Great Workers!

Yesterday Dallin and Anna worked together to clean out and wash the Suburban.
They had asked for jobs to do to earn some money.

These pictures just make me smile :)

Grace worked by cleaning out and washing out the recycle bins.

Sadly I didn't get a picture of her work.

Candy Bomber & Doctor Who

Dallin, Grace and Anna and I went to Scera Park
(along with about a billion other people)

to see the Candy Bomber, Gail Halvorsen, make what could be his last drop ever.

He is 94 years old now.
Anna loved reading this book in 3rd grade!

It was really hot!

We didn't get one of the parachutes (just too many people there!)

but we did see the plane :)

Later that day I took Grace and her friends, Audrey and Emma, 

to Barnes & Noble for a Dr. Who fan event.

They LOVED it!

Girls Camp

Before I dropped Grace off for Girls Camp,

I took her to lunch at Costa Vida :)

We had a nice lunch together.

 Then I dropped her off and wished her well.

She was very excited to go and spend time with her friends.

She got back earlier today and I got to hear all about the great time she had!

No Candy For A Year...is Over!

Last year on June 1st I challenged the kids to try and go for a year without candy.

I told them they would get $100 if they could make it.

Everyone except for Anna agreed to try

(Anna said that candy was just too precious to her :) )

I told them if they messed up, then they could start their year over from the day the messed up.

Noah accidentally messed up on June20th when he was at Strawberry days, so he started over.

Grace made it for about a month and a half...but Girls Camp ended it for her.

Isaac lasted a few more months, but decided to end his try as well.
Noah, Dallin and I all made it.
(You might have noticed birthday wishes this year included eating candy, so I guess we each had one cheat day...though to be honest, on our cheat day we only ate one or two things.)

Noah and Dallin were excited to get their $100!
I'm proud of them for completing this challenge!

Below you can see the contract I had them sign.
As you can tell...there were still plenty of sweets they could have.
This was by no means a completely sweet free year!
But, it was still a challenge :)

Mini Baking Camp at Cravings

We love Cravings Alisha's Cupcakes!
We saw them on Cupcake Wars :)
The first time they were on they didn't win, but then they came back in Season 7 and won!
(We also LOVE Cravings Bistro and their delicious grilled cheese sandwiches
...but this post is about cupcakes)

I signed Grace and Anna up for a 2 day mini baking camp there and they loved it!

 End of the first day.

 End of the 2nd day (and last day.)

Grace and Anna with Alisha and Alisha's daughter, who wanted so badly to be in the picture too.

And also Alisha's assistant who helped with the classes.
The girls had a great time and came home with some tasty treats :)

Fun at the Pool!

So glad I bought a family pool pass for the summer!
I know we will use it a lot!

Stand-in for Dad

The young women had a daddy daughter activity.

Since Mike is already gone, Noah willingly went with Grace.

Love that my kids love each other!

Wedding Dress Fashion Show

Weddings are in the air!

Titus and Stevie just got married and soon my niece Shannon will get married.
I guess wedding dresses are in the spotlight right now.

My sister-in-law Melanie showed me some pictures of her girls wearing her wedding dress

and I thought it sounded like a fun idea...

so I pulled out my wedding dress and let the girls try it on :)

I have to say that I'm a little freaked out at how it almost fits Grace!
Sometimes I wish I could slow down time :)

Really wish I would have been able to use my real camera for this, 

but it isn't working. I really need to get it fixed before the next wedding!

Riding Lessons for Grace

You may or may not remember that for her birthday last year Grace got horseback riding lessons.

Well...we were finally able to get them scheduled. 

(the company recommended waiting for warmer weather)

She LOVED it!
(In conjunction with this gift, she also got to get some new boots of course)

First lesson was on May 4th

She met her horse Mojo and learned how to take care of him and did some assisted riding.

Her last lesson was yesterday.

She was able to ride all on her own and she really enjoyed that.

I know she wishes that we could have continued the lessons...

but maybe she'll just have to learn how to ride camels in Saudi Arabia :)

Dressed up for Service - 50s Style

Our youth participated in a fun service activity with the special needs youth group.

It was a 50s theme activity night.

I think they look great!
Isaac told me that he kept getting compliments all night :)

Dressing up wasn't a requirement, but you could do it if you wanted to.
Dallin went to the activity too, but chose not to get dressed up so he didn't want to be in the picture.

I'm glad that my kids like to serve and help others (usually)
From the report I got after the activity, it sounds like they all had a great time!

Grace's Choir Concert

 This girl is awesome!
She did excellent in her choir concert.
She even had a little solo part.

I would have posted some clips, but sadly our video camera decided not to work that night :(

She is officially a Whovian!

If you aren't sure what a Whovian is...

If you don't know that's a Lego Tardis...

If you don't get excited about The Doctor...

Then Grace will try to change your mind :)

Icicles

Grace, Isaac and Anna enjoyed finding some huge icicles yesterday!

Sledding with friends

Grace and Anna spent some time sledding with Natalie and Kali Godfrey.

They had a great time!

Thankful my kids have good friends.

Grace's Chorus Concert

Grace did a great job last night in her chorus concert.

She loves music and she loves to sing :)

She even had a little solo part that she tried out for and was excited to do!

The Tarantula...Gets Eaten!

 Warning: This blog post may should be disturbing to some most people!

So...a couple years ago when I asked Grace what she wanted for her birthday dinner

her response was tarantula meat...

DISGUSTING!

Anyway, she has pretty much asked for it every year since. I think 3 years in a row.

So this year I got online and ordered a tarantula in a can. 

I was hoping it would get here in time for her birthday, but no such luck.

When it arrived we invited family and some friends over to watch and possibly partake

if they were so inclined...

Here's how the evening went...

Well....there you go!

I have nothing more to say...

Grace is 13!

We have another teenager in the house!

Her day started with her requested breakfast of

eggs, bacon a clementine and some passion fruit juice.

I seem to have misplaced her list of wishes :(

so I'll try to remember most of them

No chores (a favorite wish)

She wished for me to straighten her hair

I think she is beautiful either way!

Lick the batter bowl

Play on the computer

She wished to stay up late

To watch her new movie from Grandma and Grandpa

and to have a whole bag of popcorn to herself!

She asked for a chocolate raspberry trifle for her cake

and wished for candle control :)

 She enjoyed opening her gifts and cards

Anna made her a little birthday treat from pie crust

Her candy was skittles

Book was Atlantia

Her big gift was horseback riding lessons!

 She's really excited for that.

She will get 3 one-hour sessions :)

Other wishes I remember were...
playing flight control with mom
getting a backscratch from mom
mom reading a chapter of Atlantia out loud before bed

She is such a wonderful girl and we LOVE her so much!

So glad that she is in our family.

Hope she had a great day.

(Hopefully I will find her list of wishes and be able to update this post.)

The Cutest Little Snowman Ever!

We had a little snow yesterday and Grace made this cute little snowman

on the top of one of the little bistro tables :)