Utah Arts Festival

When I first moved to Utah; I lived in the Avenues where they always had the Art Festival going on downtown every year. A friend I met here introduce me to the Utah Arts Festival. We enjoyed going when we could. Once we moved in our house it died down; we were doing more house projects or attending the Parade of Homes instead.



When Ryan and Lindsay first came to our home; we decided to find things they would enjoy. Now it is our little tradition to try and attend the Arts Festival each year. The kids enjoy the hands on kiddie corner and do arts & crafts, run through a maze, and play music. This year the kids were not that interested in the kiddie corner. The were more interested in all the little booths, face paintings, and musical numbers. I do have to say I was a little disappointed myself in the kiddie corner this year.

We always start off with taken Trax downtown. The kids love riding the train. We first hit the kiddie corner. Ryan and Lindsay did a few crafts. They were more intrigued with the instruments; banging on the bongos, and hitting the chimes. We found a booth with home made crafts for sale. Ryan and Lindsay both wanted something from the booth. I told them I was going to buy them a snack here. If they choose they can use the snack money for something at this booth instead of having a snack.

I was surprised they turned down a snack. Ryan wanted the bow and arrows. Lindsay wanted a Princess head piece and wand. I let them purchase the items. Both were excited to have these items. Was that a really smart move on my end...bows and arrows and a wand hummmm? It made them happy. By the end of the day they were taken away. They start to use them as weapons to start a fight with each other.

Anyways, the kids really enjoy listen to a group of children play the violin. Lindsay danced around with her little price attidude. It was cute. Face painting...I really disliked because with children it can be very mess. Children are already dirty and sweaty why make it worse. But again I could not say "NO." Lindsay had Hell0 Kitty painted on her face, which is her favorite. Ryan had the Transformer Emblem painted on his face. It was already smugged with in seconds after being put on his face. It does not look like a Transformer Emblem. Oh well. I just had two mess kids.

To top everything off they had the water feature finished and sure enough Ryan and Lindsay already had their shoes off and were already in the water. For kids who had water traum; they are starting to do much better and now have to be in the water, touch or near the water. They are now more facinated with the water verse being terrified.

Ryan and Lindsay enjoyed the Art Festival but compare to last year, I didn't enjoy it as much. Maybe, it was a little hard to enjoy since Dan was not with us. It was just me and kids. They didn't seem to have as much as they did last year. And my eyes were more on keeping track of the kids and not to loose them in this big crowd of people. Maybe next year it will be different.

No more Kindergarden! 1st Grade here I come.

Ryan has been telling us for the last few months he can't wait to be in 1st grade. He took his last test and he Passed. His first words were, "SWEET." He is excited to be a 1st grader. Now, he is telling us he can't wait to be in 2nd grade and that would be."TOTALLY AWESOME." Hold on kid, one grade at a time.

It's Ballerina Time!

Lindsay enjoys her ballet class. She was so excited to get her custom on once again. This time for her ballerina photos and for her Ballet Recital on June 13, 2008. She loves to be in front of the camera. This recital was Alice in Wonderland. She was a Red rose. However, this time on stage she was nervous to do her performance. She was not able to see the crowd and had lots of bright lights shining on her.

There goes Ryan! No that way or was it this way?

Ryan has a lot of energy and sometimes can be a ticking time bomb ready to explode. He can't seem to hold still. We were trying to find something for him to build his confidence and a place to let off some of this extra energy. Growing up my brothers and I played soccer. I enjoyed playing soccer. We decided to give soccer a shot for him. Who knew he would be such a good player for K divison. He played in the fall and then again during the spring. He was the STAR player. He loves playing the whole game and scoring. Spring soccer was a little different than Fall soccer; he had to figure out how to score with a goalie. Here are a few pictures of Ryan playing soccer enjoy. In the fall he wore Red and in the spring he wore Black with the #8 on it.

What? I have to read the manual to be a Father!

Dan is a wonderful father. He enjoys being a big kid himself and teasing our two kids. He is my equal and also deserves the title Mr. Mom. We share the duties of taking care of our kids. He only has the kids a few hours before they go to bed, but his job ends up being protector through out the night and the Hero of scaring the monsters out of our kids rooms. He thinks my job is hard being with the kids all day and taking care of some daily task with no sleep. He too is on no sleep.
The kids enjoy having a father. He is the only real father they have really known. He spends time with them each night taking care of baths, homework, and bed time stories. Once the kids are in bed; he switches gears and becomes the husband I married who does little things for me around the house. Whether it is finishing up the dishes, putting away the laundry, and doing odds and end cleaning around the house and outside. He enjoys finding a way to put a smile on my face.
He is an amazing man and will always be my one true love. I want to thank him on taking this detour of having a family in a different way. He has a lot of patience with these kids. He is always willing to step in and help me out.
Jumping into fatherhood with two older children is a lot hard than having an new born. He jumped in as quickly as he can and on the way learned a lot from watching Super Nanny, reading Super Nanny books and his own experience being the eldest of eight. Dan always joked that our kids came with a manual; we just have to find out which Super Nanny episode it was on. We love him and we know he is a keeper as a friend, husband and a father.

Lindsay Preschool photos!

At the Dancing Moose, Lindsay's school they were having the kids individual photos...old fashion style. Lindsay was so excited to have her preschool photos taken. She wanted to dress up in the big hats and dresses. I didn't even think of her having any issues. She freaked out. She did not want anyone to help her. She was sad that I was not their to help her put on the pretty dresses. I asked her why she would not allow her teacher to help her. She said, "No one is suppose to see her change or see her naked body." She ended up having her photos taken with her normal clothes on. The teachers did not tell me nor called me. I would have been there, if I only new. I did not find out the problem until when the photos came in. They were still cute photos of Lindsay. Lindsay thought I would be mad. I told her that I am not mad. I am just sad she could not have the photos she wanted all dress up. Next time she can tell her teacher she does not feel comfortable with her helping her and she would like them to call me. And I will let the teacher know ahead of time too or find out what time so I can be there.