Part of the St. George trip

Anyone that knows Mandi is aware of the fact that she is an In-n-Out Burger junkie. Yes, the myth is true. She once downed three cheeseburgers in one sitting. Now that there is a new establishment in St. George, we knew we would be visiting the joint at least once on our vacation (it turned out to be two trips for burgers). Mandi just discovered "Animal Style" as well (For you In-N-Out novices, that means it includes pickles and grilled onions). So now she may be even more jazzed about the place. If you didn't have to mortgage your house now days to fill up the car with gas, I could just see her making the four hour drive some weekend just to go eat there. The kids love it as well and were pretty happy about their new hats.

Another funny Austinism

We went to In-n-Out Burger (yummy!!!) in St. George, and Austin ate about 1/2 his cheeseburger. He went to throw it away and Mandi said, "Whoah! Whoah! Come back here." She asked him if that was all he was going to eat. Austin, being the sharp little man that he is, looked at the half of the burger still in his hand, and says, "No, this is what I'm NOT going to eat."

Rachel's ballet recital Take 2 (5-8-08)

Since Rachel's ballet was a community class, we had another session in April and May. Miss Chassie was her teacher again, and Rachel just loves her. Chassie reminds me of Giselle in "Enchanted" and is just so adorable with all the girls.

I want to let you know that this class is for kids ages 3-5. So you have to be at least 3 years old to be in the class. You will notice that there is a little girl with a pacifier in some of the pictures. Yes, she is 3 years old with a pacifier... and the best part about it is she was whining and crying and her mom gave it to her to shut her up so she would do the dance. I just DO NOT agree with that. Rant over.
Here is the video of the dance:

Dress Shopping (5-3-08)

So on May 3rd, we went dress shopping!! I love wedding dress shopping! This time for Jenny. She brought a picture of the dress she wanted, and after trying on about 10 or 15, that was the one she ended up with. The person who was helping us said that was the first time someone brought in a picture of the dress they wanted, and they actually ended up getting it. Technically we were not supposed to take pictures, but we did anyway.

The saddest day

I knew the Stirlings were moving, but this really made it real. Once we actually met each other, we had a great time hanging out, playing games, kids playing together, Jonah asking to watch "Signing Time", and hopefully we'll have a long friendship. (This is where the sad music plays and we have a little photo montage:)

Rachel and Grandpa

 

Graduation for Kyra and Brad (4-25-08)

On Friday, April 24th, it was Kyra and Brad's graduation; Kyra got her bachelors in Art , and Brad got his Juris Doctorate (he has a law degree). It was a great day with no kids.

This was the best picture I got of Kyra walking. My stupid camera did not regenerate (if that's what you call it) fast enough to get a hand shaking picture. Oh, well. There were plenty of other pictures to be taken (approx. 47 just on my camera. I guess I went a little crazy). I did like her graduation ceremony...at least the part where there were pictures. It probably could have been a little shorter, but when has a graduation ceremony been short?
Family pictures:

Heffners

Liggetts
We ate, and then headed over to the Provo Tabernacle for Brad's ceremony. Took more pictures:



Kyra and I played with the settings on my camera before we took pictures inside the tabernacle:





Thumbs up to these cool robes!

Then light refreshments after the party at Kyra and Brad's house. There were a lot of people in their 800 square feet, but it was lots of fun. A whole day with no kids...Ahhhhh!

April 22 Girls night (aka party for Katie)

Before Katie left, we wanted to have another girls night. It turned out that Annette and I are Katie's only friends!! But really, no one else could make it, which made for more food for us. We got Asian Star food. I had not really been all that impressed in the past with their food, but apparently I was not getting the right stuff. We got Honey Shrimp (or something to that effect), and something else that was really yummy with sesame seeds (I'm stretching trying to remember what it's called, and having NO luck).


Really fun. We talked while we ate and had a great time. Then we watched American Idol (back when they did the Andrew Lloyd Weber songs).

We watched a you tube video that was amazing. I am sure this girl has bones, but not sure how she is SO flexible. Check it out here.
Then we had ice cream. What a perfect way to end a girl's night. I sure am going to miss her when she's gone.

Game Night(s)

We love to play Settlers of Catan. It was our family ritual on Sundays after church, while we were just having family time. This is Mitchell legitimately winning his first game..and then having to clean it up. All. By. Himself.


This was back in March. On of our last game nights with the Stirlings before they moved. Katie was not sure what to do at this juncture. I think she ended up winning this game though. It makes me sad just to think about it. (That they moved, not that she won!)




Some of our towers we create while playing Settlers (just had to post for posterity, you know).


But, we found new gaming partners; the Chamberlain's (or as Austin likes to call them, The Annette's). They taught us a new game called Hand and Foot. We love to play it until late in the night, while our kids all play together and are delirious the next day from lack of sleep. Annette was into her foot and trying to win.


Here is our score sheet from round one. As you can see, the boys kicked our trash.


Score sheet from round 2. Once again, I am not on the winning team.


Rachel and Havana playing. They are so girly. And they always have to have a purse. Each of them.

I really should blog this...

After really feeling the pressure to post EVERYTHING (and having a running commentary in my mind of things to post), I obviously took a bit of a break. Now, I'm back, but I feel like I set the bar a little too high previously, and don't want to feel the pressure to blog ALL THE TIME. So, here's the deal. I will post at my leisure. You will not bug me about posting. I just can't do it all (as witnessed by the fact that my front yard looks better than previously (except for the broken sprinkler that STILL is not fixed...do I have to ground you, Mike?), but my visiting teaching for May did not get done (you can't get kicked out of church for that, right?). So sorry Megan, but we've got a lot to catch up on.