GRATI-TUESDAY

Learning

Church

Free Will

Going to Colorado (repeated by more than one member of the family)

Malia talking

Answers to Prayers

Good Weather / Dry roads

Photography

Family time

Heaters in Vehicles

Sleep

Gloves

Hands

When nobody is Around

Water softener

This Country

Running

Fire Alarms

Memories

Scopes / Guns / Ammo (do you need a hint on who?)

Smiling

Hot Cocoa

Honesty

Snow IN Mountains

Love

Regular Income

Christmas Lights

Healthy Kids

Charity

Having Power at Home

FINALE

This is just for fun! This is what the whole show is about ... the Symphony is playing live, all of the choirs singing, and the dance company. I thought that I had recorded the Natvity set, but I can't find it yet. It was such a great show, and both times I watched it I was very moved by seeing that the kids performing were touched as well. During both performances I saw kids who couldn't sing and wiping the tears from their eyes as they felt moved.

D's Guitar

Dallin is just learning the Guitar, and this is his beginning Guitar class!

Sleigh Ride Jive

Elvis Christmas

This is just a clip of the Show Choir with the elementary choir. The kids were too cute!

Dal's Hip Hop

Ky Waltz

I totally blew it on this one, I thought I was recording from the beginning but it turned out that I was NOT .... dang it!

Hip Hop Company

ATTITUDE

I have shared some of our gratitude's, and have talked a little about how our gratitude journal has changed our attitudes a little here on the home-front. But last week it was something weighing heavily on my mind. I have all sorts of thoughts on my own attitude through out my life. I (like everyone) have had the type of experiences that can change your attitude and in the eyes of the world, would think that it is okay to have a bad attitude. Now don't get me wrong ... I have definitely had a crappy attitude more often then not, however I have been fortunate enough to have lessons that help me not to continue that way. I don't think of myself as some picked on person but I have had days that I would like to throw a really big Pity Becki Party! Doesn't sound like fun though does it. Well lately I have realized how blessed I am to have my siblings. They have been a huge part of my attitude lately and helping me to stay positive. We have teased my brother Steve about being "preacher Steve" because he has become so excited about all that he is learning about the gospel over the past couple of years that every time he calls he tells us what he has learned. It's funny though because I will be having a bad day, where I sit and stew over things getting more & more upset and then the phone rings. I kid you not it is always my brother .... and he always calls and says I was thinking about you the last couple of days I learned .... and realized that you are .... how you have .... He doesn't even know what I am thinking or doing but somehow knows what I need to hear. Then there is my sister Kris who will let me unload anything I need to say. She is understanding, patient, and honest! I am so grateful to have siblings who help lift me up when I need it. It's hard to think of them that way because I am the oldest and have always felt like I need to be there for them more then they should be for me. But it is such a great blessing to have them! All of this has helped me realize that our Heavenly Father really does not want us to think negatively of ourselves or others, He doesn't make you have a bad attitude ... He wants us to really be happy, no matter what! So here is a thought for my readers ....

Are you the Lord's instrument in helping others or do you bring others down?

Do you allow others to help you or do you refuse others kindness?

Our attitudes reflect who we are ... and with that in mind I hope my attitude reflects happiness, kindness, and something to be desired.

Now with that said, let me tell ya I am so glad that tonight was the last night of school performances for the rest of the year! The kids school does the "Spirit of Christmas" every year and it is performed on 4 nights. Both Ky & Dal performed in the show. Dal performed in the pre-show on Friday with his hip-hop group and tonight with his guitar class; and Ky performed every night with her ballroom company. It is a great show, it involves symphonies, bands, choirs, and dance groups. And they all perform together ... it's AWESOME!!! I am in the process of getting the videos uploaded, but it's still showing over 200 minutes to go. So they'll be on here another day!

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

And now a few of our gratitude's from our journal .....

Vehicles that work

Things that smell good

Communication

Fall

Running Water

My bed

Strength in our bodies

Pockets

Couch

Family

Talents

Serving

Showers (I'd like to second that one)

Church

Aspyn

Hugs

Doors

Utensils

Happy Family

FLASHBACK UPDATE

So I talked about how Ky was going to be dancing with her Ballroom company in CATS ... well we went and saw the show on closing night and it was sold out with a line of people waiting. The show was AWESOME!!! That is not a biased opinion either. I wasn't sure of what to expect but I didn't have nearly the expectations of what we got to see. I honestly felt like I was watching a Broadway show! The only issues were that the school could use a few more spotlights. I loved the show and I would like to see it again! There are only a few pics posted because they didn't allow any photography during the show, so I tried getting some afterwards. Ky is the black cat with the mostly white face in them.

Other then that things are going pretty well. Randy is still working all though as of right now it is not turning into a permanent position unless something changes before the guy gets back from Afghanistan. He still looks for other work but the electronic job market hasn't really made a turn around yet. We still have a few months and know whatever happens is what will be best. I just keep hoping that we are learning what we are meant to learn from all these lessons.

Kylie is glad that CATS is over and that now she can really focus on her studies. It was very hard to keep up on everything when she was spending every hour out of school practicing for the show. She is now well rested and a much happier camper to be around. She has her boyfriend and it is funny to see some of the changes going on. Things like telling people to drop it cause it's not worth fighting over ... or last night she ate lasagna. That was a big deal because she would never even try it before because it has tomatoes and then she tells us that last week when they were at dinner with Brannon's family that she ate some nachos that had onions & peppers on it and LIKED it. She is normally the pickiest eater that ever lived and now all of sudden she is trying more foods. I asked her last night if this have to do with Brannon or if this could be a sign of maturing. She said definitely not maturing ... hahaha

Dallin is still enjoying guitar and let me know a couple of weeks ago that he does not want to take hip hop next year. I guess he may be losing interest in it which is kind of too bad, because he is really good at it. I finally have him more interested in soccer though so I think that is what he wants to focus more on. I like soccer it's a lot less of a contact sport then football. He has been begging to play football for a couple of years and I just don't dare let him. He is fast, but he is tiny! He looks like he would break so easy even with the gear ... it could be the gear that breaks him. He looks more like a soccer player to me and he likes to go outside and kick the ball around and asks me to teach him some tricks with it. Maybe he will make some of his own :)

Ciara .... well she is Ciara! Sweet, cute, mischievous, ornery .... the list goes and goes! There are a few pics of her little personality below. There is no possible way to catalog them all though, there are just way too many. She just keeps going and going and going .... literally like the energizer bunny. She is mostly out of the napping stage. I get so excited when she will take one though! This past Sunday was our primary program and it was her first and nobody was sure how she would do with it. Well it wasn't too much of a surprise, Randy was up on the stand with his class and all she wanted was to go sit with her dad. So she did until it was her turn to say her part and she did her part very well (the only one I could understand in her class), then she went and sat with her dad for a few more minutes and got way to ornery and Randy took her home. Maybe next year! Maybe her dad could set an example of how to sit up there reverently and sing with the choir for the Christmas program! C'mon Randy it won't be that bad :)

OUR SWEET ASPYN

Today was our 3 year birthday of our sweet, little Aspyn. As some of you may remember as her first birthday approached we challenged ourselves and others to join us in a month of service to honor her. Later I thought how I would have to make it a point to serve others and that I should be just be in the habit of always doing it, after all isn't that how our Savior was. Now 2 years after that challenge and as I look back over this month I realize how much more we take advantage of the opportunities to serve. This month we didn't sit down and discuss who or how we were going to serve, but we still were blessed with many opportunities. I am so grateful for our Angel, and the blessings we have been given because of her. I am thankful that because of her we have been strengthened as a family. It is never easy but she helps to make it all worthwhile, she is a constant reminder of what I truly want in life!

We love you, Aspyn

OUR BUSY WEEK

This past week was a busy one for us .... well, mostly the weekend anyway. Ky qualified for Cross Country State Championship and ran in it last Wednesday. The day was perfect for her to be running, the weather was awesome and the park was beautiful. It was a hard run with all of the hills though. She finished and ended up earning the Varsity Letter award for it! She enjoyed doing Cross Country and is looking forward to track in the spring. They only place the first 10 runners in so I don't know where she finished.

Randy's grandma Ogden passed away the Saturday before and we knew that her funeral would be coming. We got to spend time with some of Randy's family when they stayed at our home for a couple of days. It was really great getting to see them, especially when we don't get to see them very often. I was preparing for a Toy/Food drive for our community on Saturday and also a Bridal shower for one of my previous laurels so I was a little stressed trying to fit everything in, but all went well without any hitches. I made it to the drive for an hour, then we were off to the funeral, I had to leave a little early to get back for the shower, and when the shower was over Randy, Kylie, and I went to her Cross Country banquet where she received her team award and her letter award. All-in-all it was a good day and I am glad it is all over!

Our family has decided to try the counsel we have received in several of the past conferences of having a gratitude journal. It has always sounded good to me, but I have not been able to get myself to do it. Last night I had the thought that perhaps we could do it as a family, so each day we will each write 3 things that we are grateful for. I will try to share some of them from time to time. Here are a few so far .... comfortable chairs, grass, music, cooler temperatures, garbage cans, puddles, windows, and rain. The kids told me that they were going to end up getting weird if we have to do it everyday and we can't repeat ourselves; but I told them that is okay it may not seem so weird after you recognize that you are grateful for these things. We will see how it goes!

YOU KNOW YOU'RE OLD

Okay I know I am getting old, but this is really bad!!! I thought I posted this video a couple days ago .... turns out I didn't finish doing it though and I didn't remember until Randy was looking to see if I had updated the blog yet today. There is my DUH moment of the week. You can't really see Dal in the video cause he is in the middle and I didn't even know he was dancing yet because I was busy watching the Hip Hop Company dance. It's too bad you can't really see him either because he does the pose thing at the end really well! I've said it before but Dal just really pulls the hip hop thing off well.

The kids are on their fall break now, it just started today. I'm not sure how we are going to fill the time as Randy is working his normal days off this week. Kylie had a track meet today up in Park City and improved her time by 5 minutes over her last meet. She really enjoyed it today too! She doesn't like running the hills however. Now the rest of the month and the beginning of next month will be very busy for her. She is performing with her Ballroom Company in their school performance of CATS. She has 3 different routines for it and lots of extra practices. So for any who feel like it could be fun watching a school performance of a Broadway show, let us know and I'll give you more info on it. The performances run November 3rd-11th. We will even welcome our out-of-town family members!!!!

Dal's Hippity Hoppity HIP HOP

DATE NIGHT

Randy & I went out with some friends this last weekend and had some fun! We went to Tucanos for dinner and it was fabulous. We had some great meat servers and had fun playing with our food too! Then we headed up to Sundance. I have been up to Sundance before to ride the ski lifts during the summer but only in the day. During the full moon they offer night rides and we happened to hear about it just in time for the last one of the season. It was a lot busier than we expected it to be, but the lines moved very quickly. This was a pic I took of part of the line on our way back down. You can see the ride got a little bumpy ...

Somewhere in there is our friends on another lift.

Ohhhhhh .... that is the face of "I am having SO much FUN!"

This is another part of the bumpy ride ... that and the wrong setting on the camera.

A shot of the almost full moon ...

Yeah Yeah!!!

The ride was so peaceful and relaxing. We thought it would be cold but as we went higher it actually got warmer. If I would've had a pillow I probably could have fallen asleep.

I had to get some pics of Ciara the other day. She was in the mood for posing and wanted me to cut a rose for her. Looking at these pics I can hardly believe how much she is growing and changing. She is going to be 4 in just a few months. AAAAAGGGHHHH She still is loads of trouble, but isn't that face just too cute?!

End of Summer Update

It is starting to officially feel like summer is ending! Once upon a younger time, Summer was my favorite season. Now my favorite would be Fall. I love the colors, the cooler temperatures, putting on a sweater now and then, and the kids are back in school, which means routine!!! I finally figured out how to make our mornings go much smoother so the transition has been very nice. The kids are enjoying school and are excited about their classes. Kylie is doing cross-country, ballroom, AP History, and has Driver's Ed beginning in January .... so scary! Dallin just finished a dang bug project for science, has hip-hop again, and started guitar at school. Hopefully he'll be playing me Hotel California by the end of the school year .... okay, I guess I can wait a little longer than that.

Right before school started we moved, still in the same town but a different house. That meant we were really busy for a good couple of weeks. I was able to get 8 different rooms painted in a 2 week period and I have not attempted any of the bathrooms or the master bedroom and quite honestly not to anxious to get on any of those either. It was fun doing new colors though, I was getting the bug to start painting again anyway. Randy has been working hard in the yard and getting things done outside. He has even had a nice project on the car since he hit an Antelope on his way home from work one night!!! Now he doesn't even need to worry about hunting those suckers, he ran one right over!!! I didn't think they ever ran out in front of cars but he says that 2 of them did. I guess that's what happens out in the dessert in the middle of the night.

We took the kids to the carnival a couple of weeks ago. Ciara had so much fun! It was her first and she kicked and screamed the whole way home until she fell asleep. Apparently Randy & I are getting old (or wimpy) cause we only did 3 rides and I was sick after the first and Randy didn't feel so good for awhile either. It was fun just watching Ciara get on a ride and give us a thumbs up and a wink though. Unfortunately I forgot the camera and have no pics. That has turned into my favorite saying because every time we have been anywhere fun, I always forget to take it.

Dallin is officially a teenager now! (I think they get the teenage attitude around 11 years old though, girls get it much younger.) We had a great day though ... we went fishing up to Payson Lakes, didn't catch any fish, but Dal must have been cleaning the bottom of the lake. Again, no pics! He is such a good boy! He tries hard to do what he is suppose to do and his teachers have always really enjoyed him because he just does his work and is so cooperative. This year he has really showed a lot of growth in getting ready for school on his own. He is finally getting up all on his own in the mornings and getting himself ready on time! It's a big deal here. He has always been the hardest child to shop for, he usually doesn't know what he even wants. I gave him $$ instead and he doesn't even know what he wants to spend it on. Too funny, maybe I could ask for it back ... I could think of a hundred things to do with it :)

He does know what he wants when it comes to his birthday cake though! This cake was really yummy ... very BIG & yummy!!!!

Seriously a cute lil' man! Makes me a little sad though that they have to grow up so fast.

PICTURE UPDATE JUNE/JULY

These are out of order ... I'm don't really want to fight blogger at the moment :)

I spent 2 nights at girls camp up at Koholowo. We were there just a few weeks after they sent a bunch of girls home because of a bear and cub in the camp. We never saw any bear but we did hear one just outside of our camp Thursday morning. It had the cows very upset and the girls since it never showed its face.

We went camping out to Manti on the weekend of the 4th. We were right next to the temple and had a great view of the top of it. We swam a lot, went to the veteran's breakfast in the park, watched fireworks, and took a great drive on the Skyline Drive and got to take in some amazing views.

Ky's friend Cierra came with us and clearly did not want her pic taken.

Neither did Ky, but you girls should just enjoy having your pics taken while you are still young. You don't get to hide from the camera until you are a Mom.

Here is Dallin telling me to not take his picture either.

Don't go see this Dr.

Our view at night.

We just went up Beaver Mountain last weekend. This would be the Beaver mountain by Beaver. It was mine and the kids first time up there. It was beautiful ... lot's of trees and several small lakes, with lots of fishing to be done. Randy's brother Roger came up with some of his kids and spent a night with us.

LOOK Roger I got a picture of you with your eyes open .... woo woo :)

Ciara & Dallin really got into the fishing. They had so much fun doing it. It was Ciara's first time fishing; she caught quite a few of them too. Dallin wasn't quite as lucky, but he did catch a few. I didn't have the camera when he caught them though.

Enjoying a good camp fire ....

and a beautiful lake.

Kylie had a wonderful opportunity to perform in the Handcart Pageant back in June. She got to make new friends and learn new things. I didn't get great pics, but she is in there somewhere dancing and walking behind a handcart.

Beautiful girls!

All righty mom you are all updated!!!! :)

MAY MAYHEM

Where did the month go? It seems like it was just January and now school is out! May always feels like a super, crazy month. Well really after Spring Break it just feels crazy until school is out. I am glad to have the break though ... no more homework, projects, concerts, getting kids ready. I wish it meant sleeping in, but not with the 3 year old! She'll make sure I won't miss a sunrise.
The kids have been involved in dance at their school. Ky danced in Ballroom and Dal in Hip Hop. They both had a lot of fun in their classes. This month they had a Spring concert, Ky decided not to dance in it though because she didn't want to do the Samba and I think after she watched her friends do it she regretted that choice. Dal had a lot of fun doing his dance though. Their teacher is an instructor over at the VIBE studio in Lindon and he is awesome! (For any of you DWTS fans he danced during one of the result shows back towards the beginning as well as some of his students.) Dal has always enjoyed dancing and has a funky style of his own so this was a great opportunity for him. They even had a dance-off and he and his partner won!!!

Kylie's Orchestra concert ...

Our Memorial Day tradition is going to Deseret to do some decorating at the cemetery. This year we had a very pleasant surprise ... NO WIND!!! It was great! This was the first time we've been and the wind wasn't blowing everybody away. I'm not usually a big fan of the presentation, but it was short and sweet this year, and we didn't have to chase Ciara the whole time. These little ol' men are just cute too! They have so much patriotism and it's a lot of fun watching them do the 21 gun salute. They always have a local student speak, picked from a contest they hold about Patriotic Duty. The young man that shared his essay this year was very good. I really appreciated his thoughts he shared. It is great to be reminded of everybody who has served, is serving now, and will serve in the military to protect our freedom's. I am truly grateful that we live in our great country. I know that we often take it for granted and sometimes it is easier to complain about the choices our government makes, and the things that don't seem right, but we are so blessed. There are so many more things that we do have that others in this world will never have. We need to always remember to just be grateful for what we DO have.

On a sad note, this morning I dropped Dal off at the church so he could go on his scout camp trip this week. I can't believe he is old enough to do this now. It just didn't seem right sending him away for 5 days. SOOOO sad! He wasn't sad though, he was just super excited to be going. He wouldn't even give me a hug in front of everybody, that was just embarassing. LOL We'll just pray he has a super fun, safe, and mom-missing trip!!! (Don't forget your MOM Dal!)