TEENAGERS ONLY...

Brittany and Bethany finally turn 13 Aunt Anne decided it would be fun to take the girls off for a special weekend. We went to San Francisco Anne surprised us with a room at the Westin St. Francis right on the quad of Union Square. We had dinner at the Cheescake Factory at the top of MACY'S Here we all are waiting for the MUNI train we had walked from CHINATOWN down to EMBARCADERO St. and didn't want to walk the rest of the way to GHIRADELLI SQUARE we waited at the platform only to have two packed trains pass us by. We started walking and hailed a cab the rest of the way. We each ordered ICE CREAM and then we rode the TROLLEY back to Union Square and shopped at the big DISNEY store on the quad
Here Brittany is braving the TROLLEY. As we rode UP and DOWN the hills of San Fran Britt posed for onlookers who were taking pictures. One couple thought she was adorable and took another picture of her and Beth. They also enjoyed HIGH FIVING the passing Trolley cars as they went by us. We were so close to them that if you were standing on the outside (which we were) you had to take off any backpacks so they wouldn't bump the other Trolley cars. What a fun adventure. We actually rode the Trolley twice. We first caught it right at our hotel and rode to Chinatown and then we caught it on the PIER back up to the hotel.
Brittany and Bethany entertaining themselves as we wait for another train. We didn't wait that long, but we had a great time in the little while we did wait. These COUSINS always have a great time when they get together. We had a great dinner, then shopping and ended Friday night with a movie. We say Indiana Jones Britt and I had already seen it but we were more than happy to see it again. When we went back to the hotel we enjoyed our desserts from Cheescake Factory. We watched a little TV but we all were pretty tired so we zonked out.

Here the girls are making a toast to their teenage years they enjoyed their Shirley Temples and our dinners were all amazing. We had a fabulous time and only wish that Gramma Suzie could have been there to enjoy it with us. What a fun tradition I hope we do with the next batch of girls. We have twin and triplet cousin groups of girls and can't wait for the next adventure. Thanks Anne we had a memorable weekend.

Miscellaneous Madness

Jay loves performing. He was selected to act with this ACTING company. They performed PINNOCHIO at the local elementaries and then an evening at the COMMUNITY theater. Jay enjoyed every moment of this opportunity. He was invited to attend drama camp, but I made the PARENTAL decision that from 9-4 mon-fri for 6 weeks was no way for a 10 year old to spend his summer. Luckily Jay agreed that it wouldn't have been much of a summer.

FAMILY trip to Mitchell's baptism. These pictures are from February. We got to see VIKKI'S boys play basketball and then after the baptism we went to VAL & CORI'S place called PLAYERS. It's a place very similiar to the 49th St. Galleria. STEPHEN'S sister owns it so we were treated like royality. The KIDS loved it they had great food (the one difference from the galleria they have an awesome restaurant) played all sorts of GAMES and best of all hung out with COUSINS.

BIKE RIDE my kids are always ready and willing to go on a biking adventure.

Whole lotta nothin'...

Ally is thrilled to have finally lost a couple of teeth. She always wears this cheesy grin Ally and Rachel at the 1st grade play " A Book is a Magic Carpet Ride"
Ally and her teacher Ms. Vernon--they adore each other equally
Ally proud to show of her book cover that she made all by herself.
Ally loved performing in the play--her line was "what are you talking about Tommy, there's no such thing as a magic carpet" She did a fabulous job and had a great time.

Wonderful World of DISNEY 1st Place Baby!!! So, amazing to hear your schools name called--UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT
Mrs. Sprague & Brittany enjoy the moment together
We won! We won!
ESPRIT DE CORP announcement-- the whole school was so excited Britt & Gina tired of waiting to be seated at the Festival
Disney's private members only club-- 33 Club
3 more years and she'll really be driving--not just on AUTOPIA
Kennedy & Britt leaving the hotel elevator to go load the bus and head back to Disneyland

Britt and Kennedy having some fun in their hotel room
Britt, Kennedy, Gina and Jenna enjoy a laugh after their competition performance
Britt, Britt (in her Select outfit) Kennedy, and Gina (select too) waiting to perform
Britt in our hotel lobby- we both loved watching the turtles

Treble Chorus (Britt is on the 2nd row in the middle) Britt sings as an Alto in this choir Select Ensemble (2nd row up 2nd person in) sings as a soprano Turtles in our Hotel Lobby--they were sooo cute

My 8 girls--we had a FABULOUS time together
Britt's BFF Kennedy

At California Adventure the girls were so excited to see PLUTO Britt and me loading the bus
Britt making the most of her hotel room
roommates joining in the fun
Enjoying the pizza party at the hotel
Britt singing "bet on it" to Jay
Gina entertaining us on our bus ride. I think she was the most amused with herself

Britt, Britt, Gina, Jenna & Kennedy--I'm not kidding.

Disney Adventure

Britt and I had an amazing time. Even the long bus ride was enjoyable. I was the chaperone over 8 girls(one of which was Britt) We sat in the middle of the bus and had a great time chatting and singing. The girls that I was in charge of were all of Britt's good friends. It was great to already know the different personalities I would be dealing with. We left at about noon and made 2 stops before getting to our hotel at about 8pm. We had a big banquet hall reserved and had a big pizza party while our luggage was being unloaded. Room arrangements had already been made so after we ate the girls went straight to their rooms. I had hall monitoring duty the first night and got to bed about 1am. I had to be up by 6 the next morning. Luckily, I'm a night person so it wasn't that hard. My planned roommate which was my friend Lisa got sick the night before we left so I roomed with a new person. She turned out to be AWESOME she actually had LDS members in her family so I didn't have to worry about my funny underwear. Breakfast at our hotel was sooo good. They had everything under the sun as an option. We got to California Adventure at 10am it was weird to not have little kids so I actually to ride the big kid rides. Tower of Terror was sooo fun. California Screamin' is still my favorite. I missed Jay when we watched the HSM song and dance thing. We headed off to the Choir competition at 1pm. The girls did awesome. I was trying not to be prejudice but our choir was amazing compared to the others. Which proved to not just be my opinion. The 3 choirs from Harvest Park Middle School (HPMS) all took first place in their categories and then our school also took overall best choir. Our school then also won the ESPRIT DE CORP award. The MC announced at the beginning of the ceremony that each school had been watched from the time they got off of their buses until they got back on their buses. They were looking for manners to the competition staff, how well each school listened to their own directors, appearance, and how we acted during other schools performances. It was so amazing to here them announce at the very end of the ceremony that "the winner of the ESPRIT DE CORP award goes to HPMS" Our whole team jumped to their feet and we were jumping, screaming, crying, hugging, and laughing. I was so excited. I ran over to Britt and hugged her and of course snapped a gazillion pics. Mickey & Minnie came out and presented the trophy. I still get choked up even recalling the experience. It was so great!!! They played music and shot cannons full of confetti out into the crowd. We were on the front rows so we had confetti all over us. Truly an unforgettable experience. We spent the rest of the day on cloud 9 and enjoyed dinner in the park and lots of fun big kid rides. It was fun to get off the buses and have our family run and give us hugs. It is a perfect memory

Okay, already I need to blog more!!!

I don't know when everybody does this blog thing. I can barely find time to answer my emails. As you can see ya all found me somehow and put me on your blogs. Life is crazy, as I'm sure it is for all of you out there. Our stake just finished doing RoadShows (I know I need to put pics up) it was a blast! Jay and Ally were both in programs at school and this week Britt's choir is leaving for Disneyland to compete in the Music in the Parks Festival. The award ceremony will be held at the big stage inside Disneyland Park. Of course I'm a chaperone and I can't wait.

More later--maybe!