Monday, July 16, 2012

Girls Camp by Serenity

I got to go to two different girls camps this summer.They were both really fun.  The first camp was Beehive camp for 12 and 13 year olds from a few stakes.  It was 5 days long.  We went hiking and zip-lining.  That camp had cabins and bunks so it was more comfy.  




















The other camp was only for 3 days.  It was a rough-out camp, though I use the term rough-out loosely because we had brought the kitchen sink.  It was just with my ward Young Women and I liked that.  We were in tents.  On the first night we all ended up in big pile in the corner of the tent.  We went hiking, canoeing, did archery, and shot rifles!  It was so much fun and I cannot wait for next year.







Monday, July 9, 2012

Thanksgiving Point by Cadence

Today at Thanksgiving Point I had a great time.  I played in the sand pit and saw a lot of cool stuff.  I did get a little camera happy, but the memoris were worth it!  I also saw a movie called flying monsters with Heidi.  Reni and Sarha saw mercat maner 3D.  We also saw our movie in 3D.  We made Reni and Sarha stand in front of a giant shark.  It really scared me.  Heidi said don't turn around while I was taking a pic, I turned around and got freaked out!  There were a lot of loud little kids there.  I am telling you this because I am bored, and I thought I would write.  I hope you like what I have writen!  Right now I am in the car going home.  There was a big fire near Thanksgiving Point!  We are listing to the news, about the fire.  We are also on the spiderweb rode.  We are now home.  I had a great time!!!



from,
Cadi


















A note from Mom

Cadence wrote this in her notebook in the car on the way home from Thanksgiving point on July 3 and so the fire she mentioned is the fire in Alpine, UT.  I have kept the spelling and punctuation as she did as a kind of snapshot of her and this part of her life.  The pictures are a very small sampling of what she took.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Time To Play Catch Up

Wow, life has gotten rather busy this school year and I have been a complete slacker in regards to this blog.  I wish I could excuse it with stories of working too hard and too much and our lives are so exciting that I just never found a moment and I posted things on FB anyway.  But that would be inaccurate and lame, since it isn't true.  Mostly I just forgot.  Like I said.  Lame.  So anyway, I will try to remember and share things that I took pictures, as there are many things that we have going, about which should be shared.

Halloween




Cadence was a Goth Chick for Halloween and Serenity was dressed as Alice(from Twilight).  I think Cadence was somewhat inspired by my Abbie(from NCIS) costume from last year.  But she wanted to take it even farther than I was able to do.  Serenity had just finished reading all four of the Twilight books and she had recently cut her hair short so it was fun to go with a cute Alice costume for her.


New Goals and Accomplishments


Be forewarned these next sections contain a lot of proud momma bragging.




Cadence started taking tumbling classes last autumn.  She is quite the natural at it.   It has been a joy to watch her progress in the classes and to see her get stronger and her confidence grow as her skills improved.  I must admit as well that it is fun to sit with the other parents and to have them comment in awe of Cadence and her control and grace.  I am one proud mama.



Here is the video I took with a camera, so I couldn't zoom and such, of Cadence's routine at her Tumbling Showcase on March 24, 2012.


The judges comments: Great job!  Very smooth routine!  Your bridges, handstands, cartwheels and rolls were awesome!  Great Splits! :-)

Cadence has great coaches, Miss Tiffany and  Brandon

Serenity has continued this school year with the clarinet and as of January she had added piano lessons.  Her school schedule won't allow many electives and so instead of chorus at school, she has joined the choir at church with me and grandpa as well.  I love that she has pursued her interest in music and going to her band performances has been a validation for me that moving back here was a positive thing in regards to those pursuits.  


March Zuma, Serenity's favorite of the songs they performed during their spring concert.  Serenity is the little blue spot I centered on the screen, but with my little camera that means you are only seeing half of the band.

These are the two songs that Serenity and her teacher (Jane Calder) performed at her very first piano recital.


Cadence had fun with an awesome project for her 3rd grade science fair a few months ago as well.  We found the idea on Pinterest, but Cadence really did well learning the procedure for the experiment so I didn't feel like she needed to display it as "My science project that my mom took over".  She could show the experiment and explain the meaning of the scientific process it produced.

Cadence is ready to show off her mad scientist skills with her Elephant Toothpaste experiment

We are all so proud

Serenity excelled academically as well this year, not that that is anything new.  She was selected as 7th grade female student of the month for March by her teachers and got to go to Cafe Rio for lunch with the principle along with the others selected for 8th and 9th grade.  No, being sent to the principle is not always a bad thing.  She also received an award for Excellence in Science Academic Achievement which is basically the same award she got last year in New York.  She was in High Honor Roll again this year and got to go to two fun parties as reward.

Teachers Pet

I'm a proud momma again.

Fun together


One of the other fun things that we did recently was to participate in the Festival of Colors.  We didn't even really know anything about it until seeing a video from and pictures of other friends and family that went to the festival in Spanish Fork, and it looked so incredibly fun.  When we found out that there would be another here in Salt Lake we knew that was something we definitely had to try.  We had a blast, although I learned something I hadn't really realized consciously about Serenity.  She is not a fan or crowds.  

Before

After

Fun


Pensive

Cheeky

Then there is Me


I suppose after all that proud mama stuff I should also give a little update on what I am doing as of late.  I have been not feeling well, suffering from mild but annoying health issues for the past few years.  Issues like sore joints, chronic headaches, hair loss, tummy troubles, depression, low energy, I gained about 30 lds. in the last 5 years.  Well, two months ago I started going to a chiropractors clinic specialising in problems with the endocrine system and they put me on an anti-inflammatory diet for three weeks and since then I have been adding different foods to that diet to try and find out if any foods are triggering my issues.  I am also trying to get my hormones and body systems back in balance with vitamins and supplements.  It has really made such a huge difference for me.  I feel so vastly improved in every one of the areas I was struggling with.  I am now feeling like me again and I feel like I LOOK like me again.  It is a pretty strict diet still after two months and I still am barely and slowly starting back on carbs and dairy and I am still off of sugar.  I am worth the investment and I can be a better mom since I actually feel good.  I am really excited about this.

The other thing that is new with me is that I am taking a College Algebra course online.  It is one step on my pursuit of a bachelors degree.  It is not my strongest subject but I have to take it, so my cousin Sunny is tutoring me and I am so grateful to her for helping me feel like I will get through this even if it is slower than I want it to be.

So, that should do it for the playing catch up.  I will really try to do better.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Disney World Trip

Unpacking after a move is way better than the packing part.  But I thought I would put it off a few more minutes and post some pictures from the last month.

At the All Star Music Resort

Squashing Serenity

When did she get so grown up?

Cadence did handstands all over the place.

At the Piano shaped pool.

The Guitar shaped pool.

Two snugly and wiped out girls.

Breakfast on our last morning.

My Serenity

Sing it with me.  C is for Cadence.  That's good enough for me.

























Expedition Everest

What?! Going to Everest w/o Mom?! They rode it twice without me and we rode it six times together.
Dinosaur.  Can you tell we are having fun?

Kilimanjaro Safari.  Serenity was in heaven.























Rides, Baby!
Cadence loved it too, but it would have been better with Uncle Seth as our guide.

Tower of Terror.  So fun.  Although, Serenity didn't open her eyes once.

One of our trips down Splash Mountain.

Space Mountain!
We of course went on a lot more rides, but these are the ones we caught pictures of.



Other pics
Waiting for the bus.

Playing their DSIs in line for Soaring.

France was so much fun at Epcot World Showcase.

So hot!

Trying to cool down.

MMM, Lemon Gelato!  This gelato may have saved our lives.

Guess what country showcase we were in.  She makes a very cute viking.
¡Hola!

Found me a Norseman.
So much fun together!    

Age 12 Disney World


























Check Out the Growth
Age 7 Disneyland
Age 8 Disney World



Age 3 Disneyland