The one where Drew got ready for church

Proud as can be, Drew gets ready for church ALL BY HIMSELF:

Stylin' slicked hair, dude! Love the tie!

The one that still gets me

May 5, 2007

Halle's first dance recital

A few years ago, when Halle was having constant seizuress, things she once loved suddenly became overwhelming to her. It broke our hearts- not knowing what kind of future our daughter would have, or if she would be able to do the things she loved. Her dance lessons, in particular, were a HUGE struggle. Thanks to her amazing dance teacher, Andrea, we were able to continue going (almost) every week- trying to keep some kind of normality in her turned-upside-down life. It was really hard, but we did it.

Then, the seizures stopped, and within a few weeks she had her first dance competition. She danced her heart out. I have never been so proud in my life. I cried the whole day, completly overwhelmed with gratidute that our Halle was back.

Now, two years later, she's still dancing. I know I'm a baby about it, but it still makes me cry.

Every time.

a few pics from competitions and the recital this year:

Andrea, (if you are reading this) THANK YOU so much for all your work with Halle the last three years. She loves you so much. I wish we lived closer and could continue with your studio next year. Love ya!!!

Anyone looking for a fabulous dance teacher in the Lehi area- call Andrea Olsen who owns "Diva's Dance Studio". (801)768-0806.

The one with Teryn's wedding

Ora, Teryn, Me, Bailee and Halle

Last weekend Halle, Ora, Bailee and I went to St. George for our beautiful cousin's wedding. I have been so swamped with photography lately, I decided I needed break from taking ANY pictures. Be proud of me, I left my camera at home! Here are a few pics from Ora's camera anyway.

Halle and I with Grandma Joy

My girl and me

The weekend was really fun, but I just can't help wondering "WHY DON'T I LIVE IN ST. GEORGE?" The weather was amazing.

CONGRATULATIONS TERYN!

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY STUNNING.

I AM SOOO HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS!

The one with shower recipes

Sue (great pic, btw! lol), Amy J, Lezlie, Amy W, Lucy, Bunnie, Jenny, Me & Liza

Lucy is a good friend of mine in our ward. I absolutely adore her. Last week my other friend, Sue, and I threw her a shower. We had a pretty great spread,

and I had some requests for the recipes. So, here goes.

MELT AWAY COOKIES

I have to thank my adorable sister in law Tiffany for introducing me to these little pieces of heaven...as well as for her helping me make them that morning. Tiff, seriously what would I ever do without you?

2 cubes butter, softened. 1/2 cup powdered sugar. 3/4 cup cornstarch. 1 cup flour. Mix together well and form into balls (sounds easy...be warned, though. It makes a MESS!) Press centers with your thumb or a spoon, bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Cool completely. For frosting, you can purchase cream cheese frosting or make it with cream cheese and powdered sugar. Put frosting in a ziplock, snip off a corner, and pipe onto cooled cookies. Oh, these are so good!

PACIFIER COOKIES

I didn't follow a recipe for these. My friend Shunae told me she'd seen something like them at a shower. If I were to do it again, however, I would NOT use red Dots. They looked a little too much like ... well, anyway. ;)

CAKE POPS

These pops were incredible. I'm drooling right now thinking about them. I made a chocolate cake and then crumbled the cake in a big bowl with one box of cream cheese. Then I rolled the cake/cream cheese into small balls and put them in the freezer. After they were hard enough, I dipped them into pink melted chocolate, added the sprinkles and an M&M on top. Not too hard right? They're definately time consuming, but sooo worth it.

THE FRUIT DIP OF HAPPINESS

Super easy. It's a small jar of marshmallow cream, a box of cream cheese, a little fresh squeezed juice from an orange, and a grated orange peel. Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum!

THE BEST BABY Do's & Don't's BOOK ever.

You'd have to ask Sue where she got that. Seriously, that was the funniest book! I've really got to get me one of those. . . .

Congrats to Andrew & Lucy on your baby girl!!!

The one with a conversation

Drew and Halle were riding in the backseat.

Drew: Um, Mom, when I get big, I am going to get married. And, I sink [think] I'm going to marry Halle.

Halle: Um, no. Drew, you are NOT going to marry me!

Drew: Yes I am.

Halle: No. You are not.

Drew: Halle, if you don't marry me. . .you are going to be lonely and you're going to be sad.

The one where my dad retired

My dad has been teaching music my whole life. He has succesfully taught a couple hundred different teenagers music EACH year. He is more musicaly inclined than any other person I know. Seriously, he's in a whole different level of talent...

Anyway, this spring he retired and we went to his final concert.

Congrats on retiring, Dad! The concert was awesome!

The one with a Christ Centered Easter

I haven't had a chance to blog about our Easter yet. But it was such a good one, I had to share.

There's this book that is called "A Christ Centered Easter" and it has some awesome ideas about how to make Easter more meaningful. This year we followed a lot of the ideas, and I think it turned out to be my favorite Easter ever.


The night before Easter we made "Easter Cookies". Each ingredient had something to do with the Easter Story and after cooking in a hot-but-turned-off oven, they come out in the morning HALLOW! (like the tomb on Easter morning) The kids loved it. I thought they tasted awesome! Kinda like Big Hunks. If you'd like the recipe, here's a link over to my sister Ora's cooking blog. I'm too lazy to type it out. Thanks, Ora! Hope you don't mind. :)

The Easter bunny came Easter morning too. Which was fun. He didn't bring too much this year, which was JUST FINE WITH ME! They got p-l-e-n-t-y of goodies from Grandma!

Our Easter Dinner was my favorite part of the holiday. We had dinner similar to one that Christ would have ate, and believe it or not, it turned out really tasty! Fish, flat bread, olives, pistachios, hard cheese ("squeaky" cheese), grape juice, and prunes. Minus the prunes, it all tasted great! We ate on the floor with our fingers and everything. I love starting new traditions- and this is one that we will definately do again.


The day ended with a fun Easter hunt at Grandma's- which turned into a MASSIVE PLASTIC EASTER EGG WAR! Full on battle. Those things can sting, I'm telling you. But so worth it.