Back in the Apartments Again

Five things I can do without while living in an apartment:
5. Computer on the floor in between the TV and the kitchen table
4. Only 3 cupboards in the kitchen resulting in 2 of Dan's metal shelving systems from work that now belong to us in our kitchen/TV/office/playroom
3. No lawn to mow or flowers to look at
2. Comments from children (this one is from Daradie) like, "We don't have to do chores. This isn't our real house." To her surprise dusting only 3 pieces of furniture and vacuuming three rooms is not hard at all.
1. Earwigs everywhere! It's cherry pickin' time and they're been forced to relocate. They are in cracker boxes, fruit bowl on the table, in my scriptures (would that make them bookworms instead?), in the dishrag, under towels on the rack--everywhere! Nothing is left out and everything is now protected in tupperware. Gross! Gross! Gross!

We sold our home and now hunkering down in an apartment. We start on our house in the next month.

Twelve Year Anniversary

Anniversaries: an event or opportunity to renew a couple's vows of love and admiration.
This is a picture of my parents on a beach in California. No, it's not their 12 year anniversary but more like their 40th. And I'm not talking about them. It's just the closest picture I could find of someone being kissy face in public.... (but that is still neat that my parents love each other and again, talking about my marriage not their's)

Twelve things I love about being married to Dan:
1. his morning face just makes me laugh (secretly in the inside and also out loud right now since I'm by myself) because I simply can not figure out how someone can possibly wake up every day looking like they need more sleep and then there's the morning voice that lasts until 10 a.m.
2. his patience
3. extreme honesty (he really is the best person to have come along while trying on jeans)
4. never complains to anyone about me
5. never divulges my secrets or "weak spots" either
6. his reverence and humility towards his priesthood power
7. his pride and complete giddiness over his children
8. admiration towards nature (after coming back from Idaho years ago I woke up and realized that we were pulled off of the interstate. I asked Dan what he was doing since he was just sitting in the back of the pick-up and he said that he was looking at all the stars. I remember thinking that he was crazy and let's just get a move on and laid my head back and fell asleep again. He's the type of guy that looks at nature while hiking and I'm there to just get to the top and go back down.)
9. dry humor--every now and then something funny will leak out and it's a good one
10. very rarely teases or pokes fun of others
11. he's a guy that likes to have fun, he's a good one to vacation with because he wants to do things
12. he's willing to try anything

Happy Anniversary, Dan!

Coyote Girl

*Check out the girl's eyelashes! I had to keep wiping her eyebrows off because the mascara would rub them. She was very blessed to have her father's mega-lashes.
Daradie had her debut as a coyote in her ballet recital. Her costume is sooo cute you could just eat her in it. Her tutu is lined with furn and the fur around her leotard. Just makes my heart swell with pride!

The dance was really quite cute. It was a pack of coyotes in old time Utah that were howling at the moon and then all fell asleep in a heap. The recital has a live orchestra--as in the lead music person wears a tuxedo and everything. The whole performance was well done. The clip of the dance was a snippet of the rehearsal.

The day of the recital, Daradie was found in the yard practicing her dance, her the bedroom practicing again and then once again outside before we left. She knows that dance perfectly. The night of the recital, it was just precious to see her dancing with her hair bobbing up and down and her wide smile. She was given pink carnations after the performance by her aunt and cousin. Dan and I now know that you have to give a ballerina flowers after a performance--it's tradition. Thanks Jen for making sure she wasn't without flowers that night. Lesson learned.

Presenting Daradie, the Daring Tightrope Walker

This girl simply amazes me. That's all there is to it. Things to watch during her tightrope performance: pointed toes, closed eyes for intensity (I guess), hands cupped perfectly when needed and she is so focused that everyone but her seems to know that I'm filming.

10 Reasons Why I LOVE Summer

10. Birds chirping, cows mooing and the occasional rooster early in the morning

9. Evenings around the fire pit talking, laughing, and eating s'mores

8. Ice cream, Popsicles and Sno Cones

7. Sprinklers under the trampoline

6. Peaceful evenings watching the kiddos play outside

5. Cut-off shorts, t-shirts and flip flops--the outfit for summer

4. Neighbor kids playing in and out of the yard

3. Summer breezes through open windows (refer to #10)

2. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches every day with a glass of chocolate milk=one happy camper

1. Watching my kids learn how to climb trees, ride bikes, and laugh so hard and so much that I can hear them a few doors down