DADADAAADAAAA It's Finished

After 3 coats of stain, 8 coats of polyurethane, searching for chairs to match, a 3 man team to get it in the door, here it is. We love how it all turned out. A quote from Leah, "you know what I like about the table...you have to let us sit at it if we are going to like it." Ok so I am a little uptight about it getting water spots or sticky. Hopefully I can relax or get a plastic tablecloth for the kids to eat at. Thanks to my talented father-in-law and wonderful husband for all their hard work on building this creation.

Red White and Blue Dessert

We had a patriotic themed Relief Society the other night. This is what I came up with. It is a cookie pizza. Pretty easy just sugar cookie dough and creme cheese frosting. I have got the recipe if anyone wants it.

As always Dave came home and bailed me out by finishing making it when I was in a time crunch.

Meet the Newest Member of Our Family

A soft and fluffy 7 week old Shichon puppy. A Shichon is a mix between a Bichon Frise and a Shih Tzu. They are suppose to be smarter than a Shih Tzu and hypoallergenic like the Bichon, a lap dog, and easy to train. You all can make fun of me for caving on the dog. Most of my friends have probably heard me say, "we will not ever get a dog." But look at this guy, who could resist! I actually had been looking for dogs for a few weeks to give to Leah for her birthday. My friend Shannon found these on KSL and we went to go see them. I actually had no intention of wanting one until I saw how good this guy was with the kids. I decided to say yes about a dog when every friend Leah choose to play with had to have a dog. It was getting quite ridiculous. And instead of going outside to visit friends they just went visit the dogs next door. I have waited years to see if the dog obsession would end and it had only gotten worse. So there you have it I caved.

Surprisingly I actually like him! He has been the dream puppy. We brought him home Wednesday night. I haven't once been awakened at night. He goes potty on a puppy pad in the bathroom if he needs to at night. During the day he has gone outside except for 2 accidents. I gave him a wash cloth bath today and blow dried his hair dry because he was shaking so much when I was done. I always thought I would hate having a dog, but so far so good.

His name is Lucky Clover Ratchford. Leah announced it, "we will name him Lucky because it is our lucky day, the day we get a puppy." The girls are obsessed and spend every waking moment I will allow mauling him. He just plays dead on their laps and they carry him around like a baby. But when put down he chases balls, chews on his bone, and runs and trys to hide. I have to lock the bathroom door where his kennel is to give Lucky a break from them. They will not be a shortage of love and affection at this house.

Leah's Big Dance Recital

Dance class pictures done by an amazing photographer friend of Marci's.

Waiting in line for their first number. A tap routine!

What a little ham. At one point she wasn't watching her teacher because she was so busy checking herself out in the mirror.

I am excited to use this outfit now that the recital is done. Isn't it FUNKY.

Eva wanted to stand at the side for each dance and follow along. She was suppose to be in the class but ended up wanting to stay with me instead. We are planning on putting her in next year.

Huge trophies for all the kids! I am sure it will be a prized possession for years to come.

Kindergarten Graduation

The class performed a selection of songs that they learned this year at school. Her teacher had a song for everything. Genius when you think about it. Kids can't talk when they are singing. That was one of the things I loved about Mrs. Piper they made everything fun.

I couldn't have asked for a better teacher. We loved her!!!! If you think about the perfect personality for a kindergarten teacher she has got it. She made each child feel loved and I never once saw her frustrated. That is amazing when you have 20, 6 year olds.

Eva's Preschool Program

There is my cute girl sitting quietly waiting for the program to begin.

This is her class minus 1 who moved and 1 on vacation.

Each of the kids had parts. Eva held the flag. Then she showed a picture of her favorite part about preschool, learning letters.

I am so proud of her. She is very well behaved in class. And when her teacher tested her she knew all her letters and their sounds. This year was a struggle getting her to go for the first 7 months. I almost gave up and then one day it just clicked. She would run happily into class like she never had a problem. Thank heavens. Tami was perfect I don't know if I would have let anyone else "help" her stay at preschool. She just let Eva decide when she wanted to come into class and it worked every time. I was so glad I had her somewhere that I knew and trusted the teacher. The year went by so fast I can hardly believe it.

This is the Place Park

We love, Love, LOVE, This is the Place Park. Saturday I needed to do some work in SLC so we made a day of it. The weather was perfect and it was baby animal days. The kids were in heaven. Besides a Ronan's melt down, literally over ice cream. Thing were great. Nothing makes my kids happier then pony rides, baby animals to pet, ice cream, and a train ride. Then it was off to Mandarin in the park with some friends for the evening. Monday was spent getting the rest of my garden planted. We will see if anything lives I already lost a few campers.

Bountiful Baskets

I few weeks ago I read about this produce co-op call Bountiful Baskets on one of my neighbors blogs. Then I was on Pinchin Your Pennies website and people on the forum were discussing it. I thought I must try this out. I want you to try and guess how much money I bought all this produce for? If you get it right you can come have a pear. Alright even if you don't get it right you can have one. I have about 10 of them. So think of your guess.....................

15$!!!!! Can you believe it. I could barely carry the bag to my car. Dave is busy planning all the things we are going to do for meals this week with all this. They also have amazing artisan bread that I passed on this time. But once I saw it I wondered why I did that. Anyway if you are interested you can follow this link http://02b8ce3.netsolstores.com/. One drawback which I should warn you about. I had to get up at 6:30 this morning to drive to Clearfield to pick it up. But I think I want to do it again. If any of my neighbors and friends are interested we could take turns picking up. It is only every other Saturday anyway. What do you think, anyone want in?

Dance Costumes

I sure paid a fortune for them so I might as well show these costumes somewhere other than just the 1 recital we are going to have. I shouldn't complain because our dance teacher turned $80 into 4 costumes. I don't have the ballet skirts yet but she made them herself and their darling. This dance world is crazy. If it were me I would just throw them all in a black leotard for the recital and call it good. We had class pictures taken and I really wanted a photo in each outfit but it would have cost me. I figured I could take a few myself. Notice the bottom lip out. That is the face I make when I dance. Do you think it could be hereditary?

Tap Costume

Hip Hop Costume

Leah's Dance Competition

Leah and I had a conversation the other days that went something like this. "Mom I don't like dance. I like to run and jump more than dance. I like gymnastics and soccer," she stated. Alright I am not making her take dance. In fact I was a little relieved with her preferences. I get sports more than the dance world. Except for 1 thing. I didn't take dance and always felt like I had 2 left feet at every dancing event. I was just trying to save her the embarrassment. She had a competition Saturday and loved it. Leah loved being out there performing. "I liked that more than just dance class," she was excited to say. So we will see if the dance continues but it was hilarious to watch her cute group perform.