A Return to Dance

This past week was the World Folk Festival in Springville, UT.  Why they have it in Springville is beyond me, but McCall was fortunate enough to dance in it and it was a big success.  As you can see from the pictures below she performed the Charleston and was absolutely amazing in it.  McCall is naturally such a happy person, but when she gets involved in dancing, she is another person and her whole face radiates.  She had such a great time dancing the entire week and meeting people from Russia, Costa Rica, Columbia, Austria, Catalunya (wherever that is), etc.  

 She feels blessed to have such a great family who took after the girls so she could go dancing and I could still work.  I have to admit it was a very peaceful week for me as the girls were up in Springville, but nothing was so sweet to see Lydia get super excited to see me, stare up at me, and caress my face.
The Saturday show was simply amazing as we got to see fire dancers, Tahetian (spelling?) bum dancing, Columbian dancing that was mesmerizing (sorry to Mom and Dad who came Friday and saw one of the more boring nights), etc.

Also here are some pictures from the 24th of July.  We went up to our usual Hansen spot and did some hiking around.

 After hiking and a long nap, we went over to Butlerville Days in Sandy and it was a blast.  They had a Home Depot booth set up where they gave you all the supplies to make trucks, crafts, etc.  Here's Lydia taking a break from her hammering.  (It was actually quite humerous to see all the adults trying to put these wooden blocks together as the kids looked on in sheer boredom)

 Emree's favorite thing to do, climb the stroller.

 McCall and I did our first 'pie eating contest.'  Although it was very anti-dramatic since we both didn't want to get sick, so McCall just licked off a little whipped cream and I ate about 1/4th pie trying but not really.  We weren't too disappointed that we didn't win when we realized the top three winners received colorful pads of papering (sticky notes) for their efforts.

 Also there was all you could eat watermelon, and Lydia and Emree were in heaven!

 Lydia with her balloon dog.  She loved to gnaw at it, and I didn't stop her cuz it was priceless to see her reaction when it exploded on her.

Dental Graduation

So I finally got my graduation pictures from Dad's phone.  We forgot our camera that day... really? Yep.  Many thanks to Dad, Mom, and Kelsi for coming out the long ways to Louisville to cheer me on.  Here's me prior to being hooded, just a regular old dental student.

Flash-forward past the ceremony and here I am a Doctor with Mom.  I look so much wiser in this picture.

Here are all the LDS guys and their families, I think we started off school with 1.5 kids and now there are too many to count.

 Here's the crew, aren't they cute and supportive.

 Here's all the LDS guys from my class.  We look like star wars characters.

 And this was before graduation on a walk to our close by park.  There is a small character on Kelsi's shoulder that is grabbing my attention, alas I forgot his name.  Kelsi any help here?

 And my wonderful group manager and friend Dr. Baughman, she was my favorite and taught me so much.

 Family and diploma.

 This is the part where I was hooded.  There were a couple of tall people who actually just sat down Indian style to help out those who were hooding.  And there was also that Louisville basketball player who proposed to one of my classmates during the ceremony that kind of stole the spotlight from those graduating, kind of funny.

There you have it folks.  No more school for me.  And again thanks to Mom, Dad and Kelsi for coming to support me.  I think the most memorable thing for me about those couple of days was Mom's bacon sandwich, and if you don't know what I'm talking about ask her.

A la Beach!

We have been thoroughly enjoying the beautiful summer weather lately. Hitting up Seven Peaks, awesome parks, beautiful California beaches, movies under the stars and spending oodles of time with family and friends.

Here are just a few of our adventures lately..

JD and cute lydia pose for a picture as we take a break from Seven Peaks and eat lunch at a near by park...did I mention it was his birthday June 12th! Happy Birthday to the most amazing and good looking guy I know! ( I will blog more about that a little later..)

Emree getting ready to soak up some sun! I'm lucky in the fact that both my girls don't fight one bit about me putting sun screen on them, thank goodness to that. :)

We had the opportunity to take a last minute trip down to visit some of my family in California a few weeks ago. Lydia LOVED my youngest brother Jacy! Probably because he was the closest to her age out of everyone, and he would let her tackle him to the ground.

So much cuter when she's covered in sand...don't you think? :) Lydia loved the beach by the way! She loved playing in the sand with her uncles, and thought the huge holes we would dig for her to sit in were the greatest.

This is my younger brother Dusty...who is growing up so fast. He is the sweetest most tender hearted kid you'll find on this earth. He was always watching over my girls at all times and making sure they were safe and happy. He has the biggest heart and I love him to death! Did I mention he is incredibly talented and smart yet. Um ok then, HE IS! He thinks of, and builds the most complicated puzzle-box-things ever! I swear he is going to work for the FBI or NASA someday gees. It's pretty much incredible the things he comes up with. He is extremely gifted at playing the piano as well and has composed some pretty amazing pieces, as well as a dedicated student. I love him to death and it was so good to see him again. ( Did I mention he is also extremely good looking :)

Me and my little brothers, who aren't so little any more. Us after a fun day at the beach!

Oh Benson, thanks for always being the one to play with us in the ocean. These two became the best of friends! Benson was always so helpful with the girls and was always there to keep us company. He was always cracking jokes and making sure everyone was having a good time.

We rented a boat and got to circle Coronado Island which was super fun! Lydia even got to steer the boat!

Emree loved being on the water as well, having her life jacket on...um... not so much.

Handsome Man posing for the camera!

So lately these too goobers have been loving the stroller turned on it's side. For some reason it has provided them with countless hours of fun for the last week or so. Why did I never think of this sooner. Lydia sits in the little slots and says she is driving to the park. She sticks all sorts of toys and junk in the crevices of the stroller and then gets the baby or one of us to come sit on the back while she "drives". Emree loves climbing on it as well and they usually end up fighting over who gets the front seat.

As you can see below, with the mad camera skills that JD has, he was able to catch poor emree in motion as she plummeted to the ground after being pushed by lydia. This poor girl takes quite a beating from her older sister.

Crazy hair after bath time! 

Silver Dollar City

Well it took us three weeks after the move-in to find our camera.  Then we realized that our camera battery was dead and it took one more week to find that.  So here are the much anticipated pictures from Silver Dollar City.  As most of you probably don't know (I used to not as well), Silver Dollar City is located in the heart of Branson, MO and is a mix of rollercoaster rides, shows, and lots of good food.  McCall would go here year after year for her clogging competitions growing up and she made me promise her to take her there on our way home from Kentucky.  Our lovely sister Kelsi came eastward for my graduation (future pics to come), and helped us with packing and moving and babysitting and driving and not going mad with our children.  She was a great help so here's a shout out to her!  

"Welcome"

 When we arrived in Silver Dollar City, I was about to head to the ticket office to buy our outlandish $60 tickets when an elderly couple stopped us, "Excuse me, do you already have tickets or are you going to buy some?'  "I'm just heading to buy some."  "Well would you like free tickets?"  "Um, Yes."  Apparently she was a season ticket holder from Alabama and had 2 extra tickets she was not going to use, she said they would look for couples with young kids every time they visited and reached out to them. So we walked to the front gate so she could get us our tickets, as we were walking another lady seeming to understand what was happening, asked if we needed anymore tickets to which we replied, "Yes, one more."  We were all elated to have walked into the park for absolutely free, to which McCall quickly told us, "See, wonderful things always happen at Silver Dollar City."

 Cute Kelsi and Emree doing their thing

 They had several shows that we went to: my favorite was a bluegrass band that was amazing.  Here McCall and I are on a train ride; our train stopped in the middle of our fun; and some train robbers tried to rob of us our much wealth.  But luckily we escaped once they realized lydia had pooped her diaper.

 Hooray for us!

 At the beginning of the day, they have a quick show as seen below, and they have all the veterans march in the flag where they sing the national anthem.

 The only ride Lydia went on, seriously.  The rides she could go on she was scared of, and the rides she wanted to go on she was an inch to short.  (An inch! Come on people)  Oh well, to make up for this, we went on the merry go round 13 times in a row, and had to peel her away as she screamed her lungs out.

 One of my favorite rides, cuz I like to get wet.

Rewind a couple a days to my graduation party.  It was held at the Churchill Downs Museum.  Aren't we so cute?

 We got our food and put them on our heavy plates, we circled around the 1st floor but every chair was taken or saved.  We headed up the second floor to which we were shewed away and spat at, finally after our wrists were clinging for their dear lives, we found a bench upon which we feasted.

 Kelsi holding on for her life, she needs a lot of practice to be a jockey.  But apparently McCall is the perfect weight and height to be a jockey.

 McCall's dear friend Mary Beth.  What a wonderful lady.  So giving and so kind.

 And some other picture just for fun.  This was all the guys at the Derby party we went to right before we left.

 And all the girls.

Moral of the blog: If you ever stop in Missouri, make sure you visit Silver Dollar City and look for old people to get in free