Addie's first dance class

Today Addie pops out of bed at 7 am, runs into my room, and the first words out of her mouth are, "Is it time for dance class?" It was so cute. I was impressed that she slept in that late, and she did a good job the rest of the morning waiting until it was actually time to go. The funny thing is I was just as excited as she was! Once I got her all ready she was all twirls and poses, and I was a typical parent trying to get as many pictures as I could.

She almost could not hold this pose:
Had to put this pose in twice it was so cute:

Addie wanted to show off her hair:


Here she wanted to show off her pack-pack that has her dance shoes in:

Addie with a little attitude..."They call me A to the C, that's for Addie Cakers!"

Addie's class minus her friend Emily who came right after all the moms were taking this group picture.

At the bars doing ballet:

When they got their tap shoes on they were also able to play with these ribbon sticks while they learned a little of tap dancing:
It was so fun to gush over our children with the other Moms through the one sided window. Addie was exhausted after but is excited to go back next week. She got up once after we laid her down for bed tonight and asked if I would make sure to get her up in time in the morning. She did this last night because she was worried she would miss her dance class. So I asked her what she needed to get up in time for tomorrow. When she did not answer I explained to her again that she did not have dance tomorrow, and that she would not have it again until next week. Hopefully she does not forget and come running into my room early tomorrow morning!

Happy 30th Birthday Honey!

This year Aaron turned the big 30 and he was so excited with his job as a principal to be able to say that he is in his 30's now! Addie was quite the big girl too. She was so excited to help get presents for Daddy, and she was quite the helper when it came to making the birthday cake. She wanted to mix it all herself and did a good job too.



Aaron almost tricked Addie into telling him what we got him for his birthday. She was so good at keeping his presents a secret, but Aaron was being very sneaky in trying to get her to spill the beans.




It was a fun night of cake and ice cream and licking frosting off the candles. We love you honey.

Dunk Tank Anyone?

So during the last week of school Orchard had a dance festival. Then after the dance festival is was time to dunk the Principal. It was so fun to see all the children get excited and line up to get a chance to throw the ball at the target. Unfortunately, it was not quite warm enough out to offset the cold hose water in the tank. Aaron was a good sport and had fun despite the cold water.



Aaron watching the balls fly towards the target.

This was the first ball that actually hit the target on the button and you can see the seat Aaron is on has started to tip. These next pictures of Aaron are just priceless.



Addie was not sure what to think of it all as she watched her Daddy get dunked except that she thought it was pretty silly that he was getting all wet in his clothes. Silly Daddy!

Addie's 3rd Birthday

Addie was so excited this year for her birthday. Everything she saw that she wanted she would ask if she could have it for her birthday. We had some neighborhood friends over and she had a blast!

Addie kept sneaking licks of her birthday cake.

Addie being patient.

My attempt at a "Uniqua" cake.




Addie opening her presents.

Addie sporting her new scooter, helmet, and "slip-slops"



We all had such a fun time celebrating. Happy Birthday Addie-cakes!

Easter 2011

Easter this year was especially fun with Addie. It was also great to have Grandma and Grandpa Stevenson here to celebrate with us. Addie loved to color Easter eggs. Thankfully there were no huge messes. Addie was excited to have the Easter Bunny come so we made 'thank you' cards to leave by our baskets to tell him thanks for the candy he would leave us. In the morning she was excited to see her stash.

It didn't take long and she realized that all her eggs were hidden around the house. So we started picking up all the Easter eggs.


Thanks to Grandma Elder it also didn't take her long to realize that the plastic eggs had jelly beans in them.


Grandpa Stevenson happened to be sitting on one of the eggs...silly Grandpa.


Addie in her Easter dress and gloves


My handsome/cute family!


Twirls

When we went to roll our Easter eggs first we tried a grass hill we found and that didn't work.


Then we tried a slanted sidewalk, but it was not slanted enough.


Then we found the perfect hill just up the road from our house. It was fun to have so many egg rolling competitors!


It was such a fun Easter and we were glad to have Grandma and Grandpa Stevenson and Aunt Christine here to join in the fun with us. The winner of the Easter egg roll was....dah dah da...me, unless you count Addie's double tosses down the hill. Easter egg rolling takes years of practice...or maybe it is just luck. :)

Christmas Vacation

Dec. 19: Travel to Idaho Falls (262 miles)
Dec. 24: Travel back home (262 miles)
Dec. 27: Travel to Modesto (759 miles)
Dec. 30: Travel to Anaheim (338 miles)
Jan. 1: Travel to Pasadena (34 miles)
Jan. 1: Travel to St. George (378 miles)
Jan. 2: Travel back home (265 miles)
Total: 2,298 miles

We had a great time. It was fun to see family. The days went by to fast. However, we are glad to be home, safe and sound.