Solo Performance

McKenna Before Her Performance


My niece McKenna has been dancing since she was three. She is such an amazing dancer. She has been on competition teams since I think she was four or five, she has been in Ballet West's The Nutcracker twice now, she was chosen for a point ballet dance class and now she can add solo performances to her list of accomplishments!!! I am so proud of her and how dedicated she is to her dancing. I was lucky enough to go and watch her perform her solo in competition for the last time on Friday night. I was so excited to see her perform. She did her solo to Save The Last Dance For Me by Michael Buble. She was so nervous before her turn, but once she was out on the dance floor you never would have known. She did such a fantastic job, she was absolutely beautiful and amazing. I know I may be biased since I am the Aunt but I don't care. She ended up taking first place (which the way the do it she took second). The placings go Queen, first, second, and third. There were four girls in her group total. The girl that took Queen seemed a little more advanced if you asked me but thats my opinion. I can't wait to see her dance again, way to go McKenna. Love you sweetie!!

Baseball Season!!!

It's that time of year again for our boys to put on their baseball cleats and hit the fields. Our lives are going to be consumed with baseball for the next three months. With both the boys playing again this year and with us bumping Riley up a year early to play machine pitch our schedules our crazy!!! The boys each play two games a week and practice up to two times a week besides. The boys happen to have quiet a few games that fall on the same night and at the same time or close to the same time!!! I will be spending five nights a week at the ballpark, thank heavens for my Nook. Once again this year Logan will be playing for the Seattle Mariners. He has a new coach, which he is fantastic and we love him already. He is doing a great job with the team and wants all of the boys to learn how to pitch, which Logan is looking forward to. In the meantime Logan is playing Left field. If the weather would cooperate my dad and Brandon want to start practicing with him. Riley is so happy to finally be out of coach pitch!!! He is our little die hard ball player. I swear the kid eats breathes and sleeps baseball during this time of year. He is playing on the LA Dodgers this year and he also has a fantastic coach. Riley is playing third base and is super excited about this. He is doing such a great job even being the youngest on his team. Now if mother nature could just make up her mind about this weather maybe we could actually play our games in nice weather. Heres to hoping!!!!

Logan Before His First Game


Riley Before His First Game

Deer Valley

Deer Valley Ski Resort


Well we finally did it, we went skiing!!! For the past three years Brandon's client, which happens to be Deer Valley Ski Resort, has been giving Brandon 4 passes to go skiing as a Christmas present. Well the first two years we let them go to waste!!! I know we are absolutely nuts right??? Well we had great excuses, I haven't been skiing since I was 16, Brandon has only been skiing once ever when he was 16, we have kids etc.... At the time we really thought they cons out weighed the pros so we didn't think much more of it.

Well this year Brandon decided we were not going to let them go to waste. So he got online on Thursday and found out that it was going to be the last weekend Deer Valley was open for skiing. So he found another couple to go with us to use the passes and asked his parents to watch our kids. We decided we should do this year without the kids to see what we thought of skiing. We got up early on Sat. April 9th and got ready. We dropped the boys off and went to pick up our ski's and meet our friends. Once we had all our gear it was off to Deer Valley!!! I have to admit I was so super nervous. I use to love skiing and was not too bad of a skier, but let's be honest I am older and WAY out of practice. It was a great day for skiing in my opinion. The weather was crappy down in the valley, but up on the slopes was beautiful. It snowed off and on for the majority of the day, but was still fantastic. Our friends that went with us were a guy Brandon works with and his wife. This was going to be her very first time evr skiing. So really she fit right in with Brandon and I. One of my biggest fears was the ski lifts!!! I hated them as a kid and still am not fond of them. However I didn't fall on my face getting off them once and by the end of the day they didn't bother me at all!!! Brandon was an absolute natural at skiing. You never would have known it was only his second time skiing!!! I was so jealous of him. Once I was on the slopes it all slowly started to come back and felt really good. However I let me nerves take over and couldn't bring myself to venture off the bunny slope for the majority of the day. When I finally did let's just say there were tears involved but I did it!!! Mindy didn't take to skiing so after giving it a few tries she ended up going into the lodge and sitting by the fire in a nice comfy chair and read and enjoyed her quite time. Even though I felt bad she wasn't out with us on the slopes I know she was enjoying some much needed quite time from being a mom of five. Greg and Brandon spent the majority of the day on the big slopes and had a great time. We all enjoyed a great lunch together and all in all had a fabulous time. Brandon and I have even decided we want to put the boys in lessons next year and maybe start skiing more. Who knows what next year will bring but thats the plan.

Getting Ready to Hit The Slopes


Traci and Brandon


Deer Valley Ticketing


The Lifts


Top Of The Bunny Slope

Jazz Game

On April 7th I got to do a Mom's night out with Logan. He played Jr. Jazz during the winter and recieved 2 tickets to a Jazz game for playing. We went with one of his teammates, and very good friend, and his mom and sister. It were at almost the very top row in the arena!!! The boys had so much fun even though the Jazz of course lost. The car ride home was a very loud ride since all three kids were coming off their sugar highs. I can't wait to do another Mom's Night Out again soon.

Logan and Decator

Spring Break 2011

The Kids Playing On The Slides

Spring Break!!! I was so excited that my sister's kids were off for Spring Break the sametime my kids were off track. Tuesday two of my nieces came out for a sleepover. My boys were so excited to have them come out. I only took the older two kids thinking it would be easier that way, boy was I wrong. They girls were great, but I found out by taking only them I was a mean Aunt and hated my other niece and nephew. I feel sooooo bad and am for sure going to try and make it up with a sleepover for them.

Wednesday we had decided to meet up with my sister and the other kids and have lunch and go swimming out in Bountiful. The boys were thrilled to be doing something fun with their couisns and so was I. We did lunch at Pace's, a family favorite, in Bountiful. After lunch we headed to Bountiful Rec. for swimming. The kids were like little fishes. They all had so much fun. Ry surprised me with how well he did at swimming and how fearless he was. Logan also did a great job swimming and not getting nervous about the deeper water. The kids loved the slide!!! Even little Hayden was excited to go on the slide. I was the one who decided to take her on the slide. Well just as we were going down she happened to untie the one side on my swim suit bottoms!!!! I couldn't believe it, I had to just hold it as we went down the rest of the way. She was loving it until the bottom. I went under with her but came right back up, however because I was trying to hold my swimsuit bottoms on I accidentally put her face in the water again!!! What a great Aunt I am, I felt so bad and was so embarrassed all at the sametime. From now On I will be double tying my swimsuit bottoms. It was such a great break for all of us. I can't wait to get together again soon. We really don't get to see each other enough. I am the luckiest Aunt to have such great nieces and nephew. I look forward to our next sleepover where everyone will be included.

Holden Trying To Not Shake From Being Cold


What A Cutie Little Hayden Mae Is!!!


Peyton And McKenna


Ry And Cam


Logan


Kenna and Holden


Riley Bug Swimming Like A Fish


Logan Bud


Kenna


Cam


Hayden Mae and Aunt Traci


Peyton


Ry Bug


Logan, Peyton, McKenna, Camryn and Ry


Hayden All Done Swimming


Logan Climbing The Rock Wall


Holden and Ry Climbing The Rock Wall


Ry Climbing The Rock Wall

Vegas 2011

The Sleeping Lions At MGM


A Pirate On The Strip


M&M Factory


Michael Jacksons


Halo Guy


Every 3 years Brandon has to go to Las Vegas for work at the Con Expo Show. This year our 12th Anniversary fell on the weekend he was suppose to come home.So Brandon decided to fly me out on Friday to spend the weekend with him and celebrate our Anniversary. I was so excited and nervous at the sametime. This was the first time in 5 years that I have left the boys to where I couldn't be back to them within an hour if needed. I have such a hard time putting faith in others to take care of Logan's diabetes. However Logan is growing up and has learned so much about his diabetes and how to manage it on his own. So I put all my faith in my in-laws to take care of my boys and went off to Vegas.

I was flying stand-by on Delta and was worried it was going to take a couple tries to get on a flight. I got to the airport at 9:30 in hopes to get on the 11:10 flight. Of all the days for mother nature to resort back to winter. It was snowing so bad it delayed the flight by 30 mins. I was so excited when I was cleared for the flight 10 mins. before boarding. That excitment all changed once I was on the plane. The pliot came on and annouced that there was a small crack in the windshield and that were having it checked out. Well needless to say two hours later of sitting on the plane in Salt Lake watching it snow they cleared us for take off. It then took another 30 mins for them to de-ice the wings. We were finally in the air YEAH!!!! The plane ride was not my favorite, we hit major turbulence and by the time they got to us to give us a drink and peanuts it was time to collect them!!! I had not eaten since 7:30am that morning and it was now 2:40 Salt Lake time. When we landed everyone on the plane was so glad to finally be getting off the plane. We headed to baggage claim where we waited another 30 mins. for the luggage to start showing up. Lucky for me mine was one of the first to come off since I was a stand-by passenger. I then headed to get a taxi where I waited yet again for 20 mins. I was so happy to get to the hotel until I saw the check-in line. Oh YEAH another HUGE line!!!! I waited another 35 mins. to check-in. I went up to our room to clean up and wait for Brandon to get off work. I was so hungry I went down to the gift shop and bought a cheap sandwhich to hold me over. I had hope that this day was going to get better.

Brandon got to our hotel around 6:00pm Vegas time. It was so good to see him after him being gone 4 days. He cleaned up and some of the guys from work came and met us for dinner. We went to the MGM Grand to have dinner at the Fiamma resturant. We had to wait yet again, surprise surprise. However at least this time the wait was entertaining. Lady Gaga was performing that night at the MGM, so we watched all the crazy costumes as the were headed to the concert. I so wish I would have had my camera!!!! Dinner was great and helped the night end on a positive note.

Saturday we walked around and went into the different shops and casinos. Later in the afternoon we went back to our hotel and went to the pool. It was such a nice change from the cold back home. The pool was so great and super relaxing. That night we went out to dinner to a Mexican resturant in Planet Hollywood, the food was fantastic!! After we headed to a Vegas show. We had so much fun, it was a great night. After we headed back to the pool and went off to the hot tub. I was sad that our weekend was coming to an end. The next morning we got up at 4:30am so we could be to the airport by 5:30am. My flight was at 6:45 and Brandon's wasn't until 9:45am. I was still flying stand-by but had hoped I would get out, boy was I wrong!!!! They people at the Delta counter told me there was NO WAY I was getting out on a plane. Well Happy Anniversary to me!!! I wanted to cry, we started frantically looking at other options. We called other airlines to try and purcahse a ticket one wated $385 and Delta wanted $185 for the last flight that night. So instead of spending the entire day at the airport we decided to change Brandon's ticket to Monday and stay one more night. At least we got to spend our anniversary together!!! We went back to the Tropicana and got another room and took a nap!!! We ended up having a great day all in all. I think the hardest part of it all was telling the kids we weren't coming home. The ended up having to go home to our house where my mom spent the night with them. We took lots of pics for the boys with our phones and sent them to them. It helped a little, but the kept telling us how much they missed us and wished they were with us. I was so disappointed I hadn't played one slot machine the whole weekend. So when we were walking back through the Luxor I talked Brandon into letting me play. I put $6 into a penny machine, I won a little then lost it all within 5 mins. I was sad because it wasn't even my favorite kind of machine so I blammed my lose on that. Bradnon asked me what my favorite on was and so we found one. It was a quarter machine, which I usually only play penny machines. Brandon said you can play $5 then your done. I happily sat down put in my $5 and started doing the max bet. I won and ws up $2, then I went down to $3. I hit the max bet and spun. I hit a win and the machine kept paying out!!! I couldn't believe it, we couldn't add it in our heads how much I was at. When the machine finally stopped I cashed out and had won $218.25!!!! Needless to say it paid for the xtra night we had to stay in Vegas.

Luckily the next morning we headed to the airport again at 5:30am, where I was able to get on the first flight home. This flight was much better then the one going down. It was so nice to be home even if the weather was crap. Happy Anniversary Babe thanks for a great adventure!!!

The Hard Rock


Brandon On Our Bed


Our Room



New York New York


The Strip


The Tropicana Where We Stayed


The Waterfall At The Tropicana


The Excalibur


The MGM


A Fountain Inside The Luxor


My Winning Ticket


The Luxor

Pinewood Derby 2011

Well this was a rough year for Pinewood Derby. It was Logan's last Pinewood Derby as a Cub Scout. He was so excited to build his car again this year with his Dad and his Grandpa Lynne. They worked really hyard on it and Logan painted it all by himself. I was so proud of him. The night of Pinewood Derby Brandon was out of town for work and Grandpa Lynne (My Dad) was also out of town on a trip. Logan was so upset to not have them there to cheer him on. However my Mom, Brandon's parents, his cousin Hailey, Riley and I were there cheering him on. Logan's first heat he took second place. After that race it went down from there. We found that even though his car weighed exactly 5oz, the weight was not evenly placed. There was way too much weight all in the back of the car, so it made his car lift slightly in the front when it got down the hill of the track. This slowed his car a lot and there for he took 3rd in all but two of the rest of his races. He was kind of bummed, but was a great sport and still had a lot of fun. i was so proud of him for cheering on the other boys and not making it all about winning. The most important part of it all is that he had fun building it and racing it. After the race my Mom took the boys and I to Chillis for dinner. It was a great ending to the day.
The Pinewood Derby Heat Chart Logan was "L"


Logan's Car Flash


The Track


Logan's Second Place Finish


The Cub Scouts