What Was I Thinking?!

Okay, so our summers are usually crazy with the Miss Utah Pageant, summer swimming, scout and sports camps, etc. Also added to the list this year is the Miss Nevada Pageant (which my wonderful husband is producing again) and jobs for our teenagers.

Why would I deliberately want to add one more thing?

When my friend Cathy sent me an e-mail about St. George Musical Theater's upcoming summer production of "Annie Get Your Gun", I should have thrown it out with the junk mail.

However, I thought Jefferson would enjoy auditioning. He begged for me to come along, so I went ahead and threw a song together.

Three days and two callbacks later, I've just discovered that both of us were cast in the play! We are part of the ensemble, and I've also been assigned a minor speaking role.

For those of you who are interested, the play runs from July 20 -Aug. 15.

Fun for us, crazy for the family!!

Here are the head shots Jefferson and I used for auditions:
(FYI, this was taken the night before by Krissia - I am sitting in my shower!)

Water Play: Part Two

While soaking up the sun (and water) at the Town Square by the Tabernacle, I was able to get some pretty cute shots of Mathison. Given the fact that he is two and won't hold still or repeat a cute pose on demand, coupled with an extremely crowded park which made it nearly impossible to catch him alone, I feel like this "impromptu" photo shoot turned out pretty well!

Here are some of my favorites; I am preparing a couple of scrap pages and would love some comments about which photos you like the best.

Water Play: Part One

After several weeks of roller coaster weather, the temperature has settled quite nicely in the upper 80/low 90 degree range. Our family has responded by finding water to play in whenever we are outside; I'm sure this will continue as the weather grows hotter and hotter :)

These pictures were taken at the St. George Town Square last Saturday. You might notice an extra child in the photos; we were fortunate to have my nephew Cooper spend the day with us.


Mathison is ready for some water fun:


Krissia is very much in her favorite element:


The boys readying themselves for a floating ball race:


Mathison is not quite sure about braving the fountain:


Mat and Kris enjoying one of the many water features:


Got to love those farmer's tans:


Pure and simple joy:


Posing with a statue:

Campaign

I just realized that I haven't blogged in almost a week. I feel like my life has been moving forward in fast speed the past month or so!

One of the activities keeping our family busy is Krissia's decision to run for class officer. When she made the announcement, I inwardly groaned inside because I didn't know if I'd be up for it (let's be truthful,the parents usually do most of the work for school campaigns).

However, Krissia is a go-getter and can be quite organized when she feels motivated. She came up with several cute ideas as slogans and organized a poster-making party for her friends yesterday afternoon. DEl has also been eager to help; overall, this campaigning experience has been a pretty good one so far!

Krissia hangs up her posters tomorrow and hands in her speech. When all is said and done, the results should come in towards the end of the week. She is running for Activities Chair, a position I think she'd do well in.

Poster Party


Finished Product


GOOD LUCK, KRISSIA!!

Easter Celebrations

One benefit of living close to both of our families is that we often have two celebrations for each holiday. This Easter was no exception :)

The Beatty side of the family usually has a picnic at Grandpa's ranch, but the weather didn't permit it this year. However, Grandma had an indoor BBQ and plenty of activities planned to keep her grand kids busy:


Making "Rice Krispy" nests:


Mathison's birds never made it to the nest:


Hunting eggs in Grandma's yard:



Coloring Easter eggs:

After spending several fun-filled hours at the Beatty's, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Gubler's house for the second part of our festivities. We had another yummy BBQ, followed by an Easter egg/basket hunt:


Mathison was happy to find more candy:


Our teenagers posing with their plunder:


Jefferson proudly displaying the "money" egg he found:

DEl and Mathison taking a little break:


The "big boy" cousins showing off their haul:

We hope that the rest of you had a fabulous Easter!

New Look

Krissia has been sporting a new look for the past couple of days.

Can you tell what is different?

How about a closer peek:


Yep - our daughter is sporting a mouthful of braces. We figured there had to be some way we could keep the boys from coming around. Just kidding! I think she still looks gorgeous.

Krissia has been living on ice cream, pudding, and yogurt the past few days as her mouth has been extremely sore (I wish I could go on that diet), but that should soon pass. I'm sure it will all be worth it once her perfect smile is revealed in about 18 months :)

Addiction?

See this? It is my mid-morning friend.

And sometimes my late afternoon friend, too.

However, it might be I'm becoming a little more dependant on my friend than I realize.

Case in point:
Our family went out to eat recently. In the midst of asking the kids what they wanted to drink, imagine my surprise when my two-year-old piped up, "I need a Diet Coke."

Hmmm....perhaps he's heard this a little TOO often at home!

Lost and Found

Jefferson has a leather aviator jacket that he absolutely LOVES to wear. Unbelievably, we found it in mint condition at Deseret Industries last year for only five bucks.

About a month ago, I realized I hadn't seen Jefferson wear it for a while. When I asked him about it, he said he had lost it. We searched the house, our grandmas' houses, and Jefferson's school to no avail. The jacket was nowhere to be found.

A few days ago, I decided to make a trip to the D.I. and Jefferson just happened to be tagging along. As I was browsing through the toddler's section, I heard someone yell, "No way!" I turned around to see Jefferson triumphantly holding up....you guessed it - his aviator's jacket! We knew it was the same one because of a small triangular tear on its sleeve.

The jacket was marked for sale at five dollars (deja vu, anyone?). I wasn't too thrilled at having to buy it back, but Jefferson talked to the manager and he knocked a couple of dollars off the price.

It turned out that Jefferson had left it at the school, but apparently there is more than one lost and found. The school took the unclaimed items that had been sitting there and donated them to D.I.

Jefferson had to use his own money to buy it back; hopefully, this will help him be a little more careful about where he leaves it next time!

A Step in the Right Direction

Last Friday, we had a wonderful experience.

We were able to spend part of the evening with our foster daughter "Kenna".

What made it so special this time was that Kenna's mother was the one who contacted us. This was huge - she NEVER calls us. The handful of times that we've been able to see this sweet girl since moving to St. George have always been when we've stopped by their apartment to say hi. These visits are always very brief; although Kenna's mother allows them to happen because her daughter is so excited to see us each time, we are never invited inside or made to feel welcome very long.

We realize that Kenna is no longer ours and respect her mother's efforts to stay "clean" while providing the best life she can for her little girl. However, we've felt we should maintain some type of contact just in case things don't work out as planned. Unfortunately, some of the things Kenna's mother was doing during our time as a foster family are highly addictive and difficult to stay away from. She is also a single mother, with no family to fall back on. She has a tenuous, part-time job right now; the recession has made it difficult for her to find better employment. Their family's situation is a fragile one, and we want Kenna's mom to know that there is a place for her daughter to go if things begin to fall apart again.

It's been a fine line for us to walk - offering support and friendship while trying not to overstep our bounds. Imagine my surprise at the phone call! I guess Kenna had been looking at pictures of our family in the album we'd given her mother when Kenna was returned to her, and she really began to miss Krissia. The two of them developed a very close bond while Kenna was with us, and I know that Krissia misses her "sister" too. Anyway, Kenna pestered her mother to call us all week so she could talk to Krissia. She can be a very determined little girl! On Friday, her mother finally gave in and gave us a call. The girls talked for a couple of minutes, then I spoke with Kenna's mother again. I informed her that Dixie College was hosting an activity later that evening at a nearby park, complete with games and free food and invited her and Kenna to come. Unbelievably, she said yes! We have extended her numerous invitations for different things over the past couple of years with no luck.

We met her and Kenna at the park, where we had a wonderful time together. The only bad part was that Bronson and Jefferson were unable to come due to Region Drama and Scout Camp. But happily, Krissia and Kenna were able to spend a lot of time with each other.

Does this mean that a strong relationship has suddenly been forged between Kenna's mother and our family? Probably not. But it is definitely a step in the right direction :)

Doesn't this picture say it all?