Twin Day and Talent Show

Talent Show

John was out of town for the twin's school talent show this year so I pawned off the two little boys and had a date with Jake and Hannah. They both had art on display and Jake won first place for his grade and gets to have an art class with a local artist! He got to go on stage and get a certificate and shake the hand of the artist judge. He was so cute--when they announced his name he stood up and did victory arms! Hannah performed in a dance number with some of her best girlfriends, Neve and Maren, and they were the opening act! They were fabulous! You can go here to view the video. Fun night!

Jake in front of his art...(all the black bordered)

The winning piece...

I love this one...(check out the evil clouds and Jake's sweet armour! I love his indecision after he's already made the leap. "Oh wait, how can I fight?" So Jake! You might have to zoom in for the full effect!)...


(yes, he's still into tigers!...)

Hannah and her art...

"Rainy Day at the Farm"...


(thanks to Britt and her Arty Party class so my kids had stuff to display!)
Grandma and Grandpa came...(and even stayed through the whole thing, which was as you can imagine can be pretty boring after your grandkid performs!!)

Hannah and her fellow dancers...They did an adorable number choreographed by Britt (again, thanks) to Gloria Gaynor's 70's classic, "I Will Survive" complete with some fabulous 70's dance moves! Go here to Britt's blog for the video. (Hannah's on the left).


Here's Hannah and her friend Brooke who did Irish dancing with her sister... So cute!


Twin Day
This same day was Twin Day at school. Hannah and her friend Claire already had these matching shirts and wore them together. Jake told me that he and his friend Zachary were going to wear "tie dye shirts and camouflage shorts" Ummm, okay I guess. Poor guy! Zachary forgot so Jake claimed his awesome fashion statement all his own. (I forgot to take his picture!)
Here's Hannah and Claire...



I found some old accidental Twin shots from Friday Friend Day back in the fall. I never posted them so I thought this would be fitting on "Twin Day"...

Hannah and Maren

John and Mathew (love John's embarrassed face!)

Love coincidences!

Yosemite in April

It's about time I did this post...

Day One
First stop...Bridal Veil Falls.
We met up with a bunch of families for the day and a few die-hards for the whole weekend. Suttons, Tuttles, Slavens, Barlows...It was a great day!

The Slavens followed us up and the kids were excited to finally stretch their legs.


Owen and Chancellor have a special bond...

Meeting up with the Suttons and Tuttles...(every kid had to find the perfect walking stick)

Chancellor and Dallin following Owen's fancy dance moves. They are so cute with him.



(I love Dallin's face imitating Owen in the last shot. So cute!)
Owen was in love with the waterfalls. "Roarfall, roarfall" he repeated over and over and over again!

Playing on rocks...

Yosemite Falls and the valley...


Half Dome...

After Bridal Veil, we rode the bus to Yosemite Falls...

More Owen and Chancellor love...


Group shot of all the kids...


The moms...

The dads (minus John)...

Family shot...(no I'm not pregnant. bad angle. or something like that.) That's mist from the falls behind us.

Jake and his best friend...

The boys...

My brood...

Lots of rock climbing and log crossing and cave dwelling and snowball fighting. (yes, there was a little bit of snow.) The kids were in heaven!

Owen. too cute...(he stole Mason's hat)


Uncle Chris with two sad girls...

John and Hannah...Hannah didn't feel very well on this first day...

She had to be carried...

And coddled, and given back rubs...(yay for cute Dallin)

And lots of love to feel better.

Love Yosemite Falls...

Pensive Chris taking it all in...

After all that exploring, the Suttons and Tuttles had to call it quits and head home (they didn't have reservations for the night). The Barlows, Slavens and us had to find our different accommodations and then we met up for dinner. We went with the Slavens to check out their tent and this is what we found...

A bear came strolling right through their camp! Crazy!

Day Two
Our sweet accommodations...


Good morning bed head!!

After cleaning up at the lovely bathrooms near our cabin, (part of the adventure, right?) We went to check out the Barlows tent...

Some cousin love...



Then we met up with the Slavens at the lodge for breakfast with the whole gang...



Then off for more exploring...


On the bus to Happy Isles...


Me and my girl Kristi...(I'm standing on a rock or something!)

Chancellor and Jack-Jack...

Crossing logs...


Group shot...blurry, but the only one we got!

Lisa, Kristi, me...

My Owester...

My Aggs...

Cute Jack-Jack...

We decided to hike Vernal Falls after much debate. John--no, me--yes. I won. Yes, it was difficult with little ones (especially carrying Owen for most of the way and a cute, but feisty Katie who was "Sooo Tired!") but we made it to the bridge where we could get some family shots. Isn't that the most important thing? And we were proud we did it!
Our Family...

Slavens Family...

Barlow Family...

We filled up our waters and got well-rested (which means pulling out the DS amongst all this beauty! Kids!?)


And then headed back down...


It was a beautiful hike and a wonderful weekend!!
I Love Yosemite!!