Maria's Dance Recital

Maria had a dance recital on the 14th of December. She has been taking dance for about 4 months now and I'm quite impressed at how much she has improved. Her class did two numbers and I thought that Maria did great. She looked great also. Her teacher had sent home a note explaining what to wear and on it she said that the girls could wear a little makeup so that they wouldn't look washed out while dancing. Maria loves makeup and was so excited. I put it on her and she thinks that she should get to wear it everyday. It's going to be a long ten years for her to wait for that one. She looked very beautiful.

Maria looking pretty.

Maria doing ballet to "I'll be a Little Angel".

Maria doing tap to "I Want Candy".

Ring Pops

Maria had gotten a ring pop at school one day and brought it home to eat. She opened it up and Carly immediately saw it, smelled it, and wanted some. Maria being the good big sister that she is gave some to her. Carly was hooked. Her face showed amazement at the fact that someone had combined some of her favorite things (suckers and binkis) and then given it to her. Maria didn't get much of her ring pop, but didn't care because she and I were laughing so hard at Carly. Carly sat on the rug for about 10 minutes while we watched and she ate her ring pop. In the end she was not at all happy that it was gone and headed for Maria's backpack looking for more. She didn't find any but I'm thinking she might get one in her stocking. I will put a bib on her before giving her the next one.

Carly and her ring pop. Anytime Maria or I would get close she would move over out of our reach and put her hands up as if she was protecting it from us.

The aftermath.

Our Christmas Tree

We went to Lyman for Thanksgiving and on Saturday we went up in the Uintas and cut down a Christmas tree. We walked for a few hundred feet and I saw a nice one from the angle that I could see. I mentioned to CJ that it looked nice and that was all he needed to hear. He had it cut before I could say otherwise. We got it home and decorated it and it is a very nice tree. We could have hiked all day and not found a better one. I guess CJ knew that and saved us all the trouble. It was a nice day and I am very pleased with our tree.

CJ and Maria playing in the snow waiting for Michael to find a tree.

Our Christmas Tree.

Decorating our tree.

First Snow Fall

We had our first of many snow storms a few weeks ago. Maria thought that it was the greatest thing in the world, and couldn't wait for the next one. She didn't have to wait long because the next one came a few days later, and then another one a few days after that. The novelty of it all wore off very quickly. She has enjoyed playing in it though and CJ was nice and went out with her to build a snowman.

Adam's Canyon

While CJ was hunting my parents came to visit. My mom came on Wednesday night and then my dad came on Friday. We had a great time. We went to the Children's Museum, Gardner Village for the witch display, to a pumpkin patch, and on a hike to Adam's Canyon. The hike was really nice. The trailhead is about five minutes from our house. The weather was perfect and the colors were beautiful. Maria did great and was our fearless leader, and Carly was in heaven being carried around outside all day. It was a pretty good hike and we got about five minutes from the end and Carly and I stopped. There was a hard to get up rocky place and I could have gotten up it with Carly, but coming down would have been a little scary. Maria and my dad kept going and said that there was a big waterfall at the end. They said it was beautiful, but that it would have been pretty scary with me carrying Carly. We made it down and it was just a really nice day. It was a nice long weekend and I hope that my parents enjoyed it as much as we did

Maria taking a break on the hike to pose for a photo.

Maria in front of the waterfall that Carly, my mom, and I didn't get to see.

Along the trail with all of the beautiful colors.

Happy Halloween!

I have never really gotten into Halloween, but with kids you are kind of forced into it. This year Maria decided she wanted to be a witch and Carly a bat. They both looked great in their costumes and have gotten to wear them a number of times. They had a day at CJ's work where the kids could walk around the clinic and all the different departments handed out candy. It was nice because it was inside and they got a ton of candy. I let Carly have a sucker and she was in heaven. She had a death grip on it and would have eaten the stick if I would have let her. We then had a ward trunk-or-treat which was outside and a little chilly, but they still had a great time. Maria also had a Halloween program at school and a party. I don't know if we will be going trick-or-treating on Saturday, because I think that they have enough candy already, but I'm guessing Maria will talk either me or CJ into going.

Bat Carly enjoying her first sucker. She's in love.

Maria being a cute witch.

Mitchy is Family

We have a new member of the family. Her name is Mitchy (Maria named her), and she is an 11 year old mare that we bought from a family in Tremonton, Utah. CJ is the only one that has rode her, and he thinks she's going to be a pretty good horse. The price was right so I was happy. She is living in Lyman, so I hope that she gets rode enough to keep her in good health. CJ took her hunting and said that she did really well and loves to walk. She only ran him into a tree once, so I guess that's good. Maria loves Mitchy and talks about her all the time. I do wish that we could have her closer so that the horse could get use to Maria. Maria insisted that she needed a cowgirl hat and boots for when she rode Mitchy, and so guess who got a new cowgirl hat (no boots as of yet) Maria. We are happy to have Mitchy.

CJ at camp while hunting.

Mitchy trying to figure out hobbles. CJ said it was very entertaining for awhile and then she just decided not to move at all.

Maria and Sylvie on Flicka. CJ is by Mitchy but you can't really see her. We went to spend a day in Lonetree and they went for a ride around the ranch.