.

So, we are making everyday memories. I need to teach myself that everything doesn't have to be a big, planned event, or where we go spend money. Something as simple as snuggling together in bed every night is enough. Here's to more memories little bug!

Numbers and Letters

Conni is learning so much every day. I just wanted to share a couple of cute things she does that helps us know she is learning.

Conni loves to play Hide and Seek. Many nights a week we play Hide and Seek in the dark with a flashlight as a family. She can count to 13 by herself. Then she skips to 16 and 20. The other day the two of us were driving in the car and she said, "Mom, lets play Hide and Seek! I cover my eyes and you hide." Ok - where am I going to hide?!? But she counts, I help her with the few teens she skips. Then she says, "Is Mommy over there? nooo." (points out one side of the car). "Is Mommy over there? noooo." (points out the other side of the car). "Is Mommy over there? There you is! I found you Mommy!" (points up front to me). Then she tells me to cover my eyes and count. Again - I'm driving! So, I shield my eyes from her and count, then "look" for her the way she looked for me. After I found her, she laughed and said, "Mommy, we're silly! Lets do it again!"

Conni loves to hold papers and "read" them. At the store, she insists that she gets to carry the receipts. She calls them her "papers with EIJs on them." (or ACN, or BDF, or whatever letters she rattles off.) This weekend she found some letters and we tried to read them. Then she said, "Mommy, lets do the ABC song" and promptly sang the alphabet song! She did great - it was L-O instead of L-M-N-O, but it was cute how she did it. Its the first time she's made it through without large gaps of letters (It used to be ABC, LM, YZ).

The best part of any time she counts or sings is when she bows at the end. She is so proud of her performance, and she does this awesome bow with one hand across her tummy and the other sticking out behind. She turns her head to the side too - it all just looks awesome - I'll have to video it cause I'm not explaining it well in words!

I'm just grateful she has a strong, healthy brain and she enjoys learning new things! And that she has learned to be proud of what she accomplishes.

Yellowstone - Summary

Just like I did with my Trek posts, below are several posts about our family vacation to Yellowstone. I wrote them chronologically so they are in reverse order to read. You can read the first post here and just click on "Newer Post" to read along.

We had a great time and we plan to go back in a few years. Thanks everyone for making it a fun trip!

Yellowstone - Wildlife

The final thing to share about our Yellowstone trip is, of course, the wildlife. We saw a ton of Buffalo (get it - a ton - ha ha, bad joke) But they were everywhere!

A herd of Buffalo settling in for the night

I think this was in Hayden Valley

Several times we would drive past a Buffalo walking along the shoulder of the road.

I could have literally reached out and touched one!

We saw a bear cub! Dave kept telling me how lucky we were to see a bear on our first trip to Yellowstone. We were at the falls at Canyon, and people told us they had seen a bear a few miles up the road. I was giddy - the one thing I wanted more than anything to see on this trip was a bear. (I LOVE bears!)

We didn't see the mother bear anywhere, and so of course this picture is taken from the car. There were several rangers near by to make sure no one was stupid enough to try to get close.

We also saw several elk. This was just a cool shot we got of some at the top of a ridge. I love how their antler stick up in the sky!

We also saw a coyote and lots of birds. When we saw an animal, we would point it out to Conni of course and try to get her to look in the right direction. We knew she actually saw it because she would say, "Oh, what a cutie!" If she didn't see it, she would just say, "Yes, I see it." It was lots of fun!

Yellowstone - Downtime

There were two cute things that happened in our down time that I wanted to share.

My mom sent a craft for Conni to do each day we were there - just a little something. One night was a necklace to string. We recorded craft time for Grandma. I'm sorry the lighting is so terrible - the only lights we had in our room were above the bed. It didn't look this off in real life. But, you can get the idea.

Watch and you will see Conni handing me stuff with her toes - she's my little monkey!

We were trying to get a picture with her wearing the necklace - but again, having lighting issues. But, notice that Conni is sticking her little belly all the way out - she's trying to shove her necklace further out so it can be seen!

Saturday night when we got back, it had started to get cool. We had left the windows in the cabin open during the day to help move air thru the room. We went to bed without thinking about closing the windows or turning on the heater for the room. Some time during the night we woke up freezing and Dave got up to close the windows. We were worried how cold Conni was in the bed alone, so Dave moved over with her to share body heat.

I woke again a few hours later still freezing. I remembered the heater so I got up to turn it on. This was the cute scene I found when I checked on my family:

Yellowstone - The Lake

The water this year was way high. This is a shot of Yellowstone River that Dave took. Those trees that are more to the front - they are usually a few feet inland from the shore! The water was beautiful but moving fast.

We went to dinner Saturday night at the Lake Lodge - another family tradition. We walked down to the lake with Dave's sister and her family. There used to be a gradual shore down to the water's edge. This year, you can see the straight drop off into the water. We let the kids get some stones to throw, but they had to throw them from farther back. Dave managed to get Conni on his shoulders to keep her more contained.

Scott and Emma

Yellostone - Mud Volcano

This was hands down Conni's favorite stop of the whole trip - Mud Volcano. She is still asking to go there.

The smell of the sulfur pots was terrible!

This was called the Dragon's Mouth or something - it would suck the water in a little and spit it back out again - pretty cool to watch!

My favorite part about this stop was this cute video. Conni started marching along, then started singing "The Ants Go Marching." I'm sorry its a little shaky - Dave was walking down the boardwalk trying to keep up. But listen to her cute little voice!! :)

Yellowstone - Upper and Lower Falls

We did a little better with pictures here at this set of falls. We loved this spot that was framed by the trees!

Conni with Grandpa and Grandma

Dave and I at the falls

Spencer really wanted to take a picture of Conni

He does good work!

Grandma and Grandpa really wanted a picture of all the grandkids together.

Here they are - all nine of them!

While we were standing there taking the picture of the kids above, I thought to myself, we must look hilarious - ten odd some adults all saying "Say cheese! Look here! Hey you!" I thought it would make a good picture of us trying to get the kids picture to turn out!

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids