Street Team Yanni Adventures

Before I attempt to catch up with our family happenings since April, I thought I'd post about our "Yanni Street Team" adventures.  We all know this isn't my first post about Yanni and it probably isn't the last, but I asked the Yanni community leaders to send me some posters to help advertise the concert and so the kids & I have posted some around town.  Here's a few pics...

 At the Historic Rio Grands Theater!!  My kids are dying to get into the Magicians Camp next week, but probably not this year. :(

 A new stylish Boutique in Downtown Main street.

 Here we are at the community theater and we were lucky to get a sneak peak at the set of their new play "Man of La Mancha."  I can't wait to take my older kids to see it. 

Then of course, our beloved Coas bookstore.  The place you go to see what's happening around town.  I LOVE the smell of this place, can't beat the smell of old books. :)

This Saturday, July 14th Cameron, my mom & I are all going to the Yanni concert at Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque.  But first I'm having a pre-show gathering at a restaurant that I thought would be PERFECT... Yanni's Mediterranean Grill! (4:30-6:30pm if you're in the area.) Isn't that funny?  I really hope we get a surprise visit from either Yanni himself or someone in the band and that way we have our own "Evening with Yanni."  :)  Fingers crossed.

Cameron is super excited.  I told him the story about when I went to my first Yanni concert in Portland, OR when I was 7 months pregnant with him.  All throughout the concert he was moving in my tummy and so I'm convinced it was because he liked the music.  Turns out that Yanni is one of his favorite artists to listen too.  His favorite song is the storm and we all love to dance to it in the living room.

Put this song onto your ipod and you will have the best jog ever.  The song starts out slow (you start your slow jog), then when it changes to the fast tempo your adrenaline will start to flow and you will want to sprint.  A great way to burn a few thousand calories. haha

So, I thought it would only be right if I take him along for my 4th concert and let him finally experience what a room full of the BEST musicians in the world are like.  I know he has an ear for music.  I'm hoping that after this concert he can feel a connection to a certain instrument and we can start lessons.  I can't wait to see his reaction when the show starts.  I'll fill you in after this Saturday!

Here's another one just because.....  

Easter 2012

 We had just come off of the spiritual experience of Cameron's Baptism and the treated the next day to Easter Sunday.  One of my favorite times of year.  The flowers are blooming, the weather is warmer and we're spending more time outside.  If we're in town we typically go over the Greg and Karen's (grandparents) house with the cousins for dinner and an Easter Egg hunt.  This year, Bryson & Cameron did the honor of hiding the Easter eggs for the smaller cousins and loved every minute of it.

 Do you like our Dinosaur look-a-like eggs?  The kids got a kick out of this.

Bryson turns the big 10!

What can I say about Bryce....he's one interesting kid.  We've seen a change in Bryce this year.  He's starting to become competitive, but not so much with others only with himself.  It all started with skateboarding.  Pushing himself over and over to learn a new trick regardless of how many times he would bruise and re-bruise the same area. 

Bryce still loves skateboarding, but has a new love of Basketball (both he and Cameron). My boys seem to be fairly easy to get out of bed in the morning, but now their routine is, get dressed (skip the hair combing) and out the door to fit in a little basketball before school.  He always goes to school sweaty because of that and so we've finally purchased him some deodorant. Am I clueless?  I don't know when the correct age to buy deodorant is. :) There's one thing I've concluded about boys...they're stinky! ha ha   Here's a quick flashback to the years leading up to age 10.  (I've burned all of his baby years onto disk so here's age 5 and up).

We've also noticed that instead of just doodling silly pictures (which he still does, just not as often) he instead writes down math problems and quizes himself until he understands it. They're tested often at school so he's always trying to beat his last state score which I love! 

The boys finally have a few neighborhood friends to play with now.  Two boys moved in from Tucson, AZ and everyday around 4pm we get a knock at the door asking to play some B-ball with the boys.  There have been a few instances that I've noticed Bryson standing for what he believes in and it makes me proud to know that he doesn't care what other people think about him.  It seems to be working in his favor so far. ;)  It's crazy to think that in just another 10 yrs he'll be serving his mission.  It's now or never to enjoy the time we have with our kids.

For Bryce's Birthday we just celebrated with the family and then I took the siblings and one of Bryce's close friends to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D.  One thing about Bryce that I admire is that he doesn't take no for an answer.  He'll keep coming back to you day after day with facts and reasons why we should get this or do that.  Pretty frustrating at times, but it seems to work...how else do you think he got a skate board ramp built in his back yard?  Maybe I'll talk making Bryce do all of my "asking" for me. :)  Love you Bryce!!

Cameron's Baptism

Isn't is funny how as a parent you're constantly reminded how fast time flies?  We shouldn't be surprised, but it's kind of like a slap in the face every time.  I remember just yesterday when it was Bryson getting baptized and now Cameron has taken that giant step.

Because of scheduling conflicts we had to push the Baptism back a month which worked out great because we were able to hold the Baptism on Easter weekend.  To me there wasn't a more perfect time.  The symbolism was so powerful.  Leading up to this day we had little talks to Cameron about baptism and what an important decision it is and how we wanted it to be his choice.  He always interrupted us and basically said, "I'm ready to do this guys!" and as we were getting the word out Cameron made it a point to invite all of his Soccer team and other kids from school and the skate park.  Well, he's already working on becoming a Missionary because a friend from the skate park came with his Grandfather.  We were so proud of him to have the courage to do that.  The day of Cameron's baptism we had some of my family (two of my sisters and my parents) come into town and I was busy making cupcakes and finger foods; making sure everything was ready.

To Cameron's surprise Ben & Connie put together a little video of best wishes and a slideshow of pictures that we were able to show while eating refreshments.  It was sooo thoughtful and Cameron wanted to watch it over and over.

On the way home I noticed Cameron looking out the window and asked him how he was feeling.  His reply was. "Mom.....I feel sooo good right now.  Like....a brand new person!"  It's been a few months since his baptism and I must say that I've noticed a change in Cameron.  In the past when he's in the wrong it's always been a struggle to make him say he's sorry, but now I've noticed that he tends to think a little bit more before he acts, says he's sorry a lot more and just in general he tries to be the peace maker.  He still has a long way to go, but it's nice that he acknowledges the Spirit trying to teach him how to choose the right.

Cameron turns the magical number of 8!

 I just wanted to take a look back at Cameron when he was younger.  He's been such a lively little tike for our family and we sure love and adore him.  Among one of his many qualities I'd like to mention one quality that I love and that's showing kindness towards other children.  Whether it's with his family or friends I've noticed that Cameron seeks those who are in need of a friend and becomes just that.  I hope he continues to carry that talent throughout his life and truly live that Christlike attribute.  Love you Cameron!

Cameron LOVES bowling which is funny because we hardly ever go bowling!  Maybe that needs to change. :)  We had his party with some of his close friends at the bowling alley and here are a few pics of that fun day.

"You'll shoot your eye out!"....hopefully not. :)

Weekend Getaway to the Slopes

Every Feb. we take a little va-cay to Ruidoso for some fun and relaxation.  It's a treat to be around snow since we rarely see any.  In previous years we would have to go to the slopes at different times because the girls were too small to ski or snowboard,  but this year we ALL got to go at the same time because Bella and Claire were old enough to enter the kids zone. 

The first day the girls took a group lesson, but the next day Claire was ready to go out on her own and Bella was the only kid in the kids zone.  She benefited because she ended up having her own personal ski instructor for 2 hours!  She's only 3 and she's getting one on one lessons!  I couldn't get over how well she did.  I would see her while on the lift and she looks sooooo tiny skiing down the bunny slope in her little red pom pom beanie and blue jump ski bib.  She's so fearless.  It's exciting to get a glimpse of future vacations and what active things we can finally do together.

Claire, as you'll see from the video has taken to skiing as well.  She was having so much fun and didn't want the fun to end.  Watch Claire fly down the hill.

The boys stayed to their snowboards and Jesse dragged me into snowboarding by buying me a snowboard so of course I felt like I should give it another shot.  The first day I pretty much snow plowed my way down some blue trails with an occasional correct position, but on the second day Jesse MADE me try to snowboard right and that's when things really started to hurt. Check out Bryce's Snowboarding video clip.
Here's Cameron making it look easy.

My knees and bum haven't hurt that much in who knows how long.  The snow was super icy on the bunny slope so falling was no walk in the park.  Finally on my last run down I did it right.  I'm still not sure if snowboarding is right for me, but I'm not willing to give up just yet.  Just having to buckle and unbuckle my boots when getting on and off the lift is tiring.  I did feel hip though. :)  Too bad we don't have Jesse showing off his awesomeness on the snowboard. :(  Watch me give it a try.

Another activity we did was we visited the Cowboy museum which surprisingly was pretty impressive.  The kids enjoyed their cowboy camp station.  Here they are acting like kids, I mean cowboys. :)

Jesse Sets A Personal Bench Press Record

Jesse has been hitting the Gym pretty hard and it's been exiting to watch.  He and Abe have been pretty dedicated to going early in the morning to workout.  I know it isn't easy for him but can't help but think that he's getting used to going that early.  So, here's a video of Jesse bench pressing 405 lbs!!  Great job honey, I'm so proud of you!

Easy Bake Treats

So Jesse likes to find good deals and when he found a good deal for the easy bake oven toy (buy one get one free), he accidentally purchased 4! So while Bryce was at Scouts the rest of the kids and I made some tasty (as tasty as easy bake can get anyway) treats. It was such a mess, but the kids of course loved it all. I told Jesse he needs to stop "finding" such good deals. :)

Beth's First Blue Baby Shower

So in January us Sowards Sisters and Karen threw Beth a baby shower to celebrate her FIRST Boy. She wanted everything blue so I decided that we should go with the whole Blue spectrum as our theme.

I thought this would bring some humor into the diaper changing.

Celebrating with dear friends. It's always nice to have a girls night. Beth got the cutest little baby boy outfits! I can't wait to see him sporting those cute clothes.