I Now Have a Child Going to School ALL Day!

So we had the shortest Summer in history...3 weeks!  That's all I got to recover from Kindergarten and gear up for 1st grade.  We were able to squeeze one family vacation in that amount of time.  We did the annual Hunt Family Trip to Flaming Gorge and camped, boated, wakeboarded, and jetskied to our hearts content.  But back to my Emily.  She isn't very vocal about her feelings so I had no idea how she really felt about going to school all day and having a different teacher and different classmates, etc.  Unlike Abby and I.  We will tell anyone who is willing to listen how we feel at every moment of the day.  It all must have gone well because I never got a phone call while she was at school and was her usual cool and calm self when we picked her up.  [She gets her even-temperament (sp?) from her Dad.]  I guess I was more nervous than she was.  Her favorite part of 1st grade?  Eating lunch at school and having two recesses.

 First day of school smile!

Strike a pose.  First day of school outfit.  Doesn't she look so cute?

 Of course we have to have a pic with lil' sis.

There she goes!  She has the pink princess backpack, in case you couldn't spot her.  And that is her teacher, Mrs. Clayburn.  She has been so sweet and nice.  I think it's going to be a great year!

Or maybe I did....

Alright. So I'm not the best at keeping up on my blog. When I decided to log in to my blog today, I was shocked to discover it had been almost a year since my last entry. But you already knew I wasn't perfect, so I'm sure you weren't shocked.

There is no way I can remember all that happened this past year, but I can post some pics of what we have done recently. So I will do that...

This is the Daddy/Daughter camping trip that Mike took the girls (and our dog) on to City of Rocks in Idaho. They had such a great time! So good a time that they want to make it an annual trip. Hooray for me! I did nothing but read a book the entire day. I wouldn't mind repeating that.

Here we are at Bridal Veil Falls on Memorial Day. Yup. That's right. It was the end of May and we are bundled up like it's February. The Memorial Day the year before (2010) we all got sunburned. Oh well. We had fun!

This Emily performing at her dance recital this June. She is the third one from the right. She knew all the dance steps. She did a great job!

And this is Emily after her recital. They danced to Cuban Pete. It was so adorable. She is really liking dance.

Well, that is it for now. Or for a year......who knows? Hopefully it won't take me that long to post again. :)

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth.

Okay. So it has been 9 months since my last post. I haven't been keeping up on my blog since I signed up for Facebook. It is so much easier to see what everyone is up to that way. But I have been having a lot of guilt about not keeping this updated for those friends and family that enjoy blogs.

Because there is just too much to try and cover from the last 9 months, I'm not going to. I'm just going to pick up from what is happening now.

We just had my brother Rhett and his family from Vernal come stay with us for the weekend. We increased the number of occupants in our house from 4 to 10. It was so fun to have them here. They came because we had family pictures and the Golden Turkey Tournament. For those of you not in the know about what the Golden Turkey Tourney is, it is a ping pong tournament my family does every year (since Jeff moved to Houston many years ago, it has been harder to get together that often). It is called the Golden Turkey because when we started, it was always at Thanksgiving time and we have a "trophy" which is really just a ceramic turkey from the craft store that has been painted with metallic gold paint. On the back, on each of its feathers, is listed the year and that year's winner. Jeff has 7 of the championships, while Rhett and my dad have 2 or 3 of their own on there. No one else has been able to get their names on there. I have been playing in the tournament for several years now and I have only made it to the Final Four once. That must have been while my dad was on his mission and couldn't participate in the tournament. Although, when Mike's family decided to hold a ping pong tournament one year, Mike and I were the final game and I lost by 2 points. So if I'm ever feeling bad about my ping pong skills, I just play one of the Dawes'. Ha ha. The Golden Turkey Tournament is very serious business in my family and everyone enjoys it (except maybe a couple of sisters-in-law).

Well, now you know how strange my family actually is. Maybe this will explain some of my behaviors.

I'm throwing in a couple of non-related pictures of my family so you can see how much they've grown. See ya!

This one was taken this May. Our most current family picture.

Putting curlers in their hair Saturday night to make my job easier Sunday morning before church. My sis and I have some pictures like these of us with curlers in our hair.

Emily 5 years old

Abby 2 years old.

Halloween 2009

I know this is late, but come on, when have you ever known me to do anything in a timely manner?

Here are some pics from our Halloween this year. Aren't my girls adorable?
Emily was Tinkerbell (her favorite person right now)

Abby was Little Red Riding Hood

The girls after some Trick-or-Treating (we went around the block and then came back home because Emily was cold. But it made my job pretty easy because it was my turn to take them around and Mike's turn to pass out candy.)

The fam waiting for the hayride to the pumpkin patch to begin. We went to a pumpkin patch up near Ogden (I think) and if you brought some canned food, then you got your pumpkins for free. Pumpkin picking and carving has become a big part of the holiday for us. We get together with another family (the Stauffer's) and carve and eat and chat all day. We have a good time with them. Mike and Jeremy will usually carve several pumpkins. I think Jeremy did five or so this year. Mike took it easy this year and just did two. I took the year off and just decorated my pumkins with some cute ribbon and put them by our front door. I guess I should post some pictures of them. Emily even did one that she designed all herself.

Running My Butt Off

Well I've decided (after my friend Julie challenged me) to run the half marathon next April. Crazy? Yes. Impossible? Seems so some days.

I have officially been training for almost 2 weeks. It has been going well and surprisingly enough...I am absolutely loving it! I don't know if it is because it is some alone time (on the days I get to go without the girls or the stroller) or if I just really love running. But I do know that when I ran 1.2 miles on Saturday I couldn't stop smiling on my 5 minute cool down walk. This may sound dumb, but I was so stinkin' proud of myself for doing so. It feels so good to feel like I acclomplished something. And I finally feel like I am setting a good example for my girls. When I get back from running, Emily loves to do stretching with me and crunches and push ups. And everytime I pick her up from preschool she asks me if she can do her exercises. Her exercises are riding her bike to the house next door and back two times, running to the same house and back two times, and bouncing on one of those huge balls you sit on to that house and back once. It is so cute.

Anyway, I am very excited (and extremely scared) to run the half marathon in April, but I'm glad I'm doing it! Just a little update for ya.

Labor Day and Mike's Birthday

We spent Labor Day, which was also Mike's birthday, down in Fairview and Maple Canyon with Chad, Heather, and Gwen Nuesmeyer and Bosco. We spent the night before at Heather's grandparent's cabin. Then in the morning we had french toast and rode the four-wheeler while we waited for Gwen to wake up. Then we headed down to Maple Canyon for a day of rock climbing. I was very excited to climb because it was my first time in two years. I was very rusty, but had a great time. The girls got super duper dirty while they watched us climb and belay. They had the time of their lives playing in the dirt and not getting into trouble for it. Here are some pictures.

Mike trying to get over the crux of this climb.

Me climbing

Emily and Abby (who's shirt was white to begin with) sitting in a shallow cave right next to the climbs. They love being outdoors. They make their daddy proud.

Cornerstone Ceremony at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Me with my cute little girlies after the ceremony was over. What a neat experience to be able to sing in the Cornerstone Choir at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Once in a lifetime experience. There was such an amazing spirit there and I will remember it forever.




My hubby was able to get this great picture of President Monson near the cornertone. It also happened to be his birthday today. He was so great and even let some of the children come up and help seal the cornerstone. Ah! The Spirit was so amazing!

I don't know if you can spot me in this picture, but I'm almost exactly in the middle of the picture, on the second row, right behind the woman in tan with the short blonde hair.

Flaming Gorge

Here is my cute little fam hanging out in the hammock. It is a must to bring and everyone not-so-patiently awaits their turn. As you can see, Mike was even trying to study while camping. He took one of the sections of the CPA exam the Monday after camping. The girls love to be with their dad, and do so every chance they get.

Abby having a cookie for breakfast. By the way, it was Grandma who gave it to her, but I guess it's okay since we were camping. All the rules go out the window when camping. Maybe that's why we love camping so much.

Feeding the duckies and fishies at the nearby pond. A favorite pasttime of ours when we stay at Greens Lake. That's my cute little Emily in the navy blue hoodie.

I just love this picture. Abby on daddy's shoulders.

We also did a lot of boating, wakeboarding, skiing, and some of us knee boarded. We had a great time at the annual Hunt Family camping trip up at the Gorge.

Girls Trip Summer 2009

My friend Julie and I were in need of a break so we decided to plan a trip, just the two of us. We decided on Boulder, Colorado and decided we wanted to go river rafting and skydiving, but we did not tell anyone we were going skydiving. You see, Mike told Julie that there was no way that she could get me to go skydiving. And well, Julie loves a challenge. So we thought it would be fun to just go do it, and tell everyone after.

So we left for Boulder on Thursday, July 30th and after checking in to our hotel we went to dinner at Pasta Jay's on Pearl Street and then walked up and down Pearl Street (the main attraction for tourists in Boulder, which aren't many). We saw many tree huggers, and more people with dreds than without. What a great place to people watch.

The next day was river rafting with the friendly, funny people at Mountain Whitewater Descents. We had such a great time, and rode down the river with some fun people. Plus, our guide also happened to be the owner of the company. He was great! And even gave us our pictures of the whole trip for FREE! Mike's favorite word! Then we headed back to the hotel to get showered and such. Then we hit the local outlet mall and some other place (similar to Jordan Landing) for dinner and more shopping and a movie.

Saturday, the dreaded day of skydiving. I had been dreading this day for two months now and was excited and scared all rolled into one. I even checked the sky right after waking up to see what the weather was like. Sunny and clear. There was no way they would cancel it. So we headed to the little airport where Mile Hi Skydiving is located. Just as we pulled up, we saw people attached to parachutes floating towards the ground. I got a little more nervous. We filled out the five page paperwork and paid our money. No turning back now. Can't waste money when you're married to Mike Dawes. We got our jumpsuits on and then our harnesses. And waited for our names to be called. They were called much more quickly than I thought they would be. I met my jumpmaster/tandem partner and my videographer/photographer (yes we documented this moment, who knows, I may not have made it). We walked right over to the trailer they use to shuttle people back and forth from the plane. Then before we knew it, we were walking over to the plane. Onto the plane. And it started down the runway. We were only about 1,000 feet in the air when someone opened the door. I immediately asked why the door was opened already. One of the jumpmasters said that it gets hot in the plane and that is how they cool it off. I was still nervous because I happened to be sitting right next to it. Well, we reached the appropriate elevation (about 12,500 ft.) and the first girl with her jumpmaster walked over to the door, and a split second later had jumped out and were falling through the sky. This is the moment I really freaked! I yelled out, "I can't do this!" My jumpmaster said, "yes you can, stand up." So up I stood, following his commands, we walked over to the door and all of a sudden it was our turn to fall through the sky. It doesn't feel like you are falling, it feels like floating. You are up so high that the ground doesn't look like it is coming at you. We fell for about a minute, and then the rip cord was pulled releasing the parachute, which opened (thank you). Then it was the most amazing feeling. It is the most quiet you have ever heard (or not heard?) I was so busy looking at the mountains and Denver way off in the distance that I still didn't notice the ground coming up. A few minutes later I was told to lift up my legs because we were going to slide in on our butts. We did and it was a soft landing. My camera guy came running over to us and asked me some more questions for my video. I basically said, "it was awesome!" And "I would totally do it again!" Also, "it was amazing, amazing!!" This is the craziest thing I've ever done in my life and I would totally do it again! Every time I hear a small plane overhead I get all excited again.

So after skydiving, we went and got massages. We deserved it. Got some dinner at Pasta Jay's again (we loved it, what can I say?). And walked down Pearl Street some more.

The next day was packing up and checking out and driving home. We were so sad to leave Boulder and get back to reality, but we did miss our children and our husbands (who were so awesome and took care of the kids while we were gone without incident, thanks guys).

What an awesome trip and a great experience. We are already talking about what we want to do next year!

(for some reason my computer won't read my cd's with all the pics on them, so I will post them later, sorry about that)

Funny KoolAid

Okay, so I have to explain something about the title. When Emily started preschool last year we got a packet of stuff that included a recipe for making your own play dough. And the way you color the play dough is with a Koolaid packet. Emily and I have made play dough a couple of times and she loves to play with it.

The next part of the story is that a little while ago I took the girls with me to Hobby Lobby and while we were in the check out line I grabbed some Silly Putty for Emily to play with. I loved it when I was a kid, so I thought it would be fun for her to have some, too. Plus it was like a dollar. Anyway, the other day Emily asks me if I've seen her Funny Koolaid. It took me a moment to realize what she was asking for. Then it hit me that she was asking for her Silly Putty, but in her cute little mind she had come up with the term Funny Koolaid. We still call it that because I think it is so cute that I don't want to correct her.

I know this probably isn't as funny to you as it is to me, but hey, this is my blog afterall. I just love the things she says sometimes.

Emily's Dance Recital

Emily had her dance recital last week. Her class performed two numbers. One was tap and the other ballet. The theme was Around the World in 60 Minutes. Each class represented a different country. Emily's class was France for both numbers. They were so adorable and did so well.

Emily is the second from the left in both pictures.

Our cute little ballerina posing in costume at home.

I know it's been a while since I last posted, but in my defense, I received a new church calling a week after my last post, and it has kept me pretty busy.

We did the Race for the Cure for breast cancer in May. Here are a coule of pictures of us. We personally don't have any family affected by breast cancer, but Mike really wanted to do it because of us three girls in his life and what the future could hold. Anyway, it was really fun and he even paid for us to have lunch at California Pizza Kitchen afterward. What a neat experience.

Abby's First Birthday

This is Abby just staring at her cake. We had to re-light the candle three times because her cousin Madi (almost 3 years old) kept blowing the candle out. It was hilarious. Her cake is a colorful ladybug. It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

I thought that Abby would get down and dirty with her cake, but she ate like a lady. I was a little disappointed. When Emily turned one, she just poked at her cake a couple of times and was done. Abby has a much more aggressive personality, so I thought she would tear it apart, but I guess I have to have a boy for that to happen.

Emily's 4th Birthday

I know these are late because Emily's birthday was last month, but come on. When do I ever do anything on time?

Here she is blowing the candles out on her Tinkerbell cake. If you'll notice, the eyes are closed to make the chances of blowing out all four candles all the more great.

Emily wanted nothing more than to have a "bride dress" (or as everyone else calls them, wedding dresses) for her birthday. Her cousin Audree got one for her birthday in February, and Emily usually wants everything Audree has. She just adores her cousin. So, in this picture Emily and Abby are rocking out the music we are playing. They love to dance!

Emily is turning 4 tomorrow

This morning I went in to wake up Emily and reminded her that her birthday is tomorrow. She says what number am I? Which if you speak Emily, it means, how old am I? I tell her she is three, but will be four tomorrow. She then says, I don't know how to be four. I try my best not to laugh and tell her that she just has to be herself, and that she can do everything she did when she was three, but that she will be learning many more things as a four-year-old. The things she says sometimes.

A Result of Having an Accountant for a Father

Last week I was over at my brother's house hanging out with my mom who was watching my brother's kids. Everyone was in school but their littlest, Madi. I had just picked up Emily from school. Emily was playing in Madi's room and I told Madi to go get Emily for lunch. A couple seconds later they both come down the hall, and as soon as Emily sees me she says, "I was just doing my taxes on the computer." You see everynight Mike gets home from work, he sits down to do other peoples' taxes on our computer in the office. The rest of mine and Emily's conversation went like this:

Mom: "Oh, did you finish them?"

Emily: "Yes"

Mom: "Are you getting any money back?"

Emily: "Yes"

Mom: "How much?"

Emily: (holding up five fingers)

Mom: "Five dollars?"

Emily: "Yes" (and yes, she really does say yes instead of yeah or uh-huh, it's really cute)

Mom: "That's great. That means your withholdings were practically perfect for the year."

Emily: "Yep" (okay, so sometimes she doesn't say yes)

I mean what other three-year-old pretends to do taxes for fun? A three-year-old that idolizes her dad, that's who.

Emily's First Haircut

Here is a shot of her hair before the cut.

Here she is at Aunt Stephanee's salon in the middle of getting her hair cut.

Aunt Steph is doing some more cutting and layering. Steph said that Emily was one of her best clients because she sat so still the whole time.

These are the results. I think it is a very cute haircut, and Emily is very pleased. She said she wanted her hair cut like mommy's, and Aunt Steph did a great job. She looks so grown up now.

Playing in the Snow

These pictures were taken around the time that we got all that snow fall. Emily's favorite thing is to make a snow angel. You will notice that I am not in any of the pictures. These two are the snow lovers in our family, and I'm sure Abby will join them one day, but I prefer to be warm and dry.

Right after she finished she got tackled by Dad.
Emily and Mike making a snowman.

The finished product. A snowshoeing snowman with ski goggles and a carrot nose.

Halloween and Boo at the Zoo 2008

I know these pictures are old, but they have been stuck on my camera for awhile. I think we all know how that goes. Anyway, I still wanted to post them and show off my cute trick-or-treaters.

Here we are at a pumpkin patch picking out the perfect pumpkins for carving. Mike is really into pumpkin carving, but the rest of us humor him and carve pumpkins, too.

Here is our little lady bug, Abby.

This is our little Cinderella princess Emily sporting her spider ring. A must-have-accessory for any princess.

We had a great time at Boo at the Zoo. The weather was great and they scored lots of candy. We got a lot of people commenting on "the ladybug". We have to admit we think our girls are pretty stinkin' cute.