Nashville Tribute Band

I had an amazing date with my husband Thursday night. His department had a social -- dinner and a concert. They invited The Nashville Tribute Band to come perform. I wouldn't have missed that for anything! I had searched earlier this year to find tickets to a concert, but then we got invited to this free event before I got any. And now I find out the only date they'll be in town I'm going to be out of town, so that worked out great. I already own their first two CDs, and now they have a new one coming out which I just might have to add to my list. I really regret not hauling my camera. I took a pic with my iPod, but it's not worthy of posting. Jason Deere was there, along with Ron Saltmarsh and Katherine Nelson and two other guys I didn't know. They had some kids (Dyer Highway) open up for them. We bought their CD and got it autographed. It was a good night -- even though it did get a little chilly by the end of the evening.

Friday I took the girls to the pool. Chloe wanted to work on some stuff for her swimming lessons. Oh yeah, did I mention she started lessons last week? This is her last level (assuming she passes), and then she wants me to see if I can get her into the lifeguard training class. The teacher told me she only offers it if there's enough interest, so I'll put her on a waitlist and see what happens.

That evening the girls wanted to go gold panning. We just walked over to the park and played in the creek. Brandon bought the gold pan for Sophie for her birthday a couple years ago, and I heard her tell him the other day it's one of her favorite gifts. I thought that was nice. I'm glad they enjoy this activity together -- and I don't think it has much to do with finding any gold (which they didn't, in case you were wondering).



Saturday we had our individual dates with the girls and then that evening they wanted to rollerblade to the park, so we returned. And would you like to guess what we did for FHE tonight? If you guessed "went to the park" you win! We played tag and let the girls swing and play a bit.

Father's Day Snowball Fight

Yesterday we had a ball celebrating Brandon and all the hard work he does for our family. We started the day by going out to breakfast. That's something we just never do, but I know he loves it. I researched the best places for breakfast in Utah and was directed to this cafe in Layton called Sill's Cafe, so that's where we went and they did not disappoint.

Here is the man of the hour. He cut his hair later that night, so he looks much more groomed now:


We tried hard to let him catch up on some rest the remainder of the morning, but I don't think he got much. After lunch we then hauled him off on a hike. I picked this easy, child-friendly hike around Silver Lake, up by Brighton. We got there only to find the lake was frozen and the path was covered in snow.


The kids (all three of them) started a snowball fight...


and then the girls had fun climbing on this 8 foot tall snowbank.


Then after dinner Chloe wanted to do sidewalk chalk, so we just hung outside together for a while...


Until this giant cotton storm flew in. The wind was blowing the cotton like crazy. The girls thought it would be fun to run out and dance in, but as you can see from the look on their faces (rubbing cotton out of their eyes) it wasn't that enjoyable.

Activity Day

Chloe had an Activity Day today. I got to tag along since one of her leaders has some health complications, so I've been filling in for her the last two times. Sophie also got to come. We went to the church history museum. They had a lot of different activities planned for the girls, a little story-telling and a couple crafts. The girls and I had worn our matching shirts, so it was fun to see all the reactions and made it easy for people to figure out that we belonged together. I finally got a picture of us so I can post it!

Back in the Saddle

I think Sheri left more than her bottle of shampoo when she came to visit. Brandon and I got sick! I caught it first, and then passed it on to him. We've enjoyed a long run of health, so this caught us a little off guard. At least the girls never got it. Brandon was home from work for a whole week. We missed church two Sundays ago due to the illness. My family was holding a special fast for us to help sell our house, but we ended up not being able to participate since we were sick (I did a make-up this week, though), but Sophie was determined to. She's such a good kid, and she called and arranged a ride to church all on her own. She and Chloe sure stepped in and tried to take care of us, preparing meals. One night Sophie made us "tacos." She made the tortillas from scratch, all by herself, and then cut up a bunch of veggies to put inside.

Last week the girls got to go to a chalk festival that one of our sweet neighbors put on. It was such a simple, yet fun idea. She just invited a bunch of kids from the neighborhood over to draw with sidewalk chalk. I stayed home to continue re-cooperating, but I needed out of this germ infested house, so I did wander out that afternoon to take the girls to a puppet show at the library.

This week the library did a demonstration of capoeira, a Brazilian martial art. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately. I was afraid I had missed all the nice days locked up inside, sick, but turns out the weather has been holding out for me. We took some friends along with us and enjoyed lounging around on the lawn watching the performers.



Except for this silly one who managed to take a nap during it!



And here's a short clip of the girls participating. If you can't pick them out, look on the right side. Chloe's in a pink shirt and white shorts, Sophie's got a brown shirt and Kiera is to the left of Sophie. Kasidee was still sleeping away :)



And just one more thing, if you can handle me that long. I really like Leo. He's a minimalist who has a great blog, but over at his Zen Habits site he posted something today that I really liked. I thought about just copying it and making my own blog post out of it (he doesn't care about that; we're on the same page as far as copyrights go), but I'm too lazy for that so I'm just going to send you over there. I often feel like who I am challenges the norm. Why can't I just go along with everyone else? It would be so much easier! So, if you want a little insight into how I feel most of the time, go read from Leo. http://zenhabits.net/norms/

Weekend Celebrations

Last weekend we had a ward campout. This is the first one we've attended, as we're not big group campers. But the girls cried enough that we gave in. It was actually scheduled for the weekend before, but the rain and mudslides kind of got in the way so it was postponed. We were hoping for much nicer weather, and it was nicer just not a whole lot. It only sprinkled a little, so at least we stayed dry. We went to Anderson Cove up by Huntsville. It felt like we were camping in a park, but I guess that's what you get nowadays.

On Sunday we got to go to Tooele for Archer's baby blessing. We had a nice little brunch beforehand. Then we came home. Sheri and her three boys came and stayed with us. We got to go back to Tooele on Monday. We were supposed to have a family picnic that day, but due to conflicts of trying to meet somewhere central and rain we settled on just eating at Jason & Shalee's again. We also threw in a little bday party for my mom. It was rather subtle, but she got her ice cream cake and we all pitched in for a webcam so she can visit with her grandkids more often.

I did take a bunch of pictures, but I think I accidentally deleted them. They're not on my hard drive and I cleared my card in my camera before double checking (uh oh!) At least I had all the important ones. Shalee had asked me to do photos of Eli & Elsie for their 4 year and 18 month shots. I guess I'll post those since I have nothing else to show from the weekend.

And Tuesday I took a bunch of pictures of little Harold before they left. This was the first time we met him so I had to get pictures. He has this great comical grin. When he smiles his mouth gets so huge.