Wrapping it all up!

Well, vacation ended exciting as always. We had a new thing to do this year. After several years of disrepair, my Dad got JoAnne's pool up and running! Well, the only thing running was the kids as they ran up the diving board! But the pool was full, and felt super-good on hot days.

Dallin!Tacey & Andrea! McCade!

Even Koda came along! JoAnne has a lot of bushes in her backyard so he had a lot of things to explore and spiders to chase! My Dad was surprised at how well all the kids swim. I say after all the money we've spent in swimming lessons they better be FISH! We went swimming a lot. . . as you can see Andrea went with us several times. Shannon came once too, but she didn't get in the pool. That day Andrea and Shannon also went with us to Ultrazone - where we got our hineys TOTALLY kicked at Laser Tag. It was fun, but we were getting beaten so badly the employees felt bad for us and started playing on our team. Hooray for the losers! (That would be us. . . ) I don't have any pictures of Laser tag; blue light doesn't help much, sorry! We also went and played Miniature Golf with 'Big Grandpa'.

McCade lining up a shot. Dallin putting. . . the smiles and screams when he made it below par. Posing with their 'golf equipment'. They didn't realize there was someone else in the picture!

Tacey putting. . .

Shane was in Oklahoma at the time, so he didn't go golfing, but something tells me he had been there before. . .

None of us are going to be ANY competition for Tiger Woods anytime soon! We also took advantage of Andrea's current employment situation; meaning as she is a Sea World Employee, we scored free passes. We made the most of them! And because she is an employee, she was able to bring me home the show schedule and I planned the entire day ahead of time. We saw EVERY SINGLE SHOW!

Of course we saw Cirque De La Mer because Andrea was the smoke behind the magic of this show this year. It has cool acrobatic sea creatures. . . (maybe McCade some day!!!)

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Amazing acrobats. . . And Andrea! See her there in the hole?

They have her strapped in for safety. I guess they though she would dive off or something. . .

We also stayed for summer nights there. I have never done that before (shocker! I know!), it was a ton of fun! I always wanted to perform at Sea World and work as a Dolphin trainer, but someone told me I wasn't emotionally stable enough. I was like 14 or 15 at the time. I ask you, WHO IS EMOTIONALLY STABLE at 14? the answer NO ONE! Anyway, this is one dream that won't be realized in THIS lifetime, but I love every bit of Sea World anyway! Tide pools! (I let the kids wear their bathing suits to Sea World this year - it is standard wardrobe there. My parents never let me do that; I thought it was totally stupid. SOOOO, now that I am 'THE MOM' I let my kids wear their suits!)
Sea Turtle. He wouldn't tell me how old he was.
This is a happy California Cow, because happy cows come from California! As all cows are girls, I am not sure how they got away with cow being topless. . .

And petted the bat rays. I fuzzed out all the non-important people and just left the good looking ones!

One new show we had never seen before, but is also a place where Andrea is the smoke behind the magic is the 'Pets Rule' show. This is McCade with one of it's stars!
I got to show Shane something new this trip. We left Sea World to eat lunch as we had no desire to pay $4.00 for a simple Hot Dog. We went down the street to Rubio's Mexican Grill and took advantage of FISH TACO TUESDAY! YUMMMMMMM!!!!!

Dallin munching on his fish taco. . .

Shane enjoying his, (McCade pouting because 'we always eat stuff he doesn't like'. I am sorry, but you can only have pizza and hot dogs so often before you go insane. . .)

Tacey lookin' like the rock star she thinks she is!
Everyone, (except McCade who is the pickiest eater on the planet, if it looks weird to him he won't try it) thought they were great! In fact, I need one right now. . . Then it was back to Sea World for Summer Nights.

All-in-all a good day. We made more trips to the Zoo and all our other favorite places. We really could have used another week, but as we had already missed 2 weeks of football, and the kids started school in less than a week, not to mention that is when I have to go back to work, we thought we should probably came back to Idaho. Tacey was really sad to leave, a special note to EVERYONE who made her time and our time in San Diego so wonderful - THANK YOU!

Danielle

Doin' it OUR way!

Well, we have been up to our usual 'funness'! Here are pics with more exciting events!

Koda is also having a VERY good vacation. They have a Dog Park here, nice and fenced in, where he can be off his leash and run free. I have taken Koda to the AWESOME dog park almost every evening, but those that accompany me vary. This particular night, McCade went with us and a very scared little Dachshund puppy named Sam decided he was the best, safest place to be. This is McCade and Sam.
I was a little worried, people are supposed to clean up after their dogs, but going barefoot and sitting on the grass is still a risky situation! There was a little miniature Grey Hound puppy that also came to the park that night. McCade laughed when he came in and said "That's not a dog! That's a deer!" At least he knows what a deer looks like! (Well, sort of anyway. . .)
One day this week we went to Old Town San Diego with Andrea. I love it there. There are all sorts of fun little shops, a plaza, the old schoolhouse, and the VERY haunted Whaley house, among other things. Mostly, the kids go for the candy store! On this particular day we found a fun hat store! A couple of really cool guys!

Pink IS Tacey's 'signature color!'! Dallin looking VERY handsome! Tacey believes she IS a star! I'd say he looks like a Pimp, but that would be inappropriate!
Every trip requires some 'Beach Time'. We took care of that today!
Tacey and Shannon (who managed to get part of the day off work to hang with us! WOOT! WOOT!)

Dallin eating his lunch. The Beach makes you HUUUUNNNNNNNGGGGRRRRRRRYYYY!

Shannon looking like her beautiful self!
Tacey trying to even out the sunburn she got previously! (Don't lecture me about her getting skin cancer! We ALL know that's how I am going to die, and I am going to look good doing it!)
This was one of the few moments McCade was NOT swimming in neck deep water! (YIKES!) Dallin jumping the waves! (This can be dangerous if your shorts are not on tight enough!)Castle building is a VERY serious business!
Tacey looking like a California girl!



Dallin & McCade after several hours of good Ocean fun!
Another discovery this trip is a sweet, little yummy place called COOL CRAVINGS!
Cool Cravings is a Yogurt/Ice Cream Shop. You pick your bowl, fill it with as much of which ever flavor or FLAVORS of Yogurt you want, then put on all the toppings you want, then they WEIGH it and charge you by the ounce. YUMMY!
Tacey had Pineapple yogurt with Strawberries, Pineapples, and Kiwi. McCade had Pineapple and Strawberry yogurt with Fruit Loops and Gummy Bears!Dallin had Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Cookies & Cream Yogurts with M & M's, sprinkles, Rees' Pieces, Rees' Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfingers, Kit Kats and Chocolate sauce. (OH MY GOODNESS!)

For the record, mine was the smallest yogurt and I had Peanut Butter, Chocolate and Cake Batter yogurt with Rees' Peanut Butter Cups, Chocolate Sauce, and Peanut Butter Sauce. I am not sure what Shannon had, I think it was something with cake batter and chocolate.

More adventures to come!!!!!

Danielle

On Vacation. . . (FINALLY!!!)

On Vacation. . . FINALLY!
We started this year's vacation as we had many others; following Shane while he worked. He had a portable floor to install in San Francisco. Tacey has been in San Diego for the last 2 weeks, going to girls camp with my Mom's ward and then just hanging around to be spoiled by her grandparents, aunts & uncle. We had Dallin & McCade & Koda and not enough hours to get there with adequate sleep. So, off we went! When we arrived in San Francisco, the complex that had bought the portable floor let Dallin & McCade step in on a basketball camp. It was coached by a former NBA player, I honestly can't remember who! (SO DON"T ASK!!!) Later through the day we left Shane there and went to our room, rested and left late the next morning after Shane finished. We were near the airport so we took a nice walk by the water and watched the planes take off. It was nice. We ended up breaking several speed laws to end up in San Diego in time to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in IMAX 3D.

(In addition they installed twice as many speakers in the theater as they normally have. Basically it was a body-shaking experience!) We made it into San Diego with only 5 minutes to spare: literally! If you can see ANY movie in IMAX 3D, I highly recommend it!
The next day was Sunday. It was nice to have a day to just rest. Per Shane's request, my family did their famous BBQ. Monday we headed off to use our year San Diego Zoo/Wild Animal Park passes. We LOVE being Zoological Society Members. It is all for a good cause, we love our monthly ZooNooz Magazine and just have an all-around great time at the parks.

We are very familiar with both of the parks, so we hit our favorite stuff, check on the baby animals we have watched grow over the last few years: but this time we wanted to go see the Brand New Elephant Mesa. We have actually donated money to this exhibit!!! Not a lot of money, but enough to where we felt a little bit of ownership in the new homes for the animals!!!!!

The new Elephant Odyssey! This exhibit took a lot of time & care to show the prehistoric animals that are the ancestors to the animals we see today. They had life-size models! This is a life-size model of a pre-historic eagle. I'd hate to be on the business end of THOSE talons!!!

Tacey was known as the 'girl-who-stood-sentry-so-no-one-would-tangle-with-the-rattlesnake' girl at camp. This is a picture of the nasty little creature she was smart enough NOT to tangle with! As far as the baby animals we watch, we were happy to see the baby Meerkats doing so well! Aren't they cute? The next day we went to the Wild Animal Park. We headed straight for the tram that takes you on a 'Journey Through Africa'. Then we headed out to cool off. If you look back at last October, you see us cooling off at the same place! Across from the cool-off zone, you could be an archaeologist: Tacey & Dallin decided to do this BEFORE they cooled off. They found LOTS of Dinosaur bones!!! This kind of looks like a random picture, but the animals are SO funny sometimes. This monkey was just hanging out, (literally) staring back at the people staring at him. I just HAD to take a picture! We LOVE Meerkats. We headed to the Meerkat enclosure to watch them get fed. The Zookeeper usually comes through a door to feed them. About 60 seconds before the allotted time they started staring at the door. (They are obviously NOT dumb!) They were fed all sorts of Yummy goodness; including ice cubes for the heat (which was substantial!) After this, we hiked up to a short-term exhibit called Dino-Mountain. They had HUGE animatronic Dinosaurs. Dallin & McCade REALLY liked it; Tacey, not so much. However, we now know how they would look if they were about to be eaten by a Pterodactyl! All in all, it was a WONDERFUL DAY!
More vacation to come!

Danielle

Just random thoughts in a rare quiet moment. . .

Just Random Thoughts (in a rare quiet moment. . .)
When I last posted, we were running like crazy from one ballgame to another, and fitting in numerous rehearsals at the same time. (I do have to say a Midsummer Night's Dream was a BIG success, and I feel much better having FINALLY directed my first Shakespeare piece). Now things are a bit quieter, so my mind is walking off on it's random little tangents! I will start, however, with pictorial updates!
Actually, maybe not! (since we didn't take any 4th of July pictures). We basically sat around home, did 'chores', ate a ton of 4th of July-type food (BBQ hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, pasta salad and soda), then made the trek to Idaho Falls to see the fireworks. Tacey had just gotten back from Girl's Camp the day before, and I had throughly de-junked, rearranged and 'teenified' her room while she was gone. (This could have been either a really good thing, or a really bad thing. Either way it needed to eb done and she was happy in the end.) It is no longer a shrine to all things pre-teen (like High School Musical and Happy Bunny) but is a lot more grown up and a lot PINKER! Which is what she would refer to as her signature color. . .
We threw a Mary Kay party for her friends and their Mothers on Wednesday; I let Tacey be the Hostess so she could get a discount on all the stuff she wanted to buy. As much as ALL women like a facial, I think they liked the chocolate fountain better! Shane was out of town, but wandered back in on Friday. Then Sunday Tacey and I left for . .

DUM . . . DUM . . . DUM!!!!!!
MUSIC CAMP!!!

I had been hired by a woman named Leslie Crafton to teach at her summer Music Camp. She hired me merely by my resume' and a phone call. I didn't think it was such a big deal that we hadn't met face-to-face yet, but I guess she did! If I understand correctly, her sister had the same position in previous years, and I was one of SEVERAL applicants for the position. I heard that there were 6 or 7 others. She met with all of them, but in the end she hired me even thought we had never officially met. It was a little weird meeting an employer for the first time on the first day of work, I guess. I taught Choreography, Begining Girl's Musical Theatre, Begining Acting, Boy's Musical Theatre, Master Class and Advanced Girl's Musical Theatre. I had a BLAST!! It just confirmed what I already know; I need a job where I can teach this creativity all day every day. More importantly, I need to teach to people who really want to learn what I have to teach. This last provision would be my ONLY complaint with my current job. I have applied, and prayed, and prayed, and prayed for my 'dream job'. I have heard nothing, which isn't necessarily bad as they usually send 'Thanks, but no thanks' letters. So I must still be in there somewhere. Last I heard my application was in front of the Academic Committee. I wish I had SOME idea, and SOME control, but as with many other things in life I will have to be patient. Anyway. . . back on topic. . .

Tacey had a 5 hour block of classes that included Choreography, Choir, Master Class, Music Theory and Advanced Girl's Musical Theatre. Every day they had a recital of some sort, the first day being the Faculty Recital. All in all I figure there were 80 some-odd kids at the camp. Tacey had an amazing time and was sad to leave. I throughly enjoyed every minute of it. We are both returning next year and will bring McCade along!!!

You will notice I have NO pictures. That is because we had other important things happening back at home with Shane and the boys! (So I left the camera with him). Pack meeting was the Wednesday we were gone, and there were LOTS of good things handed out! Dallin got SEVERAL more of his Weblos pins.

I figured it out and I think if I plan properly he can earn EVERY SINGLE THING POSSIBLE as a Weblos. (*Sigh of relief*). I am hoping he has incredible Scoutmasters when he becomes an 11-yr old Scout. We have learned through experience if they don't have that Eagle by the time they are 14, it probably won't happen. On the lucky side, Shane's uncle is a professional scouter; running one of, if not THE largest Scout camp in the nation. He said we could just send the boys down when we needed to and he would see that they got everything they needed to get done! On to McCade!!! McCade was at the point he had earned Bear as well as a gold arrow and a silver arrow. He still has 7 months left in Bears, so we will be working on our arrows!

I am very pleased with both of them! They (Shane, Dallin & McCade) came out to Music Camp on Friday and watched the final performances. Even though I AM discussing my own work, I have to say the Musical Theatre Section ROCKED! The kids sang SO loud, danced well, and learned SO much. I could not have had a better result! ESPECIALLY considering they only had 4 days to learn and perfect!

That Saturday was Hailey's first birthday party.

I say birthday party, because her birthday isn't until August 12th. (Which would also be Ben & Laura's Anniversary! *nice and romantic, huh?*) Laura and Ben (and Hailey and Rufus) were moving to Des Moines for medical school; actually as I write this they should be arriving there. Laura wanted to have her party before they moved when they could actually muster up some party guests. It was an animal-themed party. (Mostly because Hailey can only say Mama, Dada and puppy! Oh! and she growls!) My neighbor and Jilana think she looks like McCade with Ben's eyes, she definately has Tacey's hairstyle from when she was 1!
We had Cake and Ice Cream,

The Boy cousins; Josh, Dallin & McCade The Girl Cousins: Tacey, Hailey and Emmalee

then opened presents, then played pin the tail on the Lion,
(which was even funnier as Laura forgot a blindfold and creativity had to be used) and then dressed in animal costumes for a family picture. Yes, the costumes were mine, what did you expect!!!
Lets see, from left to right bottom row we have Kristie as the chipmunk, Logan as the mosquito, Emmalee as the fly and McCade as the Sky God. (That would explain the meditative position). Then in the back row we have Jilana as the python, Dallin as the Spider, Tacey as the Tiger, Laura as the Monkey, Hailey as a Bumblebee, Casey as the Goose, Ben as the Bird, Grandpa as the baby spider, Brad as the Beehive holding the little baby bee, Josh as the Rabbit and Kathy as the Leopard. Oh, and a poor, deformed multi-tailed Lion!
Sunday Shane and I spent driving. We got up at the VERY early hour of 4:00am and drove Tacey to Salt Lake to the airport. I must be out of practice, because AGAIN I forgot to take pictures!!! It was her first time flying alone, and she was EXTREMELY nervous about changing planes in Phoenix, but she really wanted to go vacation with Grandma. So, even though there were tears, she went. And, I am happy to report, got on the right plane, got to San Diego and even started to get annoyed when we kept calling to make sure she was okay! (hahaha, sometimes she is SO 13)

Monday Jilana and I helped them (Laura & Ben) pack; and said our goodbyes. I will miss them. We spent time together, not tons, but I always knew Laura would be there to help me in a pinch; like when I went to New York and had no one to watch McCade and Koda. Idaho can get pretty lonely. . .

Jilana was hanging out for a few more days so Tuesday we went to lunch and then took the kids swimming. Again, out of practice, so there are no pictures. It was nice however, to get a bit of a sunburn. Wednesday we signed Dallin up for Tackle Football; he is simultaneously both excited and scared. His Dad is VERY excited. McCade isn't old enough yet for football, but he has found another sport that he loves - gymnastics. He has been taking lessons this summer, and he likes it so much I signed him up for fall. He works harder at this than anything else I have ever seen him do, other than performing. I hope to see him flipping all over soon; hope it isn't off the funiture or the roof.

Later Wednesday night Shane left for Scout Camp, and that brings us to now. . .

I will try and scan in the baseball and dance pictures soon. . . then I should have fully repented. We are leaving for vacation soon, so I hope I can get back in the habit of posting every week before then. *sigh*, I hope.

Danielle