Dance Competition

Alexa's dance team had a competition this morning at Thanksgiving Point. She is in the Hip Hop class and she is really good. She was really excited about the costume this year...dance costumes are not always that attractive but this one totally reminds me of "Flashdance." She looked gorgeous as always!

Her team took 2nd place in their division and she always has a great time performing!

My Mom, Monica and Amberly drove down to watch her dance (so did the Harris's but they didn't make it in time to see her)!!

 

After she was done, we met the Harris's at IKEA for some shopping. We were there forever...after we went to lunch at Zupa's, yummy yummy!
After lunch we were ready for round 2 and headed to Old Navy and Target. We spent alot of time there too and after that we went to Burger King for dinner. It was a great day and I am so glad that my family is so supportive!!! Thanks so much for coming!
Rich and Max stayed home to help some families in the ward move in and out. They had a fun day together. They went to Prestwich Farms for dinner, yes that is a sit down restaurant. Rich was really hungry and didn't think that was weird at all (I sort of thought it was)! They came home and watched Transformers and Max fell asleep!!

Outdoor FUN!!

We got a fun surprise this afternoon...Melissa and Steve came to our house. I knew they were coming but didn't expect them until late and they showed up at 4pm...WOO HOO!! They are heading to St George in the morning for a race.
The sun was out and it was pretty warm so Max wanted to ride his bike and Melissa couldn't resist trying out the "wiggle bike."
She looks awesome, right!! She was having so much fun that she wouldn't let Alex have a turn! He chased her down the street and she still wouldn't get off!! The neighborhood kids thought she was a little crazy!
There is her husband Steve in the background thinking "my wife has gone crazy!!" Actually this is all completely normal behavior for Melissa (she is the "baby" of the family)!!
Max was having a great time and thought it was fun chasing Melissa with his bike.
We made pizzas for dinner and had "skookies" for dessert and then played a few rounds of "Nertz" until it was past bed-time.
I love it when people come to visit and wish Melissa and Steve could have stayed longer!!

Card Club

I joined a card group and tonight was the first meeting. The club has been together for a few years but I just decided to join them. You have a theme and then make cards for however many people are in the group and then get together and exchange them.

The theme was "Happy Birthday" and we met at Samantha's house. The hostess doesn't make a card but gets all the stuff and the idea and then you make your own there. The card we made at her house was the one in the left. It was such a cute card and it was fun to see how different every one's turned out and how much time it took some people (Jen)!!
I had a great time and am really glad that I joined, the girls are hilarious and we laughed really hard. Now I will have cute cards to give out (that is, if I can part with them)!!!

Domestic Diva

I came home from work yesterday and the house smelled like warm cookies. Now that is a nice smell to come home to. Alexa had decided that she needed to whip up a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for herself.

Then she even put on this adorable apron that SHE MADE in school. It is a really cute apron and she did a great job with the sewing. She is really enjoying her "skills" (I can't remember the real name of the class) class at school and is learning some very important things. I hope she will keep up on the sewing thing cause I have some projects that I haven't gotten around to...

YW Activity

We had a lesson about Temple Marriage on Sunday so for our activity tonight we were trying to stay on that same theme.
We had the girls make a "modest" wedding dress on Emily with 3 rolls of toilet paper.

 

I think it turned out pretty good. It was fun to watch the girls trying to get creative in how to make sleeves and the veil.

After, we gave them a white hanger and they tied a cute little poem to it about their wedding day and then they are supposed to hang their wedding dress on it.

The girls had a good time and hopefully they will all strive to go to the Temple to get married one day!

5 Years Ago Today...

Looking back 5 years ago, this is the day that Rich asked me (well not technically...he wrote it and I read it) to MARRY him. I know it is SO cliche to get engaged on Valentines Day but what do you do??
We met on ldssingles.com and our first date was Thanksgiving weekend. Every weekend after that we were together. It was hard being so far away from each other (I was in Logan he was in Spanish Fork) so we ended up meeting in Salt Lake alot. After a few months we both felt like things were going really well and we both knew it was definitely going somewhere (I knew before he did).
He asked me to meet him at Olive Garden in Provo for lunch on Valentine's Day. He was there before I was and when the hostess took me to the table there was a dozen beautiful red roses waiting for me. We sat down and I thanked him for the flowers and we started talking and deciding what to order. He was acting kind of nervous and different and just kept looking at the flowers. He was like "those are for you" and I was like "I know that is why I said thank you for them" then he was like "aren't you going to read the card?" I just figured that I would read it later since I already knew who they were from but since he mentioned it, I opened the card and it said...

then he put a green velvet box on the table in front of me...we hadn't ever been ring shopping, all I told him was that I wanted white gold and princess cut diamond. It was so beautiful and I said YES and then the people next to us started cheering and saying Congratulations etc. It was sort of embarrassing but it was sweet and I am so glad that he wanted me to be his wife.
After we went for a "tour" of Spanish Fork and he showed me where he grew up etc. Then we went to his parents house for a Valentine Dinner with all his family.
I drove home that night and everyone was waiting at my Mom's house to see the ring and to Congratulate me. It was a great day, one I will never forget!!

Here are some pictures (sorry about the quality, I took pictures of the pictures because I don't have a scanner). 5 years has flown by and I am looking forward to the next 5 and the next 5 and so on and so on.

 

I just want Rich to know how much I love him and how happy he makes me. He is truly a great husband and father and I am such a lucky girl!!!

HEART Day

Our day started off the way it always does when we are in Logan...with a trip to the bakery for chocolate cinnamon rolls and maple bars. Alexa tagged along with me and my Dad. Rich went for a run (even though I tried to convince him it was a holiday)!!

 

We didn't really do a whole lot throughout the day, I took a trip to the sock factory and we made sugar cookies. My mom needed everyone out of the house for a while so she could get things ready so we all went to a few stores.
When we came back the table was all ready and it looked like a different house. We had a yummy steak dinner with baked potatoes and jello and rolls. Thanks so much mom and dad for cooking such a great meal for us!

 

We cleaned up dinner and then took some self portraits and funny pictures...its just something that we always have to do!!!

Here is our cute sister picture but we are missing Mel cause her family was in Salt Lake. We missed you Clarks!

 

Then it was present time. Usually "Cupid" comes and rings the doorbell and leaves stuff on the porch, but since I have never done the "cupid" thing with my kids we just cut right to the chase.
I probably went a little overboard, I mean it is just Valentines Day but...

 

Alexa got a sweater and some treats and I got Rock Band 2 for Alexa and Alex to share along with new memory cards. My parents gave her a cute shower wrap that she is wearing over her clothes and a bead curtain thing for her doorway.

 

Alex got some shoes and treats. My parents gave him a case for his DS and an American Idol game.

 

Max got pretty spoiled (just because I found great deals on the toys). He was so excited to get his new cars and football. He carried his toys around in the bag all night. My parents gave him a tiger stuffed animal and "the HULKY pokey" yes it is the Hulk and he does the hulky pokey...it is pretty cute and he loved it!!
We had a great time and I am so grateful for all the "sweethearts" in my life!!!

Bubble Gum GAME

After we were done with all our Valentine festivities...we pulled out the fork, knife, pan, dice and gum. Melissa got all the stuff and we had a blast.

 

Yes...that is RICH actually playing a game with us. He is usually a game hater and never participates when we ask him to play but he was having a great time with this one!!
If you haven't ever played the bubble gum game I highly recommend it to anyone!!
Here we all are with our big "wads" of all different flavors of bubble gum. We had fruity ones and minty ones and the combination is really disgusting but you have to keep chewing it until all the gum is gone!! I am not even going to get into the "details" but let me just say...laughing really hard + a big wad of gum = lots of slobber (everywhere)!!!

THE WINNERS!!!!

Melissa and Jason tied because we didn't go to the trouble of actually weighing the gum and it looked pretty close!

Best Day EVER (for Alexa and Alex, that is)

On our way up to Logan, we stopped at the South Town Mall to meet up with Sule. He got the kids cell phones and they were SO anxious to get them.

 

We all ate pretzels and the kids were excited to get the phones all set up and functioning. I have been opposed to getting Alexa a cell phone even though she has been asking for several years and "is the ONLY kid her age that doesn't have one."
I still am not convinced that 13 year olds "need" cell phones but what do I know anyway. I am not really sure why Alex got one, I guess just so he wouldn't feel "left out" but I am sure he won't use it too often, he just thinks the phone itself is cool.
As you can see in the picture above, Rich was looking a little concerned about what was taking place. Their Dad asked me a while ago if it was OK for him to add them to his plan and I said OK. His parents are in Africa and it will be nice for Grandma Gowon to be able to keep in touch with the kids this way.

Here they are showing off their phones and don't they look SO HAPPY!!

I guess if nothing else I can use it as a "tool" to promote "good behavior" (such as, if you aren't nice to your brother I am taking your phone away for 3 days...or if you don't do your chores, no more texting etc).

My Valentine Treats

I am going to confess...I am a terrible visiting teacher. I always have been, but I will get better. A few months ago I got a new partner and route and I was SO excited because I LOVE my partner and all the women on my route are really great sisters that I know and love.
The problem is...we have never been out to visit them yet! I had an idea about this cute little valentine gift and thought that would be a perfect way to "apologize" to our sisters that we visit teach and let them know that we think about them and love them and we WILL be better at coming.

 

So I picked up Kirsten and we dropped by our 3 houses and chatted for a few minutes and now the pressure is on to follow through since we told them we would...and it's just the right thing to do!!
I decided that they turned out so cute that I would make them for all of mine and Rich's families (I think I made like 18 of these but it was fun and I hope everyone enjoyed them).

See How He Sleeps

For the last few months Max has been "falling asleep" in our bed and then we move him into his own room when we are ready for bed. I don't really know what happened, he used to just go in his bed and we turned on his fish night light and he was just fine but now he always wants to fall asleep in our bed.

 

We give him his milk and he usually asks to read his books or take a toy with him. He chooses different things all the time, sometimes it's his cars or his soccer ball or books or his "guys" etc. Last night he asked Rich for his "football helmet" you might be looking at this picture thinking...football helmet?? He has a real baseball helmet that I figured could act as either baseball or football but that was really dumb for me to think I could try to pass off a baseball helmet for a football helmet...my Maxwell is too smart for that.
Well, since he doesn't have a real football helmet he decided to make the best of his situation so he calls this knights helmet I got at Dollar Tree his "football helmet," so he had his books, milk and helmet when we put him to bed.
I went in to get ready for bed and started laughing so loud (I am surprised that he didn't wake up). I went and got Rich and the camera so I could document how silly my little man is. Just a side note when I took the helmet off him it was pretty wet with slobber (Rich was just grateful it was in the helmet and not on his pillow)!!!

Valentine Party

Today was Max's Valentine party at preschool. Since he goes to school at Grandma Copes and Janean helps her, I gave her my camera and asked her to take some pictures for me!!
Here is Max in his "red" shirt, my mom taught us that it is more "festive" to dress color appropriate for all Holidays.

They always start off preschool with the Pledge Allegiance. We were at the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts the other night and it was so cute to see Max saying the Pledge.
It looks to me like Max wasn't particularly interested in joining the group as they were playing their instruments, he is just laying on the floor watching.

 

Here they are making their Valentine bags, decorating cupcakes and making a cute heart craft. Norma always plans such fun stuff for the kids to do at preschool.

 

They ate pizza for lunch...yummy

 

Then they passed out their Valentines to each other.

 

I am so glad that Max has the opportunity to spend so much time with his Grandma and that he has so many friends at preschool. He is getting SO SMART and loves playing with his "guys" at school! Thanks Janean for the pictures...it is fun to see what is happening when he is at school!!