Rain Storm

We had an awesome storm this afternoon. 

There is a tradition in my family when a lightning storm would come by my mom would grab all of us and we would sit out on the front porch and watch the lightning and listen to the thunder.  I did that with my kids today.  When lightning would hit and thunder would sound we would all yell, "We want another one, just like the other one!  We want another one NOW!"  And see if thunder and lightning would strike right then.  We got it a few times and it was a really nice thunder storm.  The kids decided to splash in puddles after the lightning stopped.  I grabbed my camera because everything looked so green and nice.

We even had a nice, light rainbow in the east.

Our new planter boxes.  I can't wait to see them grow!

Our tiny little hanging baskets.  I think we need to plump them up a bit with a few more flowers, but they are still pretty.

Fin.  The wet dog.

The New 1st Grade Program

For years Grantsville 1st graders participated in the First Grade Circus.  It was cute and it was a really big deal.  Gabby was in the very last official First Grade Circus (see here) before the new Grantsville Elementary was built and the schools were split.  Some Grantsville natives tried to put an unofficial one together last year after school hours and it didn't go very well.

This year Willow Elementary was approved to do a new 1st Grade program.  It was really cute and Corban loved being in it!  It was all about our world, our country, our state and our community.

Can you find Corban?  Here's a hint.  He's one of the short ones (imagine that) and so he's on the front row.

He is such a performer!  He was all smiles and was very aware when he saw my camera out and pointed at him.

Each first grader was in one special number and then singing every song in the chorus while others performed.  Here is a little line dance number (we do live in Grantsville) and Corban's group is in the background getting ready to come on in their Utah Jazz jerseys.

Their song was "This is the Place" and these boys did a dance holding their basketballs.  Corban was very aware of what he was supposed to be doing and helped one of the boys next to him know when he was supposed to move also.  :)  Corban said that the other boy kept forgetting in the morning performance for the rest of the classes, so he helped him in the afternoon performance.

At the end of their dance they all get in this group and do their little ending pose.  Corban took his time and made sure that his ball was facing the right direction so everyone could read "Jazz" on his ball.  What a little perfectionist.  I wonder where he gets that?  Hmmmmm.

 Here's Corb with his best buddy Luke Hancock.  These are great kids and I'm glad that Corban has such good friends.

I have to laugh at this picture of Corban with his teacher.  I grabbed her after the performance and got a couple of pictures of the two of them.  When I looked afterward I got one with her eyes closed (the one I'm posting) or one where she started to talk and her face looks hilarious.  So, she would hate both of these, but what are you going to do?

Mrs. Painter is an amazing teacher and so sweet, kind and patient with these little 1st graders.  It has been a pleasure to have her as Corban's teacher this year.  I know he has sure grown by leaps and bounds thanks to her.

It looks like we have a new 1st grade tradition starting at Willow Elementary and hopefully it will stick around, because they sure did a good job with it!  Corban is quite the little performer and did such a good job!

How about a spa party?

For Gabby's 9th birthday party we had a spa night.  The girls started by making their own facial masks. I had a few recipes for them to choose from (ie, oatmeal, yogurt, banana and honey, etc).  They chose what they wanted in their facials, mixed them all up and dabbed them over their faces.

 Then they came into the living room and relaxed with cucumbers on their eyes and soft music in the background.  Mallory and Lily hadn't arrived yet.

When Kaylea and her friend (and possibly future sister-in-law???) showed up we rinsed off the girls faces and then the beauty treatments continued.  Kaylea and her friend did all of the girls hair (so cute!!!)

Casi showed up to drop off her girls and stayed to help put makeup on each girl.  Bump and Corban hung out with the boys in the tv room.  Kaylea brought Jessica's daughter, Avery, along also.  I am so glad that Bump was there to babysit and help while we pampered these lovely girls.  There is no way I could have done even half the stuff we did on my own!

 While hair was being done by Kaylea, and makeup by Casi, some girls were upstairs soaking their feet in lavender epson salts and I was busy painting fingernails and toe nails.  We also had the movie Enchanted on in the other "waiting room" for anyone who wanted to watch it.  

All of the girls had a lot of fun and felt very beautiful at the end.  I can just see them all as teenagers right now.  Boy are we in trouble!

Then we ate brownies instead of cake, by Gabby's choice, and opened presents!

Gabby has some great friends.  She had a hard time narrowing it down to just a few, but she chose well and we loved having them over!  Mallory and Lily got to spend the night and we drove them back home on Saturday.  What a fun celebration for a really FUN girl!

Piano Recital

Thursday was the kids piano recital.  Gabby has been in one recital before, but this was Corban and Quincy's first experience.  They all did so great!  Honestly, they were the stars of the recital.  :)  

Corban was extremely focused while waiting for the recital to begin.

I had to get a picture of his hands going over his song while he waited.

The girls were all smiles.

Quincy was the 4th person to go and the first in our family.  She did so good and only made one little slip when here teacher was playing with her.  

I'm so glad I got this picture of Corban.  He had a smile on his face through the whole performance.  He knew he nailed his songs and felt really great about it.

Gabby had so much focus and some tough songs.  She worked really hard on the theme from The Pink Panther and played it perfectly.

The kids BFF's (The Hancock's) came to support the kids at the recital.  Afterward they gave each of the kids a candy lei.  The kids loved them and were so glad that they came to support them.  I wish I had a picture of them all together, but they had to take off quickly afterward.

The kids have been playing really well and I am so happy with their teacher, Liz Lewis, and how much they have learned just since November.  I am glad their experiences have been positive.

Well, you can go ahead and just watch them below.  It's about 7 minutes long since the teacher couldn't find her music for Corb's song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03XyqWF-3Hc