Falls Valley Talent Night

Bailey's school had a talent night for the students. Bailey played the guitar and sang 'Start of Something New' from High School Musical. She did AWESOME! She was so nervous, because she has never sang in front of people before. Once she got started, she played and sang like a pro. We were so proud of her! She's a brave little girl. She loves playing the guitar, and I'm sure she'll have many fun performances in the future.

We filmed the actual talent show, but the sound isn't very good. We had her do it again at home so we could get better sound to put it on our blog. You still might need to turn your computer up a little to hear it.

Island Park

Me and Mark spent the weekend with friends at the Harris' cabin in Island Park. We had SO much fun! We left on Friday afternoon, and ate dinner at the Relay Station on the way up. When we got to the cabin, we all got situated and then went on an AWESOME snowmobile ride at night. It was our first snowmobile adventure, and we loved it. It was cold (5 degrees), and foggy, so it made the woods look eerie...it was so cool! The next morning, the girls sat around talking, while the husbands cooked us a wonderful breakfast. They did EVERYTHING (including cleaning up)...we didn't have to lift a finger! We have the greatest husbands EVER!!! We went on another ride on Saturday to Big Springs. The weather was perfect, and the snow made everything look so beautiful. We have the greatest friends. Thanks Michelle and Jason for a great weekend!

The Friend

When we were still in our old ward, I was in the Primary Presidency for 3 months. We did a primary activity called Journey to the Promised Land. Sharon Myers took a picture of all the kids, and sent it into The Friend Magazine. The picture is finally in there! It's in the March 2009 issue on page 32. Our picture took up half a page! The kids were excited to see themselves and their friends in a magazine.

Sawyer is on the back row, right side. Bailey is sitting in the second row, middle.

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was great. The kids woke up to Valentine treats on the counter. Bailey got a cookbook, and Sawyer got a Brian Regan CD. Bailey has been SO into cooking. She cooks dinner for the family once a week, and loves it. She was so thrilled with her own cookbook. She went to work right away making us banana pancakes from scratch. I've never even made pancakes from scratch. She did an AWESOME job...they were yummy! I loved that Valentine's day was on a Saturday this year, because I got to spend the whole day with my hubby. We went shopping to buy each other our Valentines. I got him sunglasses, and he got me scrapbook paper (one sheet of every color card stock...whooo hooo)! We didn't dare go out, because there were 3 sweetheart dances going on, so we ordered takeout for dinner. It was great to spend the day with the 3 people I love the most in the world!

Harry Potter Mania!

We love Harry Potter! Bailey was the only one in our family who hadn't read the books. She decided about a month into the school year that she would start reading the first one. It's only been 4 months, and she finished the whole series last night! She was SO addicted...even worse than the rest of us. She would hide out in her room for hours on the weekends and not stop reading until her eyes hurt. She felt every emotion of the books...she would laugh, cheer, get scared, get mad, or cry, depending on what was happening. She said she is happy to be finished, but sad that it's over at the same time. That's exactly how I felt when I finished them. I'm so glad that she loves to read. Way to go Bailey...we are very proud of you!

Cell Phones and Teenagers...YIKES!

We finally caved and Sawyer got a cell phone for Christmas. After all (according to him) he was the only kid in middle school who didn't have one. We, as parents, had cramped his social style for long enough. When he turned on his phone on Christmas morning, there was a text from us telling him that he could pick 3 ring tones, and we would buy them for him. He started previewing the ring tones, and this became his latest obsession. He followed us around for the next month, sticking the phone up by our ears, so we could hear the sample ring tones that he thought were cool or funny. It drove us nuts! What drove us even more nuts was when we got his first bill, and there was $80 in extra charges on there from all the ring tones he had previewed! Mark about died...and so did Sawyer :)! In Sawyer's defense, he wasn't trying to be sneaky about it. The lady at the Verizon store told us it was a free service. Other than it being extremely annoying, we didn't care how many he listened to. It ended up not being free...verizon did agree to take 15% of the charges off, since the lady had told us the wrong information. Sawyer doesn't listen to anymore ring tones, so now his phone is not nearly as exciting. THIS is just one of the reasons why teenagers and cell phones just don't mix!