I guess that's what ya get. . . .

for raising a generation of computer literate children!

If you aren't sure what these are pictures of, we made a late evening stop at Best Buy and Anna and Lainie took pictures of themselves on all the Macs and set them as the wallpaper.  Funny girls.  I was on the fence between it being obnoxious and making them fix it and laughing uncontrollably.  We left them.   Don't worry-we heard from an employee (who thought it was funny by the way) that all those computers are wiped every night.

Snowbird

Mark had a conference at Snowbird over the weekend, so we decided to make a family overnighter out of it and take the girls skiing the next day.  Before dinner we went and checked out the Snowbird Center to see where we needed to drop the girls off for ski school the next day.

We've always wanted to try the pool and hot tub at the Cliff Lodge out in the freezing cold!  The water was obviously very warm.  Unfortunately it started snowing right before we headed out there, but the girls still had a ball.  Garrett spent the night at Grandma Susie's and he was so excited to get to her house to play that he didn't even want to swim!  Whaaat? I was surprised how much time the girls spent in the pool and not the hot tub.  It must have been warm enough.  I didn't even attempt the pool.  I figured the hot tub was the safest bet.  Mark was at a meeting and missed snow swimming.

Yes, many things about ski clothing and ski equipment are uncomfortable, and I was prepared for all that Anna had to dish out about it!

Anna was not happy to try skiing.  We kept telling her she just had to try it once.  She might even love it!

Mark had an early morning meeting.  I dropped Brooke and Anna off at their ski school class.  Is that a smile I see on Anna's face??

I took Lainie to get her ski rentals.  Man, was it crowded!

On my way back from getting Lainie settled I saw Brooke and Anna on the "magic carpet" which allowed them to get the feel of skiing without a major decline.

By this time Anna had already decided she liked skiing well enough.

Mark and I finally got to hit the slopes after everyone was settled and his morning meeting was done.  It was a terrible day as far as weather goes.  The tram was closed all day along with some of the lifts.  The top of the high lifts was miserable!  The wind was blowing like crazy and it was snowing, making visibility pretty much impossible.

Mark and I saw Brooke and Anna by the smallest lift throughout the day and always received a happy report from the two of them.  We never got a glimpse of our little Lainie until the very end of the day.  I went to pick her up when her lesson was over.  She was coming back to the ski school area with her teacher.  She saw me waiting, said, "I see my mommy!" and then shouted to me, "I LOVED it!!!!"  I'm so glad the girls all had a good experience skiing.  Brooke had been before and already knew she loved it.  So I'm thinking if they had a good day skiing in terrible weather, they'll love it tons more if they get to go on a sunny day.

As for me. . . . . I want to like skiing.  At least I think I do.  I hadn't been since before Mark and I got married, and the conditions were not fabulous for a first day back after that many years.  I give myself an A for effort for the whole trip and probably a C- for attitude once I was out of my comfort zone.  I've rarely felt comfortable and in control on skis-snowskis or waterskis for that matter.  Maybe I'll try again on a sunny day.  Better yet, maybe I'll just send Mark with the kids.  I would say, even with the unpleasant weather, Mark did very well and is a pretty darn good skier.

After lessons and getting ready to head home.  They are each tired and windburned, but they had a great day!

New Beginnings

My girl is growing up!  New Beginnings was a lot of fun.  It's crazy how our ward's young women group will change in 2011.  There are 12 new Beehives (12-year-old girls in the youth program) coming in!!!  I worked in YW until last May and we had about 20 girls total.  In 3-5 years our youth program will be unrecognizable from what it has been.  Brooke still has until May before she enters the Young Women Program.  New Beginnings was a nice intro to what she has to look forward to.

Sibling rivalry anyone. . . . . .?

I may get in trouble by Brooke for posting this, but seriously how can I resist??  It's classic.  And really funny.  She did this in October and I can't remember all the circumstances surrounding it, but I am pretty sure she was in charge for a short while.  She apparently kept a detailed list (typed and printed I might add) of grievances against Anna, perhaps as proof.  She threw it away, but not before I could take a quick picture.

Over Christmas Break . . . . . .

We went bowling with the Christensen side of the the family.

We had breakfast at Grand America on Christmas Eve morning and spent some time in the courtyard with the cousins.  We also did a fun scavenger hunt at the hotel in the beautifully decorated christmas windows.

The kids all acted out the nativity at Grandma's house on Christmas Eve.

The kids posed for a picture in their new matching Christmas jammies.

The kids waited (patiently???) in the loft for a picture before they were allowed to come down and open presents.

We all enjoyed a nice Christmas morning at home which, as usual for every family, goes way too fast.

We enjoyed a night at temple square with fun cousins.

Mark and I celebrated our 15th anniversary and he got me the most amazing flower arrangement I have ever seen.

We went to Soldier Hollow and enjoyed a morning of tubing with all the cousins and aunts and uncles.

Xcite December Dance Recital 2010

Is it just me or does Lainie look about 16 in this picture?

Some girls from Lainie's company team.

These are pictures from all three of the girls' dance recital in December.  Lainie is on a company team, so she had three different numbers with three different costumes.  Lainie's Clayton time commitment is minimal at her age, so she has time for both.  Brooke and Anna are in a jazz class together and did one number.  Brooke was not thrilled with the costumes for their group.  They are pretty short and show a lot of skin, plus they are pink, which she is not fond of.  Anna, on the other hand, loves the costumes.  They will be using them again for their spring recital.

Garrett's Preschool Christmas Concert

Garrett's preschool does a cute Christmas concert at the Draper Theater.  It was so fun to see the darling little preschoolers sing and use bells and cymbals and sticks and little props for their concert.  Garrett was thrilled to do his Christmas performance after watching so many of his sisters' performances.

Another Christmas, Another Round of Clayton Performances

Clayton performances kept us busy again this Christmas.  As hectic as it can get, it is rewarding to watch the girls perform and showcase what they have learned during the many hours of practice.  It was an interesting set of performances because Brooke seems to have really found her niche in performing.  She is in an advanced boy/girl group called Good News and she really shined.  She remembered to smile and be enthusiastic during all her performances and never forgot to keep singing while dancing, which though it may sound obvious, is easy to forget when you are putting so much into the routine with both singing and dancing.  You notice that a lot of the performers forget to sing at times.

Brooke's group did a "Scrooge Medley."  It was absolutely darling.  The songs and the dances were adorable.  For the first time, Brooke has learned to do lifts since she performs with boys.  This is also the first group she has gotten to use handheld microphones in too.  We're really excited that she is enjoying Clayton so much.  She did fabulous and so looked forward to every performance.  The best part is she gets to go on tour to Southern California with her group in June.  My little girl is growing up way too fast.  She'll go on tour and to girls' camp this summer with the young women.  A new era is upon us.  I am trying to embrace it.  I am both looking forward to it and feeling a little sad about how much Brooke will be out of our home and busy with her own little life.  She's a great kid though and I know she will have wonderful experiences.

I promise I'm not playing favorites by having less pictures of Anna.  Truthfully I took most of the pictures with my (as opposed to Mark's) camera and the flash didn't put out enough light and I didn't have a lot of pictures to choose from.  Also, Anna has decided she doesn't enjoy Clayton anymore and she kind of "showed us" by refusing to smile or sing in most of her performances, so I didn't have many pictures of her looking happy.  Honestly, it breaks my heart because Anna is really talented at this kind of performing.

Lainie is the same bubbly, enthusiastic performer that she has always been!  She actually did the same medley this Christmas that Brooke did her first year of Clayton-or at least some of the same songs.  She even wore the same costume Brooke and Anna's group did that year with the addition of a matching hat.  I wish we had known that when costumes were ordered and we could have recycled one of the dresses. I think we already passed one of them on to D.I.  Now I guess we have two again!

This year the girls seemed to have a few less performances, which was nice I think.  Among the three of them they got to perform at a few nursing homes, Wheeler Farm, Festival of Trees, and Valley Fair Mall.  This was the first year they weren't scheduled for Zoo Lights.  I was on the fence about that one.  It's always freezing there, which makes it tough on the kids.  But it's also a fun place to go and we wouldn't make it there (and didn't this year) otherwise.  Also, I tried really hard to be on time for all of their call times this year and I did a pretty darn good job if I do say so myself.  It's amazing how much more enjoyable it makes the experience without the stress of running late.  I am trying. . . . .I really am.