Talent Show

Abbie and Avery were lucky enough to participate in their school talent show today. This was unlike any elementary school talent show we have ever seen. First they tried out in their classroom where the students voted two people from each class to try out for a group of teachers. Then they had a try out for the teachers where only 15 out of the school were able to perform in the actual talent show. I was lucky enough to be there for the try outs and some of these students were amazing. It takes a lot of guts to get up there and perform in front of your peers. I'm glad that I was not in charge of picking the final performers. The teachers liked both Abbie and Avery and knowing that they were sisters asked if they could do a duet. At first Abbie was not thrilled with the idea, but as soon as we informed her that if they performed together that would leave one more spot open for another performer she gladly agreed.

We quickly threw this little number together. Considering that the girls just barely started playing their violins again after the move they did alright. I recorded this yesterday at their last practice because I knew that I wouldn't have a great seat at the actual performance. I'm so glad I did record it the day before because the cafeteria was crowded. They did three performances in one day to squeeze all the classes in. They had students doing everything in the show from announcers to stage crew. It was so much fun to watch the final show. Abbie and Avery did a great job and we are very proud of them.

More Home Improvements

This past week we were able to have a company come and fix the outside of our home. We had a lot of stucco damage due to sprinklers spraying on the house and the previous owners did a lot of stucco repair themselves that didn't look the greatest. After we received a notice from the home owners association for the stucco damage we decided that we just needed to bite the bullet and have it completely repaired and painted. These are the before pictures. (It was trash day, so the bags of garbage are not a usual installment.)

These are the after pictures below. I wished after the fact that I would have taken pictures of the stucco damage but of course I didn't. We decided to go with darker colors which we liked.

Although we hated to spend the money on painting the outside of our home, it has made a big difference.

More home improvements to come......

We are so glad that our great friends from home were able to come visit us last week. The Hackett family were some of our best friends in Utah. They lived right behind us and we miss them terribly since the move. My kids were best friends with their kids, and not to mention I miss having such a great adult friend practically in my back yard to chat with every day.

They arrived around 9:00p.m. on a Wednesday night. The kids were so excited that I don't think we actually went to sleep until somewhere between 12-1:00a.m. Our kids have never been up so late before. Luckily for school the next day it was "take your daughter to work day" which meant that both Abbie and Avery's teachers were fine with letting them take a day off form school considering that half the class would be gone anyway.

We made their day here a full one. We hit the strip to see the lion exhibit, M&M world, and the Coke store. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate very well. It was a cold and rainy day while they were here. We still made the best of it.

It was kind of fun that so many characters were out that day. If you notice Avery is no where to be found in either the coke bear or m&m picture. She still does not like anyone or anything dressed up. She stays clear whenever they are around.

We had to hit the souvenir shops along the way. Too funny!!!

Aliza had to give them a try too.

Then we headed over to the big fish tank at the Silverton hotel. It really is amazing to just sit and watch all these cool fish. Poor Ethan here in the picture above was the only boy. If I counted right there were nine girls to the one boy. Poor guy!

They have a cute little mermaid show at the fish tank that the little ones just love. This was our second time doing it and my girls just love it. She basically just swims around in the water and interacts with the kids outside of the tank. Kind of cheesy according to me but like I mentioned before the kids love it.

After our adventures on the strip we headed back to the house to swim. It really was cold outside but that never phases kids. There was no way that I was getting in that cold water. This is Aliza's idea of swimming at the pool. She grabbed herself a book and would rather just watch most of the time.

Once the hot tub warmed up they had a great time. They were still jumping into the cold pool water too though. Crazy kids.

This is Avery's best friend Ellie. When we lived in Utah they spent most of their days together. They were getting ready to jump in the pool together. We really loved having them visit. Hopefully they will come again sometime soon.