Cora's 6th birthday: Part I

I took Cora to St. George this year for her birthday. We got tickets to see The Little Mermaid at Tuachan outdoor theater. Katie's parents live in St. George and she was headed there for the weekend with her kids, so we conveniently hitched a ride with them. It was a nice little road trip and good to have some company.

Here's Cora posing by The Little Mermaid poster.

She's got a little bit of crazy eye syndrome going on but this was the best of about 20 pictures in front of the Tuachan sign.

My little Ariel...

She absolutely loved the show! I must say I enjoyed it quite a bit myself. Little Mermaid has always been one of my favorite Disney movies. The costumes were great and the singers were really talented. This was my first trip to Tuachan and I hope it's not my last. They put on a great production!

Kiss the Girl

Oh ya, did I not mention it was thundering and lightening the whole show?? I was so worried they were going to cancel it but the show went on! Literally while they were doing the curtain call it started POURING rain. Cora and I took our flip flops off and ran to the car in the rain. It was actually kind of fun.

Cora wanted to get her picture taken with Ariel and Prince Eric so before we headed to the car, we battled the horrendous line together. Probably waited about 45 minutes to get this piece of work. It was her birthday, after all.

Got a nice view of this beauty on the way back to Mama Payne's (Katie's Mom) house. Craziness! Must have been caused by lightening.

Not a creature was stirring, not even...a Zobrist kid. We got back pretty late to find these cuties fast asleep. Ella, Alaina and Ryan.
The next morning Cora and I headed out for our traditional birthday pedicure and a little back to school shopping. She starts 1st grade MONDAY!! Can you believe it?!

Pretty in pink!

We met back up with the Zobrist clan + Katie's Dad (Mama Payne is back east helping out Katie's Sister who is on bedrest, pregnant with Twins! Hang in there Melissa! And Sue!!) for a late Denny's breakfast. Mmmmmmmm.

The trip home was full of treats, Taylor Swift, Celine Dion and giggling little girls....Katie and myself included.

Ry had his DS and kept occupied taking pictures, and possibly some video, of Katie and I singing at the top of our lungs. We made sure those got deleted the minute our trip came to an end.

Road trip must haves:

Collin's 1st Kiss

Collin's 1st kiss: Alaina Rae Zobrist

You can tell he's not the one in charge. She knows what she wants!

He's seriously sweating bullets. I guess it was like 100 degrees outside.

He looks so innocent

Spaghetti

I hate letting toddlers feed themselves. Can't stand it, actually. But I realize it must be done in order for them to learn. Spaghetti, I must say, is the WORST!

And another random picture, cuz he's cute.

Pineapple

Cora thought this was hilarious...

4th of July 2011

4th of July!! One of my favorite holidays, mostly bc it was my Mom's favorite. I just have so many fond memories of going to Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno, eating KFC, playing games, getting our faces painted, listening to music, and cuddling up close on a blanket as we watched the fireworks as a family. I also remember my Dad making sure we had everything packed up and READY TO GO the SECOND the fireworks were done so we could "beat the "crowd" getting out of there. Haha! That's SO my Dad for ya!

Well this year things got off to quite a rocky start. Here's Collin right after breakfast. We're getting ready to head out for a little shopping and some quality FAMILY TIME!

My cute kids, in their festive colors!!

Shawn's creepy blood vessel in his eye. We took a picture bc we thought it was amusing that his eye was red, white, and blue. Haha!

Well, as we were driving in the car, Collin started to look really pale and get really cranky. He promptly threw up everywhere! We pulled over to a 7-11 to get napkins and attempt to clean up. The car seat was disgusting. Puke in every crevice possible. We stripped him down, did our best to clean up and headed right back home, only to have him throw up again the second we got in the driveway. Oh boy. At this point I'm thinking "We're throwing that car seat away!" My poor pukey, as Shawn referred to him for the rest of the day.

So we ended up having a chill day at home, Collin seemed to be feeling better by the time evening approached. Our original plans were to head to a friends house for swimming, bbq and fireworks, but bc we didn't want to get anyone else sick we figured that was a no go.

I started looking up events going on around town and we decided to head to a local High School (and by "local" I mean the complete opposite side of town) where they would be doing a firework show on the football field, along with craft/food booths and live music. Seemed similar to the 4th of July I knew as a kid. As I mentioned previously, it was about 45 minutes away from our house and when we are 5 minutes away from the school, Collin throws up AGAIN! Are you kidding me!!?? I was so sad for my little boy, who was apparently miserable and I felt awful for dragging him out again. I also felt bad for Cora, who was really looking forward to a fun 4th of July, which was turning out to be a pretty awful and boring day. Luckily I had brought a change of clothes for pukey and he really did seem fine again so we continued on to the school.

Here's Cora, pretending to have a conversation with someone on a fake cell phone.

Collin - looking fine, right?

...oh wait, maybe not so fine. He definitely had his moments, but no more puke!!

Almost dark!!

Ahhh, the moment we've all been waiting for.

And the traffic on the way home was horrible. We ended up home about midnight and the kids, clearly, were both exhausted!!

She looks like the sick one here, right?

All in all, it was a good night. We saw what we wanted to see and had the family experience I was looking for. I think the kids both had a fun time. As always, I felt my Mom there right beside me as I snuggled on the ground with my family, watched the fireworks and listened to the patriotic music.

Zobrist Cabin

We went up to the Zobrist's cabin for a long weekend before the 4th of July. it's about an hour up the mountain from Cedar City, UT. It was SO relaxing (even with 5 kids) and fun. We had a blast!

Here are Cora and Ella posing on the beautiful deck, right by the river.

4 wheeling was my favorite part of the trip! And look how cute the kiddos look in their little helmets. Here's Ryan, Ella and Cora getting ready to go for a ride with me and Katie.

I even took Shawn and Collin for a little spin, on paved roads, of course.

Collin and Laina having some down time watching some toons.

Cora getting ready to go fishing with Shawn and Jared.

The water was apparently freezing and I'm not sure much of anything was biting, but the kids had fun...as well as the men.

Collin wore this cars helmet almost the whole time we were up there. He looked a little "special" but it kept him happy, and that's all that matters.

Katie and the babies chillin on the deck, catchin some rays...

...and of course BOWZER!

Ah, serenity.

This cabin is like no other cabin I've ever seen before. We definitely weren't "roughing it" by any means. Here she is, in all her beauty...
Thanks again, Zobrists! We had a blast escaping from reality for a few days. Looking forward to another trip in the winter when we can go sledding!!

Another recital...DANCE

Cora had a dance recital this month as well. She's been taking Tap and Ballet for 2 years now and we always enjoy seeing all the work that's gone into her classes pay off. She LOVES getting to wear a fancy costume, but her favorite part is the MAKE-UP!!

Cora and her class

Miss Amanda - Cora's teacher/owner of The Beat Dance Academy

It was really fun this year bc Kamryn also took a dance class at the same studio so she was part of the recital as well. It was so nice for Amy and I to get the chance to see BOTH girls for the bargain price of $30 (yes, $15 ticket just to see my own daughter dance) for ourselves and our husbands, instead of paying for two separate recitals. I was also thankful bc Amy volunteered as a backstage Mom so I knew my Cora was in good hands and looked just PERFECT on that stage. From what I heard, it was absolute mayhem back there so I'm not sure we'll be lucky enough to have her back there again next year. :) Thanks again AUNTIE AMY!!!

Also, a big thank you to my friend Melissa for watching Collin. He would have never made it through this recital!