Kate's Nutcracker week

This week has been extremely busy.  Lets just say that Thanksgiving is going to feel like a cake walk compared to Nutcracker.  Kate had rehearsal's, and performances every night this week.  It was all worth it though because she has had an experience she'll never forget.  I asked her on the way home from closing night if it was all that she thought it would be?  She replied "it was better".  I couldn't ask for more than that.  She was able to perform an adorable dance in a gorgeous costume, made really wonderful friendships, and performed with a live orchestra.  Probably the highlight of the whole week was when she met the Ballet West Ballerina Elizabeth Mcgrath who performed as the sugar plum fairy.  This wonderful Dancer came backstage to the dressing rooms and signed autographs and took pictures with the girls.  I couldn't believe it.  She went so above and beyond to be accommodating and be patient with all the little girls.  Kate didn't have a program to have her sign.  She wanted her to sign something more meaningful than just a piece of paper she'd loose, so she had her sign her ballet shoe (her shoes were a year and a half old and we need new ones anyway).  She has cherished those shoes and put them away someplace special.  I couldn't believe how truly wonderful and kind this young lady was to take photo's with the girls.  I'll definitely be following her ballet career, and try to take Kate to watch her perform.  What a wonderful example she is.  I was so proud at how well Kate did.  She had a more difficult dance for her age group.  She did great at it.  As if to make this week any busier she also had a voice recital.  Each year her voice instructor does a Christmas recital.  Kate performed "Here comes Santa Claus".  She did a great job especially since we didn't have a lot of practice time with all the nutcracker rehearsals.  As soon as she performed her song it was off to the opening night performance of the nutcracker.  Kate had for performances total. 

Being in the nutcracker was something that my sister Karyn had the opportunity to do, but I never did make it.  Back then it was just Ballet West that did nutcracker's and the competition was pretty tough.  Being in the nutcracker would have been an experience I would have loved to have had.  I'm glad Kate was able to do something so magical.  I hope she will be able to have this experience again next year. 

 Here is Kate's Ornament group closing night.  We discovered that one tradition with Clytie's nutcracker is that all the girls give a small gift to each girl in their group.  We found this out two days before the closing night.  So we had to scramble to think of something to give the girls.  With ten girls in her group it was like Kate had Christmas all ready.  She even had one little girl give out a nutcracker.  I told her thank you so much, and she replied "yeah, my Mom goes over the top".  I had to laugh because I'm imagining her picking up that comment from her father.  At least that is something Dan would say.  In this picture you can see each girl has a flower that matches their costume.  We were so lucky and we found a big bouquet of flowers at the store all in the exact same colors as the girl's costumes (blue, pink, purple, green, and yellow for the jokers).  I bought the bunch and took it home and individually wrapped them for each girl to take home.  They loved it. 

Haley's Baby!

Nice picture of Kate

 I took this photo of Kate just before a photo shoot I did of my sister in-law Haley's baby.  This was just a test shot, but I thought it really depicted Kate's beauty in a simple way.  She is becoming such a beautiful girl. 

Halloween 2013

BOO!  It was Halloween again, and boy do we have a lot of candy!  We have candy all over the house.  The kids have stashed their loot in their rooms, but it seems like wrappers pop up all over the house.  I think Jence is addicted to sugar, it seems like he has a knack at finding the kids candy, and always has a piece in his little hand.  This year we once again headed to Kid to Kid for their costumes.  I'd highly recommend checking out that place.  Kate had been doing some browsing on the Internet and picked out a 60's go go girl costume on line.  For the amount of money her costume would have costed I was able to buy all four of our kid's costumes at Kid to Kid.  The costumes look great and really they only wear them one or two times so it makes sense to buy them used.  Jence above was a Crocodile.  He looked so cute with the hood on but refused to wear it, I guess he didn't like the way it felt on his head. 

 Benjamin was Wolverine.  He loved that his costumes had extra padding for a really muscular look.  He's say look at my muscles mommy, I look tough.

Then Kirk decided to be an Army Guy.  He looked really cute in his camouflage.  He even had a gun that went with the costume, but it didn't make it into the photo. 

Kate was a 60's go go girl.  We got the costume at Kid to Kid for about eight dollars.  except for the boots.  Those I had to buy online for about $25.00.  Kinda expensive for a costume, but I rationalized that she could wear the boots to church, and school.  She could probably wear the hat too, it's pretty cute.

Here we are as a family.  I was the usual Cat girl.  I got these cat ears while I was in college. They have served me well as my go to quick costume.  Halloween is fun, it's one of my favorite holiday's.  Now if we can just get rid of the candy that is all over the house we can move onto the next holiday and  get more sugar!

Murder Mysteries and Warehouse stores!

Last night Dan and I got to go to the funnest murder mystery party planned by my awesome sister in law Haley.  She sent out each persons character and we were to dress up and pretend to be that person, also we had to try to solve the mystery of who killed me "Snow White".  It was fun I got to scream and pretend to be dead on the floor.  If you can't tell from the pictures I was snow white, and Dan was prince charming.  I found our costumes on line and it was fun to be dressed as a couple.  Dan was a good sport and wore his prince costume, he added some of his own flair with the BYU hat. 

Then today marked an exciting new step in Dan's new business, we went and saw a bed on the shelf at a Sam's club in Draper Utah.  It was really awesome to go and see it in the store.  The two older kids were totally embarrassed to be taking pictures in front of people at a warehouse store, but I didn't care I had to document this.  Now we just need to get selling this puppies and we are on our way to a successful business.  So far sales have been pretty modest.  We have them in about ninety Sam's Club stores set up and displayed.  There are about fifty more to come in the next few weeks.  I think the beds attract attention just because of the light, and the great licensed images. 

The beds are just such a new concept that I think it will take some time and marketing to get people to understand it.  What bed can be used as a reading light, night light, has a dimmer and timer, and also has an image which can change in just seconds with endless possibilities?  You like soccer?  You got it, you like Princesses?  You got it.  Basically anything you can dream up, you can create for your bed.  You can even customize with your own photo's.  This isn't easily explained in a small display.  The boy's have a cowboy themed room, so we have horses and elk in their beds.  Kate has butterflies for hers.  Is your child afraid to sleep in their own beds at night?  We were loosing sleep when Benjamin would want to sleep with us everynight.  We got him a lightheaded bed it has a soft night light with a built in timer. The best part about the beds in my opinion is that they have a reading light.  If you want to instill the love of reading in your child, get them this bed.  Get rid of the TV in your kid's room and replace it with a lightheaded bed.  Kate has to read every night for thirty minutes.  I use to be the one with the headache of keeping track of her reading minutes.  Now with her new bed she can be in control, she just sets the timer for thirty minutes on her light, and when the light turns off she knows it's time to go to sleep, and I know that she's keeping up with her schoolwork.  This bed will totally change your child's attitude about reading.  It brings back the old tradition of reading together at bedtime with a new and cool twist.   

Do you recognize the kids and the mom on the box?  It's hard to tell from the small photo, but that's me and the kids! 

Jence Turns Two

This little guy had a birthday!  Jence is Two years old!  We had a weekend full of presents, and a lot of cake.  First his nursery teacher brought him an Elmo cake, and gift.  It was so kind of her, Jence just loved it.  We celebrated with the Mower family at a combined party for Jence and Becca since they are cousins who were born on the same day.  I bought a cake from Bowman's, it had balloons, and confetti on it, and was really cute. 

Finally we celebrated on Sunday with the Black side of the family.  We combined his birthday with my parents farewell dinner.  I made this Panda Bear cake for him.  It turned out really cute, but wasn't very easy to make at all.  I'm just glad it turned out.  I"m disappointed in how the photo turned out with Jence and the cake.  I had to use Dan's phone to take it, and I wish I would have had my camera for it. 

For Jence's birthday he got some blocks, play food, books, stuffed panda bear, and some cars.  He did pretty well.  Grandma Mower also gave him a Lagoon pass for next summer!  This will be the first year we ever tryout Lagoon passes.  Jence went to Dan's work Lagoon day and loved it.  I was surprised because usually kids at his age are very scared of the rides.  He didn't want to get off of the them!  It will be a fun summer activity to do with the kids. 

Jence Makes A Mess

The terrible two's have now commenced at the Mower household.  I can't believe how much trouble this little guy can cause in a 24 hour period.  I took a few photo's of the havoc only to be tired by 10:0 in the morning of all the messes I was taking pictures of, so I quit.  Here Jence wanted some yogurt, so I gave him a yogurt, and then finished the dishes.  I few minutes later I turned around and found him smearing the yogurt all over in his hair.  I have to admit that not very much surprises me anymore, but this completely shocked me!  I took him upstairs to wash him up.  I decided that while he was in the bath I might as well clean the bathroom, and I lifted the toilet seat and found this!  Yes he left me a little surprise in the toilet, all of the bathtub toys!  As you can see it's never a dull moment around here.  I don't know how I even try to keep up with everything.