Sarah's spring dance recital

Sarah loves her dance class. She told me one day that dance was WAY more fun than preschool. This past spring they had their big dance recital and she couldn't wait. She drove me crazy for hours before the recital asking if she could get dressed yet. I finally told her she could get dressed and then she spent the rest of the time complaining about her collar hurting her. We would leave the collar undone until she had to go onstage and then hurry and do it up then undo it again in between numbers. She was so excited to have both sets of grandparents there. We are so lucky to live close to both our parents and they are always there to support us and our kids. Sarah did a wonderful job at the recital and was so cute. There is nothing quite like watching a group of three and four year olds up on stage trying to remember what to do. I love it and I'm so glad that Sarah has had the chance to do this.

This was taken at the dress rehearsal. I just love her expression.

The big finale with all the classes. 

 The two girls behind Sarah in the cute hats are Sarah's friends Olivia and Paige. She wasn't able to be in the same class but at least at the finale they were standing together.

Because I am so far behind on my posts, Sarah has already started taking dance again this fall.  She loves it again but is very put out because there is another Sarah in her class.  She thinks that she should be the only one and can't understand why parents would give their kids her name.  I've tried to explain and told her that it's such a beautiful name that other people like it too. I'm afraid she better get used to it. Sometime in the future she will have another Sarah in a school class and I'm thinking that she will have to be known as "Sarah H" I guess that's the price we pay for going with a classic name and spelling it traditionally. Good luck with that my Sarah H.

Best Mother's Day Gift

For Mother's Day I told Sam that I wanted to go camping. I know that may sound strange for some women but that was what I wanted. I wanted to get away with my little family and enjoy some time just the four of us. We decided since the weather was still quite cool that we would head south. We decided on Goblin Valley. We then had to explain to Sarah that they weren't real goblins and showed her some pictures of what it looked like. After that she was very excited. This would be Lily's first camping trip and I couldn't wait to see what her reaction would be. We loaded up the car and headed out Saturday after Bountiful Baskets. I apologize this is quite long and has a lot of pictures but it we packed a lot of fun into the weekend.



Lily spilled all over herself in the car and ended up stripped down to her diaper. Eventually both girls fell asleep and it was a very peaceful drive the rest of the way.



We camped in Green River at the Green River State Park. It was a nice campground with large trees that shaded our campsite almost the whole time and the ground was grassy.

Sarah helped Sam set up the tent.


She got thirsty so she put on one of our camelbacks and worked while she got a drink. How very efficient of her.



Lily had the right idea. While everyone else worked to set up camp, she kicked back with a can of Pringles.



The next day we drove down to Goblin Valley. It was fun exploring the valley but it was really windy so we didn't stay very long.


We drove just outside of Goblin Valley State Park and found the Little Wildhorse slot canyon that we had been told about. We decided to go for it and I strapped Lily on and away we went. It was a tough hike but very amazing. The worst part again was the wind and let me tell you, that wind gets flying through that canyon. On the way back out, we strapped Lily on my back with the baby wrap and tucked her head under it and she fell fast asleep. Sarah was a little trooper and hiked for most of the way then Sam carried her on his shoulders.



After our hike, we headed back to camp and a cooler environment. While dinner was cooking, Sam tied a rope he had brought along into a ball and swung the rest over a tree branch and the girls used it as a swing. They had so much fun.



Lily sure enjoyed the corn on the cob we had for dinner that night.




When it was time to go home the next day, Sarah fell apart and started sobbing that she didn't want to go home. She was upset because we had brought gear to go fishing and stopped on the way out and got licenses so she was adamant that we had to go fishing before we went home. So we ended up stopping in North Salt Lake and going fishing at a little pond out there. She loved it and Sam even caught a fish!


I love how she's holding the pole between her feet.

Not a bad sized fish for a little pond. Everyone around us had been there for hours and had caught nothing. We were there for maybe an hour. Awesome!


Lily checking out Dad's fish.

It was a wonderful weekend and the best Mother's Day I have had so far.

Antelope Island

One day in April I was feeling the need to get out of the house. I felt like all I had done with my camera for awhile was take pictures of my kids, which is great, but I was needing to stretch my photographic muscles a little. We packed up a lunch and piled into the car and headed out to Antelope Island. It was the middle of the afternoon so the light was pretty bright but we had a great time exploring the Garr Ranch some more and I got to get a few pictures. And of course, a lot of the pictures were of my kids. I guess I just can't help it. It still felt really good to get out and have some fun just the girls and I. We also went to the zoo the same week and had a great there as well. For some of you who follow both of my blogs there may be some duplicate pictures so I apologize. Here are some of my favorites.







Sarah had a great time roping these sawhorses with bull's heads on them. She got to be pretty good.



Saying goodbye to the chickens.




At the zoo. Sarah has to have a map every time we go.



There was this nice family there that had some older kids who blew bubbles for my kids to play with. Lily had a ball.


We saw this cute little family of baby goslings. I was so involved with taking pictures of them that I didn't notice Lily trying to climb the little fence surrounding the pond. She took a tumble head over heels and landed on her back in the grass. She scared me half to death because of the way she landed. There were gasps all around us from other people and I felt like the worst mother in the world.


I keep trying to get Lily to sit on the trunk of this elephant but she won't do it.

Happy Easter!

Just trying to get caught up on some things. We had a wonderful Easter this year. The Saturday before Easter, Sam took the girls to the Davis County employee egg hunt and Lily won a little basket. I was busy doing Bountiful Baskets but more on that in a later post. The girls had a great time going to both their grandparents houses for Easter egg hunts and spending time with cousins. It was so much fun watching the girls look for eggs in our house Easter morning. Lily was so excited. We didn't actually decorate any eggs of our own until the next day. I was just going to let it go but Sarah never forgets anything. Oh well, better late than never. They still had a great time.




Easter egg hunt at Grandma Shauna and Grandpa John's

I wonder if it's possible to fit anymore candy in her mouth.
Coloring Easter eggs.



My little goofball.