Friday, June 1, 2012

And May!


Kindergarten field trip to Hogle Zoo. It was early and cool that day so the animals were awake and moving around and being interesting. The tigers were right next to the windows, the gorilla was eating right next to the viewing area, and the elephants were moving around and eating (I really love the baby elephant Suri).


Did anyone else know that they WAY raised the admission prices to the zoo? For an adult to get in it's now $14! And child admission is $8, or some obscene amount.

Cousin, Fisher, and Leah have been in the same kindergarten class this year. She is REALLY going to miss him when she changes schools next year.

After the zoo we (went to dance, then) headed up to Layton to visit my sister and her family. The cousins were enthralled with little Noah born on May 2.

On May 7, Leah performed in her second dance recital for Murray Community Dance. She danced to Shake, Shake, Shake Senora and really blew me away.

Earlier in the semester Leah's instructor missed 5 weeks of practice due to personal and family illness (major stuff, not just a cold here and there). The girls really did not know the dance at all with only three practices remaining to the recital. The instructor had previously given us the music to practice to at home and added step by step choreography at this point. Leah was determined to learn the steps. She told me she wouldn't get on the stage until she knew it all really well. That girl, practiced her heart out at home and showed up to the very next rehearsal with a nearly seamless routine. Leah worked so hard for this recital and did such a great job. We've really enjoyed having Miss Becky as an instructor this year.

On the first Sunday of every month, my family gets together for Sunday dinner. Often, my sister, Megan, will bring her shoebox full of nail polish and paints the little girl's fingers. Well, these Sunday's the boys usually get jealous and want their nails painted too. Parker is no exception. He wanted his nails painted so badly, but I just couldn't do it. So we compromised and Megan painted a little spider (super boy, I know) on one nail. He loved that spider and named him Creepy. For the next few days he would show EVERYONE he came in contact with. "Hi! Creepy Spider," as he flipped up his ring finger.

Pretty much the only way to get Parker happy as he wakes up from a nap, is to send Leah in to play with him first.

First official daddy-daughter date. It was a western themed dance at the elementary school.

She loves her 'wishes'.


About two days before the weekend Matt and I decided to go to St. George for Memorial day weekend. We packed up and headed south. Parker and Leah were rock stars for the long drive and we had so much fun playing in the pool in St. George.

Well... not all of us. Parker pretty much hates the water. This is a moment when I was trying to push him away from the ledge; he had a death grip on the ledge.


We also went to Las Vegas to go to the M&M Factory (Leah thinks that is the only place that exists in Las Vegas).

This time Matt and I decided to splurge a little and take the kids to The Secret Gardens at The Mirage. It's a dolphin habitat (along with white lions and tigers and some spotted leopards) and even though I balked at paying $14 to get into the Hogle Zoo, I decided it would be okay to pay $20/adult for a much smaller venue. Whatever, the kids loved it and we've never seen dolphins before.

Even though we were baking in the 90 degree sun, Leah was mesmerized by these dolphins. We had to peel her away after 45 minutes of watching them because Parker was looking pretty flushed.

Luckily they also had an underground viewing area.

At The Bellagio

Leah wanted this for her room. I can't blame her. It was a beautiful rendering of a Monet piece made completely out of flowers.

The day after we came home I had mounds of laundry to do. Leah's regular job is to fold socks and towels; this is how Parker helps.
Another highlight of the month: I got Strep Throat again, BAD. What have I learned from it? Well, after having a 103 degree fever for three days, taking 800 mg of Ibuprofen every 5-6 hours for a wicked sore throat, and basically being completely useless for 1 week I learned this: don't soldier through the pain, just go in and get on some meds. Otherwise, you'll get your daughter sick as well. And then you'll pay another doctor's visit and she'll be on meds.

2 comments:

The Lambert Family said...

Your kids are cute! I can't believe how old they are getting! :)

Marc and Miriam Deru said...

Aw, great pictures! Go Leah for doing all the dance practice at home. That really says something about her character. And I love the picture of your kids looking at the dolphins through the window-- very cool!