TWINS 1ST KINDERGARTEN FIELD TRIP!

The twins took their first field trip today. We went and saw The Cat in the Hat play in Tempe and then ended up back at Tumbleweed Park for lunch. The boys didn't want to sit with me on the bus, they wanted to sit with Brady, but luckily for me I packed treats in my purse so I bribed them to be my bus buddies and sit with me. Phew - it worked like a charm!

 

Brady, Tyler, Tyson, Bradyn and Brian

 Some of their classmates...

FIRST DANCE TRIP SOLO!

And by solo I mean without me. All of Emma's friend were going to Las Vegas for WCDE regionals and we weren't going to go because we are in the process of redoing our kitchen so she was going to sit this one out. We were sad, but it is what it is. Then Tiffany and Eric very kindly offered to take Emma with them. Jared and I talked about it and decided she should be able to go with them. We knew she was going to be in great hands. I loved getting texts all weekend long and picture updates. We are so glad she got to go with them and dance and play her weekend away! The best part of the whole weekend was after the awards and finding out Emma didn't get anything, I received a text from Tiffany telling me how "Emma is both beautiful inside and out. She is so gracious and hugging all the girls and congratulating all of them" That brought tears to our eyes, we were so proud of her. Its hard to stand there and watch your friends get things and none for you so she handled it like a true champion!

Tiffany told the girls if they each shared a headphone and put their heads together the music would travel between them!

Willy Wonka on the Strip

 Gordon Ramsey's BURGR



fatties enjoying their long awaited burgers!

Rise and Shine! First day of convention...



Sweet Factory for dinner and the best drinks ever!

 As if that wasn't enough, these girls later went to Seredipity for Frozen Hot Chocolates!

SASSY CHICAS!

Last May; Emma, Bella and Ella decided to started their own little group to "compete" against another studio's little group. They joked about it, added in a few friends and made up their own outfits, name, etc. Then 6 months down the road they started talking to Stacia about it and asked her to be their manager and then from there they had a little photo shoot and started an instagram page and got little nicknames!

Introducing "Strut"

 

Bella, Arie, Teagan, Emma, Jaelah, Arie, Kaitlyn, Ella

GILBERT TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE!

We got to take our kids through the Gilbert Temple before it opened up to the public. The Votaws were kind enough to get us contractor tickets since we went in and helped clean one day. It was very neat to take our kids inside. Emma and Eli loved it the most, the twins were tired after school and wanted to be carried through the whole thing...they did manage to make sure they drank out of every silver and gold drinking fountain they passed. Emma asked some really great questions and so did Eli. It makes me excited to think about going through the Temple with my kids when they get older - but sad because they are older :(

 

That night as Jared was tucking Eli into bed, Eli said, "I liked the Temple, it made me feel close to Jesus!" Love that boy! 

TYLER'S FORT

So our sweet little Tyler man decided a couple of weeks before Christmas that he wanted a fort! That was the first thing he really seemed like he wanted...so I was bored one night and got online and researched craigslist, etc trying to see if someone was selling anything for cheap. I ended up finding a man who would build custom ones for you out of wood for the price ranging from $250 - to unlimited - just depending on what you wanted. I decided to give the number a call and see what happened. He answered when I called and we talked - I just wanted a basic fort with 4 sides and a roof and to make it fancy maybe the roof could have a square cut out of it so Tyler could stand on it and jump off. He said he could do that and we talked for a while, then we both bounced more ideas off each other, then more emails went back and forth and then more pictures and it kept spiraling from there. He was getting excited, we were getting excited and he kept coming up with all these things that his dream fort would have had as a kid and he wanted to add that to Tyler's. We wanted it to be a surprise for Christmas so he came over 3 days before Christmas and showed up about 9am and didn't leave until 1:30am that day - he stayed the whole time. We left Tyler a present outside the front of the house for him to find when he came home from school and we pretended Santa has left it. It was telling him that he had received his letter at the North Pole and in order to fulfill his wish his helpers had to come and start making it. He was not allowed to look in the backyard or sneak a peak or else it would all disappear. The guy who came and built the fort even wore green to help our Santa helper cause.

In the end Tyler was freaking thrilled with it! It was built around the tree, has upstairs and down stairs, holes in the sides of the walls so he can peak through them, a rope to climb up and down, a ramp to climb up, a door with a lock on the first level to keep unwanted visitors out, it has 2 benches on the inside, etc - its pretty pimp!