Releve Dance Compeition

On May 5th was the girls' first dance competition up in Saratoga Springs. They did the same dance that they did at their winter recital with a few changes. I wish I could tell you what awards they got, but I have no idea how it all works! They did fantastic though and their studio, Jazz n' Place, came away with a ton of awards for best studio, choreography, director and all kinds of things! We really love this studio and their teachers! They are some of the best!

Here is Kaylee's group! They did a number to Runaway Baby!

And Emily's group. They danced to My Boyfriend's Back!





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Field Trips

As the end of the school year approached so came a couple more field trips. At the end of April Emily's class went down to Provo to hit a couple of the museums. At the beginning of May Kaylee's class went up to Camp Floyd to participate in some of the pioneer activities up there. I had told the kids this year that I would try to do everything. I tried to volunteer a lot and hit every field trip knowing that with a new baby coming right at the beginning of the next school year I wouldn't be doing anything. I had a ton of fun being with the kids and their friends. I was very thankful for dear friends that completely understood and watched Thomas and Kierra so I could go. I'll be glad to just be at home this fall with the 3 little ones, but I'll miss seeing the older girls interact with their classes.

I had a lot of fun being in charge of this little group of 1st graders. They were making me laugh all day!



DON'T feed the animals!





I LOVE your giggle little 1st grader! Thanks for letting mommy tag along! Love you!



I just mostly hung back and watched as Kaylee and the other 4th graders participated in their activities.



School time? I thought this was a field trip!





Kaylee girl! I love that you still hold my hand everywhere we go! I love you! Thanks for a fun time!

Women's Conference

Women's Conference was the last weekend in April and every time I go it just gets better and better. We had a smaller group this year, but we still managed to get all of the book club ladies together for dinner on Friday night!

Kelly, Ilene and I had a great time together! This year I didn't get to go to the concert with Heather....my concert partner! But instead we did do the service rooms! We made little dolls and then Thursday night! Wow! My blurry picture kinda shows the assembly lines, people, backpacks! Work!! It was incredible! We only participated in 2 of the MANY humanitarian projects being made, crocheted, put together. We were part of 800 of these little beanie bunnies that were made and almost 35,000 school backpacks that were put together with supplies for kids that aren't fortunate enough to even have a pencil in their homes. It was a lot of fun and felt soooo good to do something for someone else!!



I am always so thankful to be able to go to these conferences and just be spiritually fed and re-motivated to be better! I remember coming home from my very first one years ago and being on such a high and then coming back home to life and being completely overwhelmed and feeling like such a failure the first time I got mad at my kids or frustrated with life. I feel like each year I get a better perspective on things and realize more and more to just work on small and simple things and that these little moments of women's conference, stake conference, general conference, girls' camp, even a Sacrament Meeting, are just filling my little reservoir. I don't need to feel like I have to become some perfect wife, mother or friend! I can just work hard at being the best I can be.

It's been fun to pull out my little notebook with some of my favorite quotes from the conference! I haven't looked back through these in a while. I am thankful that my very first quote and many in between were actually from in the car ride or at the restaurant. I am blessed with great friends that lift me up all of the time! Thanks girls for such a fun conference!



"The more specific your prayers are, the more specific are the blessings!" -- Such a great quote Kelly....I know I needed that one!

"We may be small and scattered but our influence for good, when magnified with God's power can change lives." --Ruth Todd

"So many life lessons and relationships will benefit from hard work... Work is Therapeutic, unifying, fulfilling and eternally important."

"Draw near unto me and I WILL draw near unto you!" --Doctrine and Covenants 88:63

"We go to the temple to make covenants. We go home to keep them." --Sister Free

"What is the symbol of our religion? It isn't a sign or artwork. It needs to be our lives--Christlike lives--this must be the symbol." --Sister Rogers

"I'd rather laugh than cry...'cause crying gives me headaches!" --Sister Hinckley

"Conversion is a process. It requires DAILY nourishment and renewal....In the strength of the Lord I cannot give up!! We know the outcome...the Savior will triumph over all! He will not forsake us if we do not forsake him!" --Elder Neil L. Anderson

The Secret Garden

Ooops...doing things a little bit out of order. Oh well. On April 13th we made a quick trip to Rock Springs to see Uncle Dale perform as Archibald Craven in the Secret Garden. Dale is always amazing and has the best fan club around! We took such a fun video of us going around on the revolving stage, but unfortunately my camera card got messed up and it didn't save. I was happy to have recovered pictures though! Anyway...just imagine a beautiful revolving garden and all of us squealing with joy as the crew spins us around! :) Good times!

Anniversary Weekend

Ughhh.....I wish I could just jump ahead in my pictures to the wedding weekend, but I'm slowly catching up on this blog and first thing is first; Jackson needs to go to the temple! :)



On April 21st, which also happened to be our 12th anniversary, my brother Jackson went through the Denver temple for the first time. We were so excited that it was going to be on this weekend, so we really made a weekend out of it! We had thought of just having Matt and I fly there and back....we were getting a new bishopric that Sunday and we REALLY wanted to be back for that meeting, but instead, we drove to Cheyenne on a Friday, dropped the kids off with cousins, and went on into Colorado. We stopped at a dinner theater near Ft. Collins and saw "Oklahoma" and coincidentally were surprised to have an old college friend that I had performed with in Centennial Singers be our waiter! The show was great...so was dinner...and it was just fun to be together!

The next morning we woke up, went to breakfast, saw a movie, went out to lunch and then met everyone at the temple. I LOVE to watch the brides come out of the temple! It was especially fun to be there that day, our 12th anniversary, pregnant with my 6th kid, and thinking that it really wasn't that long ago that it was just Matt and I! We thought it would've been fun to have had our kiddos with us and march up to those newlyweds and say hey...this could be you in 12 years! :) We decided not to freak them out on their wedding day! Instead we took our own pictures...and tried to pretend that we were young enough to be newlyweds again!





Being in the temple with Jackson and Mindy was wonderful! Jackson was so prepared and so ready, and there was such a special spirit with them! Afterwards he came out and gave his little ones their own set of scriptures with their names on them. Jackson is always putting his kids first....this was his big day, but he wanted to make it extra special for them! That is always so amazing to me!



After the temple we all went to the traditional home town buffet before heading home! Matt and I had such a perfect anniversary weekend! We got into Cheyenne kinda late, but still had fun visiting with Matt's sister and her family! We were so thankful to them for taking care of, entertaining, and completely exhausting our kids! After going to church with the Smith's in Cheyenne on Sunday we had a peaceful ride home! :) It was such a perfect anniversary weekend!

Easter Weekend

We had a simple, relaxing, but fun Easter weekend. We have never really done the big Easter egg hunts around town or anything like that. We just enjoy being in church together, having some ham and potatoes, and talking about our Savior and why we celebrate Easter.

We do of course do our own little hunt in the house. Ready...set....go.....





I say it was relaxed and simple, however, it does seem that more often than not our spring stake conference falls on Easter weekend. This really does make the weekend extra special! The adult session of conference on Saturday night is always my very favorite! We always joke that it's because the kids aren't there to take some of our attention away from the speakers, but regardless, that night session is always so good and filled with such a wonderful spirit. The traditional Wingers with friends afterwards helps make it a great night too! :)

Sunday's conference is from 10-12, but with Matt and I both participating in the choir we needed to be there early which makes for a lot of shuffling and figuring out our plan of action! It really needs to be the perfect plan in order to make sure the younger ones will still be happy after sitting for 2 + hours. Matt and I LOVE to be involved in both our ward choir and the stake choir. It seems like a lot at times, especially with other callings that often take us away from the kids. We are sooooo thankful to the girls for making it happen for us though! They do so much to help around the house and at the church so that we as a family can serve. We got the sweetest card from a friend of ours thanking Matt and I for all that we do for the stake choir, BUT in the note it mostly thanked our kids! I was so thankful that she wrote that and recognized them. We talked to the girls a lot about how important it is to want to serve in the church. It can be a sacrifice at times, but in the end our whole family will always be blessed so much from it! I will cherish and keep that thank you card forever!

So that was lengthy, but wow we have fun with the members of our ward and our stake! Our director took these great pictures before the conference began. I really wish we had a sound recording! It was outstanding! I'm at the organ and Matt is standing right beside me. :) We LOVE these people! It was a perfectly, beautiful Easter Sunday! :)

Our Pet Birds

This story doesn't actually have much of a happy ending, but wow it sure was a crazy story.

So, it all started back in April with some scratching noises in our laundry room. We thought for sure it was mice. Matt set up a couple of traps, but nothing. A week or so later Matt noticed birds flying back and forth from our drier vent. We went to check it out and sure enough the birds had been building a nest up in there. Matt cleaned it out from outside and we assumed he had gotten it all. Well on laundry day the drier was just not working. It was taking forever to dry one load. I called Matt and said, "Do you think the birds were further into the drier hose?" He came home that night and took the whole thing apart and sure enough, the scratching noises were the birds crawling clear through the aluminum hose INTO the back of the drier! I couldn't believe the HUGE nest. I couldn't believe how hard working and persistent these birds were. It seemed such a shame to destroy this home they worked so hard on.



Then we saw the eggs! :( So so sad. Those poor eggs had been slow cooked all day in that drier. I can't believe we didn't start a fire. The good news: The drier works better than it had all spring! :)