Abby's preschool graduation

Oh my goodness, we have been so busy lately.  I feel like I went months without anything to blog about, and now I can hardly keep up with everything going on!

Anyways, yesterday Abby graduated from preschool.  She has loved preschool.  I don't think there was a single day all year long that she complained about going to school.  In fact, she looked forward to it every Tuesday and Thursday.  Cam had to work, so we promised to just take lots of pictures and tell him every detail  ;)

Walking out, to "Pomp and Circumstance".  She was the leader, carrying the flag.  

Getting her cap on,

They sung the songs they had learned over the year, everything from the "ABC's" to this song called the "Tooty-ta" or something.  It was so cute.  It kind of was just a dance.  It went like:

Thumbs up

Elbows back

Knees together

and on and on.

Each time they sung the song they'd add another move.  Anyways, just to prove my point even further about Abby's love for performing, she was singing loud, totally into the dance, swinging her hips, even when all the other kids were hardly doing the moves at all.  She definitely stole the show and it was the cutest thing.

See you can see, she has her thumbs up, elbows back, knees together and she is swinging those hips! 

Another action shot

Here each of the kids had to tell their favorite part of preschool.  Abby's was coloring.  Which is what she spends a good portion of everyday here at home doing too.

They sung "You've got a friend in me"  from Toy Story.  So cute!

Getting her diploma

Miss Emily and Abby

I'm so proud of my little girl.  She has really blossomed this last year.  I think all of her activities (dance and preschool) have really helped her come out of her shell.  I'm so proud of her desire to learn and do her best at everything she does.  I am positive she will love Kindergarten even more next year.

Congrats to Abby!!!

Abby's Dance Recital

Abby had her spring dance recital on Saturday.  Cam's parents came, and Abby really wanted her cousin Piper to come, so we invited her to come spend the weekend at our house.

This year, I usually just dropped Abby off at dance practice, so it wasn't until the dress rehearsal Saturday morning that I finally saw her do her dance.  She has really gotten pretty good, for a 4 year old ;)  She knew a lot of the moves and stuff.  I was so proud of her.  I love that my timid little girl can get up there and show no fear and she almost seems to love being in the spotlight.  It's such a unique side of her, because she usually shy's away from being center stage.

Dress Rehearsal (I've learned to take pictures during dress rehearsal so I can either video or just watch her dance during the recital):

They danced to "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas.

A rare moment when all the girls were actually doing the same move at the same time ;)

The class picture.

 So, funny story.  When I put Abby's costume on before heading to the dress rehearsal, she said she wanted her leotard on underneath.  I was a little frustrated at that point in the morning and told her that was ridiculous, she was supposed to just wear the dress.  Well when we got to rehearsal, her teacher said she wanted all the girls with their leotards on underneath.  Oops!  You can see that apparently most of the other Mom's knew or assumed that they needed the leotards, as Abby is pretty much the only one not wearing a leotard in the picture.

Abby being shown how to pose (like she needs to be told how to do that :)

Lexi had to join in and pose too.  Apparently this pose was the "looking far off in the distance" pose, cause every time I told them to pose for the camera, they looked away.

 Before the recital:

Pictures before we left for the recital.  I had to do a new hair do because the braids didn't survive through the day.  

This was captured mid-twirl

And our new favorite, the jump shot.  I love that she still has her thumbs tucked in and her toes pointed out.  I guess all the work on form has really stuck ;)

All the girls!  They all have the same excited grin.

There was a dance at the very end of the recital for all the students to do together and Abby just insisted on staying, so at intermission Cam took all the other kids home, and I stayed with Cam's mom to the very end.  I'm actually glad we stuck around because the last song was a hip-hop dance, and it was the cutest thing to see Abby do.  I was laughing so hard, she was adorable, and totally into it.

Colton's 1st Birthday

On Wednesday, Colton turned 1!  We celebrated his birthday on Mother's Day with all of Cam's family.  I was rushed to put a birthday party together with being out of town almost all of last week, but I think he still had fun :)

Piper, at his party.  Balloons are always a hit with the kids.

Uncle Ethan helped him open the presents (so did all the bigger kids)

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Eating the cupcake, just a few bites in.

in the middle.  I love how you can see an almost perfect frosting hand print on his face.

Finished!

He didn't really seem to like the cupcake all that much.  He mostly just played with it. And smeared all over his face.

He got some great new toys and clothes for his birthday.

What's he doing now?

• He walks along the furniture
• He's tried a few times to stand on his own
• He LOVES to walk while holding his hands, he just thinks he is so darn cool.
• He finally started drinking out of a sippy cup.  But it's only a few sips here and there.  I think we'll be holding on to the bottles for a little while longer.
• He sleeps through the night most of the time.  On occasion he'll wake up in the really early morning (4am or so) and want a bottle.
• He still takes two naps a day. 
• He mimics words and sounds really well.
• He says uh-oh, hi and goodbye, night-night.
• It seems he is bit of a scared-y-cat, just like the girls.  He gets freaked out over the little things.
• He LOVES cars and balls.  Why is it that boys naturally gravitate towards those, while girls gravitate toward dolls?  Interesting.
• He loves his big sisters.
• He's a little squirmy fellow.  Diaper changes are a challenge, as is church.
• He's not shy.  He's pretty content to receive attention from anybody that will give it to him.
• Everybody comments on his big blue eyes.  He got those from his dad :)
• He WILL NOT hold his bottle.  He loves the cuddle time he gets when Cam or I (cause he won't take a bottle very easily from anyone else) feed him his bottle.  It makes me nervous that it might be difficult to wean him off the bottle.
• He has a favorite blanket that he has to sleep with.  He sucks on the corner of it to sooth himself.  I don't know why, but for some reason he decided that was really comforting.
• His nick-name is buddy.  We named him Colton with the intention to call him Cole.  As of yet, it's just Colton or buddy (or COLTON CHRISTOPHER!!! when he's in trouble), but I think as he gets a little older we'll eventually find ourselves calling him Cole.
• He's got those baby eagle eyes, and can spot every rock, crumb, or trash on the floor.

At his Doctors appointment yesterday he measured:

• 30.6 inches in length-75%
• 21 lbs 10 oz-~25%
• 75 cm head circ-75%

His first real time drinking from the sippy.  I honestly didn't know if he ever would.  He loves his bottle.

I love this face.  He's saying uh-oh, and always drags out the ohhhhh

Oh, man.  I can't believe my little baby is already 1.  Fortunately we survived that infamous 1st year, but it's a little bitter sweet that our little baby will soon be entering the toddler stage.

Pacing the Zion 50

So we got home last Wednesday from Disneyland, and Friday afternoon I headed down to the St George area for a race with my friend Marci.  She was going to run the Zion 50 mile race, and she had asked me to pace her the last 25 miles.  I was a little nervous going into it because my ankle had been bothering me the last week or so.  Thankfully it held up really well, and I didn't start feeling any pain till the last mile.

When we got to St. George (Virgin, actually)  Marci had to check in at the race, then we went to a movie.  We saw Hunger Games, which ended up being a good distraction for Marci because she was getting nervous for the race.

Marci started running at 6am, and I planned to meet up with her at the aid station at mile 27 (that was the first location the runners could pick up their pacer).  She had no idea how long it would take cause it's so hard to predict a pace on trails.  It ended up being really challenging and technical, so she didn't roll into the aid station where I was till a little after noon.  She'd already been going at it for 6+ hours.  She was doing so awesome, but the rough first half definitely took it's toll.  Plus the temps were up there in the 80's and at the finish at a lower elevation it was in the 90's.

We took off and about a mile into it, we started climbing up some hills. The uphill went on for about six miles.  And kinda the rule of thumb for ultra running is to walk uphill or else you'll blow up too fast and never make it to the finish line.  But once we made it past that incline, we came to a really awesome drop off, and had a few downhill miles ahead of us.

The drop off

That visor saved my life, keeping the sun from baking my face.  

You can't really see it that well, but we were following the trail right along this gorge, like a foot from the edge of the cliff.  So awesome!

At about mile 40 (for her, mile 12 for me) Marci started to get pretty sick.  She said she was kind a scared, she just felt so weird.  Thankfully we pulled into an aid station and the medic there told her to take some salt and drink some pickle juice (oh so gross, I don't know how she did it!) and we headed back out, taking it easy in hopes that once her sodium levels evened out she'd feel better.  About 20 minutes later, she felt like a whole new person, and we took off running again, and was able to keep a pretty good pace till the finish line.  The race ended up being about 1 1/2 miles long, so she ended up running almost 52 miles in 12 hours 11 minutes.  She was the 11th female finisher, and like the 28th overall finisher!  Not bad for her first 50 mile race!

Oh, we had so much fun.  Ultra running is a whole different ballgame than street racing.  I think we both learned a lot about the importance of fueling correctly while your out running.  Getting the right foods in at the right time can make a huge difference.  The trail we were running was awesome, and several times we'd come around a bend and both just say "Oh my gosh!" cause the view was amazing.  I think both of us have been converted to trail running :)

After a quick shower, we loaded up the car and headed home.  It was just a quick trip, not much longer than 24 hours total, but we had a blast.

Disneyland!

This last week we went to Disneyland!  We have been wanting and planning this trip for forever it feels like.  But the time finally came and all of us were so excited.  We went with some of Cam's family, his sister Are' and her family, Ethan, and his parents all came.

We left Saturday, first thing in the morning to drive to LA. Once we got all the cars loaded, we car-a-vaned the whole way down.  It was a long drive, but with the help of a couple of DVD players, the kids all survived quite nicely.  That night, once we got to the hotel, we attempted to put the kids to bed.  The three girls (Abby, Lexi, Piper) were all going to sleep on a sofa bed, and Colton was in a pack-n-play in the same room.  Let's just say, it took a couple of hours to get all four kids to sleep.  And even then, I was up several times that night with Colton, Lexi, or both.  Yeah, that first night was a little rough.  After that, though, either they had gotten used to the set-up or they were all just so exhausted that they usually fell asleep within minutes of laying down.

Sunday: Day 1 of Disneyland

Of course the must have picture at the entrance to the park.

The girls in the stroller.  We had a double stroller and two little umbrella strollers so we had somewhere for all four kids to ride.

Teacups.  One of Colton's favorite rides.  He was clapping and having such a blast.  You can't really see him, but Ethan is holding him.

Snack break

On the Jungle Cruise.  Lexi was so tired the whole day, but still pretty happy and excited for everything.

It took awhile to get everyone and everything packed for the day.  In an effort to save money, we packed lunches and snacks each morning to take with us.  Once we got there though, the girls were so overwhelmed with excitement.  It was so fun to watch their faces light up with each new discovery.  Cam's sister Cynthia that lives in San Diego came and met us for the day, which was really nice to spend time with them.  We stuck to mostly the gentle kids rides that day, and took it pretty easy.

Monday: Day 2 of Disneyland

Piper and Are' on Big Thunder Mountain

Minnie!

Minnie's house

Mickey

Mickey's house

A car in Toon Town 

Goofy!

Then Goofy came over and kidnapped Colton to get him in the picture too

Taking a few snack breaks while waiting in line to see the Princesses

Snow White

Jasmine

Aurora (or Briar Rose, that's what Abby likes to call her)

Tigger.  Cam took Lexi while the rest of us went on Splash Mountain.

The battery's died on the camera, but this is the only picture Cam got of Eeyore. 

This day we started off by seeing several Disney Characters.  Mickey and Minnie, and some princesses.  The girls loves seeing them, and getting their signatures and stuff.  Then it was time for a little bit more thrilling rides. Somehow, we convinced Abby to go on Splash Mountain (Piper didn't need any convincing, she's a thrill seeker :), and Lexi and Colton weren't big enough.  However, Abby was not a fan of the the ride.  The big drop was too much for her.  Next we went on Big Thunder Mountain, and Abby sat that one out.  But Piper went on it and LOVED it, so since the line was short, we went on it again, and Abby decided to give it a try.  Ummm yeah, she was terrified to whole time.  I think at one point on the ride she said "Why did Piper want me to come on this ride?"  Unfortunately, that just sent her over the edge, and she was pretty scared of any ride that either left the ground (i.e. Dumbo) or went faster than 2 MPH.  It didn't surprise me at all, she's a pretty timid little girl.  But thankfully there were still plenty of rides that she could go on and enjoy.

Tuesday: Day 3 of Disneyland

The girls wore some dressup clothes on the third day.  Here they are waiting in line to see Tinkerbell

Iradessa

Tinkerbell

Waiting in line for the Train

On the train

Colton on the train

Donald Duck.  For some reason, right before the picture was taken, Lexi got scared or something and broke down in tears and came running to me.  I think she was just so tired.

This day we kind of split up a little bit so the adults would get a chance to go on the rides that little kids can't go on.  So us girls would take the kids on a few rides while the boys would go on a ride or two, then we'd switch.  It worked out perfectly, and we all got to do and see the things we wanted to.  We finished up this day in the afternoon and headed back to the hotel and did a little swimming till it was time to start packing up to go back home.

Wednesday we drove home.  It seemed like a much longer drive home, and there were many stops and lots of crying.  But we're home now, and everyone had a blast on the trip.  It was so fun, and Disney definitely knows how to do it right!

Everyone's favorite ride:

Cam's:  Screamin roller coaster

Leisa:  Screamin roller coaster and Tower of Terror

Abby:  Ariel ride

Lexi:  Train, she called it the Percy ride. (everyday we would see several different train rides, but it wasn't until the last day that we finally rode one, and Lexi was SO excited.  She had been wanting to ride the train since we'd gotten there)

Colton:  Teacups (at least I think so ;)